Cristian Morariu, DiCAP: Distributed Packet Capturing Architecture for High-Speed Network Links, In: 33rd Annual IEEE Conference on Local Computer Networks (LCN). 2008. (Conference Presentation)
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 R McElreath, A V Bell, C Efferson, M Lubell, P J Richerson, T Waring, Beyond existence and aiming outside the laboratory: estimating frequency-dependent and pay-off-biased social learning strategies, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Vol. 363 (1509), 2008. (Journal Article)
The existence of social learning has been confirmed in diverse taxa, from apes to guppies. In order to advance our understanding of the consequences of social transmission and evolution of behavior, however, we require statistical tools that can distinguish among diverse social learning strategies. In this paper, we advance two main ideas. First, social learning is diverse, in the sense that individuals can take advantage of different kinds of information and combine them in different ways. Examining learning strategies for different information conditions illuminates the more detailed design of social learning. We construct and analyze an evolutionary model of diverse social learning heuristics, in order to generate predictions and illustrate the impact of design differences on an organism's fitness. Second, in order to eventually escape the laboratory and apply social learning models to natural behavior, we require statistical methods that do not depend upon tight experimental control. Therefore we examine strategic social learning in an experimental setting in which the social information itself is endogenous to the experimental group, as it is in natural settings. We develop statistical models for distinguishing among different strategic uses of social information. The experimental data strongly suggest most participants employ a hierarchical strategy that uses both average observed
payoffs of options as well as frequency information, the same model predicted by our evolutionary analysis to dominate a wide range of conditions. |
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Hans Geiger, Deutsches Zuckerbrot, In: Tagesanzeiger, p. Online, 11 November 2008. (Newspaper Article)
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Beat Fluri, J Zuberbühler, H C Gall, Recommending method invocation context changes, In: International Workshop on Recommender Systems for Software Engineering (RSSE 2008), Association for Computing Machinery (ACM), New York, 2008-11-10. (Conference or Workshop Paper published in Proceedings)
Our investigations of bug fixes in Eclipse showed that a significant amount of bugs were fixed by moving invocations of certain methods into the then or else-part of if-statements with similar conditions. Based on this finding, we leverage such context changes applied in the past to support developers while adding invocations of the same method. In this paper we present ChangeCommander, an Eclipse plugin that implements our approach to recommend insertions of particular if-statements before calling a method. ChangeCommander presents context change suggestions by highlighting affected method invocations in the source code and provides automated code adaptation support. |
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Martin Pinzger, N Nagappan, B Murphy, Can Developer-Module Networks Predict Failures?, In: ACM SIGSOFT Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering, 2008-11-09. (Conference or Workshop Paper published in Proceedings)
Software teams should follow a well defined goal and keep their
work focused. Work fragmentation is bad for efficiency and
quality. In this paper we empirically investigate the relationship
between the fragmentation of developer contributions and the
number of post-release failures. Our approach is to represent
developer contributions with a developer-module network that we
call contribution network. We use network centrality measures to
measure the degree of fragmentation of developer contributions.
Fragmentation is determined by the centrality of software modules
in the contribution network. Our claim is that central software
modules are more likely to be failure-prone than modules located
in surrounding areas of the network. We analyze this hypothesis
by exploring the network centrality of Microsoft Windows Vista
binaries using several network centrality measures as well as
linear and logistic regression analysis. In particular, we investigate
which centrality measures are significant to predict the probability
and number of post-release failures. Results of our experiments
show that central modules are more failure-prone than modules
located in surrounding areas of the network. Results further
confirm that number of authors and number of commits are
significant predictors for the probability of post-release failures.
For predicting the number of post-release failures the closeness
centrality measure is most significant. |
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Maria Olivares, Efficiency of German Universities: A Stochastic Frontier Analysis Accounting for Environmental Factors, In: SRHE Newer Researcher and Postgradudate Conference, Valuing Higher Education. 2008. (Conference Presentation)
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Gary Hsieh, Robert Kraut, Scott E. Hudson, Roberto A. Weber, Can markets help? Applying market mechanisms to improve synchronous communication, In: Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW 2008), New York, NY, 2008. (Conference or Workshop Paper published in Proceedings)
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Urs Wenger, Jede Stunde kann nur einmal gelebt werden, In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 268, p. 81, 8 November 2008. (Newspaper Article)
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P Langenegger, Wo nur die Besten in Frage kommen, In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung: Beilage NZZ executive, 262, p. 77, 8 November 2008. (Newspaper Article)
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Andrea Schenker-Wicki, Wie bringt man Manager dazu, strategisch zu denken? Reasoning, Inference, Decision and Other Things, In: Workshop at the occasion of 50 years Computer Science at the University of Fribourg. 2008. (Conference Presentation)
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Urs Meister, Der Schweizer Strommarkt braucht Strukturveränderungen, In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 261, p. 27, 7 November 2008. (Newspaper Article)
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Stephan Skaanes, Andreas Reichlin, Neue Anlagevorschriften für Vorsorgewerke bringen weniger Regulierung: mehr Eigenverantwortung für die Stiftungsräte von Schweizer Pensionskassen, In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 259, p. 29, 5 November 2008. (Newspaper Article)
Am 1. Januar treten die neuen Anlagerichtlinien für Schweizer Vorsorgeeinrichtungen in Kraft. Mit ihnen dürfte die Professionalisierung der zweiten Säule weiter vorangetrieben werden. Der Anpassungsbedarf bei den Vorsorgewerken ist unterschiedlich. |
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M Dyck, M Winbeck, S Leiberg, Y Chen, R C Gur, K Mathiak, Recognition profile of emotions in natural and virtual faces, PLoS ONE, Vol. 3 (11), 2008. (Journal Article)
BACKGROUND: Computer-generated virtual faces become increasingly realistic including the simulation of emotional expressions. These faces can be used as well-controlled, realistic and dynamic stimuli in emotion research. However, the validity of virtual facial expressions in comparison to natural emotion displays still needs to be shown for the different emotions and different age groups.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Thirty-two healthy volunteers between the age of 20 and 60 rated pictures of natural human faces and faces of virtual characters (avatars) with respect to the expressed emotions: happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and neutral. Results indicate that virtual emotions were recognized comparable to natural ones. Recognition differences in virtual and natural faces depended on specific emotions: whereas disgust was difficult to convey with the current avatar technology, virtual sadness and fear achieved better recognition results than natural faces. Furthermore, emotion recognition rates decreased for virtual but not natural faces in participants over the age of 40. This specific age effect suggests that media exposure has an influence on emotion recognition.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Virtual and natural facial displays of emotion may be equally effective. Improved technology (e.g. better modelling of the naso-labial area) may lead to even better results as compared to trained actors. Due to the ease with which virtual human faces can be animated and manipulated, validated artificial emotional expressions will be of major relevance in future research and therapeutic applications. |
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Reto Eberle, et al, Accounting and Financial Reporting Guidelines for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEGA) – Level 3 guidance, In: Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting, twenty-fifth session, s.n., 2008-11-04. (Conference or Workshop Paper published in Proceedings)
The Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting (ISAR) issued the publication Accounting and Financial Reporting Guidelines for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEGA) – Level 3 Guidance after deliberations during its seventeenth and eighteenth sessions. At its twenty-third session, ISAR requested the UNCTAD secretariat to reconvene a consultative group to, inter alia, update the SMEGA Level 3 Guidance. Accordingly, a consultative group was reconvened. Revisions proposed by the consultative group were considered at the twenty-fourth session of ISAR. In concluding its deliberations on the proposed revisions, the twenty-fourth session of ISAR requested that the UNCTAD secretariat incorporate into the document presented at that session comments and suggestions received then, as well as additional comments that interested delegations would submit after the session. The session also requested that the UNCTAD secretariat reconvene a consultative group with a view to finalizing the proposed revisions. Accordingly, a consultative group was reconvened. The secretariat has prepared this note containing a revised version of the SMEGA Level 3 Guidance for consideration and finalization by the twenty-fifth session of ISAR. |
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Reto Eberle, et al, Review of practical implementation issues relating to international financial reporting standards: Case study on Switzerland, In: Intergovernmental Working Group of Experts on International Standards of Accounting and Reporting, twenty-fifth session, s.n., 2008-11-04. (Conference or Workshop Paper published in Proceedings)
This case study presents the context, application and enforcement of international financial reporting standards (IFRS) in Switzerland. It begins with an introduction to the Swiss legal framework by presenting the requirements for accounting, reporting, and auditing. It then examines the application and enforcement of IFRS in Switzerland, particularly for listed companies. It concludes with a summary and an overview of expected amendments to the legal framework. The study notes that the regulatory framework for financial reporting in Switzerland is oriented towards the protection of creditors. International exposure and a need to raise external capital motivated Swiss entities to implement International Accounting Standards (IAS) on a voluntary basis and provide consolidated financial statements. The study shows that, between 2001 and 2007, the number of number of entities listed on the Swiss Exchange that prepare their annual reports on the basis of IFRS grew from 155 to 191. In 2007, out of a total of 262 companies listed on the Swiss Exchange, about 73 per cent prepared their financial statements in accordance with IFRS. For 2007, the key areas of focus for enforcement of IFRS for the Swiss Exchange relate to: financial instruments disclosure; accounting policies; income taxes; related party disclosures; and intangible assets from business combinations. |
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Uschi Backes-Gellner, S Veen, Aging workforces and challenges to human resource management in German firms, In: Human resource management in ageing societies: perspectives from Japan and Germany, Palgrave Macmillan, Houndmills, Basingstoke, p. 13 - 28, 2008-11-03. (Book Chapter)
The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the main challenges imposed by demographic change on the human resource management (HRM) policies of German companies. Although many more aspects of business are affected by demographic change, such as changes in consumption or in savings and investment and therefore in capital costs, we concentrate on changes in personnel policies prompted by an aging workforce. We cover a wide range of HRM policies, starting with recruitment problems, moving on to training issues, wages and incentives, and end with problems concerning innovation and technological change. |
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Ramazan Gençay, When do informed traders arrive in FX markets?, In: 2008 Latin American Meeting of the Econometric Society. 2008. (Conference Presentation)
This article examines the implications of the existence of private information in the spot foreign
exchange market. Our framework is a high-frequency version of a structural microstructure
trade model that measures the market maker’s beliefs directly. We find that the underpinnings
for the time-varying pattern of the probability of informed trading are rooted in the strategic
arrival of informed traders on a particular hour-of-day, day-of-week, and geographic location
(market). Specifically, we document that informed traders not only pick the low activity hours,
but also attach the largest market weight to a particular market. The distributions of the
estimated arrival rates confirm the commitment of the informed traders to strategic trading
activities. In our framework, we acknowledge that an expected loss of informed trading to the
market maker is a function of both the probability of informed trading and its likely impact on
the price. The impact of the uninformed traders’ arrival on the daily foreign exchange price
volatility is about twice the magnitude of the one for informed traders. These effects are in
stark contrast to the findings from the hourly data that indicate dominance of informed traders.
Finally, the results relate the informational content of trading to the trade size and suggest
that the probability of the informed large trading is significantly higher than the probability of
uninformed large trading. |
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Thomas Rosenberger, Entwicklung in Immobilien Derivativen, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2008. (Bachelor's Thesis)
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Marcel Harmann, Strukturierte Produkte aus der Sicht der Behavioral Finance, University of Zurich, Faculty of Economics, Business Administration and Information Technology, 2008. (Bachelor's Thesis)
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Michelle S. Sovinsky, Jeroen Hinloopen, Cooperation in the Classroom: Experimenting with R&D Cooperatives, Journal of Economic Education , Vol. 39 (4), 2008. (Journal Article)
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