Understanding the Mechanics of SPIGOT: Surrogate Gradients for Latent Structure Learning

Latent structure models are a powerful tool for modeling language data: they can mitigate the error propagation and annotation bottleneck in pipeline systems, while simultaneously uncovering linguistic insights about the data. One challenge with end-to-end training of these models is the argmax operation, which has null gradient. In this paper, we focus on surrogate gradients, a popular strategy to deal with this problem. We explore latent structure learning through the angle of pulling back the downstream learning objective. In this paradigm, we discover a principled motivation for both the straight-through estimator (STE) as well as the recently-proposed SPIGOT - a variant of STE for structured models. Our perspective leads to new algorithms in the same family. We empirically compare the known and the novel pulled-back estimators against the popular alternatives, yielding new insight for practitioners and revealing intriguing failure cases.Comment: EMNLP 202

Information and resource management systems for Internet of Things: Energy management, communication protocols and future applications

The idea of the Internet of Things (IoT) has enabled the objects of our surroundings to intercommunicate with each other in diverse working environments by utilizing their embedded architectural and communication technologies. IoT has provided humans the capability to manipulate the operations and data available from different information systems using these intelligent objects available in the surroundings. The scope of IoT is to serve humanity across different domains of life covering industrial, health, home and day-to-day operations of Information Systems (IS). Due to the huge number of heterogeneous network elements interacting and working under IoT based information systems, there is an enormous need for resource management for the smooth running of IoT operations. The key aspect in IoT implementations is to have resource-constrained embedded devices and objects participating in IoT operations. It is important to meet the challenges raised during management and sharing of resources in IoT based information systems. Managing resources by implementing protocols, algorithms and techniques are required to enhance the scalability, reliability and stability in IoT operations across different fields of technology. This special issue opens the new areas of interest for the researchers in the domain of resource management in IoT operations

Medical history among Bulgarian patients with fever of unknown origin and low-grade fever

Въведение: Персистиращият фебрилитет с неизвестен произход е предизвикателство пред медицинската общност. Целта на тази статияе да се представят анамнестичните данни при български пациенти с неясно фебрилно състояние (НФС) и субфебрилна температура.Материали и методи: За периода от 01.02.2012г. до 01.08.2015г. в Клиниката по инфекциозни болести към ВМА-София се проведе проспективно проучване на пациенти с НФС и субфебрилитет. Изследвани бяха общо 117 пациенти, от тях с НФС - 88 човека, със субфебрилитет 29 човека. В настоящата работа са използвани следните методи: библиографски метод, метод на сравнението и клинични методи.Резултати: Основните анамнестични данни, имащи принос към поставянето на окончателната диагноза при всички проучени пациенти, са следните - умора, изпотяване, втрисане, главоболие и артралгия.Заключение: Анамнезата е от съществено значение за крайния успех в диагностиката на фебрилитета с неизвестен произход. Тя се явява първа стъпка в диагностичния алгоритъм при НФС.Introduction: The persisting fever of indeterminate genesis is a challenging for the medical society. The aim of this paper was to present the medical history of Bulgarian patients with fever of unknown origin (FUO) and low-grade fever (non-FUO).Materials and methods: A prospective study of patients with FUO and non-FUO was done at the Department of Infectious Diseases, Military Medical Academy (Sofia, BG) for the period: 1st February 2012 - 1st August 2015. A population of 117 patients were analyzed, 88 - FUO, 29 - non-FUO. The following methods were applied: literature review, a method of comparison and clinical evaluation.Results: The main historical data which are leading to the final diagnosis in the whole analyzed group were: fatigue, sweats, chills, headache and arthralgia.Conclusion: The medical history is a basic key in the diagnostic pathway to the final diagnosis in case of fever of undetermined origin. This is the first step in the diagnostic algorithm

The Adhesive Capsulitis Corticosteroid and Dilation (ACCorD) randomized controlled trial.

AIMS: Is it feasible to conduct a definitive multicentre trial in community settings of corticosteroid injections (CSI) and hydrodilation (HD) compared to CSI for patients with frozen shoulder? An adequately powered definitive randomized controlled trial (RCT) delivered in primary care will inform clinicians and the public whether hydrodilation is a clinically and cost-effective intervention. In this study, prior to a full RCT, we propose a feasibility trial to evaluate recruitment and retention by patient and clinician willingness of randomization; rates of withdrawal, crossover and attrition; and feasibility of outcome data collection from routine primary and secondary care data. METHODS: In the UK, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) advises that prompt early management of frozen shoulder is initiated in primary care settings with analgesia, physiotherapy, and joint injections; most people can be managed without an operation. Currently, there is variation in the type of joint injection: 1) CSI, thought to reduce the inflammation of the capsule reducing pain; and 2) HD, where a small volume of fluid is injected into the shoulder joint along with the steroid, aiming to stretch the capsule of the shoulder to improve pain, but also allowing greater movement. The creation of musculoskeletal hubs nationwide provides infrastructure for the early and effective management of frozen shoulder. This potentially reduces costs to individuals and the wider NHS perhaps negating the need for a secondary care referral. RESULTS: We will conduct a multicentre RCT comparing CSI and HD in combination with CSI alone. Patients aged 18 years and over with a clinical diagnosis of frozen shoulder will be randomized and blinded to receive either CSI and HD in combination, or CSI alone. Feasibility outcomes include the rate of randomization as a proportion of eligible patients and the ability to use routinely collected data for outcome evaluation. This study has involved patients and the public in the trial design, dissemination methods, and how to include groups who are underserved by research. CONCLUSION: We will disseminate findings among musculoskeletal clinicians via the British Orthopaedic Association, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, the Royal College of Radiologists, and the Royal College of General Practitioners. To ensure wide reach we will communicate findings through our established network of charities and organizations, in addition to preparing dissemination findings in Bangla and Urdu (commonly spoken languages in northeast London). If a full trial is shown to be feasible, we will seek additional National Institute for Health and Care Research funding for a definitive RCT. This definitive study will inform NICE guidelines for the management of frozen shoulder

Chemical composition and biological protein value of milk of Tsigai sheep and their F2 cross-breeds of Chios

The composition of milk was studied from purebred Tsigai sheep and F2 cross-breeds with Chios breed from 4th to 6th month of lactation, raised on a mountain pasture. The chemical analysis samples were taken from each sheep in the period of April-June. The content of fat, protein and amino acids was determined in individual samples and total sample formed by the milk yield from all animals, proportional to the daily milk yield from each individual. There is a tendency for higher milk yield and content of total protein and casein in milk of F2 cross-breeds of Chios in comparison with Tsigai sheep. Milk sheep from F2 crossbreeds of Chios had higher content of Lysine, as well as glutamic acid, methionine and leucine, in comparison to that form Tsigai sheep, respectively: 0.458±0.011. 1.389±0.040. 0.084±0.005 and 0.572±0.013. The milk chemical index in both groups of sheep was comparatively low and it constituted respectively 38.3% in Tsigai sheep and 35.4% in F2 cross-breeds, as a result of low concentrations of methionine and cysteine in milk. Biological value of milk obtained from Tsigai breed sheep and F2 milk cross-breeds of Chios had close values - respectively 92.01 and 91.87%. Results showed that the sward composition and the vegetation stage had an influence over the essential amino acids content in purebred Tsigai sheep and their cross-breeds with Chios breed

Real-time interval type-2 fuzzy control of an unmanned aerial vehicle with flexible cable-connected payload

This study presents the design and real-time applications of an Interval Type-2 Fuzzy PID (IT2-FPID) control system on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) with a flexible cable-connected payload in comparison to the PID and Type-1 Fuzzy PID (T1-FPID) counterparts. The IT2-FPID control has significant stability, disturbance rejection, and response time advantages. To prove and show these advantages, the DJI Tello, a commercial UAV, is used with a flexible cable-connected payload to test the robustness of PID, T1-FPID, and IT2-FPID controllers. First, the optimal coefficients of the compared controllers are found using the Big Bang–Big Crunch algorithm via the nonlinear UAV model without the payload. Second, once optimised, the controllers are tested using several scenarios, including disturbing the payload and the coverage path planning area to examine their robustness. Third, the controller performance results are evaluated according to reference achievement and point-based tracking under disturbances. Finally, the superiority of the IT2-FPID controller is shown via simulations and real-time experiments with a better overshoot, a faster settling time, and good properties of disturbance rejection compared with the PID and the T1-FPID controllers

Out-of-Pocket Costs and Other Determinants of Access to Healthcare for Children with Febrile Illnesses: A Case-Control Study in Rural Tanzania.

To study private costs and other determinants of access to healthcare for childhood fevers in rural Tanzania. A case-control study was conducted in Tanzania to establish factors that determine access to a health facility in acute febrile illnesses in children less than 5 years of age. Carers of eligible children were interviewed in the community; cases were represented by patients who went to a facility and controls by those who did not. A Household Wealth Index was estimated using principal components analysis. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to understand the factors which influenced attendance of healthcare facility including severity of the illness and household wealth/socio-demographic indicators. To complement the data on costs from community interviews, a hospital-based study obtained details of private expenditures for hospitalised children under the age of 5. Severe febrile illness is strongly associated with health facility attendance (OR: 35.76, 95%CI: 3.68-347.43, p = 0.002 compared with less severe febrile illness). Overall, the private costs of an illness for patients who went to a hospital were six times larger than private costs of controls ($5.68 vs.$0.90, p<0.0001). Household wealth was not significantly correlated with total costs incurred. The separate hospital based cost study indicated that private costs were three times greater for admissions at the mission versus public hospital: $13.68 mission vs.$4.47 public hospital (difference $ 9.21 (95% CI: 7.89 -10.52), p<0.0001). In both locations, approximately 50% of the cost was determined by the duration of admission, with each day in hospital increasing private costs by about 12% (95% CI: 5% - 21%). The more severely ill a child, the higher the probability of attending hospital. We did not find association between household wealth and attending a health facility; nor was there an association between household wealth and private cost