Not optimal, but Effective: the Multi-Mode Ticket for Reducing Urban Traffic Congestion in Medium-Sized Towns

Stadtverkehr, Stadtverkehrspolitik, Öffentlicher Personennahverkehr, Verkehrsstau, Mittelstadt, Urban transport, Urban transport policy, Public Transport, Traffic jam, Medium-size city

Forschung, Bildung und Transfer in der Kreativwirtschaft von Klein- und Mittelstädten

Städte befinden sich in einem stetigen Transformationsprozess und aktuell rückt die Kreativwirtschaft als Schlüsselbereich und Innovationsmotor für die Gesamtwirtschaft vermehrt auch in das Blickfeld der Stadtentwicklung. Während dieses Themenfeld in Metropolen und Großstädten schon mehrfach städtebaulich und wissenschaftlich untersucht wurde, besteht in Mittelstädten noch Forschungsbedarf. Die zugrundeliegende Forschungsarbeit „Potenzialstudie Kreativ Quartier Detmold“ hatte das Ziel Erfolgschancen, Potenziale, Herausforderungen und Anforderungen an die (Weiter-) Entwicklung der Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft in der typischen Mittelstadt Detmold und ihrer Bedeutung in einer polyzentralen Region zu untersuchen. Hierfür wurde ein Methodenmix angewendet, der sich in Form einer Umfrage mit den Anforderungen der Akteure auseinandersetzt; den Stadtentwicklungsprozess zweier erfolgreicher Fallstudien untersucht; Detmold städtebaulich auf geeignete Orte zur Ansiedlung von Kreativen analysiert und schließlich in Szenarien vergleichend bewertet. Im Ergebnis zeigt sich, dass die Kultur- und Kreativwirtschaft der Mittelstadt Detmold ein starkes Bedürfnis hat sich zu vernetzen und insgesamt mehr wahrgenommen zu werden. Es zeigen sich starke Wertschöpfungsketten untereinander und besondere Anknüpfungspotenziale im Umfeld von Hochschulen. Die räumliche Analyse offenbart, dass auch in einer Mittelstadt wie Detmold ausreichend Potenzialräume vorhanden sind. Gleichwohl existiert nicht ausreichend Eigendynamik, dass sich diese Räume selbst und in verdichteter Form entwickeln. Das kreative Potenzial ist also auch in Mittelstädten vorhanden. Es braucht aber gerade in einer Mittelstadt einen gesteuerten Stadtentwicklungsprozess der zusammen mit Förderimpulsen gezielt Entwicklungen in diese Richtung stimuliert

Designing the Health-related Internet of Things: Ethical Principles and Guidelines

The conjunction of wireless computing, ubiquitous Internet access, and the miniaturisation of sensors have opened the door for technological applications that can monitor health and well-being outside of formal healthcare systems. The health-related Internet of Things (H-IoT) increasingly plays a key role in health management by providing real-time tele-monitoring of patients, testing of treatments, actuation of medical devices, and fitness and well-being monitoring. Given its numerous applications and proposed benefits, adoption by medical and social care institutions and consumers may be rapid. However, a host of ethical concerns are also raised that must be addressed. The inherent sensitivity of health-related data being generated and latent risks of Internet-enabled devices pose serious challenges. Users, already in a vulnerable position as patients, face a seemingly impossible task to retain control over their data due to the scale, scope and complexity of systems that create, aggregate, and analyse personal health data. In response, the H-IoT must be designed to be technologically robust and scientifically reliable, while also remaining ethically responsible, trustworthy, and respectful of user rights and interests. To assist developers of the H-IoT, this paper describes nine principles and nine guidelines for ethical design of H-IoT devices and data protocols

The Ethical Implications of Personal Health Monitoring

Personal Health Monitoring (PHM) uses electronic devices which monitor and record health-related data outside a hospital, usually within the home. This paper examines the ethical issues raised by PHM. Eight themes describing the ethical implications of PHM are identified through a review of 68 academic articles concerning PHM. The identified themes include privacy, autonomy, obtrusiveness and visibility, stigma and identity, medicalisation, social isolation, delivery of care, and safety and technological need. The issues around each of these are discussed. The system / lifeworld perspective of Habermas is applied to develop an understanding of the role of PHMs as mediators of communication between the institutional and the domestic environment. Furthermore, links are established between the ethical issues to demonstrate that the ethics of PHM involves a complex network of ethical interactions. The paper extends the discussion of the critical effect PHMs have on the patient’s identity and concludes that a holistic understanding of the ethical issues surrounding PHMs will help both researchers and practitioners in developing effective PHM implementations

Biographie, Generation, Gender im Hinblick auf die Nutzung neuer Medien: Was bewirken veränderte Lernarrangements in der Schule?

Die vorliegende Vergleichsuntersuchung zwischen einer 9. Realschulklasse einer Mittelstadt in Baden-Württemberg und einer 9. Gymnasialklasse einer Mittelstadt in NRW versteht sich als Pilotstudie zu einer qualitativen Untersuchung zum Themenkomplex „Gender/Neue Medien/Jugendliche unterschiedlicher Schulformen“ (Leitung: Prof. Dr. S. Buchen). Das forschungsleitende Interesse für die (längerfristig angelegte) gender- und medienbezogene Jugendstudie zielt auf die Beantwortung der Frage, wie sich Lernen, Bildung und Sozialisation durch den Umgang mit den neuen Medien verändern, und wie in unterschiedlichen Schulformen eine gendersensitive Auseinandersetzung mit den Möglichkeiten der neuen Medien aussieht bzw. aussehen könnte

Explaining Explanations in AI

Recent work on interpretability in machine learning and AI has focused on the building of simplified models that approximate the true criteria used to make decisions. These models are a useful pedagogical device for teaching trained professionals how to predict what decisions will be made by the complex system, and most importantly how the system might break. However, when considering any such model it’s important to remember Box’s maxim that "All models are wrong but some are useful." We focus on the distinction between these models and explanations in philosophy and sociology. These models can be understood as a "do it yourself kit" for explanations, allowing a practitioner to directly answer "what if questions" or generate contrastive explanations without external assistance. Although a valuable ability, giving these models as explanations appears more difficult than necessary, and other forms of explanation may not have the same trade-offs. We contrast the different schools of thought on what makes an explanation, and suggest that machine learning might benefit from viewing the problem more broadly

Review of \u3cem\u3eThe Rise of the Military Welfare State. Jennifer Mittelstadt. Reviewed by Mark Olson

Jennifer Mittelstadt, The Rise of the Military Welfare State. Harvard University Press (2015), 344 pages, $29.95 (hardcover)

Counterfactual Explanations without Opening the Black Box: Automated Decisions and the GDPR

There has been much discussion of the right to explanation in the EU General Data Protection Regulation, and its existence, merits, and disadvantages. Implementing a right to explanation that opens the black box of algorithmic decision-making faces major legal and technical barriers. Explaining the functionality of complex algorithmic decision-making systems and their rationale in specific cases is a technically challenging problem. Some explanations may offer little meaningful information to data subjects, raising questions around their value. Explanations of automated decisions need not hinge on the general public understanding how algorithmic systems function. Even though such interpretability is of great importance and should be pursued, explanations can, in principle, be offered without opening the black box. Looking at explanations as a means to help a data subject act rather than merely understand, one could gauge the scope and content of explanations according to the specific goal or action they are intended to support. From the perspective of individuals affected by automated decision-making, we propose three aims for explanations: (1) to inform and help the individual understand why a particular decision was reached, (2) to provide grounds to contest the decision if the outcome is undesired, and (3) to understand what would need to change in order to receive a desired result in the future, based on the current decision-making model. We assess how each of these goals finds support in the GDPR. We suggest data controllers should offer a particular type of explanation, unconditional counterfactual explanations, to support these three aims. These counterfactual explanations describe the smallest change to the world that can be made to obtain a desirable outcome, or to arrive at the closest possible world, without needing to explain the internal logic of the system

Transparent, explainable, and accountable AI for robotics

To create fair and accountable AI and robotics, we need precise regulation and better methods to certify, explain, and audit inscrutable systems