253,887 research outputs found
Coverage-based Example Selection for In-Context Learning
In-context learning (ICL), the ability of large language models to perform
novel tasks by conditioning on a prompt with a few task examples, requires
demonstrations that are informative about the test instance. The standard
approach of independently selecting the most similar examples selects redundant
demonstrations while overlooking important information. This work proposes a
framework for assessing the informativeness of demonstrations based on their
coverage of salient aspects (e.g., reasoning patterns) of the test input. Using
this framework, we show that contextual token embeddings effectively capture
these salient aspects, and their recall measured using BERTScore-Recall (BSR)
yields a reliable measure of informativeness. Further, we extend recall metrics
like BSR to propose their set versions to find maximally informative sets of
demonstrations. On 6 complex compositional generation tasks and 7 diverse LLMs,
we show that Set-BSR outperforms the standard similarity-based approach by up
to 16% on average and, despite being learning-free, often surpasses methods
that leverage task or LLM-specific training
Examining affective structure in chickens: valence, intensity, persistence and generalization measured using a conditioned place preference test
When measuring animals’ valenced behavioural responses to stimuli, the Conditioned Place Preference (CPP) test goes a step further than many approach-based and avoidance-based tests by establishing whether a learned preference for, or aversion to, the location in which the stimulus was encountered can be generated. We designed a novel, four-chambered CPP test to extend the capability of the usual CPP paradigm to provide information on four key features of animals’ affective responses: valence, scale, persistence and generalization. Using this test, we investigated the affective responses of domestic chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus) to four potentially aversive stimuli: 1. Puffs of air; 2. Sight of (robotic) snake; 3. Sprays of water; 4. Sound of conspecific alarm calls. We found conditioned avoidance of locations associated with the air puffs and water sprays (Friedman’s χ2(3) = 13.323 p > .005; χ2(3) = 14.235 p > .005), but not with the snake and alarm calls. The scale of the learned avoidance was similar for the air puff and water spray stimuli, but persistence and generalization differed. We conclude that the four chambered CPP test can have a valuable role to play in making multi-feature measurements of stimulus-generated affective responses, and we highlight the value of such measurements for improving our understanding of the structure of affect in chickens and other animals
Incremental Mutual Information: A New Method for Characterizing the Strength and Dynamics of Connections in Neuronal Circuits
Understanding the computations performed by neuronal circuits requires characterizing the strength and dynamics of the connections between individual neurons. This characterization is typically achieved by measuring the correlation in the activity of two neurons. We have developed a new measure for studying connectivity in neuronal circuits based on information theory, the incremental mutual information (IMI). By conditioning out the temporal dependencies in the responses of individual neurons before measuring the dependency between them, IMI improves on standard correlation-based measures in several important ways: 1) it has the potential to disambiguate statistical dependencies that reflect the connection between neurons from those caused by other sources (e. g. shared inputs or intrinsic cellular or network mechanisms) provided that the dependencies have appropriate timescales, 2) for the study of early sensory systems, it does not require responses to repeated trials of identical stimulation, and 3) it does not assume that the connection between neurons is linear. We describe the theory and implementation of IMI in detail and demonstrate its utility on experimental recordings from the primate visual system
Universal Arduino-based experimenting system to support teaching of natural sciences
The rapid evolution of intelligent electronic devices makes information
technology, computer science and electronics strongly related to the teaching
of natural sciences. Today almost everybody has a smart phone that can convert
light, temperature, movement, sound to numbers, therefore all these can be
processed, analysed, displayed, stored, shared by software applications. The
fundamental question is how education can follow this knowledge and how can
education take its advantages. Components and methods of modern technology are
available for education also, teachers and students can play with parts and
tools which were previously used only by engineers. A good example is the very
popular Arduino board which is practically an industrial microcontroller whose
pins are wired to easy-to-use connectors on a printed circuit board. In this
paper we show a universal system which we have developed for the Arduino
platform to support experimenting and understanding of the most fundamental
principles of the operation of modern devices. We show our related educational
concept and discuss the most important features of the system. Open source
hardware and software are available and we provide a number of video tutorials
as well
Asset Pricing Theories, Models, and Tests
An important but still partially unanswered question in the investment field is why different assets earn substantially different returns on average. Financial economists have typically addressed this question in the context of theoretically or empirically motivated asset pricing models. Since many of the proposed “risk” theories are plausible, a common practice in the literature is to take the models to the data and perform “horse races” among competing asset pricing specifications. A “good” asset pricing model should produce small pricing (expected return) errors on a set of test assets and should deliver reasonable estimates of the underlying market and economic risk premia. This chapter provides an up-to-date review of the statistical methods that are typically used to estimate, evaluate, and compare competing asset pricing models. The analysis also highlights several pitfalls in the current econometric practice and offers suggestions for improving empirical tests
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