Hasil untuk "Public law"

J. Jackson, B. Bradford, M. Hough et al.

L. Kaplow, Steve Shavell

T. Tyler

Sahibpreet Singh, Lalita Devi

This paper examines the admissibility of AI-generated forensic evidence in criminal trials. The growing adoption of AI presents promising results for investigative efficiency. Despite advancements, significant research gaps persist in practically understanding the legal limits of AI evidence in judicial processes. Existing literature lacks focused assessment of the evidentiary value of AI outputs. The objective of this study is to evaluate whether AI-generated evidence satisfies established legal standards of reliability. The methodology involves a comparative doctrinal legal analysis of evidentiary standards across common law jurisdictions. Preliminary results indicate that AI forensic tools can enhance scale of evidence analysis. However, challenges arise from reproducibility deficits. Courts exhibit variability in acceptance of AI evidence due to limited technical literacy and lack of standardized validation protocols. Liability implications reveal that developers and investigators may bear accountability for flawed outputs. This raises critical concerns related to wrongful conviction. The paper emphasizes the necessity of independent validation and, development of AI-specific admissibility criteria. Findings inform policy development for the responsible AI integration within criminal justice systems. The research advances the objectives of Sustainable Development Goal 16 by reinforcing equitable access to justice. Preliminary results contribute for a foundation for future empirical research in AI deployed criminal forensics.

Konstantin V. Getman, Oleg Kochukhov, Joe P. Ninan et al.

We explore the empirical power-law relationship between X-ray luminosity (Lx) and total surface magnetic flux (Phi), established across solar magnetic elements, time- and disk-averaged emission from the Sun, older active stars, and pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars. Previous models of large PMS X-ray flares, lacking direct magnetic field measurements, showed discrepancies from this baseline law, which MHD simulations attribute to unusually strong magnetic fields during flares. To test this, we used nearly simultaneous Chandra X-ray and HET-HPF near-infrared observations of four young Orion stars, measuring surface magnetic fields during or just after powerful PMS X-ray flares. We also modeled these PMS X-ray flares, incorporating their measured magnetic field strengths. Our findings reveal magnetic field strengths at the stellar surface typical of non-flaring PMS stars, ruling out the need for abnormally strong fields during flares. Both PMS and solar flares deviate from the Lx-Phi law, with PMS flares exhibiting a more pronounced deviation, primarily due to their much larger active regions on the surface and larger flaring loop volumes above the surface compared to their solar counterparts. These deviations likely stem from the fact that powerful flares are driven by magnetic reconnection, while baseline X-ray emission may involve less efficient mechanisms like Alfven wave heating. Our results also indicate a preference for dipolar magnetic loops in PMS flares, consistent with Zeeman-Doppler imaging of fully convective stars. This requirement for giant dipolar loops aligns with MHD predictions of strong dipoles supported by polar magnetic surface active regions in fast-rotating, fully convective stars.

Max van Drunen, Sanne Vrijenhoek

News recommender systems increasingly determine what news individuals see online. Over the past decade, researchers have extensively critiqued recommender systems that prioritise news based on user engagement. To offer an alternative, researchers have analysed how recommender systems could support the media's ability to fulfil its role in democratic society by recommending news based on editorial values, particularly diversity. However, there continues to be a large gap between normative theory on how news recommender systems should incorporate diversity, and technical literature that designs such systems. We argue that to realise diversity-aware recommender systems in practice, it is crucial to pay attention to the datasets that are needed to train modern news recommenders. We aim to make two main contributions. First, we identify the information a dataset must include to enable the development of the diversity-aware news recommender systems proposed in normative literature. Based on this analysis, we assess the limitations of currently available public datasets, and show what potential they do have to expand research into diversity-aware recommender systems. Second, we analyse why and how European law and policy can be used to provide researchers with structural access to the data they need to develop diversity-aware news recommender systems.

Henry Fraser, Zahra Stardust

This paper examines the role of public interest litigation in promoting accountability for AI and automated decision-making (ADM) in Australia. Since ADM regulation faces geopolitical headwinds, effective governance will have to rely at least in part on the enforcement of existing laws. Drawing on interviews with Australian public interest litigators, technology policy activists, and technology law scholars, the paper positions public interest litigation as part of a larger ecosystem for transparency, accountability and justice with respect to ADM. It builds on one participant's characterisation of litigation about ADM as an exercise in legal retrofitting: adapting old laws to new circumstances. The paper's primary contribution is to aggregate, organise and present original insights on pragmatic strategies and tactics for effective public interest litigation about ADM. Naturally, it also contends with the limits of these strategies, and of the Australian legal system. Where limits are, however, capable of being overcome, the paper presents findings on urgent needs: the enabling institutional arrangements without which effective litigation and accountability will falter. The paper is relevant to law and technology scholars; individuals and groups harmed by ADM; public interest litigators and technology lawyers; civil society and advocacy organisations; and policymakers.

Michael S. Argenyi, Gisele Bailey, Christopher J. McLouth et al.

Naloxone is a life-saving medication for opioid overdose, which claims many lives annually. This study investigated provider attitudes about, beliefs about, and barriers to naloxone use to inform an increase in provider prescription of naloxone. The survey took place at a large Southern tertiary health center. An adapted REDCap survey utilizing validated questions was distributed via institutional e-mail listservs. The results (N = 181) were analyzed using descriptive and chi-square statistics. While 90.9% of the providers had heard of the strategy of prescribing naloxone to prevent overdose, only 72.1% of providers would have considered prescribing naloxone. Providers reported implementing treatment or referrals when informed about nonprescribed opioid use (49.4%), when informed about suspected opioid use disorder (50.6%), or when patients asked for opioid use treatment advice or referral (24.4%). Responses indicated that providers are aware of prescribing naloxone to prevent overdose; however, discrepancies existed between providers’ knowledge and their willingness to prescribe naloxone. Providers’ reluctance to prescribe is partially explained by unfamiliarity with the safety of naloxone and counseling practices surrounding the drug, as well as the belief that prescribing naloxone encourages continued nonprescribed use of opioids. To increase provider comfort, training programs surrounding the safety and counseling practices of naloxone should be implemented.

Adila Ainiwaerjiang, Xueying Jin, Zhen Xie et al.

The global ecology movement of the 1960s gave rise to international efforts to of farmland ecological protection. In these systematic, multi-agent projects, the long-term viability of farmland ecological protection rests significantly upon the alignment and synergistic interaction of the primary agents involved. Beginning in 2017, the Chinese government prioritized farmland ecological protection, instituting a collaborative governance structure involving policymakers, policy implementers, and agricultural producers. To appraise the characteristics of this structure, this study develops a multi-agent theoretical framework according to a “motivation-behavior” model for farmland ecological protection. Analyzing the motivations of these agents and the resultant synergy across the 2000–2020 period, this research indicates a significant rise in the motivation of Chinese policymakers toward farmland ecological protection, coupled with a significant decline in motivation among agricultural producers. Policy implementers’ motivation, however, has remained consistent. Employing a coupling and coordination model to assess the collaborative effectiveness among these actors, this study identifies a downward trend in synergistic effectiveness across three phases: primary coupling, approaching decoupling, and mild decoupling. To further explore the collaborative effectiveness of policy implementers and agricultural producers, a Tapio decoupling model is utilized to analyze changes in their synergistic activity. The temporal analysis of motivational shifts indicates a stabilizing trend among policy implementers and fluctuating efforts from agricultural producers. Spatially, high-value areas for policy implementers have experienced a significant decline, migrating from the left to the right of the Hu Line; whereas, high-value areas for agricultural producers have steadily decreased. Specifically, areas where synergistic efforts between implementers and producers in farmland ecological protection are being observed have expanded, while areas exhibiting decaying synergy have contracted. Areas initially indicating synergy decay demonstrate an initial increase followed by a decrease. This study concludes that China must develop a compensation structure for farmland ecological protection targeted at business actors, execute region-specific protection plans, and strengthen multi-agent motivation to cultivate more robust synergistic outcomes.

J. Butts, Caterina G. Roman, Lindsay Bostwick et al.

Kimon Kieslich, Marco Lünich

AI is increasingly being used in the public sector, including public security. In this context, the use of AI-powered remote biometric identification (RBI) systems is a much-discussed technology. RBI systems are used to identify criminal activity in public spaces, but are criticised for inheriting biases and violating fundamental human rights. It is therefore important to ensure that such systems are developed in the public interest, which means that any technology that is deployed for public use needs to be scrutinised. While there is a consensus among business leaders, policymakers and scientists that AI must be developed in an ethical and trustworthy manner, scholars have argued that ethical guidelines do not guarantee ethical AI, but rather prevent stronger regulation of AI. As a possible counterweight, public opinion can have a decisive influence on policymakers to establish boundaries and conditions under which AI systems should be used -- if at all. However, we know little about the conditions that lead to regulatory demand for AI systems. In this study, we focus on the role of trust in AI as well as trust in law enforcement as potential factors that may lead to demands for regulation of AI technology. In addition, we explore the mediating effects of discrimination perceptions regarding RBI. We test the effects on four different use cases of RBI varying the temporal aspect (real-time vs. post hoc analysis) and purpose of use (persecution of criminals vs. safeguarding public events) in a survey among German citizens. We found that German citizens do not differentiate between the different modes of application in terms of their demand for RBI regulation. Furthermore, we show that perceptions of discrimination lead to a demand for stronger regulation, while trust in AI and trust in law enforcement lead to opposite effects in terms of demand for a ban on RBI systems.

Matthew A. Bershady, Kyle B. Westfall, Shravan Shetty et al.

We measure the age-velocity relationship from the lag between ionized gas and stellar tangential speeds in ~500 nearby disk galaxies from MaNGA in SDSS-IV. Selected galaxies are kinematically axisymmetric. Velocity lags are asymmetric drift, seen in the Milky Way's (MW) solar neighborhood and other Local Group galaxies; their amplitude correlates with stellar population age. The trend is qualitatively consistent in rate (d(sigma)/dt) with a simple power-law model where sigma is proportional to t^b that explains the dynamical phase-space stratification in the solar neighborhood. The model is generalized based on disk dynamical times to other radii and other galaxies. We find in-plane radial stratification parameters sigma_(0,r} (dispersion of the youngest populations) in the range of 10-40 km/s and 0.2<b_r<0.5 for MaNGA galaxies. Overall b_r increases with galaxy mass, decreases with radius for galaxies above 10.4 dex (M_solar) in stellar mass, but is ~constant with radius at lower mass. The measurement scatter indicates the stratification model is too simple to capture the complexity seen in the data, unsurprising given the many possible astrophysical processes that may lead to stellar population dynamical stratification. Nonetheless, the data show dynamical stratification is broadly present in the galaxy population, with systematic trends in mass and density. The amplitude of the asymmetric drift signal is larger for the MaNGA sample than the MW, and better represented in the mean by what is observed in the disks of M31 and M33. Either typical disks have higher surface-density or, more likely, are dynamically hotter (hence thicker) than the MW.

Matthew Mitnick, Shelby Goodwin, Mikaela Bubna et al.

Introduction: Digital interventions present a scalable solution to overcome barriers to smoking cessation treatment, and changes in resting heart rate (HR) may offer a viable option for monitoring smoking status remotely. The goal of this study was to explore the acceptability of using smartphone cameras and activity trackers to measure heart rate for use in a smoking cessation intervention. Methods: Participants (N=410), most of whom identified as female (75.8 %) with mean age 38.3 years (SD 11.4), were recruited via the Smoke Free app. They rated the perceived comfort, convenience, and likelihood of using smartphone cameras and wrist-worn devices for HR monitoring as an objective measure of smoking abstinence. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and Kruskal-Wallis tests assessed differences in acceptability across device types and whether the participant owned an activity tracker/smartwatch or smartphone. Results: Participants reported high levels of acceptability for both HR monitoring methods, with activity trackers/smartwatches rated more favorably in terms of comfort, convenience, and likelihood of use compared to smartphone cameras. Participants indicated a statistically significantly greater likelihood of using the activity tracker/smartwatch over the smartphone camera. Participants viewed the activity tracker/smartwatch as more acceptable than the smartphone camera (87.0% vs 50.0%). Conclusions: HR monitoring via smartphone cameras and wrist-worn devices was deemed acceptable among people interested in quitting smoking. Wrist-worn devices, in particular, were preferred, suggesting their potential as a scalable, user-friendly method for remotely monitoring smoking status. These findings support the need for further exploration and implementation of HR monitoring technology in smoking cessation research and interventions.

Oscar Expósito-López

Technological advancements in the field of artificial intelligence are increasingly bringing us closer to the possibility of incorporating automation in administrative decision-making. This tool would yield significant benefits in key areas such as efficiency and improvement of public services. However, it also poses risks, such as the potential loss of empathy that public workers contribute to decision-making and even the displacement of administrative personnel engaged in the processing of files. This study aims to delve into the aspects where the implementation of automated administration would be feasible, distinguishing between rule-based and discretionary decisions. Administrative mediation and artificial intelligence have distinct but teleologically complementary scopes of applicability within these powers. Consequently, we will explore how the role of the administrative mediator can represent a new administrative employment opportunity resulting from these new technological advancements, in search of the empathy and humanity compromised by the purely objective and amoral actions of any form of artificial intelligence.

Alireza Ebrahimi, Reza Askari

The issue of land occupation and water utilization is a vital matter that requires the establishment of specific regulations. Furthermore, according to Article 45 of the Iranian Constitution and Articles 1 and 2 of the Law on the Fair Distribution of Water, waters are considered public common property, the possession and utilization of which have been entrusted to the Islamic State. To preserve, protect, and ensure the proper utilization of water resources, the preservation of the riparian zone is essential. Following this approach, the Iranian legislature in the Law on the Fair Distribution of Water has designated them as public common property and made the utilization of these waters contingent upon obtaining a permit from the Ministry of Energy. On the other hand, the utilization of waters on private property may conflict with the State’s authority in the utilization of waters. Through the analysis of the descriptions provided in this regard, it was concluded that the lands constructed within the riparian zone of rivers are under the jurisdiction of the State, and their possession is solely considered a right of the State, based on the purport of the Law on the Fair Distribution of Water and its compatibility with the relevant articles of the Civil Code. Similarly, any form of utilization, whether through construction or water extraction, within the riparian zone must be authorized by the Ministry of Energy, even if the land belongs to the municipality or other public legal entities. Furthermore, even in the event that the encroachment on the riparian zone has been carried out with the permission of the relevant organization, the authority to determine its continuation or demolition rests with the Ministry of Energy, in which case the compensation for the owner and the builder will be provided according to Articles 43 and 44 of the same law.

Yuxiang Gao, Shiming Lei, Eleanor M. Clements et al.

The intrinsic anomalous Hall effect (AHE) has been reported in numerous ferromagnetic (FM) Weyl semimetals. However, AHE in the antiferromagnetic (AFM) or paramagnetic (PM) state of Weyl semimetals has been rarely observed experimentally, and only in centrosymmetric materials. Different mechanisms have been proposed to establish the connection between the AHE and the type of magnetic order. In this paper, we report AHE in both the AFM and PM states of non-centrosymmetric compound SmAlSi. To account for the AHE in non-centrosymmetric Weyl semimetals without FM, we introduce a new mechanism based on magnetic field-induced Weyl nodes evolution. Angle-dependent quantum oscillations in SmAlSi provide evidence for the Weyl points and large AHE in both the PM and the AFM states. The proposed mechanism qualitatively explains the temperature dependence of the anomalous Hall conductivity (AHC), which displays unconventional power law behavior of the AHC in both AFM and PM states of SmAlSi.

Lisa Koutsoviti Koumeri, Magali Legast, Yasaman Yousefi et al.

Empirical evidence suggests that algorithmic decisions driven by Machine Learning (ML) techniques threaten to discriminate against legally protected groups or create new sources of unfairness. This work supports the contextual approach to fairness in EU non-discrimination legal framework and aims at assessing up to what point we can assure legal fairness through fairness metrics and under fairness constraints. For that, we analyze the legal notion of non-discrimination and differential treatment with the fairness definition Demographic Parity (DP) through Conditional Demographic Disparity (CDD). We train and compare different classifiers with fairness constraints to assess whether it is possible to reduce bias in the prediction while enabling the contextual approach to judicial interpretation practiced under EU non-discrimination laws. Our experimental results on three scenarios show that the in-processing bias mitigation algorithm leads to different performances in each of them. Our experiments and analysis suggest that AI-assisted decision-making can be fair from a legal perspective depending on the case at hand and the legal justification. These preliminary results encourage future work which will involve further case studies, metrics, and fairness notions.

Elliott Ash, Aniket Kesari, Suresh Naidu et al.

Judicial opinions are written to be persuasive and could build public trust in court decisions, yet they can be difficult for non-experts to understand. We present a pipeline for using an AI assistant to generate simplified summaries of judicial opinions. Compared to existing expert-written summaries, these AI-generated simple summaries are more accessible to the public and more easily understood by non-experts. We show in a survey experiment that the AI summaries help respondents understand the key features of a ruling, and have higher perceived quality, especially for respondents with less formal education.

George Ayuune Akeliwira

The study examines the long-term causal relationship between public debt, governance quality, and illicit financial flows in sub-Saharan Africa. Annual time series data were gathered from the World Bank Governance Indicators, International Monetary Fund Economic Outlook, and Global Financial Integrity from 2005 to 2014. The approach adopted in the study is in the tradition of the portfolio choice framework of tax evasion, rooted in the investment theory of capital flight. The study finds that there is a negative and statistically significant long-run relationship between governance quality and illicit financial flows. The results also show a negative and statistically insignificant relationship between public debt and illicit financial flows. The findings suggest that weak institutional oversight, poor regulatory quality, corruption, and political crises are important determinants of illicit financial outflows in the region. It concludes that governments need to improve the transparency of financial transactions, including the beneficial ownership of corporate structures and tax information. The results also indicate the need to strengthen institutions such as customs, anti-corruption, and other law enforcement agencies to detect intentional trade misinvoicing as tax evaders exploit loopholes in tax administration peculiar to developing countries. The study is timely as resources are critically needed to rebuild economies in view of the global COVID-19 outbreak and its deleterious effects on low-income countries. The study is also relevant for policymakers as it presents pointers to the factors that proliferate illicit capital outflows from the region.

Vadym O. Anokhin

The article is devoted to the study of the areas of legal work in public authorities on the example of the State Tax Service. The article proposes to divide legal work into two main components: work related to support of court cases and work not related to court work. The author notes that the concepts of "function" and "area of work" are similar in content, but "area of work" is a narrower concept and is part of the function which is broader in content. As a result of the analysis of the areas of legal work, it is established that such areas are directly based on certain priority principles, which are also proposed for consideration. Research by practitioners and scholars suggests that the area of legal work related to compliance with the law actually gives legal departments a control and supervisory function over other structural units of public authorities, since compliance with the law is the key to reducing complaints and lawsuits. As a result of the analysis of the developments of national scholars, it is found that the information resource is influential for legal work, its directions and prompt adoption of lawful and reasonable decisions, and the process of transition from paper to electronic document flow only contributes to the improvement of the organization of work of a public authority. The proposed work, in the context of the areas of legal work, contains definitions and understanding of such terms as: lawmaking activity; law enforcement activity; law application activity; control and supervision activity; constituent activity; preventive activity. The analysis of the activities of legal departments in public authorities leads to the conclusion that the areas of work under consideration relate not only to legal departments, but also to other structural units of a public authority.