Classification and Categorical Inputs with Treed Gaussian Process Models

Recognizing the successes of treed Gaussian process (TGP) models as an interpretable and thrifty model for nonparametric regression, we seek to extend the model to classification. Both treed models and Gaussian processes (GPs) have, separately, enjoyed great success in application to classification problems. An example of the former is Bayesian CART. In the latter, real-valued GP output may be utilized for classification via latent variables, which provide classification rules by means of a softmax function. We formulate a Bayesian model averaging scheme to combine these two models and describe a Monte Carlo method for sampling from the full posterior distribution with joint proposals for the tree topology and the GP parameters corresponding to latent variables at the leaves. We concentrate on efficient sampling of the latent variables, which is important to obtain good mixing in the expanded parameter space. The tree structure is particularly helpful for this task and also for developing an efficient scheme for handling categorical predictors, which commonly arise in classification problems. Our proposed classification TGP (CTGP) methodology is illustrated on a collection of synthetic and real data sets. We assess performance relative to existing methods and thereby show how CTGP is highly flexible, offers tractable inference, produces rules that are easy to interpret, and performs well out of sample.     

MCS: A Method for Finding the Number of Clusters

This paper proposes a maximum clustering similarity (MCS) method for determining the number of clusters in a data set by studying the behavior of similarity indices comparing two (of several) clustering methods. The similarity between the two clusterings is calculated at the same number of clusters, using the indices of Rand (R), Fowlkes and Mallows (FM), and Kulczynski (K) each corrected for chance agreement. The number of clusters at which the index attains its maximum is a candidate for the optimal number of clusters. The proposed method is applied to simulated bivariate normal data, and further extended for use in circular data. Its performance is compared to the criteria discussed in Tibshirani, Walther, and Hastie (2001). The proposed method is not based on any distributional or data assumption which makes it widely applicable to any type of data that can be clustered using at least two clustering algorithms.     

On Definitions of Information in Physics

During the refereeing procedure of Anthropomorphic Quantum Darwinism by Thomas Durt, it became apparent in the dialogue between him and me that the definition of information in Physics is something about which not all authors agreed. This text aims at describing the concepts associated to information that are accepted as the standard in the Physics world community.     

Displacing Epistemology: Being in the Midst of Technoscientific Practice

Interest the Erklären?CVerstehen debate is usually interpreted as primarily epistemological. By raising the possibility that there are fundamentally different methods for fundamentally different types of science, the debate puts into play all the standard issues??that is, issues concerning scientific explanation and justification, the unity and diversity of scientific disciplines, the reality of their subject matter, the accessibility of various subject matters to research, and so on. In this paper, however, I do not focus on any of these specific issues. I start instead from the fact that the very existence of the debate itself is an issue; in fact, it poses a philosophical problem that almost everyone but the hardest line logical empiricists has come to realize cannot be resolved epistemologically. In my view, however, that it cannot be resolved ontologically, either. I think the problem is at bottom hermeneutical, and its resolution requires that we focus first, not on the objects of science or the methods of studying them, but on the character of the philosophical orientation assumed by those who would try to resolve it. In this paper, I explain why I think this is so by analyzing (1) Dilthey??s contribution to the original debate, (2) Husserl??s reaction to Dilthey, and (3) Heidegger??s critical evaluation of both. This line of philosophical development??this movement of self-understanding from critiques of objectivism to hermeneutical phenomenology??is of course already a central feature of much work in continental philosophy of science. In my conclusion, however, I argue for the less well-established??even if apparently approved??idea that it ought to be a central feature of technoscience studies as well.     

试论职前英语教师的专业发展——同伴录像在免费师范生教育实习中的有效应用

为创新实践教学、提高实习实效,在免费师范生教育实习中开展基于社会建构主义、多模态话语分析理论的同伴录像.通过构建基于同伴录像的教育实习体系,在集体备课→导师教案指导→上课与同伴录像→录像回放→刺激回忆与导师、同伴讨论→个体反思→教学新设计→教学新行动等循环往复的过程中,提升实习生的课堂教学自信与专业发展意识,发展与他人合作交流的能力,提高教学技能与反思能力,促进了职前英语教师的专业发展.     

蒙特卡罗方法的尺寸效应

通过Monte Carlo方法对硬胶球系统的排空作用进行了研究。在模拟研究中,通过对不同尺寸单元内胶体的排空力的研究揭示尺寸效应的存在。研究结果显示当模拟单元的尺寸较小时。同一浓度胶体的排空力与尺寸较大的系统会有明显的变化．而当模拟盒子的尺寸较大时,同一浓度胶体的排空力基本不变化。     

"批"概念下的继电控制系统功能仿真

提出模拟继电控制系统中事件的时序的“批”概念,再根据事件传播特性给出了事件模拟算法。利用深度广度结合遍历方式及Tarjan拓扑块划分算法获取线路中元件的电气拓扑——连接矩阵。基于以上两点,再利用继电控制线路图上表达出的驱动元件与开关之间的关系。实现了对继电控制系统的功能仿真。     

Silane as Electrolyte Additives for Lithium Ion Batteries

1 Results In order to overcome the inherent incompatibility of PC with graphite in the lithium ion battery system, improve their electrochemical performance at low temperature,phenyl tris-2-methoxydiethoxy silane (PTMS) has been studied as an additive to the PC-based electrolyte of lithium ion batteries with graphite anode. From the cyclic voltammogram for the graphite anode in the PC-based electrolyte,we find that in the case of the electrolyte without the additive,there is a large irreversible peak ne...     

Effects of Hydrophilic Monomer Types and Level on Polystyrene-Acrylate/montmorillonite Nanocomposite Made by Emulsion Polymerization

1 Results Nanocomposite has attracted more and more interest all over the world.Polystyrene (PS) is a commercialized and mass-productive polymer,continuous research efforts have been devoted to the development of polystyrene/montmorillonite (PS/MMT) nanocomposites[1-2].But the polarity of styrene (St) is too small to intercalate the space between the clay layers.The polarity of hydrophilic monomer is so strong that it can intercalate the MMT easily,the intercalated smectic clays maybe exfoliated by usin...