Patricia Pálffy, Patrick Lehnert, Uschi Backes-Gellner, Männer orientieren sich bei der Berufswahl stärker an Geschlechternormen, Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Angewandte Berufsbildungsforschung SGAB, SGAB Website, https://transfer.vet/maenner-orientieren-sich-bei-der-berufswahl-staerker-an-geschlechternormen/, 2023-10-14. (Scientific Publication In Electronic Form)
Männliche Jugendliche in Regionen mit traditionelleren Geschlechternormen (die sich über Abstimmungsergebnisse feststellen lassen) bewerben sich eher für typische Männerberufe und weniger für typische Frauenberufe. Bei weiblichen Jugendlichen ist dieser Zusammenhang nicht gegeben. Das zeigen die Ergebnisse einer Studie des Swiss Leading House VPET-ECON; diese bleiben robust, wenn die regionale Arbeitsmarktsituation der Individuen und andere denkbare Einflüsse berücksichtigt werden. Die Studie steht im Einklang mit anderen Untersuchungen, die zeigen, dass sich Männer heutzutage im Durchschnitt stärker an Geschlechternormen orientieren als Frauen. Das könnte ein Hinweis auf den Erfolg langjähriger Massnahmen sein, die darauf abzielen, das Interesse von Mädchen an MINT-Berufen und das Bewusstsein für Geschlechterstereotypen zu erhöhen. Für Jungen fehlen ähnliche Massnahmen bisher weitgehend. |
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Ian A Cooper, Kjell G. Nyborg, LBO Valuation Using Flows-to-Equity, In: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Private Equity, Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, p. Epub ahead of print, 2023-10-11. (Book Chapter)
The flows-to-equity method is commonly used in leveraged buyouts and other highly leveraged transactions. These flows are hybrid flows, mixing expected operating cash flows with promised debt payments under a planned debt schedule. Because of this, it is difficult to accurately estimate the appropriate discount rate, a difficulty that is compounded by the typically changing leverage over time under the planned debt schedule. We show how the flows-to-equity approach works and discuss its benefits and drawbacks as compared with other, “more standard” methods. |
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Tobias Boner, Bruno Rodrigues, Thomas Bocek, Burkhard Stiller, Deferral: on the Feasibility of High-Volume Blockchain-based Referral Systems, In: 2023 5th Conference on Blockchain Research & Applications for Innovative Networks and Services (BRAINS), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2023-10-11. (Conference or Workshop Paper published in Proceedings)
Digital marketing has transformed referral marketing, revealing limitations in traditional centralized systems such as trust, transparency, and efficiency, however, the potential advantages of decentralized systems remain underexplored. This paper investigates the feasibility of a high-volume, decentralized referral system. The approach assesses smart contract prototypes for cost-effectiveness and performance in high-user engagement scenarios in different EVM-compatible blockchains and referral strategies, such as multilevel referrals. Findings confirm the technical viability as a blueprint for designing and implementing similar systems, highlighting challenges in real-world deployments, such as Sybil attacks, and the interplay between technical and economical design factors. |
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Małgorzata Machowicz, Jan Cieciuch, Wymiary temperamentu i przywiązania jako predyktory nieprawidłowości funkcjonowania osobowości według DSM-5, Psychiatria Polska (328), 2023. (Journal Article)
Aim. The study aimed to assess the role of temperament and attachment dimensions for personality pathology defined as impairments in self– and interpersonal functioning according to Criterion A of Section III of the DSM-5.
Method. The study was conducted in Poland with a group of 391 participants. The following measurement instruments were used: The Level of Personality Functioning Scale – Brief Form 2.0 (LPFS-BF 2.0), the Temperament Metadimensions Questionnaire (TMQ), the Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ), and the Experiences in Close Relationships – Revised (ECR-R).
Results. The joint estimation of temperament and attachment role in explaining impairments of personality functioning led to the following conclusions: (1) temperament explained impairments of self-functioning to a greater extent than impairments of interpersonal functioning; (2) temperamental “Reactivity” was more of a predictor of personality pathology than “Activity”; (3) adding attachment increased the magnitude of the explained variance of personality pathology; (4) attachment “Avoidance” explained impairments in interpersonal functioning to a greater extent, while attachment “Anxiety” explained impairments in selffunctioning to a greater extent. Conclusions. The impairments in personality functioning included in DSM-5 Criterion A are largely explained by two sets of variables: the more enduring and innate temperament and the attachment acquired through early interactions. Such a distinction is important from a clinical perspective, in which effective interactions can target those properties that can be modified and take into account those that are difficult or impossible to modify. |
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Anastasia Ruvimova, Felipe Fronchetti, Boden A Kahn, Luiz Henrique Susin, Zekeya Hurley, Thomas Fritz, Mark Hancock, David Shepherd, Ready Worker One? High-Res VR for the Home Office, In: VRST 2023: 29th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology, ACM Digital library, 2023-10-09. (Conference or Workshop Paper published in Proceedings)
Many employees prefer to work from home, yet struggle to squeeze their office into an already fully-utilized space. Virtual Reality (VR) seemingly offered a solution with its ability to transform even modest physical spaces into spacious, productive virtual offices, but hardware challenges---such as low resolution---have prevented this from becoming a reality. Now that hardware issues are being overcome, we are able to investigate the suitability of VR for daily work. To do so, we (1) studied the physical space that users typically dedicate to home offices and (2) conducted an exploratory study of users working in VR for one week. For (1) we used digital ethnography to study 430 self-published images of software developer workstations in the home, confirming that developers faced myriad space challenges. We used speculative design to re-envision these as VR workstations, eliminating many challenges. For (2) we asked 10 developers to work in their own home using VR for about two hours each day for four workdays, and then interviewed them. We found that working in VR improved focus and made mundane tasks more enjoyable. While some subjects reported issues---annoyances with the fit, weight, and umbilical cord of the headset---the vast majority of these issues seem to be addressable. Together, these studies show VR technology has the potential to address many key problems with home workstations, and, with continued improvements, may become an integral part of creating an effective workstation in the home. |
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Ning Wang, Nico Mutzner, Karl Blanchet, Societal acceptance of urban drones: A scoping literature review, Technology in Society, Vol. 75, 2023. (Journal Article)
The use of drones (or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) in urban areas has emerged rapidly in the last decade, and continues to expand at an accelerating pace. Alongside the emergent uses of high-impact technology in both public and private sectors, political debates about the potential risks and challenges have arisen, encompassing diverse perspectives and attitudes about the ethical, legal, social, and regulatory implications of introducing and integrating new technology in society. This scoping review offers an assessment of the societal acceptance factors of urban drones discussed in the current academic literature. We used a hybrid approach including quantitative landscape mapping and qualitative content analysis of the selected articles to inductively develop a typology of acceptance factors associated with urban use of drones. This review illuminates areas that have been the focus of attention within the current body of knowledge (e.g., visual and noise pollution of drones), sketches the evolution of the relevant discussions over time (e.g., a focus on the safety of the drone technology toward safety of the cargo it carries and security of the data it collects), and points to areas that have received less considerations (e.g., media appropriation and social group influence). It can, thus, help situate the topic of societal acceptance of urban drones in specific contexts, and orient future research on promoting value sensitive innovation in society more broadly. |
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Piotr Danisewicz, Steven Ongena, Fiscal transfers, local government, and entrepreneurship, Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 2023. (Journal Article)
Can local government spending spur entrepreneurial activity? To answer this question, we study a setting where, around multiple pre‐determined and non‐manipulable thresholds, municipalities with lower tax revenues receive direct and different monetary grants from the national budget. Employing a fuzzy regression discontinuity design, we find a positive impact of fiscal transfers on the number of firms, especially sole proprietorships and small firms. The impact is stronger in municipalities where the opposition is more involved in the legislative process or more parties are represented in the municipal council. |
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Nadine Strauß, Jonathan Krakow, Marc Chesney, It’s the News, Stupid! The Relationship Between News Attention, Literacy, Trust, Greenwashing Perceptions and Sustainable Finance Investment in Switzerland, Journal of Sustainable Finance & Investment, Vol. 13 (4), 2023. (Journal Article)
Although sustainable finance (SF) has become a leading trend in the financial industry, little is known about how attention to news on SF, trust in the industry, and recent accusations of greenwashing affect the likelihood to invest in SF products. Based on a survey of a representative sample of Swiss citizens, we find that more attention to news about SF and trust in SF are positively related to the likelihood of investing in SF, whereas greenwashing perceptions are negatively related. Furthermore, attention to SF and economic news are positive predictors of sustainable finance literacy (SFL), whereas attention to SF news is negatively associated with greenwashing perception of SF. Collectively, these findings imply that engaging citizens with SF investments, particularly information seeking on SF news and trust in SF rather than SFL, need to be fostered. The Implications of the communication practices of the SF industry and policy implications are discussed. |
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Katharina O E Müller, Louis Bienz, Bruno Rodrigues, Chao Feng, Burkhard Stiller, HomeScout: Anti-Stalking Mobile App for Bluetooth Low Energy Devices, In: 2023 IEEE 48th Conference on Local Computer Networks (LCN), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, 2023-10-02. (Conference or Workshop Paper published in Proceedings)
Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) personal trackers are affordable devices misused to track nonconsensual individuals. Due to the increased misuse, Apple implemented two detection applications. However, the Android application is limited to user-initiated scans with a fixed detection algorithm. This paper focuses on reducing the misuse of malicious trackers by examining current solutions, potential generic detection approaches, and improving tracker detection times. HomeScout expands detection to the Tile and Samsung Galaxy SmartTag+, and examines the misuse potential of all BLE-enabled devices. HomeScout can reliably detect devices tracking the user as quickly as 1 minute once in motion by optimizing the parameters. The optimal parameter setting for distance is 200 m due to its high recall rate, for occurrence is 2, and for time is 1 minute. Furthermore, HomeScout applies the tracking algorithm to all BLE-enabled devices. |
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Robin Hany, Autonomous drones for emergency services: accountability in socio-technical decision-making systems in the fire service, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2023. (Bachelor's Thesis)
During the last decades, unmanned drones have been deployed to a broad range of use cases. With the emergence and continuous development of artificial intelligence, applications which involve autonomous drones have attracted the attention of numerous fields of research. Currently, autonomous multi drone systems are studied and developed across fields like robotic, computer science, and environmental science. However, while the technical capabilities of such autonomous systems are constantly increasing, their impact on accountability has gone unnoticed. This seems surprising since autonomous drones nowadays have the capability to decide independently from any human intervention. This study integrates different perspectives on accountability to answer the question: How do autonomous drones’ applications impact accountability? Analysing two firefighting use cases, this study reveals three pitfalls to accountability in the application of autonomous drones, namely: a) autonomous drones are not perceived as being autonomous, b) the drones are not perceived as trustworthy and official actors, and lastly, c) the interaction between the drones and participants is leading to accountability-relevant problems. The study concludes with a set of proposed solutions to mitigate the identified pitfalls and, thus, enhance accountability in the studied firefighting use cases. The proposed solutions also serve as a starting point for further research on this topic and to verify or discover further enhancements to accountability aspects in the context of autonomous systems. |
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Marco Thoma, Mensch oder Computer: eine qualitative Analyse der Ergebnisse des KI-Einsatzes im Online-Kundenfeedback-Management, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2023. (Bachelor's Thesis)
This thesis draws a vision on how to autonomously drive an open water search and rescue (SAR) operation based on drones. On the basis of a real-life SAR process at lake Thunersee, the paper aims to provide benefits and drawbacks of an autonomous drone system. Existing scientific concepts as well as systems in practice are presented within this work. Through expert interviews of SAR specialists, the existing process is analyzed. In a next step an autonomous drone entity is incorporated into the SAR process and presented with the six layers of collaboration model. Further a new thinkLet, focusing the search activity within the SAR process, is derived. Subsequently, a cloud-based solution is developed which allows to autonomously assign drones to a search area. This application serves as a foundation for further functional extensions. Some of these enhancements are described at the end of the thesis and assembled into a vision towards autonomous drone assistance in open water SAR operations. The thesis concludes that the inclusion of autonomous drone entities as teammates, rather than just as a tool, strengthen SAR operations and poses new opportunities. |
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Michelle Büchler, Analyzing the Effects of ESG Exclusion Strategies: Is the Lower ESG Risk-Exposure Associated with Lower Returns? Is the Higher Risk Due to Less Diversification Compensated by Higher Returns?, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2023. (Master's Thesis)
This thesis examines the risk-return attributes of portfolios screened for ESG factors against those
of unscreened portfolios. Key performance indicators are utilized in conjunction with multi-factor models, including the CAPM, Fama-French, and the Carhart models. An ESG factor is then introduced to quantify the ESG premium. The empirical results offer a nuanced perspective: ESG screening neither conclusively reduces portfolio risk nor unambiguously affects diversification. However, the study detects a statistically significant ESG premium, particularly during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic or the Ukraine conflict. Furthermore, it suggests that ESG-screened portfolios display comparable resilience to their unscreened counterparts during global crises. |
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Kexin Shi, Extreme Parkour with Legged Robots, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2023. (Master's Thesis)
Humans can perform parkour by traversing obstacles in a highly dynamic fashion requiring precise eye-muscle coordination and movement. Getting robots to do the same task requires overcoming similar challenges. Classically, this is done by independently engineering perception, actuation, and control systems to very low tolerances. This restricts them to tightly controlled settings such as a predetermined obstacle course in labs. In contrast, humans are able to learn parkour through practice without significantly changing their underlying biology. In this paper, we take a similar approach to developing robot parkour on a small low-cost robot with imprecise actuation and a single front-facing depth camera for perception which is low-frequency, jittery, and prone to artifacts. We show how a single neural net policy operating directly from a camera image, trained in simulation with large-scale RL, can overcome imprecise sensing and actuation to output highly precise control behavior end-to-end. We show our robot can perform a high jump on obstacles 2x its height, long jump across gaps 2x its length, do a handstand and run across tilted ramps, and generalize to novel obstacle courses with different physical properties. Parkour videos at https://extreme-parkour.github.io/. |
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Thomas Mannhart, KroneDB: Compressing and Querying Time Series Data using the Kronecker Decomposition, University of Zurich, Faculty of Business, Economics and Informatics, 2023. (Master's Thesis)
This thesis introduces the design of KroneDB, a system for compressing time series data using the Kronecker decomposition, while allowing for efficient evaluation of relational queries including selection, projection, join, and aggregates (SPJA). KroneDB allows for a tunable trade-off between compression ratio and approximation error, while exploiting periodic patterns within the data to improve the compression. The compressed data can be queried directly without prior decompression while reducing the runtime of most queries. Updates can be applied directly to the compressed data and naturally enable value imputation and outlier detection in the updating process. By embedding our approach into the Functional Aggregate Queries (FAQ) framework, we show that it can be applied to a wide range of fundamental problems. |
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Cornel Nesseler, Carlos Gomez Gonzalez, Petr Parshakov, Helmut Max Dietl, Examining discrimination against Jews in Italy with three natural field experiments, Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, Vol. 106, 2023. (Journal Article)
We use three natural field experiments to examine anti-Semitism in Italy by sending email inquiries to amateur football clubs, landlords, and employers and comparing the response rates to emails sent with Jewish- and non-Jewish-sounding names. Italy is an interesting country as discrimination was heterogeneous and geographically unevenly distributed during World War II. We analyze if today's anti-Semitism in Italy is geographically correlated to the deportations and killings of Jews during the Holocaust. The results show significant discrimination when looking for football club and an apartment, but not when seeking a job. We find markedly different results for women. Comparing areas with different societal and economic implications provides us with a more informed perspective about the extent of discrimination. |
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Patricia Pálffy, Patrick Lehnert, Uschi Backes-Gellner, Social norms and gendered occupational choices of men and women: Time to turn the tide?, Industrial Relations, Vol. 62 (4), 2023. (Journal Article)
We analyze the relationship between social gender norms and adolescents' occupational choices by combining regional votes on constitutional amendments on gender equality with job application data from a large job board for apprenticeships. The results show that adolescent males in regions with stronger traditional social gender norms are more likely to apply for typically male occupations. This finding does not hold for females, suggesting that incentivizing men to break the norms and choose gender-atypical occupations (e.g., in healthcare) can be even more effective in accelerating advancement toward gender equality in the labor market than incentivizing women to choose STEM occupations. |
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Simona Nistor, Steven Ongena, The Impact of Policy Interventions on Systemic Risk across Banks, Journal of Financial Services Research, Vol. 64 (2), 2023. (Journal Article)
What is the impact of policy interventions on the systemic risk of banks? To answer this question, we analyze a comprehensive sample that combines an original set of bank-specific bailout events with the balance sheets of key affected and nonaffected European banks between 2005 and 2014. We find a positive and significant association of guarantees with systemic risk that is somewhat weaker in the long run when the regulator appoints members to the supervisory board. The short run association between recapitalizations and systemic risk is also positive for large and less capitalized banks, while in the long run, recapitalizations are linked with reduced systemic importance, especially for less profitable banks and in cases when the regulator limits management pay. Liquidity injections are positively linked with systemic risk, but the long-run effect is mitigated for small or better capitalized banks. In the short run, injecting liquidity is associated with reduced systemic risk when the regulator imposes restrictions on supervisory board composition or on management pay or capital payouts. |
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Daniel Fasnacht, D. Proba, Inter-Organizational Agility as Driving Force for Innovation, SAGE Open , Vol. forthcoming, 2023. (Journal Article)
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Nadine Kammerlander, Jochen Menges, Dennis Herhausen, Petra Kipfelsberger, Heike Bruch, How family CEOs affect employees’ feelings and behaviors: A study on positive emotions, Long Range Planning, Vol. 56 (5), 2023. (Journal Article)
Research suggests that firms with family CEOs differ from other types of businesses, yet surprisingly little is known about how employees in these firms feel and behave compared to those working in other firms. We draw from family science and management research to suggest that family CEOs, because of their emotion-evoking double role as family members and business leaders, are, on average, more likely to infuse employees with positive emotions, such as enthusiasm and excitement, than hired professional CEOs. We suggest that these emotions spread through firms by way of emotional contagion during interactions with employees, thereby setting the organizational affective tone. In turn, we hypothesize that in firms with family CEOs the voluntary turnover rate is lower. In considering structural features as boundary conditions, we propose that family CEOs have stronger effects in smaller and centralized firms, and weaker effects in formalized firms. Multilevel data from 41,200 employees and 2,246 direct reports of CEOs from 497 firms with and without family CEOs provide support for our model. This research suggests that firms managed by family CEOs, despite often being criticized as nepotistic relics of the past, tend to offer pleasant work environments. |
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Ernesto de León, Mykola Makhortykh, Teresa Gil-Lopez, Aleksandra Urman, Silke Adam, News, Threats, and Trust: How COVID-19 News Shaped Political Trust, and How Threat Perceptions Conditioned This Relationship, International Journal of Press/Politics, Vol. 28 (4), 2023. (Journal Article)
This study explores shifts in political trust during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in Switzerland, examining the role that media consumption and threat perceptions played in individuals’ trust in politics. We combine panel surveys taken before and during the first nation-wide lockdown with webtracking data of participants' online behaviour to paint a nuanced picture of media effects during the crisis. Our work has several findings. First, political trust, an attitude known for its stability, increased following lockdown. Second, consumption of mainstream news on COVID-19 directly hindered this increase, with those reading more news having lower over-time trust, while the relatively minor alternative news consumption had no direct effect on political trust. Third, threat perceptions a) to health and b) from the policy response to the pandemic, have strong and opposite effects on political trust, with threats to health increasing trust, and threats from the government policy response decreasing it. Lastly, these threat perceptions condition the effect of COVID-19 news consumption on political trust: perceptions of threat had the power to both exacerbate and mute the effect of media consumption on government trust during the pandemic. Notably, we show that the expected negative effect of alternative news on political trust only exists for those who did not think COVID-19 posed a threat to their health, while public service news consumption reduced the negative effect produced by government threat perceptions. The paper therefore advances our understanding of the nuanced nature of media effects, particularly as relates to alternative media, especially during moments of crisis. |
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