Search Bias Quantification: Investigating Political Bias in Social Media and Web Search

Users frequently use search systems on the Web as well as online social media to learn about ongoing events and public opinion on personalities. Prior studies have shown that the top-ranked results returned by these search engines can shape user opinion about the topic (e.g., event or person) being searched. In case of polarizing topics like politics, where multiple competing perspectives exist, the political bias in the top search results can play a significant role in shaping public opinion towards (or away from) certain perspectives. Given the considerable impact that search bias can have on the user, we propose a generalizable search bias quantification framework that not only measures the political bias in ranked list output by the search system but also decouples the bias introduced by the different sources—input data and ranking system. We apply our framework to study the political bias in searches related to 2016 US Presidential primaries in Twitter social media search and find that both input data and ranking system matter in determining the final search output bias seen by the users. And finally, we use the framework to compare the relative bias for two popular search systems—Twitter social media search and Google web search—for queries related to politicians and political events. We end by discussing some potential solutions to signal the bias in the search results to make the users more aware of them.publishe

Use of Dynamic Programming for Reliability Engineers

This paper aims to obtain the optimum cost allocation to a number of components connected in series (no redundancy) with a view to maximize the system reliability subject to a given total cost of the system. The reliability of each component is a function of its cost. The technique of Dynamic Programming has been employed to achieve the results

Utilities Governance, Incentives, and Performance: Evidence from the Water Sector in India

Network utilities across the world are subject to regulation and political scrutiny. In developing countries, managing the trade-offs between socioeconomic and environmental objectives in public water and energy utilities is particularly challenging. These industries share important underlying technical and economic features. Therefore, many economic, governance, and policy lessons are transferable across these sectors. In India, the water sector suffers from mounting financial losses, lack of access, and poor quality of service. There is a dearth of literature on the multi-faceted nature of utility performance related to water utilities. We examine the socioeconomic and environmental aspects of urban water supply in India. We use a stochastic frontier analysis approach and distance functions to analyse the performance of 304 urban water supply utilities in three Indian states during the period 2010-2015. The results suggest that incentive-based economic reform and regulation would help the utilities improve their performance. More specifically measures to improve cost recovery, billing efficiency and reduce losses would help the utilities to enhance service delivery, expand coverage and induce efficiency in the sector. The results also show the dependence of water utilities on groundwater sources which is unsustainable in the long run. We highlight the need for designing economic incentives to improve the performance of utilities and enable them to achieve social and sustainability objectives

Randomized, interventional, prospective, comparative study to evaluate the antihypertensive efficacy and tolerability of ramipril versus telmisartan in stage 1 hypertensive patients with diabetes mellitus

Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers are keystones for therapy of hypertension in diabetes because they show favourable effects on diabetic nephropathy and cardiovascular disease outcomes. A prospective, randomized, interventional clinical study of one year duration was conducted to comparatively evaluate anti-hypertensive efficacy and tolerability profile of ramipril versus telmisartan in stage 1 hypertensive patients associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus, amongst patients of either sex attending the medicine OPD of Rohilkhand Medical College and Hospital, Bareilly. Clearance from institutional ethical committee and written informed consent of the participants was taken. The enrolled 222 patients were randomized into ramipril and telmisartan groups, of these only 192 patients completed the study. The data obtained were statistically analyzed by paired and unpaired t-test using SPSS software. Prevalence of hypertension in diabetics was more in 41 to 50 years age group, in females (male: female ratio= 0.92:1) and in rural areas (rural: urban ratio= 0.61:1). Baseline BP values were equally matched in both groups. The SBP and DBP were reduced from baseline in all the ten follow-ups and were statistically significant (p <0.0001 for both groups). Regarding adverse effects, both drugs were well tolerated though dry irritating cough and dizziness was more in ramipril group. Both ramipril and telmisartan as monotherapy were equally effective in lowering SBP and DBP on prolonged use in diabetic hypertensives but the incidence of adverse effects was higher with ramipril hence telmisartan be preferred.KEY WORDS: Ramipril; Telmisartan; Systolic; Diastolic blood pressure; Stage 1hypertensive patients; Diabetes mellitu

The Road to Popularity: The Dilution of Growing Audience on Twitter

On social media platforms, like Twitter, users are often interested in gaining more influence and popularity by growing their set of followers, aka their audience. Several studies have described the properties of users on Twitter based on static snapshots of their follower network. Other studies have analyzed the general process of link formation. Here, rather than investigating the dynamics of this process itself, we study how the characteristics of the audience and follower links change as the audience of a user grows in size on the road to user's popularity. To begin with, we find that the early followers tend to be more elite users than the late followers, i.e., they are more likely to have verified and expert accounts. Moreover, the early followers are significantly more similar to the person that they follow than the late followers. Namely, they are more likely to share time zone, language, and topics of interests with the followed user. To some extent, these phenomena are related with the growth of Twitter itself, wherein the early followers tend to be the early adopters of Twitter, while the late followers are late adopters. We isolate, however, the effect of the growth of audiences consisting of followers from the growth of Twitter's user base itself. Finally, we measure the engagement of such audiences with the content of the followed user, by measuring the probability that an early or late follower becomes a retweeter

Semidefinite Representation of the kk-Ellipse

The $k$-ellipse is the plane algebraic curve consisting of all points whose sum of distances from $k$ given points is a fixed number. The polynomial equation defining the $k$-ellipse has degree $2^k$ if $k$ is odd and degree $2^k{-}\binom{k}{k/2}$ if $k$ is even. We express this polynomial equation as the determinant of a symmetric matrix of linear polynomials. Our representation extends to weighted $k$-ellipses and $k$-ellipsoids in arbitrary dimensions, and it leads to new geometric applications of semidefinite programming.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure

Sexual Harassment in the Workplace: Case Study of the Nigerian Legal Sector

Sexual Harassment has been a habitual phenomenon among legal professionals. Consequently, “suffering and smiling” is the concealed solution to this challenge due to the importance of livelihood and career development. This study seeks to examine the prevalence of sexual harassment within the Nigerian legal profession, whether there is need for the victims to be protected and provided with legal structure to confidently report issue of sexual harassment, and whether there is a need for domestic law for the society. Empirical and descriptive research methods were adopted, 561 Nigerian lawyers were surveyed using a structured questionnaire. Data were collected and analyzed using frequencies, chi-square, chart, regression and correlation analysis. It revealed that there is no adequate social structure for addressing sexual harassment and prolonged exposure to sexual harassment has disguised its true effect on the victims. Thus, there is a need for professional regulation to combat sexual harassment among the lawyers. Keywords: Behavioural adaptation; Nigerian legal professionals; National Industrial Court of Nigeria; Unprofessional behaviour: Sexual harassment in the workplace DOI: 10.7176/JLPG/86-13 Publication date:June 30th 201

Chemical characteristics and source apportionment of aerosols over Indian Ocean during INDOEX-1999

During INDOEX IFP-99, the samples of aerosols were collected onboard ORV Sagar Kanya over Indian Ocean along the cruise track, for chemical characterization and identification of dominating sources of aerosols. The concentrations of nss-SO4, nss-Ca, nss-Mg, NO3, K, NH4 and SO2 were observed to be significantly higher before ITCZ in northern hemisphere than across ITCZ in southern hemisphere. In this study, variation of concentrations of nss-SO4, nss-Ca and nss-K with respect to change in latitude, wind direction, wind speed and relative humidity have been highlighted. North of ITCZ, nss-SO4 varied from 2.20 to 18.31 μg/m3 and south of ITCZ from 0.50 to 2.79 μg/m3 while nss-Ca varied from 0.02 to 0.72 μg/m3 north of ITCZ and from 0.01 to 0.14 μg/m3 south of ITCZ. nss-K ranged 0.09-1.43 μg/m3 and 0.07-0.60 μg/m3 before ITCZ and across ITCZ respectively. nss-Ca and nss-SO4 were contributed mainly by NNW and ENE winds while nss-K was observed to be contributed mainly by SSW and ENE winds. Wind speed greater than 4.5 m/s negatively influenced the concentration of nss-Ca concentrations. Correlation coefficients of nss-SO4 with SO2 (r = 0.7) and RH (r = 0.5) suggested a significant contribution of nss-SO4 by aqueous phase oxidation of SO2. Using PCA, four major sources namely sea salt, biogenic combustion, secondary SO4 and crustal contribution were identified over Indian Ocean during INDOEX period

Combined Pulmonary Fibrosis and Emphysema in a welder

Combined pulmonary fibrosis and emphysema (CPFE) syndrome is an uncommon entity characterised by emphysema of the upper lobes and diffuse fibrosis of the lower lobes and carries a bad prognosis with the onset of pulmonary hypertension. Lung involvement due to exposures suffered by welders is generally considered benign though, rarely, a diffuse interstitial fibrotic disease has been reported. CPFE syndrome has however never been reported in welders. A 65-year-old man, welder by occupation and an ex-smoker, presented with progressive exertional dyspnoea associated with dry cough noticed for the last four months. On examination, there was mild tachypnea, clubbing and bilateral basal velcro crepitations on chest auscultation. Lung function test revealed mild mixed ventilatory impairment with severe diffusion defect. HRCT chest showed bilateral upper lobe emphysema and diffuse interstitial fibrosis in the lower lobes. Transbronchial lung biopsy revealed interstitial fibrosis, chronic inflammation and iron deposits. A diagnosis of combined pulmonary fibrosis with emphysema (CPFE) with interstitial pulmonary siderofibrosis (IPS) was established. A review of literature did not show any other report of a similar nature