scholarly journals Reducing Loneliness Among Aging Adults: The Roles of Personal Voice Assistants and Anthropomorphic Interactions

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valerie K. Jones ◽  
Michael Hanus ◽  
Changmin Yan ◽  
Marcia Y. Shade ◽  
Julie Blaskewicz Boron ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Independent Living ◽  
Underlying Mechanism ◽  
Census Bureau ◽  
Ease Of Use ◽  
Influential Factor ◽  
Interaction Data ◽  
Second Person ◽  
The Us ◽  
Aging Adults ◽  
Us Census

The perception of feeling lonely is an influential factor in determining quality of life among aging adults. As the US Census Bureau projects that the number of Americans ages 65 and older will double by 2060, reducing loneliness is imperative. Personal voice assistants (PVAs) such as Amazon's Echo offer the ease-of-use of voice control with a friendly, helpful artificial intelligence. This study aimed to understand the influence of a PVA on loneliness reduction among adults of advanced ages, i.e., 75+, and explore anthropomorphism as a potential underlying mechanism. Participants (N = 16) ages 75 or older used an Amazon Echo PVA for 8 weeks in an independent living facility in the Midwest. Surveys were used to collect information about perceived loneliness, and PVA interaction data was recorded and analyzed. Participants consistently exceeded the required daily interactions. As hypothesized, after the first 4 weeks of the intervention, aging adults reported significantly lower loneliness (baseline mean = 2.22, SD = 0.42; week 4 mean = 1.99, SD = 0.45, Z = −2.45, and p = 0.01). Four dominant anthropomorphic themes emerged after thematic analysis of the entire 8 weeks' PVA interaction data (Cohen's Kappa = 0.92): (1) greetings (user-initiated, friendly phrases); (2) comments/questions (user-initiated, second-person pronoun), (3) polite interactions (user-initiated, direct-name friendly requests), (4) reaction (user response to Alexa). Relational greetings predicted loneliness reductions in the first 4 weeks and baseline loneliness predicted relational greetings with the PVA during the entire 8 weeks, suggesting that anthropomorphization of PVAs may play a role in mitigating loneliness in aging adults.

scholarly journals Why the Economics Profession Must Actively Participate in the Privacy Protection Debate

2019 ◽  
Vol 109 ◽  
pp. 397-402 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Abowd ◽  
Ian M. Schmutte ◽  
William N. Sexton ◽  
Lars Vilhuber
Keyword(s):  
Privacy Protection ◽  
Public Information ◽  
Census Bureau ◽  
Economic Research ◽  
Technical Problems ◽  
Public Data ◽  
The Us ◽  
Economics Profession ◽  
Computer Scientists ◽  
Us Census

When Google or the US Census Bureau publishes detailed statistics on browsing habits or neighborhood characteristics, some privacy is lost for everybody while supplying public information. To date, economists have not focused on the privacy loss inherent in data publication. In their stead, these issues have been advanced almost exclusively by computer scientists who are primarily interested in technical problems associated with protecting privacy. Economists should join the discussion, first to determine where to balance privacy protection against data quality--a social choice problem. Furthermore, economists must ensure new privacy models preserve the validity of public data for economic research.

Choice and Conflict about Census Data Adjusting the American Census Count

1991 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 357-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael L. Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Census Data ◽  
Political Representation ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Conflict ◽  
Census Bureau ◽  
Census Count ◽  
Social Fact ◽  
The Us ◽  
Census Adjustment ◽  
Us Census

ABSTRACTThe census is a social fact, the outcome of a process that involves the interaction of public laws and institutions and citizens' responses to an official inquiry. However, it is not a ‘hard’ fact. Reasons for inevitable defects in the census count are listed in the first section; the second section reports efforts by the US Census Bureau to identify sources of error in census coverage, and make estimates of the size of the errors. The use of census data for policy purposes, such as political representation and allocating funds, makes these defects controversial. Errors may be removed by making adjustments to the initial census count. However, because adjustment reallocates resources between groups, it has become the subject of political conflict. The paper describes the conflict between statistical practices, laws and public policy about census adjustment in the United States, and concludes by considering the extent to which causes in America are likely to be found in other countries.

From Statistics by Country of Birth to the System of National Origins

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Schor
Keyword(s):  
Mother Tongue ◽  
Census Bureau ◽  
National Origin ◽  
Immigration Restriction ◽  
Birth Mother ◽  
Immigrant Populations ◽  
The Us ◽  
History Of ◽  
Us Census ◽  
Immigration And Ethnicity

This chapter discusses changes in the categories of ethnicity and immigration in the US census. From the beginning of the twentieth century to the 1930s, statistics on immigration and ethnicity took first place in schedules, published reports, and public policy. Not only did census figures establish immigration quotas, but census statisticians, with their methods and their culture, constructed the mechanism for exclusion by national origin. However, after 1928 there was a retreat from measuring ethnicity, which became evident in the 1930 and 1940 censuses by a marked lack of interest in questions of place of birth, mother tongue, and degree of assimilation. The history of the categories that made it possible to measure ethnicity is a complex one, involving three main groups of actors: advocates of immigration restriction, representatives of immigrant populations, and Census Bureau statisticians, with each group attempting to respond to contradictory demands and to defend their own interests.

scholarly journals Bladder cancer stage and mortality: urban vs. rural residency

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marina Deuker ◽  
L. Franziska Stolzenbach ◽  
Claudia Collà Ruvolo ◽  
Luigi Nocera ◽  
Zhe Tian ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bladder Cancer ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Tumor Stage ◽  
Census Bureau ◽  
Access To Treatment ◽  
The Us ◽  
Rural Residency ◽  
Residency Status ◽  
Cancer Specific Mortality ◽  
Us Census

Abstract Objective Relative to urban populations, rural patients may have more limited access to care, which may undermine timely bladder cancer (BCa) diagnosis and even survival. Methods We tested the effect of residency status (rural areas [RA < 2500 inhabitants] vs. urban clusters [UC ≥ 2500 inhabitants] vs. urbanized areas [UA, ≥50,000 inhabitants]) on BCa stage at presentation, as well as on cancer-specific mortality (CSM) and other cause mortality (OCM), according to the US Census Bureau definition. Multivariate competing risks regression (CRR) models were fitted after matching of RA or UC with UA in stage-stratified analyses. Results Of 222,330 patients, 3496 (1.6%) resided in RA, 25,462 (11.5%) in UC and 193,372 (87%) in UA. Age, tumor stage, radical cystectomy rates or chemotherapy use were comparable between RA, UC and UA (all p > 0.05). At 10 years, RA was associated with highest OCM followed by UC and UA (30.9% vs. 27.7% vs. 25.6%, p < 0.01). Similarly, CSM was also marginally higher in RA or UC vs. UA (20.0% vs. 20.1% vs. 18.8%, p = 0.01). In stage-stratified, fully matched CRR analyses, increased OCM and CSM only applied to stage T1 BCa patients. Conclusion We did not observe meaningful differences in access to treatment or stage distribution, according to residency status. However, RA and to a lesser extent UC residency status, were associated with higher OCM and marginally higher CSM in T1N0M0 patients. This observation should be further validated or refuted in additional epidemiological investigations.

scholarly journals Cigarettes smoked among daily and non-daily smokers following CVS Health’s tobacco-free pharmacy policy

2020 ◽  
pp. tobaccocontrol-2020-055976
Author(s):  
Aryn Z Phillips ◽  
Jennifer A Ahern ◽  
William C Kerr ◽  
Hector P Rodriguez
Keyword(s):  
Market Share ◽  
Rate Ratio ◽  
Health Management ◽  
Census Bureau ◽  
Tobacco Sales ◽  
Smoking Cues ◽  
The Us ◽  
Linear Effects ◽  
Us Census ◽  
The Impact

IntroductionIn September 2014, CVS Health ceased tobacco sales in all of its 7700 pharmacies nationwide. We investigate the impact of the CVS policy on the number of cigarettes smoked per day among metropolitan daily and non-daily smokers, who may respond to the availability of smoking cues in different manners.MethodsData are from the US Census Bureau Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey 2014–2015 and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Institute Community Health Management Hub. Adjusted difference-in-difference (DID) regressions assess changes in the number of cigarettes smoked per day among daily smokers (n=10 759) and non-daily smokers (n=3055), modelling core-based statistical area (CBSA) level CVS pharmacy market share continuously. To assess whether the policy had non-linear effects across the distribution of CVS market share, we also examine market share using tertiles.ResultsCVS’s tobacco-free pharmacy policy was associated with a significant reduction in the number of cigarettes smoked by non-daily smokers in the continuous DID (rate ratio=0.985, p=0.022), with a larger reduction observed among non-daily smokers in CBSAs in the highest third of CVS market share compared with those living in CBSAs with no CVS presence (rate ratio=0.706, p=0.027). The policy, however, was not significantly associated with differential changes in the number of cigarettes by daily smokers.ConclusionThe removal of tobacco products from CVS pharmacies was associated with a reduction in the number of cigarettes smoked per day among non-daily smokers in metropolitan CBSAs, particularly those in which CVS had a large pharmacy market share.

Examining social, physical, and environmental dimensions of tornado vulnerability in Texa

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 139
Author(s):  
Laura Siebeneck, PhD
Keyword(s):  
Vulnerability Index ◽  
Census Bureau ◽  
Source Information ◽  
Principle Components Analysis ◽  
Emergency Managers ◽  
The Social ◽  
Vulnerability Model ◽  
The Us ◽  
Components Analysis ◽  
Us Census

Objective: To develop a vulnerability model that captures the social, physical, and environmental dimensions of tornado vulnerability of Texas counties. Design: Guided by previous research and methodologies proposed in the hazards and emergency management literature, a principle components analysis is used to create a tornado vulnerability index. Data were gathered from open source information available through the US Census Bureau, American Community Surveys, and the Texas Natural Resources Information System.Setting: Texas counties.Results: The results of the model yielded three indices that highlight geographic variability of social vulnerability, built environment vulnerability, and tornado hazard throughout Texas. Further analyses suggest that counties with the highest tornado vulnerability include those with high population densities and high tornado risk.Conclusions: This article demonstrates one method for assessing statewide tornado vulnerability and presents how the results of this type of analysis can be applied by emergency managers towards the reduction of tornado vulnerability in their communities.

scholarly journals An Analysis of the Mixed Collection Modes for two Business Surveys Conducted by the US Census Bureau

2015 ◽  
Vol 79 (3) ◽  
pp. 769-789 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Jenny Thompson ◽  
Broderick Oliver ◽  
Jennifer Beck
Keyword(s):  
Census Bureau ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Census ◽  
Mixed Collection

scholarly journals Budget sharing for multi-analyst differential privacy

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 1805-1817
Author(s):  
David Pujol ◽  
Yikai Wu ◽  
Brandon Fain ◽  
Ashwin Machanavajjhala
Keyword(s):  
Optimization Problem ◽  
Differential Privacy ◽  
Census Bureau ◽  
Query Answering ◽  
Multiple Stakeholders ◽  
The Us ◽  
Us Census ◽  
Privacy Budget ◽  
Summary Data ◽  
Single Set

Large organizations that collect data about populations (like the US Census Bureau) release summary statistics that are used by multiple stakeholders for resource allocation and policy making problems. These organizations are also legally required to protect the privacy of individuals from whom they collect data. Differential Privacy (DP) provides a solution to release useful summary data while preserving privacy. Most DP mechanisms are designed to answer a single set of queries. In reality, there are often multiple stakeholders that use a given data release and have overlapping but not-identical queries. This introduces a novel joint optimization problem in DP where the privacy budget must be shared among different analysts. We initiate study into the problem of DP query answering across multiple analysts. To capture the competing goals and priorities of multiple analysts, we formulate three desiderata that any mechanism should satisfy in this setting - The Sharing Incentive, Non-interference, and Adaptivity - while still optimizing for overall error. We demonstrate how existing DP query answering mechanisms in the multi-analyst settings fail to satisfy at least one of the desiderata. We present novel DP algorithms that provably satisfy all our desiderata and empirically show that they incur low error on realistic tasks.

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