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In this scientific research, an innovative sensor system is developed to prevent child heatstrokes in vehicles. The system incorporates a 24 GHz Continuous-Wave (CW) radar system, which identifies vital signs of an infant through a 4-by-1 patch antenna array embedded in a specifically designed circuit board. Intelligent signal processing algorithms analyze data generated by the radar chip and execute processing tasks on a robust microcontroller. The child’s respiration
rate can be extracted qualitatively from the data in nearly real-time, enabling the system to differentiate between a child and a mere shopping bag on the seat. In the event of identifying a critical condition, the system transmits this information via a data bus to a central ECU within the vehicle. This ECU is integrated with GSM and GPS connections, allowing communication with the driver or emergency services. The development of the sensor system adheres to existing
automotive industry standards, featuring a cost-effective design intended as a prototype for large-scale production. Through rigorous evaluation across various scenarios, including realworld
situations with children, the sensor system is refined. The continuously reliable function of the developed radar-based sensor system holds the potential to save children’s lives, making
a major contribution to automotive safety.
Efficient and reliable onsite inspection methods are gaining importance as the construc-tion of PV power plants is expanding. For large PV installations, time- and cost-efficient failure detection is essential for optimized operation and maintenance. For this purpose, various optical methods as Infrared thermography (IR), Electroluminescence (EL), Pho-toluminescence (PL) and Ultraviolet Fluorescence (UVF) are employed and under con-stant development. For each method, the camera, and eventually the light source, can be handheld, or mounted on a drone, also called unmanned aircraft vehicle (UAV), to achieve higher throughputs.
IR is the most widely used optical onsite PV inspection method, as many defects can be detected by the thermal radiation (heating) of the defect component. EL and PL reveal further information on the electrical behaviour of the Si-waver. They are also widely used and take the role of a complement to IR, showing electrically active/inactive areas of the semiconductor. On the other hand, UVF focuses on the degradation of the polymeric encapsulant of the Si-cell, most commonly consisting of EVA (ethylene-vinyl acetate). The degradation of the encapsulant can lead to its discoloration, also called yellow-ing/browning, which decreases the transmittance of visual light. UVF patterns can show this yellowing as well as humidity and oxygen entrances, which can lead to effects of corrosion. Both mechanisms (discoloration and corrosion) decrease the performance of the PV cell. The discoloration cannot be directly observed on IR or EL images, as the encapsulant is neither a heat source nor electroconductive. Using IR imagery, severe discoloration might be observed indirectly, as the reduced optical transmittance leads to changes in heat transfer mechanisms concerning the cell and the encapsulant.
Similarly, as long as corrosion does not lead to inactive cell areas or heating, it most likely will not be spotted using EL, PL or IR. So, UVF can fill the niche of inspecting the state of the encapsulant and detecting its defects due to climate impacts in early stages.
While a high number of studies on IR, EL, PL and some on UVF were performed in Europe and the USA, there are not yet many studies about the application of these tech-niques in South America (i.e., in Brazil). UVF mainly depends on climate factors (irradi-ation, temperature, humidity) and the operation time/”age” of the module. The UVF im-agery method has not yet been tested in climate and system conditions of Brazil. Fur-thermore, systems in Brazil are more recently installed. All this can affect differences in the results of UVF imagery applied in Europe, the USA and Brazil.
The present work focuses on the application of UVF imaging on PV power plants in Bra-zil, the creation of an experimental setup and the proposal of proceedings for the data analysis of the acquired images. The aim is to propose a method that is suitable for large-scale inspection.
Developing an intelligent chatbot that can imitate human-to-human interaction has become important in recent years. For this reason, many studies have been conducted to evaluate the quality of chatbots. Furthermore, various approaches and tools, such as sentiment analysis, have been created to improve the performance of chatbots.
This study examines previous research to identify the quality dimensions used to measure chatbots performance in order to develop a general chatbot assessment model that evaluates and compares chatbots quality. The developed evaluation model measures ten chatbot quality dimensions. This model is based on user experience. It requires human testers to interact with the chatbot to test its functioning and then a quantitative approach is used to collect data from user testing by conducting a survey with these testers. In this survey, they are instructed to evaluate the quality of the chatbot using a questionnaire that contains the items needed to evaluate each dimension.
This study also investigates whether sentiment analysis can improve the quality of chatbots and, if so, to identify the dimensions improved with sentiment analysis. For this reason, two chatbot versions are implemented using the Rasa framework (one that cannot detect sentiment and the other that analyzes sentiment and responds accordingly).
Following that, we used our evaluation model to evaluate and compare the two chatbot versions with two groups of participants by conducting a survey. In this survey, each group tested the functioning of one version. Then, both groups were instructed to use the items of the evaluation model to evaluate the version they tested. The goal of this survey was to evaluate the validity and reliability of the items used in the evaluation model to evaluate chatbots, and also to determine if sentiment analysis improved the chatbot quality by comparing survey results between the two groups. The results show that items used in the assessment model to evaluate chatbots are valid and reliable. The findings also indicate that sentiment analysis improves the chatbot’s quality. However, it improves the quality of some dimensions but not the majority of them.
In the course of this thesis, an overview will be given on which way developers can guide
users into acting environmentally friendly without the users realizing they are being
nudged. In the last couple of years, our private and work-life have been more and more
shifted away from reality into a digital context. Since the start of the Covid – 19 pandemic
in 2019, even more aspects of everyday life have been shifted to an online context, one
of them being groceries shopping. Even though online groceries shopping is not yet
common in Germany, there is a trend toward the online purchase of groceries visible.
This can be seen as a possibility to tackle another challenge the world is facing, the
climate crisis. One reason for the climate crisis is mindless consumption and purchasing
of too much food. This paper aims to combine the need for more aware consumption
with the newly rising trend of online supermarkets. Furthermore, a supermarket will be
provided to show if the implementation of environmentally–friendly nudges is technically
possible. To eventually prove the effectiveness of a nudge, it needs to be tested.
Keywords: Nudging, Environment, Online supermarkets
Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most auspicious yet controversial technologies with virtually unlimited potential to solve almost all of the existential problems humanity is facing today.1 Huge resources are poured into the development, testing and application of AI that is supposed to be utilized in almost all areas of everyday life.2 It may be used to combat genetically inherited diseases, to revolutionize the economy, to bring prosperity and equality to everyone and to counter the effects of climate change.3 With AI as the enabling technology humanity may experience a better future. Today, AI capabilities can already drastically improve analytic processing tasks and algorithmic systems and have beaten humans in games such as chess.4 Yet, AI and all of its applications bring about a myriad of ethical challenges. Revolutionary weapon systems that achieve autonomy via AI and genome-editing powered by AI are just some specific examples.5 An omnipotent AI will be either the greatest or the vilest thing that has happened to humanity in its brief existence.6 However, even today more and more computational devices are connected to each other, spurring a huge increase in global data streams that can be used to further train and enhance AI systems.
The prowess of AI for executing analytic tasks paves the way for the use of AI in more and more applications. One of these applications, that shows great promise, is the use of AI in surveillance applications.7 AI surveillance applications are proliferating at a fast rate, with a number of appli-cations already being in use today.8 These applications are aimed at accomplishing a number of policy objectives, some are in accordance with basic human laws, some are definitely not and some
1 Cf. Hawking (2018). P. 183ff
2 Cf. Hawking (2018). P. 183ff.
3 Cf. Hawking (2018). P. 183ff.
4 Cf. Burton (2015). P. 1ff.
5 Cf. Hawking (2018). P. 183ff.
6 Cf. Hawking (2018). P. 183ff.
7 Cf. Feldstein (2019). P. 1.
8 Cf. Feldstein (2019). P. 1.
2
belong in the nebulous area in between lawful and unlawful.9 But what are lawful and unlawful uses of AI surveillance systems and what are their ethical implications?
This thesis will examine the ethical implications of AI based mass surveillance systems and try to answer the first central question, if it is possible to use AI based mass surveillance applica-tions in an ethical way. Furthermore, the thesis will attempt to answer the second central ques-tion and find out how the ethical use of AI based mass surveillance systems, if this ethical use is possible, materialize. Governmental agencies will be in the focus of this discussion, as their use of the technology may have bigger ethical challenges. Yet private companies will play a part as well. In an attempt to accomplish these two aims, the thesis will inspect the basics of ethics and possible ethical theories that can be utilized to answer the questions. Normative ethics will be stud-ied first with a focus on consequentialism and utilitarianism. To gain a deeper understanding of utilitarianism, act and rule utilitarianism will be compared. Afterwards, deontological theories will be the focus of the discussion with a concentration on deontological pluralism. Next, the mentioned theories will be evaluated, discussing advantages and weak spots of the theories, to assess which theory may serve as the ethical framework of this thesis and the subsequent answer to the two main questions.
The next step will be the establishment of the AI framework. This contains the definition of AI and a distinction of terms that are commonly used in the its environment such as automation and au-tonomy. The importance of data for AI will be discussed. Afterwards, the technological basis of AI will be outlined, discussing key concepts such as machine learning and deep learning. Addi-tionally, it will be examined how an AI learns. The possible uses of AI in general will be outlined in a brief fashion, blazing the trail to discussing the moral challenges of AI. Afterwards, the current pace of AI development will be studied.
In the chapter that follows, the use of AI in surveillance technology is going to be highlighted. The possible ways of how AI can be used for surveillance purposes are reviewed here, discussing facial
9 Cf. Feldstein (2019). P. 1.
3
and behavioral recognition systems, smart cities, smart policing, communications/data driven sur-veillance and their enabling technologies. Then, the global proliferation of AI surveillance systems is going to be outlined.
Subsequently, the accordance of AI surveillance with basic human laws and rights, such as the right to privacy, will be checked to find out if the law and the international framework of human rights allow for AI surveillance or at least have restrictions that would greenlight the use of AI surveillance technology. All the aspects of the thesis, especially including the selected ethical framework, will be combined in this last section in order to enable the adaptation of a framework that allows to find out, if AI surveillance systems can be ethically permissible while also creating insights how this ethical AI surveillance system must be engineered. To finish, the thesis will end with a conclusion.
Digital technology is increasingly becoming a part of life and culture in society, and it must be consciously designed for the long-term benefit of humanity. Today, information systems are designed to do more than fulfill human duties or complete tasks. A widely adopted approach is a system design that focuses on the positive aspects of human-technology interaction. Positive computing is a design paradigm gaining traction because it emphasizes the importance of well-being as a bold goal to be implemented in system design. In this dissertation, technology design is part of an intergenerational environment aiming to facilitate information sharing regarding global startup innovation. Nevertheless, much of the research focuses on how technology can be used to facilitate intergenerational collaboration. On the other hand, very little is known about how technology can be "positively" designed to promote intergenerational innovation. Therefore, this dissertation applied Design Science Research (DSR) to inform and guide the creation of design principles through the lens of positive computing. The study results provide a holistic picture of the numerous barriers, well-being factors, competing concerns, and competencies that have been encountered in the context of intergenerational innovation and their implications. This dissertation is presented as a cumulative dissertation, answering three research questions divided into seven studies, consisting of nine articles.
In this study, we looked at the competencies and changes in the competency spectrum required for global start-ups in the digital age. Specifically, we explored intergenerational collaboration as an intervention in which experienced business-people from senior adult groups support young entrepreneurs. We conducted a Delphi study with 20 experts from different disciplines, considering the study context. The results of this study shed light on understanding the necessary competencies of entrepreneurs for intergenerationally supported start-up innovation by providing 27 competencies categorized as follows: intergenerational safety facilitation, cultural awareness, virtues for growth, effectual creativity, technical expertise, responsive teamwork, values-based organization, and sustainable network development. In addition, the study results also reveal the competency priorities and the minimum requirements for each competency group based on the global innovation process and can be used to develop a readiness assessment for start-up entrepreneurs.
In this document a reliable data streaming mechanism for a TDMA LPWAN application is developed by adapting a link layer solution for power line communication, published at the International Symposium on Power Line Communications and its Applications (ISPLC) 2015. A C++ implementation of the services link layer is provided and demonstrated
working at a packet error rate of 50%.
This work aims to generate synthetic electromyographic (EMG) signals using Generative Adversarial Network (GAN). GANs are considered as one of the most exciting and promising approaches in deep learning [6], offering the possibility to generate artificial data based on real data. GAN consists of two main parts, a discriminator that attempts to differentiate between the generated data and the original data, and a generator that tries to fool the discriminator by generating data which looks like real data, the GAN works by staging a two-player
minimax game between generator and discriminator networks. To achieve the objective of generating realistic artificial electromyographic signals, two different architectures are considered for the generator and the discriminator networks of the GAN model: Long short-term memory (LSTM), which can avoid the long-term dependency problem and remembers information over a long period of time, and convolutional neural network (CNN), which is a powerful tool at automatic feature extraction. Different combinations of CNN and LSTM including hybrid model are experimented within the GAN using the same training data-set. The results and performances of each combination are compared and reviewed. The generated artificial EMG signals can be used to
simulate real muscle activity situations to for example improve muscle signal controlled prostheses using artificial data that may include conditions that does not exist in real data. This method of artificial data generation is not limited to EMG signals, the network can also be used to generate other synthetic biomedical signals such as electroencephalogram (EEG) or electrocardiogram (ECG) that can be practically used for testing algorithms and classifiers.