The Effects of Attention Bias Modification Training on Cognitive Biases Perceived Threats in Children with Anxiety

It has been found in research that children and adults with anxiety have a bias toward interpreting ambiguous situations as threatening. This bias is thought to consequently maintain many symptoms of anxiety. An emergent computer treatment system called Attention Bias Modification Training (ABMT) has been used to try to reduce this bias. It is essential to understand whether this bias can be reduced with ABMT because of its feasibility and cost effective nature of treatment. In the current study, interpretation bias is measured using the Children's Opinions of Everyday Life Events (COELE). The ABMT treatment is given to children once a week for an hour and their answers to the COELE are recorded before and after treatment. The recorded procedures are transcribed by undergraduate students working at the Child Anxiety and Phobia lab, and then scored. Each of the situations of the COELE are rated 0 being neutral or 1 threatening interpretation of the situation. The hypothesis is that ABMT will reduce the negative interpretation bias in children over the course of 4 weeks of treatment. The study is still in the collection and transcription of data phase, and will expect to have analytical conclusions in the start of spring 2015.

A COMUNICAÇÃO POPULAR NA CONSTRUÇÃO E PRESERVAÇÃO DA MEMÓRIA DAS LUTAS POPULARES NO BRASIL (décadas de 1970 e 1980)

Nas décadas de 1970 e 1980 houve a eclosão de experiências comunicacionais populares, em todo Brasil, com vasta produção de materiais, especialmente arquivados pelos centros de documentação. Em sua maioria, criados e financiados por setores progressistas da Igreja Católica e Protestante. Entre eles, o Centro de Pastoral Vergueiro (CPV) e o Centro de Comunicação e Educação Popular de São Miguel Paulista (CEMI) que também tiveram importante papel na construção e preservação da memória das lutas populares no período de reorganização social, no contexto de distensão da ditadura militar. No entanto, tais acervos estão em iminente risco, por falta de investimento e vontade política. O que seria um prejuízo histórico e científico para movimentos sociais atuais e à pesquisa acadêmica. O objetivo do estudo é identificar a que se deve este desinteresse. A abordagem se dá pelo método da história oral e como técnicas de investigação adotamos a pesquisa bibliográfica, documental e a pesquisa de campo, por meio da entrevista em profundidade. A falta de uma política pública que garanta a preservação dos documentos é sinal de que no Brasil predomina uma cultura que não privilegia a memória, sobretudo das camadas empobrecidas da população. Além do que, a memória pode ser subversiva. Afinal tais documentos expressam a força da participação popular no processo de transformação social e podem despertar novas ações, o que não interessa aos grupos que estão no poder.

Single Events in a COTS Soft-Error Free SRAM at Low Bias Voltage Induced by 15-MeV Neutrons

This paper presents an experimental study of the sensitivity to 15-MeV neutrons of Advanced Low Power SRAMs (A-LPSRAM) at low bias voltage little above the threshold value that allows the retention of data. This family of memories is characterized by a 3D structure to minimize the area penalty and to cope with latchups, as well as by the presence of integrated capacitors to hinder the occurrence of single event upsets. In low voltage static tests, classical single event upsets were a minor source of errors, but other unexpected phenomena such as clusters of bitflips and hard errors turned out to be the origin of hundreds of bitflips. Besides, errors were not observed in dynamic tests at nominal voltage. This behavior is clearly different than that of standard bulk CMOS SRAMs, where thousands of errors have been reported.

Shifts of the psychometric function: distinguishing bias from perceptual effects.

Morgan, Dillenburger, Raphael, and Solomon have shown that observers can use different response strategies when unsure of their answer, and, thus, they can voluntarily shift the location of the psychometric function estimated with the method of single stimuli (MSS; sometimes also referred to as the single-interval, two-alternative method). They wondered whether MSS could distinguish response bias from a true perceptual effect that would also shift the location of the psychometric function. We demonstrate theoretically that the inability to distinguish response bias from perceptual effects is an inherent shortcoming of MSS, although a three-response format including also an "undecided" response option may solve the problem under restrictive assumptions whose validity cannot be tested with MSS data. We also show that a proper two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) task with the three-response format is free of all these problems so that bias and perceptual effects can easily be separated out. The use of a three-response 2AFC format is essential to eliminate a confound (response bias) in studies of perceptual effects and, hence, to eliminate a threat to the internal validity of research in this area.

Role of the plasma-electrode bias and the transverse magnetic field upon H- ion extraction in the negative ion source

Non peer reviewed

The difference model with guessing explains interval bias in two-alternative forced- chocice detection procedures

The standard difference model of two-alternative forced-choice (2AFC) tasks implies that performance should be the same when the target is presented in the first or the second interval. Empirical data often show “interval bias” in that percentage correct differs significantly when the signal is presented in the first or the second interval. We present an extension of the standard difference model that accounts for interval bias by incorporating an indifference zone around the null value of the decision variable. Analytical predictions are derived which reveal how interval bias may occur when data generated by the guessing model are analyzed as prescribed by the standard difference model. Parameter estimation methods and goodness-of-fit testing approaches for the guessing model are also developed and presented. A simulation study is included whose results show that the parameters of the guessing model can be estimated accurately. Finally, the guessing model is tested empirically in a 2AFC detection procedure in which guesses were explicitly recorded. The results support the guessing model and indicate that interval bias is not observed when guesses are separated out.

"Sexism in the Schools" conference at P.S. 41 about sex bias in high schools

General note: Title and date provided by Bettye Lane.

Bias on the Bench: How Judges’ Legal Backgrounds Influence Their Decisions

The ideal conception of a judge is that of a neutral arbitrator. However, there exist good reasons to believe that personal characteristics, including professional experiences, bias judges. Such suspicions inspired two hypotheses: (1) judges that are former prosecutors are biased in favor of the government in criminal appeals; (2) judges that are former criminal defense attorneys are biased in favor of the criminal appellant. These hypotheses were tested by gathering professional information about state supreme court judges in the south during the years from 1995 until 1998. That was then matched to an existing database that recorded those judges’ demographics and decisions in criminal appeals during that time. Logistic regressions of that data revealed that despite when other characteristics, including gender, race, and legal experience, were accounted for, criminal defense remained a statistically significant predictor. Judges with a background in criminal defense were more likely to reverse criminal court decisions. In contrast, prosecutorial experience was not a good predictor of how a judge ruled. Judges that had backgrounds in prosecution did not rule much differently than those that did not have such a background.

Liberal bias and the five-factor model.

Duarte et al. draw attention to the "embedding of liberal values and methods" in social psychological research. They note how these biases are often invisible to the researchers themselves. The authors themselves fall prey to these "invisible biases" by utilizing the five-factor model of personality and the trait of openness to experience as one possible explanation for the under-representation of political conservatives in social psychology. I show that the manner in which the trait of openness to experience is conceptualized and measured is a particularly blatant example of the very liberal bias the authors decry.

Projeto de extensão colônia de férias cefd/ufsm : Relato de experiência

Essa pesquisa trata-se de um relato de experiência sobre o Projeto de Extensao Colônia de Férias na formaçao inicial dos acadêmicos da graduaçao em Educaçao Física Licenciatura e Bacharelado da UFSM. A pesquisa assume os pressupostos da abordagem qualitativa, e com vistas a alcançar os objetivos do estudo, optou se pela pesquisa exploratória. A coleta dos dados ocorreu por meio da pesquisa documental e entrevistas semiestruturadas, sendo os entrevistados acadêmicos do Curso de Educaçao Física Licenciatura e Bacharelado. Os dados foram analisados a partir da Análise de Conteúdo. Conclui-se que o Projeto teve relevância significativa para a formaçao inicial dos monitores envolvidos, por ser um espaço de vivência educativa, de formaçao profissional e de diálogo com a comunidade universitária

Projeto de extensão colônia de férias cefd/ufsm : Relato de experiência

Essa pesquisa trata-se de um relato de experiência sobre o Projeto de Extensao Colônia de Férias na formaçao inicial dos acadêmicos da graduaçao em Educaçao Física Licenciatura e Bacharelado da UFSM. A pesquisa assume os pressupostos da abordagem qualitativa, e com vistas a alcançar os objetivos do estudo, optou se pela pesquisa exploratória. A coleta dos dados ocorreu por meio da pesquisa documental e entrevistas semiestruturadas, sendo os entrevistados acadêmicos do Curso de Educaçao Física Licenciatura e Bacharelado. Os dados foram analisados a partir da Análise de Conteúdo. Conclui-se que o Projeto teve relevância significativa para a formaçao inicial dos monitores envolvidos, por ser um espaço de vivência educativa, de formaçao profissional e de diálogo com a comunidade universitária

Projeto de extensão colônia de férias cefd/ufsm : Relato de experiência

Essa pesquisa trata-se de um relato de experiência sobre o Projeto de Extensao Colônia de Férias na formaçao inicial dos acadêmicos da graduaçao em Educaçao Física Licenciatura e Bacharelado da UFSM. A pesquisa assume os pressupostos da abordagem qualitativa, e com vistas a alcançar os objetivos do estudo, optou se pela pesquisa exploratória. A coleta dos dados ocorreu por meio da pesquisa documental e entrevistas semiestruturadas, sendo os entrevistados acadêmicos do Curso de Educaçao Física Licenciatura e Bacharelado. Os dados foram analisados a partir da Análise de Conteúdo. Conclui-se que o Projeto teve relevância significativa para a formaçao inicial dos monitores envolvidos, por ser um espaço de vivência educativa, de formaçao profissional e de diálogo com a comunidade universitária

Fidelity bias in mollusk assemblages from coastal lagoons of Southern Brazil

The South America southern coast exhibits many outcrops with abundant shell beds, from the Pleistocene through the Recent. How much biological information is preserved within these shell beds? Or, what is the actual probability a living community has to leave a fossil record corresponding to these shell deposits? Although ecological and biogeographical aspects might had been pointed, considering these temporal scales, up to the moment there is no taphonomically-oriented studies available. Quantitative comparisons between living (LAs), death (DAs) and fossil assemblages (FAs) are important not only in strictly taphonomic studies, but have grown a leading tool for conservation paleobiology analysis. Comparing LAs, DAs and FAs from estuaries and lagoons in the Rio Grande do Sul Coastal Plain makes possible to quantitatively understand the nature and quantity of biological information preserved in fossil associations in Holocene lagoon facies. As already noted by several authors, spatial scale parts the analysis, but we detected that the FAs refl ects live ones, rather than dead ones, as previously not realized. The results herein obtained illustrates that species present in DA are not as good preserved in recent (Holocene) fossil record as originally thought. Strictly lagoon species are most prone to leave fossil record. The authors consider that the fi delity pattern here observed for estuarine mollusks to be driven by (i) high temporal and spatial variability in the LAs, (ii) spatial mixing in the DA and (iii) differential preservation of shells, due to long residence times in the taphonomically active zone.

A Bias Compensated Cross-Relation approach to Thermocouple Characterisation

The measurement of fast changing temperature fluctuations is a challenging problem due to the inherent limited bandwidth of temperature sensors. This results in a measured signal that is a lagged and attenuated version of the input. Compensation can be performed provided an accurate, parameterised sensor model is available. However, to account for the in influence of the measurement environment and changing conditions such as gas velocity, the model must be estimated in-situ. The cross-relation method of blind deconvolution is one approach for in-situ characterisation of sensors. However, a drawback with the method is that it becomes positively biased and unstable at high noise levels. In this paper, the cross-relation method is cast in the discrete-time domain and a bias compensation approach is developed. It is shown that the proposed compensation scheme is robust and yields unbiased estimates with lower estimation variance than the uncompensated version. All results are verified using Monte-Carlo simulations.

The effect of changing the built environment on physical activity: a quantitative review of the risk of bias in natural experiments.

BACKGROUND:
Evidence regarding the association of the built environment with physical activity is influencing policy recommendations that advocate changing the built environment to increase population-level physical activity. However, to date there has been no rigorous appraisal of the quality of the evidence on the effects of changing the built environment. The aim of this review was to conduct a thorough quantitative appraisal of the risk of bias present in those natural experiments with the strongest experimental designs for assessing the causal effects of the built environment on physical activity.

METHODS:
Eligible studies had to evaluate the effects of changing the built environment on physical activity, include at least one measurement before and one measurement of physical activity after changes in the environment, and have at least one intervention site and non-intervention comparison site. Given the large number of systematic reviews in this area, studies were identified from three exemplar systematic reviews; these were published in the past five years and were selected to provide a range of different built environment interventions. The risk of bias in these studies was analysed using the Cochrane Risk of Bias Assessment Tool: for Non-Randomized Studies of Interventions (ACROBAT-NRSI).

RESULTS:
Twelve eligible natural experiments were identified. Risk of bias assessments were conducted for each physical activity outcome from all studies, resulting in a total of fifteen outcomes being analysed. Intervention sites included parks, urban greenways/trails, bicycle lanes, paths, vacant lots, and a senior citizen's centre. All outcomes had an overall critical (n = 12) or serious (n = 3) risk of bias. Domains with the highest risk of bias were confounding (due to inadequate control sites and poor control of confounding variables), measurement of outcomes, and selection of the reported result.

CONCLUSIONS:
The present review focused on the strongest natural experiments conducted to date. Given this, the failure of existing studies to adequately control for potential sources of bias highlights the need for more rigorous research to underpin policy recommendations for changing the built environment to increase physical activity. Suggestions are proposed for how future natural experiments in this area can be improved.