Face perception and recognition abilities develop throughout childhood and differences in viewing own-race and other-race faces have been found in both children (Hu et al., 2014) and adults (Blais et al., 2008). In addition, implicit biases have been found in children as young as six (Baron & Banaji, 2006) and have been found to influence face recognition (Bernstein, Young, & Hugenberg, 2007). The current study aimed to understand how gaze behaviors, implicit biases, and other-race experience contribute to the other-race effect and their developmental effects. Caucasian children’s (5-10 years of age) and young adults’ scanning behaviors were recorded during an old/new recognition task using Asian and Caucasian faces. Participants also completed an Implicit Association Test (IAT) and a race experience questionnaire. Results found an own-race bias in both children and adults. Only adult’s IAT scores were significantly different from zero, indicating an implicit bias. Participants had a greater number of eye to eye fixations for Caucasian faces, in comparison to Asian faces and eye to eye fixations were greater in adults during encoding phases. Additionally, increased nose looking times were observed with age. Central attention to the nose may be indicative of a more holistic viewing strategy implemented by adults and older children. Participants spent longer looking at the mouth of Asian faces during encoding and test for older children and adults, but younger children spent longer looking at own-race mouths during recognition. Correlations between scanning patterns and implicit biases, and experience difference scores were also observed. Both social and perceptual factors seem to influence looking behaviors for own- and other-race faces and are undergoing changes during childhood. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

archives@tulane.edu / Introduction: Mass distribution of insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) is a core malaria prevention strategy that has proven to be efficacious and cost-effective in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Monitoring ITN coverage, use, and access has relied on household surveys which are expensive and time consuming. Recently, mobile phone survey (MPS) methodologies have emerged as a comparatively inexpensive alternative to large scale population-based household surveys and are becoming increasingly attractive considering the rapid growth trend of mobile phone ownership in LMIC. The overall research objective of the current body of work is to determine if interactive voice response (IVR) MPS can serve to rapidly and reliably monitor ITN indicators in LMIC. Methods: Data collection used either household surveys or IVR MPS – all of which included a module on bed net ownership, access, and use. The first study aim analyzed data from the last five nationally representative household surveys conducted in Tanzania in order to assess and quantify the potential for bias as a result of using MPS over traditional household surveys in estimating bed net coverage indicators. The conceptual design compares surveyed households reporting mobile phone ownership, and thus the potential for participation in an MPS, against all other households regardless of mobile phone ownership over the course of a 10-year period. The second study aim was designed as an individual-level test of inter-rater reliability of bed net indicator estimates between a face-to-face household survey and a follow-up IVR MPS to these same households. The third study aim was designed as a population-level test of external validity comparing ITN coverage indicator results from a nationally representative random-digit dial (RDD) IVR MPS and the malaria module from a nationally representative household survey. Results: Household mobile phone ownership increased by over 50 percentage points from 28.1% in 2007-08 to 81.5% in 2017. In more recent years, survey results show that bias in measuring ITN coverage indicators is minimal under a scenario that compares estimates calculated from DHS surveys for all households against those households reporting mobile phone ownership. For the four ITN coverage indicators assessed using the 2017 MIS data, national-level measures of bias did not exceed a 2.5-percentage point difference for mobile phone-owning households compared to the overall sample of households. Further, regional measures of bias for these same indicators rarely exceeded ± 3-percentage points in 2017. The second study aim, which compared bed net indicator estimates between the small-scale a household survey and a follow-up MPS, found that agreement between survey modalities was variable depending on the indicator, but was highest for household ownership of at least one bed net of any type (Gwet’s AC1 = 0.8). There was low agreement for indicators calculated from counts reflected in the low concurrent validity of key data elements used to calculate bed net use and access indicators. The third study aim comparing bed net indicator estimates from a national household and IVR RDD survey found that the external validity was variable but, in general, the RDD MPS tended to underestimate bed net indicators at the national level. Differences in bed net indicator estimates ranged from 3 to 23-percentage points but overall, it appeared that indicators non-specific to net treatment status demonstrated less bias in measurement through the RDD MPS when compared against the nationally representative household survey. Conclusions: According to estimates, mobile phone ownership has increased drastically in Tanzania since 2007 suggesting that MPS could presently be used to track population-level indicators of ITN coverage, among others. The IVR MPS methodology we applied has the potential to serve as a mechanism that can accurately estimate certain bed net indicators – primarily those that would make use of data elements derived from binary response options. Their use could be scaled to much larger RDD surveys to collect discrete packets of information. At a total cost of approximately US$22,000 (2017 USD) to obtain nationally and regionally representative bed net indicator estimates, the cost-for-information benefit is promising, but more research needs to be done to optimize question sets in order to ensure RDD survey results are able to repeatedly track with face-to-face household survey results. / 1 / Matt Worges

Syftet med denna studie är att bidra med en djupare förståelse för hur rekryterare använder Artificiell Intelligens (AI) i en rekryteringsprocess för att medvetandegöra bias. Tidigare forskning visar att arbetssökandens chanser till arbete påverkas av rekryterarens bias, detta gör att arbetssökanden inte bedöms utefter kompetens. Tidigare studier visar att arbetssökanden missgynnas baserat på olika egenskaper, kopplat till etnicitet, ålder och kön. Rekryteringsprocessen är i ett behov av verktyg som minskar denna bias, där forskning visar att AI-system kan vara ett sådant verktyg. I denna studie har vi inkluderat respondenter som besitter erfarenhet av AI-system i en urvalsprocess. Studien genomförs med en kvalitativ forskningsansats där åtta respondenter har inkluderats. Empirin har analyserats genom en tematisk analys där sex teman identifierats. Resultatet presenterar olika faktorer som jämförs mot tidigare forskning där diskussionen behandlar de mest centrala från studien. Resultatet visar att alla respondenter är överens om att alla människor innehar bias som påverkar urvalsprocessen. AI-system tar bort fokus från etnicitet, ålder och kön, därmed upplever respondenterna att AI-systemet kan medvetandegöra bias eftersom systemet baserar rangordning av arbetssökande utifrån kompetens. Studien lyfter vad som anses behövas av rekryterare för att möjliggöra för AI att kunna medvetandegöra bias. Avslutningsvis visar resultatet att AI-system kräver kontinuerlig utveckling. Med rätt förutsättningar kan AI medvetandegöra bias, bortse från synliga attribut och bedöma arbetssökande efter kompetens. / The purpose of this study is to contribute with a deeper understanding of how recruiters use Artificial Intelligence (AI) in a recruitment process to raise awareness of bias. Previous research shows that applicant chances of getting a job are affected by the recruiter's bias, this means that applicants are not assessed on competence. Previous studies show that applicants are disadvantaged based on different characteristics, linked to ethnicity, age and gender. The recruitment process has a need of tools that reduce this bias, where research shows that AI systems can be such a tool. In this study, we have included participants who have experience of AI systems in a selection process. The study is carried out with a qualitative research approach where eight participants have been included. The empirics have been analysed through a thematic analysis where six themes have been identified. The results present various factors that are compared to previous research where the discussion deals with the most central from the study. The results show that all participants agree that all people have biases that affect the selection process. AI systems remove focus from ethnicity, age and gender, participants believe that the AI system can raise awareness of bias because the ranking is based on applicant’s competence. The study highlights what is considered needed by recruiters to enable AI to be able to raise awareness of bias. In conclusion, the results show that AI systems require continuous development. With the right conditions, AI can raise awareness of bias, ignore visible attributes and assess jobseekers according to competence.

The classic view of evolution as "shifting gene frequencies" in the Modern Synthesis literally means that evolution is the modulation of existing variation ("standing variation"), as opposed to a "new mutations" view of evolution as a 2-step process of mutational origin followed by acceptance-or-rejection (via selection and drift). The latter view has received renewed attention, yet its implications for evolutionary causation still are not widely understood. We review theoretical results showing that this conception of evolution allows for a role of mutation as a cause of nonrandomness, a role that could be important but has been misconceived and associated misleadingly with neutral evolution. Specifically, biases in the introduction of variation, including mutational biases, may impose predictable biases on evolution, with no necessary dependence on neutrality. As an example of how important such effects may be, we present a new analysis partitioning the variance in mean rates of amino acid replacement during human-chimpanzee divergence to components of codon mutation and amino acid exchangeability. The results indicate that mutational effects are not merely important but account for most of the variance explained. The challenge that such results pose for comparative genomics is to address mutational effects as a necessary part of any analysis of causal factors. To meet this challenge requires developing knowledge of mutation as a biological process, understanding how mutation imposes propensities on evolution, and applying methods of analysis that incorporate mutational effects.

Thesis advisor: Paula Mathieu / "If thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought” (Orwell). America's English language is a major contributing factor that perpetuates and orients us toward racial inequality. If American culture is racist, it is only logical that the language our culture uses to communicate would also be racist. This thesis will investigate how language in the media shapes and exacerbates racial bias, contributing to the criminalization of the Black community. The American English language, which includes all forms of written and spoken communication, is how America has shaped its identity (Smalls et al., 152). Language is how we communicate and express ourselves; it is the indispensable transmitter, shaping and creating ideas, social customs, religions, and culture. While many factors contribute to the ongoing struggle of racial inequality in America, my thesis will focus on the history and language of America’s racial biases toward Black people, their impact on societal attitudes, and how the media is using such language to criminalize the Black community. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: English.

The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate a method for reducing the bias of estimation for autocovariance estimators. Two methods are compared, one is the standard method and the other is an adjustment method. The Monte Carlo method is used within comparison. The bias and the mean squared error of the estimated autocovariance is computed for several time series models and two variations of the adjustment method of estimation. The results indicate some improvement in bias and mean squared error for the new method.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Depression is an emerging risk factor for obesity; however, it is unclear whether certain depressive symptoms drive this relationship. Recent evidence suggests that atypical major depressive disorder (MDD) – whose key features include the reversed somatic-vegetative symptoms of hyperphagia (increased appetite) and hypersomnia (increased sleep) – is a stronger predictor of future obesity than other MDD subtypes. The present study sought to examine food attentional bias (increased attention to food cues), emotional eating (eating in response to negative emotions), and external eating (eating in response to external food cues) as candidate mechanisms of the depression-to-obesity relationship. This cross-sectional laboratory study hypothesized that total depressive symptom severity, hyperphagia severity, and hypersomnia severity would all be positively associated with measures of food attentional bias, emotional eating, and external eating. Data were collected from a sample of 95 undergraduate students. Depressive symptom severity was measured using the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (SCL-20); two measures of food attentional bias were obtained from eye tracking with high calorie food images: direction bias and duration bias; and emotional eating and external eating were assessed using the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire. Simultaneous regression models (adjusted for age, sex, race/ethnicity, body mass index, and subjective hunger) revealed total depressive symptom severity and hypersomnia severity were not associated with measures of food attentional bias, while hyperphagia severity was negatively associated with direction bias but not associated with duration bias for high and low calorie food images. Findings related to emotional and external eating are consistent with previous literature: total depressive symptom severity and hyperphagia severity were positively associated with both emotional eating and external eating, and the pattern of results suggests that hyperphagia may be driving relationships between depressive symptoms and these eating behaviors. Hypersomnia severity was not associated with emotional eating and external eating, suggesting this symptom does not play an important role in the relationships between depressive symptoms and these eating behaviors. Future studies should examine prospective associations of hyperphagia severity with food attentional bias, emotional eating, and external eating in larger, more representative samples.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka hur bemanningsföretag i Sverige aktivt arbetar för att undvika diskriminering i rekryteringsprocessen av bemanningspersonal. Kön, etnicitet och ålder har visats vara de vanligast förekommande grunderna för diskriminering i rekryteringssammanhang. En kvalitativ metod användes och materialet samlades in via semi-strukturerade intervjuer. Intervjuerna baserades på en pilottestad intervjuguide. Ett målinriktat urval applicerades och det slutgiltiga urvalet bestod av tio respondenter (N=10), fem kvinnliga och fem manliga, från tio olika bemanningsföretag runt om i Sverige. Vid analys av det insamlade materialet tillämpades en tematisk analys. Resultatet visade att den egna rekryteringsprocessen ansågs neutral, men att diskriminering kunde förekomma hos kundföretaget. Studien resulterade i att risk för omedveten diskriminering förekom i rekryteringsprocessen och att få åtgärder medvetet genomfördes hos bemanningsföretagen för att undvika diskriminering i rekryteringsprocessen. Samtliga respondenter visade tecken på blindspot bias och studien mynnade ut i att så länge människor är involverade i rekryteringsprocessen kommer den troligtvis inte vara helt neutral.

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Attentional control and attentional bias are important factors that contribute to the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders (Eysenck, Derakshan, Santos, & Calvo, 2007; Van Bockstaele et al., 2014). However, the effects of attentional control and attentional bias on the relationship between anxiety and stress response is understudied. Further, much of the research to date has relied on self-report measures of attentional control and stress response, representing a significant limitation. The current study addressed these problems and examined the relationship between attentional control, attentional bias, anxiety, and stress response. First, this study examined the relationship between self-report and performance-based measures of attentional control and stress response with anxiety. Study results found poor agreement between attentional control measures, good convergence between self-reported distress and physiological distress, and a negative association between anxiety and self-reported attentional control and stress response. Second, results showed that attentional control and attentional bias were not significant moderators of the relationship between anxiety and stress response. Explanation of study findings and future directions are discussed.