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Despite widespread plans of big companies like Amazon and Google to develop unmanned delivery drones, scholarly research in this field is scarce, especially in the information systems field. From technical and legal perspectives, drone delivery in last-mile scenarios is in a quite mature state. However, estimates of user acceptance are varying between high skepticism and exaggerated optimism. This research follows a mixed method approach consisting both qualitative and quantitative research, to identify and test determinants of consumer delivery drone service adoption. The qualitative part rests on ten interviews among average consumers, who use delivery services on a regular basis. Insights gained from the qualitative part were used to develop an online survey and to assess the influence of associated risks on adoption intentions. The quantitative results show that especially financial and physical risks impede drone delivery service adoption. Delivery companies who are currently thinking about providing a delivery drone service may find these results useful when evaluating usage behaviors in the future market for delivery drones.
This thesis deals with the approach, the structure and the variety of methods in the field of technology forecasting. Furthermore insights into the environment of Railways Diagnostics and Monitoring Technologies (RDMT), their technology management and industryspecific requirements for technology forecasting (especially in the area SMEs) are given. Combining those a recommendation for practical use of research results in companies of this size and industry is developed. In order to initiate the previously mentioned research elements a literature research was operated in the field of innovation management and the railway environment. In addition, an interview with an expert of a medium-sized technology manufacturer of RDMT industry was performed. The most important finding was that a single method cannot fulfill the requirements on its own, thus a combination of methods and organizational forms is necessary to achieve an effective technology forecasting.
Accidents annually cause high economic damages for concerned persons, companies and the state. To determine the exact costs of a damage is a challenge. Scientific studies differ from each other because of different models of calculation. Due to the fact of a low number of accidents concerning rail transport there are not many studies about how to calculate the costs an accident causes. The aim of this thesis is to give an overview about methods when dealing with these costs and to point out occurring difficulties. Generally, costs of accident can be divided in two categories. One category deals with personal injuries whereas the other focuses on material damages. Personal injuries contain material and immaterial damages. This leads to difficulties in calculation. The main aspect when dealing with personal damages is the loss of manpower, the costs of medical supply and the costs of the recovery of the legal situation. Currently there is no model of how to calculate personal damages concerning rail transport in Germany. The “Bundesamt für Straßenverkehr” developed an extensive model for calculations of costs of accident concerning traffic. It turned out that the death of people has costs round about 1.1 million euro. Severely and slightly injured people cause damages about 106,000 euro and 5,000 euro. This thesis declares that the model is important regarding different aspects of rail transport and that it is based on statistically collected key performance indicators. Furthermore, some approaches, which analyse the value of life, are mentioned. There are large derivations between them. To make a calculation of material damage the current value of the object must be respected. When dealing with the limitation of material damages the focus is on damages concerning infrastructure. In addition, railway infrastructure can be mentioned. With the help of the “Kostenkennwertekatalog” of Deutsche Bahn AG acquisitions costs for certain components of infrastructure can be determined. As a result, they offer a basis for calculating damages.
The maintenance strategy “predictive maintenance”, which is characterized by predicting the failure behavior of technical units based on modern sensor technology, plays a key role in smart factories against the background of an industry 4.0. This paper contains an evaluation of the current state of research on this strategy and gives an overview of the areas of application to date. With the aid of a qualitative video analysis, the implementation in the industries and company divisions involved and the type of goods monitored are examined. The analyzed video clips were uploaded to YouTube for example for marketing purposes by various companies with different perspectives on predictive maintenance. The video analysis was realized by applying a previously defined coding plan to the video material. The results show a predominant application in the manufacturing industry, in which predictive maintenance is used to monitor plants and machines. In addition, the strategy is also mainly applied to means of transport used for freight and passenger transport in various infrastructures. As a result of the video analysis, the currently high need for explanation of predictive maintenance becomes visible. By looking at these explanations, one also learns something about the special features that distinguish it from other maintenance strategies.
Grundlagen der Systemtheorie zur Anwendung transdisziplinärer Verfahren der Technikfolgenabschätzung
(2020)
The technological progress is highly responsible for how people live their everyday life. Technical innovations provide new opportunities to re-design all areas of life and because of that the society has to adjust to these changes permanently. These days, due to the fact that there is a changeover from analog into digital processes, this circumstance is highly relevant. However, it is not always clear whether a technological innovation just entails chances or involves risks, too. The research field of technology assessment pursues the goal to examine the influence of technological innovations on the society. For this purpose, unpredictable consequences of a technology need to be anticipated in advance to provide the opportunity of earlier reactions. The core of this thesis a discussion about a project based approach of technology assessment. Additionally, it is being investigated whether and how systems theory approaches can be used to improve predictions in the research area of technology assessment. Therefore, the question of how reliable forecasts are in this kind of context will be answered. Moreover, there is an investigation if an added-value can be created through performing system thinking. As a methodical approach a literature review has been performed. Furthermore, experts were questioned in an interview and by e-mail to gain an insight in the practical work of technology assessment. Based on the elaborated project structure, for each part of the project was examined if significant results can be maintained through the sophisticated use of principles of the systems theory. The analysis of this paper has shown that the results of a technology assessment may have more reliable forecast value in comparison to an investigation without proper consideration of system thinking. Especially, the understanding of a system during the phase of conception of a project can be crucial for the positive outcome for the results of technology assessment. This master thesis represents the theoretical point of view regarding topics technology assessment and systems theory. An application test for the validation of the results in the practical work of technology assessment is recommended.
Railway safety is a topic which gains the public attention only if major railway accidents happen. This is because railway is considered as a safe mode of travel by the public. However, to ensure the safety of the railway system railway companies as well as universities conduct a broad spectrum of research. An overview of this research has not yet been provided in the scholarly literature. Therefore, this thesis follows two objectives. First an overview and ranking of railway safety research universities should be provided. Second, based on these universities, it should be identified which are the most relevant and influential research topics. The ranking is based on the research method “literature review” which forms the methodical basis for this thesis. To evaluate the universities based on a measurable and objective criterion, the number of citations of the researchers from each university is gathered. As a result, the University of Leuven for the civil engineering, Milan Politechnico for mechanical enginering and the University of Loughborough for electrical engineering are identified as the leading university in their field of railway safety research. The top universities for each discipline are distributed all over Europe, North America and Asia. However, a clear focus on the US and British universities is observed. For identification of the most relevant and influential topics the keywords from the publications which are considered in the ranking procedure are analyzed. Focus areas among these keywords are revealed by calculating the count of each keyword. High-speed trains as well as maintenance are recognized as the highly relevant topics in both civil and mechanical engineering. Furthermore, the topic of railway dynamics for mechanical engineering and noise and vibration for civil engineering are identified as the leading topics in the respective discipline. Achieving both research goals required exploratory approaches. Therefore, this thesis leaves open space for future research to deepen the individual topics which are approached in each section. A validation of the results through experts interviews as well as a deepening of the analysis through increasing the number of analyzed universities as well as applying statistical methods is recommended.
Digital Transformation is a main enabler for technological change in today’s society and corporate structures. Companies of all sizes have to face up the change. The com-plexity of the innovations is constantly growing. More and more information and knowledge are needed to build a basis for renewal. Different capabilities, such as highly qualified employees, material resources and the correct handling with these information, constitute the background for the advancement. Compared to large companies, small and medium sized companies (SMEs) are struggling more with these circum-stances. This leaves potential capabilities to optimize daily routines unused.
Challenges here are different internal and external barriers. Examples for that are the lack of IT expertise and innovation culture. Hence it is very important, to show SMEs the advantages of the innovation process within the scope of digital transformation. Cost savings, improvement of IT infrastructure or optimization of their business processes, are drivers that should be adopted in the awareness of SMEs.
Recommendations for action are needed, also with the support of information management. This includes information management, strategic management for external an internal information and the selection of an appropriate IT infrastructure. However dynamic management skills and sufficient IT expertise also complement the digitization process.
This becomes clear from the literature analysis following the principles of Webster and Watson (2002). The Concept mapping and the concept matrix serves to support the process. They are presenting the key words and showing the most important works of the bachelor thesis. The argumentation of the bachelor thesis based on this.
Blockchain in Healthcare
(2020)
The underlying characteristics of blockchain can facilitate data provenance, data integrity, data security, and data management. It has the potential to transform the healthcare sector. Since the introduction of Bitcoin in the fintech industry, the blcockhain technology has been gaining a lot of traction and its purpose is not just limited to finance. This thesis highlights the inner workings of blockchain technology and its application areas with possible existing solutions. Blockchain could lay the path for a new revolution in conventional healthcare systems. We presented how individual sectors within the healthcare industry could use blockchain and what solution persists. Also, we have presented our own concept to improve the existing paper-based prescription management system which is based on Hyperledger framework. The results of this work suggest that healthcare can benefit from blockchain technology bringing in the new ways patients can be treated.
In this bachelor thesis a database for worldwide railway national investigation bodies is created. It contains contact details of those authorities as well as information of public accident investigation reports. The database is intended to serve as a basis for information and data acquisition of railway accidents. The information that can be taken from the investigation reports is an important element for a possible economical evaluation and for the efficiency of safety technologies. Besides the basics of the national investigation bodies, accident investigation reports and the efficiency calculation of safety technologies the thesis presents an evaluation of the existing investigation bodies and reports in the database. Also the usefulness of the database of accident investigation bodies will be explained and the potential impact on railway safety will be examined.
"We've allways been in a culture where more is more, and suddenly we're in a culture whrere less is a better quality of life. It's pretty revolutionary." - Bill Stewart
The transformation of society in recent years has brought significant changes, including the trend towards more conscious consumption and more sustainable use of resources. Traditional patterns have increasingly receded into the background, stereotypes have been broken and the standards of assessment have been redefined. And so we have arrived at a time when owning less is considered as more valuable and minimalism has become a new trend. The transformation of the social norms has also led to changes in the economy. Due to recent changes, sharing economy has emerged as a new, rapidly growing sector of the economy. In simple terms, the business model can be put as the sharing of unused resources in exchange for (non-) monetary incentives.
The present bachelor thesis deals with the implementation of the sharing economy in the B2B sector. The advantages and disadvantages of the business model have been shown and opportunities and risks of the implementation in companies have been described. Furthermore, it is examined, which conditions of the consumer sector are suitable for implementation in the B2B model and which new factors should be taken into consideration. Based on the literature analysis, a B2C model has been developed. In addition, qualitative interviews were carried out. Among the experts were the managers and CEO of a medium-sized IT company. The results of the evaluation, based on Mayring (2002), helped to develop a decision model for implementation of sharing economy in B2B and to answer the research questions.
Based on the results of the interviews, key framework conditions were transferred from the private sharing sector to the B2B model. In addition, further factors were identified. Depending on the decision model, it was possible to show the requirements for the implementation of sharing economy in the B2B environment and identify the challenges to be faced.
