Neural Skill Transfer from Supervised Language Tasks to Reading Comprehension

Reading comprehension is a challenging task in natural language processing and requires a set of skills to be solved. While current approaches focus on solving the task as a whole, in this paper, we propose to use a neural network `skill' transfer approach. We transfer knowledge from several lower-level language tasks (skills) including textual entailment, named entity recognition, paraphrase detection and question type classification into the reading comprehension model. We conduct an empirical evaluation and show that transferring language skill knowledge leads to significant improvements for the task with much fewer steps compared to the baseline model. We also show that the skill transfer approach is effective even with small amounts of training data. Another finding of this work is that using token-wise deep label supervision for text classification improves the performance of transfer learning

An explicit Euler scheme with strong rate of convergence for financial SDEs with non-Lipschitz coefficients

We consider the approximation of stochastic differential equations (SDEs) with non-Lipschitz drift or diffusion coefficients. We present a modified explicit Euler-Maruyama discretisation scheme that allows us to prove strong convergence, with a rate. Under some regularity and integrability conditions, we obtain the optimal strong error rate. We apply this scheme to SDEs widely used in the mathematical finance literature, including the Cox-Ingersoll-Ross~(CIR), the 3/2 and the Ait-Sahalia models, as well as a family of mean-reverting processes with locally smooth coefficients. We numerically illustrate the strong convergence of the scheme and demonstrate its efficiency in a multilevel Monte Carlo setting.Comment: 36 pages, 17 figures, 2 table

Can a Suit of Armor Conduct Electricity? A New Dataset for Open Book Question Answering

We present a new kind of question answering dataset, OpenBookQA, modeled after open book exams for assessing human understanding of a subject. The open book that comes with our questions is a set of 1329 elementary level science facts. Roughly 6000 questions probe an understanding of these facts and their application to novel situations. This requires combining an open book fact (e.g., metals conduct electricity) with broad common knowledge (e.g., a suit of armor is made of metal) obtained from other sources. While existing QA datasets over documents or knowledge bases, being generally self-contained, focus on linguistic understanding, OpenBookQA probes a deeper understanding of both the topic---in the context of common knowledge---and the language it is expressed in. Human performance on OpenBookQA is close to 92%, but many state-of-the-art pre-trained QA methods perform surprisingly poorly, worse than several simple neural baselines we develop. Our oracle experiments designed to circumvent the knowledge retrieval bottleneck demonstrate the value of both the open book and additional facts. We leave it as a challenge to solve the retrieval problem in this multi-hop setting and to close the large gap to human performance.Comment: Published as conference long paper at EMNLP 201

Simultaneous Implementation Of Ssl And Ipsec Protocols For Remote Vpn Connection

A Virtual Private Network is a wide spread technology for connecting remote users and locations to the main core network. It has number of benefits such as cost-efficiency and security. SSL and IPSec are the most popular VPN protocols employed by large number of organizations. Each protocol has its benefits and disadvantages. Simultaneous SSL and IPSec implementation delivers efficient and flexible solution for companies’ with heterogeneous remote connection needs. On the other hand, employing two different VPN technologies opens questions about compatibility, performance, and drawbacks especially if they are utilized by one network device. The study examines the behavior of the two VPN protocols implemented in one edge network device, ASA 5510 security appliance. It follows the configuration process as well as the effect of the VPN protocols on the ASA performance including routing functions, firewall access lists, and network address translation abilities. The paper also presents the cost effect and the maintenance requirements for utilizing SSL and IPSec in one edge network security devic

Techno-economic analysis of residential thermal flexibility for demand side management

The continuing rise in solar and wind production leads to an increasing demand of flexibility to stabilize the electricity grid. Furthermore, we can assume a gradual but intensive rise in the use of electrical heatpumps for household spatial heating, for different reasons. Therefore, this paper investigates the feasibility and viability of entering the flexibility market by aggregating residential thermal loads. For this research, a dataset of 200 dwellings in the Netherlands, equipped with a heatpump and smart metering infrastructure, is analysed. By means of a greybox modeling approach, a thermal model and control framework have been set up for every house, in order to identify the load shift potential and the accompanying cost of providing flexibility for the houses. We find that thermal flexibility is asymmetric: downwards flexibility is, apart from much more dependent on outdoor temperature than upwards flexibility, strictly lower than upwards flexibility. The cost for downwards flexibility is strictly negative in terms of the prosumer. Concerning upwards flexibility, the cost is most of the time positive. Moreover, it can be concluded that there is a potentially viable business case for the flexibility aggregator

Numerical schemes and Monte Carlo techniques for Greeks in stochastic volatility models

The main objective of this thesis is to propose approximations to option sensitivities in stochastic volatility models. The first part explores sequential Monte Carlo techniques for approximating the latent state in a Hidden Markov Model. These techniques are applied to the computation of Greeks by adapting the likelihood ratio method. Convergence of the Greek estimates is proved and tracking of option prices is performed in a stochastic volatility model. The second part defines a class of approximate Greek weights and provides high-order approximations and justification for extrapolation techniques. Under certain regularity assumptions on the value function of the problem, Greek approximations are proved for a fully implementable Monte Carlo framework, using weak Taylor discretisation schemes. The variance and bias are studied for the Delta and Gamma, when using such discrete-time approximations. The final part of the thesis introduces a modified explicit Euler scheme for stochastic differential equations with non-Lipschitz continuous drift or diffusion; a strong rate of convergence is proved. The literature on discretisation techniques for stochastic differential equations has been motivational for the development of techniques preserving the explicitness of the algorithm. Stochastic differential equations in the mathematical finance literature, including the Cox-Ingersoll-Ross, the 3/2 and the Ait-Sahalia models can be discretised, with a strong rate of convergence proved, which is a requirement for multilevel Monte Carlo techniques.Open Acces

A Review and Critique of John McKnight`s Theory of `The Careless Society`

John McKnight`s theory of the Careless Society is key to understanding post-industrial society trends in organization and delivery of health and social services in communities. The article presents the theory and its connections with other influential critiques of modern institutions. The theory is analyzed and critiqued itself from a sociological perspective, drawing upon alternative points of view. McKnight`s work can be very useful to institutions and professionals offering health, social and education services.John McKnight`s theory of the Careless Society is key to understanding post-industrial society trends in organization and delivery of health and social services in communities. The article presents the theory and itsconnections with other influential critiques of modern institutions. The theory is analyzed and critiqued itself from a sociological perspective, drawing upon alternative points of view. McKnight`s work can be very useful to institutions and professionals offering health, social and education services

DETERMINING THE POSITIONS OF THE ELEMENTS FOR THE 3-2-1 PRINCIPLE OF LOCATION IN A SOLIDWORKS ADD-IN

This paper presents the methodology behind the positioning of modular fixtures (for the 3-2-1 principle in particular) in a CAFD application (add-in) for SolidWorks. The application is integrated into SolidWorks and it’s used to automate the design process of modular fixturing devices. Part of it is a methodology for automated determination of the positions of the modular elements by using rule-based logic and mathematical formulas