Computational fact checking from knowledge networks

Traditional fact checking by expert journalists cannot keep up with the enormous volume of information that is now generated online. Computational fact checking may significantly enhance our ability to evaluate the veracity of dubious information. Here we show that the complexities of human fact checking can be approximated quite well by finding the shortest path between concept nodes under properly defined semantic proximity metrics on knowledge graphs. Framed as a network problem this approach is feasible with efficient computational techniques. We evaluate this approach by examining tens of thousands of claims related to history, entertainment, geography, and biographical information using a public knowledge graph extracted from Wikipedia. Statements independently known to be true consistently receive higher support via our method than do false ones. These findings represent a significant step toward scalable computational fact-checking methods that may one day mitigate the spread of harmful misinformation

Bootstrapping Trust in Online Dating: Social Verification of Online Dating Profiles

Online dating is an increasingly thriving business which boasts billion-dollar revenues and attracts users in the tens of millions. Notwithstanding its popularity, online dating is not impervious to worrisome trust and privacy concerns raised by the disclosure of potentially sensitive data as well as the exposure to self-reported (and thus potentially misrepresented) information. Nonetheless, little research has, thus far, focused on how to enhance privacy and trustworthiness. In this paper, we report on a series of semi-structured interviews involving 20 participants, and show that users are significantly concerned with the veracity of online dating profiles. To address some of these concerns, we present the user-centered design of an interface, called Certifeye, which aims to bootstrap trust in online dating profiles using existing social network data. Certifeye verifies that the information users report on their online dating profile (e.g., age, relationship status, and/or photos) matches that displayed on their own Facebook profile. Finally, we present the results of a 161-user Mechanical Turk study assessing whether our veracity-enhancing interface successfully reduced concerns in online dating users and find a statistically significant trust increase.Comment: In Proceedings of Financial Cryptography and Data Security (FC) Workshop on Usable Security (USEC), 201

Clinical Presentation of Patients with Ebola Virus Disease in Conakry, Guinea

BACKGROUND: In March 2014, the World Health Organization was notified of an outbreak of Zaire ebolavirus in a remote area of Guinea. The outbreak then spread to the capital, Conakry, and to neighboring countries and has subsequently become the largest epidemic of Ebola virus disease (EVD) to date. METHODS: From March 25 to April 26, 2014, we performed a study of all patients with laboratory-confirmed EVD in Conakry. Mortality was the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes included patient characteristics, complications, treatments, and comparisons between survivors and nonsurvivors. RESULTS: Of 80 patients who presented with symptoms, 37 had laboratory-confirmed EVD. Among confirmed cases, the median age was 38 years (interquartile range, 28 to 46), 24 patients (65%) were men, and 14 (38%) were health care workers; among the health care workers, nosocomial transmission was implicated in 12 patients (32%). Patients with confirmed EVD presented to the hospital a median of 5 days (interquartile range, 3 to 7) after the onset of symptoms, most commonly with fever (in 84% of the patients; mean temperature, 38.6°C), fatigue (in 65%), diarrhea (in 62%), and tachycardia (mean heart rate, \u3e93 beats per minute). Of these patients, 28 (76%) were treated with intravenous fluids and 37 (100%) with antibiotics. Sixteen patients (43%) died, with a median time from symptom onset to death of 8 days (interquartile range, 7 to 11). Patients who were 40 years of age or older, as compared with those under the age of 40 years, had a relative risk of death of 3.49 (95% confidence interval, 1.42 to 8.59; P=0.007). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with EVD presented with evidence of dehydration associated with vomiting and severe diarrhea. Despite attempts at volume repletion, antimicrobial therapy, and limited laboratory services, the rate of death was 43%

Voices Raised, Issue 06

Included in this issue: Immaculate Mary; Grants augment women’s research; Mentoring grows; Women’s Studies take root in the neighborhood; Solution-oriented VP to retire; Muslim students strive to educate, support; Don’t let stress ruin your holidays; Dining services dishes up more than you’d expect; Marianist Images Across Campus; Confronting Disrespect: We Owe it to Each Other.https://ecommons.udayton.edu/wc_newsletter/1005/thumbnail.jp

Designing an Intelligent User Interface for Preventing Phishing Attacks

Part 3: Workshop on Handling Security, Usability, User Experience and Reliability in User-Centered Development ProcessesInternational audienceMost phishing sites are simply copies of real sites with slight features distorted or in some cases masqueraded. This property of phishing sites has made them difficult for humans and various anti-phishing techniques to detect. Also, the attacker community has proved itself able to quickly adapt to anti-phishing measures, mainly warning messages to help limit the effectiveness of phishing attacks and protect unsuspecting users. Despite the notable advances made in the last years by the active warning messages for phishing, this attack remains one of the most effective. In this paper we propose an intelligent warning message mechanism, that might limit the effectiveness of phishing attacks and that might increase the user awareness about related risks. It implements an intelligent behavior that, besides warning the users that a phishing attack is occurring, explains why the specific suspect site can be fraudulent