As seen in "a NULL" Wired and "a NULL" Time
A revealing look at how negative biases against women of color are embedded in search engine results and algorithms
Run a Google search for "black ...girls"-what will you find? "Big Booty" and other sexually explicit terms are likely to come up as top search terms. But, if you type in "white girls," the results are radically different. The suggested porn sites and un-moderated discussions about "why black women are so sassy" or "why black women are so angry" presents a disturbing portrait of black womanhood in modern society.
In Algorithms of Oppression, Safiya Umoja Noble challenges the idea that search engines like Google offer an equal playing field for all forms of ideas, identities, and activities. Data discrimination is a real social problem; Noble argues that the combination of private interests in promoting certain sites, along with the monopoly status of a relatively small number of Internet search engines, leads to a biased set of search algorithms that privilege whiteness and discriminate against people of color, specifically women of color.
Through an analysis of textual and media searches as well as extensive research on paid online advertising, Noble exposes a culture of racism and sexism in the way discoverability is created online. As search engines and their related companies grow in importance-operating as a source for email, a major vehicle for primary and secondary school learning, and beyond-understanding and reversing these disquieting trends and discriminatory practices is of utmost importance.
An original, surprising and, at times, disturbing account of bias on the internet, Algorithms of Oppression contributes to our understanding of how racism is created, maintained, and disseminated in the 21st century.
Safiya Noble discusses search engine bias in an interview with USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism
Background: GLP-1 receptor agonists (RA) and dual GLP-l/GIP RA have demonstrated clinically meaningful weight loss (WL) in obese adults with and without type 2 diabetes. GLP-1 analog (Ex-4) and ...GLP-1RA (liraglutide, Lira) signal through both cAMP and ß-arrestin ("unbiased"), whereas Exendin-Phe-1 (Ex-Phe-1) signals only via cAMP ("biased"). To determine the importance of signaling bias and to investigate the impact of a unimolecular dual GLP-l/GIP RA in regulating Fl and WL, we engineered CT-859, a fully cAMP-biased dual GLP-l/GIP receptor modulator that exhibits no ß-arrestin coupling at either receptor. Methods: To differentiate the centrally mediated effects of GLP-1R vs. GIPR, we administered CT-859 (0.025 nmol and 1 nmol) to GLP1R knockout (KO) mice and their wildtype (WT) littermates by intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection. Results: 24 h after dosing, CT-859 at neither of the two doses had an effect on body weight (BW) or Fl in the GLP-1R KO mice, whereas in WT mice, CT-859 decreased both BW and Fl in a dose-dependent manner. In a separate study in lean WT mice, CT-859 (0.025 nmol) comapred to Lira (0.025 nmol) produced greater reduction in BW (-8.1% vs -4.5%, p < 0.0001) and Fl (1.0 g vs 1.8 g, p < 0.0001) 19 hours after ICV administration. We confirmed that these observed effects were a result of "biased" GLP-1 by administering selective GLP-1 analogs, Ex-Phe-1 (0.025 nmol) and Ex-4 (0.025 nmol) by ICV injection in lean mice. Both GLP-1 RAs decreased BW and Fl equally 24 h after drug administration; however, after 72 hours, only ExPhe-1 but not Ex-4 continued to demonstrate significant reduction in BW (-11.4% vs. -2.5%, p < 0.0001) and cumulative Fl (4.2 g vs 7.0 g, p < 0.0001). Conclusions: Together, these results demonstrate the importance of signaling bias on the incretin receptors in the central nervous system to induce a prolonged effect on food intake suppression and weight loss.
Background: Successful measurements of peak VO2 in children are challenging. The oxygen uptake efficiency slope (OUES) is a submaximal measurement of cardiopulmonary reserve. Some studies suggest ...OUES can be used to estimate peak VO2 but the evidence is inconclusive. The purpose of this study was to measure the magnitude of agreement between direct measurements of peak VO2 and peak VO2 predicted from OUES in children ages 7 to 10 years. Methods: Children (n = 96) attended one study visit. Peak VO2 was measured using an incremental bike test. Peak criteria were: peak heart rate >90% of age predicted, RER > 1.0, and ratings of perceived exertion > 8. Oxygen uptake was plotted against the logarithm of total ventilation to estimate OUES. Linear regression analysis was used to model peak VO2 against OUES, and the resulting regression equation used to predict peak VO2 (ml/min, Pred-VO2). Pred-VO2 values were compared against true measurements of peak VO2 (gold standard, GS-VO2) using the Bland Altman plot. Mean bias (MB) was assessed using a 1-sample t-test on the mean value of the difference between measurements (diff). Proportional bias (PB) was assessed by correlating the difference between methods on the average of the two methods. Results: Children were 9.0 ± 1.2 years old. The means of GS-VO2 and Pred-VO2 were comparable (GS-VO2 = 1197.8 ± 272.8 ml/min vs. Pred-VO2 = 1197.8 ± 220 ml/min, p = 0.9975). The Bland-Altman plot showed MB = -0.052 ± 159.4 ml/min (p = 0.9975) and PB as r = 0.34 (95% CI = 0.15-0.50, p = 0.0007). Conclusions: There was no mean bias between Pred-VO2 and GSVO2 measurements of peak VO2. However, the observed PB indicates that Pred-VO2 and GS-VO2 do not agree equally throughout the range of measurements. Therefore, caution is advised when using OUES to predict peak VO2 in children. Funding: USDA-ARS Projects 3092-51000-056- 04A and 602651000-012-06S, NIH-NIGMS 5P20GM109096, NIH 8UG1OD024945, NIH-NCATS 1UL1TR003107.
Nonrandom collecting practices may bias conclusions drawn from analyses of herbarium records. Recent efforts to fully digitize and mobilize regional floras online offer a timely opportunity to assess ...commonalities and differences in herbarium sampling biases.
We determined spatial, temporal, trait, phylogenetic, and collector biases in c. 5 million herbarium records, representing three of the most complete digitized floras of the world: Australia (AU), South Africa (SA), and New England, USA (NE).
We identified numerous shared and unique biases among these regions. Shared biases included specimens collected close to roads and herbaria; specimens collected more frequently during biological spring and summer; specimens of threatened species collected less frequently; and specimens of close relatives collected in similar numbers. Regional differences included overrepresentation of graminoids in SA and AU and of annuals in AU; and peak collection during the 1910s in NE, 1980s in SA, and 1990s in AU. Finally, in all regions, a disproportionately large percentage of specimens were collected by very few individuals. We hypothesize that these mega-collectors, with their associated preferences and idiosyncrasies, shaped patterns of collection bias via ‘founder effects’.
Studies using herbarium collections should account for sampling biases, and future collecting efforts should avoid compounding these biases to the extent possible.
Abstract
Introduction
Although hypnotic drugs are often suggested for short-term use, prolonged usage of the hypnotics are common in clinical settings. There has been a concern that whether this ...practice will lead to drug dependence. Attentional bias to drug-related cues has been indicated as an important factor in substance dependence. This study aims to examine the attentional bias toward hypnotics in long-term hypnotic users by measuring event-related potential (ERP) elicited by hypnotic-related pictures.
Methods
22 insomnia patients were recruited from communities; 13 of them were long-term hypnotic users (> 6 months; LTH group), and 9 of them had not been using hypnotics for 6 months and had never used hypnotics for longer than 3 months (control group). Participants came to the laboratory for a night. An oddball task (20:80) was administered, which included 2 blocks with 32 hypnotic-related or sleep-related (non-target), 96 neutral (non-target), and 32 animal pictures (target) presented on a computer screen in each block. Participants were required to respond to animal pictures as targets. ERPs induced by stimuli were recorded during the task. A polysomnography was conducted afterward to rule out other sleep disorders. The differences of the amplitude and latency of P3 wave, as an index for attentional processing, between groups at Fz, Cz, Pz, F3, F4, C3, C4, P3, P4 channels were evaluated.
Results
Both the amplitude and latency of P3 toward hypnotic-related stimuli in LTH group are significantly larger than in control group (amplitude: U=28, p=0.042; and U=25, p=0.025 at F3, C3 channel, respectively; latency: U=29, p=0.049; U=26, p=0.030; and U=24, p=0.021 at Fz, Cz, C4 channel, respectively). There are no significant differences in the amplitude and latency of P3 toward neutral stimuli between two groups.
Conclusion
The result shows an enhanced attentional processing toward hypnotic-related stimuli in long-term hypnotic users. The attentional bias toward substance-related cues, which has been shown as a crucial predictor of craving, suggests that there may be an underlying cognitive process associated with substance dependent development in long-term hypnotic use.
Support (If Any)
Ministry-of-Science-and-Technology, Taiwan (MOST-101-2410-H-004-082-MY3).
As with other fields, medical sciences are subject to different sources of bias. While understanding sources of bias is a key element for drawing valid conclusions, bias in health research continues ...to be a very sensitive issue that can affect the focus and outcome of investigations. Information bias, otherwise known as misclassification, is one of the most common sources of bias that affects the validity of health research. It originates from the approach that is utilized to obtain or confirm study measurements. This paper seeks to raise awareness of information bias in observational and experimental research study designs as well as to enrich discussions concerning bias problems. Specifying the types of bias can be essential to limit its effects and, the use of adjustment methods might serve to improve clinical evaluation and health care practice.
Behavioral science has witnessed an explosion in the number of biases identified by behavioral scientists, to more than 200 at present. This article identifies the 10 most important behavioral biases ...for project management. First, we argue it is a mistake to equate behavioral bias with cognitive bias, as is common. Cognitive bias is half the story; political bias the other half. Second, we list the top 10 behavioral biases in project management: (1) strategic misrepresentation, (2) optimism bias, (3) uniqueness bias, (4) the planning fallacy, (5) overconfidence bias, (6) hindsight bias, (7) availability bias, (8) the base rate fallacy, (9) anchoring, and (10) escalation of commitment. Each bias is defined, and its impacts on project management are explained, with examples. Third, base rate neglect is identified as a primary reason that projects underperform. This is supported by presentation of the most comprehensive set of base rates that exist in project management scholarship, from 2,062 projects. Finally, recent findings of power law outcomes in project performance are identified as a possible first stage in discovering a general theory of project management, with more fundamental and more scientific explanations of project outcomes than found in conventional theory.
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