213 research outputs found
Policy Considerations for Random Allocation of Research Funds
There are now several proposals for introducing random elements into the process of funding allocation for research, and some initial implementation of this policy by funding bodies. The proposals have been supported on efficiency grounds, with models, including social epistemology models, showing random allocation could increase the generation of significant truths in a community of scientists when compared to funding by peer review. The models in the literature are, however, fairly abstract (by necessity). This paper introduces some of the considerations that are required to build on the modelling work towards a fully-fledged policy proposal, including issues of cost and fairness
Method Pluralism, Method Mismatch & Method Bias
This is the final version. Available from Michigan Publishing via the URL in this record.Pluralism about scientific method is more-or-less accepted, but the consequences have yet
to be drawn out. Scientists adopt different methods in response to different epistemic
situations: depending on the system they are interested in, the resources at their disposal, and
so forth. If it is right that different methods are appropriate in different situations, then
mismatches between methods and situations are possible. This is most likely to occur due to
method bias: when we prefer a particular kind of method, despite that method clashing with
evidential context or our aims. To explore these ideas, we sketch a kind of method pluralism
which turns on two properties of evidence, before using agent-based models to examine the
relationship between methods, epistemic situations, and bias. Based on our results, we suggest
that although method bias can undermine the efficiency of a scientific community, it can also be
productive through preserving a diversity of evidence. We consider circumstances where
method bias could be particularly egregious, and those where it is a potential virtue, and argue
that consideration of method bias reveals that community standards deserve a central place in
the epistemology of science.Templeton World Charity Foundatio
Centralised Funding and Epistemic Exploration
Computer simulation of an epistemic landscape model, modified to include explicit representation of a centralised funding body, show the method of funding allocation has significant effects on communal trade-off between exploration and exploitation, with consequences for the community's ability to generate significant truths. The results show this effect is contextual, and depends on the size of the landscape being explored, with funding that includes explicit random allocation performing significantly better than peer-review on large landscapes. The paper proposes a way of incorporating external institutional factors in formal social epistemology, and offers a way of bringing such investigations to bear on current research policy questions
Brief announcement:Distributed SplayNets
SplayNets are reconfigurable networks which adjust to the communication pattern over time. We present DiSplayNets, a distributed (concurrent and decentralized) implementation of SplayNets
A Statistical Mechanical Load Balancer for the Web
The maximum entropy principle from statistical mechanics states that a closed
system attains an equilibrium distribution that maximizes its entropy. We first
show that for graphs with fixed number of edges one can define a stochastic
edge dynamic that can serve as an effective thermalization scheme, and hence,
the underlying graphs are expected to attain their maximum-entropy states,
which turn out to be Erdos-Renyi (ER) random graphs. We next show that (i) a
rate-equation based analysis of node degree distribution does indeed confirm
the maximum-entropy principle, and (ii) the edge dynamic can be effectively
implemented using short random walks on the underlying graphs, leading to a
local algorithm for the generation of ER random graphs. The resulting
statistical mechanical system can be adapted to provide a distributed and local
(i.e., without any centralized monitoring) mechanism for load balancing, which
can have a significant impact in increasing the efficiency and utilization of
both the Internet (e.g., efficient web mirroring), and large-scale computing
infrastructure (e.g., cluster and grid computing).Comment: 11 Pages, 5 Postscript figures; added references, expanded on
protocol discussio
EVALUATION OF DIURETIC AND ANTIUROLITHIATIC PROPERTIES OF ETHANOLIC EXTRACT OF SIDA ACUTA BURM. F. IN WISTAR ALBINO RATS
Objective: To evaluate the diuretic and antiurolithiatic properties of ethanolic extract of Sida acuta Burm. f. in albino rats.Methods: Three different doses of Sida acuta (100 mg/kg, 200 mg/kg, 400 mg/kg) were tested for diuretic activity and compared with furosemide (25 mg/kg) and control group. 24 hr urine output and urinary concentrations of sodium (Na+), potassium (K+) and chloride (Cl-) ions were the parameters measured. Prophylactic and curative antiurolithiatic activity was tested for three doses (100 mg/kg, 200 mg/kg & 400 mg/kg) of Sida acuta and compared with control group and animals treated with standard herbal preparation Cystone (750 mg/kg) using zinc disc implantation model.Results: Sida acuta (400 mg/kg) significantly increased the urine output (p<0.001), which was almost equivalent to furosemide. Sida acuta also caused a significant increase in the excretion of K+ and Cl-at higher doses (200 mg/kg, 400 mg/kg). Effects on Na+excretion were not significant for all three doses of the test drug. Sida acuta (200 mg/kg, 400 mg/kg) showed statistically significant (p<0.05) reduction in depositions around zinc discs as compared to control when tested in prophylactically treated rats, but not in rats treated post-urolithiasis induction.Conclusion: Sida acuta produced a dose-dependent increase in urine output, with no effect on sodium excretion. This probably indicates that the diuresis produced could be due to its aquarectic action. It also showed significant prophylactic antiurolithiatic activity, but further studies are necessary to evaluate fully its therapeutic potential.Keywords: Zinc disc implantation, Calculi, Diuretic index, Cyston
On Discrimination Discovery and Removal in Ranked Data using Causal Graph
Predictive models learned from historical data are widely used to help
companies and organizations make decisions. However, they may digitally
unfairly treat unwanted groups, raising concerns about fairness and
discrimination. In this paper, we study the fairness-aware ranking problem
which aims to discover discrimination in ranked datasets and reconstruct the
fair ranking. Existing methods in fairness-aware ranking are mainly based on
statistical parity that cannot measure the true discriminatory effect since
discrimination is causal. On the other hand, existing methods in causal-based
anti-discrimination learning focus on classification problems and cannot be
directly applied to handle the ranked data. To address these limitations, we
propose to map the rank position to a continuous score variable that represents
the qualification of the candidates. Then, we build a causal graph that
consists of both the discrete profile attributes and the continuous score. The
path-specific effect technique is extended to the mixed-variable causal graph
to identify both direct and indirect discrimination. The relationship between
the path-specific effects for the ranked data and those for the binary decision
is theoretically analyzed. Finally, algorithms for discovering and removing
discrimination from a ranked dataset are developed. Experiments using the real
dataset show the effectiveness of our approaches.Comment: 9 page
Efektifitas Pelatihan Pengenalan Diri Terhadap Peningkatan Penerimaan Diri Dan Harga Diri
The present research, based on Johary window's concept, was designed to test the hypothesis that self-knowledge training effective to the increased self-acceptance and self-esteem score's subjects.The research design was pre-test post-test control group design. Thirty-four subjects participated and divided into two group, one experiment group and one control group. The groups filled out 2 scales, self-acceptance and self-esteem scales before (pre-test) and after (post-test) training. Result showed that self-acceptance and self-esteem scores of subjects in the experiment group are higher than the control group. The self-knowledge training effectively increased self-acceptance and self-esteem subjects
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