Temporal Technical and Profit Efficiency Measurement: Definitions, Duality and Aggregation Results

The shortage function, an important tool in production theory, measures potential increases in outputs and decreases in inputs for a given direction g at a given date. To develop a temporal version of technical efficiency measurement, we introduce the concept of a temporal shortage function. This temporal efficiency measure is easily computed using linear programming. We also establish a duality result stating that the temporal profit function and the temporal shortage function are dual to one another. This result has two consequences. First, one can derive a shadow price path via the shadow prices of the temporal shortage function. Second, transposing the classic Farrell inefficiency decomposition, temporal profit efficiency is decomposed into temporal technical and temporal allocative efficiency components. Finally, in line with the recent literature on aggregation over firms, this contribution treats the possibilities and limits of the aggregation of efficiency measures over time.Temporal shortage function; temporal profit function; aggregation over time

Das Abstrakte ist kein Beweis! Gedankenfotografie im Spiegel zeitgenössischer Kunst

Der Aufsatz beschäftigt sich mit der wechselseitigen Einflussnahme von Fotografie und Bildender Kunst in dem etwas abseitigen Gebiet der Gedankenfotografie. Im Zuge des florierenden Spiritismus zwischen ca. 1850 und 1970 hat es immer wieder Versuche der Gedankenübertragung gegeben, deren Ergebnisse man auf fotografischem Papier festhalten wollte. In einer kurzen Geschichte der Gedankenfotografie, die etwa um 1880 beginnt und bis in die 1970er Jahre andauert, lassen sich immer wieder Interaktionen von Malern, Fotografen und den "gedankenlesenden" Personen feststellen. Dabei spiegelt sich das Wissen um die Bilder der anderen sowohl in der Produktion der Bilder wider als auch in ihrer Rezeption. Ein besonderer Augenmerk wird z.B. auf die Frühzeit der Gedankenfotografie gerichtet, in der versucht wird, die Bilder gegenständlich zu deuten, selbst dort, wo sie eindeutig abstrakt bleiben

Follow Me, Everything Is Alright (or Not): The Impact of Explanations on Appropriate Reliance on Artificial Intelligence

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to augment human decision making in an astonishing variety of domains. However, its opaque nature is a barrier to appropriate reliance on AI-based decision support. One possible solution stems from the research field of Explainable AI (XAI), creating automatically-generated explanations to make the inner functioning of AI understandable to humans. Our research on XAI focuses on understanding the impact of explanations alongside confidence scores on appropriate reliance on AI-based decision support systems. To this end, we conducted a randomized, between-subjects online experiment with 126 participants performing an image classification task. We find that while XAI-based explanations alongside confidence scores improve AI users’ relative positive self-reliance, they simultaneously reduce users’ relative positive AI-reliance. Thus, explanations alongside confidence scores can help reduce AI-overreliance but run the risk of causing AI-underreliance. Our findings help advance the understanding of explanations as facilitators of appropriate reliance on AI systems

Die Rotatorienfauna des Dümmers unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der sessilen Arten : Teil 1

In dem Zeitraum von Dezember 1994 bis Oktober 1995 wurde die Rotatorienfauna des Dümmers, einem nordwestdeutschen Flachsee, untersucht. Im Abstand von ungefähr vier Wochen sind an 15 Untersuchungstagen insgesamt 95 Litoral- und Pelagialprobestellen aufgesucht und der Rotatorienbestand qualitativ und quantitativ erfaßt worden. Es konnten insgesamt 130 Arten aus 16 Familien festgestellt werden. Besondere Beachtung galt dabei den sessilen Arten, von denen in früheren Untersuchungen nur wenige genannt waren. Einige von ihnen und andere Monogononta werden im Hinblick auf ihre Taxonomie, Ökologie und Biogeographie näher charakterisiert. Veränderungen der Rotatorienzönosen des Dümmers in den vergangenen Jahren werden dargestellt, wobei sich dieser Vergleich vor allem auf die umfangreiche faunistische Untersuchung von Koste und Poltz (1984) stützt.From December 1994 to October 1995, the rotifer fauna of a shallow lake in northwest Germany called the "Dümmer" was investigated. Sampies were taken at 15 dates at intervals of four weeks. Collections from six litoral and seven pelagical sampling sites were alternately made so that altogether 95 sampies could be examined qualitatively and quantitatively. 130 species from 16 families were found. Because only a few sessile rotifers were registered in earlier investigations, special notice was taken of them. Some of them and other monogonont genera can be characterized with remarks concerning their taxonomy, ecology and biogeography. Changes in the rotifer fauna over recent years are described and compared to the investigation by Koste and Poltz (1984)

Deploying machine learning based data quality controls – Design principles and insights from the field

Enhancing data quality (DQ) to meet the requirements of digital processes is an essential prerequisite for any successful digitalization initiative. Machine Learning (ML) has become one of the most promising technological advances for enterprises to lower the barriers towards achieving required levels of DQ. Developing and deploying these ML based DQ systems in an organizational setting, however, is linked to a range of organizational and technical requirements and implications that researchers and enterprises have only started to comprehend. Based on an action design research approach, this study seeks to develop a comprehensive ML based solution for DQ controls, an essential instrument in Data Quality Management. Following the findings of the project, we propose a first set of design principles for ML based DQ controls as well as a set of differences to traditional DQ approaches

Bereavement Following Substance Misuse: A Disenfranchised Grief

Bereavement following a drug- or alcohol-related death has been largely neglected in research and service provision, despite its global prevalence and potentially devastating consequences for those concerned. Whilst researchers have drawn attention to the suffering experienced by families worldwide in coping with a member’s substance misuse, this article highlights the predicament of families bereaved following a substance misuse death. To this end, it reviews literature drawn from addiction and bereavement research that sheds light on this type of loss. The article also considers how general bereavement theory may illuminate bereavement following a substance misuse death. We argue that available frames of reference reflect not only a lack of focus on this type of loss but also a tendency to reproduce rather than interrogate normative assumptions of bereavement following “bad deaths.” The article concludes by considering how findings from existing literature can guide future research

The JCMT Nearby Galaxies Legacy Survey: SCUBA-2 observations of nearby galaxies

We present 850$\mu$m observations of a sample of 8 nearby spiral galaxies, made using the SCUBA-2 camera on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) as part of the JCMT Nearby Galaxies Legacy Survey (NGLS). We corrected our data for the presence of the $^{12}$CO $J=3\to 2$ line in the SCUBA-2 850$\mu$m bandwidth using NGLS HARP data, finding a typical $^{12}$CO contribution of $\sim 20$%. We measured dust column densities, temperatures and opacity indices by fitting spectral energy distributions constructed from SCUBA-2 and archival Herschel observations, and used archival GALEX and Spitzer data to make maps of surface density of star formation ($\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$). Typically, comparing SCUBA-2-derived H$_2$ surface densities ($\Sigma_{\rm H_2}$) to $\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$ gives shallow star formation law indices within galaxies, with SCUBA-2-derived values typically being sublinear and Herschel-derived values typically being broadly linear. This difference is likely due to the effects of atmospheric filtering on the SCUBA-2 data. Comparing the mean values of $\Sigma_{\rm H_2}$ and $\Sigma_{\rm SFR}$ of the galaxies in our sample returns a steeper star formation law index, broadly consistent with both the Kennicutt-Schmidt value of 1.4 and linearity. Our results show that a SCUBA-2 detection is a good predictor of star formation. We suggest that Herschel emission traces gas in regions which will form stars on timescales $\sim 5-100$ Myr, comparable to the star formation timescale traced by GALEX and Spitzer data, while SCUBA-2 preferentially traces the densest gas within these regions, which likely forms stars on shorter timescales.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 15 pages, 12 figures, 8 tables (plus 15 pages of appendices, with 31 figures

Beliefs and attitudes of citizens in Austria towards smart surveillance and privacy

This document presents the Austrian results of a qualitative study undertaken as part of the SMART project - “Scalable Measures for Automated Recognition Technologies” (SMART; G.A. 261727). The analysis and results are based on a set of 3 focus group discussions comprising of 19 participants from different age groups, which were held in order to examine the awareness, understanding, beliefs and attitudes of ctitizens towards smart surveillance and privacy. The focus group discussions were conducted in line with a discussion guide consisting of different scenarios aimed at stimulating a discussion among participants. While some scenarios dealt with surveillance in everyday contexts likely to be encountered by the participants, other scenarios were hypothetical in nature and their aim was to elicit the participants’ feelings, beliefs and attitudes in relation to dataveillance, the massive integration of data from different sources, and the “security versus privacy” trade-off.Scalable Measures for Automated Recognition Technologies (G.A. 267127). The project was co-financed by the European Union within the Seventh Framework Programme (2007-2013).peer-reviewe