Quantization noise in low bit quantization and iterative adaptation to quantization noise in quantizable neural networks

Quantization is one of the most popular and widely used methods of speeding up a neural network. At the moment, the standard is 8-bit uniform quantization. Nevertheless, the use of uniform low-bit quantization (4- and 6-bit quantization) has significant advantages in speed and resource requirements for inference. We present our quantization algorithm that offers advantages when using uniform low-bit quantization. It is faster than quantization-aware training from scratch and more accurate than methods aimed only at selecting thresholds and reducing noise from quantization. We also investigated quantization noise in neural networks for low-bit quantization and concluded that quantization noise is not always a good metric for quantization quality.

The pragmatic, rapid, and iterative dissemination and implementation (PRIDI) cycle: adapting to the dynamic nature of public health emergencies (and beyond)

Background Public health emergencies—such as the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic—accelerate the need for both evidence generation and rapid dissemination and implementation (D&I) of evidence where it is most needed. In this paper, we reflect on how D&I frameworks and methods can be pragmatic (i.e., relevant to real-world context) tools for rapid and iterative planning, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of evidence to address public health emergencies. The pragmatic, rapid, and iterative D&I (PRIDI) cycle The PRIDI cycle is based on a “double-loop” learning process that recognizes the need for responsiveness and iterative adaptation of implementation cycle (inner loop) to the moving landscapes, presented by the outer loops of emerging goals and desired outcomes, emerging interventions and D&I strategies, evolving evidence, and emerging characteristics and needs of individuals and contexts. Stakeholders iteratively evaluate these surrounding landscapes of implementation, and reconsider implementation plans and activities. Conclusion Even when the health system priority is provision of the best care to the individuals in need, and scientists are focused on development of effective diagnostic and therapeutic technologies, planning for D&I is critical. Without a flexible and adaptive process of D&I, which is responsive to emerging evidence generation cycles, and closely connected to the needs and priorities of stakeholders and target users through engagement and feedback, the interventions to mitigate public health emergencies (e.g., COVID-19 pandemic), and other emerging issues, will have limited reach and impact on populations that would most benefit. The PRIDI cycle is intended to provide a pragmatic approach to support planning for D&I throughout the evidence generation and usage processes.

Can Forest Management Units facilitate adaptive comanagement reform in Indonesia?

A multi-jurisdictional governance system, polycentric power regimes, and overlapping rights complicate policy responses for addressing forest governance problems in Indonesia. Confronting issues that have existed for centuries as part of Indonesia's socio-cultural and political reality cannot easily be solved at the macro-scale. However, we argue that they can be tackled at the micro-scale. Adaptive co-management could offer a means of finding collaborative solutions to these problems, and we believe this approach will be effective when the problems are defined locally in a specific area with a limited number of stakeholders. This paper examines the capacity of Forest Management Units (FMUs), as the lowest level operational structure of forest management in Indonesia, to facilitate reform for adaptive co-management approaches. We examined this through an analytical framework derived from the Problem-Driven Iterative Adaptation approach. This paper identifies the importance of stakeholders' acceptance to enable FMUs to coordinate adaptive co-management.

PENERAPAN PROBLEM DRIVEN ITERATIVE ADAPTATION (PDIA) UNTUK MENGATASI KESULITAN BELAJAR MATEMATIKA SISWA SDN 2 PUNGKIT

INOVASI merupakan lembaga kemitraan Indonesia - Australia yang fokus pada literasi dan numerasi. Salah satu program intervensi yang dijalankan di Kabupaten Sumbawa adalah implementasi pendekatan PDIA di SDN 2 Pungkit. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah mengetahui bagaimana proses penerapan pendekatan Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) di kelas 1 SDN 2 Pungkit dalam mengatasi kesulitan belajar matematika siswa. PDIA merupakan sebuah pendekatan yang digunakan oleh INOVASI dalam mencari tahu bagaimana meningkatkan kualitas proses dan hasil pembelajaran dalam numerasi dengan menggunakan pendekatan yang dirancang untuk mencari solusi lokal dalam mengatasi masalah-masalah lokal dan khusus dalam pembelajaran. Penelitian ini merupakan penelitian kualitatif dengan pendekatan studi kasus tentang bagaimana penerapan PDIA dalam mengatasi kesulitan belajar siswa. Subjek penelitian ini terdiri dari satu orang guru kelas 1 SDN 2 Pungkit. Metode pengumpulan data dilakukan dengan cara observasi dan kajian literatur. Teknik analisis data dilakukan dalam empat tahapan yaitu, koleksi data, reduksi data, menyajikan data dan verifikasi atau kesimpulan. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa implementasi pendekatan PDIA dilaksanakan dalam lima tahapan yaitu, 1) eksplorasi, 2) sintesis, 3) perancangan, 4) coba gagasan, 5) kaji ulang. Hasilnya menunjukkan bahwa pendekatan PDIA mampu membuat siswa lebih aktif melalui pemanfaatan media konkrit dan metode diskusi. Hasil lainnya juga menunjukkan bahwa hasil belajar semua siswa tuntas terhadap KKM.

WHAT THE FUTURE MIGHT HOLD: DISTRIBUTIONS OF REGIONAL SECTORAL DAMAGES FOR THE UNITED STATES — ESTIMATES AND MAPS IN AN EXHIBITION

The text and associated Supplemental Materials contribute internally consistent and therefore entirely comparable regional, temporal, and sectoral risk profiles to a growing literature on regional economic vulnerability to climate change. A large collection of maps populated with graphs of Monte-Carlo simulation results support a communication device in this regard — a convenient visual that we hope will make comparative results tractable and credible and resource allocation decisions more transparent. Since responding to climate change is a risk-management problem, it is important to note that these results address both sides of the risk calculation. They characterize likelihood distributions along four alternative emissions futures (thereby reflecting the mitigation side context); and they characterize consequences along these transient trajectories (which can thereby inform planning for the iterative adaptation side). Looking across the abundance of sectors that are potentially vulnerable to some of the manifestations of climate change, the maps therefore hold the potential of providing comparative information about the magnitude, timing, and regional location of relative risks. This is exactly the information that planners who work to protect property and public welfare by allocating scarce resources across competing venues need to have at their disposal — information about relative vulnerabilities across time and space and contingent on future emissions and future mitigation. It is also the type of information that integrated assessment researchers need to calibrate and update their modeling efforts — scholars who are exemplified by Professor Nordhaus who created and exercised the Dynamic Integrated Climate-Economy and Regional Integrated Climate-Economy models.

A Comparative Study of Continuum and Structural Modelling Approaches to Simulate Bone Adaptation in the Pelvic Construct

This study presents the development of a number of finite element (FE) models of the pelvis using different continuum and structural modelling approaches. Four FE models were developed using different modelling approaches: continuum isotropic, continuum orthotropic, hybrid isotropic and hybrid orthotropic. The models were subjected to an iterative adaptation process based on the Mechanostat principle. Each model was adapted to a number of common daily living activities (walking, stair ascent, stair descent, sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit) by applying onto it joint and muscle loads derived using a musculoskeletal modelling framework. The resulting models, along with a structural model previously developed by the authors, were compared visually in terms of bone architecture, and their response to a single load case was compared to a continuum FE model derived from computed tomography (CT) imaging data. The main findings of this study were that the continuum orthotropic model was the closest to the CT derived model in terms of load response albeit having less total bone volume, suggesting that the role of material directionality in influencing the maximum orthotropic Young’s modulus should be included in continuum bone adaptation models. In addition, the hybrid models, where trabecular and cortical bone were distinguished, had similar outcomes, suggesting that the approach to modelling trabecular bone is less influential when the cortex is modelled separately.

A Comparative Study of Continuum and Structural Modelling Approaches to Simulate Bone Adaptation in the Pelvic Construct

This study presents the development of a number of finite element (FE) models of the pelvis using different continuum and structural modelling approaches. Four FE models were developed using different modelling approaches: continuum isotropic, continuum orthotropic, hybrid isotropic and hybrid orthotropic. The models were subjected to an iterative adaptation process based on the Mechanostat principle. Each model was adapted to a number of common daily living activities (walking, stair ascent, stair descent, sit-to-stand and stand-to-sit) by applying onto it joint and muscle loads derived using a musculoskeletal modelling framework. The resulting models, along with a structural model previously developed by the authors, were compared visually in terms of bone architecture, and their response to a single load case was compared to a continuum FE model derived from CT imaging data. The main findings of this study were that the continuum orthotropic model was the closest to the CT derived model in terms of load response albeit having less total bone volume, suggesting that the role of material directionality in influencing the maximum orthotropic Young's modulus should be included in continuum bone adaptation models. In addition, the hybrid models, where trabecular and cortical bone were distinguished, had similar outcomes, suggesting that the approach to modelling trabecular bone is less influential when the cortex is modelled separately.