Min-BDeu and Max-BDeu Scores for Learning Bayesian Networks

This work presents two new score functions based on the Bayesian Dirichlet equivalent uniform (BDeu) score for learning Bayesian network structures. They consider the sensitivity of BDeu to varying parameters of the Dirichlet prior. The scores take on the most adversary and the most beneficial priors among those within a contamination set around the symmetric one. We build these scores in such way that they are decomposable and can be computed efficiently. Because of that, they can be integrated into any state-of-the-art structure learning method that explores the space of directed acyclic graphs and allows decomposable scores. Empirical results suggest that our scores outperform the standard BDeu score in terms of the likelihood of unseen data and in terms of edge discovery with respect to the true network, at least when the training sample size is small. We discuss the relation between these new scores and the accuracy of inferred models. Moreover, our new criteria can be used to identify the amount of data after which learning is saturated, that is, additional data are of little help to improve the resulting model.

Max Weber and the First World War: Protestant and Catholic living standards in Germany, 1914-1919

We assess informal institutions of Protestants and Catholics by investigating their economic resilience in a natural experiment. The First World War constitutes an exogenous shock to living standards since the duration and intensity of the war exceeded all expectations. We assess the ability of Protestant and Catholic communities to cope with increasing food prices and wartime black markets. Literature based on Weber (1904, 1905) suggests that Protestants must be more resilient than their Catholic peers. Using individual height data on some 2,800 Germans to assess levels of malnutrition during the war, we find that living standards for both Protestants and Catholics declined; however, the decrease of Catholics’ height was disproportionately large. Our empirical analysis finds a large statistically significant difference between Protestants and Catholics for the 1915–19 birth cohort, and we argue that this height gap cannot be attributed to socioeconomic background and fertility alone.

Max Weber and the First World War: Protestant and Catholic living standards in Germany, 1915-1919

We assess informal institutions of Protestants and Catholics by investigating their economic
resilience in a natural experiment. The First World War constitutes an exogenous shock to living standards since the duration and intensity of the war exceeded all expectations. We assess the ability of Protestant and Catholic communities to cope with increasing food prices and wartime black markets. Literature based on Weber (1904, 1905) suggests that Protestants must be more resilient than their Catholic peers. Using individual height data on some 2,800 Germans to assess levels of malnutrition during the war, we find that living standards for both Protestants and Catholics declined; however, the decrease of Catholics’ height was disproportionately large. Our empirical analysis finds a large statistically significant difference between Protestants and Catholics for the 1914-19 birth cohort, and we argue that this height gap cannot be attributed to socioeconomic background and fertility alone.

Scaled Heavy-Ball Acceleration of the Richardson-Lucy Algorithm for 3D Microscopy Image Restoration

The Richardson–Lucy algorithm is one of the most important in image deconvolution. However, a drawback is its slow convergence. A significant acceleration was obtained using the technique proposed by Biggs and Andrews (BA), which is implemented in the deconvlucy function of the image processing MATLAB toolbox. The BA method was developed heuristically with no proof of convergence. In this paper, we introduce the heavy-ball (H-B) method for Poisson data optimization and extend it to a scaled H-B method, which includes the BA method as a special case. The method has a proof of the convergence rateof O(K^2), where k is the number of iterations. We demonstrate the superior convergence performance, by a speedup factor off ive, of the scaled H-B method on both synthetic and real 3D images.

A comparative study on the modified Max-Log-MAP turbodecoding by extrinsic information scaling

A simple but effective technique to improve the performance of the Max-Log-MAP algorithm is to scale the extrinsic information exchanged between two MAP decoders. A comprehensive analysis of the selection of the scaling factors according to channel conditions and decoding iterations is presented in this paper. Choosing a constant scaling factor for all SNRs and iterations is compared with the best scaling factor selection for changing channel conditions and decoding iterations. It is observed that a constant scaling factor for all channel conditions and decoding iterations is the best solution and provides a 0.2-0.4 dB gain over the standard Max- Log-MAP algorithm. Therefore, a constant scaling factor should be chosen for the best compromise.

The modified Max-Log-MAP turbo decoding algorithm by extrinsic information scaling for wireless applications

The iterative nature of turbo-decoding algorithms increases their complexity compare to conventional FEC decoding algorithms. Two iterative decoding algorithms, Soft-Output-Viterbi Algorithm (SOVA) and Maximum A posteriori Probability (MAP) Algorithm require complex decoding operations over several iteration cycles. So, for real-time implementation of turbo codes, reducing the decoder complexity while preserving bit-error-rate (BER) performance is an important design consideration. In this chapter, a modification to the Max-Log-MAP algorithm is presented. This modification is to scale the extrinsic information exchange between the constituent decoders. The remainder of this chapter is organized as follows: An overview of the turbo encoding and decoding processes, the MAP algorithm and its simplified versions the Log-MAP and Max-Log-MAP algorithms are presented in section 1. The extrinsic information scaling is introduced, simulation results are presented, and the performance of different methods to choose the best scaling factor is discussed in Section 2. Section 3 discusses trends and applications of turbo coding from the perspective of wireless applications.

Exploiting a prioritized MAC protocol to efficiently compute min and max in multihop networks

Consider a wireless sensor network (WSN) where a broadcast from a sensor node does not reach all sensor nodes in the network; such networks are often called multihop networks. Sensor nodes take sensor readings but individual sensor readings are not very important. It is important however to compute aggregated quantities of these sensor readings. The minimum and maximum of all sensor readings at an instant are often interesting because they indicate abnormal behavior, for example if the maximum temperature is very high then it may be that a fire has broken out. We propose an algorithm for computing the min or max of sensor reading in a multihop network. This algorithm has the particularly interesting property of having a time complexity that does not depend on the number of sensor nodes; only the network diameter and the range of the value domain of sensor readings matter.

A marketing plan for the ice cream brand Max Adventures in food service

A Work Project, presented as part of the requirements for the Award of a Masters Degree in Management from the NOVA – School of Business and Economics

" Ich habe viele namen " : Polyphonie und Dialogizität im autobiographischen Spätwerk Max Frischs und Friedrich Dürrenmatts

Zusammenfassung: Max Frisch und Friedrich Dürrenmatt, als Dioskuren der Schweizer Literatur zeitlebens aneinandergekettet, haben auf der Suche nach ihrem Selbst immer auch den anderen im Blick. Aus ihrer pointierten, gelegentlich polemischen wechselseitigen Abgrenzung entsteht ein künstlerisch höchst produktiver, impliziter Dialog. Er wird hier erstmals explizit gemacht. Unter den Gesichtspunkten von Polyphonie und Dialogizität wird die Konstruktion und Auflösung des autobiographischen Subjekts untersucht. Diese Fallstudien an einzelnen, repräsentativen Texten der beiden Autoren stellen neue Fragen, die für die gesamte Autobiographiediskussion relevant sind: Bei Dürrenmatts großem ,,Stoffe"-Komplex wird, unter Einbezug der textgenetischen Perspektive, der autobiographische Prozess als das Anprobieren von multiplen Ichs analysiert. Das Problem des Subjekts radikalisiert sich als Problem der Sprache, der "vielen Namen", mit denen sich das Subjekt selbst tauft. Bei Frisch deckt die Studie mit ihrem neuen Ansatz die architektonischen und musikalischen Kompositionsverfahren in "Montauk" und "Holozän" auf, eine Textarchitektur in der Zeit und im Medium der Sprache. Dabei werden bisher unbekannte Entwürfe zu diesen wichtigen Spätwerken Frischs erstmals genutzt und publiziert.