Coordinate Descent with Bandit Sampling

Coordinate descent methods usually minimize a cost function by updating a random decision variable (corresponding to one coordinate) at a time. Ideally, we would update the decision variable that yields the largest decrease in the cost function. However, finding this coordinate would require checking all of them, which would effectively negate the improvement in computational tractability that coordinate descent is intended to afford. To address this, we propose a new adaptive method for selecting a coordinate. First, we find a lower bound on the amount the cost function decreases when a coordinate is updated. We then use a multi-armed bandit algorithm to learn which coordinates result in the largest lower bound by interleaving this learning with conventional coordinate descent updates except that the coordinate is selected proportionately to the expected decrease. We show that our approach improves the convergence of coordinate descent methods both theoretically and experimentally.Comment: appearing at NeurIPS 201

Conformal Invariance and Wave-Particle Duality

We present a conformally invariant generalized form of the free particle action by connecting the wave and particle aspects through gravity. Conformal invariance breaking is introduced by choosing a particular configurat$ of dynamical variables. This leads to the geometrization of the quantum aspects of matter.Comment: 5 page

A study on the ethical components of nursing practice (moral distress, ethical sensitivity, ethical decision)

This paper is an applied research in terms of objective and a descriptive research in terms of method. Having prepared the research plan, a questionnaire was designed based on goals and hypotheses of the research and was sent to the statistical universe. Also this paper is a field research in terms of data collection. As regards theoretical bases of the research, library data collection method has been applied. So, the required data has been gathered by referring to the related references, books, libraries and so on. To design a questionnaire and gather the opinions of the statistical universe members, field study method and researcher-made questionnaire have been used. The statistical universe comprises nurses and head of ICU and head nurses of Najmieh Hospital in Tehran. The respondents were selected by random sampling method. Also to estimate sample size, Morgan table was applied. The statistical universe consists of 65 members and according to the table, 56 questionnaires were determined for the research. So 60 questionnaires were sent and 58 ones were returned. Face and content validity of the research tool were approved by experts. The test reliability was estimated 0.777 by calculating Cronbach's alpha coefficient. In this paper, factor analysis based on partial least squares structural equations method has been applied to analyze more important factors and coefficients, estimate independent variables coefficients and even determine effectiveness of each independent variable on each other and determine appropriateness of the questions and their coefficients in explaining the related index. The main result of this paper presents a proper model for the relation of effective variables on nurse performance by using regression model. © IDOSI Publications, 2014

Identification of Nursing Management Planning Standards in Iran‏

BACKGROUND: In recent century, planning is one of the most important care skills for health service development. Nurses should be ready scientifically for managing situations in order to develop and perform appropriate models for patient care. It is necessary for manager to know about the process and standards of planning and how to apply them in real conditions. With regard to importance of health care planning and lack of nursing management planning accreditation in Iran. METHODS: This triangulating research was carried out between 2004 and 2006. Fifty professional nursing managers in different level of Iran medical universities and central hospitals, having experience in nursing management at least for five years, and an MS or BS degree in nursing management, were included in a study through purposed sampling. At first, a pilot study with an open questionnaire was conducted in Isfahan and Shiraz and then the study went on in 3 phases including searching for international standards in method by 15 professional nursing manager after consensus on 70% and sending the final was used for data analysis. At last standards for nursing management planning were obtained in Iran. RESULTS: 48 standards of nursing management planning were obtained. The findings showed that most of the standards were accepted (90%) and there were not any standards with agreement lower than 70%. These standards, accompanied with the standards of other nursing units, can be used for quality improvement. The researcher suggests the ministry of health to use these findings and other related ones to accredit the nursing system and to identify its deficiencies

Clearing algorithms and network centrality

I show that the solution of a standard clearing model commonly used in contagion analyses for financial systems can be expressed as a specific form of a generalized Katz centrality measure under conditions that correspond to a system-wide shock. This result provides a formal explanation for earlier empirical results which showed that Katz-type centrality measures are closely related to contagiousness. It also allows assessing the assumptions that one is making when using such centrality measures as systemic risk indicators. I conclude that these assumptions should be considered too strong and that, from a theoretical perspective, clearing models should be given preference over centrality measures in systemic risk analyses