Fairness-Aware Ranking in Search & Recommendation Systems with Application to LinkedIn Talent Search

We present a framework for quantifying and mitigating algorithmic bias in mechanisms designed for ranking individuals, typically used as part of web-scale search and recommendation systems. We first propose complementary measures to quantify bias with respect to protected attributes such as gender and age. We then present algorithms for computing fairness-aware re-ranking of results. For a given search or recommendation task, our algorithms seek to achieve a desired distribution of top ranked results with respect to one or more protected attributes. We show that such a framework can be tailored to achieve fairness criteria such as equality of opportunity and demographic parity depending on the choice of the desired distribution. We evaluate the proposed algorithms via extensive simulations over different parameter choices, and study the effect of fairness-aware ranking on both bias and utility measures. We finally present the online A/B testing results from applying our framework towards representative ranking in LinkedIn Talent Search, and discuss the lessons learned in practice. Our approach resulted in tremendous improvement in the fairness metrics (nearly three fold increase in the number of search queries with representative results) without affecting the business metrics, which paved the way for deployment to 100% of LinkedIn Recruiter users worldwide. Ours is the first large-scale deployed framework for ensuring fairness in the hiring domain, with the potential positive impact for more than 630M LinkedIn members.Comment: This paper has been accepted for publication at ACM KDD 201

Effects of Increasing Copper from Tri-basic Copper Chloride or a Copper-Amino Acid Complex on Growth Performance of Nursery Pigs

A total of 665 pigs [Group 1; 350 barrows (DNA 200 × 400; initially 14.1 lb)] and [Group 2; 315 barrows and gilts (DNA 241 × 600; initially 11.4 lb)] were used to determine the effects of added Cu source and level on nursery pig performance. There were 5 pigs per pen and 10 replications per treatment in group 1 and 5 pigs per pen and 9 replications per treatment in group 2. Pens of pigs were allotted by BW to 1 of 7 dietary treatments arranged as a 2 × 3 factorial plus a control diet, with main effects of Cu source (IntelliBond-C; Micronutrients, Indianapolis, IN or Mintrex-Cu; Novus, St. Charles, MO) and Cu level (75, 150, or 225 ppm). Diets were corn-soybean meal-based and were fed in meal form in 2 phases (d 0 to 14 and 14 to 35). All diets contained a trace mineral premix formulated to contribute 17 ppm of Cu from CuSO4 in the complete diet. Overall (d 0 to 35), there were no Cu source × level interactions observed. Increasing Cu increased ADG (linear, P = 0.048) and final BW (linear, P = 0.019). The increase in ADG with no effect on ADFI resulted in a tendency for improved F/G (linear, P = 0.091) with increasing added Cu in the diet. There were no effects of Cu source on growth performance. Because the growth effects were linear, it is unknown from our study if increasing added Cu beyond 225 ppm would further improve growth

Effects of Increasing Levels of Copper from Either CuSO4 or Combinations of CuSO4 and a Cu-Amino Acid Complex on Growth Performance, Carcass Characteristics, and Economics of Finishing Pigs

A total of 1,089 pigs (PIC 280 ×1050; initially 82.2 lb) were used in a 105-d experiment to determine the effects of increasing added Cu from either CuSO4 alone or a 50/50 blend of CuSO4 and Cu-AA (Availa®-Cu, Zinpro Corporation, Eden Prairie, MN) on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and economics of finishing pigs. All 6 dietary treatments contained 17 ppm Cu from CuSO4 from the trace mineral premix. Additional treatment diets contained added CuSO4 to provide 70 and 130 ppm total Cu or a 50/50 blend of added Cu from CuSO4 and Cu-AA to provide 70, 100, and 130 ppm total Cu. There were 25 or 26 pigs per pen and 7 replicate pens per treatment.Overall, added Cu above 17 ppm did not influence ADG; however, pigs fed 70 and 130 ppm added Cu from the 50/50 blend of CuSO4 and Cu-AA had decreased (P = 0.045) ADFI and improved feed efficiency (P = 0.048) compared with those fed 70 and 130 ppm of added Cu from CuSO4 only. Similar to the F/G response, pigs fed diets that contained CuSO4 alone had poorer (P = 0.030) carcass F/G than those fed added Cu from the 50/50 blend of CuSO4 and Cu-AA. Neither Cu source nor level influenced economics.In conclusion, these data suggest pigs fed diets that contained added Cu from CuSO4 alone consume more feed but have poorer feed efficiency which translates into poorer carcass F/G compared to those fed a 50/50 blend of CuSO4 and Cu-AA. Copper level did not impact growth performance. Based on our study, it appears that the 50/50 blend of CuSO4/Cu-AA optimized feed efficiency and carcass feed efficiency of pigs marketed on a constant time basis

Few-body spin couplings and their implications for universal quantum computation

Electron spins in semiconductor quantum dots are promising candidates for the experimental realization of solid-state qubits. We analyze the dynamics of a system of three qubits arranged in a linear geometry and a system of four qubits arranged in a square geometry. Calculations are performed for several quantum dot confining potentials. In the three-qubit case, three-body effects are identified that have an important quantitative influence upon quantum computation. In the four-qubit case, the full Hamiltonian is found to include both three-body and four-body interactions that significantly influence the dynamics in physically relevant parameter regimes. We consider the implications of these results for the encoded universality paradigm applied to the four-electron qubit code; in particular, we consider what is required to circumvent the four-body effects in an encoded system (four spins per encoded qubit) by the appropriate tuning of experimental parameters.Comment: 1st version: 33 pages, 25 figures. Described at APS March Meeting in 2004 (P36.010) and 2005 (B17.00009). Most figures made uglier here to reduce file size. 2nd version: 19 pages, 9 figures. Much mathematical detail chopped away after hearing from journal referee; a few typos correcte

Effects of Dietary Standardized Ileal Digestible Valine:Lysine Ratio on 14 to 22 lb Nursery Pigs

A total of 280 nursery pigs (PIC 327 × 1050; initially 14.4 lb BW) were used in a 28-d growth trial to evaluate the effects of increasing dietary standardized ileal digestible (SID) Valine:Lysine (Val:Lys) ratio on nursery pig growth performance. Pigs were weaned at approximately 21 d of age and allotted to pens according to BW and gender. A common starter diet was fed for 5 d, and then pens were allotted to 1 of 7 dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design according to BW. Experimental diets were fed for 14 d, which included SID valine concentrations of 50, 57, 63, 68, 73, 78, and 85% of Lys. Then pigs were fed a common Phase 3 diet for 14 d.From d 0 to 14, when experimental diets were fed, ADG, ADFI, and F/G improved (quadratic, P \u3c 0.036) as SID Val:Lys ratio increased. For ADG, the best-fitting model was the broken line linear (BLL). This model resulted in a maximum ADG to be achieved when feeding a minimum of 62.9% SID Val:Lys ratio. For ADFI, the quadratic polynomial (QP) was the best fitting model, predicting maximum feed intake at 73.7% SID Val:Lys ratio and 99% of maximum performance achieved with 68.0% SID Val:Lys ratio. For feed efficiency, modeled as G:F, the best-fitting model was the QP, estimating maximum G:F at 71.7% SID Val:Lys ratio. In conclusion, this experiment demonstrated that the SID valine requirement for 14 to 22 lb nursery pigs ranged from 62.9 to 73.7% of Lys depending on the response criteria modeled

An overview of the major phenomena of the localization of sound sources by normal-hearing, hearing-impaired, and aided listeners

Localizing a sound source requires the auditory system to determine its direction and its distance. In general, hearing-impaired listeners do less well in experiments measuring localization performance than normal-hearing listeners, and hearing aids often exacerbate matters. This article summarizes the major experimental effects in direction (and its underlying cues of interaural time differences and interaural level differences) and distance for normal-hearing, hearing-impaired, and aided listeners. Front/back errors and the importance of self-motion are noted. The influence of vision on the localization of real-world sounds is emphasized, such as through the ventriloquist effect or the intriguing link between spatial hearing and visual attention

Effects of Dietary Standardized Ileal Digestible Isoleucine:Lysine Ratio on Nursery Pig Performance

A total of 560 nursery pigs were used in 2 experiments to evaluate the effects of increasing dietary standardized ileal digestible (SID) Isoleucine:Lysine (Ile:Lys) ratio on growth performance. In Exp. 1, 280 pigs (PIC 327 × 1050, initially 14.9 lb BW) were fed experimental diets for 12 d with 8 replications and 5 pigs per pen. In Exp. 2, 280 pigs (DNA Genetics Line 600 × Line 241, initially 13.3 lb BW) were fed experimental diets for 18 d with 8 replications and 5 pigs per pen. In both experiments, pens were allotted to 1 of 7 dietary treatments in a randomized complete block design. The 7 dietary treatments were 40, 44, 48, 52, 54, 58, and 63% SID Ile:Lys ratio. After the experimental diet feeding period, a common diet was fed for 14 d. Diets in both phases were fed in meal form.For Exp. 1, from d 0 to 12 when experimental diets were fed, ADG and ADFI improved (ADG, linear, P \u3c 0.001; and ADFI, quadratic, P \u3c 0.017) and F/G became poorer (quadratic, P \u3c 0.041) as SID Ile:Lys ratio increased. For ADG, the quadratic (QP), broken-line linear (BLL), and broken-line quadratic (BLQ) models reported maximum ADG at 64.7, 52.0, and 52.0% SID Ile:Lys ratio, respectively. For ADFI, the BLL breakpoint occurred at 50.6% and the QP predicted maximum ADFI at 56.2% SID Ile:Lys ratio.In Exp. 2, from d 0 to 18 when experimental diets were fed, ADG and ADFI improved (quadratic, P \u3c 0.009) with no significant differences for F/G as SID Ile:Lys ratio increased. For ADG, the BLL and QP had similar fit with breakpoints/maximums occurring at 51.8% SID Ile:Lys ratio and 58.3% SID Ile:Lys ratio, respectively. For ADFI, the QP reported maximum ADFI at 57.2% SID Ile:Lys ratio and the BLQ breakpoint occurred at 52.0% SID Ile:Lys.In summary, these experiments demonstrate that the SID Ile requirement for 15 to 25 lb nursery pigs is approximately 52% of Lys for ADG and ADFI using broken line models and can be as high as 64% of Lys using quadratic models. A slight quadratic effect was observed in feed efficiency for Exp. 1, however in Exp. 2, there were no appreciable differences detected in F/G. The Ile requirement for 15 to 25 lb pigs was found to be similar to NRC (2012) requirement estimates

Effects of Increasing Dietary Standardized Ileal Digestible Lysine on 15 to 24 lb Nursery Pigs

A total of 300 nursery pigs (PIC 327 × 1050, initially 14.8 lb BW) were used in a 28-d growth trial to evaluate the effects of increasing dietary standardized ileal digestible (SID) lysine (Lys) on nursery pig growth performance. Pigs were weaned at approximately 21 d of age and allotted to the pens according to BW and gender. A common starter diet was fed for 6 d, then pens were allotted to 1 of 6 dietary treatments in a completely randomized design. Experimental diets were fed for 14 d followed by a common diet for 14 d. The 6 dietary treatments were formulated to contain 1.10, 1.20, 1.30, 1.40, 1.50, and 1.60% SID Lys.Increasing SID Lys resulted in improved (linear, P \u3c 0.001) ADG and F/G during d 0 to 14 when experimental diets where fed, with no differences observed in ADFI. For ADG, broken line linear (BLL) and quadratic polynomial (QP) models demonstrated similar fits, with maximum ADG at 1.45% and above 1.60% for BLL and QP models, respectively. Similar estimates were found when modeling feed efficiency.In conclusion, this experiment determined that the SID Lys requirement for 15 to 24 lb nursery pigs was at least 1.45% SID Lys for both ADG and feed efficiency

Evaluation of Added Sodium and Chloride for 15 to 24 lb Nursery Pigs

A total of 360 pigs (Line 241 × 600; DNA, Columbus, NE) were used in a 14-d growth trial to determine if the response to added dietary salt in nursery pigs (15 to 24 lb) was due to either the Na or Cl concentration in the diet. Upon entry to the nursery, pigs were allotted by BW and fed a common starter diet (0.33% Na and 0.76% Cl) for 7 d after weaning. On d 7 after weaning, considered d 0 in the trial, pens were assigned to 1 of 4 dietary treatments that were fed from d 0 to 14. The 4 experimental treatments included a 10% dried whey diet with 12 lb/ton added salt (0.37% Na and 0.75% Cl); or 3 diets with dried whey replaced by 7.2% lactose containing either: 7 lb/ton added salt (0.18% Na and 0.47% Cl); 15.5 lb/ton added salt (0.35% Na and 0.72% Cl); or 23 lb/ ton sodium bicarbonate and 8 lb/ton potassium chloride (0.35% Na and 0.45% Cl), respectively. From d 0 to 14, pigs fed the 10% dried whey diet with 12 lb/ton added salt or the diet with lactose and 15.5 lb/ton added salt had improved (P \u3c 0.05) ADG compared to pigs fed the lactose diet with 7 lb/ton added salt, with pigs fed the lactose diet with 23 lb/ton sodium bicarbonate and 8 lb/ton potassium chloride intermediate. Pigs fed the 10% dried whey diet with 12 lb/ton added salt had greater (P \u3c 0.05) ADFI than those fed the lactose diet with 7 lb/ton added salt, with pigs fed the lactose diet with 15.5 lb/ton added salt and the lactose diet with 23 lb/ton sodium bicarbonate and 8 lb/ton potassium chloride intermediate. However, F/G tended to be poorest for pigs fed 10% dried whey compared with pigs fed 7.2% lactose and 15.5 lb/ton added salt, with others intermediate. In conclusion, diets should be formulated with enough added salt in order to meet NRC (2012) recommendation of dietary Na concentration of 0.35%, which is higher in Na than many nursery diets for 15 to 25 lb pigs