IT/Business alignment

Ohne Zusammenfassung

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IT/Business alignment

     

Think,feel, bid: the impact of environmental conditions on the role of bidders’ cognitive and affective processes in auction bidding

Environmental conditions and the interplay of cognitive and affective processes both exert influences on bidding behavior. This paper brings the above together, considering how the (external) auction environment determines the impact of (internal) cognitive and affective processes on bidding behavior, assessed in comparison to the optimal bid. Two aspects of the auction environment were considered, namely auction dynamics (low: first-price sealed-bid auction, high: Dutch auction) and value uncertainty (low, high). In a laboratory experiment, we assess bidders’ cognitive workload and emotional arousal through physiological measurements. We find that higher auction dynamics increase the impact of emotional arousal on bid deviations, but not that of cognitive workload. Higher value uncertainty, conversely, increases the impact of cognitive workload on bid deviations, but not that of emotional arousal. Taken together, the auction environment is a critical factor in understanding the nature of the underlying decision process and its impact on bids.     

A second-order analytic solution for oscillatory wind-induced flow in an idealized shallow lake

We present a second-order analytic solution to the nonlinear depth-integrated shallow water equations for free-surface oscillatory wind-driven flow in an idealized lake. Expressing the solution as an asymptotic expansion in the dimensionless wave amplitude (ζ/h), which is considered to be a small parameter, enables simplification of the governing equations and permits the use of a perturbation approach to solve them.This analytic solution provides a benchmark for testing numerical models. In particular, the main merit of this solution is that it accounts for advective effects, which are typically omitted from analytic solutions of two-dimensional free surface flow. In order to retain these effects in an analytic solution, we restrict our attention to forcing from a monochromatic wind stress, consider a constant depth rectangular lake, and simplify the governing equations by omitting the Coriolis and eddy viscosity terms and using a linearised friction factor. As such, the analytic solution is of limited use for considering real world problems. Due to the complexity of the analytic solution computer code for this solution is available online.Our solution is valid for cases where changes in the water surface level are small compared with the depth of the lake, and the advective terms in the momentum equations are small compared with acceleration terms. We examine the validity of these assumptions for three test cases, and compare the second-order analytic solution to numerical results to verify an existing hydrodynamic model.     

Monitoring computer users' behaviour in office environments

Monitoring computer users' behaviour to enhance the usability of software has become increasingly popular among the developers of computer products. One objective of this paper is to compare the use of a software monitoring technique with other field observation methods. It is argued that when contrasted against traditional observation techniques, the software monitor provides a more accurate and unobtrusive approach to collecting behavioural data on larger samples of individuals for longer periods of time than either participant observation or Thinking Aloud methodologies. A second objective is to demonstrate the application of software monitors on installed multi-user systems. Technical aspects of software monitor design are discussed, with emphasis on specific practical problems in monitor design and utilization when making the transition from the laboratory to an office environment. Data from two studies are presented. The first illustrates how a software monitor can be used to determine the impact and acceptance of various software packages in an integrated office automation product. The second study examines how software monitor data were used to modify the interface to a specific electronic mail facility.     

Polycrystalline silicon films on glass grown by amorphous-liquid-crystalline transition at temperatures below 330 °C

An approach to deposit polycrystalline silicon layers on amorphous substrates is presented. It is shown that metastable amorphous silicon can be transformed into its more stable microcrystalline structure at a temperature below 330 °C via an intermediate liquid solution stage. In particular, the interaction of liquid indium nanodroplets in contact with amorphous silicon is shown to lead to the formation of circular polycrystalline domains. Crystallinity of these domains is analyzed by micro-Raman spectroscopy. The droplet size necessary for the onset of crystallization is related to the temperature of the film. Full coverage of the substrate with microcrystalline silicon has been obtained at 320 °C within less than one hour. These films might act as seeding layers for further enlargement by steady-state liquid phase epitaxy.     

Phytoplankton,pelagic community and nutrients in a deep oligotrophic alpine lake: ratios as sensitive indicators of the use of P-resources (DRP:DOP:PP and TN:TP:SRSi)

The different use of P-resources between two sites in the deep oligotrophic Traunsee was studied by seasonal and vertical patterns of phytoplankton and nutrients from 12/1997 to 10/1998. The P-resources were evaluated from the proportion between the P-fractions, the dissolved reactive P (DRP), dissolved non-reactive P (DOP) and particulate organic P (PP) and from the stoichiometry between nutrients, the total N (TN), the total P (TP) and soluble reactive Si (SRSi). Significant differences between an inshore site impacted by industrial tailings (Ebensee Bay, EB) and an open water reference site (Viechtau, VI) were evident from vertical profiles of both the P-accumulation (%PP of TP) evaluated by DRP:DOP:PP and the distribution of phytoplankton assessed by Si-exhaustion (TN:TP:SRSi), but not from the seasonal patterns of phytoplankton composition, S:V ratios of the algal community or surface layer nutrient dynamics. Low TP and the stable stratification from May to September triggered the relative accumulation of epilimnetic P at VI as it was evident from both the higher portion of particulate P within TP (%PP of TP) and from the shift towards P-enrichment in nutrient stoichiometry of TN:TP:SRSi. The predominance of around 55-52% algal carbon over bacteria at the surface layer to 20m coincided spatially with the lowest Si content relative to N and P. The disturbances at the impacted site was summarised by: up to 11% less P accumulation by organisms at the surface, no stoichiometric shift towards TP in the epilimnion when compared with deeper layers and a reduction of the trophogenic zone to the top 10m. Reasons for this disturbance are seen in the unstable stratification, turbidity, higher TP and the metazoan dominated food chain. Both triple ratios, DRP:DOP:PP and TN:TP:SRSi, were sensitive indicators of the use of P-resources by plankton communities, while inorganic dissolved fractions (DIN:DRP:SRSi, DIN = dissolved inorganic N) provided only insufficient information on nutrient resources in Traunsee.