1,224 research outputs found
The Effect of Manifold Entanglement and Intrinsic Dimensionality on Learning
No full textWe empirically investigate the effect of class manifold entanglement and the intrinsic and extrinsic dimensionality of the data distribution on the sample complexity of supervised classification with deep ReLU networks. We separate the effect of entanglement and intrinsic dimensionality and show statistically for artificial and real-world image datasets that the intrinsic dimensionality and the entanglement have an interdependent effect on the sample complexity. Low levels of entanglement lead to low increases of the sample complexity when the intrinsic dimensionality is increased, while for high levels of entanglement the impact of the intrinsic dimensionality increases as well. Further, we show that in general the sample complexity is primarily due to the entanglement and only secondarily due to the intrinsic dimensionality of the data distribution
ADAM SMITH'S OPTIMISTIC TELEOLOGICAL VIEW OF HISTORY
Full text linkAdam Smith's four-stage theory provides the framework for his writings on history. The fourth stage is the commercial epoch; the culmination of history in this stage is a key component in the conventional interpretation of Adam Smith as a prophet of commercialism. In two historical case studies Smith shows the capacity of commercial society to regenerate itself. This potent capacity suggests that commercial society is inevitable. At a certain point in time it also overcomes the major obstacles to its permanence. Smith's philosophy of history anticipates the end of history views of Kant and Hegel.Political Economy,
How Might Adam Smith Pay Professors Today?
Full text linkAdam Smith’s proposal for paying professors was intended to induce increased faculty knowledge. If students have imperfect information about what they learn, and universities can only imperfectly measure the input of faculty time in student learning, publications may be used to measure faculty knowledge. If professors’ ability to publish is positively related to their ability to produce student learning, which universities can imperfectly measure, publications may be necessary to attract more able professors. Since research signals faculty knowledge, schools that do not value publications per se could require higher publication standards and pay higher wages than schools that value only publications.
Comparing Complexities of Decision Boundaries for Robust Training: A Universal Approach
No full textWe investigate the geometric complexity of decision boundaries for robust training compared to standard training. By considering the local geometry of nearest neighbour sets, we study them in a model-agnostic way and theoretically derive a lower-bound R∗ ∈ R on the perturbation magnitude δ ∈ R for which robust training provably requires a geometrically more complex decision boundary than accurate training. We show that state-of-the-art robust models learn more complex decision boundaries than their non-robust counterparts, confirming previous hypotheses. Then, we compute R∗ for common image benchmarks and find that it also empirically serves as an upper bound over which label noise is introduced. We demonstrate for deep neural network classifiers that perturbation magnitudes δ ≥ R∗ lead to reduced robustness and generalization performance. Therefore, R∗ bounds the maximum feasible perturbation magnitude for norm-bounded robust training and data augmentation. Finally, we show that R∗ < 0.5R for common benchmarks, where R is a distribution’s minimum nearest neighbour distance. Thus, we improve previous work on determining a distribution’s maximum robust radius
Evolving Ensembles:What Can We Learn from Biological Mutualisms?
No full textEnsembles are groups of classifiers which cooperate in order to reach a decision. Conventionally, the members of an ensemble are trained sequentially, and typically independently, and are not brought together until the final stages of ensemble generation. In this paper, we discuss the potential benefits of training classifiers together, so that they learn to interact at an early stage of their development. As a potential mechanism for achieving this, we consider the biological concept of mutualism, whereby cooperation emerges over the course of biological evolution. We also discuss potential mechanisms for implementing this approach within an evolutionary algorithm context
THE THEOLOGICAL FOUNDATION OF ADAM SMITH'S WORK
Full text linkThe paper will discuss the theological foundation to Smith's writings. Teleology, final causes and divine design were initially seen as central to understanding Smith's writings. Over time, this view fell out of fashion. In the period after World War II, with the rise of positivism, commentators tended to overlook or downplay this interpretation. In the last decade, or so, teleology has started to be restored to its former position as an essential element in understanding Smith. After spelling out Smith's teleology and his view of final causes, divine design and the ends of nature, we try to explain the Panglossian nature of the 'new theistic view' of Smith. While our view differs somewhat, we agree with the essence of the 'new view' claim: a theological view exists in Smith which underpins his moral and economic theories.Political Economy,
Adam Bede: Author, Narrator and Narrative
Full text linkReaders of novels seem to have a natural, almost instinctive, tendency to perceive the voices of the author and the omniscient narrator as being one and the same. This tendency is even stronger when the narrator is blatantly intrusive, frequently inserting his own opinions into the objective narrative material of the novel. And although there are certainly some novelists who truly intend their narrative voices to be perceived as their own, this is not the case with George Eliot in Adam Bede.
In analyzing the narrative voice in this particular novel, I was struck by the almost total agreement, on the part of the critics, that there is a distinction in Eliot\u27s work between the author and the narrator. In fact, Barbara Hardy goes one step further and makes a case for a third category, discriminating between characters who tell their stories, the narrator who does everything but tell his or her story, and the reticent author whose name never appeared on the cover or title-page.! For the purposes of this study, I will be using categories which are basically parallel to Hardy\u27s, though my third category differs somewhat: (1) the author - Mary Ann Evans, (2) the narrator - George Eliot, and (3) the narrative itself.
Any serious student of English literature knows that \u27George Eliot\u27 is the pseudonym for Mary Ann Evans, but the fact was hardly common knowledge to the readers of Adam Bede in 1859. The newly-published novel was an immediate success, selling thirteen thousand copies in the first year, and two thousand copies in the first month alone. A comment by Elizabeth Gaskell, the Victorian novelist and biographer of Charlotte Bronte, humorously reflects both the mystery of the author and the popularity of the novel: \u27I have had the greatest compliment paid me I ever had in my life. I have been suspected of having written Adam Bede\u27.2 While I do not wish to elaborate on the historical facts surrounding the mystery of the author hiding behind this pen name, it is important to try to understand why Mary Ann Evans chose to let George Eliot narrate Adam Bede, rather than speaking through her own authorial voice.
The use of pseudonyms has been fairly common practice throughout the history of English literature, particularly among female writers who felt the need to disguise themselves behind a man\u27s name. Just a decade earlier, the Bronte sisters had published novels and a book of poetry in the names of Acton, Currer and Ellis Bell. Pseudonyms create a situation in which the relationship between the author and the work is reserved, and the fiction creates a reality, rather than reality creating fiction. Or as Michael Ginsburg explains it, \u27The author who chooses to use a pseudonym wants to upset the normal relationship according to which he is the father of his works; he wants to be himself an offspring of his own imagination
Adam Bede: Author, Narrator and Narrative
Full text linkReaders of novels seem to have a natural, almost instinctive, tendency to perceive the voices of the author and the omniscient narrator as being one and the same. This tendency is even stronger when the narrator is blatantly intrusive, frequently inserting his own opinions into the objective narrative material of the novel. And although there are certainly some novelists who truly intend their narrative voices to be perceived as their own, this is not the case with George Eliot in Adam Bede.
In analyzing the narrative voice in this particular novel, I was struck by the almost total agreement, on the part of the critics, that there is a distinction in Eliot\u27s work between the author and the narrator. In fact, Barbara Hardy goes one step further and makes a case for a third category, discriminating between characters who tell their stories, the narrator who does everything but tell his or her story, and the reticent author whose name never appeared on the cover or title-page.! For the purposes of this study, I will be using categories which are basically parallel to Hardy\u27s, though my third category differs somewhat: (1) the author - Mary Ann Evans, (2) the narrator - George Eliot, and (3) the narrative itself.
Any serious student of English literature knows that \u27George Eliot\u27 is the pseudonym for Mary Ann Evans, but the fact was hardly common knowledge to the readers of Adam Bede in 1859. The newly-published novel was an immediate success, selling thirteen thousand copies in the first year, and two thousand copies in the first month alone. A comment by Elizabeth Gaskell, the Victorian novelist and biographer of Charlotte Bronte, humorously reflects both the mystery of the author and the popularity of the novel: \u27I have had the greatest compliment paid me I ever had in my life. I have been suspected of having written Adam Bede\u27.2 While I do not wish to elaborate on the historical facts surrounding the mystery of the author hiding behind this pen name, it is important to try to understand why Mary Ann Evans chose to let George Eliot narrate Adam Bede, rather than speaking through her own authorial voice.
The use of pseudonyms has been fairly common practice throughout the history of English literature, particularly among female writers who felt the need to disguise themselves behind a man\u27s name. Just a decade earlier, the Bronte sisters had published novels and a book of poetry in the names of Acton, Currer and Ellis Bell. Pseudonyms create a situation in which the relationship between the author and the work is reserved, and the fiction creates a reality, rather than reality creating fiction. Or as Michael Ginsburg explains it, \u27The author who chooses to use a pseudonym wants to upset the normal relationship according to which he is the father of his works; he wants to be himself an offspring of his own imagination
The Music of New Orleans
No full textA conversation with Jason Berry, author of City of A Million Dreams: A History of New Orleans at Year 300 (UNC 2018), and clarinetist Dr. Michael White, moderated by Georgetown Professor Adam Rothman, and hosted by the Center for the Study of Slavery and its Legacies
Michael of Ephesus. A Commentator of Aristotle and a Thinker
No full textThe article examines the state of research on Michael of Ephesus as a probable author of the Commentaries on Metaphysics E–N, mainly the works of Leonardo Tarán and Concetta Luna. In spite of their opposed views (Tarán rejects Michael’s authorship of the commentaries, while Luna supports it), they both agree on the mediocrity of the Byzantine author. The article questions the criteria for this negative appraisal and offers some material for reconsidering Michael of Ephesus’ idea of philosophical culture.The article examines the state of research on Michael of Ephesus as a probable author of the Commentaries on Metaphysics E–N, mainly the works of Leonardo Tarán and Concetta Luna. In spite of their opposed views (Tarán rejects Michael’s authorship of the commentaries, while Luna supports it), they both agree on the mediocrity of the Byzantine author. The article questions the criteria for this negative appraisal and offers some material for reconsidering Michael of Ephesus’ idea of philosophical culture
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