When Transaction-Level Wage Transparency Can Increase Consumer Preference

Firms are usually reluctant to disclose information about the production costs of their goods and services; however, some firms have recently started to disclose cost information to consumers. This research examines the consequences of disclosing transaction-level wage information on consumer preferences. Six experiments, both in field and lab settings across multiple service domains, document that disclosing a service worker’s compensation can increase consumer preference for that firm’s service if the compensation is sufficiently high (i.e., perceived as fair by consumers). This greater preference for services provided in a fair-wage setting is driven by consumers’ feelings of anticipated guilt and higher expectations concerning quality. Available social norms regarding fair compensation and the nature of the service worker (human vs. non- human) are both identified as important boundary conditions of the proposed process. This research offers a first step toward understanding the psychological and behavioral consequences of disclosing transaction-level wage information to consumers, thereby enabling managers to better identify when they should disclose wage information as part of their marketing strategy. This research also informs policy makers on how to encourage social preferences and consumer choices in order to promote fair outcomes for consumers, firms, and workers

Human mobility and social ties in context: from places to personality

Recent years saw an increasing proliferation of the use of digitally generated traces of data for understanding human behaviour. The quantitative understanding of social networks as well as patterns of human mobility benefited tremendously from these new sources of data. The main dynamics of both social networks and human mobility such as a propensity of humans for heterogeneous behaviour, how humans choose to explore new places, or the fact that both spheres are intrinsically linked are now fairly well understood. However, how various other factors mediate the observed dynamics is still relatively unknown, not least due to the difficulty in obtaining adequate data. Thus, for my thesis I focus on how a variety of factors---places, longer-term dynamics, the personality of individuals, or neighbourhoods---might be a driver of various aspects of social and mobility behaviour. I used data from the Copenhagen network study that tracked 847 students with smartphones and measured their social encounters as well as the locations they visited for a whole academic year. I further utilised a variety of methods for analysing the data ranging from applied machine learning over inferential statistics to social network analysis. Using this dataset, I found that the qualities of places were very informative for understanding future encounters between students, that the longer-term dynamics shaped both social and mobility behaviour, and that while personality had a significant effect on the observed regularity of behaviour, its effect was rather small

Privacy and the City:user identification and location semantics in location-based social networks

With the advent of GPS enabled smartphones, an increasing number of users is actively sharing their location through a variety of applications and services. Along with the continuing growth of Location-Based Social Networks (LBSNs), security experts have increasingly warned the public of the dangers of exposing sensitive information such as personal location data. Most importantly, in addition to the geographical coordinates of the user’s location, LBSNs allow easy access to an additional set of characteristics of that location, such as the venue type or popularity. In this paper, we investigate the role of location semantics in the identification of LBSN users. We simulate a scenario in which the attacker’s goal is to reveal the identity of a set of LBSN users by observing their check-in activity. We then propose to answer the following question: what are the types of venues that a malicious user has to monitor to maximize the probability of success? Conversely, when should a user decide whether to make his/her check-in to a location public or not? We perform our study on more than 1 million check-ins distributed over 17 urban regions of the United States. Our analysis shows that different types of venues display different discriminative power in terms of user identity, with most of the venues in the “Residence” category providing the highest re-identification success across the urban regions. Interestingly, we also find that users with a high entropy of their check-ins distribution are not necessarily the hardest to identify, suggesting that it is the collective behaviour of the users’ population that determines the complexity of the identification task, rather than the individual behaviour

Posteriori estimation of teaching and learning process

У статті розглядується питання застосування технології апостеріорного оцінювання навчально-пізнавальної діяльності студентів. Результати апостеріорного оцінювання надають важливу інформацію про ефективність викладання викладачеві та навчальному закладу.В статье рассматривается вопрос использования технологии апостериорного оценивания учебно-познавательной деятельности студентов. Результаты апостериорного оценивания предоставляют важную информацию об эффективности преподавания преподавателю и учебному заведению.The question about the development and application of technology posterior estimation of teaching and educational activity of the students, is considered at the article. Posteriori estimation results provide important information about the performance of teaching and teacher education institutions

Design Model of an Ecosystem for Resilient and Sustainable Value Creation of SMEs in Single and Small Batch Production

Today's markets are increasingly dynamic, not only due to shorter product development times and fast changing customer requirements but also unforeseen events. Contemporary crises and wars disrupt entire supply chains and can have existential consequences for manufacturing companies. In these times of uncertainty, it is essential for SMEs to have a resilient business orientation while at the same time fulfil the sustainability aspects demanded by their stakeholders. This paper provides a design model for an ecosystem for a resilient and sustainable value creation of SMEs in single and small batch production to increase competitiveness and to gain a better response to market dynamics. The developed model comprises the elements of ecosystem strategy, configuration and coordination. An adequate partner matching and the underlying business model complement the approach. The model is intended to assist practitioners as a reference framework in developing and managing ecosystems for value creation

Classification of product data for a Digital Product Passport in the manufacturing industry

The European Commission set out the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050, which shall be achieved by fostering the twin transition - sustainability through digitalization. A keystone in this transition is the implementation of a prospering Circular Economy (CE). However, product information required to establish a flourishing CE is hardly available or even accessible. The Digital Product Passport (DPP) offers a solution to that problem but in the current discussion, two separate topics are focused on: its architecture and its application on batteries. The content of the DPP has not been an essential part of the discussion, although access to high-quality data about a product's state, composition and ecological footprint is required to enable sustainable decision-making. Therefore, this paper presents a classification of product data for circularity in the manufacturing industry to emphasize the discussion about the DPP's content. Developed through a systematic literature review combined with a case-study-research based on common operational information systems, the classification comprises three levels with 62 data points in four main categories: (1) Product information, (2) Utilization information, (3) Value chain information and (4) Sustainability information. In this paper, the potential content structure of a DPP is demonstrated for a use case in the machinery sector. The contribution to the science and operations community is twofold: Building a guideline for DPP developers that require scientific input from available real-world data points as well as motivating manufacturers to share the presented data points enabling a circular product information management

Proposing A Cyber-Physical Production Systems Framework Linking Factory Planning And Factory Operation

The challenges for industrial companies in the area of factory planning and operation are characterised on the one hand by permanently shortening product life cycles and increasing product diversity. Furthermore, the demand for ecologically sustainable processes is growing and the complexity of production systems is increasing due to higher product complexity. This results in a complex decision-making space for companies within factory planning and factory operation which is difficult to plan. The advancing digitalisation can bring a great opportunity here. Modelling and simulation can create greater transparency in the context of planning and operation, and processes can be designed to be ecologically sustainable and efficient. Currently, research approaches in the context of factory planning and operation are focussing on the application and use of digital methods and tools of the Digital Factory (DF). However, the application is limited to individual areas in factory planning or factory operation. For this reason, this paper focuses on the design of a framework that addresses both factory planning and factory operation aspects and links them through modelling and simulation. Cyber-physical production systems (CPPS) can help here by mapping the individual modules within planning and operation using individual agents in agent-based simulation (AB). By linking planning and real data, the processes from planning and operation can be taken into account. From this, insights gained from planning can be simulated in an early phase and subjected to optimisation during operation. The cycle-oriented CPPS can be used on an ongoing basis by preparing the generic building blocks on the planning and operational sides through structured data acquisition and implementing them in the real world with the help of decision support from the virtual world

Process-oriented evaluation system for the use of robotic process automation

The administrative order processing is confronted with a variety of structural, procedural and organizational changes driven by the increasing demand for shorter delivery times and higher product variances. Thus, business processes become more complex and less transparent having a negative impact on administrative order processing. Studies estimate the waste in indirect areas at around 30 percent. The cause of this waste is, for example, missing information in the process step or interface losses during the transfer to another area of responsibility. This results in queries and coordination efforts that delay the order process. Among other things, robotic process automation (RPA) can be used to reduce waste. This enables the monitoring of administrative processes and the automation of sub-processes (activities). Identifying these automation potentials can be seen as a major challenge in administrative order processing due to the existing complexity. One way to discover automation potential is the use of data-driven tools such as process mining (PM). Using algorithms (e.g. a-miner), a process model is created based on data from central information systems (e.g. enterprise resource systems) allowing a systematical analyzation of causalities. Furthermore, PM can help to identify the relevant metrics for the RPA selection in a data-driven way, in order to support the selection process decisively. In the current state of research, most paper focuses on quantifiable key figures for evaluating RPA capabilities. Qualitative criteria for RPA use are rarely considered. This paper focuses on a qualitative criteria-based and quantitative indicator-based evaluation system for the use of RPA in administrative order processing The approach is validated in process mining software using a data set related to administrative order processing

Application-oriented Method for Determining the Adhesion between Insulated Flat Copper Wire and Impregnation Resin

In the field of hairpin stator technology, increasing demands are currently being made on the semi-finished product of insulated flat copper wire. In particular, the focus is on the electrical requirements against the background of increasing voltage levels to 800 V and more. The test procedures described in the standards IEC 60317 & 60851 for verifying the properties of insulated flat copper wires only partially map the requirements from the point of automotive industry. An example for insufficiently considered properties lays in the correlation between wire and insulation resin. In addition to electrical and thermal benefits, impregnation helps to mechanically stabilize the winding and protect it from ambient factors. Adhesion between the winding and the impregnating resin is a key parameter here, but is not considered in material pre-selection today. The adhesion of the impregnation resin to the insulated wire is essential to ensure the lifetime of electric motors. This paper describes a method for determining the adhesion of the impregnating resin to the insulation of the wire. It could be shown that there is a correlation between the material of the wire insulation and the impregnating resin in terms of adhesion. Further on the described method can be used for an application-oriented specification of insulated copper flat wires to ensure a consistent composition of the insulation material

LigaSure Impact™ versus conventional dissection technique in pylorus-preserving pancreatoduodenectomy in clinical suspicion of cancerous tumours on the head of the pancreas: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The pp-Whipple procedure requires extensive preparation. The conventional preparation technique is done with scissors for dissection and ligatures, and with clips and sutures for hemostasis. This procedure is very time-consuming and requires numerous changes of instruments. The LigaSure™ device allows dissection and hemostasis for preparation with one instrument. Up to now there has been no comparison of the two techniques with regard to operating time and the patients' outcome. It is still unclear which technique has the optimal benefit/risk ratio for the patient.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>A single-center, randomized, single-blinded, controlled superiority trial to compare two different techniques for dissection in a pp-Whipple procedure. 102 patients will be included and randomized pre-operatively. All patients aged 18 years or older scheduled for primary elective pp-Whipple procedure who signed the informed consent will be included. The primary endpoint is the operating time of the randomized technique. Control Intervention: Conventional dissection technique; experimental intervention: LigaSureTM dissection technique. Duration of study: Approximately 15 months; follow up time: 3 years. The trial is registered at German ClinicalTrials Register (DRKS00000166).</p