The P-Norm Push: A Simple Convex Ranking Algorithm that Concentrates at the Top of the List

We are interested in supervised ranking algorithms that perform especially well near the top of the ranked list, and are only required to perform sufficiently well on the rest of the list. In this work, we provide a general form of convex objective that gives high-scoring examples more importance. This “push” near the top of the list can be chosen arbitrarily large or small, based on the preference of the user. We choose ℓp-norms to provide a specific type of push; if the user sets p larger, the objective concentrates harder on the top of the list. We derive a generalization bound based on the p-norm objective, working around the natural asymmetry of the problem. We then derive a boosting-style algorithm for the problem of ranking with a push at the top. The usefulness of the algorithm is illustrated through experiments on repository data. We prove that the minimizer of the algorithm’s objective is unique in a specific sense. Furthermore, we illustrate how our objective is related to quality measurements for information retrieval

What Next? The Quest to Protect Journalists and Human Rights Defenders in a Digital World

Around the world, governments and non-state actors are using sophisticated techniques to monitor, threaten, and harass human rights defenders (HRDs) and journalists. The growing use of digital technology has empowered activists to rally citizens around common causes and hold governments accountable, but it has also opened new doors for surveillance and harassment of activists and citizens' activities online. On November 14 -- 15, 2013, Freedom House, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), held a global conference in Mexico City entitled "What Next? The Quest to Protect Journalists and Human Rights Defenders in a Digital World," which brought together over 60 policymakers, donors, and activists to explore the full range of emerging threats and best strategies to overcome them; take an honest look at what is and is not working; and chart a path forward for more proactive and realistic solutions to build the resilience, sustainability, and relevance of HRDs and their movements. The conference sought to answer "what's next?" by identifying opportunities that can be exploited to build up frontline defenders and their ability to uphold human rights principles fearlessly and strategically at home and abroad

Plan Now for Managing Electronic Data and Avoid Tomorrow’s Legal Risks

[Excerpt] In a world where the use of electronic data is rapidly increasing, companies must find ways to manage data now so that they effectively control compliance risks. The proliferation of electronic data is both astonishing and overwhelming. Given the storage power of average computers today, even the most modest mom-and-pop business may have electronic storage capacity equivalent to 2,000 four-drawer file cabinets. The task of managing electronic data is further compounded by the fact that the data is no longer just tangible pieces of paper, but rather are bytes of information that are constantly being edited, changed, and updated from different people and sources. Proper archiving, retention, monitoring, filtering, and encryption of electronic data are no longer optional: they are imperative

Joustra and Wilkinson\u27s How to survive the Apocalypse; Zombies, cylons, faith and politics at the end of the world (Book Review)

A review of Joustra, R., & Wilkinson, A. (2016). How to survive the Apocalypse; Zombies, cylons, faith and politics at the end of the world. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Publishing Company. 198 pp. $16.00 ISBN 9780802872715

Public/private, connected/disconnected

No description supplie

Mechanomorphosis: Science, Management, and “Human Machinery” in Industrial Canada, 1900–45

By the early 20th century, the changes taking place in western industrial capitalist nations prompted an adaptive shift in the socioeconomic delineation of human bodies, and in scientific theories about how they worked and how they could be put to work. Just as the rising social sciences borrowed from medicine to convey images of social malaise, medicine increasingly appropriated an industrial vocabulary to conceptualize bodily health. Depicted variously as a machine, a motor, a factory in itself, the human body absorbed industrial symbolism. Modern industry demanded an intensification of labour that made bodily efficiency paramount. The corresponding definition of health also shifted, from emphasis on physical endurance, which could be secured by simple replacement of outworn workers, to optimum labour efficiency, which had to be actively instilled in all workers, present and future. Scientific management programs were easily integrated with regulatory medical notions concerning the human body and human nature, as science, medicine and technology combined forces to promote a machine ethic that equated modernity, progress, efficiency, and national health. This paper considers the relationship between changing conceptualizations of the human body, developing medical influence and state regulation of health, and attempts to “Taylorize” the labour process in early 20th century Canada

The management of volunteers

V olunteers can and should be an important part of every nonprofit organization. This is not only to save money though it can do that but because it is a right of people to have an active share in those institutions which are supported by their tax or philanthropic dollars. The volunteer portion of our society is undergoing some dramatic changes today which offer new challenges and many new opportunities to all organizations which are alert to what is happening. I don't know a great deal about the detailed operations of libraries (although I worked in one at one time) , but the basic principles of volunteer participation and management, I am sure, apply to libraries as they do to hospitals, school systems, and social welfare agencies. To understand these changes, we must look at what is happening to people today which has an effect on volunteering.published or submitted for publicatio

Children at Risk: Infant and Child Health in Central Asia

Using Demographic and Health Surveys, government statistics, and field observations I examine trends in infant and child health in Uzbekistan, Kazakstan and the Kyrgyz Republic. Health indicators (anemia and marked low weight for age) for the population under the age of 3 are examined nationally, regionally and by ethnic groups. Findings indicate the risk of compromised child health varies by ethnicity, but the effect is dramatically lessened by the introduction of household and maternal controls such as parental education, residence, and mother’s health status. Findings highlight the social costs of transition, illustrate the importance of maternal health across the region, and assist in the identification of groups at highest risk for poor child health within individual countries.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39908/3/wp523.pd