Stuttgart Media University

• Test track study with a real automated vehicle (AV) explored the impact of deceleration rates and traffic conditions on passenger comfort in crosswalks and intersection scenarios. • Deceleration rates of −1.5 m/s 2 to −2.5 m/s 2 enhanced comfort and perceived safety. • Harsher deceleration (−3.5 m/s 2 ) was acceptable when pedestrians appeared suddenly at the crosswalk. • At intersections, comfort was unaffected by approaching vehicles at lower deceleration rates. • Findings support adaptive deceleration strategies for balancing safety, comfort, and efficiency. Understanding passenger comfort in automated vehicles (AVs) is critical for advancing highly automated driving systems. This test track study was conducted with 41 participants who are accustomed to European driving norms. It examined how deceleration rates and environmental factors influence passenger perceptions in two scenarios: crosswalks and blind intersections. The participants were driven by a real AV, which braked using deceleration rates of −1.5 m/s 2 , −2.5 m/s 2 , and −3.5 m/s 2 . Additionally, the visibility time of an approaching pedestrian was manipulated in the crosswalk scenario, while the presence or absence of an approaching vehicle was varied in the intersection scenario. The results show that passengers generally prefer lower to medium deceleration (−1.5 m/s 2 , −2.5 m/s 2 ) rates but accept higher rates (−3.5 m/s 2 ) when a pedestrian becomes visible more unexpectedly. In the intersection scenario, comfort ratings were less influenced by the presence of an approaching vehicle than by the deceleration rate, with lower and medium deceleration rates being favoured. These findings are valuable for the development of AVs. The study suggests that tailoring AV deceleration to specific traffic scenarios can improve passenger comfort. It can help AV developers to define driving styles that passengers perceive as comfortable and safe, without compromising efficiency.

Abstract Despite a constant growth as a mainstream way of consuming media, subscription-based video on-demand (SVOD) platforms have remained under-studied in a specific yet core aspect of their service: their contents. Potential quantitative studies have been prevented by the unstable nature of their catalogues, both in time and space, and the lack of will to publish publicly accessible catalogues of these platforms’ works. This hinders many potential Digital Humanities projects pertaining to modern digital media, causing a lack of research by lack of data. After studying available data catalogues and their caveats, we suggest and detail the implementation of a simple model proposal to standardize, archive and eventually publish such metadata, proving that all technical aspects and benefits are already well-defined as well as commonly used, and that this kind of data would be particularly suited for Digital Humanities projects and Semantic Web standards. We thus further argue for more public initiatives to support work on open media catalogues, and push for more data releases from major SVOD platforms that would benefit both scholars and the general public without much burden for their service.

This study investigates whether personalized voice cloning can improve a robot’s likability compared to a design-congruent voice and a distinctly dissimilar voice. Participants interacted with a gender-ambiguous android robot in three different voice conditions. We compared: (1) a personalized voice clone based on the participant’s voice, (2) a design-congruent voice matching the robot’s appearance, and (3) a dissimilar voice, which differs from both the participant’s and the robot’s features.The cloned and design-congruent voices significantly increased likability compared to the dissimilar voice, while anthropomorphism and familiarity showed no significant differences across conditions. Most participants did not immediately recognize their cloned voice until informed that one of the voices was a clone. However, most of the participants were successful when asked to pick out their cloned voice from those used. We assume that voice personalization through similarity to the user improves likability even before the user is aware of this similarity.Our results show that personalized voice cloning is a simple alternative to other methods for the design of robotic voices. It significantly increases robot likability while requiring minimal user effort.

Existing rice harvesting models often lack depth or extensibility and are limited in their scope across the agriculture value chain, from crop planting to postharvest handling. A multi-agent system (MAS) offers flexibility and scalability and supports the simulation and modeling of complex real-world scenarios. This paper introduces a novel approach utilizing an MAS to simulate rice harvesting operations (including additional pre- and post-harvesting operations). Initially, a generic MAS was created, and it was then subsequently adapted to the agricultural context of rice farming in Central Japan. The localized MAS consists of agents such as weather, farm, rice centers, fields, crops and multiple agriculture machinery. Additionally, the introduced MAS environment is based on a discrete event simulation that enables communication across various independent agents. The system includes different harvesting schedule policies which determine the harvesting order for multiple paddy fields on specific days. The system was evaluated through two distinct experiments: (i) ‘Model Verification Simulation’, which successfully demonstrated the replication of actual historical farming practices, and (ii) ‘Operational Efficiency Simulation’, which compared the overall farm efficiency under different scheduling policies as well as different environmental conditions (e.g., rainfall). The simulation successfully generated a dataset containing traits and performance indicators that replicate the patterns observed in real-world data, while also approximating the operational behaviors and workflows of actual rice harvesting systems. Future studies could further evaluate the model’s robustness to confirm its practical applicability.

This paper presents the design of a course in quantum computing at a German University of Applied Sciences. Discussions and surveys in various focus groups were aimed towards analyzing the prerequisites and expectations of those involved with the course. We report on the results of the work in these focus groups and how that influenced the design of the course.

Purpose Design thinking (DT) has emerged in a variety of educational contexts within entrepreneurship and debate continues on the value of integrating DT into entrepreneurship education (EE). Although DT is increasingly recommended for EE practice (Baciagalupo et al., 2020), there are scarce insights into how entrepreneurship educators apply and/or integrate DT into their practice. This study uses a constructivist paradigm of education to answer questions about the educational practice when integrating DT, with a view to understanding the schema that educators construct when encouraging learners to construct their own knowledge. Design/methodology/approach This study follows a qualitative, interpretive approach, drawing upon semi-structured interviews from 29 entrepreneurship educators from higher education in the UK and Europe. Thus, this study puts focus on the quality of the DT integration in EE – from an educator’s perspective. Findings There exists a difference between the scholarly proposed integration of DT and the enacted practice within the classroom. Analysis identified four forms (selective, idea-centric, procedural and holistic) of DT integration in the context of EE, as well as insights into the practical barriers and motivations for utilizing DT. In particular, this study has identified an opportunity for appropriate training of the educators to extend their awareness of the principles of DT. Originality/value This research has identified four novel and distinct ways in which DT can be integrated with(in) EE. This allows educators to be more reflexive about why and how they utilize DT in their classrooms, addressing an apparent lack of this understanding in contemporary practice.