Transfer Learning for Neural Semantic Parsing

The goal of semantic parsing is to map natural language to a machine interpretable meaning representation language (MRL). One of the constraints that limits full exploration of deep learning technologies for semantic parsing is the lack of sufficient annotation training data. In this paper, we propose using sequence-to-sequence in a multi-task setup for semantic parsing with a focus on transfer learning. We explore three multi-task architectures for sequence-to-sequence modeling and compare their performance with an independently trained model. Our experiments show that the multi-task setup aids transfer learning from an auxiliary task with large labeled data to a target task with smaller labeled data. We see absolute accuracy gains ranging from 1.0% to 4.4% in our in- house data set, and we also see good gains ranging from 2.5% to 7.0% on the ATIS semantic parsing tasks with syntactic and semantic auxiliary tasks.Comment: Accepted for ACL Repl4NLP 201

Particle analysis in infrared laser desorption and ablation

The fundamental physical processes of mid infrared laser ablation in the context of laser desorption mass spectrometry were investigated. Understanding the mechanisms of infrared laser desorption and ablation can lead to improvements in these techniques and expand their applications. Particles were generated from glycerol irradiated at atmospheric pressure using a tunable infrared laser at wavelengths between 2.6 and 3.8 µm. The wavelength dependence of size distributions of ablated particles was measured. The particle concentration roughly tracked the infrared absorption spectrum of glycerol and the mean particle size tracked the inverse of the IR absorption. A novel approach, post ablation particle irradiation, was developed to manipulate the size of ejected particles. Particles generated by a 2.94 µm laser ablation of 3-nitrobenzyl alcohol were irradiated with a 351 nm ultraviolet laser at different time delays. A reduction in the average particle size and an increase in the total particle concentration were recorded. In addition to particle sizing, fast photography was used to study the dynamics of mid infrared laser desorption and ablation. Images of scattered light from glycerol ablation at atmospheric pressure were recorded using a CMOS camera from 25 ns to 1000 µs delay. The velocity of the expanding plume ranged from greater than 300 m/s near the 3.0 µm OH stretch absorption of glycerol to less than 100 m/s near the 3.4 µm CH stretch. Modeling calculations of these experiments suggest that the vigorous ablation is driven by phase explosion in the stress confinement regime near the wavelength of OH stretch absorption followed by a plume evolution for milliseconds. The wavelength and energy of the infrared laser can be used to effectively “tune” the composition of the desorption plume. This ability to control the composition of the plume will be used in the development of IR laser ambient ionization mass spectrometry techniques such as atmospheric pressure matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization (AP-MALDI) and matrix-assisted laser desorption electrospray ionization (MALDESI) where the ability to control material removal is critical to efficient ionization

The Impact of Public and Private R&D on Farmers' Production Decisions: Econometric Evidence for Midwestern States, 1960-2004

The objective of this paper is to identify the impact of public and private agriculturalresearch on multi-output multi-input profit maximizing decisions of Midwestern farmers. The mainhypothesis is that investments in public and private R&D shift outward the supply curves for cropand livestock outputs and, in some cases, reduce the demand for inputs. The study uses stateaggregate data for eight Midwestern states over 1960-2004. The own-price elasticities of demand forall inputs are shown to be negative, being larger for agricultural chemicals and energy that for farmcapital services, labor and other materials. Additional public agricultural research increases thesupply of crop and livestock outputs but biases revenue shares toward crop output. Additionalprivate R&D as in adoption of GM corn varieties shifts outward the supply curves for crops andlivestock outputs but biases revenue shares towards crop output. In contrast, an increase in theadoption of GM soybean varieties increases livestock output and deceases crop output. Publicagricultural research reduces the demand for capital services and energy and increases the demandfor agricultural chemicals, other materials, and labor. An increase in the availability of GM soybeanvarieties increases the demand for capital services, agricultural chemicals and other materials andhas weak negative effects on the demand for labor and energy. GM corn variety adoption reducesthe demand for energy but other effects are quite small.Profit function; midwest agriculture; public research; technology; GMOs; multiple-inputs multiple output; crops

The Study of DC Metadata Application in the Library Database Construction of Gansu Normal College for Nationalities

AbstractWith the development and wide application of computer and network technique, building digital and internet database has already become a trend, therefore how to manage and make use of the database resources becomes more and more important. Unlike the common text file, the modern database resources are multi-media files, which are not easy to be described and found, therefore the metadata play an important role in the database resources management and application, which must be fully used in the system. In the article, the author described the application of DC metadata in the library database construction of Gansu Normal College for Nationalities in theory and practic

Village Inequality in Western China

Increased regional inequality has been a major concern in many emerging economies like China, India, Vietnam and Thailand. However, even a large inequality is observed within the lagging regions. The objective of this paper is to look into what are the sources of within region inequality using the community surveys and a census type of households in Western China. This snapshot view of inequality within and between rural villages in western China is based on a census-type household survey in three administrative villages and a sampling survey of 286 natural villages in the poor province of Guizhou in 2004. In contrast to coastal regions, nonfarm income is distributed unevenly in this inland western region. This acco unts for the largest share of overall income inequality. But agriculture is still the rural peoples major source of livelihood in this particular location. On the expenditure side, health care is one of the most important sources of inequality. Because rural income is strongly related to human capital, the uneven access to health care will translate into a larger income gap in the long run. The analysis based on the natural village survey indicates that income varies widely across villages. Access to infrastructure and markets, education, and political participation explain most of this variation. These findings have important implications on the future development strategy in promoting lagging regions development and poverty reduction. While the overall economic development will be the main instrument to bring the majority poor out of poverty, a targeted approach has become increasingly crucial in helping the poor villages and households. It is critical to understand why these villages and households can not particulate in the growth process and how development programs and various transfer programs help them to overcome the constraints they face.Rural Development, Poverty, Inequality, Public investment, H54, O47, O53, R11, Community/Rural/Urban Development,