Recognizing Operators’ Duties to Properly Select and Supervise AI Agents – A (Better?) Tool for Algorithmic Accountability

In November of 2020, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada proposed creating GDPR-inspired rights for decision subjects and allowing financial penalties for violations of those rights. Shortly afterward, the proposal to create a right to an explanation for algorithmic decisions was incorporated into Bill C-11, the Digital Charter Implementation Act. This commentary proposes that creating duties for operators to properly select and supervise artificial agents would be a complementary, and potentially more effective, accountability mechanism than creating a right to an explanation. These duties would be a natural extension of employers’ duties to properly select and retain human employees. Allowing victims to recover under theories of negligent hiring or supervision of AI-system-as-agents would reflect their increasing (but less than full) autonomy and avoid some of the challenges that victims face in proving the foreseeability elements of other liability theories

Do therapeutic imagery practices affect physiological and emotional indicators of threat in high self-critics?

Objectives: Imagery is known to be a powerful means of stimulating various physiological processes and is increasingly used within standard psychological therapies. Compassion-focused imagery (CFI) has been used to stimulate affiliative emotion in people with mental health problems. However, evidence suggests that self-critical individuals may have particular difficulties in this domain with single trials. The aim of the present study was to further investigate the role of self-criticism in responsiveness to CFI by specifically pre-selecting participants based on trait self-criticism. Design: Using the Forms of Self-Criticism/Self-Reassuring Scale, 29 individuals from a total sample of 139 were pre-selected to determine how self-criticism impacts upon an initial instance of imagery. Methods: All participants took part in three activities: a control imagery intervention (useable data N = 25), a standard CFI intervention (useable data N = 25), and a non-intervention control (useable data N = 24). Physiological measurements (alpha amylase) as well as questionnaire measures of emotional responding (i.e., the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule, the Types of Positive Affect Scale, and the State Adult Attachment Scale) were taken before and after the different interventions. Results: Following both imagery interventions, repeated measures analyses revealed that alpha amylase increased significantly for high self-critics compared with low self-critics. High self-critics (HSC) also reported greater insecurity on entering the imagery session and more negative CFI experiences compared with low self-critics. Practitioner Points: Data demonstrate that HSC respond negatively to imagery interventions in a single trial. This highlights that imagery focused therapies (e.g., CFI) need interventions that manage fears, blocks, and resistances to the techniques, particularly in HSC. An initial instance of imagery (e.g., CFI) can be frightening for people who have a tendency to be self-critical. This research provides examples of physiological and emotional responses to imagery type therapies in high and low self-critics, and associated clinical implications. Therapists may find it helpful to be mindful that when introducing imagery based therapies, highly self-critical patients need interventions that manage fears, blocks, and resistances to the techniques

Comparison of the projected values of 16A and 17A through the habitually worn lenses and the 14A and 14B nets, utilizing the method of computation employed in the analytic system of case analysis with the values obtained through the actual lens power

Comparison of the projected values of 16A and 17A through the habitually worn lenses and the 14A and 14B nets, utilizing the method of computation employed in the analytic system of case analysis with the values obtained through the actual lens powe

Acceptance test report for the safety class shutdown system

This document provides the Acceptance Test Report for the successful testing of the Safety Shutdown Circuit. The test was done in accordance with the requirements that were defined in WHC-SD-WM-SCH-003, Interim Stabilization Safety Class Trip Circuit CGI Dedication Criteria. The actual test procedure document was contained in WHC-SD-WM-ATP-185, Acceptance Test Procedure for the Safety Class Shutdown System

Prior Restraint: Freedom of the Press v. National Security

"A prior restraint is a court order banning publication of unpublished material. Clearly, this power needs to be squared with the fundamental right to a free press as guaranteed by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The extent to which exceptions to this First Amendment freedom can be justified has always been a matter of dispute."--from page 3

OTP for belhaven flammable gas monitor at 241-T-104

This Operational Test Procedure tests the operability of the Safety Class 3 flammable gas monitoring system with equipment shutdown capability. This test includes the flammable gas monitor, heat trace system, pneumatic system, and the interface with existing equipment

Robustness analysis of culturing perturbations on Escherichia coli colony biofilm beta-lactam and aminoglycoside antibiotic tolerance

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Biofilms are ubiquitous. For instance, the majority of medical infections are thought to involve biofilms. However even after decades of investigation, the <it>in vivo </it>efficacy of many antimicrobial strategies is still debated suggesting there is a need for better understanding of biofilm antimicrobial tolerances. The current study's goal is to characterize the robustness of biofilm antibiotic tolerance to medically and industrially relevant culturing perturbations. By definition, robust systems will return similar, predictable responses when perturbed while non-robust systems will return very different and potentially unpredictable responses. The predictability of an antibiotic tolerance response is essential to developing, testing, and employing antimicrobial strategies.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The antibiotic tolerance of <it>Escherichia coli </it>colony biofilms was tested against beta-lactam and aminoglycoside class antibiotics. Control scenario tolerances were compared to tolerances under culturing perturbations including 1) different nutritional environments 2) different temperatures 3) interruption of cellular quorum sensing and 4) different biofilm culture ages. Here, antibiotic tolerance was defined in terms of culturable biofilm cells recovered after a twenty four hour antibiotic treatment.</p> <p>Colony biofilm antibiotic tolerances were not robust to perturbations. Altering basic culturing parameters like nutritional environment or temperature resulted in very different, non-intuitive antibiotic tolerance responses. Some minor perturbations like increasing the glucose concentration from 0.1 to 1 g/L caused a ten million fold difference in culturable cells over a twenty four hour antibiotic treatment.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The current study presents a basis for robustness analysis of biofilm antibiotic tolerance. Biofilm antibiotic tolerance can vary in unpredictable manners based on modest changes in culturing conditions. Common antimicrobial testing methods, which only consider a single culturing condition, are not desirable since slight culturing variations can lead to very different outcomes. The presented data suggest it is essential to test antimicrobial strategies over a range of culturing perturbations relevant to the targeted application. In addition, the highly dynamic antibiotic tolerance responses observed here may explain why some current antimicrobial strategies occasionally fail.</p