Social Bots: Human-Like by Means of Human Control?

Social bots are currently regarded an influential but also somewhat mysterious factor in public discourse and opinion making. They are considered to be capable of massively distributing propaganda in social and online media and their application is even suspected to be partly responsible for recent election results. Astonishingly, the term `Social Bot' is not well defined and different scientific disciplines use divergent definitions. This work starts with a balanced definition attempt, before providing an overview of how social bots actually work (taking the example of Twitter) and what their current technical limitations are. Despite recent research progress in Deep Learning and Big Data, there are many activities bots cannot handle well. We then discuss how bot capabilities can be extended and controlled by integrating humans into the process and reason that this is currently the most promising way to go in order to realize effective interactions with other humans.Comment: 36 pages, 13 figure

Protectbot: A Chatbot to Protect Children on Gaming Platforms

Online gaming no longer has limited access, as it has become available to a high percentage of children in recent years. Consequently, children are exposed to multifaceted threats, such as cyberbullying, grooming, and sexting. The online gaming industry is taking concerted measures to create a safe environment for children to play and interact with, such efforts remain inadequate and fragmented. Different approaches utilizing machine learning (ML) techniques to detect child predatory behavior have been designed to provide potential detection and protection in this context. After analyzing the available AI tools and solutions it was observed that the available solutions are limited to the identification of predatory behavior in chat logs which is not enough to avert the multifaceted threats. In this thesis, we developed a chatbot Protectbot to interact with the suspect on the gaming platform. Protectbot leveraged the dialogue generative pre-trained transformer (DialoGPT) model which is based on Generative Pre-trained Transformer 2 (GPT-2). To analyze the suspect\u27s behavior, we developed a text classifier based on natural language processing that can classify the chats as predatory and non-predatory. The developed classifier is trained and tested on Pan 12 dataset. To convert the text into numerical vectors we utilized fastText. The best results are obtained by using non-linear SVM on sentence vectors obtained from fastText. We got a recall of 0.99 and an F_0.5-score of 0.99 which is better than the state-of-the-art methods. We also built a new dataset containing 71 predatory full chats retrieved from Perverted Justice. Using sentence vectors generated by fastText and KNN classifier, 66 chats out of 71 were correctly classified as predatory chats

Security challenges in mobile assisted language learning in the millennium for education

Distance learning technologies enrich learning opportunities due to many advantages like ubiquity and flexibility. Although the usefulness of such technologies in teaching and learning is clear, their testing part is remained to be discussed due to the security issue. Administrators and teachers need to use more authentic and secure distant testing software in which the scores are guaranteed and the testees keep away from cheating. Static and online authentication systems like “username” and “password” and face detection have empowered educational parties to have more reliable testing outcomes. Mobile devices as the necessity of the new millennium need to use authentication software in their testing. Mobile devices with their multimedia course materials provide learners with many optimistic learning opportunities through collaboration, cooperation, interaction and testing. The unique chances of ubiquity, individualization, informality, and spontaneity make the mobile learning of particular importance not only for digital natives but also for teachers, administrators, developers, instructors, and policy makers. Yielding an economical learning opportunity along with providing authentic contexts for collaborative learning is beneficial for the economy of the country in general an d for the meaningful and deep learning of the learners. This paper will discuss how authentication techniques have applied to electronic devices like mobile phones

Code, space and everyday life

In this paper we examine the role of code (software) in the spatial formation of collective life. Taking the view that human life and coded technology are folded into one another, we theorise space as ontogenesis. Space, we posit, is constantly being bought into being through a process of transduction – the constant making anew of a domain in reiterative and transformative practices - as an incomplete solution to a relational problem. The relational problem we examine is the ongoing encounter between individuals and environment where the solution, to a greater or lesser extent, is code. Code, we posit, is diversely embedded in collectives as coded objects, coded infrastructure, coded processes and coded assemblages. These objects, infrastructure, processes and assemblages possess technicity, that is, unfolding or evolutive power to make things happen; the ability to mediate, supplement, augment, monitor, regulate, operate, facilitate, produce collective life. We contend that when the technicity of code is operationalised it transduces one of three forms of hybrid spatial formations: code/space, coded space and backgrounded coded space. These formations are contingent, relational, extensible and scaleless, often stretched out across networks of greater or shorter length. We demonstrate the coded transduction of space through three vignettes – each a day in the life of three people living in London, UK, tracing the technical mediation of their interactions, transactions and mobilities. We then discuss how code becomes the relational solution to five different classes of problems – domestic living, travelling, working, communicating, and consuming

Hierarchical Character-Word Models for Language Identification

Social media messages' brevity and unconventional spelling pose a challenge to language identification. We introduce a hierarchical model that learns character and contextualized word-level representations for language identification. Our method performs well against strong base- lines, and can also reveal code-switching

Digital technologies to support mental health among young people

The aim of this study was to describe how digital technologies can support young people in mental health services. An explorative mixed methods study was conducted in three phases. First, a systematic literature review was carried out between 2011 and 2013, followed by a meta-analysis of three studies to examine the effectiveness of a virtual reality intervention used in specialized psychiatric care. Second, the use of an electronic diary (e-diary) was explored among young people (n=89) who were clients of adolescent psychiatric outpatient clinics between 2008 and 2010 due to depressive symptoms. Third, the use of web-based community services aimed at young people (n=2,193) in 2018 was explored. In the second and third stages, quantitative data were analyzed with descriptive analysis and qualitative data with inductive thematic analysis. No quality evidence for or against virtual reality usage among people with serious mental health problems was found in the systematic review and meta- analysis. The young people’s long-term use of the e-diary was low, and nearly half of the participants did not use it at all. Those who did use the e-diary had previous experiences in mental health services and had more severe symptoms of depression than those who did not use it. Most of the young people who used digital technologies during treatment at the adolescent psychiatric outpatient clinics and in the community were females. According to the study results, digital technologies were most often used in the evenings and during the school year. Young people openly discussed their mental health and their personal issues such as relationships, identity, social life, health and illnesses, and self-perception. Digital technologies have the potential to help young people monitor their behavior, symptoms, and experiences and get support when they need it. When developing and implementing mental health support based on digital technologies, it is important to consider the different mental health and gender-specific needs of young people, as well as their readiness to use digital technologies to support their own mental health and well-being.Digitaaliset teknologiat nuorten mielenterveyden tukena Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli kuvata, miten digitaalisia teknologioita voidaan käyttää nuorten mielenterveyden tukena mielenterveyspalveluissa. Tutkimus toteutettiin kolmessa vaiheessa. Ensimmäisessä vaiheessa systemaattinen kirjallisuuskatsaus tehtiin vuosina 2011–2013, jonka jälkeen tehtiin meta-analyysi kolmesta tutkimuksesta, joissa tutkittiin virtuaalitodellisuusintervention tehokkuutta psykiatrian erityispalveluissa. Toisessa vaiheessa sähköisen päiväkirjan (e-päiväkirjan) käyttöä tutkittiin nuorisopsykiatrian poliklinikoilla masennusoireiden takia vuosina 2008–2010 asiakkaina olleiden nuorten (n=89) keskuudessa. Kolmannessa vaiheessa tutkittiin vuonna 2018 nuorille (n=2,193) suunnattujen verkkopohjaisten palvelujen käyttöä. Toisessa ja kolmannessa vaiheessa kvantitatiivisia tietoja analysoitiin kuvailevalla analyysillä ja kvalitatiivisia tietoja induktiivisella temaattisella analyysillä. Systemaattisen katsauksen ja meta-analyysin perusteella virtuaalitodellisuus-interventioiden hyödyistä tai haitoista vakavien mielenterveysongelmien hoidossa ei löytynyt laadukasta näyttöä. Nuorten pitkäaikainen e-päiväkirjan käyttö oli vähäistä ja lähes puolet osallistujista eivät käyttäneet sitä lainkaan. E-päiväkirjaa käyttäneillä oli aiempaa kokemusta mielenterveyspalveluista ja heillä oli vakavampia masennusoireita kuin heillä, jotka eivät sitä käyttäneet. Nuoret, jotka käyttivät digitaalisia teknologioita nuorisopsykiatrisen polikliinisen hoidon aikana tai verkkopohjaisissa palveluissa, olivat pääasiassa naispuolisia. Tämän tutkimuksen tulosten mukaan digitaalisia teknologioita käytettiin useimmiten iltaisin ja kouluvuoden aikana. Nuoret keskustelivat avoimesti mielenterveydestään ja henkilökohtaisista asioistaan, kuten ihmissuhteistaan, identiteetistään, sosiaalisesta elämästään, terveydestään ja sairauksistaan sekä miten he näkivät ja kokivat itsensä. Digitaaliset teknologiat luovat mahdollisuuksia auttaa nuoria seuraamaan käyttäytymistään, oireitaan tai kokemuksiaan sekä saamaan tukea, silloin kun he sitä tarvitsevat. Digitaaliseen teknologiaan perustuvaa tukea kehitettäessä ja toteutettaessa on tärkeää ottaa huomioon nuorten erilaiset mielenterveys- ja sukupuolikohtaiset tarpeet sekä heidän valmiutensa käyttää digitaalista teknologiaa oman mielenterveyden ja hyvinvoinnin tukemiseen

Chapter BCI Integration: Application Interfaces

Natural disaster