A Three-Way Knot: Privacy, Fairness, and Predictive Performance Dynamics

As the frontier of machine learning applications moves further into human interaction, multiple concerns arise regarding automated decision-making. Two of the most critical issues are fairness and data privacy. On the one hand, one must guarantee that automated decisions are not biased against certain groups, especially those unprotected or marginalized. On the other hand, one must ensure that the use of personal information fully abides by privacy regulations and that user identities are kept safe. The balance between privacy, fairness, and predictive performance is complex. However, despite their potential societal impact, we still demonstrate a poor understanding of the dynamics between these optimization vectors. In this paper, we study this three-way tension and how the optimization of each vector impacts others, aiming to inform the future development of safe applications. In light of claims that predictive performance and fairness can be jointly optimized, we find this is only possible at the expense of data privacy. Overall, experimental results show that one of the vectors will be penalized regardless of which of the three we optimize. Nonetheless, we find promising avenues for future work in joint optimization solutions, where smaller trade-offs are observed between the three vectors.Comment: 12, 6 figures and 2 table

Differentially-Private Data Synthetisation for Efficient Re-Identification Risk Control

Protecting user data privacy can be achieved via many methods, from statistical transformations to generative models. However, all of them have critical drawbacks. For example, creating a transformed data set using traditional techniques is highly time-consuming. Also, recent deep learning-based solutions require significant computational resources in addition to long training phases, and differentially private-based solutions may undermine data utility. In this paper, we propose $\epsilon$-PrivateSMOTE, a technique designed for safeguarding against re-identification and linkage attacks, particularly addressing cases with a high re-identification risk. Our proposal combines synthetic data generation via noise-induced interpolation to obfuscate high-risk cases while maximising the data utility of the original data. Compared to multiple traditional and state-of-the-art privacy-preservation methods on 17 data sets, $\epsilon$-PrivateSMOTE achieves competitive results in privacy risk and better predictive performance than generative adversarial networks, variational autoencoders, and differential privacy baselines. It also improves energy consumption and time requirements by at least a factor of 11 and 15, respectively.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures and 2 table

Efeitos do treino da consciência fonológica em crianças pré-escolares, com e sem problemas de linguagem

Este estudo de intervenção tem como objetivo avaliar o efeito de um programa de estimulação da Consciência Fonológica em crianças pré-escolares, com e sem problemas de linguagem. Os programas de intervenção em Consciência Fonológica são exequíveis e devem ser implementados precocemente, tal como é sugerido por Capovilla e Capovilla (2000) e Nunes (2009), influenciando positivamente na futura aquisição da leitura e da escrita. Da mesma forma Sim-Sim, Duarte, Barbeito e Pereira (2010) enaltecem a importância da aquisição desta competência dando especial enfoque às “Metas de Aprendizagem”, na promoção da continuidade entre ciclos de ensino. Neste estudo participaram 62 crianças de cinco e seis anos de idade, a frequentar sete estabelecimentos de ensino pré-escolar, divididas em três condições experimentais: a) Grupo Experimental 1 (crianças sem problemas de linguagem); b) Grupo Experimental 2 (crianças com problemas de linguagem e da fala); c) Grupo de Controlo, sem intervenção em Consciência Fonológica. Os dois grupos experimentais foram sujeitos a uma intervenção em Consciência Fonológica. Os instrumentos utilizados foram a Prova de Segmentação Linguística (Jiménez e Ortiz, 1995) e o Programa de Treino da Consciência Fonológica (Silva, 2002). Globalmente, os resultados obtidos revelaram uma significativa superioridade das crianças dos dois grupos experimentais em algumas das sub-competências medidas, quando comparadas com o grupo de controlo. Comprovou-se ainda que o efeito da intervenção era específico dado que todos os grupos continuaram equivalentes numa variável não trabalhada (nível aritmético). Conclui-se assim que é possível estimular alguns aspetos relevantes do desenvolvimento da Consciência Fonológica em crianças de idade pré-escolar, com e sem problemas de linguagem, antes da iniciação formal à leitura e à escrita

Advanced nanofertilizers for iron uptake in calcareous alkaline soils

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The potential role of the three tris (3-hydroxy-4-pyridinonate) iron (iii) complexes on iron deficiency chlorosis prevention

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Iron nanofertilizers for the development of sustainable soybean crops

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Interferences minimization using solid phase extraction in a multiparametric sequential injection system

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A combined physiological and biophysical approach to understand the ligand-dependent efficiency of 3-hydroxy-4-pyridinone Fe-chelates

Ligands of the 3‐hydroxy‐4‐pyridinone (3,4‐HPO) class were considered eligible to formulate new Fe fertilizers for Iron Deficiency Chlorosis (IDC). Soybean (Glycine max L.) plants grown in hydroponic conditions and supplemented with Fe‐chelate [Fe(mpp)3] were significantly greener, had increased biomass, and were able to translocate more iron from the roots to the shoots than those supplemented with an equal amount of the commercially available chelate [FeEDDHA]. To understand the influence of the structure of 3,4‐HPO ligand on the role of the Fe‐chelate to improve Fe‐uptake, we investigated and report here the effect of Fe‐chelates ([Fe(mpp)3], [Fe(dmpp)3], and [Fe(etpp)3]) in addressing IDC. Chlorosis development was assessed by measurement of morphological parameters, quantification of chlorophyll and Fe, and other micronutrient contents, as well as measurement of enzymatic activity (FCR) and gene expression (FRO2, IRT1, and Ferritin). All [Fe(3,4‐HPO)3] chelates were able to provide Fe to plants and prevent IDC but with a different efficiency depending on the ligand. We hypothesize that this may be related with the distinct physicochemical characteristics of ligands and complexes, namely, the diverse hydrophilic–lipophilic balance of the three chelates. To test the hypothesis, we performed an EPR biophysical study using liposomes prepared from a soybean (Glycine3 max L.) lipid extract and spin probes. The results showed that the most effective chelate [Fe(mpp)3] shows a preferential location close to the surface while the others prefer the hydrophobic region inside the bilayer.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Monitoring soil/water interface: development of an integrated sequential injection system applied to laboratory scale soli core column and micro soil column

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The potencial role of soil application of a tris (3-hydroxy-4-pyridinonate) iron (III) complex in iron deficiency chlorosis treatment

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio