Jascha Grübel

  • Paper on Game AR Osteoclasts

    Paper on Game AR Osteoclasts

    I ended up as an academic but this week I am happy to announce my newest paper as a first author in JMIR Publications Serious Games on a learning game I created together with the ETH Game Technology Center, University of Zurich, and Medical University of Vienna with support from Quintessence Publishing Deutschland. Our Game…

  • Project start for Open Digital Twin Platform

    Project start for Open Digital Twin Platform

    Last year during my first steps as a postdoc I applied to the institutional Swiss Open Research Data Grants. For my work at the Center for Sustainable Future Mobility (CSFM) at ETH Zürich, I gained the support of Prof. Kay W. Axhausen and Prof. Martin Raubal to submit a project together with the Swiss Data…

  • So you want to build your Unity project on a private jenkins for iOS and Android?

    This is a question that recently haunted me. Previously, at the Game Technology Center (GTC) at ETH Zürich, I was privileged enough to sit on a deployed pipeline. It creaks sometimes but in general, it works well. For a new project with Future Health Technologies at the Singapore ETH Center, there was no such luck.…

  • Neuro 140/240 – Lecture 7

    Lecture by Jan Drugowitsch at Harvard University. My personal takeaway on auditing the presented content. Course overview at https://klab.tch.harvard.edu/academia/classes/BAI/bai.html Biological and Artificial Intelligence A simple understanding would believe that a brain has a state has is changed via a function and input to produce a behaviour. However, the complexity of the brain makes the function…

  • Neuro 140/240 – Lecture 5

    Lecture by Tomer Ullman at Harvard University. My personal takeaway on auditing the presented content. Course overview at https://klab.tch.harvard.edu/academia/classes/BAI/bai.html Biological and Artificial Intelligence The development of intuitive physics and intuitive psychology Turing proposed that an AI could be developed very much like a human – from a empty notebook or child to a developed adult.…

  • Neuro 140/240 – Lecture 4

    Lecture by Cengiz Pehlevan at Harvard University. My personal takeaway on auditing the presented content. Course overview at https://klab.tch.harvard.edu/academia/classes/BAI/bai.html Biological and Artificial Intelligence Inductive bias of neural networks A brain can be understood as a network with parameters as 10^11 neurons (nodes) and 10^14 synapses (parameters. Geoffrey Hinton cleverly observed that “The brain has about…

  • Neuro 140/240 – Lecture 2

    Lecture by Richard Born at Harvard University. My personal takeaway on auditing the presented content. Course overview at https://klab.tch.harvard.edu/academia/classes/BAI/bai.html Biological and Artificial Intelligence Warren Weaver was the head at the Rockefeller Center in the 1950s and he said the future of engineering is to understand the tricks that nature has come up with over the…

  • Neuro 140/240 – Lecture 1

    Lecture by Gabriel Kreiman at Harvard University. My personal takeaway on auditing the presented content. Course overview at https://klab.tch.harvard.edu/academia/classes/BAI/bai.html Biological and Artificial Intelligence Eventually, we will have ultraintelligent machines, that is machines that are more intelligent than humans. Going back to 1950, The Turing test denotes the first test to understand whether a machine is…

  • Geometry of Big Data – Tuesday session

    Session 1 – Graph-based persistence The talk On the density of expected persistence diagrams and its kernel based estimation is given by Frederic Chazal. A draft is available on arxiv. Grow circles around point data to generate a graph whenever other points meet the circle and produce a persistent homology of filtered simplicial complexes (e.g…

  • Geometry of Big Data – Monday session

    All talks are summarised in my words which may not accurately represent the authors’ opinion. The focus is on aspects I found interesting. Please refer to the authors’ work for more details. Session 1 – Learning DAGs The talk DAGs with NO TEARS: Continuous Optimization for Structure Learning is given by Pradeep Ravikumar. A draft…

  • Starting “Geometry and Learning from Data in 3D and Beyond” at IPAM, UCLA

    Today is the first day of my stay at the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM) at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Over the coming weeks I wil try to discuss interesting talks here at the long course Geometry and Learning from Data in 3D and Beyond. Stay tuned for the first workshop…

  • A Manifesto to Cite 50/50

    I recently came across Women Also Know Stuff. I think it is a great initiative that helps to slowly combat systemic and structural inequality. They point to many female scientists in most social sciences and I wondered whether I could find a similar program in computer science. The answer was no because apparently we first…

  • Off to the Chicago Forum on Global Cities

    Today I write you as part of a mini-series on my stay at the Chicago Forum on Global Cities (CFGC). I have been kindly sponsored by ETH Zurich and the Chicago Forum to participate in the event. I am currently sitting in my train to Zurich airport and I am looking forward to 3 days…

  • PIE: Ex Post Evaluation: Establishing Causality without Experimentation

    So far, we discussed evaluation based on ex ante Randomised Control Trials (RCT). In ex post experiments, we have an another opportunity for an evaluation. However, there are strong limitations: Treatment manipulation is no longer possible, observational data only (i.e. the outcome of social processes), and baseline may be missing To address these issues, the…

  • PIE: Ex Ante Evaluations: Randomised Control Trials

    For a Randomised Control Trial (RCT) several elements are necessary. Evaluators need to be involved long before it ends – ideally from the conception. Randomisation must take place. The operationalisation and measurement must be defined. The data collection process and the data analysis must be performed rigorously. Randomisation and the data collection process is what…

  • PIE: The Fundamental Problem of Causal Inference

    We evaluate policies for a multitude of reasons. On the one hand, we wish to increase our knowledge and learn about its underlying function to improve program design and effectiveness. On the other hand, considerations from economy, society, and politics are the reason behind the evaluation. This may include allocation decisions via cost-benefit analysis (economic),…

  • ASC: Concepts and Arguments

    The evaluation of the correctness of arguments is the core of this blog post. We will focus on justifications as premises are to be evaluated with the scientific method. However, the quality of premises must be considered. Only true premises can guarantee the truth of the conclusion, so the reasons must be impeccable. Therefore, acceptable…

  • SMABSC: Cognitive Agents

    Cognitive models are a representation of an agent control mechanism resembling the cognitive architecture of a mind.  It can be understood as a control system (e.g. a flow graph how to react) that takes sensory inputs and produces motor outputs (Piaget, 1985). More advanced models include adaptive memory (Anderson, 1983). Famous models include SOaR: State…

  • SMABSC: Disease Propagation

    The SIR model was introduced as a mathematical model with differential equations (Kermack & McKendrick, 1927). The basic states are Susceptible, Infected, and Recovered. [latex]N_i = \frac{dS}{dt}+\frac{di}{dt}+\frac{dR}{dt}[/latex] In the SIR model, the fundamental trajectory of disease propagation could be captured, immunity was acquired after disease and the population is homogeneous. But the SIR model has…

  • ISN: Communities and cliques

    Dyads are not yet interesting for network research. However, starting at triads interesting behaviour appear. In triads, balance and control appear. Triads appear more commonly in social networks than in random graphs. Clustering coeffcient The clustering coefficient measures the amount of transitivity in a network. When A is related to B, and B is in…

  • PE: Redistribution

    The focus of today’s lecture will be on redistribution as discussed in Chapter 3(Mueller, 2003). Additionally, we will discuss papers quantitatively assessing the situation (De Haan & Sturm , 2017; Sturm & de Haan, 2015). A justification for the state can be redistribution. But redistribution itself can be argued for based on different reasons. In…

  • ISN: Data Collection Strategies

    Data collection refers to the collection of an offline social network. The information about a particular community is collect. A group needs to be defined (boundaries), which may be easy (e.g. school class or company) or difficult (e.g. needle-sharing). Complete network data A group with clear boundaries, such as a formal group or organisation. All…

  • ISN: Positions in Social Networks

    Positions in a network are important for different reasons such as well-being. In the following several concepts will be introduced to gauge positions in a social networks. Structural balance People prefer balanced relationship structures. According to Heider (Heider, 1946), imbalances cause psychological distress. To balance people create or drop ties. However, balance may not be…

  • PE: Bureaucracy theory

    We will be looking at the political process in an exogenous political environment. Policies are demanded for by citizens/voters and interest groups whereas it is supplied by delegates/representatives/politicians and public administration. Public administration is claimed to be motived by either rent-seeking or community-engaging. A central question becomes how to measure the quality of government of…

  • IAP: Netheads and Bellheads

    In the 1990s the great debates on how the Internet should be developed was coined the Netheads versus Bellheads. Netheads originated from the people that developed network technology whereas Bellheads originates from the Bell Laboratories – a research institution of telecommunication companies. At the core was a technical discussion whether packet-switching or circuit-switching is more…

  • CSD: Space Syntax Theory

    Space syntax is a social theory on the use of space. It encompasses a set of theories and techniques that examines relationships between man (e.g. individual/user/society) and the environment (in/outdoor). Recommended basic readings are Lynch’s “The image of the city” (Lynch, 1960) as well as “Space is the machine” (Hillier, 2007) . Advanced readings are…

  • SMADSC: Social Networks

    Social networks often give structure to relations. They can be considered as abstract, mathematically, tractable and computationally instantiatable systems. Social networks have become a field of their own. It is very interdisciplinary touching mathematics (graph theory), computer science (algorithms), sociology (population group trends), psychology (individual and social behaviour), and complex network theory. Interpersonal contact caused…

  • ISN: Network visualisation

    Today’s topic will be to visualise networks and centrality measures. We visualise a network to better understand the underlying data. A visualisation should be driven by the question that we would like to answer. Nonetheless, visualisations are by their nature exploratory. Also, visualisations do not provide evidence for hypothesis. Visualisation usually tries to convey information…

  • PE: Public Good Game

    Public Good Game Each subject secretly chooses how much of their initial endowment to put into a public pot. The joint value in this pot is multiplied by a factor ([latex] 1 < factor < N [/latex]) and evenly paid out across all [latex]N[/latex] subjects. All unspent endowments is kept by the respective subject. In…

  • ASC: Introduction

     Argumentation and Science Communication will discuss how scientific arguments are made and how they are eventually communicated. The first weeks readings are listed in the references (Bradley & Steele, 2015; Lempert, Nakicenovic, Sarewitz, & Schlesinger, 2004). A particular focus will be on (Mueller, 2010), for which the following questions should be answered: What is a…

  • Urban Design II: Los Angeles

    Today’s topic will be the Urban Design of Los Angeles. The main tools will be top-down infrastructure (Ecology/landscape), fragmented sub-urban (suburbia) and places for experimentation (micro/temporary programs). Los Angeles is a car city. It is the antagonist to New York, the incarnation of the battle between the East and West Coast. Hollywood is located in…

  • IAP: Introduction

    The internet is a global-scale, technically complex artefact of immense international social and political importance. It is formed by the interaction of technical constraints (e.g. speed of light, number of addresses), usage models and behaviour, technological design choices and policy decisions. This course will focus on the Internet and other networks will only marginally be…

  • CSD: Introduction

    The course “Cognition in Studio Design – analytic tools for evidence-based design” will discuss readings of space syntax (Bafna, 2003) , navigation issues (Carlson, Hölscher, Shipley, & Dalton, 2010) as well as functions and applications of spatial cognition (Montello & Raubal, 2013) . To compute space syntax DepthmapX will be used. References Bafna, S. (2003).…

  • SMADSC: Introduction

    Complex systems are the core topic of  Social Modelling, Agent-Based Simulation, and Complexity. Complex systems usually emerge as an artefact of interaction. The output of a complex system follows the Power Law and may have a regime or phase changes, known as tipping points. Emergent properties and scale-free organisation are a typical feature of complex…

  • ISN: What are Social Networks?

    Social networks are based on relations between two or a few individuals from friendships over contracts to work contacts. Throughout the course, the theory behind social networks will be put into context with methods of comparing and applying social networks. Examples from different scientific disciplines will be used to illustrate the social networks. Network descriptives…

  • PE: Institutions and Economic principles

    The main reference for today will be Mueller’s Public Choice III Chapter 1 and 2 (Mueller, 2003)as well as Acemoglu’s Political Economy Lecture Notes Chapter 1 (Acemoglu, 2009). Additional readings are Acemoglu’s Chapter 2 and work by Ostrom (Ostrom, 1998) and Schnellenbach (Schnellenbach & Schubert, 2015). Political Economy joins the fields of Political Science and Economics.…

  • Urban Design I: Tools

    Throughout the course Urban Design I several “tools” were introduced that impact urbanity. Expansion Tools of this kind belong to top-down approaches and usually give form to the urbanscape in a radical way. Megascale-planing (Berlin) Berlin was an early example of a politically motivated re-organisation of administrative units. Berlin grew from nearly 2 million to…

  • PIPP: Governance beyond the state

    International politics differentiate themselves from state politics as the question of sovereignty is answered differently. States have internal and external sovereignty. A consequence is that they are formally equal entities. Therefore states have to coordinate horizontally and negotiate an order mostly based on the power they can display. International politics would be similar to national…

  • PIPP: Democracy & Governance

    Mechanistic institutional definitions of a democracy are based on the electoral systems and the powers it hands to officials. There are also soft definitions of democracy that focus on citizens’ rights to form interest groups (pressure groups, political parties, etc.) and judicial protection of citizens. The quality of a democracy can be rated based on…

  • Principles of Economics: Imperfect Competition

    Monopoly Barriers to entry are the fundamental cause for the rise of monopoly. Barriers appear in three forms: ownership of key resources, exclusive production rights and an efficient (return-to-)scale. A firm’s ability to influence the market price is called market power. It entails that a firm can raise the price above some competitive level in…

  • QPAM: Uncertainty

    A first form of uncertainty is randomness. It is a stochastic behaviour that can be dealt with sensitivity analysis, estimates from experience (actuarial) or hedging. A more complicated form of uncertainty is indeterminacy. It describes situations that are qualitatively known, but cannot be reliably quantified. It is often addressed by attempting to quantify it anyway…

  • Principles of Economics: Public and Common Goods

    To define Public Goods we need two concepts: Excludable goods and Rival goods. Excludable goods can be prevented from use (food) in contrast to non-excludable goods that can always be consumed (radio or air). Rival goods cannot be consumed without diminishing others’ use of it (food) in contrast to non-rival goods (mp3-files). Based on the…

  • BSTP: Computing

    The digital revolution was carried by the development of transistors. The first triode was created in 1907 (similar to the air plane in 1903). Followed by field-effect transistor (FET) in 1925 and finally followed by today’s standard a silicon transistor in 1954. Based on transistors a first digital computer (ENIAC) was built in 1947 and…

  • CGSS: Complex Networks

    Behind complex networks, there are networks that describe the interaction between components. Basics A network is  a set of nodes interconnected by a set of links. The adjacency matrix [latex]A[/latex] of a network is the matrix which contains non-zero element [latex]A_{ij}[/latex] if there exists an edge between node [latex]i[/latex] and [latex]j[/latex]. The resulting graph is…

  • Principles of Economics: Externalities

    Externality An uncompensated impact of one person’s action on the well-being of a bystander. It is a type of market failure as it reduces the efficiency of the market. In general, it is caused by self-interested buyers and sellers neglecting the external costs or benefits of their actions. However, public policy can reduce externalities and…

  • BSTP: Further Industrial Revolution

    Technological development occurs in two forms: intensive growth (development of new methods) and extensive growth (improving current methods). At the time (1930) Keynes predicted 15-hour work weeks by 2030, based on the reduced work necessary to reach the same economic productivity. This was based on the intensive growth of the 19th and 20th century. The…

  • BSTP: Of cars

    In the context of Geel’s book – specifically cars – we discuss the following questions: How did niches emerge in the context of existing technology regime? A horse-based transport moved to electric-based transport in the 19th century, before the internal combustion engine took off. Electric batteries and plugs where not standardised and therefore it was…

  • CGSS: Introduction to Mechanism Design

    Game Theory outlines the problem of the free-rider dilemma in public goods. In order to overcome the tragedy of the commons mechanism design was proposed. The basic idea is to define the the payoff and actions in order to drive people towards a preferred behaviour. Public Goods Game From the mechanism design perspective  two individuals …

  • CGSS: Introduction to Game Theory

    A fundamental problem is over-usage. Usually, nobody wants over-usage to occur. However, on an individual level companies want to maximise their profit while they neglect the social cost. The problem is also known as the Tragedy of the commons which is based on the free-rider dilemma. A game is defined by three components: players, actions,…

  • PIPP: Legal Families

    The major legal families are civil law and common law. This is a short overview that ignores several details for a coherent view. Civil Law Civil Law is prevalent in Continental Europe. Central features are codification, parliaments make the law, judges interpret the law central figures (i.e scholars who argues doctrinally and creates abstract principles…

  • Urban Design I: Berlin

    Berlin needed complete reconstruction after the Second World War. The television tower near Alexander Platz was a sign of progress that Eastern Germany held up against Western Germany. Urbanism is frozen politics. Berlin was expected to grow to 4 million people (in the center) after the war, but remained at 2 million. Note that the…

  • QPAM: Investment Appraisal

    To perform investment appraisal we need to analyse cost and revenues. First we need to find profitability indicators, then we need to assess the life cycle cost. Then we can perform a cost effectiveness analysis and last we need to also consider dynamics and sensitivities. Profitability Indicators On the cost side we have investment costs,…

  • BSTP: Sailships to steamships and Limited Liability.

    The move from sail ships to steamships was driven beyond the technological developments by mail delivery (communication) and transportation of people. Sail ships remained a useful resource in heavy cargo with no time limits on delivery and only phased out with increased efficiency of steamships. The opening of global trade looked the world into steamships.…

  • BSTP: Industrial Revolution

    The topic of today is industrial revolution. Summed up in a phrase the transformation from ” muscle to machine”. Any transformation requires work/energy. Before the industrial revolution people relied on biological matter for work. The rate of energy conversion many orders of magnitude lower than in machines. This limitation extended to human growth potential. Engines…

  • CGSS: Introduction

    Complexity and Global Systems Science (CGSS) will cover Game Theory and mechanism design, complex network, socio-physics, and critical thinking essays regarding the topic. Complexity science is related to systems that are made up of thousands of units, whereas global systems describe large systems. Systemic instabilities are of a major interest and need to be understood.…

  • PIPP: Hierarchies in the Law

    In a national legal system there is usually public law (interaction between governments and citizens, e.g. a university awarding a degree to a student) and private law (interaction between citizens, companies in any combination, e.g. a university buying a computer). Private Law is divided into major families are Substantive Law and Commercial Law, whereas Public…

  • PIPP: Characteristics of Law

    Public Institutions and Policy-making Processes (PIPP) covers three modules: Law, general (Public) Institutions, and European and International Institutions in particular. The first part of the course will be about law. The focus is not on becoming a lawyer, but rather to be able to understand the thought processes behind legal decisions and their implications. Creation…

  • Urban Design I: Introduction

    The lecture will cover urban development in the following cities Berlin, Sarajevo, Caracas, Athens, Cape Town, New York, Sao Paulo and Detriot. The format to analysis these cities will be Urban Stories, using different tools to understand the process and development in each. Issues and Challenges Housing is a major issue in most urban areas.…

  • QPAM: Problem Definition

    Before a policy analysis can be performed, the underlying problem needs to be defined. Any problem definition is a function of what the author of the definition cares about and what they assume in terms of necessary relationships. Bardach suggested to be clear about what you care about and what you assume about the fact…

  • QPAM: Introduction

    Quantitative Policy Analysis and Modelling (QPAM) concerns itself with the goals that we set ourselves for society and how government can obtain these goals. The “Grüne Wirtschaft” initiative currently up for a referendum in Switzerland can be said to have the goal of a sustainable economy by 2050. If accepted it mandates to assess the…

  • Principles of Economics: Efficient Competitive Markets

    The goal of the lesson is to understand how markets work. We need a benchmark to analyse a market and it will be perfect competition. It is an idealised world where nobody has sufficient market power to influence the market and therefore good prices are exogenous. Also producers are altruistic inasmuch they do not consider…

  • Principles of Economics: Introduction

    The course’s objective is to introduce the study of economics, and the economic way of thinking about societal problems. It should provide basic understanding of a market economy and the potentials and limitations of economic policies. Economics is the study of how society manages scares resources to use them in the most efficient way. The…

  • BSTP – Lecture 1: History of Technology and Society I

    Bridging Science, Technology and Policy will today cover the history of technology and society and how they interact. The first part covers the technical innovations up to the industrial revolution. Science is how the environment around human functions. It is not human-centric. Technology on the other hand is made by humans to improve human live.…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 5: Digital Society – Big Data

    Digital Society is a very elastic phrase. We will explore three examples: Network Neutrality Privacy and Surveillance Big Data All are focused on how technology changes society. It is a contested topic on whether the impact is positive or negative. Issues are at the intersection of information and communications technologies and society, law, and public…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 5: Digital Society – Privacy and Surveillance

    Digital Society is a very elastic phrase. We will explore three examples: Network Neutrality Privacy and Surveillance Big Data All are focused on how technology changes society. It is a contested topic on whether the impact is positive or negative. Issues are at the intersection of information and communications technologies and society, law, and public…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 5: Digital Society – Network Neutrality

    Digital Society is a very elastic phrase. We will explore three examples: Network Neutrality Privacy and Surveillance Big Data All are focused on how technology changes society. It is a contested topic on whether the impact is positive or negative. Issues are at the intersection of information and communications technologies and society, law, and public…

  • Sugar and Fat Policy in the US

    A recent article in the New York Times illustrated the difficulties of creating policies. In particular, the article came to the conclusion, that the policy push against fatty food – a standard policy across the world – has been orchestrated by the the sugar industry. The interesting part is, that they did not lie about…

  • Geels’ Technological Transitions and System Innovations

    Technological transitions and system innovations: A Co-Evolutionary and Socio-Technical Analysis(Geels, 2004)is a mandatory reading of the core course Bridging Science, Technology and policy. The book analyses how technological changes transform societal functions such as transport, communication, housing and energy supply. According to Geels social and technological aspects are always intertwined and constitute each other. The…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 4: Omitted

    For personal reasons I did not join the 4th day of the cornerstone course. Some notes may be added at a later point in time.

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 3: Urbanisation II

    This entry will deal with urbanisation is from the view of UN Habitat and all numbers come from them. 4 billion people (54% of people) live in urban areas. Of those 1 billion live in Informal Settlements (or slums) where basic services and tenure security are lacking. However, cities account for 80% of GDP. Urbanisation…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 3: Urbanisation I

    There is a claim that more 50% of humankind live in cities. This claim, however, is wrong. The reason is that a city and an urban environment is not the same and the correct description would be that more than 50% live in urban environments. This differentiation has a huge impact, Caracas, Mexico City and…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 3: Water quality

    Water has many exotic physical properties: surface tension, transparency in green and blue wavelengths (allows photosynthesis), protection from wavelengths shorter than UV light (high biodiversity). Surface water however looses lots of biodivserty (76% in freshwater, 39% in seawater). The physiological water cycle in humans consist of 5 litres of blood that transport sugars, amino acids…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 3: Water use case study

    A case study about the Zambezi river basin. There a several big flood planes (wetlands each the size of Switzerland). It also includes Lake Malawi and there are 2 large dams (colonial heritage) for energy generation. Half of the basin is highland above 1000m, the other half falls towards the sea. Temperature is constant up…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 3: International Water Resources

    Water resources are unevenly distributed. Less than 10 countries have 60% of the world’s available fresh water. Water stress appears when there is not enough renewable water to replace the withdrawal. Conventionally, 40% of withdrawal of the available yearly resources is considered to be the threshold for water stress. Climate change and population change increase…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 2: Climate Change II

    Climate Change History: Emission trends are not disputed any more. However, they can be viewed in different lights. Either emissions include production emission (i.e. are counted at the end user), or emission are only counted where and when they happen (i.e. caunted locally when they happen). Policy-wise the focus increased beyond mitigation to include adaptation.…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 2: Climate Change I

    The focus of the afternoon is Argument Analysis applied to environmental decisions, specifically Climate Change. Part 1 – Modelling: Understanding modelling by the example of the oblique throw in football: A target system describes what we want to achieve (e.g. getting the ball to a specific location). Based on the target system a conceptual model…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 2: Energy Transition II

    Policy and Politics: Goals of public policy related to energy follow a balance between environmental impact, cost and supply security called the triple bottom line of energy policy. However, a fourth factor – industry competitiveness – is a strong factor. The Paris agreement was largely driven by the last from a energy perspective. Environmental impact…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 2: Energy Transition I

    What is energy? A state of excitation of matter. At the highest excitation level it changes to waves. But this is too abstract for our use. Thermodynamics is about the transfer of energy. Energy cascades down to lower to lower level which in turns entropy (e.g. disorder rather than chaos). Fundamentally it is about how…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 1: Policy Example Cases

    Scientist could help analysts creating policies with their knowledge. But how do they provide their input? How does it fit with the political landscape? Three case studies were in the spotlight to see dilemma of policy analysis. This is not an in-depth analysis of policy analysis, but rather an observation of policies and their consequences.…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 1: Prologue

    The cornerstone course should give a basic introduction into the topics of policy and the contents of the Master’s study. Disciplines in university are very specialized and focused which offers a great advantage. Over the last two centuries that has created a line along department. 200 years ago you were in “science” and you would…

  • Bardach’s Eightfold Path through Policy Analysis III

    In the last post we focussed on the gathering evidence and in this post we will discuss possible alternatives. Here are links to the articles of the different parts of the book: Introduction Step I: Define the problem Step II: Assemble some evidence Step Three: Construct the alternatives The word alternative lamentably is used with…

  • Digital Development Debates Issue #18 – Cities

    In spring this year I co-authored an introductory article on societal implications of Smart Cities in the Digital Development Debates (DDD) Issue #18 – Cities. The DDD is an online magazine that aspires to offer an interdisciplinary platform for discussions between experts as well as layman. It is sponsored by the German Society for International…

  • Bardach’s Eightfold Path through Policy Analysis II

    In the last post we focused on the problem definition and in this post we will discuss underlying evidence. Here are links to the articles of the different parts of the book: Introduction Step I: Define the problem Step Two: Assemble some evidence Bardach boils policy analysis down to two major activities: thinking and data…

  • Bardach’s Eightfold Path through Policy Analysis I

    In the introductory post about Bardach’s work we discussed the overall context and content. In this post we will focus on the details of the first step of his guidelines. The other steps will be posted soon. Step One: Define the problem The most crucial step as it direct any further endeavours. Bardarch recommends to…

  • Policy Analysis according to Bardach – Introduction

    Bardach’s A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis (Fourth Edition, 2012) is an introductory work into policy analysis proposing an 8-step approach to policy analysis termed The Eightfold Path. It is directed at Master’s students with basic knowledge of economy. Bardach focuses on the changes in policy analysis from a formal report to an interactive undertaking accompanying…

  • Prologue

    Several years have passed since I last wrote an entry here. I stopped write for several reasons and no single one in particular. But now is a nice time to pick up the habit again. I receive my Master’s in Computer Science and have now officially completed 6 years of education therein. I learned more…

  • Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-07-08

    http://t.co/QrwPN9Vq NZZ-Feuilleton über die Rolle der Universität in der Gesellschaft #NZZ #Universität #lesenswert #

  • http://t.co/QrwPN9Vq NZZ-Feuil…

    http://t.co/QrwPN9Vq NZZ-Feuilleton über die Rolle der Universität in der Gesellschaft #NZZ #Universität #lesenswert

  • Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-05-06

    http://t.co/yXSJkIrn #Urheberrecht #Denkanstoss #

  • http://t.co/yXSJkIrn #Urheberr…

    http://t.co/yXSJkIrn #Urheberrecht #Denkanstoss

  • No More To Say #10

    English: This time it is an English Session: The Caliphate as an ultimate goal?(Economist) Islam and Democracy  as seen by the Economist. The perfect lie detector(NewScientist) Is there a brain pattern to lying that can be detected eventually? The World… (flicker) … as perceived by Switzerland if an portion of irony. The London uprisings and…

  • No More To Say #9

    English:  Why you should care about net neutrality(newscientist.com) Way worse than this would be the brave new internet once net neutrality is completely dismantled Deutsch: Ungarn am Abgrund?(sueddeutsche.de) Ungarn entfernt sich immer weiter von der Demokratie und von Europa, doch wohin? Womit sollte man den arabischen Frühling vergleichen?(zeit.de) Der arabische Frühling wird oft mit dem…

  • Watch it! – Move,Eat,Learn

    English: A friend of mine showed me this amazing summary of a world trip by an Australian crew of three. Watch it! Deutsch: Ein Freund von mir hat mir diese wunderbaren Kürzestfilme über eine Weltreise dreier Australier gezeigt. Seht es an! Español: Un amigo mío me recomendó esos maravillosos videos sobre una viaje mundial de…

  • No More To Say #8

    English: Satire on American Journalists perception of Terrorism(colbertnation.com) If anything bad happens anywhere out their, there can be but one reaction … Hard Road back(aljazeera.net) About the re-socialization of former FARC members in Colombia. Deutsch: Ärzte made in Kuba(swr2) Eine Dokumentation über das medizinische Versorgungssystem in Kuba (pdf und Audiofile am rechten Rand). Stützen der…

  • IMHIO: Turkey should enter the E.U. asap

    English: Preface: In My Humble and Idiotic Opinion sounds degrading, but is thought to lose some tension that might arise discussing political agendas. Too often one gets lost in endless discussions and nobody wants to take the step back. That is why I like to remind people with that title that it is only one…

  • No More to Say #7

    English: Changing Europe (The Guardian) The European of the last 30 Years in an interactive map. Dangerous Knowledge(BBC via googlevideo) A documentation about Georg Cantor, Ludwig Boltzmann, Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing and their life at the brink of madness. German: Staatssanierung à la Griechenland(Spiegel Online) Könnte Deutschland so ein Sparprogramm durchziehen, wie es Griechenland…

  • Watch it! – 2356 Days

    English: I bumbed into this just as I was surfing today and thought it to be worth sharing. It may be old, but it is definitely a must-see. Watch it! Deutsch: Ich bin über dieses Video gestolpert und dachte mir einfach mal, dass ich es mit euch teile. Es mag zwar alt sein, aber es…

  • Watch it! – Validation

    English: Surfing in the Internet you often stumble upon filmlets, now some of these are worth mentioning and worth sharing. Normally these films should be comprehensible no matter what’s your mother-tongue as the image carries the story on. I might just close here with “Watch it!” Deutsch: Während man im Internet surft, findet man oft…

  • No More to Say #6

    English: Experiencing the Egyptian Revolution(Youtube, AFS Channel) The Head of AFS Egypt tells her story of the Egyptian Revolution About Creative Commons(The Power of Open) A free to download book explaining Creative Commons Deutsch: Der Islam und Deutschland (FAZ) Ein islamischer Theologe im Gespräch mit der FAZ Server der Piratenpartei vom Netz genommen (fixmbr) Über…

  • Paper on Game AR Osteoclasts

    Paper on Game AR Osteoclasts

    I ended up as an academic but this week I am happy to announce my newest paper as a first author in JMIR Publications Serious Games on a learning game I created together with the ETH Game Technology Center, University of Zurich, and Medical University of Vienna with support from Quintessence Publishing Deutschland. Our Game…

  • Project start for Open Digital Twin Platform

    Project start for Open Digital Twin Platform

    Last year during my first steps as a postdoc I applied to the institutional Swiss Open Research Data Grants. For my work at the Center for Sustainable Future Mobility (CSFM) at ETH Zürich, I gained the support of Prof. Kay W. Axhausen and Prof. Martin Raubal to submit a project together with the Swiss Data…

  • So you want to build your Unity project on a private jenkins for iOS and Android?

    This is a question that recently haunted me. Previously, at the Game Technology Center (GTC) at ETH Zürich, I was privileged enough to sit on a deployed pipeline. It creaks sometimes but in general, it works well. For a new project with Future Health Technologies at the Singapore ETH Center, there was no such luck.…

  • Neuro 140/240 – Lecture 7

    Lecture by Jan Drugowitsch at Harvard University. My personal takeaway on auditing the presented content. Course overview at https://klab.tch.harvard.edu/academia/classes/BAI/bai.html Biological and Artificial Intelligence A simple understanding would believe that a brain has a state has is changed via a function and input to produce a behaviour. However, the complexity of the brain makes the function…

  • Neuro 140/240 – Lecture 5

    Lecture by Tomer Ullman at Harvard University. My personal takeaway on auditing the presented content. Course overview at https://klab.tch.harvard.edu/academia/classes/BAI/bai.html Biological and Artificial Intelligence The development of intuitive physics and intuitive psychology Turing proposed that an AI could be developed very much like a human – from a empty notebook or child to a developed adult.…

  • Neuro 140/240 – Lecture 4

    Lecture by Cengiz Pehlevan at Harvard University. My personal takeaway on auditing the presented content. Course overview at https://klab.tch.harvard.edu/academia/classes/BAI/bai.html Biological and Artificial Intelligence Inductive bias of neural networks A brain can be understood as a network with parameters as 10^11 neurons (nodes) and 10^14 synapses (parameters. Geoffrey Hinton cleverly observed that “The brain has about…

  • Neuro 140/240 – Lecture 2

    Lecture by Richard Born at Harvard University. My personal takeaway on auditing the presented content. Course overview at https://klab.tch.harvard.edu/academia/classes/BAI/bai.html Biological and Artificial Intelligence Warren Weaver was the head at the Rockefeller Center in the 1950s and he said the future of engineering is to understand the tricks that nature has come up with over the…

  • Neuro 140/240 – Lecture 1

    Lecture by Gabriel Kreiman at Harvard University. My personal takeaway on auditing the presented content. Course overview at https://klab.tch.harvard.edu/academia/classes/BAI/bai.html Biological and Artificial Intelligence Eventually, we will have ultraintelligent machines, that is machines that are more intelligent than humans. Going back to 1950, The Turing test denotes the first test to understand whether a machine is…

  • Geometry of Big Data – Tuesday session

    Session 1 – Graph-based persistence The talk On the density of expected persistence diagrams and its kernel based estimation is given by Frederic Chazal. A draft is available on arxiv. Grow circles around point data to generate a graph whenever other points meet the circle and produce a persistent homology of filtered simplicial complexes (e.g…

  • Geometry of Big Data – Monday session

    All talks are summarised in my words which may not accurately represent the authors’ opinion. The focus is on aspects I found interesting. Please refer to the authors’ work for more details. Session 1 – Learning DAGs The talk DAGs with NO TEARS: Continuous Optimization for Structure Learning is given by Pradeep Ravikumar. A draft…

  • Starting “Geometry and Learning from Data in 3D and Beyond” at IPAM, UCLA

    Today is the first day of my stay at the Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics (IPAM) at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Over the coming weeks I wil try to discuss interesting talks here at the long course Geometry and Learning from Data in 3D and Beyond. Stay tuned for the first workshop…

  • A Manifesto to Cite 50/50

    I recently came across Women Also Know Stuff. I think it is a great initiative that helps to slowly combat systemic and structural inequality. They point to many female scientists in most social sciences and I wondered whether I could find a similar program in computer science. The answer was no because apparently we first…

  • Off to the Chicago Forum on Global Cities

    Today I write you as part of a mini-series on my stay at the Chicago Forum on Global Cities (CFGC). I have been kindly sponsored by ETH Zurich and the Chicago Forum to participate in the event. I am currently sitting in my train to Zurich airport and I am looking forward to 3 days…

  • PIE: Ex Post Evaluation: Establishing Causality without Experimentation

    So far, we discussed evaluation based on ex ante Randomised Control Trials (RCT). In ex post experiments, we have an another opportunity for an evaluation. However, there are strong limitations: Treatment manipulation is no longer possible, observational data only (i.e. the outcome of social processes), and baseline may be missing To address these issues, the…

  • PIE: Ex Ante Evaluations: Randomised Control Trials

    For a Randomised Control Trial (RCT) several elements are necessary. Evaluators need to be involved long before it ends – ideally from the conception. Randomisation must take place. The operationalisation and measurement must be defined. The data collection process and the data analysis must be performed rigorously. Randomisation and the data collection process is what…

  • PIE: The Fundamental Problem of Causal Inference

    We evaluate policies for a multitude of reasons. On the one hand, we wish to increase our knowledge and learn about its underlying function to improve program design and effectiveness. On the other hand, considerations from economy, society, and politics are the reason behind the evaluation. This may include allocation decisions via cost-benefit analysis (economic),…

  • ASC: Concepts and Arguments

    The evaluation of the correctness of arguments is the core of this blog post. We will focus on justifications as premises are to be evaluated with the scientific method. However, the quality of premises must be considered. Only true premises can guarantee the truth of the conclusion, so the reasons must be impeccable. Therefore, acceptable…

  • SMABSC: Cognitive Agents

    Cognitive models are a representation of an agent control mechanism resembling the cognitive architecture of a mind.  It can be understood as a control system (e.g. a flow graph how to react) that takes sensory inputs and produces motor outputs (Piaget, 1985). More advanced models include adaptive memory (Anderson, 1983). Famous models include SOaR: State…

  • SMABSC: Disease Propagation

    The SIR model was introduced as a mathematical model with differential equations (Kermack & McKendrick, 1927). The basic states are Susceptible, Infected, and Recovered. [latex]N_i = \frac{dS}{dt}+\frac{di}{dt}+\frac{dR}{dt}[/latex] In the SIR model, the fundamental trajectory of disease propagation could be captured, immunity was acquired after disease and the population is homogeneous. But the SIR model has…

  • ISN: Communities and cliques

    Dyads are not yet interesting for network research. However, starting at triads interesting behaviour appear. In triads, balance and control appear. Triads appear more commonly in social networks than in random graphs. Clustering coeffcient The clustering coefficient measures the amount of transitivity in a network. When A is related to B, and B is in…

  • PE: Redistribution

    The focus of today’s lecture will be on redistribution as discussed in Chapter 3(Mueller, 2003). Additionally, we will discuss papers quantitatively assessing the situation (De Haan & Sturm , 2017; Sturm & de Haan, 2015). A justification for the state can be redistribution. But redistribution itself can be argued for based on different reasons. In…

  • ISN: Data Collection Strategies

    Data collection refers to the collection of an offline social network. The information about a particular community is collect. A group needs to be defined (boundaries), which may be easy (e.g. school class or company) or difficult (e.g. needle-sharing). Complete network data A group with clear boundaries, such as a formal group or organisation. All…

  • ISN: Positions in Social Networks

    Positions in a network are important for different reasons such as well-being. In the following several concepts will be introduced to gauge positions in a social networks. Structural balance People prefer balanced relationship structures. According to Heider (Heider, 1946), imbalances cause psychological distress. To balance people create or drop ties. However, balance may not be…

  • PE: Bureaucracy theory

    We will be looking at the political process in an exogenous political environment. Policies are demanded for by citizens/voters and interest groups whereas it is supplied by delegates/representatives/politicians and public administration. Public administration is claimed to be motived by either rent-seeking or community-engaging. A central question becomes how to measure the quality of government of…

  • IAP: Netheads and Bellheads

    In the 1990s the great debates on how the Internet should be developed was coined the Netheads versus Bellheads. Netheads originated from the people that developed network technology whereas Bellheads originates from the Bell Laboratories – a research institution of telecommunication companies. At the core was a technical discussion whether packet-switching or circuit-switching is more…

  • CSD: Space Syntax Theory

    Space syntax is a social theory on the use of space. It encompasses a set of theories and techniques that examines relationships between man (e.g. individual/user/society) and the environment (in/outdoor). Recommended basic readings are Lynch’s “The image of the city” (Lynch, 1960) as well as “Space is the machine” (Hillier, 2007) . Advanced readings are…

  • SMADSC: Social Networks

    Social networks often give structure to relations. They can be considered as abstract, mathematically, tractable and computationally instantiatable systems. Social networks have become a field of their own. It is very interdisciplinary touching mathematics (graph theory), computer science (algorithms), sociology (population group trends), psychology (individual and social behaviour), and complex network theory. Interpersonal contact caused…

  • ISN: Network visualisation

    Today’s topic will be to visualise networks and centrality measures. We visualise a network to better understand the underlying data. A visualisation should be driven by the question that we would like to answer. Nonetheless, visualisations are by their nature exploratory. Also, visualisations do not provide evidence for hypothesis. Visualisation usually tries to convey information…

  • PE: Public Good Game

    Public Good Game Each subject secretly chooses how much of their initial endowment to put into a public pot. The joint value in this pot is multiplied by a factor ([latex] 1 < factor < N [/latex]) and evenly paid out across all [latex]N[/latex] subjects. All unspent endowments is kept by the respective subject. In…

  • ASC: Introduction

     Argumentation and Science Communication will discuss how scientific arguments are made and how they are eventually communicated. The first weeks readings are listed in the references (Bradley & Steele, 2015; Lempert, Nakicenovic, Sarewitz, & Schlesinger, 2004). A particular focus will be on (Mueller, 2010), for which the following questions should be answered: What is a…

  • Urban Design II: Los Angeles

    Today’s topic will be the Urban Design of Los Angeles. The main tools will be top-down infrastructure (Ecology/landscape), fragmented sub-urban (suburbia) and places for experimentation (micro/temporary programs). Los Angeles is a car city. It is the antagonist to New York, the incarnation of the battle between the East and West Coast. Hollywood is located in…

  • IAP: Introduction

    The internet is a global-scale, technically complex artefact of immense international social and political importance. It is formed by the interaction of technical constraints (e.g. speed of light, number of addresses), usage models and behaviour, technological design choices and policy decisions. This course will focus on the Internet and other networks will only marginally be…

  • CSD: Introduction

    The course “Cognition in Studio Design – analytic tools for evidence-based design” will discuss readings of space syntax (Bafna, 2003) , navigation issues (Carlson, Hölscher, Shipley, & Dalton, 2010) as well as functions and applications of spatial cognition (Montello & Raubal, 2013) . To compute space syntax DepthmapX will be used. References Bafna, S. (2003).…

  • SMADSC: Introduction

    Complex systems are the core topic of  Social Modelling, Agent-Based Simulation, and Complexity. Complex systems usually emerge as an artefact of interaction. The output of a complex system follows the Power Law and may have a regime or phase changes, known as tipping points. Emergent properties and scale-free organisation are a typical feature of complex…

  • ISN: What are Social Networks?

    Social networks are based on relations between two or a few individuals from friendships over contracts to work contacts. Throughout the course, the theory behind social networks will be put into context with methods of comparing and applying social networks. Examples from different scientific disciplines will be used to illustrate the social networks. Network descriptives…

  • PE: Institutions and Economic principles

    The main reference for today will be Mueller’s Public Choice III Chapter 1 and 2 (Mueller, 2003)as well as Acemoglu’s Political Economy Lecture Notes Chapter 1 (Acemoglu, 2009). Additional readings are Acemoglu’s Chapter 2 and work by Ostrom (Ostrom, 1998) and Schnellenbach (Schnellenbach & Schubert, 2015). Political Economy joins the fields of Political Science and Economics.…

  • Urban Design I: Tools

    Throughout the course Urban Design I several “tools” were introduced that impact urbanity. Expansion Tools of this kind belong to top-down approaches and usually give form to the urbanscape in a radical way. Megascale-planing (Berlin) Berlin was an early example of a politically motivated re-organisation of administrative units. Berlin grew from nearly 2 million to…

  • PIPP: Governance beyond the state

    International politics differentiate themselves from state politics as the question of sovereignty is answered differently. States have internal and external sovereignty. A consequence is that they are formally equal entities. Therefore states have to coordinate horizontally and negotiate an order mostly based on the power they can display. International politics would be similar to national…

  • PIPP: Democracy & Governance

    Mechanistic institutional definitions of a democracy are based on the electoral systems and the powers it hands to officials. There are also soft definitions of democracy that focus on citizens’ rights to form interest groups (pressure groups, political parties, etc.) and judicial protection of citizens. The quality of a democracy can be rated based on…

  • Principles of Economics: Imperfect Competition

    Monopoly Barriers to entry are the fundamental cause for the rise of monopoly. Barriers appear in three forms: ownership of key resources, exclusive production rights and an efficient (return-to-)scale. A firm’s ability to influence the market price is called market power. It entails that a firm can raise the price above some competitive level in…

  • QPAM: Uncertainty

    A first form of uncertainty is randomness. It is a stochastic behaviour that can be dealt with sensitivity analysis, estimates from experience (actuarial) or hedging. A more complicated form of uncertainty is indeterminacy. It describes situations that are qualitatively known, but cannot be reliably quantified. It is often addressed by attempting to quantify it anyway…

  • Principles of Economics: Public and Common Goods

    To define Public Goods we need two concepts: Excludable goods and Rival goods. Excludable goods can be prevented from use (food) in contrast to non-excludable goods that can always be consumed (radio or air). Rival goods cannot be consumed without diminishing others’ use of it (food) in contrast to non-rival goods (mp3-files). Based on the…

  • BSTP: Computing

    The digital revolution was carried by the development of transistors. The first triode was created in 1907 (similar to the air plane in 1903). Followed by field-effect transistor (FET) in 1925 and finally followed by today’s standard a silicon transistor in 1954. Based on transistors a first digital computer (ENIAC) was built in 1947 and…

  • CGSS: Complex Networks

    Behind complex networks, there are networks that describe the interaction between components. Basics A network is  a set of nodes interconnected by a set of links. The adjacency matrix [latex]A[/latex] of a network is the matrix which contains non-zero element [latex]A_{ij}[/latex] if there exists an edge between node [latex]i[/latex] and [latex]j[/latex]. The resulting graph is…

  • Principles of Economics: Externalities

    Externality An uncompensated impact of one person’s action on the well-being of a bystander. It is a type of market failure as it reduces the efficiency of the market. In general, it is caused by self-interested buyers and sellers neglecting the external costs or benefits of their actions. However, public policy can reduce externalities and…

  • BSTP: Further Industrial Revolution

    Technological development occurs in two forms: intensive growth (development of new methods) and extensive growth (improving current methods). At the time (1930) Keynes predicted 15-hour work weeks by 2030, based on the reduced work necessary to reach the same economic productivity. This was based on the intensive growth of the 19th and 20th century. The…

  • BSTP: Of cars

    In the context of Geel’s book – specifically cars – we discuss the following questions: How did niches emerge in the context of existing technology regime? A horse-based transport moved to electric-based transport in the 19th century, before the internal combustion engine took off. Electric batteries and plugs where not standardised and therefore it was…

  • CGSS: Introduction to Mechanism Design

    Game Theory outlines the problem of the free-rider dilemma in public goods. In order to overcome the tragedy of the commons mechanism design was proposed. The basic idea is to define the the payoff and actions in order to drive people towards a preferred behaviour. Public Goods Game From the mechanism design perspective  two individuals …

  • CGSS: Introduction to Game Theory

    A fundamental problem is over-usage. Usually, nobody wants over-usage to occur. However, on an individual level companies want to maximise their profit while they neglect the social cost. The problem is also known as the Tragedy of the commons which is based on the free-rider dilemma. A game is defined by three components: players, actions,…

  • PIPP: Legal Families

    The major legal families are civil law and common law. This is a short overview that ignores several details for a coherent view. Civil Law Civil Law is prevalent in Continental Europe. Central features are codification, parliaments make the law, judges interpret the law central figures (i.e scholars who argues doctrinally and creates abstract principles…

  • Urban Design I: Berlin

    Berlin needed complete reconstruction after the Second World War. The television tower near Alexander Platz was a sign of progress that Eastern Germany held up against Western Germany. Urbanism is frozen politics. Berlin was expected to grow to 4 million people (in the center) after the war, but remained at 2 million. Note that the…

  • QPAM: Investment Appraisal

    To perform investment appraisal we need to analyse cost and revenues. First we need to find profitability indicators, then we need to assess the life cycle cost. Then we can perform a cost effectiveness analysis and last we need to also consider dynamics and sensitivities. Profitability Indicators On the cost side we have investment costs,…

  • BSTP: Sailships to steamships and Limited Liability.

    The move from sail ships to steamships was driven beyond the technological developments by mail delivery (communication) and transportation of people. Sail ships remained a useful resource in heavy cargo with no time limits on delivery and only phased out with increased efficiency of steamships. The opening of global trade looked the world into steamships.…

  • BSTP: Industrial Revolution

    The topic of today is industrial revolution. Summed up in a phrase the transformation from ” muscle to machine”. Any transformation requires work/energy. Before the industrial revolution people relied on biological matter for work. The rate of energy conversion many orders of magnitude lower than in machines. This limitation extended to human growth potential. Engines…

  • CGSS: Introduction

    Complexity and Global Systems Science (CGSS) will cover Game Theory and mechanism design, complex network, socio-physics, and critical thinking essays regarding the topic. Complexity science is related to systems that are made up of thousands of units, whereas global systems describe large systems. Systemic instabilities are of a major interest and need to be understood.…

  • PIPP: Hierarchies in the Law

    In a national legal system there is usually public law (interaction between governments and citizens, e.g. a university awarding a degree to a student) and private law (interaction between citizens, companies in any combination, e.g. a university buying a computer). Private Law is divided into major families are Substantive Law and Commercial Law, whereas Public…

  • PIPP: Characteristics of Law

    Public Institutions and Policy-making Processes (PIPP) covers three modules: Law, general (Public) Institutions, and European and International Institutions in particular. The first part of the course will be about law. The focus is not on becoming a lawyer, but rather to be able to understand the thought processes behind legal decisions and their implications. Creation…

  • Urban Design I: Introduction

    The lecture will cover urban development in the following cities Berlin, Sarajevo, Caracas, Athens, Cape Town, New York, Sao Paulo and Detriot. The format to analysis these cities will be Urban Stories, using different tools to understand the process and development in each. Issues and Challenges Housing is a major issue in most urban areas.…

  • QPAM: Problem Definition

    Before a policy analysis can be performed, the underlying problem needs to be defined. Any problem definition is a function of what the author of the definition cares about and what they assume in terms of necessary relationships. Bardach suggested to be clear about what you care about and what you assume about the fact…

  • QPAM: Introduction

    Quantitative Policy Analysis and Modelling (QPAM) concerns itself with the goals that we set ourselves for society and how government can obtain these goals. The “Grüne Wirtschaft” initiative currently up for a referendum in Switzerland can be said to have the goal of a sustainable economy by 2050. If accepted it mandates to assess the…

  • Principles of Economics: Efficient Competitive Markets

    The goal of the lesson is to understand how markets work. We need a benchmark to analyse a market and it will be perfect competition. It is an idealised world where nobody has sufficient market power to influence the market and therefore good prices are exogenous. Also producers are altruistic inasmuch they do not consider…

  • Principles of Economics: Introduction

    The course’s objective is to introduce the study of economics, and the economic way of thinking about societal problems. It should provide basic understanding of a market economy and the potentials and limitations of economic policies. Economics is the study of how society manages scares resources to use them in the most efficient way. The…

  • BSTP – Lecture 1: History of Technology and Society I

    Bridging Science, Technology and Policy will today cover the history of technology and society and how they interact. The first part covers the technical innovations up to the industrial revolution. Science is how the environment around human functions. It is not human-centric. Technology on the other hand is made by humans to improve human live.…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 5: Digital Society – Big Data

    Digital Society is a very elastic phrase. We will explore three examples: Network Neutrality Privacy and Surveillance Big Data All are focused on how technology changes society. It is a contested topic on whether the impact is positive or negative. Issues are at the intersection of information and communications technologies and society, law, and public…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 5: Digital Society – Privacy and Surveillance

    Digital Society is a very elastic phrase. We will explore three examples: Network Neutrality Privacy and Surveillance Big Data All are focused on how technology changes society. It is a contested topic on whether the impact is positive or negative. Issues are at the intersection of information and communications technologies and society, law, and public…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 5: Digital Society – Network Neutrality

    Digital Society is a very elastic phrase. We will explore three examples: Network Neutrality Privacy and Surveillance Big Data All are focused on how technology changes society. It is a contested topic on whether the impact is positive or negative. Issues are at the intersection of information and communications technologies and society, law, and public…

  • Sugar and Fat Policy in the US

    A recent article in the New York Times illustrated the difficulties of creating policies. In particular, the article came to the conclusion, that the policy push against fatty food – a standard policy across the world – has been orchestrated by the the sugar industry. The interesting part is, that they did not lie about…

  • Geels’ Technological Transitions and System Innovations

    Technological transitions and system innovations: A Co-Evolutionary and Socio-Technical Analysis(Geels, 2004)is a mandatory reading of the core course Bridging Science, Technology and policy. The book analyses how technological changes transform societal functions such as transport, communication, housing and energy supply. According to Geels social and technological aspects are always intertwined and constitute each other. The…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 4: Omitted

    For personal reasons I did not join the 4th day of the cornerstone course. Some notes may be added at a later point in time.

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 3: Urbanisation II

    This entry will deal with urbanisation is from the view of UN Habitat and all numbers come from them. 4 billion people (54% of people) live in urban areas. Of those 1 billion live in Informal Settlements (or slums) where basic services and tenure security are lacking. However, cities account for 80% of GDP. Urbanisation…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 3: Urbanisation I

    There is a claim that more 50% of humankind live in cities. This claim, however, is wrong. The reason is that a city and an urban environment is not the same and the correct description would be that more than 50% live in urban environments. This differentiation has a huge impact, Caracas, Mexico City and…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 3: Water quality

    Water has many exotic physical properties: surface tension, transparency in green and blue wavelengths (allows photosynthesis), protection from wavelengths shorter than UV light (high biodiversity). Surface water however looses lots of biodivserty (76% in freshwater, 39% in seawater). The physiological water cycle in humans consist of 5 litres of blood that transport sugars, amino acids…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 3: Water use case study

    A case study about the Zambezi river basin. There a several big flood planes (wetlands each the size of Switzerland). It also includes Lake Malawi and there are 2 large dams (colonial heritage) for energy generation. Half of the basin is highland above 1000m, the other half falls towards the sea. Temperature is constant up…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 3: International Water Resources

    Water resources are unevenly distributed. Less than 10 countries have 60% of the world’s available fresh water. Water stress appears when there is not enough renewable water to replace the withdrawal. Conventionally, 40% of withdrawal of the available yearly resources is considered to be the threshold for water stress. Climate change and population change increase…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 2: Climate Change II

    Climate Change History: Emission trends are not disputed any more. However, they can be viewed in different lights. Either emissions include production emission (i.e. are counted at the end user), or emission are only counted where and when they happen (i.e. caunted locally when they happen). Policy-wise the focus increased beyond mitigation to include adaptation.…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 2: Climate Change I

    The focus of the afternoon is Argument Analysis applied to environmental decisions, specifically Climate Change. Part 1 – Modelling: Understanding modelling by the example of the oblique throw in football: A target system describes what we want to achieve (e.g. getting the ball to a specific location). Based on the target system a conceptual model…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 2: Energy Transition II

    Policy and Politics: Goals of public policy related to energy follow a balance between environmental impact, cost and supply security called the triple bottom line of energy policy. However, a fourth factor – industry competitiveness – is a strong factor. The Paris agreement was largely driven by the last from a energy perspective. Environmental impact…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 2: Energy Transition I

    What is energy? A state of excitation of matter. At the highest excitation level it changes to waves. But this is too abstract for our use. Thermodynamics is about the transfer of energy. Energy cascades down to lower to lower level which in turns entropy (e.g. disorder rather than chaos). Fundamentally it is about how…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 1: Policy Example Cases

    Scientist could help analysts creating policies with their knowledge. But how do they provide their input? How does it fit with the political landscape? Three case studies were in the spotlight to see dilemma of policy analysis. This is not an in-depth analysis of policy analysis, but rather an observation of policies and their consequences.…

  • Cornerstone Course – Day 1: Prologue

    The cornerstone course should give a basic introduction into the topics of policy and the contents of the Master’s study. Disciplines in university are very specialized and focused which offers a great advantage. Over the last two centuries that has created a line along department. 200 years ago you were in “science” and you would…

  • Bardach’s Eightfold Path through Policy Analysis III

    In the last post we focussed on the gathering evidence and in this post we will discuss possible alternatives. Here are links to the articles of the different parts of the book: Introduction Step I: Define the problem Step II: Assemble some evidence Step Three: Construct the alternatives The word alternative lamentably is used with…

  • Digital Development Debates Issue #18 – Cities

    In spring this year I co-authored an introductory article on societal implications of Smart Cities in the Digital Development Debates (DDD) Issue #18 – Cities. The DDD is an online magazine that aspires to offer an interdisciplinary platform for discussions between experts as well as layman. It is sponsored by the German Society for International…

  • Bardach’s Eightfold Path through Policy Analysis II

    In the last post we focused on the problem definition and in this post we will discuss underlying evidence. Here are links to the articles of the different parts of the book: Introduction Step I: Define the problem Step Two: Assemble some evidence Bardach boils policy analysis down to two major activities: thinking and data…

  • Bardach’s Eightfold Path through Policy Analysis I

    In the introductory post about Bardach’s work we discussed the overall context and content. In this post we will focus on the details of the first step of his guidelines. The other steps will be posted soon. Step One: Define the problem The most crucial step as it direct any further endeavours. Bardarch recommends to…

  • Policy Analysis according to Bardach – Introduction

    Bardach’s A Practical Guide for Policy Analysis (Fourth Edition, 2012) is an introductory work into policy analysis proposing an 8-step approach to policy analysis termed The Eightfold Path. It is directed at Master’s students with basic knowledge of economy. Bardach focuses on the changes in policy analysis from a formal report to an interactive undertaking accompanying…

  • Prologue

    Several years have passed since I last wrote an entry here. I stopped write for several reasons and no single one in particular. But now is a nice time to pick up the habit again. I receive my Master’s in Computer Science and have now officially completed 6 years of education therein. I learned more…

  • Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-07-08

    http://t.co/QrwPN9Vq NZZ-Feuilleton über die Rolle der Universität in der Gesellschaft #NZZ #Universität #lesenswert #

  • http://t.co/QrwPN9Vq NZZ-Feuil…

    http://t.co/QrwPN9Vq NZZ-Feuilleton über die Rolle der Universität in der Gesellschaft #NZZ #Universität #lesenswert

  • Twitter Weekly Updates for 2012-05-06

    http://t.co/yXSJkIrn #Urheberrecht #Denkanstoss #

  • http://t.co/yXSJkIrn #Urheberr…

    http://t.co/yXSJkIrn #Urheberrecht #Denkanstoss

  • No More To Say #10

    English: This time it is an English Session: The Caliphate as an ultimate goal?(Economist) Islam and Democracy  as seen by the Economist. The perfect lie detector(NewScientist) Is there a brain pattern to lying that can be detected eventually? The World… (flicker) … as perceived by Switzerland if an portion of irony. The London uprisings and…

  • No More To Say #9

    English:  Why you should care about net neutrality(newscientist.com) Way worse than this would be the brave new internet once net neutrality is completely dismantled Deutsch: Ungarn am Abgrund?(sueddeutsche.de) Ungarn entfernt sich immer weiter von der Demokratie und von Europa, doch wohin? Womit sollte man den arabischen Frühling vergleichen?(zeit.de) Der arabische Frühling wird oft mit dem…

  • Watch it! – Move,Eat,Learn

    English: A friend of mine showed me this amazing summary of a world trip by an Australian crew of three. Watch it! Deutsch: Ein Freund von mir hat mir diese wunderbaren Kürzestfilme über eine Weltreise dreier Australier gezeigt. Seht es an! Español: Un amigo mío me recomendó esos maravillosos videos sobre una viaje mundial de…

  • No More To Say #8

    English: Satire on American Journalists perception of Terrorism(colbertnation.com) If anything bad happens anywhere out their, there can be but one reaction … Hard Road back(aljazeera.net) About the re-socialization of former FARC members in Colombia. Deutsch: Ärzte made in Kuba(swr2) Eine Dokumentation über das medizinische Versorgungssystem in Kuba (pdf und Audiofile am rechten Rand). Stützen der…

  • IMHIO: Turkey should enter the E.U. asap

    English: Preface: In My Humble and Idiotic Opinion sounds degrading, but is thought to lose some tension that might arise discussing political agendas. Too often one gets lost in endless discussions and nobody wants to take the step back. That is why I like to remind people with that title that it is only one…

  • No More to Say #7

    English: Changing Europe (The Guardian) The European of the last 30 Years in an interactive map. Dangerous Knowledge(BBC via googlevideo) A documentation about Georg Cantor, Ludwig Boltzmann, Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing and their life at the brink of madness. German: Staatssanierung à la Griechenland(Spiegel Online) Könnte Deutschland so ein Sparprogramm durchziehen, wie es Griechenland…

  • Watch it! – 2356 Days

    English: I bumbed into this just as I was surfing today and thought it to be worth sharing. It may be old, but it is definitely a must-see. Watch it! Deutsch: Ich bin über dieses Video gestolpert und dachte mir einfach mal, dass ich es mit euch teile. Es mag zwar alt sein, aber es…

  • Watch it! – Validation

    English: Surfing in the Internet you often stumble upon filmlets, now some of these are worth mentioning and worth sharing. Normally these films should be comprehensible no matter what’s your mother-tongue as the image carries the story on. I might just close here with “Watch it!” Deutsch: Während man im Internet surft, findet man oft…

  • No More to Say #6

    English: Experiencing the Egyptian Revolution(Youtube, AFS Channel) The Head of AFS Egypt tells her story of the Egyptian Revolution About Creative Commons(The Power of Open) A free to download book explaining Creative Commons Deutsch: Der Islam und Deutschland (FAZ) Ein islamischer Theologe im Gespräch mit der FAZ Server der Piratenpartei vom Netz genommen (fixmbr) Über…