The Bayesian paradigm apparently only sometimes gives rise to Occam’s Razor; at other times very large models perform well. We give simple examples of both kinds of behaviour. The two views are reconciled when measuring complexity of functions, rather than of the machinery used to implement them. We analyze the complexity of functions for some linear in the parameter models that are equivalent ...

INTRODUCTION When a surgical operation is to be conducted through a hair bearing part of the body, hair removal is often performed. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship of two methods of preoperative hair removal to postoperative wound infection in a developing country where razor shaving is very popular. METHODOLOGY Consecutive consenting patients scheduled to have such operations w...

Both in learning and in natural science, one faces the problem of selecting among a range of theories, all of which are compatible with the available evidence. The traditional response to this problem has been to select the simplest such theory on the basis of “Ockham’s Razor”. But how can a fixed bias toward simplicity help us find possibly complex truths? I survey the current, textbook answer...

This study examined the effectiveness of a functional hamstring training exercise, the razor curl on conditioning the hamstring and gluteal musculature. Eight healthy, female intercollegiate athletes participated (mean age 20.8 +/- 3.9 years; mean height, 177.8 +/- 10.9 cm; mean weight, 67.3 +/- 9.9 kg). Electromyographic (EMG) data were collected on the following muscles: medial hamstring (sem...

Occam’s razor states that out of possible explanations, plans, and designs, we should select the simplest one. It turns out that in many practical situations, the simplest explanation indeed turns out to be the correct one, the simplest plan is often the most successful, etc. But why this happens is not very clear. In this paper, we provide a simple geometric explanation of Occam’s razor. 1 For...

Several methods that eliminate timing margins by detecting and correcting transient delay errors have been proposed [1-5]. These Razor-style systems replace critical flip-flops with ones that detect late arriving signals, and use architectural replay to correct errors. However, none of these methods have been applied to a complete commercial processor due to their architectural invasiveness. In...

Occam's razor, attributed to the fourteenth century English philosopher William of Occam, states: “plurality should not be assumed without necessity.” The machine learning interpretation of Occam’s razor is that if two models have the same performance on the training set, choose the simpler. Decision tree learning widely uses Occam’s razor. Popular decision tree generating algorithms are based ...

background: marine pollution is a global environmental problem that its monitoring by ideal biomonitors is of great importance. marine organisms, especially mussels, have the ability to accumulate metals from the environment they can be considered as a biomonitoring agent. methods: in this study, concentrations of heavy metals were measured in saccostrea cucullata collected from seven sites on ...

this research was conducted to evaluate the possibility using peanut shells compost as a suitable medium in cultivating ornamental plants. effect of peanut shells composts on the growth of viola tricolor and marigold was investigated during seven months. peat + perlite (with a ratio of 2:1) used as control treatment and peat replaced by 25, 50, 75 and 100 % v/v of peanut shells compost. plant g...