Structured Prediction of Sequences and Trees using Infinite Contexts

Linguistic structures exhibit a rich array of global phenomena, however commonly used Markov models are unable to adequately describe these phenomena due to their strong locality assumptions. We propose a novel hierarchical model for structured prediction over sequences and trees which exploits global context by conditioning each generation decision on an unbounded context of prior decisions. This builds on the success of Markov models but without imposing a fixed bound in order to better represent global phenomena. To facilitate learning of this large and unbounded model, we use a hierarchical Pitman-Yor process prior which provides a recursive form of smoothing. We propose prediction algorithms based on A* and Markov Chain Monte Carlo sampling. Empirical results demonstrate the potential of our model compared to baseline finite-context Markov models on part-of-speech tagging and syntactic parsing

Living landscapes: guidelines for planning, design, and management

Landscape restoration efforts deal with cultural (strongly human-influenced) as well as natural (less strongly human-influenced) landscape systems. These landscape restoration efforts attempt to provide positive interactions for human and non-human components of the landscape system while averting as many negative interactions as possible. This research study was conducted in order to meet three objectives. The first was to establish a working definition for Living Landscapes as an ideal combination of cultural and natural landscape systems. The second was to develop a set of goals and guiding principles for assisting landscape restorationists in creating and conserving Living Landscapes. The third was to produce a listing and description of landscape places and projects that provide examples of the Living Landscape ideal. This work was developed by landscape professionals through theoretical discussion for use by landscape professionals in practical application. The theoretical discussion gathered input from landscape professionals working in landscape planning and design, landscape management and maintenance, and landscape education and academic research. The data was gathered using three research tools. An initial survey collected background data as well as opinions of characteristic terms used to define Living Landscapes. An interactive workshop invited landscape professionals to further develop Living Landscape characteristics. The workshop also developed a set of goals and guiding principles that would work to create and conserve landscape systems according to the Living Landscape ideal. Finally, a second survey asked landscape professionals to list and describe landscape places and projects that promote the example of Living Landscapes through practical application. The results of both surveys, as well as the participation in the workshop, show that there is a great deal of interest among landscape professionals to improve the state of landscape systems. Without this continued interest, Living Landscapes are not likely to proliferate across the Midwest, in the United States, or anywhere else in the world. Landscape professionals seem to be willing to collaborate in landscape planning, design, management, and maintenance efforts, but need a basis to strengthen their work. This collection of reference information serves as a guide to the professional community to aid them in this work

Traditional/nontraditional students\u27 use of goal orientations and coping strategies

This study sought to improve upon the definition of nontraditional student status, and to identify relationships between student status, goal orientations, and coping strategies. Two of this study\u27s hypotheses included the expectation that nontraditional students would employ more adaptive goal orientations (e.g. mastery-approach) more often than traditional students; and students who use more adaptive goal orientations would employ more adaptive coping strategies (e.g. task-oriented coping); This study involved 180 undergraduates, and used a participant information questionnaire, the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations (CISS), and the Achievement Goal Questionnaire (AGQ). Factor and cluster analyses revealed that the variables age, marital status, parental status, and whether time was ever taken off from school, shared enough variance to allow the identification of two clusters. Correlations and regressions showed that the nontraditional student cluster used mastery-approach goals more than the traditional cluster, and confirmed a significant relationship between mastery-approach goal orientation and task-oriented coping

The function and influence of the emancipatory binary and the progressive triad in the discourse on citizenship in social studies education

Using an analytic informed by Nietzschean genealogy and systems theory, this paper explains how two conceptual structures (the emancipatory binary and the progressive triad), along with standard citation practices in academic journal writing, function to sustain and regenerate a progressive perspective within social studies education scholarship.  Exemplary essays, drawn from social studies education scholarship from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s are presented and examined in reference to the function of the conceptual structures in the evolution of the discourse on citizenship in social studies education

Serious with the Wordplay: Battle Rap as a Critical Literacy Site and Model

Critical scholars contend it must be the duty of those who are marginalized to create pedagogy that will empower themselves. As such, researchers continue to explore ways and means by which Black male students can engage with and enact literacy. While a significant amount of research has been conducted on hip-hop pedagogies and literacy, there lacks examination into how the specific element of battle rap functions as a location to cultivate the critical consciousness of students. This research seeks to highlight how the genre of battle rap can be a pedagogical tool of literary expression, while simultaneously shedding traditional standards of instruction which have constrained learning opportunities, particularly for Black male students. Critical literacy as a theoretical framework and critical discourse analysis (CDA) as a methodology are employed to advance battle rap as an effective instructional tool. Ultimately, this study seeks to privilege the educational experiences of Black male students and complex our interpretations of how language, literacy, and culture intersect and can be exercised in US classrooms

Tip-gating Effect in Scanning Impedance Microscopy of Nanoelectronic Devices

Electronic transport in semiconducting single-wall carbon nanotubes is studied by combined scanning gate microscopy and scanning impedance microscopy (SIM). Depending on the probe potential, SIM can be performed in both invasive and non-invasive mode. High-resolution imaging of the defects is achieved when the probe acts as a local gate and simultaneously an electrostatic probe of local potential. A class of weak defects becomes observable even if they are located in the vicinity of strong defects. The imaging mechanism of tip-gating scanning impedance microscopy is discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Appl. Phys. Let

Carbon nanotubes as a tip calibration standard for electrostatic scanning probe microscopies

Scanning Surface Potential Microscopy (SSPM) is one of the most widely used techniques for the characterization of electrical properties at small dimensions. Applicability of SSPM and related electrostatic scanning probe microscopies for imaging of potential distributions in active micro- and nanoelectronic devices requires quantitative knowledge of tip surface contrast transfer. Here we demonstrate the utility of carbon-nanotube-based circuits to characterize geometric properties of the tip in the electrostatic scanning probe microscopies (SPM). Based on experimental observations, an analytical form for the differential tip-surface capacitance is obtained.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure

Coulomb-Modified Fano Resonance in a One-Lead Quantum Dot

We investigate a tunable Fano interferometer consisting of a quantum dot coupled via tunneling to a one-dimensional channel. In addition to Fano resonance, the channel shows strong Coulomb response to the dot, with a single electron modulating channel conductance by factors of up to 100. Where these effects coexist, lineshapes with up to four extrema are found. A model of Coulomb-modified Fano resonance is developed and gives excellent agreement with experiment.Comment: related papers available at http://marcuslab.harvard.ed

The Relationship Between Social Support and Self-Advocacy in College Students with Disabilities

This study explored the connection between social support and self-advocacy in college students with disabilities. The College Students with Disabilities Campus Climate Survey (Lombardi, Gerdes, & Murray, 2011) was used to gather data from undergraduate students at a midsize western private university. Social support was found to be a significant predictor of self-advocacy in college students with disabilities. Peer support, family support, and faculty teaching practices made up the construct of social support. Peer support and faculty teaching practices were found to be significant predictors of student self-advocacy. Family support was not found to be significant. The data was examined for group differences between genders, disability types, and disability status (high incidence disabilities versus low incidence disabilities). No significant group differences were found. These findings suggest helping students build social support will increase their level of self-advocacy, which in turn may increase academic success