163 research outputs found
The Canaanite Background of the Doctrine of the Virgin Mary
Naturally, contributions from places other than this one will be encouraged, indeed, sought. There could be no other way to promote a more wide understanding of Religion in Australia, than this. Religious Traditions journal in other words, though meant in part to be the product of a need felt among Australian "religionists", must, by dint of that very fact, take its place besides other international Journals in the field
BlinkML: Efficient Maximum Likelihood Estimation with Probabilistic Guarantees
The rising volume of datasets has made training machine learning (ML) models
a major computational cost in the enterprise. Given the iterative nature of
model and parameter tuning, many analysts use a small sample of their entire
data during their initial stage of analysis to make quick decisions (e.g., what
features or hyperparameters to use) and use the entire dataset only in later
stages (i.e., when they have converged to a specific model). This sampling,
however, is performed in an ad-hoc fashion. Most practitioners cannot precisely
capture the effect of sampling on the quality of their model, and eventually on
their decision-making process during the tuning phase. Moreover, without
systematic support for sampling operators, many optimizations and reuse
opportunities are lost.
In this paper, we introduce BlinkML, a system for fast, quality-guaranteed ML
training. BlinkML allows users to make error-computation tradeoffs: instead of
training a model on their full data (i.e., full model), BlinkML can quickly
train an approximate model with quality guarantees using a sample. The quality
guarantees ensure that, with high probability, the approximate model makes the
same predictions as the full model. BlinkML currently supports any ML model
that relies on maximum likelihood estimation (MLE), which includes Generalized
Linear Models (e.g., linear regression, logistic regression, max entropy
classifier, Poisson regression) as well as PPCA (Probabilistic Principal
Component Analysis). Our experiments show that BlinkML can speed up the
training of large-scale ML tasks by 6.26x-629x while guaranteeing the same
predictions, with 95% probability, as the full model.Comment: 22 pages, SIGMOD 201
Changing use of Lizard Island over the past 4000 years and implications for understanding Indigenous offshore island use on the Great Barrier Reef
Archaeological records documenting the timing and use of northern Great Barrier Reef offshore islands by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples throughout the Holocene are limited when compared to the central and southern extents of the region. Excavations on Lizard Island, located 33 km from Cape Flattery on the mainland, provide high resolution evidence for periodic, yet sustained offshore island use over the past 4000 years, with focused exploitation of diverse marine resources and manufacture of quartz artefacts. An increase in island use occurs from around 2250 years ago, at a time when a hiatus or
reduction in offshore island occupation has been documented for other Great Barrier Reef islands, but concurrent with
demographic expansion across Torres Strait to the north. Archaeological evidence from Lizard Island provides a previously undocumented occupation pattern associated with Great Barrier Reef Late Holocene island use. We suggest this trajectory of Lizard Island occupation was underwritten by its place within the Coral Sea Cultural Interaction Sphere, which may highlight its significance both locally and regionally across this vast seascape
Shannon Information Theory and Molecular Biology
The role and the contribution of Shannon Information Theory to the development of Molecular Biology has been the object of stimulating debates during the last thirty years. This seems to be connected with some semantic charms associated with the use of the word \u201cinformation\u201d in the biological context. Furthermore information itself, if viewed in a broader perspective, is far from being completely defined in a fashion that overcomes the technical level at which the classical Information Theory has been conceived. This review aims at building on the acknowledged contribution of Shannon Information Theory to Molecular Biology, so as to discover if it is only a technical tool to analyze DNA and proteinic sequences, or if it can rise, at least in perspective, to a higher role that exerts an influence on the construction of a suitable model for handling the genetic information in Molecular Biology
Integrating ecology and evolutionary theory. A game changer for biodiversity conservation?
Currently, one of the central arguments in favour of biodiversity conservation is that it is essential for the maintenance of ecosystem services, that is, the benefits that people receive from ecosystems. However, the relationship between ecosystem services and biodiversity is contested and needs clarification. The goal of this chapter is to spell out the interaction and reciprocal influences between conservation science, evolutionary biology, and ecology, in order to understand whether a stronger integration of evolutionary and ecological studies might help clarify the interaction between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning as well as influence biodiversity conservation practices. To this end, the eco-evolutionary feedback theory proposed by David Post and Eric Palkovacs is analysed, arguing that it helps operationalise niche construction theory and develop a more sophisticated understanding of the relationship between ecosystem functioning and biodiversity. Finally, it is proposed that by deepening the integration of ecological and evolutionary factors in our understanding of ecosystem functioning, the eco-evolutionary feedback theory is supportive of an “evolutionary-enlightened management” of biodiversity within the ecosystem services approach.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Micromechanical Properties of Injection-Molded Starch–Wood Particle Composites
The micromechanical properties of injection molded starch–wood particle composites were investigated as a function of particle content and humidity conditions.
The composite materials were characterized by scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction methods. The microhardness
of the composites was shown to increase notably with the concentration of the wood particles. In addition,creep behavior under the indenter and temperature dependence
were evaluated in terms of the independent contribution of the starch matrix and the wood microparticles to the hardness value. The influence of drying time on the density
and weight uptake of the injection-molded composites was highlighted. The results revealed the role of the mechanism of water evaporation, showing that the dependence of water uptake and temperature was greater for the starch–wood composites than for the pure starch sample. Experiments performed during the drying process at 70°C indicated that
the wood in the starch composites did not prevent water loss from the samples.Peer reviewe
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