Contributions in Merlin

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In this paper we analyze high-frequency movements in Swiss asset markets in reaction to real-time communication by the Swiss National Bank. Our analysis of central bank communication encompasses monetary policy announcements, speeches and interviews. We examine the reactions of the currency market, the bond market and the stock exchange. The evidence suggests that speeches and interviews, along with monetary policy announcements, engender a significant price reaction. This paper sheds light on the relevance of communications other than monetary policy announcements.

In this paper we examine the likelihood of multiple real steady states in deterministic exchange economies with overlapping generations. There is a single good and a single agent per generation with constant relative risk aversion expected utility. In order to test for multiple equilibria we employ methods from computational algebraic geometry. In our examples, we find that multiplicity becomes less likely as the life span of agents increases but becomes more likely as the coefficient of risk aversion increases. For moderate values of risk aversion, multiplicity is very unlikely when agents live for five or more periods. (JEL: C61, C63, D50, D58)

Theories of the positive symptoms of schizophrenia hypothesize a role for aberrant reinforcement signaling driven by dysregulated dopamine transmission. Recently, we provided evidence of aberrant reward learning in symptomatic, but not asymptomatic patients with schizophrenia, using a novel paradigm, the Salience Attribution Test (SAT). The SAT is a probabilistic reward learning game that employs cues that vary across task-relevant and task-irrelevant dimensions; it provides behavioral indices of adaptive and aberrant reward learning. As an initial step prior to future clinical studies, here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine the neural basis of adaptive and aberrant reward learning during the SAT in healthy volunteers. As expected, cues associated with high relative to low reward probabilities elicited robust hemodynamic responses in a network of structures previously implicated in motivational salience; the midbrain, in the vicinity of the ventral tegmental area, and regions targeted by its dopaminergic projections, i.e. medial dorsal thalamus, ventral striatum and prefrontal cortex (PFC). Responses in the medial dorsal thalamus and polar PFC were strongly correlated with the degree of adaptive reward learning across participants. Finally, and most importantly, differential dorsolateral PFC and middle temporal gyrus (MTG) responses to cues with identical reward probabilities were very strongly correlated with the degree of aberrant reward learning. Participants who showed greater aberrant learning exhibited greater dorsolateral PFC responses, and reduced MTG responses, to cues erroneously inferred to be less strongly associated with reward. The results are discussed in terms of their implications for different theories of associative learning.

Current generation smartphones obviously outperform the older generations: they have improved hardware characteristics like bigger screens, better resolution, and faster CPU. Besides of being able to connect to several network types (GSM, GPRS, 3G, Wifi), they also provide other interesting features, such as multi-touch screen, GPS, accelerometer, compass, camera, etc. Finally, for most smartphones, there is a possibility for users to write and deploy their own applications. This procedure is especially easy when the target is an open platform. Google Android is one such platform, where the whole operating system is open source and application writing is supported by the programming language Java. Goal of this thesis is to design and implement a working prototype for a multiplayer game. The prototype should run on the Android Framework and expose its features. To connect players, a peer-to-peer approach shall be used. This thesis presents the different phases of developing the GeoQuiz game. With GeoQuiz, multiple players can compete against each other and compare their knowledge. Different types of questions out of the topic of geography make this game unique and fun to play. The TomP2P library has been used to provide a basic network. The thesis describes in detail the design process and the emerging models. With the help of those models, the implementation is analyzed and concrete problems are discussed. The result is a working prototype of the game. The thesis ends with a conclusion and discusses open points which could be improved.

Der Druck aus dem Ausland auf das Schweizer Bankgeheimnis trifft auch die unabhängigen Vermögensverwalter. Besonders die in der Westschweiz und im Tessin ansässigen Unternehmen verwalten viele Vermögen von Kunden mit Domizil im Ausland.

In komplexen Lebenslagen benötigen Bürger selbst in Zeiten des Internets eine persönliche Beratung. In Mystery Shoppings zeigte sich, dass die Kommunen bisher keinem strukturierten Beratungsprozess folgen, wie man ihn von kommerziellen Dienstleistern kennt. In diesem Paper wird der in dem Pilotprojekt Bürgerberatung 2.0 entwickelte Bürgerberatungsprozess vorgestellt. Dieses Paper konzentriert sich dabei auf zwei Phasen des Prozesses: Die Bedarfserhebung und die Informationsaggregation. Eine Bedarfserhebung ist in komplexen Lebenslagen notwendig, wenn Bürger zwar ihre Situation beschreiben, aber mangels Vorwissen nicht gezielt Fragen stellen können. Die Informationsaggregation fügt die in einer Suche gefundenen Einzelinformationen so zu einem Gesamtbild, dass der Bürger dann auch handlungsfähig ist. Hierfür wird ein Strukturierungsansatz der relevanten Informationen zu IT-gestützter Bürgerberatung für das Beispiel der Beratung schwangerer Frauen vorgestellt. Diese Informationsstrukturen wurden in einem Prototyp umgesetzt und in einer deutschen Kommune evaluiert. Die durchgehend positiven Evaluierungsergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass Bürgerinnen eine Bürgerberatung handlungsfähig verlassen, wenn die Ergebnisse einer gemeinsamen Informationssuche mit dem Berater nach den fünf Strukturierungsdimensionen „Themen“, „Orte“, „Zeit“, „Ressourcen“ und „Aktivität“ aggregiert werden.

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In modern architectures based on Web Services or Cloud Computing, a very large number of user requests arrive concurrently and has to be scheduled for execution constrained by correctness criteria, service-level agreements etc. The state of the art is to develop hand-coded schedulers, though this tails great costs, long development times, reduced developer productivity and inflexibility of mapping frequently changing requirements. In this paper, we present our approach for a scheduler component that can be programmed using declarative rules. Instead of handling one request at a time, we propose to treat sets of requests as data collections and to employ database query processing techniques to produce high-quality schedules in an efficient manner. Our declarative scheduler will allow for a more flexible and productive way to define existing scheduling protocols, service level agreements and novel application specific consistency protocols. First results presented here are encouraging and motivate for further investigation.