When users control the algorithms: Values expressed in practices on the twitter platform

Recent interest in ethical AI has brought a slew of values, including fairness, into conversations about technology design. Research in the area of algorithmic fairness tends to be rooted in questions of distribution that can be subject to precise formalism and technical implementation. We seek to expand this conversation to include the experiences of people subject to algorithmic classification and decision-making. By examining tweets about the “Twitter algorithm” we consider the wide range of concerns and desires Twitter users express. We find a concern with fairness (narrowly construed) is present, particularly in the ways users complain that the platform enacts a political bias against conservatives. However, we find another important category of concern, evident in attempts to exert control over the algorithm. Twitter users who seek control do so for a variety of reasons, many well justified. We argue for the need for better and clearer definitions of what constitutes legitimate and illegitimate control over algorithmic processes and to consider support for users who wish to enact their own collective choices

Bounds on Information Propagation in Disordered Quantum Spin Chains

We investigate the propagation of information through the disordered XY model. We find, with a probability that increases with the size of the system, that all correlations, both classical and quantum, are suppressed outside of an effective lightcone whose radius grows at most polylogarithmically with |t|.Comment: 4 pages, pdflatex, 1 pdf figure. Corrected the bound for the localised propagator and quantified the probability it bound occur

Families Facing the Demands of Military Life: New Research Directions

Military families, whether Active-duty, Reserve, or National Guard, face a multitude of demands in times of both peace and war, and these demands will shift throughout a Servicemember’s career. Our research at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), as well as research done at other institutions, has shown that the demands experienced by military families have both negative and positive effects in terms of health, marital satisfaction, and satisfaction with the Army. Appraisal of these demands and the ability to obtain the necessary resources to deal with them are important determinants of a variety of well-being–, family-, and Army-related outcomes. This chapter will focus on the findings of family studies conducted by researchers at WRAIR and examine the road ahead with studying military families based on the outcomes discussed

Geochemical and Petrographic Analysis of Basaltic Rocks of the Hawaiian Island: Implications for their Evolutionary Stage of Development

Geochemical and petrographic analyses of basaltic rocks were performed from five volcanoes on the Big Island of Hawaii. From north to south these volcanoes include: Kohala; Hualalai; Mauna Kea; Mauna Loa; and Kilauea. These volcanoes have formed through several distinct stages of volcanic growth and development. During each of these stages, the lavas extruded will be composed of a distinctive geochemical signature which corresponds to each of the 4 main phases of development. These include a 1) pre-shield building; 2) main shield building; 3) post-shield building; and 4) a rejuvenated stage. The geochemical results are used to establish the evolutionary stage each volcano is in and provide insight on the sources of the magma driving these eruptions. Over 50 samples were collected from a variety of prehistoric and historic lava flows on Hawaii and prepared in the Department of Geological Sciences. These samples were analyzed for major oxides and trace elements using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) techniques. In addition, a detailed petrographic analysis of thin sections was performed on each of the samples, allowing the mineralogy and textures of these lava flows to be identified. Petrographic results were combined with geochemical results to develop a model for the source of the magma and how it has changed over time. The goal of this project is to investigate the changes in geochemical signature with respect to time and position related to the mantle plume beneath the island of Hawaii and determine the eruptive stage of the volcano based on the geochemistry of the different basalts. The intent was to discover the current stage of development for each of the volcanoes

Layered horizons: A geospatial humanities research platform

© 2019 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). In this demo we showcase Layered Horizons, a Virtual Reality (VR) experience we have developed for use in an ARC-funded research project, Waves of Words: Mapping and Modelling Australia's Pacific Past. This platform allows users to connect different geospatial datasets (for our purposes, from the humanities and social sciences) into layers that can then be explored by the use of natural gesture and body movement. This kind of interaction design in VR takes full advantage of the media's affordances, without relying on metaphors from other interactive media, yet being familiar enough as to engender intuitive and meaningful use. We demonstrate how the platform is currently being used to connect linguistic data (word lists) with archaeological data (e.g. on the spread of bananas through the Asia-Pacific region, or canoe styles found in different locations) and anthropological data (e.g. shared cultural features like chieftainship systems or kinship systems). Taking into account what we also know about Pacific navigation and simulated canoe travel, we can therefore build a complex layered map of the region over time that allows us to better discover probable human migration and contact patterns