Hybrid AI Framework for Legal Analysis of the EU Legislation Corrigenda

This paper presents an AI use-case developed in the project “Study on legislation in the era of artificial intelligence and digitization” promoted by the EU Commission Directorate-General for Informatics. We propose a hybrid technical framework where AI techniques, Data Analytics, Semantic Web approaches and LegalXML modelisation produce benefits in legal drafting activity. This paper aims to classify the corrigenda of the EU legislation with the goal to detect some criteria that could prevent errors during the drafting or during the publication process. We use a pipeline of different techniques combining AI, NLP, Data Analytics, Semantic annotation and LegalXML instruments for enriching the non-symbolic AI tools with legal knowledge interpretation to offer to the legal experts.

Battling Bias: Can Two Implicit Bias Remedies Reduce Juror Racial Bias?

Two studies examined the effectiveness of two implicit bias remedies at reducing racial bias in Black and White mock-jurors’ decisions. Participants were recruited through a Qualtrics Panel Project. Study 1 (murder trial; N = 554): Mage = 46.53; 49.1% female; 50% Black; 50.0% White. Study 2 (battery trial; N = 539): Mage = 46.46; 50.5% female; 49.5% Black; 50.5% White. Half of the participants viewed the UBJ video. Then participants read pretrial instructions (general or UBJ), trial summary, posttrial instructions (general or UBJ), and completed measures. Mock-juror race was expected to moderate the effect of defendant race (Black vs. White) on verdicts, sentences, culpability, and credibility, with jurors being more lenient toward same-race defendants. This interaction would be moderated by the unconscious bias juror (UBJ) video and instructions, reducing bias for White jurors only. Mock-jurors’ counterfactual endorsements would mediate race effects on verdicts. In Study 1, juror race moderated the effect of defendant race on verdicts, culpability, and credibility—White, but not Black, jurors demonstrated greater leniency for Black versus White defendants. The UBJ video moderated the effect of defendant race on murder counterfactual endorsement—when the video was present defendant race did not significantly affect endorsement. This endorsement mediated the effect of defendant race on White jurors’ verdicts. In Study 2, juror race influenced verdicts and sentences—White jurors were more lenient regardless of defendant race. The effect of juror race on sentence was qualified by the UBJ video—when present the effect of race was no longer significant. The UBJ remedies increased all mock jurors’ defendant credibility ratings. In conclusion, the debiasing interventions were ineffective in reducing racial bias in jurors’ verdicts. However, they do impact aspects of juror attribution and may be effective with modification.

Barriers and considerations in the design and implementation of digital behavioral interventions: A qualitative analysis (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Digital behavioral interventions have become increasingly popular for their ability to support patient diagnosis and treatment, chronic disease self-management, behavior change, and/or adherence to recommended care. However, many research teams with interests in this area are unable to develop digital interventions due to the challenges such as lack of technical skill, limited access to developers, and cost. The purpose of this study was to elicit in-depth qualitative feedback from intervention developers who have interests in digital behavioral interventions, but lack programming skills regarding the barriers they experience and key considerations that go into the design and implementation of digital interventions. OBJECTIVE To understand barriers to the design and implementation of digital behavioral interventions, as well as to identify key considerations for researchers who are developing these interventions. METHODS We conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with 18 researchers who had experience either designing (but not coding) digital behavioral interventions or running research studies with them. Participants were a convenience sample of users of the Computerized Intervention Authoring System (CIAS) platform, an existing no-code development platform for building digital intervention content, and were recruited through either direct email solicitation or snowball sampling. All interviews were conducted and recorded over videoconference between February and April 2020. Recordings from interviews were transcribed and thematically analyzed by multiple coders. RESULTS Interviews were completed with 18 individuals and lasted between 24-65 minutes (mean = 46.9 minutes; SD = 11.3 minutes). Interviewees were predominantly female (94.4%; 17/18) and represented different job roles ranging from researcher to project/study staff. Three key barriers to the development of digital behavior interventions were identified during interviews: lack of cross-disciplinary understanding; variability in recipients’ technology access, infrastructure, and literacy; and the idea that evidence-based in-person interactions do not translate directly to digital interactions. Interviewees identified several key considerations that interventionists learned to prioritize, which have the potential to overcome these barriers and lead to successful interventions. CONCLUSIONS Barriers to the development of digital behavioral interventions are often created by a lack of cross-disciplinary understanding, which can lead to difficulties conceptualizing interventions, unrealistic expectations in terms of cost, and confusion about the development process. Moreover, concerns about research study participant characteristics and access to technology, as well as the translation of in-person interventions to digital are apparent. Appropriate training in regards to how to work with software development teams may help future digital behavior intervention creators overcome these barriers and may lead to new, exciting innovations in this space.

What Do Turkish Experts Say about Sustainable Development Goals and Teaching about Achieving these Goals?

The research aimed to investigate what Turkish experts say sustainable development goals and teaching about achieving these goals. The research has a qualitative design, and the analysis of the interviews consisting of ten questions was made by document and content analysis. Interviews were held with ten academicians, who are experts in their field and have included the topic of sustainable development in their studies. Interview questions consisted of two parts in terms of content, in the upper part only for scientific purposes and for information purposes in consideration of ethical rules, as well as demographic information and the main questions. The main questions are based on determining whether the curriculum is sufficient in terms of the education of sustainable development, as well as identifying students who have gained awareness about this issue and the behaviors that can be expected from students. The interviews lasted an average of twenty-five minutes. The data were analyzed by transcribing the sound recordings. After the analyzes were completed, the codes, categories, and themes related to the questions were determined. As a result, with this study, a needs analysis, which is the first stage of the sustainable development teaching material to be developed within the scope of a large project study, has been made. In line with the results, new acquisitions about sustainable development were developed.

What Do Turkish Experts Say about Sustainable Development Goals and Teaching about Achieving these Goals?

The research aimed to investigate what Turkish experts say sustainable development goals and teaching about achieving these goals. The research has a qualitative design, and the analysis of the interviews consisting of ten questions was made by document and content analysis. Interviews were held with ten academicians, who are experts in their field and have included the topic of sustainable development in their studies. Interview questions consisted of two parts in terms of content, in the upper part only for scientific purposes and for information purposes in consideration of ethical rules, as well as demographic information and the main questions. The main questions are based on determining whether the curriculum is sufficient in terms of the education of sustainable development, as well as identifying students who have gained awareness about this issue and the behaviors that can be expected from students. The interviews lasted an average of twenty-five minutes. The data were analyzed by transcribing the sound recordings. After the analyzes were completed, the codes, categories, and themes related to the questions were determined. As a result, with this study, a needs analysis, which is the first stage of the sustainable development teaching material to be developed within the scope of a large project study, has been made. In line with the results, new acquisitions about sustainable development were developed.

Comparative Proteomics of Human Milk From Eight Cities in China During Six Months of Lactation in the Chinese Human Milk Project Study

Human milk (HM) is the golden standard of infant nutrition that can protect immature body function and enhance nutrition metabolism to ensure infant growth. Region specificity and lactation period could change the protein composition in HM. In this research, proteomics analysis was used to compare proteomes across eight cities, namely Harbin, Lanzhou, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Jinhua, Weihai, Zhengzhou, and Beijing, which represented the northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest, east, and north and central regions of China,. Proteins varied significantly among the cities. These different proteins were mainly involved in the process of platelet degranulation, innate immune response, and triglyceride metabolic process, which might be due to different living environments. These differences also lead to variation in protection and fat metabolism from mothers to infants in different cities. Four proteins were expressed differently during 6 months of lactation, namely Dipeptidyl peptidase 1, Lysozyme C, Carbonic anhydrase 6, and Chordin-like protein 2. The changes in these proteins might be because of the change of growth needs of the infants. The findings from our results might help to improve the understanding of HM as well as to design infant formula.