Stefan Boes, Count data models with correlated unobserved heterogeneity, Scandinavian Journal of Statistics, Vol. 37 (3), 2010. (Journal Article)
As previously argued, the correlation between included and omitted regressors generally causes inconsistency of standard estimators for count data models. Non-linear instrumental variables estimation of an exponential model under conditional moment restrictions is one of the proposed remedies. This approach is extended here by fully exploiting the model assumptions and thereby improving efficiency of the resulting estimator. Empirical likelihood in particular has favourable properties in this setting compared with the two-step generalized method of moments, as demonstrated in a Monte Carlo experiment. The proposed method is applied to the estimation of a cigarette demand function. |
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Stefania Lottanti von Mandach, Wandel braucht kluges Vorgehen, In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 88, p. 93, 17 April 2010. (Newspaper Article)
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R Grütter, Thomas Scharrenbach, B Waldvogel, Vague spatio-thematic query-processing - a qualitative approach to spatial closeness, Transactions in GIS, Vol. 14 (2), 2010. (Journal Article)
In order to support the processing of qualitative spatial queries, spatial knowledge must be represented in a way that machines can make use of it. Ontologies typically represent thematic knowledge. Enhancing them with spatial knowledge is still a challenge. In this article, an implementation of the Region Connection Calculus (RCC) in the Web Ontology Language (OWL), augmented by DL-safe SWRL rules, is used to represent spatio-thematic knowledge. This involves partially ordered partitions, which are implemented by nominals and functional roles. Accordingly, a spatial division into administrative regions, rather than, for instance, a metric system, is used as a frame of reference for evaluating closeness. Hence, closeness is evaluated purely according to qualitative criteria. Colloquial descriptions typically involve qualitative concepts. The approach presented here is thus expected to align better with the way human beings deal with closeness than does a quantitative approach. To illustrate the approach, it is applied to the retrieval of documents from the database of the Datacenter Nature and Landscape (DNL). |
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C Eisenegger, D Knoch, R P Ebstein, L R R Gianotti, P S Sándor, Ernst Fehr, Dopamine receptor D4 polymorphism predicts the effect of L-DOPA on gambling behavior, Biological Psychiatry, Vol. 67 (8), 2010. (Journal Article)
BACKGROUND: There is ample evidence that a subgroup of Parkinson's disease patients who are treated with dopaminergic drugs develop certain behavioral addictions such as pathological gambling. The fact that only a subgroup of these patients develops pathological gambling suggests an interaction between dopaminergic drug treatment and individual susceptibility factors. These are potentially of genetic origin, since research in healthy subjects suggests that vulnerability for pathological gambling may be linked to variation in the dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) gene. Using a pharmacogenetic approach, we investigated how variation in this gene modulates the impact of dopaminergic stimulation on gambling behavior in healthy subjects. METHODS: We administered 300 mg of L-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) or placebo to 200 healthy male subjects who were all genotyped for their DRD4 polymorphism. Subjects played a gambling task 60 minutes after L-DOPA administration. RESULTS: Without considering genetic information, L-DOPA administration did not lead to an increase in gambling propensity compared with placebo. As expected, however, an individual's DRD4 polymorphism accounted for variation in gambling behavior after the administration of L-DOPA. Subjects who carry at least one copy of the 7-repeat allele showed an increased gambling propensity after dopaminergic stimulation. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate that genetic variation in the DRD4 gene determines an individual's gambling behavior in response to a dopaminergic drug challenge. They may have implications for the treatment of Parkinson's disease patients by offering a genotype approach for determining individual susceptibilities for pathological gambling and may also afford insights into the vulnerability mechanisms underlying addictive behavior. |
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Urs Birchler, Die SP sieht Gefahr durch Grossbanken: Partei präsentiert eine Analyse zur «Too big to fail»-Problematik, In: NZZ, p. online, 13 April 2010. (Newspaper Article)
Was die SP vermutet hat, betrachtet sie nun als erwiesen: Gemäss einer Studie, die sie in Auftrag gegeben hat, sind Grossbanken gefährlich für die Volkswirtschaft. Zur Lösung des Problems braucht es laut der Studie Massnahmen auf verschiedenen Ebenen. |
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Margit Osterloh, Bitte keine Boni mehr, In: Das moderne Nachrichtenmagazin, 15, p. 130 - 132, 12 April 2010. (Newspaper Article)
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Towards the Future Internet - Emerging Trends from European Research, Edited by: Georgios Tselentis, Alex Galis, Anastasius Gavras, Srdjan Krco, Volkmar Lotz, Elena Simperl, Burkhard Stiller, Theodore Zahariadis, IOS Press, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2010-04-12. (Edited Scientific Work)
This peer-reviewed book contains papers describing the major scientific achievements supported by European funding in the area of Future Internet. It is published in the context of FIA, the Future Internet Assembly, which is structured to permit interactions across technical domains from researchers and other stakeholders active in Future Internet research. FIA holds two meetings per year and calls on those involved in relevant funded research projects to participate actively and to steer its work.
European scientists proved that they are at the forefront of Internet research already since the invention of the web. But the challenges are huge and complex and cannot be dealt with in isolation. The European Future Internet Assembly is the vehicle to a fruitful scientific dialogue, bringing together the different scientific disciplines that contribute to the Future Internet development. |
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K Beck, Bewährungsprobe für Managed Care, In: NZZ am Sonntag, 15, p. 64, 11 April 2010. (Newspaper Article)
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Sven Seuken, Kamal Jain, Desney Tan, Mary Czerwinski, Hidden Markets: UI Design for a P2P Backup Application, In: Proceedings of the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), Atlanta, GA, 2010. (Conference or Workshop Paper published in Proceedings)
The Internet has allowed market-based systems to become
increasingly pervasive. In this paper we explore the role of
user interface (UI) design for these markets. Different UIs
induce different mental models which in turn determine how
users understand and interact with a market. Thus, the intersection
of UI design and economics is a novel and important
research area. We make three contributions at this intersection.
First, we present a novel design paradigm which
we call hidden markets. The primary goal of hidden markets
is to hide as much of the market complexities as possible.
Second, we explore this new design paradigm using one
particular example: a P2P backup application. We explain
the market underlying this system and provide a detailed description
of the new UI we developed. Third, we present results
from a formative usability study. Our findings indicate
that a number of users could benefit from a market-based
P2P backup system. Most users intuitively understood the
give & take principle as well as the bundle constraints of
the market. However, the pricing aspect was difficult to discover/
understand for many users and thus needs further investigation.
Overall, the results are encouraging and show
promise for the hidden market paradigm. |
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Benny Lin, Elaine May Huang, Reuse: Promoting repurposing through an online DIY community, In: CHI 2010, 2010. (Conference or Workshop Paper)
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Joe Tullio, Elaine May Huang, David Wheatley, Harry Zhang, Claudia Guerrero, Amruta Tamdoo, Experience, adjustment and engagement: The role of video in law enforcement, In: ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), USA, 2010. (Conference or Workshop Paper published in Proceedings)
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Sarah Mennicken, Thorsten Karrer, Peter Russell, Jan Borchers, First-Person Cooking: A Dual-Perspective Interactive Kitchen Counter, In: CHI '10: Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems, ACM Press, New York, NY, USA, 2010. (Conference or Workshop Paper published in Proceedings)
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Felix-Robinson Aschoff, Gerhard Schwabe, MetAgora - A meta-community approach to guide users through the diversity of web communities, In: Extended Abstracts of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in computing systems (CHI 2010), s.n., 2010-04-10. (Conference or Workshop Paper published in Proceedings)
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Liliana Winkelmann, Rainer Winkelmann, Does inequality harm the middle class?, Kyklos, Vol. 63 (2), 2010. (Journal Article)
The paper provides estimates of the effect of economic inequality on middle class well being in Switzerland. Economic well being is proxied by a person's satisfaction with his/her income. Two inequality indicators are used, one standard (the Gini coefficient of the pre-tax income distribution) and one novel (the number of luxury car registrations per 1000 population). Identification is through cross-sectional variation of these indicators at various levels of spatial aggregation. Results using data from the Swiss Household Panel confirm the existence of a robust inverse relationship between inequality and satisfaction among the middle class. |
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Maria Olivares, Andrea Schenker-Wicki, How do Swiss Universities master the reforms of the last ten years? - Empirical evidence from a data envelopment analysis, In: International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM), University of Berne, 2010-04-07. (Conference or Workshop Paper)
Since the 1990ies the higher education system in the German speaking area has been faced an essential paradigm change: The model of governmental steering and control was replaced by the model of governmental supervision following the concept of New Public Management. It was assumed that an enlargement of autonomy would increase the effciency of the whole tertiary system. At the same time, the restructuring
of the European higher education system has been started in
1999 by implementing the Bologna reforms. To investigate how the Swiss universities have digested the national and international reforms we apply an input distance function and estimate the technical effciency of a panel data set containing all of the 12 Swiss universities for the period of 1999-2008 both at university level and discipline level.
We find essential effciency variations across the disciplines caused by structural differences regarding the endowment with ressources and output targets which indicate the need to analyse effciency at a disaggregated level. Furthermore, our results show that there are external determinants that affect the effciency of Swiss universities. |
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Gerhard Schwabe, B Schenk, C Bretscher, Enabling advisors and citizens through Citizens' Advice 2.0, In: 14th Annual Conference of the International Research Society for Public Management (IRSPM), 2010-04-07. (Conference or Workshop Paper published in Proceedings)
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Maarten Jan Manders, Pairs Trading in Europe: Understanding the Dynamics of Profitability, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2010. (Bachelor's Thesis)
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Gabriel Lappe, Foreign Exchange: Theorie und Praxis der Forward Premium, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2010. (Bachelor's Thesis)
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Karl Ruzsics, Wettbewerbspositionen aus Sicht der Realoptionen und der Spieltheorie, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2010. (Bachelor's Thesis)
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Vassilios Laios, Estimating Cross Asset Jump Process, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2010. (Bachelor's Thesis)
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