A New Approach to Probabilistic Programming Inference

We introduce and demonstrate a new approach to inference in expressive probabilistic programming languages based on particle Markov chain Monte Carlo. Our approach is simple to implement and easy to parallelize. It applies to Turing-complete probabilistic programming languages and supports accurate inference in models that make use of complex control flow, including stochastic recursion. It also includes primitives from Bayesian nonparametric statistics. Our experiments show that this approach can be more efficient than previously introduced single-site Metropolis-Hastings methods.Comment: Updated version of the 2014 AISTATS paper (to reflect changes in new language syntax). 10 pages, 3 figures. Proceedings of the Seventeenth International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics, JMLR Workshop and Conference Proceedings, Vol 33, 201

2004 Water Quality Education Onboard the Gundalow, Bolster, M

The Gundalow Company (a non-profit 501(c)3 organization) sponsors maritime history and environmental educational programs for school groups and the public onboard the replica gundalow Captain Edward Adams from May through November in 12-15 riverfront locations in the Piscataqua region. The project funded by the NHEP in 2004 included the development of an expanded Gundalow Company education program curriculum in order to motivate all gundalow visitors to appreciate the relationship between regional maritime history, contemporary water quality issues and future stewardship responsibilities. The NHEP grant also supported the Gundalow Company’s efforts to bring the gundalow to Durham and Newmarket. The content of the curriculum is adaptable to all the programs offered by the Gundalow Company staff and volunteers including formal one-hour programs with school groups onboard the gundalow and in classrooms, general interpretive tours when the gundalow is open to the public, group tours for adults, and special events

Cultural Competence: A Content Analysis of a Public Health Curriculum for a Community Health Training Program in Haiti

Foreign public health practitioners, medical doctors, and humanitarian workers, are often the providers of global health interventions. As a result, there are cultural challenges that arise when outsiders provide health education for individuals from distinctly different sociocultural realities. This study, guided by the principles of cultural competence, examined a community health worker training program in Haiti, led by non-Haitian trainers. The training program provided public health information to 126 Haitian participants. The study specifically examined the application of the principle of culture competence in the training textbook used during this training program. Three criteria filtered and identified the degree of cultural competence demonstrated in the training textbook: language, resources, and racial representation. A qualitative content analysis approach determined the frequency of mismatched areas and inferred concepts for analysis of the text. The author\u27s personal field observations provided contextual information according to the three areas of analysis, which provided a triangulated research perspective. Overall, based on the reported demographic statistics of the trainees and supporting cultural competence literature, the textbook content data analysis showed mismatches, or inconsistencies of culturally competent uses of cross-cultural curriculum, in the program content based on language, resources, and racial representation. These mismatches were identified in the textbook in the areas of analysis according to the principle of cultural competence in that program design must tailor its information to the individuals and communities\u27 unique cultural and linguistic needs. Overall, mismatches in the textbook were most apparent in the language category with resources and racial representation showing fewer inconsistencies

Deaf Ministry Newsletter, November-December 1988

A newsletter published for Deaf Catholics in Seattle, W