Denoising Autoencoders for fast Combinatorial Black Box Optimization

Estimation of Distribution Algorithms (EDAs) require flexible probability models that can be efficiently learned and sampled. Autoencoders (AE) are generative stochastic networks with these desired properties. We integrate a special type of AE, the Denoising Autoencoder (DAE), into an EDA and evaluate the performance of DAE-EDA on several combinatorial optimization problems with a single objective. We asses the number of fitness evaluations as well as the required CPU times. We compare the results to the performance to the Bayesian Optimization Algorithm (BOA) and RBM-EDA, another EDA which is based on a generative neural network which has proven competitive with BOA. For the considered problem instances, DAE-EDA is considerably faster than BOA and RBM-EDA, sometimes by orders of magnitude. The number of fitness evaluations is higher than for BOA, but competitive with RBM-EDA. These results show that DAEs can be useful tools for problems with low but non-negligible fitness evaluation costs.Comment: corrected typos and small inconsistencie

A new parenting-based group intervention for young anxious children: results of a randomized controlled trial

Objective Despite recent advances, there are still no interventions that have been developed for the specific treatment of young children who have anxiety disorders. This study examined the impact of a new, cognitive–behaviorally based parenting intervention on anxiety symptoms. Method Families of 74 anxious children (aged 9 years or less) took part in a randomized controlled trial, which compared the new 10-session, group-format intervention with a wait-list control condition. Outcome measures included blinded diagnostic interview and self-reports from parents and children. Results Intention-to-treat analyses indicated that children whose parent(s) received the intervention were significantly less anxious at the end of the study than those in the control condition. Specifically, 57% of those receiving the new intervention were free of their primary disorder, compared with 15% in the control condition. Moreover, 32% of treated children were free of any anxiety diagnosis at the end of the treatment period, compared with 6% of those in the control group. Treatment gains were maintained at 12-month follow-up. Conclusions This new parenting-based intervention may represent an advance in the treatment of this previously neglected group. Clinical trial registration information: Anxiety in Young Children: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a New Cognitive-Behaviourally Based Parenting Intervention; http://www.isrctn.org/; ISRCTN12166762

Predicting the birth of a spoken word

Children learn words through an accumulation of interactions grounded in context. Although many factors in the learning environment have been shown to contribute to word learning in individual studies, no empirical synthesis connects across factors. We introduce a new ultradense corpus of audio and video recordings of a single child’s life that allows us to measure the child’s experience of each word in his vocabulary. This corpus provides the first direct comparison, to our knowledge, between different predictors of the child’s production of individual words. We develop a series of new measures of the distinctiveness of the spatial, temporal, and linguistic contexts in which a word appears, and show that these measures are stronger predictors of learning than frequency of use and that, unlike frequency, they play a consistent role across different syntactic categories. Our findings provide a concrete instantiation of classic ideas about the role of coherent activities in word learning and demonstrate the value of multimodal data in understanding children’s language acquisition

Indiana Nonprofits: Scope and Community Dimensions

This report presents new data on the size, composition, and distribution of paid employment over the 1995-2011 time period in Indiana's private nonprofit organizations in a broad range of industries traditionally dominated by for-profit industries. Nonprofit organizations make significant contributions to the quality of life for the residents of Indiana and are a major force in the state's economy. This is particularly the case for the industries where nonprofits play a major role, such as health care, social assistance, education, arts, culture and recreation, and membership associations. However, very little is known about the large number of nonprofits that are scattered across virtually all other industries in Indiana where for-profit establishments dominate. This report provides an overview of nonprofit employment in all the other "minor" nonprofit industries

Evaluation of the Operation and Accuracy of Five Available Smart Growth Trip Generation Methodologies

No standard methodology exists in the U.S. for estimating trip generation that takes into account the smart growth characteristics of a land use development project. As a first step toward developing such a methodology, this report assesses the available alternatives to the traditional ITE Trip Generation methodology. Eight methods were identified. For five of these methods, a two part assessment was completed. The first part was to evaluate the methods against a variety of operational criteria developed through discussions with a panel of transportation practitioners. The second part was to test the accuracy of the methods by comparing the predictions of the various methods against available traffic counts and other data at 22 California sites that have at least some characteristics of smart growth. All of the candidate methodologies performed better than the ITE rates, but they do not point to a clear “winner” – one methodology that is clearly superior to the others. Nevertheless, this assessment generated many insights that could guide the selection or development of a recommended methodology

Manipulation of Cold Atomic Collisions by Cavity QED Effects

We show how the dynamics of collisions between cold atoms can be manipulated by a modification of spontaneous emission times. This is achieved by placing the atomic sample in a resonant optical cavity. Spontaneous emission is enhanced by a combination of multiparticle entanglement together with a higher density of modes of the modified vacuum field, in a situation akin to superradiance. A specific situation is considered and we show that this effect can be experimentally observed as a large suppression in trap-loss rates.Comment: RevTex, 2 EPS figures; scheduled for Phys. Rev. Lett. 19 Feb 01, with minor change

Inhomogeneous quantum diffusion and decay of a meta-stable state

We consider the quantum stochastic dynamics of a system whose interaction with the reservoir is considered to be linear in bath co-ordinates but nonlinear in system co-ordinates. The role of the space-dependent friction and diffusion has been examined in the decay rate of a particle from a meta-stable well. We show how the decay rate can be hindered by inhomogeneous dissipation due nonlinear system-bath coupling strength.Comment: To be published in Phys. Lett.

Can You Feel It?: Evaluation of Affective Expression in Music Generated by MetaCompose

This paper describes an evaluation conducted on the MetaCompose music generator, which is based on evolutionary computation and uses a hybrid evolutionary technique that combines FI-2POP and multi-objective optimization. The main objective of MetaCompose is to create music in real-time that can express different mood-states. The experiment presented here aims to evaluate: (i) if the perceived mood experienced by the participants of a music score matches intended mood the system is trying to express and (ii) if participants can identify transitions in the mood expression that occur mid-piece. Music clips including transitions and with static affective states were produced by MetaCompose and a quantitative user study was performed. Participants were tasked with annotating the perceived mood and moreover were asked to annotate in real-time changes in valence. The data collected confirms the hypothesis that people can recognize changes in music mood and that MetaCompose can express perceptibly different levels of arousal. In regards to valence we observe that, while it is mainly perceived as expected, changes in arousal seems to also influence perceived valence, suggesting that one or more of the music features MetaCompose associates with arousal has some effect on valence as well

Evolving in-game mood-expressive music with MetaCompose

MetaCompose is a music generator based on a hybrid evolutionary technique that combines FI-2POP and multi-objective optimization. In this paper we employ the MetaCompose music generator to create music in real-time that expresses different mood-states in a game-playing environment (Checkers). In particular, this paper focuses on determining if differences in player experience can be observed when: (i) using affective-dynamic music compared to static music, and (ii) the music supports the game's internal narrative/state. Participants were tasked to play two games of Checkers while listening to two (out of three) different set-ups of game-related generated music. The possible set-ups were: static expression, consistent affective expression, and random affective expression. During game-play players wore a E4 Wristband, allowing various physiological measures to be recorded such as blood volume pulse (BVP) and electromyographic activity (EDA). The data collected confirms a hypothesis based on three out of four criteria (engagement, music quality, coherency with game excitement, and coherency with performance) that players prefer dynamic affective music when asked to reflect on the current game-state. In the future this system could allow designers/composers to easily create affective and dynamic soundtracks for interactive applications.</p

Four ultra-short period eclipsing M-dwarf binaries in the WFCAM Transit Survey

We report on the discovery of four ultra-short period (P<0.18 days) eclipsing M-dwarf binaries in the WFCAM Transit Survey. Their orbital periods are significantly shorter than of any other known main-sequence binary system, and are all significantly below the sharp period cut-off at P~0.22 days as seen in binaries of earlier type stars. The shortest-period binary consists of two M4 type stars in a P=0.112 day orbit. The binaries are discovered as part of an extensive search for short-period eclipsing systems in over 260,000 stellar lightcurves, including over 10,000 M-dwarfs down to J=18 mag, yielding 25 binaries with P<0.23 days. In a popular paradigm, the evolution of short period binaries of cool main-sequence stars is driven by loss of angular momentum through magnetised winds. In this scheme, the observed P~0.22 day period cut-off is explained as being due to timescales that are too long for lower-mass binaries to decay into tighter orbits. Our discovery of low-mass binaries with significantly shorter orbits implies that either these timescales have been overestimated for M-dwarfs, e.g. due to a higher effective magnetic activity, or that the mechanism for forming these tight M-dwarf binaries is different from that of earlier type main-sequence stars.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, 3 tables Accepted for publication in MNRA