Neural Based Statement Classification for Biased Language

Biased language commonly occurs around topics which are of controversial nature, thus, stirring disagreement between the different involved parties of a discussion. This is due to the fact that for language and its use, specifically, the understanding and use of phrases, the stances are cohesive within the particular groups. However, such cohesiveness does not hold across groups. In collaborative environments or environments where impartial language is desired (e.g. Wikipedia, news media), statements and the language therein should represent equally the involved parties and be neutrally phrased. Biased language is introduced through the presence of inflammatory words or phrases, or statements that may be incorrect or one-sided, thus violating such consensus. In this work, we focus on the specific case of phrasing bias, which may be introduced through specific inflammatory words or phrases in a statement. For this purpose, we propose an approach that relies on a recurrent neural networks in order to capture the inter-dependencies between words in a phrase that introduced bias. We perform a thorough experimental evaluation, where we show the advantages of a neural based approach over competitors that rely on word lexicons and other hand-crafted features in detecting biased language. We are able to distinguish biased statements with a precision of P=0.92, thus significantly outperforming baseline models with an improvement of over 30%. Finally, we release the largest corpus of statements annotated for biased language.Comment: The Twelfth ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining, February 11--15, 2019, Melbourne, VIC, Australi

Methods for detecting and mitigating linguistic bias in text corpora

Im Zuge der fortschreitenden Ausbreitung des Webs in alle Aspekte des täglichen Lebens wird Bias in Form von Voreingenommenheit und versteckten Meinungen zu einem zunehmend herausfordernden Problem. Eine weitverbreitete Erscheinungsform ist Bias in Textdaten. Um dem entgegenzuwirken hat die Online-Enzyklopädie Wikipedia das Prinzip des neutralen Standpunkts (Englisch: Neutral Point of View, kurz: NPOV) eingeführt, welcher die Verwendung neutraler Sprache und die Vermeidung von einseitigen oder subjektiven Formulierungen vorschreibt. Während Studien gezeigt haben, dass die Qualität von Wikipedia-Artikel mit der Qualität von Artikeln in klassischen Enzyklopädien vergleichbar ist, zeigt die Forschung gleichzeitig auch, dass Wikipedia anfällig für verschiedene Typen von NPOV-Verletzungen ist. Bias zu identifizieren, kann eine herausfordernde Aufgabe sein, sogar für Menschen, und mit Millionen von Artikeln und einer zurückgehenden Anzahl von Mitwirkenden wird diese Aufgabe zunehmend schwieriger. Wenn Bias nicht eingedämmt wird, kann dies nicht nur zu Polarisierungen und Konflikten zwischen Meinungsgruppen führen, sondern Nutzer auch negativ in ihrer freien Meinungsbildung beeinflussen. Hinzu kommt, dass sich Bias in Texten und in Ground-Truth-Daten negativ auf Machine Learning Modelle, die auf diesen Daten trainiert werden, auswirken kann, was zu diskriminierendem Verhalten von Modellen führen kann. In dieser Arbeit beschäftigen wir uns mit Bias, indem wir uns auf drei zentrale Aspekte konzentrieren: Bias-Inhalte in Form von geschriebenen Aussagen, Bias von Crowdworkern während des Annotierens von Daten und Bias in Word Embeddings Repräsentationen. Wir stellen zwei Ansätze für die Identifizierung von Aussagen mit Bias in Textsammlungen wie Wikipedia vor. Unser auf Features basierender Ansatz verwendet Bag-of-Word Features inklusive einer Liste von Bias-Wörtern, die wir durch das Identifizieren von Clustern von Bias-Wörtern im Vektorraum von Word Embeddings zusammengestellt haben. Unser verbesserter, neuronaler Ansatz verwendet Gated Recurrent Neural Networks, um Kontext-Abhängigkeiten zu erfassen und die Performance des Modells weiter zu verbessern. Unsere Studie zum Thema Crowd Worker Bias deckt Bias-Verhalten von Crowdworkern mit extremen Meinungen zu einem bestimmten Thema auf und zeigt, dass dieses Verhalten die entstehenden Ground-Truth-Label beeinflusst, was wiederum Einfluss auf die Erstellung von Datensätzen für Aufgaben wie Bias Identifizierung oder Sentiment Analysis hat. Wir stellen Ansätze für die Abschwächung von Worker Bias vor, die Bewusstsein unter den Workern erzeugen und das Konzept der sozialen Projektion verwenden. Schließlich beschäftigen wir uns mit dem Problem von Bias in Word Embeddings, indem wir uns auf das Beispiel von variierenden Sentiment-Scores für Namen konzentrieren. Wir zeigen, dass Bias in den Trainingsdaten von den Embeddings erfasst und an nachgelagerte Modelle weitergegeben wird. In diesem Zusammenhang stellen wir einen Debiasing-Ansatz vor, der den Bias-Effekt reduziert und sich positiv auf die produzierten Label eines nachgeschalteten Sentiment Classifiers auswirkt

Design, Construction, and Testing of Sequentially Flashing Led Array to Study Angular Camera Motion in Hand Held Camera Systems

This project deals with the construction of a device to determine the actual angular motion in a hand held camera system caused only by the holder. An array of LEDs (8x8) is flashed so that one LED flashes at a time in sequence. This sequence is photographed by a system suffering from motion effects and this is compared with the image of the array when no motion effects are present. The displacements of each blip with respect to time is used to determine the motion of the camera system

Couples\u27 decision-making processes : first-time parenthood in dual-career partnerships

Dual-career couples are increasingly becoming the norm in society, and for these couples experiencing first-time parenthood, having been raised in a world of stay-at-home mothers and breadwinning dads, the decisions for how to manage childcare and career choices can be challenging. This qualitative study was undertaken to explore the question, What are the experiences of couples in dual-career partnerships as they approach the birth of a first child? Twelve partnered, first-time parents were asked a series of questions about their experiences with their partners, families and work environments as they navigated choices related to careers and childcare. Participant narratives revealed the decision-making process for managing careers and childcare in first-time parenthood was shaped by gender role expectations of oneself and others, ability to communicate one\u27s own needs and levels of discussion within each couple, and the availability of good support systems in the form of friends, co-workers, family, institutional policies and supervisors\u27 support for family life. Significant findings in the study include that all the participants except for one male reported struggles with gender role expectations and that all of the participants who were in academia reported significant struggle with balancing family and work life. Through responses of parents in the study on what they felt contributed to their satisfaction or what would have helped them to feel better throughout the process, recommendations and best practices are presented for clinical social workers and dual-career couples

From attachment to damage : defined genes of Candida albicans mediate adhesion, invasion and damage during interaction with oral epithelial cells

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Importance of the Candida albicans cell wall during commensalism and infection

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Processing of predicted substrates of fungal Kex2 proteinases from Candida albicans, C. glabrata, Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Pichia pastoris

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Kexin-like proteinases are a subfamily of the subtilisin-like serine proteinases with multiple regulatory functions in eukaryotes. In the yeast <it>Saccharomyces cerevisiae </it>the Kex2 protein is biochemically well investigated, however, with the exception of a few well known proteins such as the α-pheromone precursors, killer toxin precursors and aspartic proteinase propeptides, very few substrates are known. Fungal <it>kex2 </it>deletion mutants display pleiotropic phenotypes that are thought to result from the failure to proteolytically activate such substrates.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this study we have aimed at providing an improved assembly of Kex2 target proteins to explain the phenotypes observed in fungal <it>kex2 </it>deletion mutants by <it>in vitro </it>digestion of recombinant substrates from <it>Candida albicans </it>and <it>C. glabrata</it>. We identified CaEce1, CA0365, one member of the Pry protein family and CaOps4-homolog proteins as novel Kex2 substrates.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Statistical analysis of the cleavage sites revealed extended subsite recognition of negatively charged residues in the P1', P2' and P4' positions, which is also reflected in construction of the respective binding pockets in the ScKex2 enzyme. Additionally, we provide evidence for the existence of structural constrains in potential substrates prohibiting proteolysis. Furthermore, by using purified Kex2 proteinases from <it>S. cerevisiae</it>, <it>P. pastoris</it>, <it>C. albicans </it>and <it>C. glabrata</it>, we show that while the substrate specificity is generally conserved between organisms, the proteinases are still distinct from each other and are likely to have additional unique substrate recognition.</p

The Missing Link between Candida albicans Hyphal Morphogenesis and Host Cell Damage

Funding: Our own work was funded by a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship jointly funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society (102549/Z/13/Z), a Wellcome Trust ISSF (RG12723-14), the MRC and University of Aberdeen (MR/N006364/1) (DW); Medical Research Council (MR/J008303/1, MR/M011372/1), Biotechnology & Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/J015261/1), FP7-PEOPLE-2013-Initial Training Network (606786) (JRN); Wellcome Trust Strategic Award for Medical Mycology and Fungal Immunology (097377/Z/11/Z) (JRN and DW); Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft CRC/TR124 FungiNet Project C1 and SPP 1580 (Hu 528/17-1) and CSCC, German Federal Ministry of Education and Health [BMBF] 01EO1002 (BH). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Análisis de los planes reguladores comunales de la región del Maule y su relación con la estrategia de desarrollo regional y la evaluación ambiental estratégica

55 p. La siguiente tesis no es autorizada por el autor para su difusión en formato digital.El ordenamiento jurídico chileno indica que el desarrollo del territorio debe concretarse mediante la definición y aplicación de Instrumentos de Planificación Territorial (IPT), por lo tanto, al considerar la necesidad que estos instrumentos incorporen un enfoque de sustentabilidad, logrando la valorización ambiental del territorio, equilibrio entre las demandas del crecimiento económico, las necesidades y expectativas de la población y el cuidado por el medio ambiente, es de especial importancia que estos instrumentos se encuentren actualizados y adaptados a un desarrollo dinámico del territorio. Este trabajo considera un análisis del estado de actualización de los Planes Reguladores Comunales (PRC) para las 30 comunas que componen la Región del Maule. Para ello se recopiló información desde fuentes oficiales, se procesó permitiendo obtener resultados relativos a PRC en proceso de formulación, modificación y vigentes. Por otra parte, se cuantificó la superficie regulada a través de estos IPT. Otro de los resultados del presente trabajo, corresponde al análisis de los PRC desde la perspectiva de la Estrategia Regional de Desarrollo (ERD) y de la aplicación de Evaluación Ambiental Estratégica (EAE), como parte de las necesidades de un ordenamiento territorial sustentable./ABSTRACT: The Chilean legal system indicates that the development of the territory must be defined through the definition and application of Territorial Planning Instruments (IPT), therefore, when considering the need that these instruments incorporate a sustainability approach, achieving the environmental valorization of the territory, balance between the demands of economic growth, the needs and expectations of population and care for the environment, it is of special importance that these instruments are updated and adapted to a dynamic development of the territory. This work considers an analysis of the updating status of the Communal Regulatory Plans (PRC) for the 30 communes that make up the Maule Region. To this end, information was collect from official sources, process to obtain results related to PRC in the formulation, modification and current process. On the other hand, the regulated area was quantified through these IPT. Another result of the present work corresponds to the analysis of the PRC from the perspective of the Regional Development Strategy (ERD) and the application of Strategic Environmental Assessment (EAE), as part of the needs of a sustainable territorial order