EEBoost: a general method for prediction and variable selection based on estimating equations

Abstract The modern statistical literature is replete with methods for performing variable selection and prediction in standard regression problems. However, simple models may misspecify or fail to capture important aspects of the data generating process such as missingness, correlation, and over/underdispersion. This realization has motivated the development of a large class of estimating equations which account for these data characteristics and often yield improved inference for lowdimensional parameters. In this paper we introduce EEBoost, a novel strategy for variable selection and prediction which can be applied in any problem where inference would typically be based on estimating 1 equations. The method is simple, flexible, and easily implemented using existing software. Extended abstract The modern statistical literature is replete with methods for performing variable selection and prediction in standard regression problems. However, simple models may misspecify or fail to capture important aspects of the data generating process such as missingness, correlation, and over/underdispersion. This realization has motivated the development of a large class of estimating equations which account for these data characteristics and often yield improved inference for low-dimensional parameters. In this paper we introduce EEBoost, a novel strategy for variable selection and prediction which can be applied in any problem where inference would typically be based on estimating equations. The method is simple, flexible, and easily implemented using existing software. The EEBoost algorithm is obtained as a straightforward modification of the standard boosting (or functional gradient descent) technique. We show that EEBoost is closely related to a class of L 1 constrained projected likelihood ratio minimizations, and therefore produces similar variable selection paths to penalized methods without the need to apply constrained optimization algorithms. The flexibility of EEBoost is illustrated by applying it to simulated examples with correlated outcomes (based on generalized estimating equations) and time-to-event data with missing covariates (based on inverse probability weighted estimating equations). In both cases, EEBoost outperforms standard variable selection methods which do not account for the relevant data characteristics

Topological correction of infant white matter surfaces using anatomically constrained convolutional neural network

Reconstruction of accurate cortical surfaces without topological errors (i.e., handles and holes) from infant brain MR images is very important in early brain development studies. However, infant brain MR images typically suffer extremely low tissue contrast and dynamic imaging appearance patterns. Thus, it is inevitable to have large amounts of topological errors in the segmented infant brain tissue images, which lead to inaccurately reconstructed cortical surfaces with topological errors. To address this issue, inspired by recent advances in deep learning, we propose an anatomically constrained network for topological correction on infant cortical surfaces. Specifically, in our method, we first locate regions of potential topological defects by leveraging a topology-preserving level set method. Then, we propose an anatomically constrained network to correct those candidate voxels in the located regions. Since infant cortical surfaces often contain large and complex handles or holes, it is difficult to completely correct all errors using one-shot correction. Therefore, we further enroll these two steps into an iterative framework to gradually correct large topological errors. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work to introduce deep learning approach for topological correction of infant cortical surfaces. We compare our method with the state-of-the-art methods on both simulated topological errors and real topological errors in human infant brain MR images. Moreover, we also validate our method on the infant brain MR images of macaques. All experimental results show the superior performance of the proposed method

Corporate social sustainability in supply chains: a thematic analysis of the literature

This paper maps out different research strands using thematic analysis on the literature pertaining to large companies’ efforts on social sustainability in their supply chains. The data corpus for this thematic analysis is a broad sample of the literature with articles from different journals and employing different research methodologies. Each of the high-level themes is identified at a level high enough to apply to research into not only social but also economic or environmental sustainability. These eight themes – stakeholder pressure; governance; contingencies; practices; partnerships; barriers and enablers; performance; and optimisation for performance improvement and trade-off – are then woven into a thematic map. We call this map the ‘4P’ model as it suggests that pressure and partnerships influence practices, which in turn impact performance. Researchers can use this thematic classification not only to position their research within the social sustainability literature but also to integrate research on economic, environmental and social sustainability

3rd Annual MLK Convocation | Facing North: Implicit Bias in Minnesota Courts

January 22, 2018 Sponsored by the Law School Diversity Committee, the 3rd Annual MLK Convocation—“Facing North: Implicit Bias in Minnesota Courts”—featured a discussion between The Honorable Pamela G. Alexander (‘77) of Minnesota’s 4th Judicial District and Professor Francis X. Shen, moderated by Dean Garry W. Jenkins, about how implicit bias operates, how it manifests itself in the courtroom, and how it might be mitigated in the American criminal justice system. Sponsored by the Law School Diversity Committee, the 3rd Annual MLK Convocation—“Facing North: Implicit Bias in Minnesota Courts”—featured a discussion between The Honorable Pamela G. Alexander (‘77) of Minnesota’s 4th Judicial District and Professor Francis X. Shen, moderated by Dean Garry W. Jenkins, about how implicit bias operates, how it manifests itself in the courtroom, and how it might be mitigated in the American criminal justice system

2016 Symposium: 35th Anniversary - Legal Feminism: Looking Back, Looking Forward, Part Two

Law & Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice Presents its 35th Annual Symposium Honoring Catharine A. MacKinnon and her work, Toward a Feminist Theory of State, at 30 years In 1989, Catharine A. MacKinnon—the founder of Law & Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice—published her groundbreaking work, Toward a Feminists Theory of State. Since that date, her work has been cited countless times and her legal theories have influenced scholars and practitioners throughout the country and across the world. The Journal’s 35th Anniversary Symposium honors MacKinnon and her influence on feminist legal theory. Specifically, the Symposium will examine Toward a Feminist Theory of State nearly 30 years after its publication, exploring where the arguments in the book stand today and what has yet to transpire in terms of its vision. Legal scholars and practitioners commented on MacKinnon’s feminist legal theories as applied to subjects including consent, evolving ideas about gender, international security, poverty, and family violence. MacKinnon delivers a responsive keynote address

Workshop EraIndustri4

Universitas Multimedia Nusantara (UMN) menyelenggarakan Workshop yang bertajuk “Pengembangan Mutu Perguruan Tinggi di Era 4.0”. Workshop ini diselenggarakan di Function Hall UMN pada Jumat (25/1). Terdapat kurang lebih 130 peserta pada workshop ini yang terdiri dari 50 peserta dosen UMN dan 80 peserta dari Perguruan Tinggi. Hadir sebagai pembicara Sugiyono, Ph.D., selaku Dewan Eksekutif Badan Akreditasi Nasional Perguruan Tinggi (BAN-PT)

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in Conversation at the Law School

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Professor Robert Stein sat down for a conversation on September 16, 2014, to discuss behind-the-scenes details about life on the high court, the parsing of several recent decisions, and a hint on how she might vote on a possible gay marriage case

Developments in Immigration Law: Executive Orders, Trafficking and Federal Litigation Part Two: The Ethics of Representing T-Visa Applicants

The James H Binger Center for New Americans hosted a half-day CLE conference titled “Developments in Immigration Law: Executive Orders, Trafficking, and Federal Litigation” on Friday, March 31, 2017. Students from each of the Center’s three clinics presented on developments in immigration law related to their practice areas

The 2016 Stein Lecture: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor

October 17, 2016 Professor Robert A. Stein, class of 1961, dean of the Law School for 15 years, and former chief operating officer of the American Bar Association, generously endowed this lecture series to enrich the program of the Law School by inviting leaders of the bench and bar and of the governments of the United States and other nations to deliver an annual lecture on a topic of national or international interest

2016 Symposium: 35th Anniversary - Legal Feminism: Looking Back, Looking Forward, Part One

Law & Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice Presents its 35th Annual Symposium Honoring Catharine A. MacKinnon and her work, Toward a Feminist Theory of State, at 30 years In 1989, Catharine A. MacKinnon—the founder of Law & Inequality: A Journal of Theory and Practice—published her groundbreaking work, Toward a Feminists Theory of State. Since that date, her work has been cited countless times and her legal theories have influenced scholars and practitioners throughout the country and across the world. The Journal’s 35th Anniversary Symposium honors MacKinnon and her influence on feminist legal theory. Specifically, the Symposium will examine Toward a Feminist Theory of State nearly 30 years after its publication, exploring where the arguments in the book stand today and what has yet to transpire in terms of its vision. Legal scholars and practitioners commented on MacKinnon’s feminist legal theories as applied to subjects including consent, evolving ideas about gender, international security, poverty, and family violence. MacKinnon delivers a responsive keynote address