The potential of shared mobility : new business models in the sharing economy

Rather than owning them, customers increasingly prefer renting or leasing products, creating a new business sector that is widely described as the sharing economy. As a result, new business models have emerged, most of which are platforms and are hence described as sharing economy platforms. Along with their growing popularity and success, these new business models create controversies with regards to their impact on society and environment, especially in the mobility sector. Optimistic framings view the sharing economy as an opportunity for societies, while critics argue that the business models are built in a way that benefits the companies providing the platforms rather than the individuals using them or the society at large. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate how business models are built in order to meet positive expectations towards sharing economy or not and business models of companies operating in the sector have been changed in this context. The phenomenon of the sharing economy is explained, as well the concept of business models. On the basis of this theoretical background, four different new business models in the mobility sector are compared. It is found that the business models of customer-to-customer platforms are more likely to meet the optimistic expectations towards the sharing economy than business-to-consumer platforms, whilst the latter seem to increasingly initiate efforts to expand their business models towards these expectations.Em vez da compra em regime de propriedade plena, os consumidores têm optado preferencialmente pelos sistemas de renting ou leasing na aquisição de certos bens, revelando uma nova área de negócio habitualmente designada como economia de partilha. Em resultado desta surgiram novos modelos de negócio, na maioria dos casos com recurso a plataformas que, por esse motivo, são designadas como plataformas da economia de partilha. Enquanto estes novos modelos de negócio crescem em popularidade e sucesso, são simultaneamente alvo de controvérsia quanto ao seu impacto social e ambiental, em particular no sector da mobilidade. Numa visão otimista a economia de partilha é encarada como uma conjuntura favorável para a sociedade no seu todo, enquanto os críticos alertam que este modelo de negócio está desenhado mais para benefício das empresas do que dos indivíduos ou da sociedade. Este fenómeno da economia de partilha, bem como o modelo de negócio a ela associado, serão analisados. O objetivo da presente tese é confrontar quatro modelos de negócio diferentes, na perspetiva da mobilidade. Conclui-se que os modelos de negócios baseados em plataformas de consumidor para consumidor são aqueles que melhor vão de encontro às expetativas, especialmente quando comparados com plataformas de empresas para consumidores, apesar de estes últimos apresentarem cada vez mais esforços para caminharem nesse sentido

Vibrational-state and isotope dependence of high-order harmonic generation in water molecules

We report calculations on high-order harmonic generation in water molecules. Spectra are determined for various initial vibrational states of H2O and its isotope D2O. It is demonstrated that the ratio of the spectra for D2O and H2O is close to unity when the initial state is the vibronic ground state, indicating that nuclear dynamics is of minor importance. For vibrationally excited initial states, the high-harmonic intensities show a clear dependence on both the initial-state quantum number and the isotopic species. © 2010 The American Physical Society

Towards a Strategy Design Method for Corporate Data Quality Management

Large, multidivisional enterprises need corporate data of high quality in order to meet a number of strategic business requirements, such as enterprisewide process harmonization, integrated customer management or compliance. Therefore, many enterprises today are in the process of establishing Corporate Data Quality Management (CDQM), which requires an overarching CDQM strategy. This paper presents a method for the development and implementation of a CDQM strategy. On the one hand the method provides guidance to a CDQM team. On the other hand, for corporate executives the method ensures that the CDQM strategy is derived from their objectives and that their requirements are systematically taken into account and fulfilled. Besides the method itself, the paper illustrates the entire design process which encompasses, among others, focus group and expert interviews, participative case studies and a multiperspective evaluation

On Measuring Net Ecosystem Carbon Exchange over Tall Vegetation on Complex Terrain

To assess annual budgets of CO2 exchange between the biosphere and atmosphere over representative ecosystems, long-term measurements must be made over ecosystems that do not exist on ideal terrain. How to interpret eddy covariance measurements correctly remains a major task. At present, net ecosystem CO2 exchange is assessed, by members of the micrometeorological community, as the sum of eddy covariance measurements and the storage of CO2 in the underlying air. This approach, however, seems unsatisfactory as numerous investigators are reporting that it may be causing nocturnal respiration flux densities to be underestimated. A new theory was recently published by Lee (1998, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 91: 39– 50) for assessing net ecosystem-atmosphere CO2 exchange (Ne) over non-ideal terrain. It includes a vertical advection term. We apply this equation over a temperate broadleaved forest growing in undulating terrain. Inclusion of the vertical advection term yields hourly, daily and annual sums of net ecosystem CO2 exchange that are more ecologically correct during the growing season. During the winter dormant period, on the other hand, corrected CO2 flux density measurements of an actively respiring forest were near zero. This observation is unrealistic compared to chamber measurements and model calculations. Only during midday, when the atmosphere is well-mixed, do measurements of Ne match estimates based on model calculations and chamber measurements. On an annual basis, sums of Ne without the advection correction were 40% too large, as compared with computations derived from a validated and process-based model. With the inclusion of the advection correction term, we observe convergence between measured and calculated values of Ne on hourly, daily and yearly time scales. We cannot, however, conclude that inclusion of a one-dimensional, vertical advection term into the continuity equation is sufficient for evaluating CO2 exchange over tall forests in complex terrain. There is an indication that the neglected term, u(c/x), is non-zero and that CO2 may be leaking from the sides of the control volume during the winter. In this circumstance, forest floor CO2 efflux densities exceed effluxes measured above the canopy

Modelling Age- and Density-Related Gas Exchange of Picea abies Canopies in the Fichtelgebirge, Germany

Differences in canopy exchange of water and carbon dioxide that occur due to changes in tree structure and density in montane Norway spruce stands of Central Germany were analyzed with a three dimensional microclimate and gas exchange model STANDFLUX. The model was used to calculate forest radiation absorption, the net photosynthesis and transpiration of single trees, and gas exchange of tree canopies. Model parameterizations were derived for six stands of Picea abies (L.) Karst. differing in age from 40 to 140 years and in density from 1680 to 320 trees per hectare. Parameterization included information on leaf area distribution from tree harvests, tree positions and tree sizes. Gas exchange was modelled using a single species-specific set of physiological parameters and assuming no influence of soil water availability. For our humid montane stands, these simplifying assumptions appeared to be acceptable. Comparisons of modelled daily tree transpiration with water use estimates from xylem sapflow measurements provided a test of the model. Estimates for canopy transpiration rate derived from the model and via xylem sapflow measurements agreed within $\pm$20%, especially at moderate to high air vapor pressure deficits. The results suggest that age and density dependent changes in canopy structure (changes in clumping of needles) and their effect on light exposure of the average needle lead to shifts in canopy conductance and determine tree canopy transpiration in these managed montane forests. Modelled canopy net photosynthesis rates are presented, but have not yet been verified at the canopy level

Communication: Vibrational and vibronic coherences in the two dimensional spectroscopy of coupled electron-nuclear motion

We theoretically investigate the photon-echo spectroscopy of coupled electron-nuclear quantum dynamics. Two situations are treated. In the first case, the Born-Oppenheimer (adiabatic) approximation holds. It is then possible to interpret the two-dimensional (2D) spectra in terms of vibrational motion taking place in different electronic states. In particular, pure vibrational coherences which are related to oscillations in the time-dependent third-order polarization can be identified. This concept fails in the second case, where strong non-adiabatic coupling leads to the breakdown of the Born-Oppenheimer-approximation. Then, the 2D-spectra reveal a complicated vibronic structure and vibrational coherences cannot be disentangled from the electronic motion

Community Health in der Bochumer Hustadt: Wider eine vermeintliche Kultur der Schwer-Erreichbarkeit und der Nicht-Partizipation marginalisierter Communities

Das Kapitel befasst sich mit Community zentrierten Interventionen in einer marginalisierten und multidiversen Bochumer Nachbarschaft. Zielgruppe sind Menschen, die häufig als "integrationsunwillig" gegenüber Präventionsangeboten bezeichnet werden. In dem hier vorgestellten partizipativen Projekt übernehmen einige der Community Mitglieder selber die Rolle von Stadtteilforscher*innen. Zusammen mit Studierenden der Hochschule für Gesundheit wird Wissen auf Grundlage von partizipativen Forschungsmethoden mit dem Ziel koproduziert, diversitätsspezifische Präventionsangebote zu entwickeln. Im Folgenden werden die Vorteile von partizipativen Forschungsmethoden bei Interventionen in marginalisierten Communities und der damit verknüpften Koproduktion von Community-Health-Wissen hervorgehoben sowie eigene Forschungsergebnisse aus diesem Feld präsentiert. Abschließend werden Handlungsempfehlungen für diversitätssensible Community-Health-Ansätze gegeben, die auf einem konstruktivistischen Kulturverständnis basieren.This article presents a community-based health intervention in a marginalised, multidiverse neighbourhood in Bochum that targets people, often stigmatized as unwilling to 'integrate' or to participate in prevention activities. In this participatory project, the members of the community itself take the role of community researchers. Together with the students of the University of Applied Health Sciences they co-create knowledge based on participatory research methods with the aim to develop diversity specific prevention offers. The article highlights the benefits of participatory methods for interventions in marginalised communities and with regard to the co-production of Community Health knowledge, presents research results and formulates recommendations for a diversity sensitive Community Health approach based on a constructivist concept of culture

Die Perspektive der Ethnologie auf Community Health

In diesem Artikel werden ethnologische Perspektiven auf Community Health vorgestellt. Zunächst wird auf den Paradigmenwechsel der Ethnologie von einer Erforschung und somit Markierung des oder der 'Anderen' im kolonialen Kontext zu einer Erforschung, Beschreibung und eines Verstehens anderer Möglichkeiten, Lebensweisen und Möglichkeitsbedingungen von Alltagswirklichkeiten eingegangen. Dabei sind insbesondere die im eigenkulturellen Kontext von Community Health entstehenden ethnologischen Perspektiven von Relevanz, die ihren analytischen Fokus auf die Gesundheitsversorgung marginalisierter Communities im Hinblick auf strukturelle Ungleichheiten richten. Die Relevanz dieser Fokussierung wird neben ihrer inhaltlichen Ausführung durch eine Vorstellung des von der Ethnologie angewandten ethnografischen Methodeninstrumentariums präsentiert. Zudem werden drei relevante Bezüge der Ethnologie für Community Health hergestellt: 1. ethnologischer Kulturbegriff, 2. Medizinethnologie und 3. ethnologische Fragen und Methoden für Community Health.This article presents social-anthropological perspectives on Community Health. It starts by presenting the paradigm change of social anthropology from the delineation of 'the Other' in the colonial context to doing research, describing and understanding other possibilities, life-ways and conditions of life possibilities. Of specific relevance are those social anthropological perspectives created in the intra-cultural contexts of Community Health who direct their analytical focus on the health care of marginalised communities with regard to structural inequalities. The relevance of these perspectives will next to their contentwise presentation underlined by their methodological toolkit 'ethnography'. Besides, three specifically relevant relations of social anthropology for Community Health will be outlined such as 1. The social-anthropological concept of culture, 2. Medical anthropology and 3. Social-anthropological questions and methods for Community Health

Footprint-weighted tile approach for a spruce forest and a nearby patchy clearing using the ACASA model

The ACASA (Advanced Canopy-Atmosphere-Soil Algorithm) model, with a higher-order closure for tall vegetation, has already been successfully tested and validated for homogeneous spruce forests. The aim of this paper is to test the model using a footprint-weighted tile approach for a clearing with a heterogeneous structure of the underlying surface. The comparison with flux data shows a good agreement with a footprint-aggregated tile approach of the model. However, the results of a comparison with a tile approach on the basis of the mean land use classification of the clearing is not significantly different. It is assumed that the footprint model is not accurate enough to separate small-scale heterogeneities. All measured fluxes are corrected by forcing the energy balance closure of the test data either by maintaining the measured Bowen ratio or by the attribution of the residual depending on the fractions of sensible and latent heat flux to the buoyancy flux. The comparison with the model, in which the energy balance is closed, shows that the buoyancy correction for Bowen ratios > 1.5 better fits the measured data. For lower Bowen ratios, the correction probably lies between the two methods, but the amount of available data was too small to make a conclusion. With an assumption of similarity between water and carbon dioxide fluxes, no correction of the net ecosystem exchange is necessary for Bowen ratios > 1.5