Fake News Detection on Twitter Using Propagation Structures

The growth of social media has revolutionized the way people access information. Although platforms like Facebook and Twitter allow for a quicker, wider and less restricted access to information, they also consist of a breeding ground for the dissemination of fake news. Most of the existing literature on fake news detection on social media proposes user-based or content-based approaches. However, recent research revealed that real and fake news also propagate significantly differently on Twitter. Nonetheless, only a few articles so far have explored the use of propagation features in their detection. Additionally, most of them have based their analysis on a narrow tweet retrieval methodology that only considers tweets to be propagating a news piece if they explicitly contain an URL link to an online news article. By basing our analysis on a broader tweet retrieval methodology that also allows tweets without an URL link to be considered as propagating a news piece, we contribute to fill this research gap and further confirm the potential of using propagation features to detect fake news on Twitter. We firstly show that real news are significantly bigger in size, are spread by users with more followers and less followings, and are actively spread on Twitter for a longer period of time than fake news. Secondly, we achieve an 87% accuracy using a Random Forest Classifier solely trained on propagation features. Lastly, we design a Geometric Deep Learning approach to the problem by building a graph neural network that directly learns on the propagation graphs and achieve an accuracy of 73.3%

Synonymy and stratigraphic ranges of Belemnopsis in the Heterian and Ohauan Stages (Callovian-Tithonian), southwest Auckland, New Zealand.

Belemnopsis stevensi, Belemnopsis maccrawi, and Belemnopsis sp. A (Challinor 1979a) are synonymous; B. stevensi has priority. New belemnite material from Kawhia Harbour and Port Waikato, together with graphical study methods, indicates that many small fragmentary specimens associated with B. stevensi in the lower part of its stratigraphic range are probably the same taxon. B. stevensi has been found only in the Middle and Upper Heterian Stage (Lower Kimmeridgian) at Kawhia and only in the Lower Ohauan Stage (Upper Kimmeridgian) at Port Waikato. This apparently disjunct distribution is attributed to poor exposure in the relevant sections. Belemnopsis kiwiensis n.sp., Belemnopsis cf. sp. B, Belemnopsis sp. B, Belemnopsis sp. D, and Belemnopsis spp. are associated with B. stevensi near the lowest known point in its stratigraphic range. The distribution of stratigraphically useful belemnites within the Heterian and Ohauan Stages is: Conodicoelites spp. (Lower Heterian; correlated with Lower Callovian); Belemnopsis annae (Lower and Middle Heterian; Lower Callovian/Lower Kimmeridgian); Belemnopsis stevensi (Middle Heterian/Lower Ohauan; Kimmeridgian); Belemnopsis keari (Upper Heterian; Kimmeridgian); Belemnopsis trechmanni (Upper Ohauan; Upper Kimmeridgian/Middle Tithonian). The apparently extreme range of Belemnopsis annae remains unexplained. Klondyke Sandstone (new) is recognised as the basal member of Moewaka Formation (Port Waikato area)

Sparrows can't sing : East End kith and kinship in the 1960s

Sparrows Can’t Sing (1963) was the only feature film directed by the late and much lamented Joan Littlewood. Set and filmed in the East End, where she worked for many years, the film deserves more attention than it has hitherto received. Littlewood’s career spanned documentary (radio recordings made with Ewan MacColl in the North of England in the 1930s) to directing for the stage and the running of the Theatre Royal in London’s Stratford East, often selecting material which aroused memories in local audiences (Leach 2006: 142). Many of the actors trained in her Theatre Workshop subsequently became better known for their appearances on film and television. Littlewood herself directed hardly any material for the screen: Sparrows Can’t Sing and a 1964 series of television commercials for the British Egg Marketing Board, starring Theatre Workshop’s Avis Bunnage, were rare excursions into an area of practice which she found constraining and unamenable (Gable 1980: 32). The hybridity and singularity of Littlewood’s feature may answer, in some degree, for its subsequent neglect. However, Sparrows Can’t Sing makes a significant contribution to a group of films made in Britain in the 1960s which comment generally on changes in the urban and social fabric. It is especially worthy of consideration, I shall argue, for the use which Littlewood made of a particular community’s attitudes – sentimental and critical – to such changes and for its amalgamation of an attachment to documentary techniques (recording an aural landscape on location) with a preference for nonnaturalistic delivery in performance

Engaging with History after Macpherson

The Race Relations Amendment Act (2000) identifies a key role for education, and more specifically history, in promoting ‘race equality’ in Britain. In this article Ian Grosvenor and Kevin Myers consider the extent of young people’s current engagement with the history of ‘diversity, change and immigration’ which underpins the commitment to ‘race equality’. Finding that in many of Britain’s schools and universities a singular and exclusionary version of history continues to dominate the curriculum, they go on to consider the reasons for the neglect of multiculturalism. The authors identify the development of an aggressive national identity that depends on the past for its legitimacy and argue that this sense of the past is an important obstacle to future progress

Interventions to prevent non-critical care hospital acquired pneumonia – a systematic review

Background: Hospital-acquired pneumonia is a significant burden to healthcare systems around the world. Although there is a considerable body of evidence on prevention of ventilator associated pneumonia, less is known about strategies to prevent hospital-acquired pneumonia in non-critical care settings. Objective: To systematically review the randomised controlled trial evidence for prevention of hospital-acquired pneumonia in non-critical care settings. Methods: We searched EMBASE, CINAHL+, MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library. Seventeen different searches were conducted in parallel through each database. Studies were included if they were randomised controlled trials reporting hospital-acquired pneumonia as an endpoint. Studies were excluded if they were performed in critical care or community settings. All studies published up to the end of December 2014 were considered, with no language restrictions. Data were independently extracted by two authors and the Delphi risk of bias tool was applied to assess trial quality. Results: Five thousand one hundred and one titles were identified across 17 searches. Only two studies were eligible for inclusion in the final review, one from a search of physical therapy interventions and one from a search of enteral feeding. The heterogeneity of the interventions did not permit meta-analysis. One trial suggested possible benefits to early mobilisation; the other trial suggested no benefit or harm from early enteral feeding via nasogastric tube. Both trials enrolled patients with acute stroke. No trials in non-stroke, non-critical care populations were eligible for inclusion in the review. Conclusions: There is currently insufficient trial evidence on preventing non-critical care hospital-acquired pneumonia to make recommendations on practice.</p

Design of a speed meter interferometer proof-of-principle experiment

The second generation of large scale interferometric gravitational wave detectors will be limited by quantum noise over a wide frequency range in their detection band. Further sensitivity improvements for future upgrades or new detectors beyond the second generation motivate the development of measurement schemes to mitigate the impact of quantum noise in these instruments. Two strands of development are being pursued to reach this goal, focusing both on modifications of the well-established Michelson detector configuration and development of different detector topologies. In this paper, we present the design of the world's first Sagnac speed meter interferometer which is currently being constructed at the University of Glasgow. With this proof-of-principle experiment we aim to demonstrate the theoretically predicted lower quantum noise in a Sagnac interferometer compared to an equivalent Michelson interferometer, to qualify Sagnac speed meters for further research towards an implementation in a future generation large scale gravitational wave detector, such as the planned Einstein Telescope observatory.Comment: Revised version: 16 pages, 6 figure

Insights on Privacy and Ethics from the Web's Most Prolific Storytellers

An analysis of narratives in English-language weblogs re-veals a unique population of individuals who post personal stories with extraordinarily high frequency over extremely long periods of time. This population includes people who have posted personal narratives everyday for more than eight years. In this paper we describe our investigation of this interesting subset of web users, where we conducted ethno-graphic, face-to-face interviews with a sample of these blog-gers (n = 11). Our findings shed light on a culture of public documentation of private life, and provide insight into these bloggers ’ motivations, interactions with their readers, hon-esty, and thoughts on research that utilizes their data. We discuss the ethical implications for researchers working with web data, and speak to the relationship between large social media datasets and the real people behind them

Evaluating 'Prefer not to say' Around Sensitive Disclosures

As people's offline and online lives become increasingly entwined, the sensitivity of personal information disclosed online is increasing. Disclosures often occur through structured disclosure fields (e.g., drop-down lists). Prior research suggests these fields may limit privacy, with non-disclosing users being presumed to be hiding undesirable information. We investigated this around HIV status disclosure in online dating apps used by men who have sex with men. Our online study asked participants (N=183) to rate profiles where HIV status was either disclosed or undisclosed. We tested three designs for displaying undisclosed fields. Visibility of undisclosed fields had a significant effect on the way profiles were rated, and other profile information (e.g., ethnicity) could affect inferences that develop around undisclosed information. Our research highlights complexities around designing for non-disclosure and questions the voluntary nature of these fields. Further work is outlined to ensure disclosure control is appropriately implemented around online sensitive information disclosures