580 research outputs found
Towards Explainability and Fairness in Swiss Judgement Prediction: Benchmarking on a Multilingual Dataset
The assessment of explainability in Legal Judgement Prediction (LJP) systems
is of paramount importance in building trustworthy and transparent systems,
particularly considering the reliance of these systems on factors that may lack
legal relevance or involve sensitive attributes. This study delves into the
realm of explainability and fairness in LJP models, utilizing Swiss Judgement
Prediction (SJP), the only available multilingual LJP dataset. We curate a
comprehensive collection of rationales that `support' and `oppose' judgement
from legal experts for 108 cases in German, French, and Italian. By employing
an occlusion-based explainability approach, we evaluate the explainability
performance of state-of-the-art monolingual and multilingual BERT-based LJP
models, as well as models developed with techniques such as data augmentation
and cross-lingual transfer, which demonstrated prediction performance
improvement. Notably, our findings reveal that improved prediction performance
does not necessarily correspond to enhanced explainability performance,
underscoring the significance of evaluating models from an explainability
perspective. Additionally, we introduce a novel evaluation framework, Lower
Court Insertion (LCI), which allows us to quantify the influence of lower court
information on model predictions, exposing current models' biases.Comment: Accepted at LREC-COLING 202
Electromechanical Piezoresistive Sensing in Suspended Graphene Membranes
Monolayer graphene exhibits exceptional electronic and mechanical properties,
making it a very promising material for nanoelectromechanical (NEMS) devices.
Here, we conclusively demonstrate the piezoresistive effect in graphene in a
nano-electromechanical membrane configuration that provides direct electrical
readout of pressure to strain transduction. This makes it highly relevant for
an important class of nano-electromechanical system (NEMS) transducers. This
demonstration is consistent with our simulations and previously reported gauge
factors and simulation values. The membrane in our experiment acts as a strain
gauge independent of crystallographic orientation and allows for aggressive
size scalability. When compared with conventional pressure sensors, the sensors
have orders of magnitude higher sensitivity per unit area.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figure
Array of lenses with individually tunable focal-length based on transparent ion-implanted EAPs
We report on the fabrication and characterization of 2x2 arrays of mm-diameter PDMS lenses whose focal length can be electrically tuned. Dielectric elastomer actuators generally rely on carbon powder or carbon grease electrodes, which are not transparent, precluding the polymer actuator from also being a lens. However compliant electrodes fabricated by low-energy ion implantation are over 50% transparent in the visible, enabling the polymer lens to simultaneously be an actuator. We have developed a chip-scale process to microfabricate lens arrays, consisting of a molded socket bonded to a Pyrex chip supporting 4 membrane actuators. The actuators are interconnected via an incompressible fluid. The Pyrex chip has four through-holes, 1 to 3 mm in diameter, on which a 30 ÎŒm thick Polydimethysiloxane (PDMS) layer is bonded. The PDMS layer is implanted on both sides with 5 keV gold ions to define the transparent electrodes for EAP actuation. Applying a voltage to one of the lens/actuators leads to an area expansion and hence to a change in radius of curvature, varying the focal length. We report tuning the focal length from 4 mm to 8 mm at 1.7 kV, and present changes in optical transmission and membrane stiffness following gamma and proton irradiation
Optimal Percolation of Disordered Segregated Composites
We evaluate the percolation threshold values for a realistic model of
continuum segregated systems, where random spherical inclusions forbid the
percolating objects, modellized by hard-core spherical particles surrounded by
penetrable shells, to occupy large regions inside the composite. We find that
the percolation threshold is generally a non-monotonous function of
segregation, and that an optimal (i. e., minimum) critical concentration exists
well before maximum segregation is reached. We interpret this feature as
originating from a competition between reduced available volume effects and
enhanced concentrations needed to ensure percolation in the highly segregated
regime. The relevance with existing segregated materials is discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Temperature and moisture are minor drivers of regional-scale soil organic carbon dynamics
Storing large amounts of organic carbon, soils are a key but uncertain component of the global carbon cycle, and accordingly, of Earth System Models (ESMs). Soil organic carbon (SOC) dynamics are regulated by a complex interplay of drivers. Climate, generally represented by temperature and moisture, is regarded as one of the fundamental controls. Here, we use 54 forest sites in Switzerland, systematically selected to span near-independent gradients in temperature and moisture, to disentangle the effects of climate, soil properties, and landform on SOC dynamics. We estimated two SOC turnover times, based on bulk soil 14C measurements (Ï14C) and on a 6-month laboratory soil incubation (Ïi). In addition, upon incubation, we measured the 14C signature of the CO2 evolved and quantified the cumulated production of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). Our results demonstrate that Ïi and Ï14C capture the dynamics of contrasting fractions of the SOC continuum. The 14C-based Ï14C primarily reflects the dynamics of an older, stabilised pool, whereas the incubation-based Ïi mainly captures fresh readily available SOC. Mean site temperature did not raise as a critical driver of SOC dynamics, and site moisture was only significant for Ïi. However, soil pH emerged as a key control of both turnover times. The production of DOC was independent of Ïi and not driven by climate, but primarily by the content of clay and, secondarily by the slope of the site. At the regional scale, soil physicochemical properties and landform appear to override the effect of climate on SOC dynamics
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