Financial compensation: Handwritten messages & banknotes are better received

Money is money: so why should we care how it is given? A new study on complaint handling, recently published in the renowned Journal of Service Research, delivers fresh insights: People who complain react differently, depending on how the financial compensation is presented.

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On the outrage over how one single species treats the other species

How many species will remain, if we use land in a certain way and climate change continues to progress? Iwona Dullinger addresses this question in her research for her doctoral thesis at the  Institute of Social Ecology. We now know that land use and climate change are the two main drivers of biodiversity loss. Yet, to date, research has rarely considered them jointly. Dullinger hopes to close this research gap.

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“A cyber attack is not a spontaneous occurrence, but rather an event that has been prepared a long time ahead”

Targeted attacks aimed at the IT infrastructure of public institutions, companies or even entire nation states are frequently classified as “advanced persistent threats” by the scientific community. These attacks make use of a variety of techniques, including methods of social engineering, and they are prepared stealthy and a long time in advance. IT security expert Stefan Rass is working on a set of support tools, which are designed to simplify the selection of safety measures.

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Vom Außen aufs Innere schließen: Inverse Probleme in der Mathematik ermöglichen neue Einblicke

Inverse Probleme in der Mathematik bestimmen die Ursachen für Effekte: Beispielsweise kann man über das Messen von Spannungsverteilung an der Körperoberfläche auf die Beschaffenheit des Gewebes im Körper schließen. Die Lösung solcher Probleme ist derzeit häufig sehr rechenzeitintensiv. Barbara Kaltenbacher arbeitet daher nun in einem FWF-Projekt an neuen Rechenverfahren für allgemeine inverse Probleme.

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