Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Iterative parameter mixing for distributed large-margin training of structured predictors for natural language processing

The development of distributed training strategies for statistical prediction functions is important for applications of machine learning, generally, and the development of distributed structured prediction training strategies is important for natural language processing (NLP), in particular. With ever-growing data sets this is, first, because, it is easier to increase computational capacity by adding more processor nodes than it is to increase the power of individual processor nodes, and, second, because data sets are often collected and stored in different locations. Iterative parameter mixing (IPM) is a distributed training strategy in which each node in a network of processors optimizes a regularized average loss objective on its own subset of the total available training data, making stochastic (per-example) updates to its own estimate of the optimal weight vector, and communicating with the other nodes by periodically averaging estimates of the optimal vector across the network. This algorithm has been contrasted with a close relative, called here the singlemixture optimization algorithm, in which each node stochastically optimizes an average loss objective on its own subset of the training data, operating in isolation until convergence, at which point the average of the independently created estimates is returned. Recent empirical results have suggested that this IPM strategy produces better models than the single-mixture algorithm, and the results of this thesis add to this picture. The contributions of this thesis are as follows. The first contribution is to produce and analyze an algorithm for decentralized stochastic optimization of regularized average loss objective functions. This algorithm, which we call the distributed regularized dual averaging algorithm, improves over prior work on distributed dual averaging by providing a simpler algorithm (used in the rest of the thesis), better convergence bounds for the case of regularized average loss functions, and certain technical results that are used in the sequel. The central contribution of this thesis is to give an optimization-theoretic justification for the IPM algorithm. While past work has focused primarily on its empirical test-time performance, we give a novel perspective on this algorithm by showing that, in the context of the distributed dual averaging algorithm, IPM constitutes a convergent optimization algorithm for arbitrary convex functions, while the single-mixture distribution algorithm is not. Experiments indeed confirm that the superior test-time performance of models trained using IPM, compared to single-mixture, correlates with
Social Consequences of Pediatric Conditions: Fertile Area for Future Investigation and Intervention?

Very little systematic research has examined the peer relations and social functioning of youngsters with chronic illness. In order to stimulate empirical and clinical interest in this potentially important area of pediatric psychology, the present paper discusses several pertinent tissues. These include (a) the role of peers in disease adaptation and treatment management, (b) specific aspects of diseases or treatments that are likely to have implications for youngsters' social functioning, (c) guidelines for further investigation in this area, and (d) suggestions for incorporating peer/social issues into educational programs and intervention efforts for youngsters with chronic disease. Throughout the discussion, the complex interplay between peer relations and adaptation to chronic illness is highlighted. Language: en
An Investigation of the Relationships between Goals and Software Project Escalation: Insights from Goal Setting and Goal Orientation Theories.

Escalation of commitment is manifested as a behavior in which an individual resists withdrawing from a failing course of action despite negative feedback, and it is an enduring problem that occurs in a variety of situations, including R&D investment decisions and software project overruns. To date, a variety of theoretical explanations have been offered as to what causes escalation of commitment, including personal responsibility, the sunk cost effect, and the completion effect. Nonetheless, what is missing in our understanding is the role that goals can play in escalation situations. This represents a significant gap in escalation research, as goals are a fundamental element driving many human behaviors. Further, escalation researchers recently suggested that escalation behavior can be understood as an activity that is directed by goals. Therefore, this dissertation aims to generate insights regarding the impact of goals on escalation of commitment by drawing on goal setting and goal orientation theories. This dissertation consists of four essays each of which involves one or more studies.
On the Global Convergence of Broyden''s Method

We consider Broyden''s 1965 method for solving nonlinear equations. If the mapping is linear, then a simple modification of this method guarantees global and Q-superlinear convergence. For nonlinear mappings it is shown that the hybrid strategy for nonlinear equations due to Powell leads to R-superlinear convergence provided the search directions from a uniformly linearly indepenent sequence. We then explore this last concept and its connection with Broyden''s method. Finally, we point out how the above results extend to Powell''s symmetric version of Broyden''s method.
Gesture, Play, and Language Development of Spanish-Speaking Toddlers With Developmental Language Disorders

The purpose of this preliminary study was to (a) examine relationships between the symbolic and language skills of a mixed (developmental language disordered [DLD] and typical language [TL]) Spanish-speaking sample; (b) describe gesture, play, and language skills of DLD and TL groups; (c) compare the development between groups; and (d) explore whether combining symbolic and language measures predict language scores. A major focus of this study was to interpret how this information may be clinically useful, especially for non-Spanish-speaking speech-language pathologists who are responsible for the initial screening, monitoring, and/or assessment of the language development of young Spanish speakers. Analyses revealed that some symbolic skills were significantly associated with language, but group differences were detected only in conventional gesture usage. Conventional gesture and number of different words (NDW) combined significantly predicted language scores. This study showed that play-based approaches provide important developmental information that contributes to screening and assessment decisions.
Evaluation of a Training to Reduce Provider Bias Toward Pregnant Patients With Substance Abuse

The objective of this article is not to present a scientific or systematic study, but to provide an initial framework for designing a training workshop to enhance health practitioners’ (nurses, social workers, physicians, etc.) knowledge regarding substance abuse treatment and to decrease their bias toward substance-abusing women, particularly pregnant women in rural communities. We incorporated the 4 Transdisciplinary Foundations from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Competencies Model, with specific competencies targeted that related to provider bias. After the conference, 52 of the 70 participants completed a questionnaire to self-assess knowledge level and confidence in skill related to substance abuse management. Participant mean scores were statistically significantly higher following the conference than 1 week prior (p < .001) in the area of “gender difference with substance abuse,” moving from an average of 2.6 to 4.5 on a 5-point Likert scale. Our conference was successful in increasing attendees’ knowledge about gender difference and substance abuse among pregnant patients.
Unconventional secretory processing diversifies neuronal ion channel properties

N-glycosylation – the sequential addition of complex sugars to adhesion proteins, neurotransmitter receptors, ion channels and secreted trophic factors as they progress through the endoplasmic reticulum and the Golgi apparatus – is one of the most frequent protein modifications. In mammals, most organ-specific N-glycosylation events occur in the brain. Yet, little is known about the nature, function and regulation of N-glycosylation in neurons. Using imaging, quantitative immunoblotting and mass spectrometry, we show that hundreds of neuronal surface membrane proteins are core-glycosylated, resulting in the neuronal membrane displaying surprisingly high levels of glycosylation profiles that are classically associated with immature intracellular proteins. We report that while N-glycosylation is generally required for dendritic development and glutamate receptor surface expression, core-glycosylated proteins are sufficient to sustain these processes, and are thus functional. This atypical glycosylation of surface neuronal proteins can be attributed to a bypass or a hypo-function of the Golgi apparatus. Core-glycosylation is regulated by synaptic activity, modulates synaptic signaling and accelerates the turnover of GluA2-containing glutamate receptors, revealing a novel mechanism that controls the composition and sensing properties of the neuronal membrane. DOI: http://dx.doi. org/10.7554/eLife.20609. 001
Don't Blame Primary Voters for Polarization

In recent years, a number of media commentators and scholars have blamed primary voters for the rise of polarization in American politics. According to this argument, primary electorates are dominated by strong partisans whose views are more extreme than those of rank-and-file party supporters. This article uses data from recent exit polls of primary and general election voters as well as the 2006 Cooperative Congressional Election Study to test the primary election polarization theory. The evidence does not support the theory. In fact there appears to be very little difference between the ideologies of each party's primary voters and the ideologies of its general election voters. These findings suggest that the polarized state of American politics today reflects the polarized state of the overall American electorate rather than any peculiar characteristics of primary voters. The findings also suggest that even after they secure their party's nomination, it may be risky for candidates to adopt more moderate policy positions in order to appeal to swing voters, because any such move toward the center would risk alienating a large proportion of their party's electoral base.
'Damaged Goods': Riskiness and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Young People's Interactions with Police

For some time now, research has suggested lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) young people are ‘at-risk’ of victimisation and legally ‘risky’. Relatively few studies have examined how ‘risk factor’ research influences the everyday lives of LGBT young people. This paper reports how the experiences of police by 35 LGBT young people in Brisbane, Queensland reflected discourses about LGBT riskiness and how danger informed their interactions with police in public spaces. The participants specifically note how looking at-risk or looking risky affected their experiences of policing. The paper will conclude with recommendations for improved future policing practice.
Severity of scleroderma lung disease is related to alveolar concentration of nitric oxide

The alveolar concentration of exhaled nitric oxide (CA,NO) is increased in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), but whether this increase is related to the severity of interstitial lung disease (ILD) in SSc has not yet been investigated. In total, 58 SSc patients prospectively underwent pulmonary function tests (PFTs), echocardiogram and fibrosis scoring on pulmonary computed tomography (CT). Patients were divided into two groups according to the presence (or not) of ILD. Measurements of CA,NO were assessed in all SSc patients and compared with those obtained in 19 healthy volunteers. Relationships were sought between CA,NO PFTs and CT scan fibrosis scores. Overall, CA,NO was significantly increased in SSc patients (median (range) 6.2 (3.8–9.9) ppb) as compared with controls (2.0 (1.2–3.0) ppb). Among SSc patients, CA,NO was significantly higher in patients with ILD compared with patients without ILD (n = 33, 7.5 (5.2–11.9) ppb versus n = 25, 4.9 (3.1–7.0) ppb, respectively). CA,NO was inversely related to total lung capacity (r = −0.34) and the diffusing capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (r = −0.37) and was directly related to CT scan fibrosis scores (r = 0.36). An increased alveolar concentration of exhaled nitric oxide could, at least in part, either reflect or contribute to the severity of lung disease and could be used to noninvasively assess the extent of interstitial lung disease in systemic sclerosis.
Sex differences in communication and the construction of HIV/AIDS

Abstract This paper reports analyses of sex differences in knowledge, attitudes, and behavior related to HIV/AIDS and communication about HIV I'AIDS in the heterosexual college population. Men and women differed in their assessments of risk to HIV infection for various behaviors; in each case women perceived greater risk. Women were more favorable than men regarding talking about AIDS and attitudes about condom use. Men reported a greater number of sexual partners for the previous five years than did women. Men, more often than women, appear to have changed their behavior in a direction of greater risk. Only two sex differences were found for prevention‐related behaviors. First, men more often reported having purchased a condom. However, no sex differences were found for actual condom use. Second, as reported in previous studies, women were more likely to engage in AIDS‐related talk with a sexual partner. Because of their many differences, men and women need to be targeted as separate audiences for HIV/AI.
Cartographic Convulsions

I think it is at least empirically arguable that our daily life, our psychic experience, our cultural languages, are today dominated by categories of space rather than by categories of time. Fredric Jameson The joyous disturbance of certain women's movements, and of some women in particular, has actually brought with it the chance for a certain risky turbulence in the assigning of places within our small European space. Is one then going to start all over again making maps, topographies, etc.? distributing sexual identity cards? Jacques Derrida We are dealing with an imaginary cartography, which projects onto the real landscape its own shadowy ideological antagonisms, in the same way that the conversion-symptoms of the hysterical subject in Freud project onto the physical body the map of another, imaginary anatomy. Slavoj Zizek
Restorative justice's deep roots in Africa1

The motivation for writing this essay came after I had read an article by Christian B. N. Gade, entitled ‘Restorative Justice and the South African Truth and Reconciliation Process’, published in 2013 in the South African Journal of Philosophy. In this essay, Gade makes three important claims. First, he traces the seeds of the phrase ‘restorative justice’ back to the West by sampling definitions of restorative justice from Western scholars such as Christopher Marshall, Daniel W. van Ness and Albert Eglash. Second, although he does not say it explicitly, Gade seems to be suggesting that there are attempts to Africanise restorative justice by African states and, third, he claims that the relationship between restorative justice, ubuntu and African indigenous justice systems is not straightforward and is problematic. I respond to these claims by arguing that restorative justice has deep roots in Africa and that the connection between restorative justice, ubuntu and African indigenous justice systems is straightforward and unproblematic as these three concepts are closely related in Africa (including South Africa) to the extent that one cannot talk of any one of these concepts without alluding to the other two. As I defend this argument, I draw my examples from four African countries that include Zimbabwe.
Sociodemographic and Clinical Determinants of Time to Care-Seeking Among Febrile Children Under-Five in North-Central Nigeria.

OBJECTIVES Our study sought to determine the time parents of febrile children under the age of five took to seek competent medical care. We also looked at the possible sociodemographic/ clinical factors that influenced this presentation. METHODS Four hundred and nine under-fives presenting at the emergency unit with a history of fever in the last 48 hours along with their mothers were recruited over four months. Relevant sociodemographic information as well as symptoms and duration of illness were obtained. Multinomial regression analysis was performed to determine the predictors of early and late presentation. RESULTS Over half (57%) of patients presented within 24 hours of onset of fever. The mean age of the children and mothers were 22±15 months and 30±5 years, respectively. High social class (odds ratio (OR) 6.5, 95% CI 1.6-26.4), Hausa ethnic group (OR 19.3, 95% CI 5.7-65.6), convulsions (OR 3.2, 95% CI 1.6-6.5) and appearance of other symptoms (OR 6.0, 95% CI 3.0-12.0) were significant predictors of early presentation. Secondary school education, belonging to another ethnic group, and non-resolution of fever were significant predictors of late presentation. CONCLUSION The majority of febrile under-fives came to the hospital to seek competent medical care within the first 24 hours of illness. However, there is a need for more parental education on early hospital presentation for parents of low socioeconomic status and educational background.
Canada-U.S. Metropolitan Density Patterns: Zonal Convergence and Divergence1

The paper compares density patterns of the three largest Canadian metropolitan regions with those of a sample of 12 U.S. urban areas with comparable populations. It verifies if such patterns support claims of Canadian urban distinctiveness prevalent within this country's research literature. Findings indicate that regional differences among U.S. cities are as important as cross-national distinctions. Measures of centrality and overall density place observed Canadian metropolitan areas within the same category as older U.S. East Coast metropolitan areas. Inter-city comparisons of historically and geographically defined zones suggest a period of cross-national convergence before World War II, when the inner city was developed, followed by a period of divergence from the 1940s to the 1970s, when the inner suburb was built. The development of the outer suburb, which began in the early 1970s, marks a return to cross-national convergence. These results question the continued relevance of the literature on the distinctiveness of Canadian urbanization.
One Health: Addressing Global Challenges at the Nexus of Human, Animal, and Environmental Health

1 Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&MUniversity, College Station, Texas, United States of America,2 Departmentof Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology, College of Medicine, Texas A&MHealth Science Center, Bryan, Texas, United States of America,3 Norman BorlaugCenter, Texas A&MUniversity, College Station, Texas, United States of America,4 Comparative Immunogenetics Laboratory, Texas A&MUniversity, College Station, Texas, United States of America
Reputations, Relationships, and Contract Enforcement

When the quality of a good is at the discretion of the seller, how can buyers assure that the seller provides the mutually efficient level of quality? Contracts that provide a bonus to the seller if the quality is acceptable or impose a penalty on the seller if quality is unacceptable can, in theory, provide efficient incentives. But how are such contracts enforced? While the courts can be used, doing so involves high real costs. Informal enforcement, involving a loss of reputation and future access to the market for any party that defaults on a contract, may often be a better alternative. This paper explores the use of both formal and informal enforcement mechanisms, provides a rationale for a variety of observed market mechanisms, and then generates a number of testable hypotheses.
Private education and disadvantage: the experiences of Assisted Place holders

It is now nearly thirty years since Margaret Thatcher and her Conservative administration introduced the Assisted Places Scheme (their first education policy) and over ten years since New Labour abolished it. The Scheme, which was designed to provide a ladder of opportunity for academically able students from poor backgrounds to attend private schools, is of more than historical interest. It can be used to illuminate enduring sociological concerns about the relationship between home and school. This paper draws on retrospective interview data to reveal how the Scheme was experienced by its more disadvantaged beneficiaries. Revisiting classic sociological analyses from the 1960s and 1970s, it unravels the complex interactions between home background, friendship networks and school cultures and shows how these contributed to contrasting experiences of commitment, detachment, estrangement and alienation. These differing modes of engagement with schooling appear to have had lasting effects on our respondents and influenced their subsequent careers and orientations.
The ‘Word’ on Education in Prison: Radio Wanno

From my point of view, I've just come out … I'm on probation…the help that I got from probation before I came out was zero, and the information I'm getting from them is minimal and a lot of the help that I got before I got out came from CARAT workers, drug workers, people that had nothing to do with probation, I hadn't even spoken to a probation officer…
Anterior segment mesenchymal dysgenesis in a large Australian family is associated with the recurrent 17 bp duplication in PITX3

Purpose A recurrent 17 bp duplication (c.657ins17bp) of a segment of the paired-like homeodomain transcription factor 3 (PITX3) gene on human chromosome 10 has been reported in seven families with autosomal dominant posterior polar cataracts with or without anterior segment mesenchymal dysgenesis (ASMD). ASMD can include Peters anomaly with corneal clouding, iridolenticular corneal adhesions, displaced Schwalbe’s line, and cataract as described previously in a large Australian family. This study reports the examination of PITX3 in this Australian family. Methods Clinical examinations of the proband and her relatives were performed as part of routine follow up. A polymerase chain reaction (PCR) based test for the duplication in PITX3 was developed, and DNA from 21 members of the proband’s family was tested. Results All clinically affected members of the family had the same 17 bp duplication of PITX3. There was no difference in the size of the duplication between the severely affected individuals and the more mildly affected individuals. Prenatal diagnosis was performed for two offspring of one affected person. In the first pregnancy, the fetus was shown to carry the duplication while in the second pregnancy, the fetus was shown to be homozygous for the normal allele. Conclusions The results show that in some individuals within one family, duplication of this segment of PITX3 can result in severe symptoms leading to functional blindness while in other individuals in the same family or in other families, the same duplication leads to treatable cataract with minimal visual impairment.