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ChristianaCare expands Health Literacy Partnership through Support from Highmark Health
ChristianaCare has received an $80,000 grant from Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) Delaware to support the Health Literacy Council of Delaware. Funded through Highmark’s BluePrints for the Community grant program, the money will be used to fund education and awareness for clinicians and other caregivers on best practices in making health care information much easier for patients to understand. “Health literacy is essential to good health,” said Greg O’Neill, MSN, APRN, AGCNS-BC, director of Patient & Family Health Education at ChristianaCare. “Personal health literacy is the degree to which individuals are able to find, understand and use information and services to inform their health-related decisions and actions. At ChristianaCare we are committed to communicating with our patients in ways that enable them to understand so that they can make informed decisions and achieve their best health. “We are deeply grateful that Highmark Health Options shares our commitment to health literacy. Their generous grant will enable us to support our caregivers in their efforts to deliver clear, consistent communication to every patient in every interaction, improving their lives.” In addition to work within health care in Delaware through the Health Literacy Council, the grant also will be used by ChristianaCare to provide education in the community to support increased health literacy and enable people to make informed, healthy choices. Housed by the Delaware Community Foundation, Highmark’s BluePrints for the Community has contributed over $35 million to the community since its inception in 2007. It was established to increase access to care and reduce health care disparities in Delaware. In addition to ChristianaCare, the Health Literacy Council of Delaware is supported by the Delaware Division of Public Health and the University of Delaware’s Partnership for Healthy Communities. “Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware and Highmark Health Options are actively engaged with statewide literacy improvement efforts and are pleased to support the Health Literacy Council of Delaware,” said Nick Moriello, president of Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Delaware. “By ensuring Delawareans have the tools and resources they need to understand their health information, while simultaneously making inclusive accommodations as health care organizations, we can promote better health decisions and ultimately improve health outcomes.”
Artificial intelligence has been hogging headlines around the world in recent months. In late March 2023, an unprecedented coalition of tech CEOs signed an open letter calling for a moratorium on AI training. The race to empower powerful artificial minds should be paused, argued signatories (including Elon Musk) to give humanity time to review and reassess the potential risks of developing “human-competitive intelligence”–intelligence that “no one–not even their creators–can understand, predict, or reliably control.” Concerns about the unchecked rise of AI are not new, and global media is increasingly sounding the alarm, citing concerns that range from invasion of privacy to an existential threat to human existence. Weighing in on this with compelling new evidence around the “unintended consequences” of AI is research by Goizueta’s Ramnath Chellappa and Information Systems PhD candidate, Jonathan Gomez Martinez. Uncovering the Threat Their paper, Content Moderation and AI: Impact on Minority Communities, takes a hard look at how the use of AI in social media could disadvantage LGBTQ+ users. And what they find is worrying. Chellappa, who is Goizueta Foundation Term Professor of Information Systems & Operations Management, explains that he and Gomez Martinez homed in on Twitter to explore how unchecked artificial language moderation might (mistakenly) censor the use of “otherwise toxic” language by failing to understand the context or nuanced use of the LGBTQ+ lexicon. Examples of this include “reclaimed language”—verbiage that would be a slur in other contexts—but is reclaimed and prosocial if used by the originally targeted community. Their paper, Content Moderation and AI: Impact on Minority Communities, takes a hard look at how the use of AI in social media could disadvantage LGBTQ+ users. And what they find is worrying. Chellappa, who is Goizueta Foundation Term Professor of Information Systems & Operations Management, explains that he and Gomez Martinez homed in on Twitter to explore how unchecked artificial language moderation might (mistakenly) censor the use of “otherwise toxic” language by failing to understand the context or nuanced use of the LGBTQ+ lexicon. Examples of this include “reclaimed language”—verbiage that would be a slur in other contexts—but is reclaimed and prosocial if used by the originally targeted community. “This is a community that has ‘reclaimed’ certain words and expressions that might be considered offensive in other contexts. Terms like ‘queer’ are used within the community both in jest and as a marker of identity and belonging. But if used by those outside the community, this kind of language could be deemed inflammatory or offensive.” Gomez Martinez adds: “We wanted to measure the extent to which AI’s lack of a nuanced understanding of what is ‘acceptable’ affects minority users’ online interactions. As humans, we understand that marginalized communities have long used ‘reclaimed words’ both in jest and as a kind of rallying cry. Our intuition was that the machine simply wouldn’t understand this without context—context that is more immediately apparent to people.” Determining the Impact of AI-Based Moderation To test this, he and Chellappa looked at data from social media behemoth, Twitter. During the pandemic in 2020, the platform made a significant shift to AI-based content moderation to accommodate stay-at-home measures. Data from Twitter’s proprietary Academic Research API afforded Gomez Martinez and Chellappa access to a complete listing of historical tweets and replies before, during and after this period. Together they analyzed a total of 3.8 million interactions (1.8 million tweets and 2.0 million replies) from a panel of 2,751 users, of which 1,224 self-identified as LGBTQ+ in their Twitter bios. Their study ran over four months, from January to May 2020, before, during and after the switch to machine-based moderation. Using the same tools that Twitter moderators deploy to moderate interactions, Gomez Martinez and Chellappa were able to measure any increase or decrease in pro-social, in-group teasing and toxic language among LGBTQ+ users: terms such as “bitch” or “queer,” which research shows to be a form of ritualized insults—dubbed “reading” by the community—which can appear inappropriate or incoherent to outsiders, says Chellappa. “Analyzing the language, we find a notable reduction in the use of terms that could be considered toxic. When the AI moderation is in effect, you see these users’ language become more vanilla,” he adds. Quantifiably so, in fact. Chellappa and Martinez find a 27 percent reduction in the use of reclaimed language among LGBTQ+ users. And while that doesn’t sound like much, it’s significant for the community, says Gomez Martinez. Using in-language and reading each other is one way for this marginalized group to create a sense of community and social status. Not just that, we know from research that LGBTQ+ people use slurs and insults as a way of preparing themselves emotionally and psychologically for hostile interaction with heterosexual individuals. This kind of teasing and playing helps build resilience, so any reduction in it is significant.” Jonathan Gomez Martinez Good Intentions May Breed Unexpected Consequences So what does this mean for social media, for the LGBTQ+ community or any marginalized group for that matter, that might be prone to automated censorship? And how does any of this play out in the context of broader concerns around AI? For Chellappa and Gomez Martinez, there is a major hazard in granting technology any degree of control over how human beings interact. And it’s rooted in the mismatch between good intentions and unexpected consequences. Their paper, one of the first to dig into the impact of AI on actual business and society, lays bare some of the real-world impact AI has already had on marginalized people. While this study looks at the LGBTQ+ community, it could equally apply to any group that is prone to bias or exclusion—racial minorities or any other underrepresented demographic. “Wherever you have user-generated content, you are likely to find communities with their own, unique way of interacting. We looked at LGBTQ+ Twitter users, but you could also look at the African American community, for instance.” Ramnath K. Chellapa At a time when social media platforms have become almost newslike in their influence, this is a concern. On the one hand, censoring certain demographics might earn Twitter et al an unwanted reputation for being anti-LGBTQ+ or racist, he adds. But there are even bigger stakes here than bad publicity. “Twitter has long aspired to be a kind of global town square,” says Gomez Martinez. “But you end up pretty far from that scenario if only some voices are truly heard, or if you start reinforcing biases because you are using a time-saving technology that is not equipped yet to understand the complexity and nuance of human interaction.” AI isn’t there yet, say Chellappa and Gomez Martinez. And they caution against using AI indiscriminately to expedite or streamline processes that impact human communication and interchange. If we don’t keep track of it, their research shows that AI has the potential to start dictating and moving people into normative behavior—effectively homogenizing us. And that’s a problem. Looking to know more? Ramnath Chellappa is available to speak with media. Simply click on his icon now to arrange an interview today.
Home field advantage: Beneficial bacteria could protect turfgrass from damaging disease
Sports leagues from the pros on down use turfgrass because it's a hearty grass that can be mowed to exceedingly short heights and tolerates trampling foot traffic with ease. But it does have a shortcoming: Turfgrass is vulnerable to a pathogen called dollar spot. UD researchers Harsh Bais and Erik Ervin and doctoral student Charanpreet Kaur are part of a team studying the beneficial properties of UD1022, a UD-patented beneficial bacteria, to see whether it can be effective in protecting turfgrass. Left unchecked, dollar spot can result in huge economic losses for golf courses and other places where turfgrass must be managed and protected. Known as a growth promoter that can help plants flourish, the hope is that UD1022 can be a green alternative to complement existing turf-management processes already in use. Bais, a professor of plant and soil sciences, is available for interviews and can be contacted by clicking on his profile below this photo or via his ExpertFile profile.
Inspired by Palm Trees' Resilience, Florida Tech Researcher Seeks to Strengthen Made Materials
Inspired by the tiny, circular vessels in the trunks of palm trees that allow the iconic plants to bend but not snap in strong winds, an assistant professor of aerospace engineering is researching how to recreate Mother Nature’s handiwork in additive manufacturing. Mirmilad Mirsayar received a three-year, $200,627 research grant from the National Science Foundation’s highly competitive Mechanics of Materials and Structures program under the Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovation to study the mechanics and physics of crack propagation in functionally graded cellular structures made by additive manufacturing. That’s the process of creating an object by building it one layer at a time. Mirsayar is the sole principal investigator of the project, “Understanding Mixed-Mode Fracture Mechanics in Additively Manufacturable Functionally Graded Microcellular Solids.” His research is inspired by cellular patterns seen in palm trees and butterfly wings. For example, unlike oak trees and some others, the palm tree’s center contains those vessels, distributed non-uniformly throughout the trunk, that help it survive in Florida’s windy environment. Other biological systems, such as bone, honeycombs and marine sponges, also serve as inspirations from nature. “I’m enjoying this research because I’m learning from nature and I’m applying fundamentals of physics and mathematics to solve a very important engineering problem while training the next generation of engineers and researchers,” Mirsayar said. Materials with cellular structures, such as aircraft wings and artificial bones, are widely used in industries such as aerospace and biomedical. As additive manufacturing has advanced, materials with cellular structures and increasingly complex geometrical patterns can be precisely manufactured. Mirsayar is looking at ways to optimize these strong and light cellular structures made by additive manufacturing to achieve the highest resistance against failure under complex operational loading conditions, such as bending tension, compression and torsion. What could this mean for additive manufacturing? How could stronger materials change what or how we build? Contact Florida Tech Media Communications Director Adam Lowenstein at adam@fit.edu to schedule an interview with Dr. Mirsayar.
Managed retreat: Could this "extreme" move be one of the best ways of dealing with climate change?
Climate change is wreaking havoc on every part of the world right now. Coastal towns are seeing more consistent floods, inland cities are being plagued by droughts and fires and regions unaccustomed to deadly high temperatures are struggling to adapt. A.R. Siders, assistant professor in the Biden School of Public Policy and Administration and the Department of Geography and a core faculty member of the Disaster Research Center, looks at climate change and the impact it is having on communities. One solution she poses for regions being pummeled by climate change is managed retreat. The idea is to plan an exit strategy for a community before these life-altering events occur. One such example is Valmeyer, Ill. In 1993, back-to-back floods swamped the town, officials simply moved their residents to higher ground. Siders can discuss the advantages to this seemingly extreme move and other ways communities can deal with climate change. She has been featured in multiple national outlets including The New York Times, NPR and Vice. She is available for interviews. Click "View Profile" to connect with her.
Aston Business School announces strategic partnership with ISACA
It will help ABS graduates optimise their career potential with industry leading credentials in cyber security and risk management Aston University’s Cyber Security Innovation Centre has gained ISACA Accredited Training Organisation (ATO) status The partnership forms an Academic Centre of Excellence (ACoE) at Aston Business School. The Cyber Security Innovation (CSI) Centre at Aston University has announced a strategic partnership and the formation of an Academic Centre of Excellence with the Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA). It will provide an added value for ABS graduates through taking ISACA certifications to optimise their career potential. Dr Anitha Chinnaswamy, a senior lecturer in cyber security management at the CSI Centre at Aston Business School, said: “There is an acute shortage of skills in the cyber security sector and we are delighted to be leading the field of executive education of future professionals under the recognition of a Centre of Excellence.” The CSI Centre and ISACA UK Central Chapter have been working together for the past four years, with both parties being ISACA ATOs (Accredited Training Organisations) in their own right, delivering high quality virtual and face-to-face instructor-led training which is helping delegates to achieve exam success and benefit from network membership of over 170,000 cyber professionals world wide. ISACA UK Central celebrated its 30 year anniversary in 2023. Their instructors are working consultants, with a wealth of experience as chief information security officers (CISOs), risk managers and IT audit directors, bringing the topic to life using real examples and practical knowledge. Professor Zoe Radnor, Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Executive Dean of the College of Business and Social Sciences at Aston University, said: “Taking our executive education in the cyber security direction is a strategic priority as Aston University has positioned itself as leader in digital technologies. The CSI Centre of Excellence underscores this priority.” Professor Helen Higson, deputy dean of Aston Business School, said: “The CSI Centre academics are always forward looking at the new demands in education and have created a dynamic set of postgraduate offering highly relevant in the market.” Professor Aleks Subic, Chief Executive and Vice-Chancellor of Aston University, said: “In line with our 2030 strategy focused on establishing Aston University as a leader in digital innovation, the Centre of Excellence represents an important step towards making Aston University a sector leader in cyber security.”
#Expert Insight: US Firms 20 Years Out of Date on Customer Diversity
Diversity, equity, and inclusion have steadfastly risen to the top of corporate agendas in the U.S. and elsewhere over the course of the last few years. From 2022, all 100 of the Fortune 100 companies had clearly-defined diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives outlined on their websites—good news for their workforce, suppliers, and distributors. But what about their customers? A landmark new study by Goizueta Business School’s Omar Rodriguez-Vila finds that while intra-organizational DEI efforts are robust, many U.S. firms are lagging behind societal reality when it comes to fully representing diversity in their marketplace actions. Rodriguez-Vila finds that in terms of skin type, body type, and physical (dis)ability, actions by the top 50 American brands are a good 20 years behind the current demographic makeup of the country. Rodriguez-Vila, who is a professor in the practice of marketing at Goizueta, has teamed with Dionne Nickerson of the University of Indiana’s Kelley School of Business, and Sundar Bharadwaj of The University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business, to measure brand inclusivity; a term that he and his colleagues have coined to describe how well brands serve underrepresented consumer communities. Inclusive brands, he says, are those that “enhance consumers’ perceptions of acceptance, belonging, equity, and respect through their actions and market offerings.” To assess how well some of the biggest firms are doing in terms of this kind of marketplace inclusivity, Rodriguez-Vila worked with a team of full-time MBA and undergraduate students[1] to assess the 50 most valuable brands across 10 consumer-facing industries. Using machine learning and human coders they analyzed these brands’ social media posts on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, looking for patterns of representational diversity across four measures: skin type; body type; hair type; and physical ability. Altogether, they processed just short of 11,000 social media posts made between June 2021 and July 2022. What they find is stunning. “We used our data to apply the Simpson’s Diversity Index (SDI) to the population of social media posts by the largest brands in the United States. The SDI is a commonly used equation to measure the diversity of a population,” says Rodriguez-Vila. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the racial diversity index of the country is 61 percent, and has been consistently increasing over the past 20 years. Applying the SDI calculation to measure the diversity in social media messages is a novel idea and one that provides clarity on the state of inclusion in brand communications, he adds. We found that the racial diversity index of social media messages by the top U.S. brands was just 41%. The last time the racial diversity index was in that range was in the year 2000. Omar Rodriguez-Vila In other words, the racial diversity these brands are collectively representing in their messages is 20 years behind the reality of the country. Interestingly, this lag between representation and demographic reality is common to brands in virtually all of the industries studied—from airlines to fashion, consumer packaged goods to financial services, hospitality to retail. The only sector that bucks the trend in any substantive way, he says, is beauty; even then this is likely only because beauty firms have come under fire for underrepresenting Black and non-white customers in the recent past. “Brands’ social media is typically more nuanced and comprehensive than advertising, so it’s more telling as a measure of what they prioritize. And by this measure, we’re seeing systemic bias across a majority of industries,” says Rodriguez-Vila. “Some, like beauty, fare better than others, but then beauty arguably has the strongest business case for diversity.” That being said, there is a robust business case for organizations across all industries to do better in marketplace inclusion. Not only does representational diversity have the potential to open up new markets, new customer bases, and areas for expansion, but “Feeling represented and included matters to everyone,” says Rodriguez-Vila. “To understand the importance of inclusion to customers we used a discrete choice model where people made trade-offs between price and a collection of product features in order to understand the factors that motivated them to make a purchase,” he explains. “We tested a sample of consumers looking to buy sportswear, and we added representation of diversity and inclusion as a characteristic, to see if it had any impact on their choices.” Again, the results are stunning. On average, 51 percent of customers took inclusion into account as a primary driver of athletic apparel choices. Inclusion was a priority driver of choice among 38 percent of consumers in historically well-represented communities—slim, white, able-bodied people. When Rodriguez-Vila and his colleagues expanded the analysis to other historically under-represented groups they found a significantly greater impact. Here, inclusion was a primary driver among 61 percent of plus-size, Black consumers and for 87 percent of consumers that identified as non-binary. In other words, inclusion can be a critically important factor to a majority of customers who are making decisions about whether to purchase products and services, or not. The marketplace is changing, says Rodriguez-Vila, and brands need new ways of understanding their customer base if they are to avoid missing out on opportunities. To this end, he, Nickerson and Bharadwaj are working with three of the firms in their study, piloting a range of interventions designed to accelerate marketplace inclusion. They have partnered with Sephora, Conde Nast, and Campbells to roll out specific practices both in the workplace and the marketplace—from advocacy to communication and commercial practices to things like greater diversity in marketing operations, and in talent recruitment practices. Early indicators are promising, says Rodriquez-Vila. “Our work is set to deliver tools that will help firms normalize and institutionalize marketplace inclusion as a function of their day-to-day operations. And it’s exciting to see a shift in thinking about DEI—from an exclusive focus on the workplace and how you eliminate bias within the organization, to practices that are geared also to eliminating bias in the way you serve markets.” Looking to know more? Connect with Omar Rodriguez-Vila today. Comply click on his icon now to arrange a time to talk.
CorpusCast with Dr Robbie Love: Dr Miloš Jakubíček on Sketch Engine
The latest episode of the Aston Originals podcast, CorpusCast with Dr Robbie Love, offers listeners a peek into the remarkable evolution of Sketch Engine, the ground-breaking corpus query and management system developed by Lexical Computing. In this episode, Dr Miloš Jakubíček, the CEO of Lexical Computing, takes centre stage to narrate the fascinating journey of Sketch Engine. As an accomplished NLP researcher and software engineer, Dr Jakubíček’s profound expertise in the intersection of corpus linguistics, computational linguistics and lexicography promises to unravel the story behind one of the most widely used and celebrated corpus platforms in existence. For over 20 years, Sketch Engine has been a cornerstone of research in various domains, including lexicography, language learning and, naturally, corpus linguistics. This episode delves into the origins of Sketch Engine, tracing its growth from its inception to its current status as a trusted companion of linguists, researchers and language enthusiasts worldwide. Listeners will get an insider's perspective on the monumental impact of Sketch Engine in processing vast text corpora and deciphering morphologically rich languages. Dr Jakubíček sheds light on the tool's pivotal role in advancing research in these areas, reflecting on its dynamic journey from conception to its position as a game-changing resource for language professionals. Meanwhile Dr Love is thrilled to present this engaging episode, which coincides with the announcement made at the recent Corpus Linguistics Conference. With excitement resonating in his voice, Dr Love shared that Aston University, alongside Birmingham City University and the University of Birmingham, will co-host the upcoming Corpus Linguistics Conference in 2025. This exciting news, revealed during the conference in Lancaster, promises to gather linguists, researchers and enthusiasts in Birmingham for an event that is expected to be a milestone in the world of linguistic exploration. Don't miss out on this riveting episode, where the past, present and future of corpus linguistics converge through the lens of Sketch Engine. Tune in for an enlightening conversation with Dr Miloš Jakubíček, available here and on all major podcast platforms. Dr Robbie Love ? https://bit.ly/3Zcgo36 Dr Miloš Jakubíček ? https://bit.ly/3DHBgWF Aston Centre for Applied Linguistics ? https://bit.ly/3QKHcSF School of Social Sciences and Humanities ? https://bit.ly/3JCRAd1 Find out more about courses related to this show ? https://bit.ly/3pR705k #linguistics #corpuslinguistics #astonuniversity
A new study conducted on behalf of CAA South Central Ontario (CAA SCO), found that 51 per cent of Ontario drivers label speeding as a ‘big problem’ within the province – that number has crept up three per cent compared to last year. “Speeding continues to be the most common dangerous driving behaviour that drivers are both witnessing and engaging in,” says Michael Stewart, community relations consultant, Government and Community Relations, CAA SCO. While many have witnessed motorists speeding, they don’t believe they are the issue The study also found that 81 per cent of Ontario drivers have witnessed others speeding but only 38 per cent admit to doing it themselves. After their main concern of speeding, other common dangerous driving behaviours that drivers see and admit to doing include: Aggressive driving Unsafe lane changes Distracted driving Running stop signs and red lights Among those who admit to speeding, almost two thirds (63 per cent) drive between 10-19 km/hr over the speed limit. “It may seem harmless to drive an additional 10 or 15 km/hr above the posted speed limit, but the risk outweighs the benefit,” says Stewart. According to the Traffic Injury Research Foundation, travelling even 10 km/hr over the speed limit increases the likelihood of a collision by 60 per cent, while saving the average driver only four minutes on their commute. “Drivers are urged to be considerate of their speed and drive according to speed limits to keep themselves and others safe on the road,” says Stewart. Most drivers say they believe photo radar helps deter speeding, but many try to avoid it. While 77 per cent of Ontario drivers believe that Automated Speed Enforcement (ASE) can help deter speeding, one in four drivers try to avoid roads with an ASE. It was also found that 44 per cent are likely to increase their speed after passing an ASE camera. According to the survey, 1.5 million Ontario drivers have received a ticket from an ASE camera. Steep penalties remain for excessive speeding. The rise in speeding and stunt driving prompted the Ontario government to introduce tougher fines and penalties in 2021, through the Moving Ontarians More Safely Act. Drivers caught by police travelling 50 km/hr or more over the speed limit, or 40 km/hr or more on roads with a speed limit less than 80 km/hr, face: An immediate licence suspension for 30 days and their vehicle impounded for 14 days. If convicted, drivers face a minimum fine of $2,000, up to a maximum of $10,000. A first conviction will also net a minimum one-year licence suspension, while a third would carry a lifetime driving ban. “If you come across an aggressive driver who is speeding, the best thing you can do is stay calm, focus on your driving and do not engage with the other driver,” says Stewart. “If someone is driving erratically or you believe their behaviour could be an immediate danger to others, safely pull over and call 911, or report them online when you get home.”
Unveiling the Unseen: Exploring Salary Transparency and How it Contributes to the Gender Pay Gap
We have all heard about the gender pay gap, but do we truly understand the underlying factors that contribute to this inequality? A common proposal for reducing the pay gap between men and women is to increase pay transparency — letting job seekers know up front how much the job pays. But does the way the information is presented have an impact? University of Delaware associate professor Dustin Sleesman's recent research sheds light on salary requests from male and female job seekers, and how those change based on the framing of the salary information. Sleesman, affiliated with UD's Alfred Lerner College of Business & Economics, studies the psychology of decision-making, including why people become committed to their decisions and how biases can influence them. Second, he focuses on negotiation and conflict resolution — and especially how they are affected by our thoughts and perceptions. Third, he studies team effectiveness, such as understanding how the motivation and personality of team members influence their interactions.
