Measurement of the Structure Constant of Refractivity at Optical Wavelengths Using a Scintillometer

The structure constant of the atmospheric refractive index is used for characterizing the turbulence strength and for predicting the scintillation of electromagnetic waves in atmosphere. It is measured continuously in Prague using an optical scintillometer. First monthly and seasonal statistics obtained from the data gathered in the summer 2011 are provided. Lognormal distribution parameters are fitted to the empirical cumulative distribution. The hourly statistics of the structure constant show the typical evolution of turbulence strength during a day

The effect of horizontal pay dispersion on the effectiveness of performance-based incentives

In response to general calls for increased transparency in society, pay transparency policies are growing in importance. Given that pay transparency unavoidably gives employees the opportunity to make comparisons between themselves and others, in this study we address the question of how these comparisons impact the incentive effects of performance contingent pay, and consequently their performance outcomes. Specifically, we empirically examine whether horizontal pay dispersion alters the effectiveness of performance-based pay contracts, which firms typically use to incentivize effort. Exploiting our unique access to a large healthcare provider, we document the moderating role of horizontal pay dispersion on the effectiveness of individual monetary incentives at generating increased individual performance. To provide a more nuanced understanding of the moderating effect of pay dispersion, we further examine the boundary conditions of the proposed interaction. In particular, we examine the differential effect of overall pay dispersion on employees that rank high versus low in the pay distribution and disaggregate overall pay dispersion into performance-related versus performance-unrelated pay dispersion. Our findings consistently show a positive moderating effect of pay dispersion when employees are more likely to consider the observed pay dispersion as legitimate, and a negative moderation effect when this is less likely the case. Our study strengthens the understanding of how individual level incentives function in the context of a multi-person firm setting. Our results document that individual incentives are effective, but also suggest that pay dispersion can have a significant influence on the incentive-performance relation. These findings provide some evidence that individuals are concerned not only with their own payout, but also with that of others, and that this concern has a significant impact on individual’s effort provision, and consequently performance.Series: Department of Strategy and Innovation Working Paper Serie

Hyperuniform point sets on the sphere: deterministic constructions

We study a generalisation of the concept of hyperuniformity to spheres of arbitrary dimension. It is shown that QMC-designs (and especially spherical designs) are hyperuniform in our sense

Tone from the Top in Risk Management: A Complementarity Perspective on How Control Systems Influence Risk Awareness

Prompted by the weaknesses of standardized risk management approaches in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, scholars, regulators, and practitioners alike emphasize the importance of creating a risk-aware culture in organizations. Recent insights highlight the special role of tone from the top as crucial driver of risk awareness. In this study, we take a systems-perspective on control system design to investigate the role of tone from the top in creating risk awareness. In particular, we argue that both interactive and diagnostic use of budgets and performance measures interact with tone from the top in managing risk awareness. Our results show that interactive control strengthens the effect of tone from the top on risk awareness, while tone from the top and diagnostic control are, on average, not interrelated with regard to creating risk awareness. To shed light on the boundary conditions of the proposed interdependencies, we further investigate whether the predicted interdependencies are sensitive to the level of perceived environmental uncertainty. We find that the effect of tone from the top and interactive control becomes significantly stronger in a situation of high perceived environmental uncertainty. Most interestingly, tone from the top and diagnostic control are complements with regard to risk awareness in settings of low perceived environmental uncertainty and substitutes at high levels of perceived environmental uncertainty.Series: Department of Strategy and Innovation Working Paper Serie

Prussian Blue-coated interdigitated array electrodes for possible analytical application

Thin films of iron(III) hexacyanoferrate(II) (Prussian Blue) were electrochemically deposited on interdigitated array (IDA) electrodes, yielding systems which can be considered as chemiresistors in sensing alkali metal ion concentrations in an adjacent electrolyte. This is due to the fact that the conductivity of the film being measured by a steady-state current on application of a voltage to the two-fingered electrodes of the IDA depends on both the redox stare of the film and the cation concentration in the electrolyte. From the dependence of the steady-state current on the electrode (bias) potential at variable cation concentrations for different alkali metal ions and for mixtures of alkali metal ions, the possibilities of analytical application were elucidated. In addition, by using the methods of staircase coulometry and scanning conductivity, the electron diffusion coefficient De was determined as a function of the redox state of Prussian Blue. It is concluded that Prussian Blue-coated IDA electrodes are, in principle, suitable as chemiresistors for the determination of alkali metal ion concentrations with increasing selectivity in the series Li < Na < K < Rb < Cs

Improvements and future challenges for the research infrastructure in the field “Measuring cognitive ability”

The assessment of cognitive abilities is critical in large-scale survey studies that aim at elucidating the longitudinal interplay between the individual’s cognitive potential and socio-economic variables. The format of such studies calls for assessment methods which can not only be administered economically but also display a high (psychometric) measurement quality. In consideration of recent theoretical and empirical advances in intelligence research, we recommend the implementation of tests drawing on working memory in large-scale survey studies. Working memory is a limited-capacity system for temporary storage and processing of information and currently discussed to be the cognitive key system underlying intellectual abilities. Four types of working memory tests are exemplarily described and critically evaluated with regard to their psychometric quality and the need for further evaluation.cognitive abilities, intelligence, knowledge, information processing, mental speed, working memory

3D Pose Estimation and 3D Model Retrieval for Objects in the Wild

We propose a scalable, efficient and accurate approach to retrieve 3D models for objects in the wild. Our contribution is twofold. We first present a 3D pose estimation approach for object categories which significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art on Pascal3D+. Second, we use the estimated pose as a prior to retrieve 3D models which accurately represent the geometry of objects in RGB images. For this purpose, we render depth images from 3D models under our predicted pose and match learned image descriptors of RGB images against those of rendered depth images using a CNN-based multi-view metric learning approach. In this way, we are the first to report quantitative results for 3D model retrieval on Pascal3D+, where our method chooses the same models as human annotators for 50% of the validation images on average. In addition, we show that our method, which was trained purely on Pascal3D+, retrieves rich and accurate 3D models from ShapeNet given RGB images of objects in the wild.Comment: Accepted to Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) 201