Online solution of the average cost Kullback-Leibler optimization problem

Abstract We introduce a stochastic approximation method for the solution of a KullbackLeibler optimization problem, which is a generalization of Z-learning introduced b

Protest Cycles and Political Process: American Peace Movements in the Nuclear Age

Since the dawn of the nuclear age small groups of activists have consistently protested both the content of United States national security policy, and the process by which it is made. Only occasionally, however, has concern about nuclear weapons spread beyond these relatively marginal groups, generated substantial public support, and reached mainstream political institutions. In this paper, I use histories of peace protest and analyses of the inside of these social movements and theoretical work on protest cycles to explain cycles of movement engagement and quiescence in terms of their relation to external political context, or the "structure of political opportunity." I begin with a brief review of the relevant literature on the origins of movements, noting parallels in the study of interest groups. Building on recent literature on political opportunity structure, I suggest a theoretical framework for understanding the lifecycle of a social movement that emphasizes the interaction between activist choices and political context, proposing a six-stage process through which challenging movements develop. Using this theoretical framework I examine the four cases of relatively broad antinuclear weapons mobilization in postwar America. I conclude with a discussion of movement cycles and their relation to political alignment, public policy, and institutional politics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68552/2/10.1177_106591299304600302.pd

Validity of TAP equations in neural networks.

Contains fulltext : 112663.pdf (preprint version ) (Open Access)ICAN

An Introduction to Stochastic Neural Networks

Introduction How does the brain compute? Particularly in the last hundred years have we gathered an enormous amount of experimental findings that sheds some light on this question. The picture that has emerged is that the neuron is the central computing element of the brain which performs a non-linear input to output mapping between its synaptic inputs and its spiky output. The neurons are connected by synaptic junctions, thus forming a neural network. A central question is how such a neural network implements brain functions such as vision, audition and motor control. These questions are to a certain extend premature, because our knowledge of the functioning of the neuron and the synaptic process itself is only partial and much remains to be discovered. Nevertheless, it is interesting to see what emergent behavior arises in a network of very simple neurons. The pioneering work in this direction was done by McCulloch and Pitts 1) in the '40s. Taking the thre