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Study on the Social and Economic Added Value of the Support Programme "Employment Vouchers" respectively the Interreg CE “Social Impact Voucher” (SIV) Programme in Germany (Württemberg) by means of a Social Return on Investment (SROI) Analysis
Full text linkDeep Generative Models for Synthetic Data
Full text linkGrowing interest in synthetic data has stimulated development and advancement of a large variety of deep generative models for a wide range of applications. However, as this research has progressed, its streams have become more specialized and disconnected from each other. For example, models for synthesizing text data for natural language processing cannot readily be compared to models for synthesizing health records. To mitigate this isolation, we propose a data-driven evaluation framework for generative models for synthetic data based on five high-level criteria: representativeness, novelty, realism, diversity and coherence of a synthetic data sample relative to the original data-set regardless of the models' internal structures. The criteria reflect requirements different domains impose on synthetic data and allow model users to assess the quality of synthetic data across models. In a critical review of generative models for sequential data, we examine and compare the importance of each performance criterion in numerous domains. For example, we find that realism and coherence are more important for synthetic data for natural language, speech and audio processing, while novelty and representativeness are more important for healthcare and mobility data. We also find that measurement of representativeness is often accomplished using statistical metrics, realism by using human judgement, and novelty using privacy tests
Human rights violations and the gender gap in asylum recognition rates
Full text linkDuring the recent European refugee crisis, more than two million people applied for asylum in Germany. Female applicants stand a higher chance to gain protection than male applicants. Whilst small on average, this gender gap in asylum recognition rates varies strongly across countries of origin which has remained little noticed. We analyse the gender gap in asylum recognition rates for the 56 major countries of origin of refugees whose asylum claims are decided on over the period 2012–2018. We show that both general or gender-unspecific human rights abuses and gender-specific human rights violations are associated with cross-country variation in the gender gap in recognition rates – but in opposite ways. Specifically, we find that the gender gap is lower for refugees coming from countries with worse general human rights abuses in the form of political terror perpetrated by state agents but is higher for refugees from countries with a higher prevalence of female genital mutilation and a higher prevalence of child marriage
Distributed Ledger Technology Applications in Food Supply Chains: A Review of Challenges and Future Research Directions
Full text linkThe lack of transparency and traceability in food supply chains (FSCs) is raising concerns among consumers and stakeholders about food information credibility, food quality, and safety. Insufficient records, a lack of digitalization and standardization of processes, and information exchange are some of the most critical challenges, which can be tackled with disruptive technologies, such as the Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, and distributed ledger technologies (DLTs). Studies provide evidence that novel technological and sustainable practices in FSCs are necessary. This paper aims to describe current practical applications of DLTs and IoT in FSCs, investigating the challenges of implementation, and potentials for future research directions, thus contributing to achievement of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Within a systematic literature review, the content of 69 academic publications was analyzed, describing aspects of implementation and measures to address the challenges of scalability, security, and privacy of DLT, and IoT solutions. The challenges of high costs, standardization, regulation, interoperability, and energy consumption of DLT solutions were also classified as highly relevant, but were not widely addressed in literature. The application of DLTs in FSCs can potentially contribute to 6 strategic SDGs, providing synergies and possibilities for more sustainable, traceable, and transparent FSCs
Convex Projection and Convex Vector Optimization
Full text linkIn this paper we consider a problem, called convex projection, of projecting a convex set
onto a subspace. We will show that to a convex projection one can assign a particular multiobjective
convex optimization problem, such that the solution to that problem also solves the
convex projection (and vice versa), which is analogous to the result in the polyhedral convex
case considered in Löhne and Weißing (Math Methods Oper Res 84(2):411–426, 2016). In
practice, however, one can only compute approximate solutions in the (bounded or selfbounded)
convex case, which solve the problem up to a given error tolerance. We will show
that for approximate solutions a similar connection can be proven, but the tolerance level needs
to be adjusted. That is, an approximate solution of the convex projection solves the multiobjective
problem only with an increased error. Similarly, an approximate solution of the
multi-objective problem solves the convex projection with an increased error. In both cases the
tolerance is increased proportionally to amultiplier. Thesemultipliers are deduced and shown
to be sharp. These results allow to compute approximate solutions to a convex projection
problem by computing approximate solutions to the corresponding multi-objective convex
optimization problem, for which algorithms exist in the bounded case. For completeness, we
will also investigate the potential generalization of the following result to the convex case. In
Löhne and Weißing (Math Methods Oper Res 84(2):411–426, 2016), it has been shown for
the polyhedral case, how to construct a polyhedral projection associated to any given vector
linear program and how to relate their solutions. This in turn yields an equivalence between
polyhedral projection, multi-objective linear programming and vector linear programming.
We will show that only some parts of this result can be generalized to the convex case, and
discuss the limitations
Modeling Univariate and Multivariate Stochastic Volatility in R with stochvol and factorstochvol
Full text linkStochastic volatility (SV) models are nonlinear state-space models that enjoy increasing popularity for fitting and predicting heteroskedastic time series. However, due to the large number of latent quantities, their efficient estimation is non-trivial and software that allows to easily fit SV models to data is rare. We aim to alleviate this issue by presenting novel implementations of five SV models delivered in two R packages. Several unique features are included and documented. As opposed to previous versions, stochvol is now capable of handling linear mean models, conditionally heavy tails, and the leverage effect in combination with SV. Moreover, we newly introduce factorstochvol which caters for multivariate SV. Both packages offer a user-friendly interface through the conventional R generics and a range of tailor-made methods. Computational efficiency is achieved via interfacing R to C++ and doing the heavy work in the latter. In the paper at hand, we provide a detailed discussion on Bayesian SV estimation and showcase the use of the new software through various examples
The influence of values in sustainable consumption among millennials
Full text linkDue to climate change and global warming, sustainable consumption—as one possible solution to these challenges—is becoming more and more relevant. One generation that is affected the most by these developments are the millennials. While more and more baby boomers are retiring, millennials are now transitioning from being in training to being full-time employed, which marks a big change in their lives and makes understanding their values and consumption behaviour more important for marketers. The goal of our study is to clarify which values influence the building of attitude of millennials, if this influence differs according to employment status, and how attitude affects purchase intention concerning sustainable goods. Building to the list of values by Kahle (1983), the theory of planned behaviour, and perceived consumer effectiveness, we construct a framework to understand how values and employment status of millennials interact with their purchasing intention. Our results show that, among others, the values, that play a role during purchase intention forming, differ depending on the employment status. We also find that millennials place high importance on being in control when purchasing sustainable goods. Advertising and product managers can use our results to better understand and target the audience of their products as they construct their marketing efforts with the values of the audience in mind. In particular, messages that comply with the notion of being in control should be considered in every communication channel. This way, they may increase the share of sustainable consumers
Collective access to national courts for labour law and social policy disputes: Austria
Full text linkWith this paper we aimed to give an insight into Austria's labour and social security jurisdiction, notably into different forms of collective redress within this system. As the Austrian Labour and Social Courts Act provides for certain instruments of collective redress, the primary focus will be on those. The main drawback of those existing forms of collective action for labour law matters, however, is the lacking possibility for the single employee to enforce the respective judgement. Hence it can only serve as a legal test case. In that respect, instruments of Austria's general civil procedural law could present a practical alternative to the problem and thus the legal framework and ongoing academic debate about the application of those procedures is also a key part of the paper
The power of ethics: How value-based thinking fosters creative and sustainable IT product innovation
Full text linkThe digital transformation of the economy pressures companies to come up with convincing value propositions for investors and customers and to defend a competitive position in an environment of start-ups. While the need for creativity abounds in this environment, innovation needs to accommodate not only hyped technical advancements, but also ethically relevant values that support a sustainable future. In a two-study mixed-method research project covering three IT products––a digital toy, a food-delivery app and a telemedicine system––we show that the value-based product planning approach, which is inspired by utilitarianism, virtue ethics, and deontology, significantly increases creative output and ethical foresight, especially when compared to traditional product roadmapping practices. In the value-based approach, participants considered a diverse set of stakeholders and took potential adverse effects into account, while at the same time acknowledging values linked to several sustainability. While instrumental values with a technical and economic focus (e.g., IT security or efficiency) dominated ideas from the traditional product roadmapping approach, participants acknowledged higher principles with intrinsic value (e.g., freedom or personal growth) when employing value-based product planning. This paper presents results on the creative power that can be unleashed by taking different ethical perspectives in a value-based approach. With this, we hope to inspire future value-oriented research and innovation projects. We conclude with implications for both traditional product innovation practices and value-oriented frameworks.Series: Working Papers / Institute for IS & Societ
Tracing International Migration in Projections of Income and Inequality Across the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways
Full text linkThe Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs) represent five narratives of future development used for climate change research. They include quantified projections of socioeconomic variables such as population, income levels, inequalities, and emissions over the
twenty-first century. The SSP’s population projections embody explicit, pathway-specific
international migration assumptions, which are only implicit in the projections of other
variables. In this contribution, we explicitly quantify the effects of international migration
on income levels and income inequality across and within countries by comparing the
original SSP projections to scenarios of zero migration. Income projections without
migration are obtained by removing two effects of migration on income dynamics:
changes in population size and remittances sent to origin countries. We base our
remittance estimates on migrant stocks derived from bilateral migration flow estimates
obtained from a gravity model. We find that, on average, migration tends to make the
world richer in all SSP narratives. The nature of migration and remittance corridors is
shaped by the specific scenario of future development considered. Depending on the
particular SSP narrative and world region considered, the effects of migration on income
can be substantial, ranging from −5 to +21% at the continental level. We show that
migration tends to decrease income inequality across countries and within country in
most destination countries but does not affect within-country inequality in origin countries. This new set of projections is consistent with the interdisciplinary framework of the
SSPs, which makes it particularly useful for assessing global climate and sustainable
development policy options