MONTHLY BOOK CLUB

This semester we’ve planned a book club of firsts. Firsts of what? The first book in a series! From November to February, each text that we’ll be reading is the first in a trilogy or series.
We hope that reading the first one will whet your appetite for finishing the series on your own. We’ll meet at Uniwirt at 5 pm each month (see flyer for dates) to discuss the book informally.
The purpose of the group is to allow you to talk about what you’ve read in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere.

The discussions will be facilitated by Patricia Keren <pakeren [at] edu [dot] aau [dot] at> and/or Blake Shedd <blake [dot] shedd [at] aau [dot] at>.
If you’re interested in helping out or planning the book club for the summer term, let us know! We look forward to seeing you there!

Book Club

Der Beitrag MONTHLY BOOK CLUB erschien zuerst auf University of Klagenfurt.

Source: AAU TEWI

Refugees and Displaced Persons in Postwar Austria: A Class Exhibition

orphanage in Germany, c. 1946. Photo courtesy of the United Nations Archives.

The following website contains work completed by students in Professor Andrew Urban’s seminar, “Gatekeeping Nations: The Politics of Migration Control in the United States and Europe,” which took place during the spring 2019 term.

Migration Studies and Narratives of Displacement: A Class Project at the University of Klagenfurt

The site is divided into three sections, and features a student-curated online exhibition on Displaced Persons in Austria and Europe during the years 1945 to 1947, and posts that address firsthand accounts of migration and how migration is covered by the media.

 

Der Beitrag Refugees and Displaced Persons in Postwar Austria: A Class Exhibition erschien zuerst auf University of Klagenfurt.

Source: AAU TEWI

ELT 2020

INSIGHTS INTO THEORY AND PRACTICE FOR FUTURE EFL TEACHERS

Friday, 17 January, 2020
8:20 – 5:00 pm
Stiftungssaal der Kärntner Sparkasse (O.0.1)

PRESENTERS:

Univ.-Prof. Dr. Sarah Mercer, KFU Graz
Dr. Volker Eisenlauer, Universität der Bundeswehr München
Dr. Thorsten Merse, LMU München
Max von Blanckenburg, MA, LMU München
Dinorah Sapp, MA, University of Mississippi
Neil Stainthorpe, MA, Pädagogische Hochschule d. D. Linz
Mag. Verena Novak-Geiger, BA

ELT2020

 

Der Beitrag ELT 2020 erschien zuerst auf University of Klagenfurt.

Source: AAU TEWI

Degree ceremony for graduates of the University of Klagenfurt, 22nd November 2019

AbsolventInnen werfen Rollen in die Luft | Foto: aau/tinefoto.com

On Friday, 22 November 2019, the degree ceremony for graduates of the University of Klagenfurt takes place in the Hans-Romauch-Lecture Hall (Lecture Hall A).

Degree ceremony Time Information
Faculty of Management and Economics and
Faculty of Technical Sciences
09:15 a.m. Invitation
Faculty of Humanities and
Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies (IFF),
Faculty of Management and Economics and
Faculty of Technical Sciences
12:15 p.m. Invitation
Faculty of Humanities and
Faculty of Interdisciplinary Studies (IFF),
03:15 p.m. Invitation

Due to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) that came in force on the 25th May 2018, the names of our graduates will not be published.

Der Beitrag Degree ceremony for graduates of the University of Klagenfurt, 22nd November 2019 erschien zuerst auf University of Klagenfurt.

Source: AAU TEWI

Does smell sell? Overview study provides evidence of ambient scent effects in consumer settings

Gerüche | Foto: BillionPhotos.com/Fotolia

Within the scope of a detailed meta-analysis, Holger Roschk has examined 64 studies with 71 samples and a total of 15,000 test persons to find out to what extent ambient scents have an effect on experiences and activities in shopping and service environments. Results show: Under ideal conditions, scents can have a positive influence on customer behaviour. 

“The results of the 64 examined studies are equivocal”, lead scientist Holger Roschk (Service Management Unit) explains. Nonetheless, having conducted comprehensive calculations of previous experimental results, researchers were able to draw new conclusions. The meta-analysis is published today in the highly regarded Journal of Marketing.

 

In this study, Holger Roschk and Masoumeh Hosseinpour, a doctoral student at the University of Klagenfurt, were able to demonstrate that, on average, positive reactions from customers could be elicited: They tended to experience more positive emotions in fragrant consumer settings, evaluate product and service quality more positively, and express greater satisfaction with the shopping experience. Scents can also have an effect on the level of commercial success, though this is contingent upon favourable conditions. “We estimate that consumer spending can be increased by up to 23 percent, but only if scents are deployed in an ideal manner. In essence, the scents and the store environment as well as the products and services must be congruent, the fragrances must be familiar to the customers, and jarring blends of different scents should be avoided”, Holger Roschk elaborates. He goes on to explain this in more detail: “Women tend to respond more to ambient scents. In service environments such as restaurants and spas these scents are more likely to lead to increased consumer behaviour than in settings where goods are sold.” On another note, music that does not harmonize well with a scent tends to act as a deterrent. In other words, a stimulating orange fragrance should not be combined with mellow jazz.

 

However, the use of scents in consumer settings can also lead to negative effects, though the results of the study do not provide any information as to why this is the case. Holger Roschk suspects that the scents used in some settings may be too intense or incongruous, or that there are stores that overstimulate their customers by appealing to all the senses at once. As a further limitation he also notes that there are few concrete findings to date, which adequately explain why scents lead to positive customer reactions. This promises to be an exciting field for future research.

The results also show that scents can enhance the customers’ belief that time flies and can induce them to linger for longer periods in the environments studied. Moreover, according to the findings of the study, many customers tended to demonstrate better recall of products in instances involving scents.

 

In view of these findings, Holger Roschk concludes: “A pleasant ambient scent by itself will not be enough to turn a poor shopping experience into a great one. Still, in these times of fierce competition for the perfect in-store experience, scent may be the decisive factor when it comes to offering customers a sweet-smelling deal.”

 

Roschk, H. & Hosseinpour, M. (2019) Pleasant Ambient Scents: Their Influence on Customer Responses and Their Situational Contingencies. Journal of Marketing, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0022242919881137

Der Beitrag Does smell sell? Overview study provides evidence of ambient scent effects in consumer settings erschien zuerst auf University of Klagenfurt.

Source: AAU TEWI

REDUCED OPENING HOURS around ‘All Saints’ Day: Nov 01/Nov 02, 2019

Öffnungszeiten Bibliothek | Foto: Andrea Bem

Fri, Nov 01 All Saints“: CLOSED!
Sat, Nov 02 „All Souls“: CLOSED!

 

University members have unrestricted access to the library‘s reading rooms.

Registration for the 24-hour library is possible via the campus system under “My settings” >> 24-hour library.
Please register at least one day before you plan to use this service for the first time. Accounts are activated every day at midnight.

Der Beitrag REDUCED OPENING HOURS around ‘All Saints’ Day: Nov 01/Nov 02, 2019 erschien zuerst auf University of Klagenfurt.

Source: AAU TEWI

16th Austrian IT Security Day | 16 October 2019 | Messe Klagenfurt

On 16 October 2019, the 16th Austrian IT Security Day took place at Messe Klagenfurt in cooperation with “Kärntner Messen”.

There were 9 lectures on the following topics:

  • The challenge of decentralised digitisation for SMEs
  • Risk perception and human (ir)rationality
  • What to do in case of a cyber emergency? Hotline, cyber insurance or solve it yourself?
  • Smartcards in Multi-Devices and Multi-Usecase Environments
  • From network analysis to application protection
  • IT security of production systems
  • Current case law on e-commerce
  • Online trading: Typical risks and their distribution
  • Network and Information Security

Two hacking demos:

  • Networks are dangerous and funny too 😉
  • Digitalization madness – view into the digital divide

10 Exhibitors:

  • Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt | TEWI
  • Anexia
  • Attingo Datenrettung GmbH
  • CERTGATE
  • Industrial Automation GmbH
  • Joanneum Research
  • NTS Netzwerk Telekom Service AG
  • RGE GmbH
  • Stadtwerke Klagenfurt AG
  • Technikon Forschungs- und Planungsgesellschaft mbH

130 satisfied participants are already looking forward to the next IT Security Day in autumn 2020 at FH Salzburg at the Urstein campus in Puch/Salzburg.

Der Beitrag 16th Austrian IT Security Day | 16 October 2019 | Messe Klagenfurt erschien zuerst auf University of Klagenfurt.

Source: AAU TEWI

Sat, Oct 26, 2019 (National Holiday) – CLOSED

Öffnungszeiten Bibliothek | Foto: Andrea Bem

The library will be CLOSED on Sat, Oct 26, 2019!


University
members have unrestricted access to the library‘s reading rooms.

Registration for the 24-hour library is possible via the campus system under “My settings” >> 24-hour library.
Please register at least one day before you plan to use this service for the first time. Accounts are activated every day at midnight.

Der Beitrag Sat, Oct 26, 2019 (National Holiday) – CLOSED erschien zuerst auf University of Klagenfurt.

Source: AAU TEWI

Are we seeing genuine progress with recommender systems?

Recommender systems represent a key technology for e-commerce providers such as Google, Amazon, Netflix, Booking.com and Spotify. It is therefore with a certain urgency that researchers are working intensively on making ever more accurate predictions about the products and services users might want to consume next. However, in a paper published recently, Maurizio Ferrari Dacrema, Paolo Cremonesi and Dietmar Jannach were able to show that several critical issues concerning the research methodology are hindering progress in the development of recommender systems. In recognition of their work, they received the Best Full Paper Award at the renowned ACM Conference on Recommender Systems in Copenhagen in September.

In the sphere of recommender systems “research business” has followed an established pattern for several decades now: Researchers develop new algorithms with which they can predict the future choices of users on the basis of earlier consumption decisions. They do this by drawing on historical data, for instance the click path taken by a Spotify user. Individual selection decisions are obscured and, using new algorithms, researchers attempt to predict the choices that users make in reality, aiming for the greatest possible accuracy. This process is referred to as an “offline experiment”. “Researchers have many choices here”, according to Dietmar Jannach, professor at the Department of Applied Informatics. The data sets can be freely selected, as can the measurement methods and metrics used to quantify prediction accuracy. “In the global race for the most accurate predictive algorithm, it is possible – in the worst case – to design the configurations in such a way that the result is better and more accurate than the hitherto best, by a margin that is small but nonetheless significant in size,” Jannach goes on to explain.

Together with two Italian colleagues, Dietmar Jannach has analysed 18 scientific articles published between 2015 and 2018 that proposed new, supposedly better prediction algorithms for recommender systems. Their results are sobering: “Many new methods are no better than old fundamental methods, and work could be done on the latter to improve them further.”

The responsibility does not lie solely with the research methodology, but also with the fact that the scientific studies lack reproducibility. Many neglect to make the source code publicly available. In addition, there are too few standards against which all results can be measured uniformly. A further problem is that the investigations are not adequately underpinned by theory.

“In the long run, the industry that is set to exploit our technology needs other insights that can contribute to advancing recommender systems. We must also be fully aware of this: Better predictions do not necessarily equate to better recommendations”, Dietmar Jannach concludes.

Ferrari Dacrema, M., Cremonesi, P. & Jannach, D. (2019). Are We Really Making Much Progress? A Worrying Analysis of Recent Neural Recommendation Approaches. Proceedings of the 13th ACM Conference on Recommender Systems (RecSys 2019). https://arxiv.org/abs/1907.06902

Studying technology at the University of Klagenfurt

Research and teaching excellence is what sets the University of Klagenfurt’s technology programmes apart. Established in 2007, the Faculty of Technical Sciences prides itself on its exceptional student-supervisor relationships, which facilitate continuous, profitable exchange between tutors and students at all levels. Our technology programmes, which have a large practical component and focus on our key strengths (e.g. Informatics, Information Technology and Technical Mathematics), open up a world of opportunities for our students. And if you decide to take a Joint or Double Degree, you can also gain new experience overseas by taking a semester abroad or attending a summer school. More

Der Beitrag Are we seeing genuine progress with recommender systems? erschien zuerst auf University of Klagenfurt.

Source: AAU TEWI