NLAs

NLAs is an acronym used in different domains to denote unrelated ideas or groups. The meaning depends on context and field of use.

In technology, NLAs commonly refer to nonlinear activation functions in neural networks. These functions introduce nonlinearity to networks, enabling them to model complex patterns. Examples include rectified linear units (ReLU) and sigmoid or tanh activations, which contrast with linear transformations to expand representational capacity.

In political history, NLAs is an anglicized abbreviation for National Liberation Army, the name used by several insurgent or rebel groups. The most widely cited instance is the National Liberation Army active during the 2001 conflict in the Republic of Macedonia (now North Macedonia), composed largely of ethnic Albanian fighters, which participated in a peace process leading to the Ohrid Framework Agreement.

In the library sector, NLAs can denote national library associations—federations or coalitions of national libraries or professional bodies that coordinate standards, advocacy, and professional development at a national level.

Because NLAs have different meanings across fields, the intended sense is usually clear from context. When in doubt, it is helpful to check accompanying terms or sources to resolve ambiguity.