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

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.

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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.

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The University of Klagenfurt makes the first professorial appointment to the Digital Age Research Center (D!ARC): Elisabeth Oswald, who specializes in researching cybersecurity, arrives in Klagenfurt

Step by step, the University of Klagenfurt is steadily expanding its activities in the new research area “Humans in the Digital Age”. The appointment of Elisabeth Oswald (University of Bristol) represents an important milestone in this endeavour. As an applied cryptographer, Elisabeth Oswald works at the interface between mathematics and computer science. In her research, she focuses especially on the cryptographic aspects of cybersecurity.

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Mathematics supports new medical imaging techniques

While MRI, CT and x-ray already provide valuable insights into the interior of the body, the technology involving so-called magnetic particle imaging now promises new possibilities with high resolution, less acquisition time and no harmful radiation. In order to be able to draw conclusions about biological processes based on the observation of magnetic particles in a magnetic field, research has to rely on mathematics. Tram Thi Ngoc Nguyen is completing her doctoral thesis on this topic at the University of Klagenfurt.

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