26,729 research outputs found
Economic Analysis of Supplemental Deductible Coverage as Recommended in the USDA's 2007 Farm Bill Proposal
A primary change to crop insurance contained in the USDA's Farm Bill Proposal is Supplemental Deductible Coverage (SDC). SDC would allow farmers who purchase individual crop insurance coverage to purchase GRP in the amount of the individual policy deductible. GRP indemnities would be accelerated compared with the current GRP policy. Analysis indicates that SDC provides substantial benefits in terms of certainty equivalent gains. The largest benefits are realized by low risk farmers, compared to others in the county, and farmers whose yields are highly correlated with the county yield. Optimal individual policy coverage levels generally decrease when SDC is taken.
Economic Analysis of Supplemental Deductible Coverage as Recommended in the USDA's 2007 Farm Bill Proposal
A primary change to crop insurance contained in the USDA’s Farm Bill proposal is supplemental deductible coverage (SDC). SDC would allow farmers who purchase individual crop insurance coverage to purchase area-wide coverage in the amount of the individual policy deductible. This supplemental area-wide coverage would be similar to the existing Group Risk Plan policy, but with an accelerated indemnity schedule. Analysis indicates that SDC increases farmer certainty equivalents. The largest benefits are realized by farmers with high yield potential in counties with greater systemic risk. In general, optimal individual policy coverage levels modestly decrease when SDC is taken.crop insurance, area-wide coverage, actual production history (APH), group risk plan (GRP), yield distribution, Risk and Uncertainty,
Chemistry in Bioinformatics
A preprint of an invited submission to BioMedCentral Bioinformatics. This short manuscript is an overview or the current problems and opportunities in publishing chemical information. Full details of technology are given in the sibling manuscript http://www.dspace.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/34579
The manuscript is the authors' preprint although it has been automatically transformed into this archived PDF by the submission system. The authors are not responsible for the formattingChemical information is now seen as critical for most areas
of life sciences. But unlike Bioinformatics, where data is
Openly available and freely re−usable, most chemical
information is closed and cannot be re−distributed without
permission. This has led to a failure to adopt modern
informatics and software techniques and therefore paucity of
chemistry in bioinformatics. New technology, however, offers
the hope of making chemical data (compounds and properties)
Free during the authoring process. We argue that the technology
is already available; we require a collective agreement to
enhance publication protocols
On computation of the first Baues--Wirsching cohomology of a freely-generated small category
The Baues--Wirsching cohomology is one of the cohomologies of a small
category. Our aim is to describe the first Baues--Wirsching cohomology of the
small category generated by a finite quiver freely. We consider the case where
the coefficient is a natural system obtained by the composition of a functor
and the target functor. We give an algorithm to obtain generators of the vector
space of inner derivations. It is known that there exists a surjection from the
vector space of derivations of the small category to the first Baues--Wirsching
cohomology whose kernel is the vector space of inner derivations.Comment: 11 page
Verifying the fully “Laplacianised” posterior Naïve Bayesian approach and more
Mussa and Glen would like to thank Unilever for financial support, whereas Mussa and Mitchell thank the BBSRC for funding this research through grant BB/I00596X/1. Mitchell thanks the Scottish Universities Life Sciences Alliance (SULSA) for financial support.Background In a recent paper, Mussa, Mitchell and Glen (MMG) have mathematically demonstrated that the “Laplacian Corrected Modified Naïve Bayes” (LCMNB) algorithm can be viewed as a variant of the so-called Standard Naïve Bayes (SNB) scheme, whereby the role played by absence of compound features in classifying/assigning the compound to its appropriate class is ignored. MMG have also proffered guidelines regarding the conditions under which this omission may hold. Utilising three data sets, the present paper examines the validity of these guidelines in practice. The paper also extends MMG’s work and introduces a new version of the SNB classifier: “Tapered Naïve Bayes” (TNB). TNB does not discard the role of absence of a feature out of hand, nor does it fully consider its role. Hence, TNB encapsulates both SNB and LCMNB. Results LCMNB, SNB and TNB performed differently on classifying 4,658, 5,031 and 1,149 ligands (all chosen from the ChEMBL Database) distributed over 31 enzymes, 23 membrane receptors, and one ion-channel, four transporters and one transcription factor as their target proteins. When the number of features utilised was equal to or smaller than the “optimal” number of features for a given data set, SNB classifiers systematically gave better classification results than those yielded by LCMNB classifiers. The opposite was true when the number of features employed was markedly larger than the “optimal” number of features for this data set. Nonetheless, these LCMNB performances were worse than the classification performance achieved by SNB when the “optimal” number of features for the data set was utilised. TNB classifiers systematically outperformed both SNB and LCMNB classifiers. Conclusions The classification results obtained in this study concur with the mathematical based guidelines given in MMG’s paper—that is, ignoring the role of absence of a feature out of hand does not necessarily improve classification performance of the SNB approach; if anything, it could make the performance of the SNB method worse. The results obtained also lend support to the rationale, on which the TNB algorithm rests: handled judiciously, taking into account absence of features can enhance (not impair) the discriminatory classification power of the SNB approach.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe
Spatial Evolutionary Generative Adversarial Networks
Generative adversary networks (GANs) suffer from training pathologies such as
instability and mode collapse. These pathologies mainly arise from a lack of
diversity in their adversarial interactions. Evolutionary generative
adversarial networks apply the principles of evolutionary computation to
mitigate these problems. We hybridize two of these approaches that promote
training diversity. One, E-GAN, at each batch, injects mutation diversity by
training the (replicated) generator with three independent objective functions
then selecting the resulting best performing generator for the next batch. The
other, Lipizzaner, injects population diversity by training a two-dimensional
grid of GANs with a distributed evolutionary algorithm that includes neighbor
exchanges of additional training adversaries, performance based selection and
population-based hyper-parameter tuning. We propose to combine mutation and
population approaches to diversity improvement. We contribute a superior
evolutionary GANs training method, Mustangs, that eliminates the single loss
function used across Lipizzaner's grid. Instead, each training round, a loss
function is selected with equal probability, from among the three E-GAN uses.
Experimental analyses on standard benchmarks, MNIST and CelebA, demonstrate
that Mustangs provides a statistically faster training method resulting in more
accurate networks
Development of moored oceanographic spectroradiometer
Biospherical Instruments has successfully completed a NASA sponsored SBIR (Small Business Innovational Research Program) project to develop spectroradiometers capable of being deployed in the ocean for long periods of time. The completion of this project adds a valuable tool for the calibration of future spaceborne ocean color sensors and enables oceanographers to extend remote sensing optical techniques beyond the intermittent coverage of spaceborne sensors. Highlights of the project include two moorings totalling 8 months generating extensive sets of optical, biological, and physical data sets in the ocean off La Jolla, California, and a 70 day operational deployment of the resulting commercial product by the ONR and NASA sponsored BIOWATT program. Based on experience gained in these moorings, Biospherical Instruments has developed a new line of spectroradiometers designed to support the oceanographic remote sensing missions of NASA, the Navy, and various oceanographers
Relationship Of Peer Mentoring To Academic Success And Social Engagement For First Year College Students
A correlational explanatory research design examined the relationship between peer mentoring, academic success and social engagement of first year college students participating in a peer mentoring program at a research one university in the southeastern United States. One hundred thirty-eight participants from the peer mentoring program responded to a Peer Mentoring, Academic Success and Social Engagement (PMASSE) questionnaire created and pilot tested by the researcher; the PMASSE had a Cronbach alpha reliability of 0.95. Peer mentoring was the independent variable and academic success and social engagement were the dependent variables. Three primary theoretical frameworks were utilized: social constructivism, theory of student involvement, and the theory of social integration. Descriptive statistical analyses showed several patterns related to the quality of the peer mentoring experience, level of academic success, and social engagement as perceived by the first year students. Inferential statistical analyses—including Fisher’s exact test and one-way ANOVAs—yielded several statistically significant relationships between peer mentoring, academic success, social engagement, and demographic mediating variables
Now I Speak: The African American Males\u27 Perspective as to Whether His Identification with Hip-Hop Culture Affects His Academic Achievement
This study explores the African-American males\u27 perspectives of whether his identification with the hip-hop culture affects his academic achievement. Many Black males have embraced the popular culture of hip-hop with its glamour and style, but many also continue to fall behind in school or dropout. The use of qualitative analysis allows the participants in this study to speak of their experiences with hip-hop and education. Glesne (1999) writes, Critical Race Theory as a theoretical framework allows the ability to listen well to others stories and to interpret and retell the accounts [which is] is part of the qualitative researcher\u27s trade (p.1). It also permits the counter narratives of these Black males\u27 perspectives of the quandary of his educational experience to be heard. Sixteen Black males from age 14 to 21 participated in a random questionnaire that measured their level of their identification with hip-hop. Six of the participants also participated in a focus group and individual interviews to discuss in depth their experiences with school and hip-hop. The following themes were prevalent in this study: hip-hop culture is a lifestyle but there are those who try to emulate the style; Their definition of hip-hop consists of rap music and style of dress, along with speech or how they talk; hip-hop is not a passing fad; hip-hop is viewed as a mood regulator; hip-hop culture means money or making money; the hip-hop image affects educator\u27s perceptions; Hip-hop is all they know. The study will enlighten educators as to African American male\u27s perception that how they look affects the treatment they receive in school
The Effect of Fan Behavior on the Mental Health of A Sports Official
Sports officials often times hear verbal abuse that can cause them to second guess themselves because of the reactions they receive from spectators. If it is from fans, coaches or even players officials have a tremendous amount of pressure in order to get the call correct. This can lead to stress that could greatly impact the mental health of an official. The purpose of this synthesis was to review the literature on the impact of fan behavior on an official’s mental health
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