A very commonly faced issue while training prediction models using machine learning is overfitting. Dropout is a recently developed technique designed to counter this issue in deep neural networks and has also been extended to other algorithms like SVMs. In this project, we formulate and study the application of Dropout to Hidden Unit Conditional Random Fields (HUCRFs). HUCRFs use binary stocha...

Many psychology applications assess measurement invariance of a construct (e.g., depression) over time. These applications are often characterized by few time points (e.g., 3), but high rates of dropout. Although such applications routinely assume that the dropout mechanism is ignorable, this assumption may not always be reasonable. In the presence of nonignorable dropout, fitting a conventiona...

We investigate a local reparameterizaton technique for greatly reducing the variance of stochastic gradients for variational Bayesian inference (SGVB) of a posterior over model parameters, while retaining parallelizability. This local reparameterization translates uncertainty about global parameters into local noise that is independent across datapoints in the minibatch. Such parameterizations ...

Informative dropout is a vexing problem for any biomedical study. Most existing statistical methods attempt to correct estimation bias related to this phenomenon by specifying unverifiable assumptions about the dropout mechanism. We consider a cohort study in Africa that uses an outreach program to ascertain the vital status for dropout subjects. These data can be used to identify a number of r...

A large percentage of individuals who enter residential substance abuse treatment drop out before completing treatment. Given that early treatment dropout places individuals at an increased risk for relapse, identifying the mechanisms underlying treatment dropout would have several important theoretical and clinical implications. In the current study, the authors examined levels of psychologica...

Backgrounds/Aims Liver Transplantation (LT) is a recognized treatment for Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC). The role of Bridging Therapies (BT) remains controversial. Methods From January 2001 to October 2012, 192 patients were referred to the National University Hospital, Singapore for consideration of LT for HCC. Sixty-five patients (33.8%) were found suitable for transplant and were placed o...

School dropout and child marriage are interrelated outcomes that have an enormous impact on adolescent girls. However, the literature reveals gaps in the empirical evidence on the link between child marriage and the dropout of girls from school. This study identifies the 'tipping point' school grades in Nepal when the risk of dropout due to marriage is highest, measures the effect of child marr...