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1111.0907
Towards Analyzing Crossover Operators in Evolutionary Search via General Markov Chain Switching Theorem
cs.NE
Evolutionary algorithms (EAs), simulating the evolution process of natural species, are used to solve optimization problems. Crossover (also called recombination), originated from simulating the chromosome exchange phenomena in zoogamy reproduction, is widely employed in EAs to generate offspring solutions, of which the effectiveness has been examined empirically in applications. However, due to the irregularity of crossover operators and the complicated interactions to mutation, crossover operators are hard to analyze and thus have few theoretical results. Therefore, analyzing crossover not only helps in understanding EAs, but also helps in developing novel techniques for analyzing sophisticated metaheuristic algorithms. In this paper, we derive the General Markov Chain Switching Theorem (GMCST) to facilitate theoretical studies of crossover-enabled EAs. The theorem allows us to analyze the running time of a sophisticated EA from an easy-to-analyze EA. Using this tool, we analyze EAs with several crossover operators on the LeadingOnes and OneMax problems, which are noticeably two well studied problems for mutation-only EAs but with few results for crossover-enabled EAs. We first derive the bounds of running time of the (2+2)-EA with crossover operators; then we study the running time gap between the mutation-only (2:2)-EA and the (2:2)-EA with crossover operators; finally, we develop strategies that apply crossover operators only when necessary, which improve from the mutation-only as well as the crossover-all-the-time (2:2)-EA. The theoretical results are verified by experiments.
1111.0920
Extracting spatial information from networks with low-order eigenvectors
cs.SI physics.soc-ph
We consider the problem of inferring meaningful spatial information in networks from incomplete information on the connection intensity between the nodes of the network. We consider two spatially distributed networks: a population migration flow network within the US, and a network of mobile phone calls between cities in Belgium. For both networks we use the eigenvectors of the Laplacian matrix constructed from the link intensities to obtain informative visualizations and capture natural geographical subdivisions. We observe that some low order eigenvectors localize very well and seem to reveal small geographically cohesive regions that match remarkably well with political and administrative boundaries. We discuss possible explanations for this observation by describing diffusion maps and localized eigenfunctions. In addition, we discuss a possible connection with the weighted graph cut problem, and provide numerical evidence supporting the idea that lower order eigenvectors point out local cuts in the network. However, we do not provide a formal and rigorous justification for our observations.
1111.0952
Computing a Nonnegative Matrix Factorization -- Provably
cs.DS cs.LG
In the Nonnegative Matrix Factorization (NMF) problem we are given an $n \times m$ nonnegative matrix $M$ and an integer $r > 0$. Our goal is to express $M$ as $A W$ where $A$ and $W$ are nonnegative matrices of size $n \times r$ and $r \times m$ respectively. In some applications, it makes sense to ask instead for the product $AW$ to approximate $M$ -- i.e. (approximately) minimize $\norm{M - AW}_F$ where $\norm{}_F$ denotes the Frobenius norm; we refer to this as Approximate NMF. This problem has a rich history spanning quantum mechanics, probability theory, data analysis, polyhedral combinatorics, communication complexity, demography, chemometrics, etc. In the past decade NMF has become enormously popular in machine learning, where $A$ and $W$ are computed using a variety of local search heuristics. Vavasis proved that this problem is NP-complete. We initiate a study of when this problem is solvable in polynomial time: 1. We give a polynomial-time algorithm for exact and approximate NMF for every constant $r$. Indeed NMF is most interesting in applications precisely when $r$ is small. 2. We complement this with a hardness result, that if exact NMF can be solved in time $(nm)^{o(r)}$, 3-SAT has a sub-exponential time algorithm. This rules out substantial improvements to the above algorithm. 3. We give an algorithm that runs in time polynomial in $n$, $m$ and $r$ under the separablity condition identified by Donoho and Stodden in 2003. The algorithm may be practical since it is simple and noise tolerant (under benign assumptions). Separability is believed to hold in many practical settings. To the best of our knowledge, this last result is the first example of a polynomial-time algorithm that provably works under a non-trivial condition on the input and we believe that this will be an interesting and important direction for future work.
1111.1014
Sparsity and Robustness in Face Recognition
cs.CV
This report concerns the use of techniques for sparse signal representation and sparse error correction for automatic face recognition. Much of the recent interest in these techniques comes from the paper "Robust Face Recognition via Sparse Representation" by Wright et al. (2009), which showed how, under certain technical conditions, one could cast the face recognition problem as one of seeking a sparse representation of a given input face image in terms of a "dictionary" of training images and images of individual pixels. In this report, we have attempted to clarify some frequently encountered questions about this work and particularly, on the validity of using sparse representation techniques for face recognition.
1111.1020
Stochastic Belief Propagation: A Low-Complexity Alternative to the Sum-Product Algorithm
cs.IT math.IT stat.ML
The sum-product or belief propagation (BP) algorithm is a widely-used message-passing algorithm for computing marginal distributions in graphical models with discrete variables. At the core of the BP message updates, when applied to a graphical model with pairwise interactions, lies a matrix-vector product with complexity that is quadratic in the state dimension $d$, and requires transmission of a $(d-1)$-dimensional vector of real numbers (messages) to its neighbors. Since various applications involve very large state dimensions, such computation and communication complexities can be prohibitively complex. In this paper, we propose a low-complexity variant of BP, referred to as stochastic belief propagation (SBP). As suggested by the name, it is an adaptively randomized version of the BP message updates in which each node passes randomly chosen information to each of its neighbors. The SBP message updates reduce the computational complexity (per iteration) from quadratic to linear in $d$, without assuming any particular structure of the potentials, and also reduce the communication complexity significantly, requiring only $\log{d}$ bits transmission per edge. Moreover, we establish a number of theoretical guarantees for the performance of SBP, showing that it converges almost surely to the BP fixed point for any tree-structured graph, and for graphs with cycles satisfying a contractivity condition. In addition, for these graphical models, we provide non-asymptotic upper bounds on the convergence rate, showing that the $\ell_{\infty}$ norm of the error vector decays no slower than $O(1/\sqrt{t})$ with the number of iterations $t$ on trees and the mean square error decays as $O(1/t)$ for general graphs. These analysis show that SBP can provably yield reductions in computational and communication complexities for various classes of graphical models.
1111.1041
Accurate Prediction of Phase Transitions in Compressed Sensing via a Connection to Minimax Denoising
cs.IT math.IT math.ST stat.TH
Compressed sensing posits that, within limits, one can undersample a sparse signal and yet reconstruct it accurately. Knowing the precise limits to such undersampling is important both for theory and practice. We present a formula that characterizes the allowed undersampling of generalized sparse objects. The formula applies to Approximate Message Passing (AMP) algorithms for compressed sensing, which are here generalized to employ denoising operators besides the traditional scalar soft thresholding denoiser. This paper gives several examples including scalar denoisers not derived from convex penalization -- the firm shrinkage nonlinearity and the minimax nonlinearity -- and also nonscalar denoisers -- block thresholding, monotone regression, and total variation minimization. Let the variables eps = k/N and delta = n/N denote the generalized sparsity and undersampling fractions for sampling the k-generalized-sparse N-vector x_0 according to y=Ax_0. Here A is an n\times N measurement matrix whose entries are iid standard Gaussian. The formula states that the phase transition curve delta = delta(eps) separating successful from unsuccessful reconstruction of x_0 by AMP is given by: delta = M(eps| Denoiser), where M(eps| Denoiser) denotes the per-coordinate minimax mean squared error (MSE) of the specified, optimally-tuned denoiser in the directly observed problem y = x + z. In short, the phase transition of a noiseless undersampling problem is identical to the minimax MSE in a denoising problem.
1111.1048
Achievable and Crystallized Rate Regions of the Interference Channel with Interference as Noise
cs.IT math.IT
The interference channel achievable rate region is presented when the interference is treated as noise. The formulation starts with the 2-user channel, and then extends the results to the n-user case. The rate region is found to be the convex hull of the union of n power control rate regions, where each power control rate region is upperbounded by a (n-1)-dimensional hyper-surface characterized by having one of the transmitters transmitting at full power. The convex hull operation lends itself to a time-sharing operation depending on the convexity behavior of those hyper-surfaces. In order to know when to use time-sharing rather than power control, the paper studies the hyper-surfaces convexity behavior in details for the 2-user channel with specific results pertaining to the symmetric channel. It is observed that most of the achievable rate region can be covered by using simple On/Off binary power control in conjunction with time-sharing. The binary power control creates several corner points in the n-dimensional space. The crystallized rate region, named after its resulting crystal shape, is hence presented as the time-sharing convex hull imposed onto those corner points; thereby offering a viable new perspective of looking at the achievable rate region of the interference channel.
1111.1051
Multiuser Diversity in Interfering Broadcast Channels: Achievable Degrees of Freedom and User Scaling Law
cs.IT math.IT
This paper investigates how multiuser dimensions can effectively be exploited for target degrees of freedom (DoF) in interfering broadcast channels (IBC) consisting of K-transmitters and their user groups. First, each transmitter is assumed to have a single antenna and serve a singe user in its user group where each user has receive antennas less than K. In this case, a K-transmitter single-input multiple-output (SIMO) interference channel (IC) is constituted after user selection. Without help of multiuser diversity, K-1 interfering signals cannot be perfectly removed at each user since the number of receive antennas is smaller than or equal to the number of interferers. Only with proper user selection, non-zero DoF per transmitter is achievable as the number of users increases. Through geometric interpretation of interfering channels, we show that the multiuser dimensions have to be used first for reducing the DoF loss caused by the interfering signals, and then have to be used for increasing the DoF gain from its own signal. The sufficient number of users for the target DoF is derived. We also discuss how the optimal strategy of exploiting multiuser diversity can be realized by practical user selection schemes. Finally, the single transmit antenna case is extended to the multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) IBC where each transmitter with multiple antennas serves multiple users.
1111.1053
Modelling and Performance analysis of a Network of Chemical Sensors with Dynamic Collaboration
cs.SI physics.soc-ph
The problem of environmental monitoring using a wireless network of chemical sensors with a limited energy supply is considered. Since the conventional chemical sensors in active mode consume vast amounts of energy, an optimisation problem arises in the context of a balance between the energy consumption and the detection capabilities of such a network. A protocol based on "dynamic sensor collaboration" is employed: in the absence of any pollutant, majority of sensors are in the sleep (passive) mode; a sensor is invoked (activated) by wake-up messages from its neighbors only when more information is required. The paper proposes a mathematical model of a network of chemical sensors using this protocol. The model provides valuable insights into the network behavior and near optimal capacity design (energy consumption against detection). An analytical model of the environment, using turbulent mixing to capture chaotic fluctuations, intermittency and non-homogeneity of the pollutant distribution, is employed in the study. A binary model of a chemical sensor is assumed (a device with threshold detection). The outcome of the study is a set of simple analytical tools for sensor network design, optimisation, and performance analysis.
1111.1090
A robust, low-cost approach to Face Detection and Face Recognition
cs.CV cs.CR eess.IV
In the domain of Biometrics, recognition systems based on iris, fingerprint or palm print scans etc. are often considered more dependable due to extremely low variance in the properties of these entities with respect to time. However, over the last decade data processing capability of computers has increased manifold, which has made real-time video content analysis possible. This shows that the need of the hour is a robust and highly automated Face Detection and Recognition algorithm with credible accuracy rate. The proposed Face Detection and Recognition system using Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) accepts face frames as input from a database containing images from low cost devices such as VGA cameras, webcams or even CCTV's, where image quality is inferior. Face region is then detected using properties of L*a*b* color space and only Frontal Face is extracted such that all additional background is eliminated. Further, this extracted image is converted to grayscale and its dimensions are resized to 128 x 128 pixels. DWT is then applied to entire image to obtain the coefficients. Recognition is carried out by comparison of the DWT coefficients belonging to the test image with those of the registered reference image. On comparison, Euclidean distance classifier is deployed to validate the test image from the database. Accuracy for various levels of DWT Decomposition is obtained and hence, compared.
1111.1093
Securing Biometric Images using Reversible Watermarking
cs.CV cs.IR
Biometric security is a fast growing area. Protecting biometric data is very important since it can be misused by attackers. In order to increase security of biometric data there are different methods in which watermarking is widely accepted. A more acceptable, new important development in this area is reversible watermarking in which the original image can be completely restored and the watermark can be retrieved. But reversible watermarking in biometrics is an understudied area. Reversible watermarking maintains high quality of biometric data. This paper proposes Rotational Replacement of LSB as a reversible watermarking scheme for biometric images. PSNR is the regular method used for quality measurement of biometric data. In this paper we also show that SSIM Index is a better alternate for effective quality assessment for reversible watermarked biometric data by comparing with the well known reversible watermarking scheme using Difference Expansion.
1111.1094
On Three Challenges of Artificial Living Systems and Embodied Evolution
cs.RO cs.ET
Creating autonomous, self-supporting, self-replicating, sustainable systems is a great challenge. To some extent, understanding life means not only being able to create it from scratch, but also improving, supporting, saving it, or even making it even more advanced. This can be thought of as a long-term goal of living technologies and embodied evolution. Current research agenda targets several short- and middle-term steps towards achieving such a vision: connection of ICT and bio-/chemo- developments, advances in "soft" and "wet" robotics, integration of material science into developmental robotics, and potentially, addressing the self-replication in autonomous systems.
1111.1124
Tight Bounds on Proper Equivalence Query Learning of DNF
cs.LG cs.CC
We prove a new structural lemma for partial Boolean functions $f$, which we call the seed lemma for DNF. Using the lemma, we give the first subexponential algorithm for proper learning of DNF in Angluin's Equivalence Query (EQ) model. The algorithm has time and query complexity $2^{(\tilde{O}{\sqrt{n}})}$, which is optimal. We also give a new result on certificates for DNF-size, a simple algorithm for properly PAC-learning DNF, and new results on EQ-learning $\log n$-term DNF and decision trees.
1111.1136
Universal MMSE Filtering With Logarithmic Adaptive Regret
cs.LG cs.IT math.IT
We consider the problem of online estimation of a real-valued signal corrupted by oblivious zero-mean noise using linear estimators. The estimator is required to iteratively predict the underlying signal based on the current and several last noisy observations, and its performance is measured by the mean-square-error. We describe and analyze an algorithm for this task which: 1. Achieves logarithmic adaptive regret against the best linear filter in hindsight. This bound is assyptotically tight, and resolves the question of Moon and Weissman [1]. 2. Runs in linear time in terms of the number of filter coefficients. Previous constructions required at least quadratic time.
1111.1144
The State-Dependent Semideterministic Broadcast Channel
cs.IT math.IT
We derive the capacity region of the state-dependent semideterministic broadcast channel with noncausal state-information at the transmitter. One of the two outputs of this channel is a deterministic function of the channel input and the channel state, and the state is assumed to be known noncausally to the transmitter but not to the receivers. We show that appending the state to the deterministic output does not increase capacity. We also derive an outer bound on the capacity of general (not necessarily semideterministic) state-dependent broadcast channels.
1111.1162
The degrees of freedom of the Lasso for general design matrix
math.ST cs.IT math.IT stat.TH
In this paper, we investigate the degrees of freedom ($\dof$) of penalized $\ell_1$ minimization (also known as the Lasso) for linear regression models. We give a closed-form expression of the $\dof$ of the Lasso response. Namely, we show that for any given Lasso regularization parameter $\lambda$ and any observed data $y$ belonging to a set of full (Lebesgue) measure, the cardinality of the support of a particular solution of the Lasso problem is an unbiased estimator of the degrees of freedom. This is achieved without the need of uniqueness of the Lasso solution. Thus, our result holds true for both the underdetermined and the overdetermined case, where the latter was originally studied in \cite{zou}. We also show, by providing a simple counterexample, that although the $\dof$ theorem of \cite{zou} is correct, their proof contains a flaw since their divergence formula holds on a different set of a full measure than the one that they claim. An effective estimator of the number of degrees of freedom may have several applications including an objectively guided choice of the regularization parameter in the Lasso through the $\sure$ framework. Our theoretical findings are illustrated through several numerical simulations.
1111.1191
Constant Envelope Precoding for Power-Efficient Downlink Wireless Communication in Multi-User MIMO Systems Using Large Antenna Arrays
cs.IT math.IT
We consider downlink cellular multi-user communication between a base station (BS) having N antennas and M single-antenna users, i.e., an N X M Gaussian Broadcast Channel (GBC). Under an average only total transmit power constraint (APC), large antenna arrays at the BS (having tens to a few hundred antennas) have been recently shown to achieve remarkable multi-user interference (MUI) suppression with simple precoding techniques. However, building large arrays in practice, would require cheap/power-efficient Radio-Frequency(RF) electronic components. The type of transmitted signal that facilitates the use of most power-efficient RF components is a constant envelope (CE) signal. Under certain mild channel conditions (including i.i.d. fading), we analytically show that, even under the stringent per-antenna CE transmission constraint (compared to APC), MUI suppression can still be achieved with large antenna arrays. Our analysis also reveals that, with a fixed M and increasing N, the total transmitted power can be reduced while maintaining a constant signal-to-interference-noise-ratio (SINR) level at each user. We also propose a novel low-complexity CE precoding scheme, using which, we confirm our analytical observations for the i.i.d. Rayleigh fading channel, through Monte-Carlo simulations. Simulation of the information sum-rate under the per-antenna CE constraint, shows that, for a fixed M and a fixed desired sum-rate, the required total transmit power decreases linearly with increasing N, i.e., an O(N) array power gain. Also, in terms of the total transmit power required to achieve a fixed desired information sum-rate, despite the stringent per-antenna CE constraint, the proposed CE precoding scheme performs close to the GBC sum-capacity (under APC) achieving scheme.
1111.1227
More Voices Than Ever? Quantifying Media Bias in Networks
cs.SI cs.CY physics.soc-ph
Social media, such as blogs, are often seen as democratic entities that allow more voices to be heard than the conventional mass or elite media. Some also feel that social media exhibits a balancing force against the arguably slanted elite media. A systematic comparison between social and mainstream media is necessary but challenging due to the scale and dynamic nature of modern communication. Here we propose empirical measures to quantify the extent and dynamics of social (blog) and mainstream (news) media bias. We focus on a particular form of bias---coverage quantity---as applied to stories about the 111th US Congress. We compare observed coverage of Members of Congress against a null model of unbiased coverage, testing for biases with respect to political party, popular front runners, regions of the country, and more. Our measures suggest distinct characteristics in news and blog media. A simple generative model, in agreement with data, reveals differences in the process of coverage selection between the two media.
1111.1311
Covariant fractional extension of the modified Laplace-operator used in 3D-shape recovery
cs.CV
Extending the Liouville-Caputo definition of a fractional derivative to a nonlocal covariant generalization of arbitrary bound operators acting on multidimensional Riemannian spaces an appropriate approach for the 3D shape recovery of aperture afflicted 2D slide sequences is proposed. We demonstrate, that the step from a local to a nonlocal algorithm yields an order of magnitude in accuracy and by using the specific fractional approach an additional factor 2 in accuracy of the derived results.
1111.1315
Nonparametric Bayesian Estimation of Periodic Functions
cs.LG astro-ph.IM
Many real world problems exhibit patterns that have periodic behavior. For example, in astrophysics, periodic variable stars play a pivotal role in understanding our universe. An important step when analyzing data from such processes is the problem of identifying the period: estimating the period of a periodic function based on noisy observations made at irregularly spaced time points. This problem is still a difficult challenge despite extensive study in different disciplines. The paper makes several contributions toward solving this problem. First, we present a nonparametric Bayesian model for period finding, based on Gaussian Processes (GP), that does not make strong assumptions on the shape of the periodic function. As our experiments demonstrate, the new model leads to significantly better results in period estimation when the target function is non-sinusoidal. Second, we develop a new algorithm for parameter optimization for GP which is useful when the likelihood function is very sensitive to the setting of the hyper-parameters with numerous local minima, as in the case of period estimation. The algorithm combines gradient optimization with grid search and incorporates several mechanisms to overcome the high complexity of inference with GP. Third, we develop a novel approach for using domain knowledge, in the form of a probabilistic generative model, and incorporate it into the period estimation algorithm. Experimental results on astrophysics data validate our approach showing significant improvement over the state of the art in this domain.
1111.1321
MIVAR: Transition from Productions to Bipartite Graphs MIVAR Nets and Practical Realization of Automated Constructor of Algorithms Handling More than Three Million Production Rules
cs.AI
The theoretical transition from the graphs of production systems to the bipartite graphs of the MIVAR nets is shown. Examples of the implementation of the MIVAR nets in the formalisms of matrixes and graphs are given. The linear computational complexity of algorithms for automated building of objects and rules of the MIVAR nets is theoretically proved. On the basis of the MIVAR nets the UDAV software complex is developed, handling more than 1.17 million objects and more than 3.5 million rules on ordinary computers. The results of experiments that confirm a linear computational complexity of the MIVAR method of information processing are given. Keywords: MIVAR, MIVAR net, logical inference, computational complexity, artificial intelligence, intelligent systems, expert systems, General Problem Solver.
1111.1347
Wyner-Ziv Coding Based on Multidimensional Nested Lattices
cs.IT math.IT
Distributed source coding (DSC) addresses the compression of correlated sources without communication links among them. This paper is concerned with the Wyner-Ziv problem: coding of an information source with side information available only at the decoder in the form of a noisy version of the source. Both the theoretical analysis and code design are addressed in the framework of multi-dimensional nested lattice coding (NLC). For theoretical analysis, accurate computation of the rate-distortion function is given under the high-resolution assumption, and a new upper bound using the derivative of the theta series is derived. For practical code design, several techniques with low complexity are proposed. Compared to the existing Slepian-Wolf coded nested quantization (SWC-NQ) for Wyner-Ziv coding based on one or two-dimensional lattices, our proposed multi-dimensional NLC can offer better performance at arguably lower complexity, since it does not require the second stage of Slepian-Wolf coding.
1111.1353
An efficient implementation of the simulated annealing heuristic for the quadratic assignment problem
cs.NE
The quadratic assignment problem (QAP) is one of the most difficult combinatorial optimization problems. One of the most powerful and commonly used heuristics to obtain approximations to the optimal solution of the QAP is simulated annealing (SA). We present an efficient implementation of the SA heuristic which performs more than 100 times faster then existing implementations for large problem sizes and a large number of SA iterations.
1111.1365
Co-community Structure in Time-varying Networks
physics.soc-ph cond-mat.stat-mech cs.SI nlin.AO
In this report, we introduce the concept of co-community structure in time-varying networks. We propose a novel optimization algorithm to rapidly detect co-community structure in these networks. Both theoretical and numerical results show that the proposed method not only can resolve detailed co-communities, but also can effectively identify the dynamical phenomena in these networks.
1111.1373
Speculative Parallel Evaluation Of Classification Trees On GPGPU Compute Engines
cs.DC cs.CV
We examine the problem of optimizing classification tree evaluation for on-line and real-time applications by using GPUs. Looking at trees with continuous attributes often used in image segmentation, we first put the existing algorithms for serial and data-parallel evaluation on solid footings. We then introduce a speculative parallel algorithm designed for single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) architectures commonly found in GPUs. A theoretical analysis shows how the run times of data and speculative decompositions compare assuming independent processors. To compare the algorithms in the SIMD environment, we implement both on a CUDA 2.0 architecture machine and compare timings to a serial CPU implementation. Various optimizations and their effects are discussed, and results are given for all algorithms. Our specific tests show a speculative algorithm improves run time by 25% compared to a data decomposition.
1111.1386
Confidence Estimation in Structured Prediction
cs.LG
Structured classification tasks such as sequence labeling and dependency parsing have seen much interest by the Natural Language Processing and the machine learning communities. Several online learning algorithms were adapted for structured tasks such as Perceptron, Passive- Aggressive and the recently introduced Confidence-Weighted learning . These online algorithms are easy to implement, fast to train and yield state-of-the-art performance. However, unlike probabilistic models like Hidden Markov Model and Conditional random fields, these methods generate models that output merely a prediction with no additional information regarding confidence in the correctness of the output. In this work we fill the gap proposing few alternatives to compute the confidence in the output of non-probabilistic algorithms.We show how to compute confidence estimates in the prediction such that the confidence reflects the probability that the word is labeled correctly. We then show how to use our methods to detect mislabeled words, trade recall for precision and active learning. We evaluate our methods on four noun-phrase chunking and named entity recognition sequence labeling tasks, and on dependency parsing for 14 languages.
1111.1396
Improving the Thresholds of Sparse Recovery: An Analysis of a Two-Step Reweighted Basis Pursuit Algorithm
cs.IT math.IT
It is well known that $\ell_1$ minimization can be used to recover sufficiently sparse unknown signals from compressed linear measurements. In fact, exact thresholds on the sparsity, as a function of the ratio between the system dimensions, so that with high probability almost all sparse signals can be recovered from i.i.d. Gaussian measurements, have been computed and are referred to as "weak thresholds" \cite{D}. In this paper, we introduce a reweighted $\ell_1$ recovery algorithm composed of two steps: a standard $\ell_1$ minimization step to identify a set of entries where the signal is likely to reside, and a weighted $\ell_1$ minimization step where entries outside this set are penalized. For signals where the non-sparse component entries are independent and identically drawn from certain classes of distributions, (including most well known continuous distributions), we prove a \emph{strict} improvement in the weak recovery threshold. Our analysis suggests that the level of improvement in the weak threshold depends on the behavior of the distribution at the origin. Numerical simulations verify the distribution dependence of the threshold improvement very well, and suggest that in the case of i.i.d. Gaussian nonzero entries, the improvement can be quite impressive---over 20% in the example we consider.
1111.1414
Revisiting algorithms for generating surrogate time series
physics.data-an astro-ph.HE cs.CE nlin.CD
The method of surrogates is one of the key concepts of nonlinear data analysis. Here, we demonstrate that commonly used algorithms for generating surrogates often fail to generate truly linear time series. Rather, they create surrogate realizations with Fourier phase correlations leading to non-detections of nonlinearities. We argue that reliable surrogates can only be generated, if one tests separately for static and dynamic nonlinearities.
1111.1418
Efficient Nonparametric Conformal Prediction Regions
math.ST cs.LG stat.TH
We investigate and extend the conformal prediction method due to Vovk,Gammerman and Shafer (2005) to construct nonparametric prediction regions. These regions have guaranteed distribution free, finite sample coverage, without any assumptions on the distribution or the bandwidth. Explicit convergence rates of the loss function are established for such regions under standard regularity conditions. Approximations for simplifying implementation and data driven bandwidth selection methods are also discussed. The theoretical properties of our method are demonstrated through simulations.
1111.1422
Robust Interactive Learning
cs.LG
In this paper we propose and study a generalization of the standard active-learning model where a more general type of query, class conditional query, is allowed. Such queries have been quite useful in applications, but have been lacking theoretical understanding. In this work, we characterize the power of such queries under two well-known noise models. We give nearly tight upper and lower bounds on the number of queries needed to learn both for the general agnostic setting and for the bounded noise model. We further show that our methods can be made adaptive to the (unknown) noise rate, with only negligible loss in query complexity.
1111.1423
Face Recognition Using Discrete Cosine Transform for Global and Local Features
cs.CV cs.CR cs.IT math.IT
Face Recognition using Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) for Local and Global Features involves recognizing the corresponding face image from the database. The face image obtained from the user is cropped such that only the frontal face image is extracted, eliminating the background. The image is restricted to a size of 128 x 128 pixels. All images in the database are gray level images. DCT is applied to the entire image. This gives DCT coefficients, which are global features. Local features such as eyes, nose and mouth are also extracted and DCT is applied to these features. Depending upon the recognition rate obtained for each feature, they are given weightage and then combined. Both local and global features are used for comparison. By comparing the ranks for global and local features, the false acceptance rate for DCT can be minimized.
1111.1426
SLIQ: Simple Linear Inequalities for Efficient Contig Scaffolding
q-bio.GN cs.CE
Scaffolding is an important subproblem in "de novo" genome assembly in which mate pair data are used to construct a linear sequence of contigs separated by gaps. Here we present SLIQ, a set of simple linear inequalities derived from the geometry of contigs on the line that can be used to predict the relative positions and orientations of contigs from individual mate pair reads and thus produce a contig digraph. The SLIQ inequalities can also filter out unreliable mate pairs and can be used as a preprocessing step for any scaffolding algorithm. We tested the SLIQ inequalities on five real data sets ranging in complexity from simple bacterial genomes to complex mammalian genomes and compared the results to the majority voting procedure used by many other scaffolding algorithms. SLIQ predicted the relative positions and orientations of the contigs with high accuracy in all cases and gave more accurate position predictions than majority voting for complex genomes, in particular the human genome. Finally, we present a simple scaffolding algorithm that produces linear scaffolds given a contig digraph. We show that our algorithm is very efficient compared to other scaffolding algorithms while maintaining high accuracy in predicting both contig positions and orientations for real data sets.
1111.1432
Universal Lossless Data Compression Via Binary Decision Diagrams
cs.IT math.IT
A binary string of length $2^k$ induces the Boolean function of $k$ variables whose Shannon expansion is the given binary string. This Boolean function then is representable via a unique reduced ordered binary decision diagram (ROBDD). The given binary string is fully recoverable from this ROBDD. We exhibit a lossless data compression algorithm in which a binary string of length a power of two is compressed via compression of the ROBDD associated to it as described above. We show that when binary strings of length $n$ a power of two are compressed via this algorithm, the maximal pointwise redundancy/sample with respect to any s-state binary information source has the upper bound $(4\log_2s+16+o(1))/\log_2n $. To establish this result, we exploit a result of Liaw and Lin stating that the ROBDD representation of a Boolean function of $k$ variables contains a number of vertices on the order of $(2+o(1))2^{k}/k$.
1111.1461
Multimodal diff-hash
cs.CV
Many applications require comparing multimodal data with different structure and dimensionality that cannot be compared directly. Recently, there has been increasing interest in methods for learning and efficiently representing such multimodal similarity. In this paper, we present a simple algorithm for multimodal similarity-preserving hashing, trying to map multimodal data into the Hamming space while preserving the intra- and inter-modal similarities. We show that our method significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art method in the field.
1111.1486
Embedding Description Logic Programs into Default Logic
cs.AI
Description logic programs (dl-programs) under the answer set semantics formulated by Eiter {\em et al.} have been considered as a prominent formalism for integrating rules and ontology knowledge bases. A question of interest has been whether dl-programs can be captured in a general formalism of nonmonotonic logic. In this paper, we study the possibility of embedding dl-programs into default logic. We show that dl-programs under the strong and weak answer set semantics can be embedded in default logic by combining two translations, one of which eliminates the constraint operator from nonmonotonic dl-atoms and the other translates a dl-program into a default theory. For dl-programs without nonmonotonic dl-atoms but with the negation-as-failure operator, our embedding is polynomial, faithful, and modular. In addition, our default logic encoding can be extended in a simple way to capture recently proposed weakly well-supported answer set semantics, for arbitrary dl-programs. These results reinforce the argument that default logic can serve as a fruitful foundation for query-based approaches to integrating ontology and rules. With its simple syntax and intuitive semantics, plus available computational results, default logic can be considered an attractive approach to integration of ontology and rules.
1111.1492
The Gathering Problem for Two Oblivious Robots with Unreliable Compasses
cs.DC cs.DS cs.RO
Anonymous mobile robots are often classified into synchronous, semi-synchronous and asynchronous robots when discussing the pattern formation problem. For semi-synchronous robots, all patterns formable with memory are also formable without memory, with the single exception of forming a point (i.e., the gathering) by two robots. However, the gathering problem for two semi-synchronous robots without memory is trivially solvable when their local coordinate systems are consistent, and the impossibility proof essentially uses the inconsistencies in their coordinate systems. Motivated by this, this paper investigates the magnitude of consistency between the local coordinate systems necessary and sufficient to solve the gathering problem for two oblivious robots under semi-synchronous and asynchronous models. To discuss the magnitude of consistency, we assume that each robot is equipped with an unreliable compass, the bearings of which may deviate from an absolute reference direction, and that the local coordinate system of each robot is determined by its compass. We consider two families of unreliable compasses, namely,static compasses with constant bearings, and dynamic compasses the bearings of which can change arbitrarily. For each of the combinations of robot and compass models, we establish the condition on deviation \phi that allows an algorithm to solve the gathering problem, where the deviation is measured by the largest angle formed between the x-axis of a compass and the reference direction of the global coordinate system: \phi < \pi/2 for semi-synchronous and asynchronous robots with static compasses, \phi < \pi/4 for semi-synchronous robots with dynamic compasses, and \phi < \pi/6 for asynchronous robots with dynamic compasses. Except for asynchronous robots with dynamic compasses, these sufficient conditions are also necessary.
1111.1497
An IR-based Evaluation Framework for Web Search Query Segmentation
cs.IR
This paper presents the first evaluation framework for Web search query segmentation based directly on IR performance. In the past, segmentation strategies were mainly validated against manual annotations. Our work shows that the goodness of a segmentation algorithm as judged through evaluation against a handful of human annotated segmentations hardly reflects its effectiveness in an IR-based setup. In fact, state-of the-art algorithms are shown to perform as good as, and sometimes even better than human annotations -- a fact masked by previous validations. The proposed framework also provides us an objective understanding of the gap between the present best and the best possible segmentation algorithm. We draw these conclusions based on an extensive evaluation of six segmentation strategies, including three most recent algorithms, vis-a-vis segmentations from three human annotators. The evaluation framework also gives insights about which segments should be necessarily detected by an algorithm for achieving the best retrieval results. The meticulously constructed dataset used in our experiments has been made public for use by the research community.
1111.1498
H_2-Optimal Decentralized Control over Posets: A State-Space Solution for State-Feedback
math.OC cs.SY
We develop a complete state-space solution to H_2-optimal decentralized control of poset-causal systems with state-feedback. Our solution is based on the exploitation of a key separability property of the problem, that enables an efficient computation of the optimal controller by solving a small number of uncoupled standard Riccati equations. Our approach gives important insight into the structure of optimal controllers, such as controller degree bounds that depend on the structure of the poset. A novel element in our state-space characterization of the controller is a remarkable pair of transfer functions, that belong to the incidence algebra of the poset, are inverses of each other, and are intimately related to prediction of the state along the different paths on the poset. The results are illustrated by a numerical example.
1111.1555
A scheme to protect against multiple quantum erasures
cs.IT math.IT quant-ph
We present a scheme able to protect k >= 3 qubits of information against the occurrence of multiple erasures, based on the code proposed by Yang et al. (2004 JETP Letters 79 236). In this scheme redundant blocks are used and we restrict to the case that each erasure must occur in distinct blocks. We explicitly characterize the encoding operation and the restoring operation required to implement this scheme. The operators used in these operations can be adjusted to construct different quantum erasure-correcting codes. A special feature of this scheme is that no measurement is required. To illustrate our scheme, we present an example in which five-qubits of information are protected against the occurrence of two erasures.
1111.1562
Iris Recognition Based on LBP and Combined LVQ Classifier
cs.CV
Iris recognition is considered as one of the best biometric methods used for human identification and verification, this is because of its unique features that differ from one person to another, and its importance in the security field. This paper proposes an algorithm for iris recognition and classification using a system based on Local Binary Pattern and histogram properties as a statistical approaches for feature extraction, and Combined Learning Vector Quantization Classifier as Neural Network approach for classification, in order to build a hybrid model depends on both features. The localization and segmentation techniques are presented using both Canny edge detection and Hough Circular Transform in order to isolate an iris from the whole eye image and for noise detection .Feature vectors results from LBP is applied to a Combined LVQ classifier with different classes to determine the minimum acceptable performance, and the result is based on majority voting among several LVQ classifier. Different iris datasets CASIA, MMU1, MMU2, and LEI with different extensions and size are presented. Since LBP is working on a grayscale level so colored iris images should be transformed into a grayscale level. The proposed system gives a high recognition rate 99.87 % on different iris datasets compared with other methods.
1111.1564
Particle Swarm Optimization Framework for Low Power Testing of VLSI Circuits
cs.NE
Power dissipation in sequential circuits is due to increased toggling count of Circuit under Test, which depends upon test vectors applied. If successive test vectors sequences have more toggling nature then it is sure that toggling rate of flip flops is higher. Higher toggling for flip flops results more power dissipation. To overcome this problem, one method is to use GA to have test vectors of high fault coverage in short interval, followed by Hamming distance management on test patterns. This approach is time consuming and needs more efforts. Another method which is purposed in this paper is a PSO based Frame Work to optimize power dissipation. Here target is to set the entire test vector in a frame for time period 'T', so that the frame consists of all those vectors strings which not only provide high fault coverage but also arrange vectors in frame to produce minimum toggling.
1111.1570
Semantic Grounding Strategies for Tagbased Recommender Systems
cs.IR cs.SI
Recommender systems usually operate on similarities between recommended items or users. Tag based recommender systems utilize similarities on tags. The tags are however mostly free user entered phrases. Therefore, similarities computed without their semantic groundings might lead to less relevant recommendations. In this paper, we study a semantic grounding used for tag similarity calculus. We show a comprehensive analysis of semantic grounding given by 20 ontologies from different domains. The study besides other things reveals that currently available OWL ontologies are very narrow and the percentage of the similarity expansions is rather small. WordNet scores slightly better as it is broader but not much as it does not support several semantic relationships. Furthermore, the study reveals that even with such number of expansions, the recommendations change considerably.
1111.1596
Multi-Stage Complex Contagions
cs.SI math.DS nlin.AO physics.soc-ph
The spread of ideas across a social network can be studied using complex contagion models, in which agents are activated by contact with multiple activated neighbors. The investigation of complex contagions can provide crucial insights into social influence and behavior-adoption cascades on networks. In this paper, we introduce a model of a multi-stage complex contagion on networks. Agents at different stages --- which could, for example, represent differing levels of support for a social movement or differing levels of commitment to a certain product or idea --- exert different amounts of influence on their neighbors. We demonstrate that the presence of even one additional stage introduces novel dynamical behavior, including interplay between multiple cascades, that cannot occur in single-stage contagion models. We find that cascades --- and hence collective action --- can be driven not only by high-stage influencers but also by low-stage influencers.
1111.1599
Efficient Hierarchical Markov Random Fields for Object Detection on a Mobile Robot
cs.CV
Object detection and classification using video is necessary for intelligent planning and navigation on a mobile robot. However, current methods can be too slow or not sufficient for distinguishing multiple classes. Techniques that rely on binary (foreground/background) labels incorrectly identify areas with multiple overlapping objects as single segment. We propose two Hierarchical Markov Random Field models in efforts to distinguish connected objects using tiered, binary label sets. Near-realtime performance has been achieved using efficient optimization methods which runs up to 11 frames per second on a dual core 2.2 Ghz processor. Evaluation of both models is done using footage taken from a robot obstacle course at the 2010 Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition.
1111.1648
Sentiment Analysis of Document Based on Annotation
cs.IR cs.CL
I present a tool which tells the quality of document or its usefulness based on annotations. Annotation may include comments, notes, observation, highlights, underline, explanation, question or help etc. comments are used for evaluative purpose while others are used for summarization or for expansion also. Further these comments may be on another annotation. Such annotations are referred as meta-annotation. All annotation may not get equal weightage. My tool considered highlights, underline as well as comments to infer the collective sentiment of annotators. Collective sentiments of annotators are classified as positive, negative, objectivity. My tool computes collective sentiment of annotations in two manners. It counts all the annotation present on the documents as well as it also computes sentiment scores of all annotation which includes comments to obtain the collective sentiments about the document or to judge the quality of document. I demonstrate the use of tool on research paper.
1111.1673
Algebras over a field and semantics for context based reasoning
cs.CL cs.LO
This paper introduces context algebras and demonstrates their application to combining logical and vector-based representations of meaning. Other approaches to this problem attempt to reproduce aspects of logical semantics within new frameworks. The approach we present here is different: We show how logical semantics can be embedded within a vector space framework, and use this to combine distributional semantics, in which the meanings of words are represented as vectors, with logical semantics, in which the meaning of a sentence is represented as a logical form.
1111.1684
Simulation Techniques and Prosthetic Approach Towards Biologically Efficient Artificial Sense Organs- An Overview
cs.RO cs.SY
An overview of the applications of control theory to prosthetic sense organs including the senses of vision, taste and odor is being presented in this paper. Simulation aspect nowadays has been the centre of research in the field of prosthesis. There have been various successful applications of prosthetic organs, in case of natural biological organs dis-functioning patients. Simulation aspects and control modeling are indispensible for knowing system performance, and to generate an original approach of artificial organs. This overview focuses mainly on control techniques, by far a theoretical overview and fusion of artificial sense organs trying to mimic the efficacies of biologically active sensory organs. Keywords: virtual reality, prosthetic vision, artificial
1111.1738
Quantization via Empirical Divergence Maximization
cs.IT math.IT
Empirical divergence maximization (EDM) refers to a recently proposed strategy for estimating f-divergences and likelihood ratio functions. This paper extends the idea to empirical vector quantization where one seeks to empirically derive quantization rules that maximize the Kullback-Leibler divergence between two statistical hypotheses. We analyze the estimator's error convergence rate leveraging Tsybakov's margin condition and show that rates as fast as 1/n are possible, where n equals the number of training samples. We also show that the Flynn and Gray algorithm can be used to efficiently compute EDM estimates and show that they can be efficiently and accurately represented by recursive dyadic partitions. The EDM formulation have several advantages. First, the formulation gives access to the tools and results of empirical process theory that quantify the estimator's error convergence rate. Second, the formulation provides a previously unknown derivation for the Flynn and Gray algorithm. Third, the flexibility it affords allows one to avoid a small-cell assumption common in other approaches. Finally, we illustrate the potential use of the method through an example.
1111.1752
New Method for 3D Shape Retrieval
cs.CV
The recent technological progress in acquisition, modeling and processing of 3D data leads to the proliferation of a large number of 3D objects databases. Consequently, the techniques used for content based 3D retrieval has become necessary. In this paper, we introduce a new method for 3D objects recognition and retrieval by using a set of binary images CLI (Characteristic level images). We propose a 3D indexing and search approach based on the similarity between characteristic level images using Hu moments for it indexing. To measure the similarity between 3D objects we compute the Hausdorff distance between a vectors descriptor. The performance of this new approach is evaluated at set of 3D object of well known database, is NTU (National Taiwan University) database.
1111.1771
Information Security Synthesis in Online Universities
cs.CR cs.CY cs.SI
Information assurance is at the core of every initiative that an organization executes. For online universities, a common and complex initiative is maintaining user lifecycle and providing seamless access using one identity in a large virtual infrastructure. To achieve information assurance the management of user privileges affected by events in the user's identity lifecycle needs to be the determining factor for access control. While the implementation of identity and access management systems makes this initiative feasible, it is the construction and maintenance of the infrastructure that makes it complex and challenging. The objective of this paper1 is to describe the complexities, propose a practical approach to building a foundation for consistent user experience and realizing security synthesis in online universities.
1111.1784
UPAL: Unbiased Pool Based Active Learning
stat.ML cs.AI cs.LG
In this paper we address the problem of pool based active learning, and provide an algorithm, called UPAL, that works by minimizing the unbiased estimator of the risk of a hypothesis in a given hypothesis space. For the space of linear classifiers and the squared loss we show that UPAL is equivalent to an exponentially weighted average forecaster. Exploiting some recent results regarding the spectra of random matrices allows us to establish consistency of UPAL when the true hypothesis is a linear hypothesis. Empirical comparison with an active learner implementation in Vowpal Wabbit, and a previously proposed pool based active learner implementation show good empirical performance and better scalability.
1111.1788
Robust PCA as Bilinear Decomposition with Outlier-Sparsity Regularization
stat.ML cs.IT math.IT
Principal component analysis (PCA) is widely used for dimensionality reduction, with well-documented merits in various applications involving high-dimensional data, including computer vision, preference measurement, and bioinformatics. In this context, the fresh look advocated here permeates benefits from variable selection and compressive sampling, to robustify PCA against outliers. A least-trimmed squares estimator of a low-rank bilinear factor analysis model is shown closely related to that obtained from an $\ell_0$-(pseudo)norm-regularized criterion encouraging sparsity in a matrix explicitly modeling the outliers. This connection suggests robust PCA schemes based on convex relaxation, which lead naturally to a family of robust estimators encompassing Huber's optimal M-class as a special case. Outliers are identified by tuning a regularization parameter, which amounts to controlling sparsity of the outlier matrix along the whole robustification path of (group) least-absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) solutions. Beyond its neat ties to robust statistics, the developed outlier-aware PCA framework is versatile to accommodate novel and scalable algorithms to: i) track the low-rank signal subspace robustly, as new data are acquired in real time; and ii) determine principal components robustly in (possibly) infinite-dimensional feature spaces. Synthetic and real data tests corroborate the effectiveness of the proposed robust PCA schemes, when used to identify aberrant responses in personality assessment surveys, as well as unveil communities in social networks, and intruders from video surveillance data.
1111.1797
Analysis of Thompson Sampling for the multi-armed bandit problem
cs.LG cs.DS
The multi-armed bandit problem is a popular model for studying exploration/exploitation trade-off in sequential decision problems. Many algorithms are now available for this well-studied problem. One of the earliest algorithms, given by W. R. Thompson, dates back to 1933. This algorithm, referred to as Thompson Sampling, is a natural Bayesian algorithm. The basic idea is to choose an arm to play according to its probability of being the best arm. Thompson Sampling algorithm has experimentally been shown to be close to optimal. In addition, it is efficient to implement and exhibits several desirable properties such as small regret for delayed feedback. However, theoretical understanding of this algorithm was quite limited. In this paper, for the first time, we show that Thompson Sampling algorithm achieves logarithmic expected regret for the multi-armed bandit problem. More precisely, for the two-armed bandit problem, the expected regret in time $T$ is $O(\frac{\ln T}{\Delta} + \frac{1}{\Delta^3})$. And, for the $N$-armed bandit problem, the expected regret in time $T$ is $O([(\sum_{i=2}^N \frac{1}{\Delta_i^2})^2] \ln T)$. Our bounds are optimal but for the dependence on $\Delta_i$ and the constant factors in big-Oh.
1111.1827
One-Hop Throughput of Wireless Networks with Random Connections
cs.IT math.IT
We consider one-hop communication in wireless networks with random connections. In the random connection model, the channel powers between different nodes are drawn from a common distribution in an i.i.d. manner. An scheme achieving the throughput scaling of order $n^{1/3-\delta}$, for any $\delta>0$, is proposed, where $n$ is the number of nodes. Such achievable throughput, along with the order $n^{1/3}$ upper bound derived by Cui et al., characterizes the throughput capacity of one-hop schemes for the class of connection models with finite mean and variance.
1111.1896
Dynamical Classes of Collective Attention in Twitter
cs.SI cs.CY cs.HC physics.soc-ph
Micro-blogging systems such as Twitter expose digital traces of social discourse with an unprecedented degree of resolution of individual behaviors. They offer an opportunity to investigate how a large-scale social system responds to exogenous or endogenous stimuli, and to disentangle the temporal, spatial and topical aspects of users' activity. Here we focus on spikes of collective attention in Twitter, and specifically on peaks in the popularity of hashtags. Users employ hashtags as a form of social annotation, to define a shared context for a specific event, topic, or meme. We analyze a large-scale record of Twitter activity and find that the evolution of hastag popularity over time defines discrete classes of hashtags. We link these dynamical classes to the events the hashtags represent and use text mining techniques to provide a semantic characterization of the hastag classes. Moreover, we track the propagation of hashtags in the Twitter social network and find that epidemic spreading plays a minor role in hastag popularity, which is mostly driven by exogenous factors.
1111.1941
Semantic-Driven e-Government: Application of Uschold and King Ontology Building Methodology for Semantic Ontology Models Development
cs.AI
Electronic government (e-government) has been one of the most active areas of ontology development during the past six years. In e-government, ontologies are being used to describe and specify e-government services (e-services) because they enable easy composition, matching, mapping and merging of various e-government services. More importantly, they also facilitate the semantic integration and interoperability of e-government services. However, it is still unclear in the current literature how an existing ontology building methodology can be applied to develop semantic ontology models in a government service domain. In this paper the Uschold and King ontology building methodology is applied to develop semantic ontology models in a government service domain. Firstly, the Uschold and King methodology is presented, discussed and applied to build a government domain ontology. Secondly, the domain ontology is evaluated for semantic consistency using its semi-formal representation in Description Logic. Thirdly, an alignment of the domain ontology with the Descriptive Ontology for Linguistic and Cognitive Engineering (DOLCE) upper level ontology is drawn to allow its wider visibility and facilitate its integration with existing metadata standard. Finally, the domain ontology is formally written in Web Ontology Language (OWL) to enable its automatic processing by computers. The study aims to provide direction for the application of existing ontology building methodologies in the Semantic Web development processes of e-government domain specific ontology models; which would enable their repeatability in other e-government projects and strengthen the adoption of semantic technologies in e-government.
1111.1947
Discriminative Local Sparse Representations for Robust Face Recognition
cs.CV
A key recent advance in face recognition models a test face image as a sparse linear combination of a set of training face images. The resulting sparse representations have been shown to possess robustness against a variety of distortions like random pixel corruption, occlusion and disguise. This approach however makes the restrictive (in many scenarios) assumption that test faces must be perfectly aligned (or registered) to the training data prior to classification. In this paper, we propose a simple yet robust local block-based sparsity model, using adaptively-constructed dictionaries from local features in the training data, to overcome this misalignment problem. Our approach is inspired by human perception: we analyze a series of local discriminative features and combine them to arrive at the final classification decision. We propose a probabilistic graphical model framework to explicitly mine the conditional dependencies between these distinct sparse local features. In particular, we learn discriminative graphs on sparse representations obtained from distinct local slices of a face. Conditional correlations between these sparse features are first discovered (in the training phase), and subsequently exploited to bring about significant improvements in recognition rates. Experimental results obtained on benchmark face databases demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms in the presence of multiple registration errors (such as translation, rotation, and scaling) as well as under variations of pose and illumination.
1111.1958
Widescope - A social platform for serious conversations on the Web
cs.SI cs.CY
There are several web platforms that people use to interact and exchange ideas, such as social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+; Q&A sites like Quora and Yahoo! Answers; and myriad independent fora. However, there is a scarcity of platforms that facilitate discussion of complex subjects where people with divergent views can easily rationalize their points of view using a shared knowledge base, and leverage it towards shared objectives, e.g. to arrive at a mutually acceptable compromise. In this paper, as a first step, we present Widescope, a novel collaborative web platform for catalyzing shared understanding of the US Federal and State budget debates in order to help users reach data-driven consensus about the complex issues involved. It aggregates disparate sources of financial data from different budgets (i.e. from past, present, and proposed) and presents a unified interface using interactive visualizations. It leverages distributed collaboration to encourage exploration of ideas and debate. Users can propose budgets ab-initio, support existing proposals, compare between different budgets, and collaborate with others in real time. We hypothesize that such a platform can be useful in bringing people's thoughts and opinions closer. Toward this, we present preliminary evidence from a simple pilot experiment, using triadic voting (which we also formally analyze to show that is better than hot-or-not voting), that 5 out of 6 groups of users with divergent views (conservatives vs liberals) come to a consensus while aiming to halve the deficit using Widescope. We believe that tools like Widescope could have a positive impact on other complex, data-driven social issues.
1111.1977
On Refined Versions of the Azuma-Hoeffding Inequality with Applications in Information Theory
cs.IT math.IT
This is a survey paper with some original results of the author on refined versions of the Azuma-Hoeffding inequality with some examples that are related to information theory. This work has evolved to the joint paper with Maxim Raginsky in arXiv:1212.4663v3.
1111.1982
On the Concentration of the Crest Factor for OFDM Signals
cs.IT math.IT
This paper applies several concentration inequalities to prove concentration results for the crest factor of OFDM signals. The considered approaches are, to the best of our knowledge, new in the context of establishing concentration for OFDM signals.
1111.1992
On Concentration and Revisited Large Deviations Analysis of Binary Hypothesis Testing
cs.IT math.IT
This paper first introduces a refined version of the Azuma-Hoeffding inequality for discrete-parameter martingales with uniformly bounded jumps. The refined inequality is used to revisit the large deviations analysis of binary hypothesis testing.
1111.1995
Moderate Deviations Analysis of Binary Hypothesis Testing
cs.IT math.IT
This paper is focused on the moderate-deviations analysis of binary hypothesis testing. The analysis relies on a concentration inequality for discrete-parameter martingales with bounded jumps, where this inequality forms a refinement to the Azuma-Hoeffding inequality. Relations of the analysis to the moderate deviations principle for i.i.d. random variables and to the relative entropy are considered.
1111.2001
Projection-Based and Look Ahead Strategies for Atom Selection
cs.SY
In this paper, we improve iterative greedy search algorithms in which atoms are selected serially over iterations, i.e., one-by-one over iterations. For serial atom selection, we devise two new schemes to select an atom from a set of potential atoms in each iteration. The two new schemes lead to two new algorithms. For both the algorithms, in each iteration, the set of potential atoms is found using a standard matched filter. In case of the first scheme, we propose an orthogonal projection strategy that selects an atom from the set of potential atoms. Then, for the second scheme, we propose a look ahead strategy such that the selection of an atom in the current iteration has an effect on the future iterations. The use of look ahead strategy requires a higher computational resource. To achieve a trade-off between performance and complexity, we use the two new schemes in cascade and develop a third new algorithm. Through experimental evaluations, we compare the proposed algorithms with existing greedy search and convex relaxation algorithms.
1111.2018
Intrinsically Dynamic Network Communities
cs.SI physics.soc-ph
Community finding algorithms for networks have recently been extended to dynamic data. Most of these recent methods aim at exhibiting community partitions from successive graph snapshots and thereafter connecting or smoothing these partitions using clever time-dependent features and sampling techniques. These approaches are nonetheless achieving longitudinal rather than dynamic community detection. We assume that communities are fundamentally defined by the repetition of interactions among a set of nodes over time. According to this definition, analyzing the data by considering successive snapshots induces a significant loss of information: we suggest that it blurs essentially dynamic phenomena - such as communities based on repeated inter-temporal interactions, nodes switching from a community to another across time, or the possibility that a community survives while its members are being integrally replaced over a longer time period. We propose a formalism which aims at tackling this issue in the context of time-directed datasets (such as citation networks), and present several illustrations on both empirical and synthetic dynamic networks. We eventually introduce intrinsically dynamic metrics to qualify temporal community structure and emphasize their possible role as an estimator of the quality of the community detection - taking into account the fact that various empirical contexts may call for distinct `community' definitions and detection criteria.
1111.2085
Ag-dependent (in silico) approach implies a deterministic kinetics for homeostatic memory cell turnover
q-bio.CB cs.NE
Verhulst-like mathematical modeling has been used to investigate several complex biological issues, such as immune memory equilibrium and cell-mediated immunity in mammals. The regulation mechanisms of both these processes are still not sufficiently understood. In a recent paper, Choo et al. [J. Immunol., v. 185, pp. 3436-44, 2010], used an Ag-independent approach to quantitatively analyze memory cell turnover from some empirical data, and concluded that immune homeostasis behaves stochastically, rather than deterministically. In the paper here presented, we use an in silico Ag-dependent approach to simulate the process of antigenic mutation and study its implications for memory dynamics. Our results have suggested a deterministic kinetics for homeostatic equilibrium, what contradicts the Choo et al. findings. Accordingly, our calculations are an indication that a more extensive empirical protocol for studying the homeostatic turnover should be considered.
1111.2092
Pushing Your Point of View: Behavioral Measures of Manipulation in Wikipedia
cs.SI cs.LG
As a major source for information on virtually any topic, Wikipedia serves an important role in public dissemination and consumption of knowledge. As a result, it presents tremendous potential for people to promulgate their own points of view; such efforts may be more subtle than typical vandalism. In this paper, we introduce new behavioral metrics to quantify the level of controversy associated with a particular user: a Controversy Score (C-Score) based on the amount of attention the user focuses on controversial pages, and a Clustered Controversy Score (CC-Score) that also takes into account topical clustering. We show that both these measures are useful for identifying people who try to "push" their points of view, by showing that they are good predictors of which editors get blocked. The metrics can be used to triage potential POV pushers. We apply this idea to a dataset of users who requested promotion to administrator status and easily identify some editors who significantly changed their behavior upon becoming administrators. At the same time, such behavior is not rampant. Those who are promoted to administrator status tend to have more stable behavior than comparable groups of prolific editors. This suggests that the Adminship process works well, and that the Wikipedia community is not overwhelmed by users who become administrators to promote their own points of view.
1111.2098
The Half-Duplex AWGN Single-Relay Channel: Full Decoding or Partial Decoding?
cs.IT math.IT
This paper compares the partial-decode-forward and the complete-decode-forward coding strategies for the half-duplex Gaussian single-relay channel. We analytically show that the rate achievable by partial-decode-forward outperforms that of the more straightforward complete-decode-forward by at most 12.5%. Furthermore, in the following asymptotic cases, the gap between the partial-decode-forward and the complete-decode-forward rates diminishes: (i) when the relay is close to the source, (ii) when the relay is close to the destination, and (iii) when the SNR is low. In addition, when the SNR increases, this gap, when normalized to the complete-decode-forward rate, also diminishes. Consequently, significant performance improvements are not achieved by optimizing the fraction of data the relay should decode and forward, over simply decoding the entire source message.
1111.2102
The Capacity Region of the Restricted Two-Way Relay Channel with Any Deterministic Uplink
cs.IT math.IT
This paper considers the two-way relay channel (TWRC) where two users communicate via a relay. For the restricted TWRC where the uplink from the users to the relay is any deterministic function and the downlink from the relay to the users is any arbitrary channel, the capacity region is obtained. The TWRC considered is restricted in the sense that each user can only transmit a function of its message.
1111.2108
A criterion of simultaneously symmetrization and spectral finiteness for a finite set of real 2-by-2 matrices
cs.SY cs.NA math.OC
In this paper, we consider the simultaneously symmetrization and spectral finiteness for a finite set of real 2-by-2 matrices.
1111.2111
Generic Multiplicative Methods for Implementing Machine Learning Algorithms on MapReduce
cs.DS cs.LG
In this paper we introduce a generic model for multiplicative algorithms which is suitable for the MapReduce parallel programming paradigm. We implement three typical machine learning algorithms to demonstrate how similarity comparison, gradient descent, power method and other classic learning techniques fit this model well. Two versions of large-scale matrix multiplication are discussed in this paper, and different methods are developed for both cases with regard to their unique computational characteristics and problem settings. In contrast to earlier research, we focus on fundamental linear algebra techniques that establish a generic approach for a range of algorithms, rather than specific ways of scaling up algorithms one at a time. Experiments show promising results when evaluated on both speedup and accuracy. Compared with a standard implementation with computational complexity $O(m^3)$ in the worst case, the large-scale matrix multiplication experiments prove our design is considerably more efficient and maintains a good speedup as the number of cores increases. Algorithm-specific experiments also produce encouraging results on runtime performance.
1111.2125
Exploring Maps with Greedy Navigators
physics.soc-ph cs.SI
During the last decade of network research focusing on structural and dynamical properties of networks, the role of network users has been more or less underestimated from the bird's-eye view of global perspective. In this era of global positioning system equipped smartphones, however, a user's ability to access local geometric information and find efficient pathways on networks plays a crucial role, rather than the globally optimal pathways. We present a simple greedy spatial navigation strategy as a probe to explore spatial networks. These greedy navigators use directional information in every move they take, without being trapped in a dead end based on their memory about previous routes. We suggest that the centralities measures have to be modified to incorporate the navigators' behavior, and present the intriguing effect of navigators' greediness where removing some edges may actually enhance the routing efficiency, which is reminiscent of Braess's paradox. In addition, using samples of road structures in large cities around the world, it is shown that the navigability measure we define reflects unique structural properties, which are not easy to predict from other topological characteristics. In this respect, we believe that our routing scheme significantly moves the routing problem on networks one step closer to reality, incorporating the inevitable incompleteness of navigators' information.
1111.2211
High Performance Controllers for Speed and Position Induction Motor Drive using New Reaching Law
cs.RO
This paper present new approach in robust indirect rotor field oriented (IRFOC) induction motor (IM) control. The introduction of new exponential reaching law (ERL) based sliding mode control (SMC) improve significantly the performances compared to the conventional SMC which are well known susceptible to the annoying chattering phenomenon, so, the elimination of the chattering is achieved while simplicity and high performance speed and position tracking are maintained. Simulation results are given to discuss the performances of the proposed control method.
1111.2217
Moderate-Deviations of Lossy Source Coding for Discrete and Gaussian Sources
cs.IT math.IT
We study the moderate-deviations (MD) setting for lossy source coding of stationary memoryless sources. More specifically, we derive fundamental compression limits of source codes whose rates are $R(D) \pm \epsilon_n$, where $R(D)$ is the rate-distortion function and $\epsilon_n$ is a sequence that dominates $\sqrt{1/n}$. This MD setting is complementary to the large-deviations and central limit settings and was studied by Altug and Wagner for the channel coding setting. We show, for finite alphabet and Gaussian sources, that as in the central limit-type results, the so-called dispersion for lossy source coding plays a fundamental role in the MD setting for the lossy source coding problem.
1111.2221
Scaling Up Estimation of Distribution Algorithms For Continuous Optimization
cs.NE cs.AI cs.LG
Since Estimation of Distribution Algorithms (EDA) were proposed, many attempts have been made to improve EDAs' performance in the context of global optimization. So far, the studies or applications of multivariate probabilistic model based continuous EDAs are still restricted to rather low dimensional problems (smaller than 100D). Traditional EDAs have difficulties in solving higher dimensional problems because of the curse of dimensionality and their rapidly increasing computational cost. However, scaling up continuous EDAs for higher dimensional optimization is still necessary, which is supported by the distinctive feature of EDAs: Because a probabilistic model is explicitly estimated, from the learnt model one can discover useful properties or features of the problem. Besides obtaining a good solution, understanding of the problem structure can be of great benefit, especially for black box optimization. We propose a novel EDA framework with Model Complexity Control (EDA-MCC) to scale up EDAs. By using Weakly dependent variable Identification (WI) and Subspace Modeling (SM), EDA-MCC shows significantly better performance than traditional EDAs on high dimensional problems. Moreover, the computational cost and the requirement of large population sizes can be reduced in EDA-MCC. In addition to being able to find a good solution, EDA-MCC can also produce a useful problem structure characterization. EDA-MCC is the first successful instance of multivariate model based EDAs that can be effectively applied a general class of up to 500D problems. It also outperforms some newly developed algorithms designed specifically for large scale optimization. In order to understand the strength and weakness of EDA-MCC, we have carried out extensive computational studies of EDA-MCC. Our results have revealed when EDA-MCC is likely to outperform others on what kind of benchmark functions.
1111.2249
SATzilla: Portfolio-based Algorithm Selection for SAT
cs.AI
It has been widely observed that there is no single "dominant" SAT solver; instead, different solvers perform best on different instances. Rather than following the traditional approach of choosing the best solver for a given class of instances, we advocate making this decision online on a per-instance basis. Building on previous work, we describe SATzilla, an automated approach for constructing per-instance algorithm portfolios for SAT that use so-called empirical hardness models to choose among their constituent solvers. This approach takes as input a distribution of problem instances and a set of component solvers, and constructs a portfolio optimizing a given objective function (such as mean runtime, percent of instances solved, or score in a competition). The excellent performance of SATzilla was independently verified in the 2007 SAT Competition, where our SATzilla07 solvers won three gold, one silver and one bronze medal. In this article, we go well beyond SATzilla07 by making the portfolio construction scalable and completely automated, and improving it by integrating local search solvers as candidate solvers, by predicting performance score instead of runtime, and by using hierarchical hardness models that take into account different types of SAT instances. We demonstrate the effectiveness of these new techniques in extensive experimental results on data sets including instances from the most recent SAT competition.
1111.2258
Design and Implementation of Prosthetic Arm using Gear Motor Control Technique with Appropriate Testing
cs.RO cs.SY
Any part of the human body replication procedure commences the prosthetic control science. This paper highlights the hardware design technique of a prosthetic arm with implementation of gear motor control aspect. The prosthetic control arm movement has been demonstrated in this paper applying processor programming and with the successful testing of the designed prosthetic model. The architectural design of the prosthetic arm here has been replaced by lighter material instead of heavy metal, as well as the traditional EMG (electro myographic) signal has been replaced by the muscle strain.
1111.2259
A Survey on Open Problems for Mobile Robots
cs.RO cs.MA
Gathering mobile robots is a widely studied problem in robotic research. This survey first introduces the related work, summarizing models and results. Then, the focus shifts on the open problem of gathering fat robots. In this context, "fat" means that the robot is not represented by a point in a bidimensional space, but it has an extent. Moreover, it can be opaque in the sense that other robots cannot "see through" it. All these issues lead to a redefinition of the original problem and an extension of the CORDA model. For at most 4 robots an algorithm is provided in the literature, but is gathering always possible for n>4 fat robots? Another open problem is considered: Boundary Patrolling by mobile robots. A set of mobile robots with constraints only on speed and visibility is working in a polygonal environment having boundary and possibly obstacles. The robots have to perform a perpetual movement (possibly within the environment) so that the maximum timespan in which a point of the boundary is not being watched by any robot is minimized.
1111.2262
Improved Bound for the Nystrom's Method and its Application to Kernel Classification
cs.LG cs.NA
We develop two approaches for analyzing the approximation error bound for the Nystr\"{o}m method, one based on the concentration inequality of integral operator, and one based on the compressive sensing theory. We show that the approximation error, measured in the spectral norm, can be improved from $O(N/\sqrt{m})$ to $O(N/m^{1 - \rho})$ in the case of large eigengap, where $N$ is the total number of data points, $m$ is the number of sampled data points, and $\rho \in (0, 1/2)$ is a positive constant that characterizes the eigengap. When the eigenvalues of the kernel matrix follow a $p$-power law, our analysis based on compressive sensing theory further improves the bound to $O(N/m^{p - 1})$ under an incoherence assumption, which explains why the Nystr\"{o}m method works well for kernel matrix with skewed eigenvalues. We present a kernel classification approach based on the Nystr\"{o}m method and derive its generalization performance using the improved bound. We show that when the eigenvalues of kernel matrix follow a $p$-power law, we can reduce the number of support vectors to $N^{2p/(p^2 - 1)}$, a number less than $N$ when $p > 1+\sqrt{2}$, without seriously sacrificing its generalization performance.
1111.2285
Large-scale games in large-scale systems
cs.SY cs.GT math-ph math.DS math.MP math.OC
Many real-world problems modeled by stochastic games have huge state and/or action spaces, leading to the well-known curse of dimensionality. The complexity of the analysis of large-scale systems is dramatically reduced by exploiting mean field limit and dynamical system viewpoints. Under regularity assumptions and specific time-scaling techniques, the evolution of the mean field limit can be expressed in terms of deterministic or stochastic equation or inclusion (difference or differential). In this paper, we overview recent advances of large-scale games in large-scale systems. We focus in particular on population games, stochastic population games and mean field stochastic games. Considering long-term payoffs, we characterize the mean field systems using Bellman and Kolmogorov forward equations.
1111.2391
A Novel Approach to Texture classification using statistical feature
cs.CV
Texture is an important spatial feature which plays a vital role in content based image retrieval. The enormous growth of the internet and the wide use of digital data have increased the need for both efficient image database creation and retrieval procedure. This paper describes a new approach for texture classification by combining statistical texture features of Local Binary Pattern and Texture spectrum. Since most significant information of a texture often appears in the high frequency channels, the features are extracted by the computation of LBP and Texture Spectrum and Legendre Moments. Euclidean distance is used for similarity measurement. The experimental result shows that 97.77% classification accuracy is obtained by the proposed method.
1111.2399
Genetic Algorithm (GA) in Feature Selection for CRF Based Manipuri Multiword Expression (MWE) Identification
cs.CL cs.NE
This paper deals with the identification of Multiword Expressions (MWEs) in Manipuri, a highly agglutinative Indian Language. Manipuri is listed in the Eight Schedule of Indian Constitution. MWE plays an important role in the applications of Natural Language Processing(NLP) like Machine Translation, Part of Speech tagging, Information Retrieval, Question Answering etc. Feature selection is an important factor in the recognition of Manipuri MWEs using Conditional Random Field (CRF). The disadvantage of manual selection and choosing of the appropriate features for running CRF motivates us to think of Genetic Algorithm (GA). Using GA we are able to find the optimal features to run the CRF. We have tried with fifty generations in feature selection along with three fold cross validation as fitness function. This model demonstrated the Recall (R) of 64.08%, Precision (P) of 86.84% and F-measure (F) of 73.74%, showing an improvement over the CRF based Manipuri MWE identification without GA application.
1111.2430
Achievable Rates for a Two-Relay Network with Relays-Transmitter Feedbacks
cs.IT math.IT
We consider a relay network with two relays and two feedback links from the relays to the sender. To obtain the achievability results, we use the compress-and-forward and the decode-and-forward strategies to superimpose facility and cooperation analogue to what proposed by Cover and El Gamal for a relay channel. In addition to random binning, we use deterministic binning to perform restricted decoding. We show how to use the feedback links for cooperation between the sender and the relays to transmit the information which is compressed in the sender and the relays.
1111.2451
Unitary Precoding and Basis Dependency of MMSE Performance for Gaussian Erasure Channels
cs.IT math.IT
We consider the transmission of a Gaussian vector source over a multi-dimensional Gaussian channel where a random or a fixed subset of the channel outputs are erased. Within the setup where the only encoding operation allowed is a linear unitary transformation on the source, we investigate the MMSE performance, both in average, and also in terms of guarantees that hold with high probability as a function of the system parameters. Under the performance criterion of average MMSE, necessary conditions that should be satisfied by the optimal unitary encoders are established and explicit solutions for a class of settings are presented. For random sampling of signals that have a low number of degrees of freedom, we present MMSE bounds that hold with high probability. Our results illustrate how the spread of the eigenvalue distribution and the unitary transformation contribute to these performance guarantees. The performance of the discrete Fourier transform (DFT) is also investigated. As a benchmark, we investigate the equidistant sampling of circularly wide-sense stationary (c.w.s.s.) signals, and present the explicit error expression that quantifies the effects of the sampling rate and the eigenvalue distribution of the covariance matrix of the signal. These findings may be useful in understanding the geometric dependence of signal uncertainty in a stochastic process. In particular, unlike information theoretic measures such as entropy, we highlight the basis dependence of uncertainty in a signal with another perspective. The unitary encoding space restriction exhibits the most and least favorable signal bases for estimation.
1111.2456
Repeated Games With Intervention: Theory and Applications in Communications
cs.IT cs.GT math.IT
In communication systems where users share common resources, users' selfish behavior usually results in suboptimal resource utilization. There have been extensive works that model communication systems with selfish users as one-shot games and propose incentive schemes to achieve Pareto optimal action profiles as non-cooperative equilibria. However, in many communication systems, due to strong negative externalities among users, the sets of feasible payoffs in one-shot games are nonconvex. Thus, it is possible to expand the set of feasible payoffs by having users choose convex combinations of different payoffs. In this paper, we propose a repeated game model generalized by intervention. First, we use repeated games to convexify the set of feasible payoffs in one-shot games. Second, we combine conventional repeated games with intervention, originally proposed for one-shot games, to achieve a larger set of equilibrium payoffs and loosen requirements for users' patience to achieve it. We study the problem of maximizing a welfare function defined on users' equilibrium payoffs, subject to minimum payoff guarantees. Given the optimal equilibrium payoff, we derive the minimum intervention capability required and design corresponding equilibrium strategies. The proposed generalized repeated game model applies to various communication systems, such as power control and flow control.
1111.2514
A more appropriate Protein Classification using Data Mining
cs.CE
Research in bioinformatics is a complex phenomenon as it overlaps two knowledge domains, namely, biological and computer sciences. This paper has tried to introduce an efficient data mining approach for classifying proteins into some useful groups by representing them in hierarchy tree structure. There are several techniques used to classify proteins but most of them had few drawbacks on their grouping. Among them the most efficient grouping technique is used by PSIMAP. Even though PSIMAP (Protein Structural Interactome Map) technique was successful to incorporate most of the protein but it fails to classify the scale free property proteins. Our technique overcomes this drawback and successfully maps all the protein in different groups, including the scale free property proteins failed to group by PSIMAP. Our approach selects the six major attributes of protein: a) Structure comparison b) Sequence Comparison c) Connectivity d) Cluster Index e) Interactivity f) Taxonomic to group the protein from the databank by generating a hierarchal tree structure. The proposed approach calculates the degree (probability) of similarity of each protein newly entered in the system against of existing proteins in the system by using probability theorem on each six properties of proteins.
1111.2530
A semantically enriched web usage based recommendation model
cs.DB
With the rapid growth of internet technologies, Web has become a huge repository of information and keeps growing exponentially under no editorial control. However the human capability to read, access and understand Web content remains constant. This motivated researchers to provide Web personalized online services such as Web recommendations to alleviate the information overload problem and provide tailored Web experiences to the Web users. Recent studies show that Web usage mining has emerged as a popular approach in providing Web personalization. However conventional Web usage based recommender systems are limited in their ability to use the domain knowledge of the Web application. The focus is only on Web usage data. As a consequence the quality of the discovered patterns is low. In this paper, we propose a novel framework integrating semantic information in the Web usage mining process. Sequential Pattern Mining technique is applied over the semantic space to discover the frequent sequential patterns. The frequent navigational patterns are extracted in the form of Ontology instances instead of Web page views and the resultant semantic patterns are used for generating Web page recommendations to the user. Experimental results shown are promising and proved that incorporating semantic information into Web usage mining process can provide us with more interesting patterns which consequently make the recommendation system more functional, smarter and comprehensive.
1111.2581
Hybrid Approximate Message Passing
cs.IT math.IT
Gaussian and quadratic approximations of message passing algorithms on graphs have attracted considerable recent attention due to their computational simplicity, analytic tractability, and wide applicability in optimization and statistical inference problems. This paper presents a systematic framework for incorporating such approximate message passing (AMP) methods in general graphical models. The key concept is a partition of dependencies of a general graphical model into strong and weak edges, with the weak edges representing interactions through aggregates of small, linearizable couplings of variables. AMP approximations based on the Central Limit Theorem can be readily applied to aggregates of many weak edges and integrated with standard message passing updates on the strong edges. The resulting algorithm, which we call hybrid generalized approximate message passing (HyGAMP), can yield significantly simpler implementations of sum-product and max-sum loopy belief propagation. By varying the partition of strong and weak edges, a performance--complexity trade-off can be achieved. Group sparsity and multinomial logistic regression problems are studied as examples of the proposed methodology.
1111.2616
Ensuring convergence in total-variation-based reconstruction for accurate microcalcification imaging in breast X-ray CT
physics.med-ph cs.CE math.OC
Breast X-ray CT imaging is being considered in screening as an extension to mammography. As a large fraction of the population will be exposed to radiation, low-dose imaging is essential. Iterative image reconstruction based on solving an optimization problem, such as Total-Variation minimization, shows potential for reconstruction from sparse-view data. For iterative methods it is important to ensure convergence to an accurate solution, since important image features, such as presence of microcalcifications indicating breast cancer, may not be visible in a non-converged reconstruction, and this can have clinical significance. To prevent excessively long computational times, which is a practical concern for the large image arrays in CT, it is desirable to keep the number of iterations low, while still ensuring a sufficiently accurate reconstruction for the specific imaging task. This motivates the study of accurate convergence criteria for iterative image reconstruction. In simulation studies with a realistic breast phantom with microcalcifications we compare different convergence criteria for reliable reconstruction. Our results show that it can be challenging to ensure a sufficiently accurate microcalcification reconstruction, when using standard convergence criteria. In particular, the gray level of the small microcalcifications may not have converged long after the background tissue is reconstructed uniformly. We propose the use of the individual objective function gradient components to better monitor possible regions of non-converged variables. For microcalcifications we find empirically a large correlation between nonzero gradient components and non-converged variables, which occur precisely within the microcalcifications. This supports our claim that gradient components can be used to ensure convergence to a sufficiently accurate reconstruction.
1111.2618
Full-Duplex MIMO Relaying: Achievable Rates under Limited Dynamic Range
cs.IT math.IT
In this paper we consider the problem of full-duplex multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) relaying between multi-antenna source and destination nodes. The principal difficulty in implementing such a system is that, due to the limited attenuation between the relay's transmit and receive antenna arrays, the relay's outgoing signal may overwhelm its limited-dynamic-range input circuitry, making it difficult---if not impossible---to recover the desired incoming signal. While explicitly modeling transmitter/receiver dynamic-range limitations and channel estimation error, we derive tight upper and lower bounds on the end-to-end achievable rate of decode-and-forward-based full-duplex MIMO relay systems, and propose a transmission scheme based on maximization of the lower bound. The maximization requires us to (numerically) solve a nonconvex optimization problem, for which we detail a novel approach based on bisection search and gradient projection. To gain insights into system design tradeoffs, we also derive an analytic approximation to the achievable rate and numerically demonstrate its accuracy. We then study the behavior of the achievable rate as a function of signal-to-noise ratio, interference-to-noise ratio, transmitter/receiver dynamic range, number of antennas, and training length, using optimized half-duplex signaling as a baseline.
1111.2637
Some Extremal Self-Dual Codes and Unimodular Lattices in Dimension 40
math.CO cs.IT math.IT math.NT
In this paper, binary extremal singly even self-dual codes of length 40 and extremal odd unimodular lattices in dimension 40 are studied. We give a classification of extremal singly even self-dual codes of length 40. We also give a classification of extremal odd unimodular lattices in dimension 40 with shadows having 80 vectors of norm 2 through their relationships with extremal doubly even self-dual codes of length 40.
1111.2640
Power Allocation for Outage Minimization in Cognitive Radio Networks with Limited Feedback
cs.IT math.IT math.OC
We address an optimal transmit power allocation problem that minimizes the outage probability of a secondary user (SU) who is allowed to coexist with a primary user (PU) in a narrowband spectrum sharing cognitive radio network, under a long term average transmit power constraint at the secondary transmitter (SU-TX) and an average interference power constraint at the primary receiver (PU-RX), with quantized channel state information (CSI) (including both the channels from SU-TX to SU-RX, denoted as $g_1$ and the channel from SU-TX to PU-RX, denoted as $g_0$) at the SU-TX. The optimal quantization regions in the vector channel space is shown to have a 'stepwise' structure. With this structure, the above outage minimization problem can be explicitly formulated and solved by employing the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) necessary optimality conditions to obtain a locally optimal quantized power codebook. A low-complexity near-optimal quantized power allocation algorithm is derived for the case of large number of feedback bits. An explicit expression for the asymptotic SU outage probability at high rate quantization (as the number of feedback bits goes to infinity) is also provided, and is shown to approximate the optimal outage behavior extremely well for large number of bits of feedback via numerical simulations. Numerical results also illustrate that with 6 bits of feedback, the derived algorithms provide SU outage performance very close to that with full CSI at the SU-TX.
1111.2651
Value, Variety and Viability: Designing For Co-creation in a Complex System of Direct and Indirect (goods) Service Value Proposition
cs.SY
While service-dominant logic proposes that all "Goods are a distribution mechanism for service provision" (FP3), there is a need to understand when and why a firm would utilise direct or indirect (goods) service provision, and the interactions between them, to co-create value with the customer. Three longitudinal case studies in B2B equipment-based 'complex service' systems were analysed to gain an understanding of customers' co-creation activities to achieve outcomes. We found the nature of value, degree of contextual variety and the firm's legacy viability to be viability threats. To counter this, the firm uses (a) Direct Service Provision for Scalability and Replicability, (b) Indirect Service Provision for variety absorption and co-creating emotional value and customer experience and (c) designing direct and indirect provision for Scalability and Absorptive Resources of the customer. The co-creation of complex multidimensional value could be delivered through different value propositions of the firm. The research proposes a value-centric way of understanding the interactions between direct and indirect service provision in the design of the firm's value proposition and proposes a viable systems approach towards reorganising the firm. The study provides a way for managers to understand the effectiveness (rather than efficiency) of the firm in co-creating value as a major issue in the design of complex socio-technical systems. Goods are often designed within the domain of engineering and product design, often placing human activity as a supporting role to the equipment. Through an SDLogic lens, this study considers the design of both equipment and human activity on an equal footing for value co-creation with the customer, and it yielded interesting results on when direct provisioning (goods) should be redesigned, considering all activities equally.
1111.2664
A Collaborative Mechanism for Crowdsourcing Prediction Problems
cs.LG cs.GT
Machine Learning competitions such as the Netflix Prize have proven reasonably successful as a method of "crowdsourcing" prediction tasks. But these competitions have a number of weaknesses, particularly in the incentive structure they create for the participants. We propose a new approach, called a Crowdsourced Learning Mechanism, in which participants collaboratively "learn" a hypothesis for a given prediction task. The approach draws heavily from the concept of a prediction market, where traders bet on the likelihood of a future event. In our framework, the mechanism continues to publish the current hypothesis, and participants can modify this hypothesis by wagering on an update. The critical incentive property is that a participant will profit an amount that scales according to how much her update improves performance on a released test set.
1111.2669
A Novel Approach for Web Page Set Mining
cs.DB
The one of the most time consuming steps for association rule mining is the computation of the frequency of the occurrences of itemsets in the database. The hash table index approach converts a transaction database to an hash index tree by scanning the transaction database only once. Whenever user requests for any Uniform Resource Locator (URL), the request entry is stored in the Log File of the server. This paper presents the hash index table structure, a general and dense structure which provides web page set extraction from Log File of server. This hash table provides information about the original database. Web Page set mining (WPs-Mine) provides a complete representation of the original database. This approach works well for both sparse and dense data distributions. Web page set mining supported by hash table index shows the performance always comparable with and often better than algorithms accessing data on flat files. Incremental update is feasible without reaccessing the original transactional database.
1111.2763
8-Valent Fuzzy Logic for Iris Recognition and Biometry
cs.AI
This paper shows that maintaining logical consistency of an iris recognition system is a matter of finding a suitable partitioning of the input space in enrollable and unenrollable pairs by negotiating the user comfort and the safety of the biometric system. In other words, consistent enrollment is mandatory in order to preserve system consistency. A fuzzy 3-valued disambiguated model of iris recognition is proposed and analyzed in terms of completeness, consistency, user comfort and biometric safety. It is also shown here that the fuzzy 3-valued model of iris recognition is hosted by an 8-valued Boolean algebra of modulo 8 integers that represents the computational formalization in which a biometric system (a software agent) can achieve the artificial understanding of iris recognition in a logically consistent manner.
1111.2837
On Compress-Forward without Wyner-Ziv Binning for Relay Networks
cs.IT math.IT
Noisy network coding is recently proposed for the general multi-source network by Lim, Kim, El Gamal and Chung. This scheme builds on compress-forward (CF) relaying but involves three new ideas, namely no Wyner-Ziv binning, relaxed simultaneous decoding and message repetition. In this paper, using the two-way relay channel as the underlining example, we analyze the impact of each of these ideas on the achievable rate region of relay networks. First, CF without binning but with joint decoding of both the message and compression index can achieve a larger rate region than the original CF scheme for multi-destination relay networks. With binning and successive decoding, the compression rate at each relay is constrained by the weakest link from the relay to a destination; but without binning, this constraint is relaxed. Second, simultaneous decoding of all messages over all blocks without uniquely decoding the compression indices can remove the constraints on compression rate completely, but is still subject to the message block boundary effect. Third, message repetition is necessary to overcome this boundary effect and achieve the noisy network coding region for multi-source networks. The rate region is enlarged with increasing repetition times. We also apply CF without binning specifically to the one-way and two-way relay channels and analyze the rate regions in detail. For the one-way relay channel, it achieves the same rate as the original CF and noisy network coding but has only 1 block decoding delay. For the two-way relay channel, we derive the explicit channel conditions in the Gaussian and fading cases for CF without binning to achieve the same rate region or sum rate as noisy network coding. These analyses may be appealing to practical implementation because of the shorter encoding and decoding delay in CF without binning.
1111.2852
Principles of Distributed Data Management in 2020?
cs.DB
With the advents of high-speed networks, fast commodity hardware, and the web, distributed data sources have become ubiquitous. The third edition of the \"Ozsu-Valduriez textbook Principles of Distributed Database Systems [10] reflects the evolution of distributed data management and distributed database systems. In this new edition, the fundamental principles of distributed data management could be still presented based on the three dimensions of earlier editions: distribution, heterogeneity and autonomy of the data sources. In retrospect, the focus on fundamental principles and generic techniques has been useful not only to understand and teach the material, but also to enable an infinite number of variations. The primary application of these generic techniques has been obviously for distributed and parallel DBMS versions. Today, to support the requirements of important data-intensive applications (e.g. social networks, web data analytics, scientific applications, etc.), new distributed data management techniques and systems (e.g. MapReduce, Hadoop, SciDB, Peanut, Pig latin, etc.) are emerging and receiving much attention from the research community. Although they do well in terms of consistency/flexibility/performance trade-offs for specific applications, they seem to be ad-hoc and might hurt data interoperability. The key questions I discuss are: What are the fundamental principles behind the emerging solutions? Is there any generic architectural model, to explain those principles? Do we need new foundations to look at data distribution?
1111.2896
The Laplacian Spectra of Graphs and Complex Networks
math.CO cs.SI physics.data-an physics.soc-ph
The paper is a brief survey of some recent new results and progress of the Laplacian spectra of graphs and complex networks (in particular, random graph and the small world network). The main contents contain the spectral radius of the graph Laplacian for given a degree sequence, the Laplacian coefficients, the algebraic connectivity and the graph doubly stochastic matrix, and the spectra of random graphs and the small world networks. In addition, some questions are proposed.
1111.2904
Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Topic Popularity in Twitter
cs.SI cs.CY
We present the first comprehensive characterization of the diffusion of ideas on Twitter, studying more than 4000 topics that include both popular and less popular topics. On a data set containing approximately 10 million users and a comprehensive scraping of all the tweets posted by these users between June 2009 and August 2009 (approximately 200 million tweets), we perform a rigorous temporal and spatial analysis, investigating the time-evolving properties of the subgraphs formed by the users discussing each topic. We focus on two different notions of the spatial: the network topology formed by follower-following links on Twitter, and the geospatial location of the users. We investigate the effect of initiators on the popularity of topics and find that users with a high number of followers have a strong impact on popularity. We deduce that topics become popular when disjoint clusters of users discussing them begin to merge and form one giant component that grows to cover a significant fraction of the network. Our geospatial analysis shows that highly popular topics are those that cross regional boundaries aggressively.
1111.2948
Using Contextual Information as Virtual Items on Top-N Recommender Systems
cs.LG cs.IR
Traditionally, recommender systems for the Web deal with applications that have two dimensions, users and items. Based on access logs that relate these dimensions, a recommendation model can be built and used to identify a set of N items that will be of interest to a certain user. In this paper we propose a method to complement the information in the access logs with contextual information without changing the recommendation algorithm. The method consists in representing context as virtual items. We empirically test this method with two top-N recommender systems, an item-based collaborative filtering technique and association rules, on three data sets. The results show that our method is able to take advantage of the context (new dimensions) when it is informative.