1,614 research outputs found
Why the Economics Profession Must Actively Participate in the Privacy Protection Debate
When Google or the U.S. Census Bureau publish detailed statistics on browsing habits or neighborhood characteristics, some privacy is lost for everybody while supplying public information. To date, economists have not focused on the privacy loss inherent in data publication. In their stead, these issues have been advanced almost exclusively by computer scientists who are primarily interested in technical problems associated with protecting privacy. Economists should join the discussion, first, to determine where to balance privacy protection against data quality; a social choice problem. Furthermore, economists must ensure new privacy models preserve the validity of public data for economic research
Bayesian orthogonal component analysis for sparse representation
This paper addresses the problem of identifying a lower dimensional space
where observed data can be sparsely represented. This under-complete dictionary
learning task can be formulated as a blind separation problem of sparse sources
linearly mixed with an unknown orthogonal mixing matrix. This issue is
formulated in a Bayesian framework. First, the unknown sparse sources are
modeled as Bernoulli-Gaussian processes. To promote sparsity, a weighted
mixture of an atom at zero and a Gaussian distribution is proposed as prior
distribution for the unobserved sources. A non-informative prior distribution
defined on an appropriate Stiefel manifold is elected for the mixing matrix.
The Bayesian inference on the unknown parameters is conducted using a Markov
chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method. A partially collapsed Gibbs sampler is
designed to generate samples asymptotically distributed according to the joint
posterior distribution of the unknown model parameters and hyperparameters.
These samples are then used to approximate the joint maximum a posteriori
estimator of the sources and mixing matrix. Simulations conducted on synthetic
data are reported to illustrate the performance of the method for recovering
sparse representations. An application to sparse coding on under-complete
dictionary is finally investigated.Comment: Revised version. Accepted to IEEE Trans. Signal Processin
Private Learning Implies Online Learning: An Efficient Reduction
We study the relationship between the notions of differentially private
learning and online learning in games. Several recent works have shown that
differentially private learning implies online learning, but an open problem of
Neel, Roth, and Wu \cite{NeelAaronRoth2018} asks whether this implication is
{\it efficient}. Specifically, does an efficient differentially private learner
imply an efficient online learner? In this paper we resolve this open question
in the context of pure differential privacy. We derive an efficient black-box
reduction from differentially private learning to online learning from expert
advice
The Virtues of Frugality - Why cosmological observers should release their data slowly
Cosmologists will soon be in a unique position. Observational noise will
gradually be replaced by cosmic variance as the dominant source of uncertainty
in an increasing number of observations. We reflect on the ramifications for
the discovery and verification of new models. If there are features in the full
data set that call for a new model, there will be no subsequent observations to
test that model's predictions. We give specific examples of the problem by
discussing the pitfalls of model discovery by prior adjustment in the context
of dark energy models and inflationary theories. We show how the gradual
release of data can mitigate this difficulty, allowing anomalies to be
identified, and new models to be proposed and tested. We advocate that
observers plan for the frugal release of data from future cosmic variance
limited observations.Comment: 5 pages, expanded discussion of Lambda and of blind anlysis, added
refs. Matches version to appear in MNRAS Letter
A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis Of Motivational Interviewing Training Effectiveness Among Students-In-Training
Effectively using motivational interviewing (MI) in practice can be difficult. However, there are a number of studies that examine training students across helping professions with the goal of facilitating students use MI more effectively. Although there is no standardized training manual, students often learn specific MI skills (e.g., open-ended questions, reflections) and knowledge (e.g., MI spirit) in hopes that they will apply those techniques to encounters with clients. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to quantify the effectiveness of teaching students motivational interviewing. In total, 15 randomized and non-randomized studies met inclusion criteria and were examined in the current review of 8 dependent variables. A large and significant aggregated Hedgesâ g of 0.90 (95% CI [0.45, 1.35]) was found. However, large heterogeneity was observed in all but one of the dependent variables. Moderation analyses revealed no significant moderating effects for risk of bias or type of comparison group; however, training length was a significant moderator. Limitations of the current meta-analysis include the small sample size and lack of consistency among training duration, measurement, and data collection and resulting heterogeneity. Future research appears warranted to further assess student MI training effectiveness, especially using more rigorous and standardized procedures, as well as determining enduring effects of the training
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