Search results for " Bias"

Am I riskier if I rescue my banks? The unintended effects of bailouts

2021

We examine the relationship between bank bailouts and sovereign risk in 35 countries and 19 bailouts during 2005–2015. Bailouts negatively affect sovereign ratings, with rating agencies consistently perceiving higher risk when the country’s banking system has been rescued (risk-increasing effect). Financial soundness and banking market structure shape the impact of bailouts on sovereign risk. In particular, proactiveness in undertaking public bailouts for banking systems that are largely distressed -risky and low profitable- and highly concentrated seems to lead to lower increases in sovereign risk. However, the strength of the connection between the public sector and the banking system nei…

Estimating the non-market benefits of water quality improvement for a case study in Spain: A contingent valuation approach

2012

Abstract This article addresses an important topic related to the application of the European Water Framework Directive (WFD) in Spanish watersheds. Results on a contingent valuation study, aimed to assess the non-market benefits of water quality improvements in the Guadiana river basin (GRB), are shown. Special attention has been paid to the issue of zero willingness-to-pay (WTP) responses, while addressing the possible presence of self-selection caused by protest responses. The results (i) indicate that sample selection bias is not a problem in our application, (ii) allow us to identify some key determinants of voting behaviour, and (iii) through the use of different econometric models al…

REPORTING HETEROGENEITY IN SUBJECTIVE HEALTH MEASURES: AN EXTENDED LATENT CLASS APPROACH

2009

Gender discrimination in physics and astronomy: Graduate student experiences of sexism and gender microaggressions

2016

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Gender in Physics.] Sexism occurs when men are believed to be superior to women, and is thought to be one of the reasons for women’s underrepresentation in physics and astronomy. The issue of sexism in physics and astronomy has not been thoroughly explored in the physics education literature and there is currently no clear language for discussing sexism in the field. This article seeks to begin a conversation on sexism in physics and astronomy and offer a starting point for language to discuss sexism in research groups and departments. Interviews with 21 women in graduate physics and astronomy programs are analyzed for their individual experi…

Malas noticias y calidad de la reputación entre usuarios de los servicios públicos

2018

ABSTRACT This manuscript examines whether the effect of anchoring bias is greater when citizens evaluate the quality of a public service after receiving negative initial information about service performance than after receiving positive information. It also tests whether there are differences in this anchoring bias by comparing formal (report) vs. informal (rumor) communication. Two field experiments were conducted with the participation of passengers of a commuter public train transportation organization (Experiment 1, N = 105) and users of a public university administrative service (Experiment 2, N = 172). The first experiment confirmed the bias produced by the negative initial informati…

Propagation of precipitation measurement biases into the hydraulic modelling of urban drainage systems: a case study

2021

Precipitation is the primary source of freshwater, while it can have great socio-economical impacts associated with extreme weather events such as floods and droughts. Good quality hydro-meteorological data is an essential condition not only for climate analysis but also for warning systems, hydraulic structures design, risk assessment, etc. In fact, precipitation is one of the most intensively used variables in hydrological modelling and its measurement accuracy is of foremost importance (Peterson et al., 1998). Accurate and timely knowledge of precipitation characteristics at urban and natural basins scales is essential for understanding how different catchment hydrological systems operat…

Segmentation of MR brain images with bias artifact

2009

Brain MR Images corrupted by RF- Inhomogeneity (bias artifact) exhibit brightness variations across the image. As a consequence, a standard Fuzzy C-Means (fern) segmentation algorithm may fail. In this work we show a new general-purpose bias removing algorithm, which can be used as a pre-processing step for a fern segmentation. We also compare our experimental results with the ones achieved by using E2 D - H U M filter, showing an improvement in brain segmentation and bias removal.

A Gabor-based Technique for Bias Removal in MR images

2007

Magnetic Resonance images are often characterized by irregularly displaced luminance fluctuations that are called bias artifact. This disturb is due to a drop in signal intensity caused by the distance between imaged sample and receiver coil. An original approach to bias removal in Magnetic Resonance images is presented, which is based on the use of Gabor filter to extract the artifact. The proposed technique restores the image using a correction model, which is derived from the attenuation of signal diffusion across the tissues. No hypotheses are made about the structure of the tissues under investigation and the used MR spectrum. The approach is presented in detail, and extensive experime…

Morphological exponential entropy driven-HUM.

2006

This paper presents an improvement to the Ex- ponential Entropy Driven - Homomorphic Unsharp Masking (E 2 D − HUM ) algorithm devoted to illumination artifact sup- pression on Magnetic Resonance Images. E 2 D−HUM requires a segmentation step to remove dark regions in the foreground whose intensity is comparable with background, because strong edges produce streak artifacts on the tissues. This new version of the algorithm keeps the same good properties of E 2 D − HUM without a segmentation phase, whose parameters should be chosen in relation to the image. I. INTRODUCTION Most of the studies on illumination correction found in literature are oriented to brain (18) magnetic resonance images (…

Designing Touchless Gestural Interactions for Public Displays In-the-Wild

2015

Public displays, typically equipped with touchscreens, are used for interactions in public spaces, such as streets or fairs. Currently low-cost visual sensing technologies, such as Kinect-like devices and high quality cameras, allow to easily implement touchless interfaces. Nevertheless, the arising interactions have not yet been fully investigated for public displays in-the-wild (i.e. in appropriate social contexts where public displays are typically deployed). Different audiences, cultures and social settings strongly affect users and their interactions. Besides gestures for public displays must be guessable to be easy to use for a wide audience. Issues like these could be solved with use…