BACKGROUND The fast growth of global health initiatives (GHIs) has raised concerns regarding achievement of coherence and synergy among distinct, complementary and sometimes competing activities. Herein, we propose an approach to compare GHIs with regard to their main purpose and operational aspects, using the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR/WHO) as a case ...

We propose a class of benchmarks for edge detector evaluation that require no ground truth. Each benchmark consists of a large number of images of a carefully designed scene for which we enforce a constraint on the edges, for example, that they are co-linear. We sample the space of edge appearances as densely as possible by capturing the images under widely varying imaging conditions. Not only ...

Numerical evidence is presented of a coherence-resonant behavior, induced on an atmospheric global circulation model by a white (in time and space) additive Gaussian noise with amplitude A << 1 . Intermediate A values enhance the spatiotemporal regularity of vortical patterns that contribute to the intra-annual variability of the atmospheric component of the climate. Only weak patterns (those a...

We present a model for discourse coherence which combines the local entitybased approach of (Barzilay and Lapata, 2005) and the HMM-based content model of (Barzilay and Lee, 2004). Unlike the mixture model of (Soricut and Marcu, 2006), we learn local and global features jointly, providing a better theoretical explanation of how they are useful. As the local component of our model we adapt (Barz...

We present a joint model for predicate argument alignment. We leverage multiple sources of semantic information, including temporal ordering constraints between events. These are combined in a max-margin framework to find a globally consistent view of entities and events across multiple documents, which leads to improvements over a very strong local baseline.

In this paper, we propose a generalization of Centering Theory (CT) (Grosz, Joshi, Weinstein (1995)) called Veins Theory (VT), which extends the applicability of centering rules from local to global discourse. A key facet of the theory involves the identification of <> over discourse structure trees such as those defined in RST, which delimit domains of referential accessibility for each...

Paul Thagard (1989t) presents an interesting and important theoretical account of choosing between hypotheses in scientific and everyday domains, describing a network model, ECHO, which aims to embody these ideas. Thagard's integration of philosophical, psychological, and computational considerations is impressive in its breadth, theoretical rigor, and conceptual simplicity. It is a compelling ...

Recent evidence suggests that normal aging is typically accompanied by impairment in the ability to perceive the global (overall) motion of visual objects in the world. The purpose of this study was to examine the interplay between age-related changes in the ability to perceive translational global motion (up vs. down) and important factors such as the spatial extent (size) over which movement ...

Recurrent neural networks can generate locally coherent text but often have difficulties representing what has already been generated and what still needs to be said – especially when constructing long texts. We present the neural checklist model, a recurrent neural network that models global coherence by storing and updating an agenda of text strings which should be mentioned somewhere in the ...

Background: Sense of coherence (SOC) is defined as a global orientation based on a person’s confidence that stimuli are structured and predictable, the resources needed to meet these demands are available, and these demands are seen as challenges, worthy of investment, and engagement. The SOC scale is an instrument measuring how people manage stressful situations and stay well. We aimed to asse...