Sentiment Analysis (SA) is an essential task for numerous real-world applications. However, the majority of SA research focuses on high-resource languages such as English and Chinese, while limited-resource languages like Arabic and Bengali receive less attention. Additionally, existing Arabic sentiment analysis methods based on advanced artificial intelligence (AI) approaches tend to operate as black boxes, making it challenging to comprehend the reasoning behind their predictions. This paper proposes an explainable sentiment classification framework for the Arabic language. We introduce a noise layer to different deep learning (DL) models, including BiLSTM and CNN-BiLSTM, to address the issue of overfitting. The proposed framework enables the explanation of specific predictions by training a local surrogate explainable model, shedding light on the reasons behind each sentiment prediction (positive or negative). Experiments were conducted on publicly available benchmark Arabic SA datasets, and the results demonstrated that the inclusion of noise layers in the DL model improves performance for the Arabic language by mitigating overfitting. Our method also outperformed several state-of-the-art approaches. Moreover, the introduction of explainability with the noise layer enhances transparency and accountability, making the model suitable for practical adoption in AI-enabled systems.

Smart home systems are gaining popularity as homeowners strive to enhance their living and working environments while minimizing energy consumption. However, the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled decision-making models in smart home systems faces challenges due to the complexity and black-box nature of these systems, leading to concerns about explainability, trust, transparency, accountability, and fairness. The emerging field of explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) addresses these issues by providing explanations for the models’ decisions and actions. While state-of-the-art XAI methods are beneficial for AI developers and practitioners, they may not be easily understood by general users, particularly household members. This paper advocates for human-centered XAI methods, emphasizing the importance of delivering readily comprehensible explanations to enhance user satisfaction and drive the adoption of smart home systems. We review state-of-the-art XAI methods and prior studies focusing on human-centered explanations for general users in the context of smart home applications. Through experiments on two smart home application scenarios, we demonstrate that explanations generated by prominent XAI techniques might not be effective in helping users understand and make decisions. We thus argue for the necessity of a human-centric approach in representing explanations in smart home systems and highlight relevant human-computer interaction (HCI) methodologies, including user studies, prototyping, technology probes analysis, and heuristic evaluation, that can be employed to generate and present human-centered explanations to users.

This dissertation critically evaluates political-economic research on lobbying and contrasts isolated welfare-economic theory with a contextual theory based on the roots of political economy and ordoliberalism. It argues that it is necessary to revisit the question of the nature of lobbying and to bring social interactions back to the forefront of the analysis. The dissertation is primarily rooted in political economy, ordoliberalism, entrepreneurship research, and contextual economics. The first two articles of the dissertation take a systems theory perspective on lobbying and make a theoretical contribution to the impact of lobbying at the system and actor levels. Furthermore, lobbying rules are found to place a strong focus on negative regulation (prohibitions) and increasing transparency, but at the same time to lack ideas with regard to positive, enabling rules of lobbying. Therefore, the existing set of rules cannot sufficiently promote the productive characteristics of lobbying. In the third article, initial drafts for such rules are developed.

In view of current societal challenges such as the climate crisis, the question of future-oriented and sustainable educational formats is gaining increasing importance. Against this background, the present dissertation examines how project-based learning can be effectively designed through the integration of Design Thinking and Service-Learning in school contexts in order to enable students to actively contribute to a sustainable future. The aim of the study was to implement an innovative educational format in secondary schools in the Siegerland region (Germany) and to systematically evaluate it over a period of three years. The focus was on fostering subject-specific, personal, and social competences as well as embedding the method structurally into everyday school practice. The theoretical foundation of the work is based on an interdisciplinary understanding of education that combines Design Thinking as a creative problem-solving process with Service-Learning as a socially engaged learning format. Both approaches are regarded in current educational research as effective methods for fostering self-efficacy, participation, and cross-curricular learning. Particularly in the context of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD), such action- and project-oriented learning formats are considered essential to strengthen students’ design competences. To evaluate the program, a qualitative research design based on the CIPP-Model (Context, Input, Product und Process) was chosen. The focus of the data collection was on guideline-based interviews with students and teachers conducted over three consecutive project years. The interviews were transcribed and analysed using the software MAXQDA, applying the focused interview analysis method. The categorization first followed a deductive structure based on six evaluation questions and was then expanded inductively to include emerging themes from the data, enabling a nuanced comparison of formative and summative assessments. The findings demonstrate that the project achieved learning gains across various competence domains. Particularly motivating were the self-selected project topics, real-world problem contexts, and interdisciplinary modes of collaboration. Students reported improved self-organization, improved communication skills, and a deeper understanding of social interrelations. Teachers described the project as pedagogically innovative and emphasized its alignment with curricular objectives and its potential to foster a culture of project-based learning. At the same time, they pointed to structural challenges such as limited time resources, a high demand for supervision, and varying levels of experience in working with external partners. The resulting optimization measures aimed to systematically improve both the project structure and the learning environment. In addition to implementing a structured milestone plan and strengthening the integration of out-of-school learning venues, the project intensified collaboration with the university, provided didactic materials, introduced targeted reflection phases, and developed presentation formats to enhance public visibility. These measures proved effective in practice and were positively evaluated by both students and teachers. The study illustrates that combining Design Thinking and Service-Learning is particularly well suited to initiate transformative learning processes in line with ESD. The iterative project structure, collaboration with external partners, and the high level of student autonomy led to learning experiences that extended beyond the immediate project context. At the same time, it became evident that successful implementation depends on organizational conditions and a supportive school environment. The results contribute to the discussion about future-oriented educational formats and underscore the role of schools as influential actors in addressing social challenges. This dissertation offers a practice-oriented and theoretically grounded contribution to the advancement of interdisciplinary educational formats. It shows how creative innovation methods can be anchored in school practice and meaningfully linked to civic engagement. With a self-developed Design Thinking Toolkit, the study provides concrete materials for implementing project-based instruction and presents empirically grounded recommendations for schools and educators.