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Non-rigid postal items with flexible packaging - such as poly bags - pose problems for logistics companies during automatic sorting. Thanks to modern simulation methods, there is now a widely applicable solution. Anyone who orders something online would like to have the parcel delivered reliably, quickly and undamaged.

Japanese IT company NEC has built the first quantum processor based on the ParityQC architecture. The Parity technology was invented at the University of Innsbruck and is being further developed and marketed by the spin-off ParityQC. NEC is now making the quantum computer, which specializes in optimization problems, available to the scientific community via the cloud.

A study with BOKU participation shows that biodiversity in intensive agriculture is not economically profitable for farmers. Measures for more sustainable agriculture can increase the number and diversity of wild bee species in grassland and thus increase pollination and crop yields in neighboring fields.

How does competition influence moral behaviour? Studies have so far found evidence for both a negative and a positive influence of competition on moral behaviour. Researchers from Innsbruck, Vienna, Stockholm and Amsterdam are using this unanswered question in a meta-study to investigate the extent to which different study designs can be responsible for variability in scientific results.

By Susanne Filzwieser In the new Christian Doppler Laboratory for Reliable Systems in Harsh Environments, researchers at TU Graz, supported by the refractories group RHI Magnesita, are focusing on data-driven condition monitoring in the steel production process. Things are heating up in steel production.

Good leadership is like sex and chocolate ice cream: what goes on in the minds of motivated employees Who wouldn't want a boss like Barack Obama? A leader who carries the team along, communicates visions and inspires enthusiasm. But why are employees more motivated by such behavior? Scientists at the University of Graz know the answer: because good leadership activates the same areas of the brain as chocolate ice cream or sex, and can therefore have just as motivating an effect.

Through technical progress, it is now possible to store an almost unlimited amount of information and data. We all make active use of this. In a study published in the journal PNAS, economists and psychologists from the University of Innsbruck and Carnegie Mellon University (USA) show that we are just as attached to information as we are to physical objects.

Research includes the fabrication of 3D nano-probes, radio-based positioning systems and the porosity of paper at three new Christian Doppler Laboratories to be opened at TU Graz on 25th April. Despite an abundance of CD lab launches at TU Graz, this was the first time it was necessary to open three CD labs at the same time.

In the new Christian Doppler Lab TU Graz develops methodologies for the quality assurance of cyber-physical systems. Together with corporate partner AVL List, this will be illustrated using autonomous vehicles as examples. From Smart Production and the Internet of Things to Robotics, cyber-physical systems combine electronics, software and mechanics and are linked together.

Starting shot for Christian Doppler Laboratory for Model-Based Control of Complex Test Bed Systems. From vehicles to solar energy systems, practically all systems are becoming more and more complex, are being quickly further developed, and have to be comprehensively tested before use. This calls for suitable high-performance and flexible test beds; but developing them is extremely challenging.

By Birgit Baustädter At the beginning of April, the COMET competence centre Pro²Future was established and shared between Linz and Graz. It will conduct research on products and production systems of the future. The key question is: what comes after Industry 4. Eight TU Graz-institutes of the In the future, machines should be able to recognise when humans and other machines are moving about in the room and adapt their work accordingly.

Market disruptions and innovation strongly impact its stakeholders on a shortto mid-term perspective. In the particular case of the smartphone market, where new products are released in very short cycles, it becomes imperative to forecast and identify heavy shifts in market demand as soon as possible.

The University of Applied Sciences Salzburg and the University of Vienna today announced project PROMISE - a joint research project in the area of smart grids. The PROMISE project aims to explore new opportunities for analyzing data and Smart Grid Operation processes through the latest analytical techniques such as process mining.

As an international team of researchers including Benjamin Marzeion from the Universitiy of Innsbruck reports, climate change and sea-level rise may cause trillions in damage to world's coasts. Coastal regions have to adapt to sea-level rise soon. Prompt action is needed most in Asia and Africa. Coastal regions may face massive increases in damages from storm surge flooding over the course of the 21st century.