1,163 research outputs found
Multidisciplinary perspectives on Artificial Intelligence and the law
This open access book presents an interdisciplinary, multi-authored, edited collection of chapters on Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’) and the Law. AI technology has come to play a central role in the modern data economy. Through a combination of increased computing power, the growing availability of data and the advancement of algorithms, AI has now become an umbrella term for some of the most transformational technological breakthroughs of this age. The importance of AI stems from both the opportunities that it offers and the challenges that it entails. While AI applications hold the promise of economic growth and efficiency gains, they also create significant risks and uncertainty. The potential and perils of AI have thus come to dominate modern discussions of technology and ethics – and although AI was initially allowed to largely develop without guidelines or rules, few would deny that the law is set to play a fundamental role in shaping the future of AI. As the debate over AI is far from over, the need for rigorous analysis has never been greater. This book thus brings together contributors from different fields and backgrounds to explore how the law might provide answers to some of the most pressing questions raised by AI. An outcome of the Católica Research Centre for the Future of Law and its interdisciplinary working group on Law and Artificial Intelligence, it includes contributions by leading scholars in the fields of technology, ethics and the law.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
LIPIcs, Volume 251, ITCS 2023, Complete Volume
LIPIcs, Volume 251, ITCS 2023, Complete Volum
Effects of municipal smoke-free ordinances on secondhand smoke exposure in the Republic of Korea
ObjectiveTo reduce premature deaths due to secondhand smoke (SHS) exposure among non-smokers, the Republic of Korea (ROK) adopted changes to the National Health Promotion Act, which allowed local governments to enact municipal ordinances to strengthen their authority to designate smoke-free areas and levy penalty fines. In this study, we examined national trends in SHS exposure after the introduction of these municipal ordinances at the city level in 2010.MethodsWe used interrupted time series analysis to assess whether the trends of SHS exposure in the workplace and at home, and the primary cigarette smoking rate changed following the policy adjustment in the national legislation in ROK. Population-standardized data for selected variables were retrieved from a nationally representative survey dataset and used to study the policy action’s effectiveness.ResultsFollowing the change in the legislation, SHS exposure in the workplace reversed course from an increasing (18% per year) trend prior to the introduction of these smoke-free ordinances to a decreasing (−10% per year) trend after adoption and enforcement of these laws (β2 = 0.18, p-value = 0.07; β3 = −0.10, p-value = 0.02). SHS exposure at home (β2 = 0.10, p-value = 0.09; β3 = −0.03, p-value = 0.14) and the primary cigarette smoking rate (β2 = 0.03, p-value = 0.10; β3 = 0.008, p-value = 0.15) showed no significant changes in the sampled period. Although analyses stratified by sex showed that the allowance of municipal ordinances resulted in reduced SHS exposure in the workplace for both males and females, they did not affect the primary cigarette smoking rate as much, especially among females.ConclusionStrengthening the role of local governments by giving them the authority to enact and enforce penalties on SHS exposure violation helped ROK to reduce SHS exposure in the workplace. However, smoking behaviors and related activities seemed to shift to less restrictive areas such as on the streets and in apartment hallways, negating some of the effects due to these ordinances. Future studies should investigate how smoke-free policies beyond public places can further reduce the SHS exposure in ROK
Optimization for Deep Learning Systems Applied to Computer Vision
149 p.Since the DL revolution and especially over the last years (2010-2022), DNNs have become an essentialpart of the CV field, and they are present in all its sub-fields (video-surveillance, industrialmanufacturing, autonomous driving, ...) and in almost every new state-of-the-art application that isdeveloped. However, DNNs are very complex and the architecture needs to be carefully selected andadapted in order to maximize its efficiency. In many cases, networks are not specifically designed for theconsidered use case, they are simply recycled from other applications and slightly adapted, without takinginto account the particularities of the use case or the interaction with the rest of the system components,which usually results in a performance drop.This research work aims at providing knowledge and tools for the optimization of systems based on DeepLearning applied to different real use cases within the field of Computer Vision, in order to maximizetheir effectiveness and efficiency
An uncertainty prediction approach for active learning - application to earth observation
Mapping land cover and land usage dynamics are crucial in remote sensing since farmers
are encouraged to either intensify or extend crop use due to the ongoing rise in the world’s
population. A major issue in this area is interpreting and classifying a scene captured in
high-resolution satellite imagery. Several methods have been put forth, including neural
networks which generate data-dependent models (i.e. model is biased toward data) and
static rule-based approaches with thresholds which are limited in terms of diversity(i.e.
model lacks diversity in terms of rules). However, the problem of having a machine learning
model that, given a large amount of training data, can classify multiple classes over different
geographic Sentinel-2 imagery that out scales existing approaches remains open.
On the other hand, supervised machine learning has evolved into an essential part of many
areas due to the increasing number of labeled datasets. Examples include creating classifiers
for applications that recognize images and voices, anticipate traffic, propose products, act
as a virtual personal assistant and detect online fraud, among many more. Since these
classifiers are highly dependent from the training datasets, without human interaction or
accurate labels, the performance of these generated classifiers with unseen observations
is uncertain. Thus, researchers attempted to evaluate a number of independent models
using a statistical distance. However, the problem of, given a train-test split and classifiers
modeled over the train set, identifying a prediction error using the relation between train
and test sets remains open.
Moreover, while some training data is essential for supervised machine learning, what
happens if there is insufficient labeled data? After all, assigning labels to unlabeled datasets
is a time-consuming process that may need significant expert human involvement. When
there aren’t enough expert manual labels accessible for the vast amount of openly available
data, active learning becomes crucial. However, given a large amount of training and
unlabeled datasets, having an active learning model that can reduce the training cost of
the classifier and at the same time assist in labeling new data points remains an open
problem.
From the experimental approaches and findings, the main research contributions, which
concentrate on the issue of optical satellite image scene classification include: building
labeled Sentinel-2 datasets with surface reflectance values; proposal of machine learning
models for pixel-based image scene classification; proposal of a statistical distance based
Evidence Function Model (EFM) to detect ML models misclassification; and proposal of
a generalised sampling approach for active learning that, together with the EFM enables
a way of determining the most informative examples.
Firstly, using a manually annotated Sentinel-2 dataset, Machine Learning (ML) models
for scene classification were developed and their performance was compared to Sen2Cor the reference package from the European Space Agency – a micro-F1 value of 84%
was attained by the ML model, which is a significant improvement over the corresponding
Sen2Cor performance of 59%. Secondly, to quantify the misclassification of the ML models,
the Mahalanobis distance-based EFM was devised. This model achieved, for the labeled
Sentinel-2 dataset, a micro-F1 of 67.89% for misclassification detection. Lastly, EFM was
engineered as a sampling strategy for active learning leading to an approach that attains
the same level of accuracy with only 0.02% of the total training samples when compared
to a classifier trained with the full training set.
With the help of the above-mentioned research contributions, we were able to provide
an open-source Sentinel-2 image scene classification package which consists of ready-touse
Python scripts and a ML model that classifies Sentinel-2 L1C images generating a
20m-resolution RGB image with the six studied classes (Cloud, Cirrus, Shadow, Snow,
Water, and Other) giving academics a straightforward method for rapidly and effectively
classifying Sentinel-2 scene images. Additionally, an active learning approach that uses, as
sampling strategy, the observed prediction uncertainty given by EFM, will allow labeling
only the most informative points to be used as input to build classifiers; Sumário:
Uma Abordagem de Previsão de Incerteza para
Aprendizagem Ativa – Aplicação à Observação da Terra
O mapeamento da cobertura do solo e a dinâmica da utilização do solo são cruciais na
deteção remota uma vez que os agricultores são incentivados a intensificar ou estender as
culturas devido ao aumento contÃnuo da população mundial. Uma questão importante
nesta área é interpretar e classificar cenas capturadas em imagens de satélite de alta resolução.
Várias aproximações têm sido propostas incluindo a utilização de redes neuronais
que produzem modelos dependentes dos dados (ou seja, o modelo é tendencioso em relação
aos dados) e aproximações baseadas em regras que apresentam restrições de diversidade
(ou seja, o modelo carece de diversidade em termos de regras). No entanto, a criação de
um modelo de aprendizagem automática que, dada uma uma grande quantidade de dados
de treino, é capaz de classificar, com desempenho superior, as imagens do Sentinel-2 em
diferentes áreas geográficas permanece um problema em aberto.
Por outro lado, têm sido utilizadas técnicas de aprendizagem supervisionada na resolução
de problemas nas mais diversas áreas de devido à proliferação de conjuntos de dados etiquetados.
Exemplos disto incluem classificadores para aplicações que reconhecem imagem
e voz, antecipam tráfego, propõem produtos, atuam como assistentes pessoais virtuais e
detetam fraudes online, entre muitos outros. Uma vez que estes classificadores são fortemente
dependente do conjunto de dados de treino, sem interação humana ou etiquetas
precisas, o seu desempenho sobre novos dados é incerta. Neste sentido existem propostas
para avaliar modelos independentes usando uma distância estatÃstica. No entanto, o problema
de, dada uma divisão de treino-teste e um classificador, identificar o erro de previsão
usando a relação entre aqueles conjuntos, permanece aberto.
Mais ainda, embora alguns dados de treino sejam essenciais para a aprendizagem supervisionada,
o que acontece quando a quantidade de dados etiquetados é insuficiente? Afinal,
atribuir etiquetas é um processo demorado e que exige perÃcia, o que se traduz num envolvimento
humano significativo. Quando a quantidade de dados etiquetados manualmente por
peritos é insuficiente a aprendizagem ativa torna-se crucial. No entanto, dada uma grande
quantidade dados de treino não etiquetados, ter um modelo de aprendizagem ativa que
reduz o custo de treino do classificador e, ao mesmo tempo, auxilia a etiquetagem de novas
observações permanece um problema em aberto.
A partir das abordagens e estudos experimentais, as principais contribuições deste trabalho,
que se concentra na classificação de cenas de imagens de satélite óptico incluem:
criação de conjuntos de dados Sentinel-2 etiquetados, com valores de refletância de superfÃcie;
proposta de modelos de aprendizagem automática baseados em pixels para classificação de cenas de imagens de satétite; proposta de um Modelo de Função de Evidência (EFM)
baseado numa distância estatÃstica para detetar erros de classificação de modelos de aprendizagem;
e proposta de uma abordagem de amostragem generalizada para aprendizagem
ativa que, em conjunto com o EFM, possibilita uma forma de determinar os exemplos mais
informativos.
Em primeiro lugar, usando um conjunto de dados Sentinel-2 etiquetado manualmente,
foram desenvolvidos modelos de Aprendizagem Automática (AA) para classificação de cenas
e seu desempenho foi comparado com o do Sen2Cor – o produto de referência da
Agência Espacial Europeia – tendo sido alcançado um valor de micro-F1 de 84% pelo classificador,
o que representa uma melhoria significativa em relação ao desempenho Sen2Cor
correspondente, de 59%. Em segundo lugar, para quantificar o erro de classificação dos
modelos de AA, foi concebido o Modelo de Função de Evidência baseado na distância de
Mahalanobis. Este modelo conseguiu, para o conjunto de dados etiquetado do Sentinel-2
um micro-F1 de 67,89% na deteção de classificação incorreta. Por fim, o EFM foi utilizado
como uma estratégia de amostragem para a aprendizagem ativa, uma abordagem
que permitiu atingir o mesmo nÃvel de desempenho com apenas 0,02% do total de exemplos
de treino quando comparado com um classificador treinado com o conjunto de treino
completo.
Com a ajuda das contribuições acima mencionadas, foi possÃvel desenvolver um pacote
de código aberto para classificação de cenas de imagens Sentinel-2 que, utilizando num
conjunto de scripts Python, um modelo de classificação, e uma imagem Sentinel-2 L1C,
gera a imagem RGB correspondente (com resolução de 20m) com as seis classes estudadas
(Cloud, Cirrus, Shadow, Snow, Water e Other), disponibilizando à academia um método
direto para a classificação de cenas de imagens do Sentinel-2 rápida e eficaz. Além disso, a
abordagem de aprendizagem ativa que usa, como estratégia de amostragem, a deteção de
classificacão incorreta dada pelo EFM, permite etiquetar apenas os pontos mais informativos
a serem usados como entrada na construção de classificadores
Computational modeling of biological nanopores
Throughout our history, we, humans, have sought to better control and
understand our environment. To this end, we have extended our natural senses
with a host of sensors-tools that enable us to detect both the very large, such
as the merging of two black holes at a distance of 1.3 billion light-years from
Earth, and the very small, such as the identification of individual viral
particles from a complex mixture. This dissertation is devoted to studying the
physical mechanisms that govern a tiny, yet highly versatile sensor: the
biological nanopore. Biological nanopores are protein molecules that form
nanometer-sized apertures in lipid membranes. When an individual molecule
passes through this aperture (i.e., "translocates"), the temporary disturbance
of the ionic current caused by its passage reveals valuable information on its
identity and properties. Despite this seemingly straightforward sensing
principle, the complexity of the interactions between the nanopore and the
translocating molecule implies that it is often very challenging to
unambiguously link the changes in the ionic current with the precise physical
phenomena that cause them. It is here that the computational methods employed
in this dissertation have the potential to shine, as they are capable of
modeling nearly all aspects of the sensing process with near atomistic
precision.
Beyond familiarizing the reader with the concepts and state-of-the-art of the
nanopore field, the primary goals of this dissertation are fourfold: (1)
Develop methodologies for accurate modeling of biological nanopores; (2)
Investigate the equilibrium electrostatics of biological nanopores; (3)
Elucidate the trapping behavior of a protein inside a biological nanopore; and
(4) Mapping the transport properties of a biological nanopore.
In the first results chapter of this thesis (Chapter 3), we used 3D
equilibrium simulations [...]Comment: PhD thesis, 306 pages. Source code available at
https://github.com/willemsk/phdthesis-tex
Sustainable Value Co-Creation in Welfare Service Ecosystems : Transforming temporary collaboration projects into permanent resource integration
The aim of this paper is to discuss the unexploited forces of user-orientation and shared responsibility to promote sustainable value co-creation during service innovation projects in welfare service ecosystems. The framework is based on the theoretical field of public service logic (PSL) and our thesis is that service innovation seriously requires a user-oriented approach, and that such an approach enables resource integration based on the service-user’s needs and lifeworld. In our findings, we identify prerequisites and opportunities of collaborative service innovation projects in order to transform these projects into sustainable resource integration once they have ended
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