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Background
In light of their experiences on the refuge and upon their arrival in the receiving society, refugees may have differentiated needs regarding health care. However, negative attitudes of the members of the receiving society and a lack of information pose as barriers for refugees when trying to access health care services. In that sense, it is largely unknown, which antecedents positively affect Germans’ perception of information barriers that refugees face. Based on an extended version of the Empathy-Attitude-Action model, this study examined selected predictors of problem awareness in the form of perceived information barriers that refugees face, emphasizing the role of positive intercultural contact experiences.
Methods
A sample of members of the receiving society, here: Germans (N = 910) completed a cross-sectional online survey with validated self-report measures. From the perspective of Germans, assessments covered positive intercultural contact, attitudes on refugees’ rights, the recognition of refugees’ socio-emotional support needs as a form of cognitive empathy, and the perception of refugees’ information barriers when accessing health care. We conducted structural equation modeling to examine hypothesized latent associations and specified three different models with unidirectional paths between the study variables, each allowing another direct path from intercultural contact to the variables. We determined the best model using the chi-square-difference test and tested for indirect effects along the paths through bias-corrected bootstrapping.
Results
Our results show consistency with the Empathy-Attitude-Action model. We found Germans’ cognitive empathy toward refugees to be associated with more positive attitudes and a greater awareness of refugees’ information barriers. We further found more positive intercultural contact to be associated with greater cognitive empathy toward refugees and with more positive attitudes. While these contact experiences showed a slightly direct negative effect on Germans’ perception of refugees’ information barriers to accessing health care, the indirect effects via cognitive empathy and positive attitudes were positive.
Conclusion
Previous positive intercultural contact may be directly and indirectly linked to greater awareness for refugees, helping Germans as the receiving community (1) to become more empathetic toward refugees, (2) to improve their attitudes toward refugees’ rights and to (3) raise consciousness for information barriers that refugees face when trying to access health care services.
This paper examines empirically the importance of equity
preferences for the formation of international environmen-
tal agreements (IEA) for transboundary pollution control.
Although it has been shown theoretically that the existence
of equity preferences among countries considering an IEA
increases the chances for formation and stability of a coali-
tion, empirical assessments of such preferences have been
limited to climate change mitigation and single-country
studies. We consider the case of marine plastic pollution, of
which a large share consists of food and beverage con-
tainers, representing a transboundary pollution control
problem of increasing policy concern, with properties that
lead to distinct considerations for equity and the sharing of
abatement costs. We employ a coordinated choice experi-
ment in the United Kingdom and United States to assess
preferences for abatement-cost allocations in a marine plas-
tics IEA. Pairs of cooperating countries and the relative
allocation of abatement costs are varied experimentally.
Results show systematic aversion to both advantageous and
disadvantageous inequality with respect to abatement costs
but also that the relative strength of advantageous and dis-
advantageous inequality aversion differs across countries.
Across both countries, there is evidence that left-leaning
voters generally favor more equal international sharing of
abatement costs. Differences of these results from the case
of greenhouse gas emission reduction, and implications for
current efforts to establish a legally binding global treaty on
marine plastic pollution, are discussed.
Shark incidents are rare and graphic events, and their
consequences can influence the behavior of beach users,
including bathers, to a great extent. These incidents can
be thought of as a fearsome risk that may lead decision
makers to overreact or respond with inaction. This paper
examines the reaction of recreational beach users, includ-
ing bathers, to changes in the risk of shark incidents. In
addition to valuing recreational visits to Durban Beach,
South Africa, we study the reaction of beach visitors to a
hypothetical scenario in which protective shark nets,
deployed in coastal waters to protect bathers, are to be
removed. To examine potential heterogeneity of the treat-
ment effect in a travel cost-contingent behavior model, we
develop a semiparametric multivariate Poisson lognormal
(MPLN) model to jointly analyze observed and stated visit
counts. Results show that removing protective shark nets
at Durban beach would decrease recreational visits by
more than 20%. Applying the semiparametric MPLN
model we further find that both the value of a recreational
visit and the predicted change in visitation rates vary as a
function of whether recreationists usually enter the water,
whether they have heard of previous shark incidents, and
their general risk attitude.
AbstractThis paper examines the influence of the six World Governance Indicators (WGIs), as defined by the World Bank, on the real GDP growth of five emerging markets, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) countries, and three advanced economies, the United States, Germany and Japan. The analysis is based on a panel data set containing the six WGIs along with further macroeconomic variables (government debt, external debt, current account balance, trade balance, budget balance, foreign exchange rate and short-term interest rate), with annual data from 1996 to 2018. We find that regulatory quality has a positive impact on economic growth, an effect that remains stable across all robustness tests. This indicates that a sound regulatory environment stimulates economic growth. We also find a negative impact of rule of law on economic growth, but this effect is not robust. The literature, however, documents a negative effect from income to rule of law, expressing that higher income does not necessarily lead to a demand for better institutions. A principal component analysis on the WGIs shows that governance is diverse across countries, while stable over time. The first two PCs capture more than 95% of the WGIs variance and are able to cluster emerging and developed markets.
AbstractBlack box machine learning models are currently being used for high-stakes decision making in various parts of society such as healthcare and criminal justice. While tree-based ensemble methods such as random forests typically outperform deep learning models on tabular data sets, their built-in variable importance algorithms are known to be strongly biased toward high-entropy features. It was recently shown that the increasingly popular SHAP (SHapley Additive exPlanations) values suffer from a similar bias. We propose debiased or "shrunk" SHAP scores based on sample splitting which additionally enable the detection of overfitting issues at the feature level.
The Alfajor is an Argentine delicacy that shows no limits in its development in the country and abroad. Over the last 140 years, it has managed to conquer the palates of Argentines, Paraguayans, Uruguayans and Chileans as a sweet snack or dessert. Because of this outstanding development, the product captured the interest of Brazilian tourists, who incepted the Alfajor in this vast South-American country. Nowadays, several local and imported Alfajores are commercialised
through this new market. Still, many Brazilians have not heard of the product yet, and there are further challenges that Alfajor companies must overcome in their internationalisation process. This work explores these challenges based on the Uppsala Model, explaining how an intermediary can help overcome the Liability of Outsidership. Moreover, an Alfajor’s Psychic Distance Scale is elaborated to
measure the Liability of Foreignness and how the Food Culture Distance with Brazil can harden the introduction of this product in an unfamiliar market.
The Central American countries made up of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama have shared a common electrical network for nine years through an agreement called the Electrical Interconnection System for Central American countries (SIEPAC). This regional project has generated many benefits for the consumers of each country since there are agreements and regulations, the establishment of a regional energy market, cost reduction, and incentives for renewable generation. However, SIEPAC's energy matrix has not managed to improve its diversification and has difficulties in accelerating and substantially increasing renewable energy options. The analysis indicates that considering some isolated efforts in the field of electromobility that some countries of the Central American region have carried out, it is feasible to connect or incorporate the topic of electromobility within the SIEPAC system, managing to accelerate the change in the Energy Matrix of the Electrical Interconnection System for Central American countries; Likewise, the challenges that must be overcome in the regulatory framework to materialize the expected benefits of the combined model of renewable energy and electromobility developed in this research are also indicated.
The global currency system leads to unequal outcomes. This paper aims to
define the factors that make the dollar-dominated system unequal for
economically developing countries and looks at three suggestions on how to improve the system including Stiglitz’s global greenback, Ocampo’s SDR-based global currency, and Eichengreen’s tweaking of the edges.
The subject of this bachelor thesis is the increasing number of brand cooperations in the luxury fashion industry with the simultaneous increase in Generation Z customers. This thesis aims to discover why and to what extent luxury fashion companies must adapt their marketing measures to reach this new generation of luxury buyers. In ad- dition, the question is to be answered whether brand cooperation can be used as an ideal marketing instrument to address Generation Z. To be able to answer these ques- tions detailed literature research will first be conducted to subsequently confirm, refute or supplement the findings by conducting a qualitative study in the form of expert interviews.
This thesis examines the institutional weaknesses of the Eurozone and potential policy instruments or fiscal reforms to remedy them. Despite frequent amendments to the fiscal framework, the economic disparity between Member Countries persists and continues to influence their performance negatively, and with that the growth of the Eurozone as a whole. Analyzing relevant literature from before and during the Covid-19 pandemic, it is found that this disparity could be tackled by, for example, private-market-based instruments compared to the currently implemented SURE-bonds, a reinsurance system through a central European fund, a Euro Area Safe Asset, or a Central European Budget or Fiscal Capacity. It could be supported through the incentivization of fiscal discipline. The thesis argues for a policy response in the form of reforms to the Eurozone's fiscal framework, especially eliminating the complex nature of fiscal rules, their tendency to promote procyclical spending behavior, and their insufficient regard for Member Countries' differing economic prerequisites.
This thesis investigates the effects the COVID-Pandemic had on the Loan Loss Provisions according to IFRS 9 of German financial institutions by conducting an empirical analysis of ten selected German banks. This topic is of interest, since the Expected Credit Loss-model under IFRS 9 is only in effect since 2018 and, thus, the COVID-pandemic acted as the first stress-test for the new model. The analysis covers the five periods year-end 2019, Q2 2020, year-end 2020, year-end 2021, and Q2 2022. The main findings are that Post-Model Adjustments are being used too excessively by the institutions and that the Ecpected Credit Loss-model has its weak spots.
Start-up is the term used when you want to turn your business idea into practice. In today's rapidly changing market, new businesses are constantly born, and existing ones are constantly going out of business. This is also a common phenomenon in China's language training and overseas study market. Many factors make a successful start-up, and certainly they have similar characteristics. The study of these common characteristics will greatly increase the chances of successful entrepreneurship. At present, China's language training market is still quite large, mainly because of the large population base. But recent domestic policies on the education and training industry, as well as policies which deal with COVID-19, have added considerable number of risks to the industry. Coupled with the rapidly changing international political environment, which often records negative changes, the overseas study industry is also suffering. This paper aims to identify the key issues and new opportunities of the Chinese language training market and study abroad market through a thorough research. Guided by applying proper management strategies and start-up management concepts to avoid the risk of the existing market in order to establish a new start-up company with a different business model using the knowledge of customers and the market which has been obtained from the market research. A business plan with a three-year financial planning will also be created.
The shrimp sector in Ecuador is the second most important in the country and has begun a process of energy transition through the electrification of its operations, moving from the use of diesel for pumping water and aerating the farming ponds, towards the connection to the electrical grid. This energy transition leads to investments in infrastructure and generates an impact on different variables of the sector, such as its productivity, exports, greenhouse gas emissions, social impacts, among others. This study develops a methodology to analyze the energy transition of the sector through electrification scenarios.
In Chapter 1, an introduction to the study to be carried out and the motivation are presented. Chapter 2 shows a review of the literature on the energy transition and the energy situation of the country and the shrimp farming sector. Chapter 3 establishes the scenario analysis framework, as well as proposes the use of the Energy Transition Index as inspiration to analyze the energy transition of the shrimp farming sector. Chapter 4 indicates the methodology to carry out the specific analysis and evaluation. Chapter 5 develops the nine established dimensions of the energy transition applied to the sector. Chapter 6 highlights the critical findings, and finally, in Chapter 7 the conclusions, recommendations and limitations of the study are provided.
This paper examines strategic aspects of film production, and its management evaluated
through the relationships in the respective production networks.
To analyze the composition and relationships inside the production network of feature
films, three qualitative illustrative case studies were conducted based on publicly available information and production materials provided by the respective production companies to map the production process using ego diagrams and to establish a relationship
diagram showcasing essential relationships and their reciprocity to evaluate important
nodes and their roles inside the production networks.
Results in these cases show that the dual role of the director and scriptwriter is essential
for establishing the production network, as well as the successful realization of the artist’s
creative intent and securing auxiliary functions crucial to production, such as technical
realization and the securing of funding for productions.
The results imply that further research into the relationships of different nodes in a film
production network is worthwhile and possibly very insightful.
The annual demand for Christmas trees in Germany and Denmark is premised upon the seeds of Nordmann firs, which come exclusively from the Racha region in the Great Caucasus ridge of Georgia. It thus forms what is variously called a commodity chain, value chain or production network (as a phenomenon) and that can be accounted for with
different concepts including Global Commodity Chains, Global Value Chains and Global Production Networks. The analysis in the thesis is grounded in the Global production Network (GPN) approach, which in the literature also is associated with possibilities of “strategic coupling” and asks for an analysis of “value capture trajectories”. But can the promise of such as “value capture trajectory” be observed in the case of the Nordmann firGPN for the Racha region, from which the seeds of Christmas trees originate? Master thesis examines the prospects for regional development.
Can the State of Tamilnadu, India Transform to Clean Renewable Energy 100% Zero Emissions by 2060?
(2022)
As a result of Industry 4.0, the creation of new technology solutions, and the usage of the Internet in business systems, the concept of logistics 4.0 was developed. This thesis aims to highlight contemporary trends in logistics, the innovativeness of logistics, and new visions of the idea of Logistics 4.0. This approach's fundamental elements are automatic identification, real-time localization, automatic data collecting, networking and integration, data processing and analysis, and commercial services. The following would be a few of the Logistics 4.0 technologies highlighted in the study and are described in detail: Cloud computing, blockchain, big data, robotics, and automation, augmented reality, drones, 3D printing, and autonomous guided vehicles are some of the terms used by the logistics industries and the business or digital business models being implemented with the age of digitalization.
The Influence of Sustainable Distribution Efforts on Consumers’ Buying Behaviour in Online Fashion
(2022)
This thesis provides an explanation of the current interest imbalance of patients' representatives compared to its other members comprising the Gemeinsamer Bundesausschuss (G-BA; Federal Joint Committee). Specifically, it analyzes which factors are most likely to affect a successful intervention of the legislative process of the G-BA. It does so by drawing comparisons to the unequal representation of interest in the context of lobbyism. The thesis tests to which degree particular conditions favor competing organizations in the economy to partially alter political decision-making. The synthesis applies these findings to the members of the G-BA and points out possible areas of application and limitations of its explanatory power. Additionally, the study suggests courses of action to promote equal and transparent decision-making in the G- BA, based on concrete measures in lobbyism to restrict the adverse effects of disproportionate interference of interests.
This master thesis analyzed whether the Conceptual Map of Espoused Organizational Values (CMEOV) can be adapted to the German economy and how the contextual factors geographical location, industry affiliation, company size and age affect the espoused organizational value (EOV) landscape. To answer this question, the display and emphasis of espoused organizational values of 290 German companies was first inventoried and embedded into the CMEOV and second compared using descriptive and inferential (frequency hypothesis testing and mean comparison) statistics. The results showed that 94% of value statements of German companies can be depicted by the CMEOV. A suggestion is made that the map could be expanded by adding the value labels “forward-thinking”, “familial”, and “focus” based on findings in the German sample. Results also reveal that the display of EOVs is positively correlated with com-pany size and age as EOVs are less common in younger and smaller organizations. Moreover, intra-national geographical location and industry affiliation have no bearing on the EOV label combination "innovation & technology”. Additionally, firm age influences how much im-portance a company places on CSR-related value labels. This master thesis emphasized the practical implications concerning the topics of paradoxical value systems and impression man-agement. Senior managers need to consider, make sense of, and overcome the paradoxical con-tradiction of balancing (1) the reflection of the company's fundamental values while (2) ful-filling all stakeholder requirements and (3) covering potential economic developments.
The following Bachelor Thesis is firstly concerned with the topic of short selling and the impact it has on a company and its 's stock price while presenting its ability to help market liquidity, price discovery, and price efficiency. To present the twofold of the matter, this paper aims to portray short selling as a risk management tool by diversifying a company's portfolio and identifying the risks for the market. In the fourth chapter, democratizing finance is described, particularly the access to trading platforms, and the potential risk on market efficiency is analysed in depth. These matters then intersect in the following chapters by considering the intentions the retail investors had to increase their holdings in a failing company and then posing the question of whether the short position held by institutional investors was reasonable and sophisticated. This paper finds evidence that the majority of new retail investors entering the capital market belong to Generation Y (1981-1995) and Generation Z (after 1995). Furthermore, there are implications for believing that the easy access and zero-commission trading contribute to the surge in the market, thus concluding that the democratization of finance enables more non- professional traders to participate in the capital market.
Referencing the Financial Crisis of 2008, the paper's objective is also to find a direct tie between the impact on those affected and the participation in the 2021 collective investment in Gamestop. This paper, however, did not find any self-sustaining evidence that the Financial Crisis of 2008 was their [retail investors] primary motive to invest. Lastly, there is an analysis of the potential developments in the financial market due to more market participants and the potential market manipulation.
Ever since Mark Zuckerberg announced his metaverse mission at Connect – the annual developer conference of Meta – on October 28, 2021, it has become a hype. If it was up to Zuckerberg, large parts of our social life would soon take place in the metaverse. Analysts foresee an annual revenue potential of several trillion dol- lars.
This thesis presents insights into how fashion brands can successfully leverage the opportunities of the metaverse. The methodological framework is based on a mixed-method approach, consisting of a literature review and an empirical part that includes a netnographic investigation and expert interviews.
The results show that virtual worlds can be used as an extension of the brand expe- rience to enable new interaction possibilities with customers and to reach a partic- ularly young target group. In addition, the NFT technology enables companies to identify and reward their most loyal fans in the digital space and build a relationship with them through a new channel.
The proximity between luxury and art is used by luxury brands to attain artistic characteristics to overcome the challenges of growth and legitimization. Authenticity is essential to luxury brands, yet research that investigates the influence of art on the specific brand dimension is scarce.
This thesis theoretically combines the concept of luxury and art and establishes a basis on the importance of luxury brand authenticity.
This thesis investigates how the proximity between luxury and art influences luxury brand authenticity. Following an integrative literature review, an analysis of two exemplary cases was conducted. The cases portray artistic collaboration and conflict with the luxury brand Hermès. The analysis shows that luxury brand authenticity is positively influenced by the collaboration with an artist, whereas the conflict between the brand and an artist predominantly weakens the authenticity of Hermès.
The results are unable to generate general influential factors on brand authenticity but show that the proximity of art and luxury influences the authenticity of luxury brands. They have implications on luxury brand management and the importance of the freedom of artistic expression. This thesis sets the foundation for future research by highlighting the relevance of the influence of the proximity of art to luxury brands.
The crisis between handling the COVID-19 pandemic and natural disasters has been a significant threat worldwide, especially for developing countries like Indonesia. The activities of the humanitarian aid supply chain when a natural disaster occurs, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, have several unmanaged risks. This study specifically identifies risks that occur in the supply chain of humanitarian aid for disaster victims from Humanitarian NGOs in Aceh province. This study uses case-study-based research with mixed methods, where quantitative analysis is used to analyze prioritized risks, and qualitative research is used to create the framework of recovery strategies. The identification of possible risks is made using literature review, several news articles evaluation, and discussions with experts. The results show that there are 35 risk events and 30 risk agents identified in the humanitarian aid supply
chain for disaster victims in Aceh during COVID-19 Pandemic. From the Pareto diagram, there are three risk agents identified with the highest Aggregated Potential Risk (APR) value. They are Natural
Conditions, Health, and Changes in Department policies. The recovery strategies are built in the form of an AURA framework for a long-term perspective's solution. These recovery strategies are expected
to be used not only for COVID-19 threats but also for other long-term disruptions or crises that might
occur in the future.
This paper reviews the link between national labour market participation oriented policy changes and EU Country Specific Recommendations of such Central European countries as Germany and Poland in 2019.
The aim of this master thesis is to examine the reason of implementation avoidance of Country Specific Recommendations in the labour market participation policies of selected Central European countries - Germany and Poland. There is a need in triggers to increase the participation of women, minority groups, and older employees in the workforce. Increased representation of women, underrepresented populations, and older workers in the workforce is necessary for triggering.
The Commission is responsible for this coordination, and in this paper, recommendations related to the labor market participation policy will be analyzed along with Country Reports to achieve the goal of identifying variations in the implementation and additional precedence of recommendations related to the labor market participation strategy in Poland and Germany in 2019. Thesis studies the participation of women, older employees, and tax disincentives within low wage earners.