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1210.6912
Enhancing the functional content of protein interaction networks
q-bio.MN cs.CE cs.LG q-bio.GN stat.ML
Protein interaction networks are a promising type of data for studying complex biological systems. However, despite the rich information embedded in these networks, they face important data quality challenges of noise and incompleteness that adversely affect the results obtained from their analysis. Here, we explore the use of the concept of common neighborhood similarity (CNS), which is a form of local structure in networks, to address these issues. Although several CNS measures have been proposed in the literature, an understanding of their relative efficacies for the analysis of interaction networks has been lacking. We follow the framework of graph transformation to convert the given interaction network into a transformed network corresponding to a variety of CNS measures evaluated. The effectiveness of each measure is then estimated by comparing the quality of protein function predictions obtained from its corresponding transformed network with those from the original network. Using a large set of S. cerevisiae interactions, and a set of 136 GO terms, we find that several of the transformed networks produce more accurate predictions than those obtained from the original network. In particular, the $HC.cont$ measure proposed here performs particularly well for this task. Further investigation reveals that the two major factors contributing to this improvement are the abilities of CNS measures, especially $HC.cont$, to prune out noisy edges and introduce new links between functionally related proteins.
1210.6927
Plug-and-Play Model Predictive Control based on robust control invariant sets
cs.SY math.OC
In this paper we consider a linear system represented by a coupling graph between subsystems and propose a distributed control scheme capable to guarantee asymptotic stability and satisfaction of constraints on system inputs and states. Most importantly, as in Riverso et al., 2012 our design procedure enables plug-and-play (PnP) operations, meaning that (i) the addition or removal of subsystems triggers the design of local controllers associated to successors to the subsystem only and (ii) the synthesis of a local controller for a subsystem requires information only from predecessors of the subsystem and it can be performed using only local computational resources. Our method hinges on local tube MPC controllers based on robust control invariant sets and it advances the PnP design procedure proposed in Riverso et al., 2012 in several directions. Quite notably, using recent results in the computation of robust control invariant sets, we show how critical steps in the design of a local controller can be solved through linear programming. Finally, an application of the proposed control design procedure to frequency control in power networks is presented.
1210.6954
Optimal Locally Repairable and Secure Codes for Distributed Storage Systems
cs.IT math.IT
This paper aims to go beyond resilience into the study of security and local-repairability for distributed storage systems (DSS). Security and local-repairability are both important as features of an efficient storage system, and this paper aims to understand the trade-offs between resilience, security, and local-repairability in these systems. In particular, this paper first investigates security in the presence of colluding eavesdroppers, where eavesdroppers are assumed to work together in decoding stored information. Second, the paper focuses on coding schemes that enable optimal local repairs. It further brings these two concepts together, to develop locally repairable coding schemes for DSS that are secure against eavesdroppers. The main results of this paper include: a. An improved bound on the secrecy capacity for minimum storage regenerating codes, b. secure coding schemes that achieve the bound for some special cases, c. a new bound on minimum distance for locally repairable codes, d. code construction for locally repairable codes that attain the minimum distance bound, and e. repair-bandwidth-efficient locally repairable codes with and without security constraints.
1210.6956
Vortexje - An Open-Source Panel Method for Co-Simulation
cs.CE physics.flu-dyn
This paper discusses the use of the 3-dimensional panel method for dynamical system simulation. Specifically, the advantages and disadvantages of model exchange versus co-simulation of the aerodynamics and the dynamical system model are discussed. Based on a trade-off analysis, a set of recommendations for a panel method implementation and for a co-simulation environment is proposed. These recommendations are implemented in a C++ library, offered on-line under an open source license. This code is validated against XFLR5, and its suitability for co-simulation is demonstrated with an example of a tethered wing, i.e, a kite. The panel method implementation and the co-simulation environment are shown to be able to solve this stiff problem in a stable fashion.
1210.6962
Quantum-to-classical rate distortion coding
quant-ph cs.IT math.IT
We establish a theory of quantum-to-classical rate distortion coding. In this setting, a sender Alice has many copies of a quantum information source. Her goal is to transmit classical information about the source, obtained by performing a measurement on it, to a receiver Bob, up to some specified level of distortion. We derive a single-letter formula for the minimum rate of classical communication needed for this task. We also evaluate this rate in the case in which Bob has some quantum side information about the source. Our results imply that, in general, Alice's best strategy is a non-classical one, in which she performs a collective measurement on successive outputs of the source.
1210.6963
Schulze and Ranked-Pairs Voting are Fixed-Parameter Tractable to Bribe, Manipulate, and Control
cs.GT cs.DS cs.MA
Schulze and ranked-pairs elections have received much attention recently, and the former has quickly become a quite widely used election system. For many cases these systems have been proven resistant to bribery, control, or manipulation, with ranked pairs being particularly praised for being NP-hard for all three of those. Nonetheless, the present paper shows that with respect to the number of candidates, Schulze and ranked-pairs elections are fixed-parameter tractable to bribe, control, and manipulate: we obtain uniform, polynomial-time algorithms whose degree does not depend on the number of candidates. We also provide such algorithms for some weighted variants of these problems.
1210.7002
A Biomimetic Approach Based on Immune Systems for Classification of Unstructured Data
cs.AI
In this paper we present the results of unstructured data clustering in this case a textual data from Reuters 21578 corpus with a new biomimetic approach using immune system. Before experimenting our immune system, we digitalized textual data by the n-grams approach. The novelty lies on hybridization of n-grams and immune systems for clustering. The experimental results show that the recommended ideas are promising and prove that this method can solve the text clustering problem.
1210.7009
A symbol-based algorithm for decoding bar codes
math.NA cs.IT math.IT math.OC
We investigate the problem of decoding a bar code from a signal measured with a hand-held laser-based scanner. Rather than formulating the inverse problem as one of binary image reconstruction, we instead incorporate the symbology of the bar code into the reconstruction algorithm directly, and search for a sparse representation of the UPC bar code with respect to this known dictionary. Our approach significantly reduces the degrees of freedom in the problem, allowing for accurate reconstruction that is robust to noise and unknown parameters in the scanning device. We propose a greedy reconstruction algorithm and provide robust reconstruction guarantees. Numerical examples illustrate the insensitivity of our symbology-based reconstruction to both imprecise model parameters and noise on the scanned measurements.
1210.7014
Computer vision tools for the non-invasive assessment of autism-related behavioral markers
cs.CV
The early detection of developmental disorders is key to child outcome, allowing interventions to be initiated that promote development and improve prognosis. Research on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) suggests behavioral markers can be observed late in the first year of life. Many of these studies involved extensive frame-by-frame video observation and analysis of a child's natural behavior. Although non-intrusive, these methods are extremely time-intensive and require a high level of observer training; thus, they are impractical for clinical and large population research purposes. Diagnostic measures for ASD are available for infants but are only accurate when used by specialists experienced in early diagnosis. This work is a first milestone in a long-term multidisciplinary project that aims at helping clinicians and general practitioners accomplish this early detection/measurement task automatically. We focus on providing computer vision tools to measure and identify ASD behavioral markers based on components of the Autism Observation Scale for Infants (AOSI). In particular, we develop algorithms to measure three critical AOSI activities that assess visual attention. We augment these AOSI activities with an additional test that analyzes asymmetrical patterns in unsupported gait. The first set of algorithms involves assessing head motion by tracking facial features, while the gait analysis relies on joint foreground segmentation and 2D body pose estimation in video. We show results that provide insightful knowledge to augment the clinician's behavioral observations obtained from real in-clinic assessments.
1210.7038
Full Object Boundary Detection by Applying Scale Invariant Features in a Region Merging Segmentation Algorithm
cs.CV cs.AI
Object detection is a fundamental task in computer vision and has many applications in image processing. This paper proposes a new approach for object detection by applying scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) in an automatic segmentation algorithm. SIFT is an invariant algorithm respect to scale, translation and rotation. The features are very distinct and provide stable keypoints that can be used for matching an object in different images. At first, an object is trained with different aspects for finding best keypoints. The object can be recognized in the other images by using achieved keypoints. Then, a robust segmentation algorithm is used to detect the object with full boundary based on SIFT keypoints. In segmentation algorithm, a merging role is defined to merge the regions in image with the assistance of keypoints. The results show that the proposed approach is reliable for object detection and can extract object boundary well.
1210.7044
Quotients of Orders in Cyclic Algebras and Space-Time Codes
cs.IT math.IT
Let $F$ be a number field with ring of integers $\Oc_F$ and $\Dc$ a division $F$-algebra with a maximal cyclic subfield $K$. We study rings occurring as quotients of a natural $\Oc_F$-order $\Lambda$ in $\Dc$ by two-sided ideals. We reduce the problem to studying the ideal structure of $\Lambda/\qf^s\Lambda$, where $\qf$ is a prime ideal in $\Oc_F$, $s\geq 1$. We study the case where $\qf$ remains unramified in $K$, both when $s=1$ and $s>1$. This work is motivated by its applications to space-time coded modulation.
1210.7047
User-level Weibo Recommendation incorporating Social Influence based on Semi-Supervised Algorithm
cs.SI cs.CY cs.LG
Tencent Weibo, as one of the most popular micro-blogging services in China, has attracted millions of users, producing 30-60 millions of weibo (similar as tweet in Twitter) daily. With the overload problem of user generate content, Tencent users find it is more and more hard to browse and find valuable information at the first time. In this paper, we propose a Factor Graph based weibo recommendation algorithm TSI-WR (Topic-Level Social Influence based Weibo Recommendation), which could help Tencent users to find most suitable information. The main innovation is that we consider both direct and indirect social influence from topic level based on social balance theory. The main advantages of adopting this strategy are that it could first build a more accurate description of latent relationship between two users with weak connections, which could help to solve the data sparsity problem; second provide a more accurate recommendation for a certain user from a wider range. Other meaningful contextual information is also combined into our model, which include: Users profile, Users influence, Content of weibos, Topic information of weibos and etc. We also design a semi-supervised algorithm to further reduce the influence of data sparisty. The experiments show that all the selected variables are important and the proposed model outperforms several baseline methods.
1210.7053
Managing sparsity, time, and quality of inference in topic models
stat.ML cs.AI cs.CV stat.ME
Inference is an integral part of probabilistic topic models, but is often non-trivial to derive an efficient algorithm for a specific model. It is even much more challenging when we want to find a fast inference algorithm which always yields sparse latent representations of documents. In this article, we introduce a simple framework for inference in probabilistic topic models, denoted by FW. This framework is general and flexible enough to be easily adapted to mixture models. It has a linear convergence rate, offers an easy way to incorporate prior knowledge, and provides us an easy way to directly trade off sparsity against quality and time. We demonstrate the goodness and flexibility of FW over existing inference methods by a number of tasks. Finally, we show how inference in topic models with nonconjugate priors can be done efficiently.
1210.7054
Large-Scale Sparse Principal Component Analysis with Application to Text Data
stat.ML cs.LG math.OC
Sparse PCA provides a linear combination of small number of features that maximizes variance across data. Although Sparse PCA has apparent advantages compared to PCA, such as better interpretability, it is generally thought to be computationally much more expensive. In this paper, we demonstrate the surprising fact that sparse PCA can be easier than PCA in practice, and that it can be reliably applied to very large data sets. This comes from a rigorous feature elimination pre-processing result, coupled with the favorable fact that features in real-life data typically have exponentially decreasing variances, which allows for many features to be eliminated. We introduce a fast block coordinate ascent algorithm with much better computational complexity than the existing first-order ones. We provide experimental results obtained on text corpora involving millions of documents and hundreds of thousands of features. These results illustrate how Sparse PCA can help organize a large corpus of text data in a user-interpretable way, providing an attractive alternative approach to topic models.
1210.7056
Selective Transfer Learning for Cross Domain Recommendation
cs.LG cs.IR stat.ML
Collaborative filtering (CF) aims to predict users' ratings on items according to historical user-item preference data. In many real-world applications, preference data are usually sparse, which would make models overfit and fail to give accurate predictions. Recently, several research works show that by transferring knowledge from some manually selected source domains, the data sparseness problem could be mitigated. However for most cases, parts of source domain data are not consistent with the observations in the target domain, which may misguide the target domain model building. In this paper, we propose a novel criterion based on empirical prediction error and its variance to better capture the consistency across domains in CF settings. Consequently, we embed this criterion into a boosting framework to perform selective knowledge transfer. Comparing to several state-of-the-art methods, we show that our proposed selective transfer learning framework can significantly improve the accuracy of rating prediction tasks on several real-world recommendation tasks.
1210.7070
A Multiscale Framework for Challenging Discrete Optimization
cs.CV cs.LG math.OC stat.ML
Current state-of-the-art discrete optimization methods struggle behind when it comes to challenging contrast-enhancing discrete energies (i.e., favoring different labels for neighboring variables). This work suggests a multiscale approach for these challenging problems. Deriving an algebraic representation allows us to coarsen any pair-wise energy using any interpolation in a principled algebraic manner. Furthermore, we propose an energy-aware interpolation operator that efficiently exposes the multiscale landscape of the energy yielding an effective coarse-to-fine optimization scheme. Results on challenging contrast-enhancing energies show significant improvement over state-of-the-art methods.
1210.7102
3D Face Recognition using Significant Point based SULD Descriptor
cs.CV
In this work, we present a new 3D face recognition method based on Speeded-Up Local Descriptor (SULD) of significant points extracted from the range images of faces. The proposed model consists of a method for extracting distinctive invariant features from range images of faces that can be used to perform reliable matching between different poses of range images of faces. For a given 3D face scan, range images are computed and the potential interest points are identified by searching at all scales. Based on the stability of the interest point, significant points are extracted. For each significant point we compute the SULD descriptor which consists of vector made of values from the convolved Haar wavelet responses located on concentric circles centred on the significant point, and where the amount of Gaussian smoothing is proportional to the radii of the circles. Experimental results show that the newly proposed method provides higher recognition rate compared to other existing contemporary models developed for 3D face recognition.
1210.7137
Alberti's letter counts
math.HO cs.CL
Four centuries before modern statistical linguistics was born, Leon Battista Alberti (1404--1472) compared the frequency of vowels in Latin poems and orations, making the first quantified observation of a stylistic difference ever. Using a corpus of 20 Latin texts (over 5 million letters), Alberti's observations are statistically assessed. Letter counts prove that poets used significantly more a's, e's, and y's, whereas orators used more of the other vowels. The sample sizes needed to justify the assertions are studied, and proved to be within reach for Alberti's scholarship.
1210.7154
Get my pizza right: Repairing missing is-a relations in ALC ontologies (extended version)
cs.AI
With the increased use of ontologies in semantically-enabled applications, the issue of debugging defects in ontologies has become increasingly important. These defects can lead to wrong or incomplete results for the applications. Debugging consists of the phases of detection and repairing. In this paper we focus on the repairing phase of a particular kind of defects, i.e. the missing relations in the is-a hierarchy. Previous work has dealt with the case of taxonomies. In this work we extend the scope to deal with ALC ontologies that can be represented using acyclic terminologies. We present algorithms and discuss a system.
1210.7190
Subspace Fuzzy Vault
cs.IT cs.CR math.IT
Fuzzy vault is a scheme providing secure authentication based on fuzzy matching of sets. A major application is the use of biometric features for authentication, whereby unencrypted storage of these features is not an option because of security concerns. While there is still ongoing research around the practical implementation of such schemes, we propose and analyze here an alternative construction based on subspace codes. This offers some advantages in terms of security, as an eventual discovery of the key does not provide an obvious access to the features. Crucial for an efficient implementation are the computational complexity and the choice of good code parameters. The parameters depend on the particular application, e.g. the biometric feature to be stored and the rate one wants to allow for false acceptance. The developed theory is closely linked to constructions of subspace codes studied in the area of random network coding.
1210.7282
The Hangulphabet: A Descriptive Alphabet
cs.CL
This paper describes the Hangulphabet, a new writing system that should prove useful in a number of contexts. Using the Hangulphabet, a user can instantly see voicing, manner and place of articulation of any phoneme found in human language. The Hangulphabet places consonant graphemes on a grid with the x-axis representing the place of articulation and the y-axis representing manner of articulation. Each individual grapheme contains radicals from both axes where the points intersect. The top radical represents manner of articulation where the bottom represents place of articulation. A horizontal line running through the middle of the bottom radical represents voicing. For vowels, place of articulation is located on a grid that represents the position of the tongue in the mouth. This grid is similar to that of the IPA vowel chart (International Phonetic Association, 1999). The difference with the Hangulphabet being the trapezoid representing the vocal apparatus is on a slight tilt. Place of articulation for a vowel is represented by a breakout figure from the grid. This system can be used as an alternative to the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) or as a complement to it. Beginning students of linguistics may find it particularly useful. A Hangulphabet font has been created to facilitate switching between the Hangulphabet and the IPA.
1210.7292
Optimized M2L Kernels for the Chebyshev Interpolation based Fast Multipole Method
cs.NA cs.CE cs.MS math.NA
A fast multipole method (FMM) for asymptotically smooth kernel functions (1/r, 1/r^4, Gauss and Stokes kernels, radial basis functions, etc.) based on a Chebyshev interpolation scheme has been introduced in [Fong et al., 2009]. The method has been extended to oscillatory kernels (e.g., Helmholtz kernel) in [Messner et al., 2012]. Beside its generality this FMM turns out to be favorable due to its easy implementation and its high performance based on intensive use of highly optimized BLAS libraries. However, one of its bottlenecks is the precomputation of the multiple-to-local (M2L) operator, and its higher number of floating point operations (flops) compared to other FMM formulations. Here, we present several optimizations for that operator, which is known to be the costliest FMM operator. The most efficient ones do not only reduce the precomputation time by a factor up to 340 but they also speed up the matrix-vector product. We conclude with comparisons and numerical validations of all presented optimizations.
1210.7295
Analysis and Control of Period-Doubling Bifurcation in Buck Converters Using Harmonic Balance
cs.SY math.DS nlin.CD
Period doubling bifurcation in buck converters is studied by using the harmonic balance method. A simple dynamic model of a buck converter in continuous conduction mode under voltage mode or current mode control is derived. This model consists of the feedback connection of a linear system and a nonlinear one. An exact harmonic balance analysis is used to obtain a necessary and sufficient condition for a period doubling bifurcation to occur. If such a bifurcation occurs, the analysis also provides information on its exact location. Using the condition for bifurcation, a feedforward control is designed to eliminate the period doubling bifurcation. This results in a wider range of allowed source voltage, and also in improved line regulation.
1210.7325
Solving Sequences of Generalized Least-Squares Problems on Multi-threaded Architectures
cs.MS cs.CE q-bio.GN
Generalized linear mixed-effects models in the context of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) represent a formidable computational challenge: the solution of millions of correlated generalized least-squares problems, and the processing of terabytes of data. We present high performance in-core and out-of-core shared-memory algorithms for GWAS: By taking advantage of domain-specific knowledge, exploiting multi-core parallelism, and handling data efficiently, our algorithms attain unequalled performance. When compared to GenABEL, one of the most widely used libraries for GWAS, on a 12-core processor we obtain 50-fold speedups. As a consequence, our routines enable genome studies of unprecedented size.
1210.7335
Professional diversity and the productivity of cities
physics.soc-ph cs.SI physics.data-an
The relationships between diversity, productivity and scale determine much of the structure and robustness of complex biological and social systems. While arguments for the link between specialization and productivity are common, diversity has often been invoked as a hedging strategy, allowing systems to evolve in response to environmental change. Despite their general appeal, these arguments have not typically produced quantitative predictions for optimal levels of functional diversity consistent with observations. One important reason why these relationships have resisted formalization is the idiosyncratic nature of diversity measures, which depend on given classification schemes. Here, we address these issues by analyzing the statistics of professions in cities and show how their probability distribution takes a universal scale-invariant form, common to all cities, obtained in the limit of infinite resolution of given taxonomies. We propose a model that generates the form and parameters of this distribution via the introduction of new occupations at a rate leading to individual specialization subject to the preservation of access to overall function via their ego social networks. This perspective unifies ideas about the importance of network structure in ecology and of innovation as a recombinatory process with economic concepts of productivity gains obtained through the division and coordination of labor, stimulated by scale.
1210.7341
Subset Codes for Packet Networks
cs.IT math.IT
In this paper, we present a coding-theoretic framework for message transmission over packet-switched networks. Network is modeled as a channel which can induce packet errors, deletions, insertions, and out of order delivery of packets. The proposed approach can be viewed as an extension of the one introduced by Koetter and Kschischang for networks based on random linear network coding. Namely, while their framework is based on subspace codes and designed for networks in which network nodes perform random linear combining of the packets, ours is based on the so-called subset codes, and is designed for networks employing routing in network nodes.
1210.7350
Fast Data in the Era of Big Data: Twitter's Real-Time Related Query Suggestion Architecture
cs.IR cs.DB
We present the architecture behind Twitter's real-time related query suggestion and spelling correction service. Although these tasks have received much attention in the web search literature, the Twitter context introduces a real-time "twist": after significant breaking news events, we aim to provide relevant results within minutes. This paper provides a case study illustrating the challenges of real-time data processing in the era of "big data". We tell the story of how our system was built twice: our first implementation was built on a typical Hadoop-based analytics stack, but was later replaced because it did not meet the latency requirements necessary to generate meaningful real-time results. The second implementation, which is the system deployed in production, is a custom in-memory processing engine specifically designed for the task. This experience taught us that the current typical usage of Hadoop as a "big data" platform, while great for experimentation, is not well suited to low-latency processing, and points the way to future work on data analytics platforms that can handle "big" as well as "fast" data.
1210.7362
Discrete Energy Minimization, beyond Submodularity: Applications and Approximations
cs.CV cs.LG math.OC stat.ML
In this thesis I explore challenging discrete energy minimization problems that arise mainly in the context of computer vision tasks. This work motivates the use of such "hard-to-optimize" non-submodular functionals, and proposes methods and algorithms to cope with the NP-hardness of their optimization. Consequently, this thesis revolves around two axes: applications and approximations. The applications axis motivates the use of such "hard-to-optimize" energies by introducing new tasks. As the energies become less constrained and structured one gains more expressive power for the objective function achieving more accurate models. Results show how challenging, hard-to-optimize, energies are more adequate for certain computer vision applications. To overcome the resulting challenging optimization tasks the second axis of this thesis proposes approximation algorithms to cope with the NP-hardness of the optimization. Experiments show that these new methods yield good results for representative challenging problems.
1210.7375
Tractable and Consistent Random Graph Models
physics.soc-ph cs.SI
We define a general class of network formation models, Statistical Exponential Random Graph Models (SERGMs), that nest standard exponential random graph models (ERGMs) as a special case. We provide the first general results on when these models' (including ERGMs) parameters estimated from the observation of a single network are consistent (i.e., become accurate as the number of nodes grows). Next, addressing the problem that standard techniques of estimating ERGMs have been shown to have exponentially slow mixing times for many specifications, we show that by reformulating network formation as a distribution over the space of sufficient statistics instead of the space of networks, the size of the space of estimation can be greatly reduced, making estimation practical and easy. We also develop a related, but distinct, class of models that we call subgraph generation models (SUGMs) that are useful for modeling sparse networks and whose parameter estimates are also directly and easily estimable, consistent, and asymptotically normally distributed. Finally, we show how choice-based (strategic) network formation models can be written as SERGMs and SUGMs, and apply our models and techniques to network data from rural Indian villages.
1210.7397
Optimal Sensor Placement for Target Localization and Tracking in 2D and 3D
math.OC cs.SY
This paper analytically characterizes optimal sensor placements for target localization and tracking in 2D and 3D. Three types of sensors are considered: bearing-only, range-only, and received-signal-strength. The optimal placement problems of the three sensor types are formulated as an identical parameter optimization problem and consequently analyzed in a unified framework. Recently developed frame theory is applied to the optimality analysis. We prove necessary and sufficient conditions for optimal placements in 2D and 3D. A number of important analytical properties of optimal placements are further explored. In order to verify the analytical analysis, we present a gradient control law that can numerically construct generic optimal placements.
1210.7399
One-Step Quantized Network Coding for Near Sparse Gaussian Messages
cs.IT math.IT
In this paper, mathematical bases for non-adaptive joint source network coding of correlated messages in a Bayesian scenario are studied. Specifically, we introduce one-step Quantized Network Coding (QNC), which is a hybrid combination of network coding and packet forwarding for transmission. Motivated by the work on Bayesian compressed sensing, we derive theoretical guarantees on robust recovery in a one-step QNC scenario. Our mathematical derivations for Gaussian messages express the opportunity of distributed compression by using one-step QNC, as a simplified version of QNC scenario. Our simulation results show an improvement in terms of quality-delay performance over routing based packet forwarding.
1210.7401
Joint Doppler frequency shift compensation and data detection method using 2-D unitary ESPRIT algorithm for SIMO-OFDM railway communication systems
cs.IT math.IT
In this paper, we present a joint Doppler frequency shift compensation and data detection method using 2-D unitary ESPRIT algorithm for SIMO-OFDM railway communication systems over fast time-varying sparse multipath channels. By creating the spatio-temporal array data matrix utilizing the ISI-free part of the CP (cyclic prefix), we first propose a novel algorithm for obtaining auto-paired joint DOA and Doppler frequency shift estimates of all paths via 2-D unitary ESPRIT algorithm. Thereafter, based on the obtained estimates, a joint Doppler frequency shift compensation and data detection method is developed. This method consists of three parts: (a) the received signal is spatially filtered to get the signal corresponding to each path, and the signal corresponding to each path is compensated for the Doppler frequency shift in time domain, (b) the Doppler frequency shift-compensated signals of all paths are summed together, and (c) the desired information is detected by performing FFT on the summed signal after excluding the CP. Moreover, we prove that the channel matrix becomes time-invariant after Doppler frequency shift compensation and the ICI is effectively avoided. Finally, simulation results are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method and compare it with the conventional method.
1210.7403
Resolution Enhancement of Range Images via Color-Image Segmentation
cs.CV
We report a method for super-resolution of range images. Our approach leverages the interpretation of LR image as sparse samples on the HR grid. Based on this interpretation, we demonstrate that our recently reported approach, which reconstructs dense range images from sparse range data by exploiting a registered colour image, can be applied for the task of resolution enhancement of range images. Our method only uses a single colour image in addition to the range observation in the super-resolution process. Using the proposed approach, we demonstrate super-resolution results for large factors (e.g. 4) with good localization accuracy.
1210.7410
Distributed Control of Angle-constrained Circular Formations using Bearing-only Measurements
cs.SY math.OC
This paper studies distributed formation control of multiple agents in the plane using bearing-only measurements. It is assumed that each agent only measures the local bearings of their neighbor agents. The target formation considered in this paper is a circular formation, where each agent has exactly two neighbors. In the target formation, the angle subtended at each agent by their two neighbors is specified. We propose a distributed control law that stabilizes angle-constrained target formations merely using local bearing measurements. The stability of the target formation is analyzed based on Lyapunov approaches. We present a unified proof to show that our control law not only can ensure local exponential stability but also can give local finite-time stability. The exponential or finite-time stability can be easily switched by tuning a parameter in the control law.
1210.7420
Complexity of Ten Decision Problems in Continuous Time Dynamical Systems
math.OC cs.CC cs.SY
We show that for continuous time dynamical systems described by polynomial differential equations of modest degree (typically equal to three), the following decision problems which arise in numerous areas of systems and control theory cannot have a polynomial time (or even pseudo-polynomial time) algorithm unless P=NP: local attractivity of an equilibrium point, stability of an equilibrium point in the sense of Lyapunov, boundedness of trajectories, convergence of all trajectories in a ball to a given equilibrium point, existence of a quadratic Lyapunov function, invariance of a ball, invariance of a quartic semialgebraic set under linear dynamics, local collision avoidance, and existence of a stabilizing control law. We also extend our earlier NP-hardness proof of testing local asymptotic stability for polynomial vector fields to the case of trigonometric differential equations of degree four.
1210.7422
Sensor networks security based on sensitive robots agents. A conceptual model
cs.MA
Multi-agent systems are currently applied to solve complex problems. The security of networks is an eloquent example of a complex and difficult problem. A new model-concept Hybrid Sensitive Robot Metaheuristic for Intrusion Detection is introduced in the current paper. The proposed technique could be used with machine learning based intrusion detection techniques. The new model uses the reaction of virtual sensitive robots to different stigmergic variables in order to keep the tracks of the intruders when securing a sensor network.
1210.7443
A Better Understanding of the Performance of Rate-1/2 Binary Turbo Codes that Use Odd-Even Interleavers
cs.IT math.IT
The effects of the odd-even constraint - as an interleaver design criterion - on the performance of rate-1/2 binary turbo codes are revisited. According to the current understanding, its adoption is favored because it makes the information bits be uniformly protected, each one by its own parity bit. In this paper, we provide instances that contradict this point of view suggesting for a different explanation of the constraint's behavior, in terms of distance spectrum.
1210.7461
Recognizing Static Signs from the Brazilian Sign Language: Comparing Large-Margin Decision Directed Acyclic Graphs, Voting Support Vector Machines and Artificial Neural Networks
cs.CV cs.LG stat.ML
In this paper, we explore and detail our experiments in a high-dimensionality, multi-class image classification problem often found in the automatic recognition of Sign Languages. Here, our efforts are directed towards comparing the characteristics, advantages and drawbacks of creating and training Support Vector Machines disposed in a Directed Acyclic Graph and Artificial Neural Networks to classify signs from the Brazilian Sign Language (LIBRAS). We explore how the different heuristics, hyperparameters and multi-class decision schemes affect the performance, efficiency and ease of use for each classifier. We provide hyperparameter surface maps capturing accuracy and efficiency, comparisons between DDAGs and 1-vs-1 SVMs, and effects of heuristics when training ANNs with Resilient Backpropagation. We report statistically significant results using Cohen's Kappa statistic for contingency tables.
1210.7473
Comments on "Nonextensive Entropies derived from Form Invariance of Pseudoadditivity"
cs.IT math-ph math.IT math.MP
Recently, Suyari has defined nonextensive information content measure with unique class of functions which satisfies certain set of axioms. Nonextensive entropy is then defined as the appropriate expectation value of nonextensive information content [H. Suyari, Phys. Rev E 65 066118 (2002)]. In this comment we show that the class of functions determined by Suyari's axioms is actually wider than the one given by Suyari and we determine the class. Particularly, an information content corresponding to Havrda-Charvat entropy satisfies Suyari's axioms and does not belong to the class given by Suyari but belongs to our class. Moreover, some of the conditions from Suyari's set of axioms are redundant, and some of them can be replaced with more intuitive weaker ones. We give a modification of Suyari's axiomatic system with these weaker assumptions and define the corresponding information content measure.
1210.7495
Illustrating a neural model of logic computations: The case of Sherlock Holmes' old maxim
q-bio.NC cs.AI
Natural languages can express some logical propositions that humans are able to understand. We illustrate this fact with a famous text that Conan Doyle attributed to Holmes: 'It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth'. This is a subtle logical statement usually felt as an evident truth. The problem we are trying to solve is the cognitive reason for such a feeling. We postulate here that we accept Holmes' maxim as true because our adult brains are equipped with neural modules that naturally perform modal logical computations.
1210.7498
Percolation on interacting, antagonistic networks
physics.soc-ph cond-mat.dis-nn cond-mat.stat-mech cs.SI
Recently, new results on percolation of interdependent networks have shown that the percolation transition can be first order. In this paper we show that, when considering antagonistic interactions between interacting networks, the percolation process might present a bistability of the equilibrium solution. To this end, we introduce antagonistic interactions for which the functionality, or activity, of a node in a network is incompatible with the functionality, of the linked nodes in the other interacting networks. In particular, we study the percolation transition in two interacting networks with purely antagonistic interaction and different topology. For two antagonistic Poisson networks of different average degree we found a large region in the phase diagram in which there is a bistability of the steady state solutions of the percolation process, i.e. we can find that either one of the two networks might percolate. For two antagonistic scale-free networks we found that there is a region in the phase diagram in which, despite the antagonistic interactions, both networks are percolating. Finally we characterize the rich phase diagram of the percolation problems on two antagonistic networks, the first one of the two being a Poisson network and the second one being a scale-free network.
1210.7506
Convolutional Compressed Sensing Using Deterministic Sequences
cs.IT cs.MM math.IT
In this paper, a new class of circulant matrices built from deterministic sequences is proposed for convolution-based compressed sensing (CS). In contrast to random convolution, the coefficients of the underlying filter are given by the discrete Fourier transform of a deterministic sequence with good autocorrelation. Both uniform recovery and non-uniform recovery of sparse signals are investigated, based on the coherence parameter of the proposed sensing matrices. Many examples of the sequences are investigated, particularly the Frank-Zadoff-Chu (FZC) sequence, the \textit{m}-sequence and the Golay sequence. A salient feature of the proposed sensing matrices is that they can not only handle sparse signals in the time domain, but also those in the frequency and/or or discrete-cosine transform (DCT) domain.
1210.7515
Rewriting Codes for Flash Memories
cs.IT math.IT
Flash memory is a non-volatile computer memory comprising blocks of cells, wherein each cell can take on q different values or levels. While increasing the cell level is easy, reducing the level of a cell can be accomplished only by erasing an entire block. Since block erasures are highly undesirable, coding schemes - known as floating codes (or flash codes) and buffer codes - have been designed in order to maximize the number of times that information stored in a flash memory can be written (and re-written) prior to incurring a block erasure. An (n,k,t)q flash code C is a coding scheme for storing k information bits in $n$ cells in such a way that any sequence of up to t writes can be accommodated without a block erasure. The total number of available level transitions in n cells is n(q-1), and the write deficiency of C, defined as \delta(C) = n(q-1)-t, is a measure of how close the code comes to perfectly utilizing all these transitions. In this paper, we show a construction of flash codes with write deficiency O(qk\log k) if q \geq \log_2k, and at most O(k\log^2 k) otherwise. An (n,r,\ell,t)q buffer code is a coding scheme for storing a buffer of r \ell-ary symbols such that for any sequence of t symbols it is possible to successfully decode the last r symbols that were written. We improve upon a previous upper bound on the maximum number of writes t in the case where there is a single cell to store the buffer. Then, we show how to improve a construction by Jiang et al. that uses multiple cells, where n\geq 2r.
1210.7533
Joint Viterbi Decoding and Decision Feedback Equalization for Monobit Digital Receivers
cs.IT math.IT
In ultra-wideband (UWB) communication systems with impulse radio (IR) modulation, the bandwidth is usually 1GHz or more. To process the received signal digitally, high sampling rate analog-digital-converters (ADC) are required. Due to the high complexity and large power consumption, monobit ADC is appropriate. The optimal monobit receiver has been derived. But it is not efficient to combat intersymbol interference (ISI). Decision feedback equalization (DFE) is an effect way dealing with ISI. In this paper, we proposed a algorithm that combines Viterbi decoding and DFE together for monobit receivers. In this way, we suppress the impact of ISI effectively, thus improving the bit error rate (BER) performance. By state expansion, we achieve better performance. The simulation results show that the algorithm has about 1dB SNR gain compared to separate demodulation and decoding method and 1dB loss compared to the BER performance in the channel without ISI. Compare to the full resolution detection in fading channel without ISI, it has 3dB SNR loss after state expansion.
1210.7539
Feedback Allocation For OFDMA Systems With Slow Frequency-domain Scheduling
cs.IT math.IT
We study the problem of allocating limited feedback resources across multiple users in an orthogonal-frequency-division-multiple-access downlink system with slow frequency-domain scheduling. Many flavors of slow frequency-domain scheduling (e.g., persistent scheduling, semi-persistent scheduling), that adapt user-sub-band assignments on a slower time-scale, are being considered in standards such as 3GPP Long-Term Evolution. In this paper, we develop a feedback allocation algorithm that operates in conjunction with any arbitrary slow frequency-domain scheduler with the goal of improving the throughput of the system. Given a user-sub-band assignment chosen by the scheduler, the feedback allocation algorithm involves solving a weighted sum-rate maximization at each (slow) scheduling instant. We first develop an optimal dynamic-programming-based algorithm to solve the feedback allocation problem with pseudo-polynomial complexity in the number of users and in the total feedback bit budget. We then propose two approximation algorithms with complexity further reduced, for scenarios where the problem exhibits additional structure.
1210.7543
Exploiting Sparse Dynamics For Bandwidth Reduction In Cooperative Sensing Systems
cs.IT math.IT
Recently, there has been a significant interest in developing cooperative sensing systems for certain types of wireless applications. In such systems, a group of sensing nodes periodically collect measurements about the signals being observed in the given geographical region and transmit these measurements to a central node, which in turn processes this information to recover the signals. For example, in cognitive radio networks, the signals of interest are those generated by the primary transmitters and the sensing nodes are the secondary users. In such networks, it is critically important to be able to reliably determine the presence or absence of primary transmitters in order to avoid causing interference. The standard approach to transmit these measurements from sensor the nodes to the fusion center has been to use orthogonal channels. Such an approach quickly places a burden on the control-channel-capacity of the network that would scale linearly in the number of cooperating sensing nodes. In this paper, we show that as long as one condition is satisfied: the dynamics of the observed signals are sparse, i.e., the observed signals do not change their values very rapidly in relation to the time-scale at which the measurements are collected, we can significantly reduce the control bandwidth of the system while achieving the full (linear) bandwidth performance.
1210.7559
Tensor decompositions for learning latent variable models
cs.LG math.NA stat.ML
This work considers a computationally and statistically efficient parameter estimation method for a wide class of latent variable models---including Gaussian mixture models, hidden Markov models, and latent Dirichlet allocation---which exploits a certain tensor structure in their low-order observable moments (typically, of second- and third-order). Specifically, parameter estimation is reduced to the problem of extracting a certain (orthogonal) decomposition of a symmetric tensor derived from the moments; this decomposition can be viewed as a natural generalization of the singular value decomposition for matrices. Although tensor decompositions are generally intractable to compute, the decomposition of these specially structured tensors can be efficiently obtained by a variety of approaches, including power iterations and maximization approaches (similar to the case of matrices). A detailed analysis of a robust tensor power method is provided, establishing an analogue of Wedin's perturbation theorem for the singular vectors of matrices. This implies a robust and computationally tractable estimation approach for several popular latent variable models.
1210.7599
The automatic creation of concept maps from documents written using morphologically rich languages
cs.IR cs.AI cs.CL
Concept map is a graphical tool for representing knowledge. They have been used in many different areas, including education, knowledge management, business and intelligence. Constructing of concept maps manually can be a complex task; an unskilled person may encounter difficulties in determining and positioning concepts relevant to the problem area. An application that recommends concept candidates and their position in a concept map can significantly help the user in that situation. This paper gives an overview of different approaches to automatic and semi-automatic creation of concept maps from textual and non-textual sources. The concept map mining process is defined, and one method suitable for the creation of concept maps from unstructured textual sources in highly inflected languages such as the Croatian language is described in detail. Proposed method uses statistical and data mining techniques enriched with linguistic tools. With minor adjustments, that method can also be used for concept map mining from textual sources in other morphologically rich languages.
1210.7600
Study on the Availability Prediction of the Reconfigurable Networked Software System
cs.MA cs.SE
This paper describes multi-agent based availability prediction approach for the reconfigurable networked software system.
1210.7631
The fortresses of Ejin: an example of outlining a site from satellite images
cs.CV
From 1960's to 1970's, the Chinese Army built some fortified artificial hills. Some of them are located in the Inner Mongolia, Western China. These large fortresses are surrounded by moats. For some of them it is still possible to see earthworks, trenches and ditches, the planning of which could have a symbolic meaning. We can argue this result form their digital outlining, obtained after an image processing of satellite images, based on edge detection.
1210.7657
Text Classification with Compression Algorithms
cs.LG
This work concerns a comparison of SVM kernel methods in text categorization tasks. In particular I define a kernel function that estimates the similarity between two objects computing by their compressed lengths. In fact, compression algorithms can detect arbitrarily long dependencies within the text strings. Data text vectorization looses information in feature extractions and is highly sensitive by textual language. Furthermore, these methods are language independent and require no text preprocessing. Moreover, the accuracy computed on the datasets (Web-KB, 20ng and Reuters-21578), in some case, is greater than Gaussian, linear and polynomial kernels. The method limits are represented by computational time complexity of the Gram matrix and by very poor performance on non-textual datasets.
1210.7659
The Objective Indefiniteness Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics
quant-ph cs.IT math.IT math.LO physics.hist-ph
The common-sense view of reality is expressed logically in Boolean subset logic (each element is either definitely in or not in a subset, i.e., either definitely has or does not have a property). But quantum mechanics does not agree with this "properties all the way down" picture of micro-reality. Are there other coherent alternative views of reality? A logic of partitions, dual to the Boolean logic of subsets (partitions are dual to subsets), was recently developed along with a logical version of information theory. In view of the subset-partition duality, partition logic is the alternative to Boolean subset logic and thus it abstractly describes the alternative dual view of micro-reality. Perhaps QM is compatible with this dual view? Indeed, when the mathematics of partitions using sets is "lifted" from sets to vector spaces, then it yields the mathematics and relations of quantum mechanics. Thus the vision of micro-reality abstractly characterized by partition logic matches that described by quantum mechanics. The key concept explicated by partition logic is the old idea of "objective indefiniteness" (emphasized by Shimony). Thus partition logic, logical information theory, and the lifting program provide the back story so that the old idea then yields the objective indefiniteness interpretation of quantum mechanics.
1210.7669
Performance Evaluation of Different Techniques for texture Classification
cs.CV
Texture is the term used to characterize the surface of a given object or phenomenon and is an important feature used in image processing and pattern recognition. Our aim is to compare various Texture analyzing methods and compare the results based on time complexity and accuracy of classification. The project describes texture classification using Wavelet Transform and Co occurrence Matrix. Comparison of features of a sample texture with database of different textures is performed. In wavelet transform we use the Haar, Symlets and Daubechies wavelets. We find that, thee Haar wavelet proves to be the most efficient method in terms of performance assessment parameters mentioned above. Comparison of Haar wavelet and Co-occurrence matrix method of classification also goes in the favor of Haar. Though the time requirement is high in the later method, it gives excellent results for classification accuracy except if the image is rotated.
1210.7683
Computing Petaflops over Terabytes of Data: The Case of Genome-Wide Association Studies
cs.MS cs.CE cs.PF q-bio.GN q-bio.QM
In many scientific and engineering applications, one has to solve not one but a sequence of instances of the same problem. Often times, the problems in the sequence are linked in a way that allows intermediate results to be reused. A characteristic example for this class of applications is given by the Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS), a widely spread tool in computational biology. GWAS entails the solution of up to trillions ($10^{12}$) of correlated generalized least-squares problems, posing a daunting challenge: the performance of petaflops ($10^{15}$ floating-point operations) over terabytes of data. In this paper, we design an algorithm for performing GWAS on multi-core architectures. This is accomplished in three steps. First, we show how to exploit the relation among successive problems, thus reducing the overall computational complexity. Then, through an analysis of the required data transfers, we identify how to eliminate any overhead due to input/output operations. Finally, we study how to decompose computation into tasks to be distributed among the available cores, to attain high performance and scalability. With our algorithm, a GWAS that currently requires the use of a supercomputer may now be performed in matter of hours on a single multi-core node. The discussion centers around the methodology to develop the algorithm rather than the specific application. We believe the paper contributes valuable guidelines of general applicability for computational scientists on how to develop and optimize numerical algorithms.
1210.7711
Refined support and entropic uncertainty inequalities
cs.IT math.IT
Generalized versions of the entropic (Hirschman-Beckner) and support (Elad-Bruckstein) uncertainty principle are presented for frames representations. Moreover, a sharpened version of the support inequality has been obtained by introducing a generalization of the coherence. In the finite dimensional case and under certain conditions, minimizers of this inequalities are given as constant functions on their support. In addition, $\ell^p$-norms inequalities are introduced as byproducts of the entropic inequalities.
1210.7719
Robustness, Canalyzing Functions and Systems Design
math.PR cs.SY
We study a notion of robustness of a Markov kernel that describes a system of several input random variables and one output random variable. Robustness requires that the behaviour of the system does not change if one or several of the input variables are knocked out. If the system is required to be robust against too many knockouts, then the output variable cannot distinguish reliably between input states and must be independent of the input. We study how many input states the output variable can distinguish as a function of the required level of robustness. Gibbs potentials allow a mechanistic description of the behaviour of the system after knockouts. Robustness imposes structural constraints on these potentials. We show that interaction families of Gibbs potentials allow to describe robust systems. Given a distribution of the input random variables and the Markov kernel describing the system, we obtain a joint probability distribution. Robustness implies a number of conditional independence statements for this joint distribution. The set of all probability distributions corresponding to robust systems can be decomposed into a finite union of components, and we find parametrizations of the components. The decomposition corresponds to a primary decomposition of the conditional independence ideal and can be derived from more general results about generalized binomial edge ideals.
1210.7752
Phase retrieval with polarization
cs.IT math.FA math.IT
In many areas of imaging science, it is difficult to measure the phase of linear measurements. As such, one often wishes to reconstruct a signal from intensity measurements, that is, perform phase retrieval. In this paper, we provide a novel measurement design which is inspired by interferometry and exploits certain properties of expander graphs. We also give an efficient phase retrieval procedure, and use recent results in spectral graph theory to produce a stable performance guarantee which rivals the guarantee for PhaseLift in [Candes et al. 2011]. We use numerical simulations to illustrate the performance of our phase retrieval procedure, and we compare reconstruction error and runtime with a common alternating-projections-type procedure.
1210.7828
Exponential random graph models
physics.soc-ph cond-mat.dis-nn cs.SI
Nowadays, exponential random graphs (ERGs) are among the most widely-studied network models. Different analytical and numerical techniques for ERG have been developed that resulted in the well-established theory with true predictive power. An excellent basic discussion of exponential random graphs addressed to social science students and researchers is given in [Anderson et al., 1999][Robins et al., 2007]. This essay is intentionally designed to be more theoretical in comparison with the well-known primers just mentioned. Given the interdisciplinary character of the new emerging science of complex networks, the essay aims to give a contribution upon which network scientists and practitioners, who represent different research areas, could build a common area of understanding.
1210.7859
Stochastic Games on a Multiple Access Channel
cs.SY cs.GT
We consider a scenario where N users try to access a common base station. Associated with each user is its channel state and a finite queue which varies with time. Each user chooses his power and the admission control variable in a dynamic manner so as to maximize his expected throughput. The throughput of each user is a function of the actions and states of all users. The scenario considers the situation where each user knows his channel and buffer state but is unaware of the states and actions taken by the other users. We consider the scenario when each user is saturated (i.e., always has a packet to transmit) as well as the case when each user is unsaturated. We formulate the problem as a Markov game and show connections with strategic form games. We then consider various throughput functions associated with the multiple user channel and provide algorithms for finding these equilibria.
1210.7906
Synthesis-by-analysis of BCH Codes
cs.IT math.IT
In this paper we propose a technique to blindly synthesize the generator polynomial of BCH codes. The proposed technique involves finding Greatest Common Divisor (GCD) among different codewords and block lengths. Based on this combinatorial GCD calculation, correlation values are found. For a valid block length, the iterative GCD calculation results either into generator polynomial or some of its higher order multiples. These higher order polynomials are factorized under modulo-2 operation, and one of the resulting factors is always the generator polynomial which further increases the correlation value. The resulting correlation plot for different polynomials shows very high values for correct block length and valid generator polynomial. Knowing the valid block length and generator polynomial, all other parameters including number of parity-check digits (n-k), minimum distance dmin and error correcting capability t are readily exposed.
1210.7917
The Model of Semantic Concepts Lattice For Data Mining Of Microblogs
cs.CL cs.IR
The model of semantic concept lattice for data mining of microblogs has been proposed in this work. It is shown that the use of this model is effective for the semantic relations analysis and for the detection of associative rules of key words.
1210.7931
Polymatroids and polyquantoids
cs.IT cs.CR math.CO math.IT
When studying entropy functions of multivariate probability distributions, polymatroids and matroids emerge. Entropy functions of pure multiparty quantum states give rise to analogous notions, called here polyquantoids and quantoids. Polymatroids and polyquantoids are related via linear mappings and duality. Quantum secret sharing schemes that are ideal are described by selfdual matroids. Expansions of integer polyquantoids to quantoids are studied and linked to that of polymatroids.
1210.7940
Transmission of information via the non-linear Scroedinger equation: The random Gaussian input case
cs.IT math.IT nlin.SI
The explosion of demand for ultra-high information transmission rates over the last decade has necessitated the usage of increasingly high light intensities for fiber optical transmissions. As a result, the fiber non-linearities need to be treated non-perturbatively. Similar analyses in the past have focused on the effects of non-linearities on existing transmission technologies, e.g. WDM. In this paper we take advantage of the fact that, under certain assumptions, light transmission through optical fibers can be described using the non-linear Schroedinger equation, which is exactly integrable. As a particular example, we show that in the low Gaussian noise limit, the Gaussian input distribution has a higher mutual information than the transmission using WDM over the same available bandwidth.
1210.7956
Implementation of a Vision System for a Landmine Detecting Robot Using Artificial Neural Network
cs.NE cs.CV
Landmines, specifically anti-tank mines, cluster bombs, and unexploded ordnance form a serious problem in many countries. Several landmine sweeping techniques are used for minesweeping. This paper presents the design and the implementation of the vision system of an autonomous robot for landmines localization. The proposed work develops state-of-the-art techniques in digital image processing for pre-processing captured images of the contaminated area. After enhancement, Artificial Neural Network (ANN) is used in order to identify, recognize and classify the landmines' make and model. The Back-Propagation algorithm is used for training the network. The proposed work proved to be able to identify and classify different types of landmines under various conditions (rotated landmine, partially covered landmine) with a success rate of up to 90%.
1210.7959
Algorithm Selection for Combinatorial Search Problems: A Survey
cs.AI
The Algorithm Selection Problem is concerned with selecting the best algorithm to solve a given problem on a case-by-case basis. It has become especially relevant in the last decade, as researchers are increasingly investigating how to identify the most suitable existing algorithm for solving a problem instead of developing new algorithms. This survey presents an overview of this work focusing on the contributions made in the area of combinatorial search problems, where Algorithm Selection techniques have achieved significant performance improvements. We unify and organise the vast literature according to criteria that determine Algorithm Selection systems in practice. The comprehensive classification of approaches identifies and analyses the different directions from which Algorithm Selection has been approached. This paper contrasts and compares different methods for solving the problem as well as ways of using these solutions. It closes by identifying directions of current and future research.
1210.7961
Osculating Spaces of Varieties and Linear Network Codes
math.AG cs.IT math.IT
We present a general theory to obtain good linear network codes utilizing the osculating nature of algebraic varieties. In particular, we obtain from the osculating spaces of Veronese varieties explicit families of equidimensional vector spaces, in which any pair of distinct vector spaces intersects in the same dimension. Linear network coding transmits information in terms of a basis of a vector space and the information is received as a basis of a possible altered vector space. Ralf Koetter and Frank R. Kschischang introduced a metric on the set af vector spaces and showed that a minimal distance decoder for this metric achieves correct decoding if the dimension of the intersection of the transmitted and received vector space is sufficiently large. The obtained osculating spaces of Veronese varieties are equidistant in the above metric. The parameters of the resulting linear network codes are determined.
1210.8083
A Note on the Dimensions of the Structural Invariant Subspaces of the Discrete-Time Singular Hamiltonian Systems
cs.SY
The structural invariant subspaces of the discrete-time singular Hamiltonian system are used in 1] to give an analytic nonrecursive expression of all the admissible trajectories. A deeper insight into the features of these subspaces, particularly focused on the dimensionality issue, is the object of this note.
1210.8099
An Atypical Survey of Typical-Case Heuristic Algorithms
cs.CC cs.AI cs.DS
Heuristic approaches often do so well that they seem to pretty much always give the right answer. How close can heuristic algorithms get to always giving the right answer, without inducing seismic complexity-theoretic consequences? This article first discusses how a series of results by Berman, Buhrman, Hartmanis, Homer, Longpr\'{e}, Ogiwara, Sch\"{o}ening, and Watanabe, from the early 1970s through the early 1990s, explicitly or implicitly limited how well heuristic algorithms can do on NP-hard problems. In particular, many desirable levels of heuristic success cannot be obtained unless severe, highly unlikely complexity class collapses occur. Second, we survey work initiated by Goldreich and Wigderson, who showed how under plausible assumptions deterministic heuristics for randomized computation can achieve a very high frequency of correctness. Finally, we consider formal ways in which theory can help explain the effectiveness of heuristics that solve NP-hard problems in practice.
1210.8116
On U-Statistics and Compressed Sensing I: Non-Asymptotic Average-Case Analysis
cs.IT math.IT
Hoeffding's U-statistics model combinatorial-type matrix parameters (appearing in CS theory) in a natural way. This paper proposes using these statistics for analyzing random compressed sensing matrices, in the non-asymptotic regime (relevant to practice). The aim is to address certain pessimisms of "worst-case" restricted isometry analyses, as observed by both Blanchard & Dossal, et. al. We show how U-statistics can obtain "average-case" analyses, by relating to statistical restricted isometry property (StRIP) type recovery guarantees. However unlike standard StRIP, random signal models are not required; the analysis here holds in the almost sure (probabilistic) sense. For Gaussian/bounded entry matrices, we show that both l1-minimization and LASSO essentially require on the order of k \cdot [\log((n-k)/u) + \sqrt{2(k/n) \log(n/k)}] measurements to respectively recover at least 1-5u fraction, and 1-4u fraction, of the signals. Noisy conditions are considered. Empirical evidence suggests our analysis to compare well to Donoho & Tanner's recent large deviation bounds for l0/l1-equivalence, in the regime of block lengths 1000-3000 with high undersampling (50-150 measurements); similar system sizes are found in recent CS implementation. In this work, it is assumed throughout that matrix columns are independently sampled.
1210.8117
On U-Statistics and Compressed Sensing II: Non-Asymptotic Worst-Case Analysis
cs.IT math.IT
In another related work, U-statistics were used for non-asymptotic "average-case" analysis of random compressed sensing matrices. In this companion paper the same analytical tool is adopted differently - here we perform non-asymptotic "worst-case" analysis. Simple union bounds are a natural choice for "worst-case" analyses, however their tightness is an issue (and questioned in previous works). Here we focus on a theoretical U-statistical result, which potentially allows us to prove that these union bounds are tight. To our knowledge, this kind of (powerful) result is completely new in the context of CS. This general result applies to a wide variety of parameters, and is related to (Stein-Chen) Poisson approximation. In this paper, we consider i) restricted isometries, and ii) mutual coherence. For the bounded case, we show that k-th order restricted isometry constants have tight union bounds, when the measurements m = \mathcal{O}(k (1 + \log(n/k))). Here we require the restricted isometries to grow linearly in k, however we conjecture that this result can be improved to allow them to be fixed. Also, we show that mutual coherence (with the standard estimate \sqrt{(4\log n)/m}) have very tight union bounds. For coherence, the normalization complicates general discussion, and we consider only Gaussian and Bernoulli cases here.
1210.8124
Hierarchical Learning Algorithm for the Beta Basis Function Neural Network
cs.NE cs.AI
The paper presents a two-level learning method for the design of the Beta Basis Function Neural Network BBFNN. A Genetic Algorithm is employed at the upper level to construct BBFNN, while the key learning parameters :the width, the centers and the Beta form are optimised using the gradient algorithm at the lower level. In order to demonstrate the effectiveness of this hierarchical learning algorithm HLABBFNN, we need to validate our algorithm for the approximation of non-linear function.
1210.8129
Compact Support Biorthogonal Wavelet Filterbanks for Arbitrary Undirected Graphs
cs.IT cs.DC math.IT
In our recent work, we proposed the design of perfect reconstruction orthogonal wavelet filterbanks, called graph- QMF, for arbitrary undirected weighted graphs. In that formulation we first designed "one-dimensional" two-channel filterbanks on bipartite graphs, and then extended them to "multi-dimensional" separable two-channel filterbanks for arbitrary graphs via a bipartite subgraph decomposition. We specifically designed wavelet filters based on the spectral decomposition of the graph, and stated necessary and sufficient conditions for a two-channel graph filter-bank on bipartite graphs to provide aliasing-cancellation, perfect reconstruction and orthogonal set of basis (orthogonality). While, the exact graph-QMF designs satisfy all the above conditions, they are not exactly k-hop localized on the graph. In this paper, we relax the condition of orthogonality to design a biorthogonal pair of graph-wavelets that can have compact spatial spread and still satisfy the perfect reconstruction conditions. The design is analogous to the standard Cohen-Daubechies-Feauveau's (CDF) construction of factorizing a maximally-flat Daubechies half-band filter. Preliminary results demonstrate that the proposed filterbanks can be useful for both standard signal processing applications as well as for signals defined on arbitrary graphs. Note: Code examples from this paper are available at http://biron.usc.edu/wiki/index.php/Graph Filterbanks
1210.8176
Eigenvalue-based Cyclostationary Spectrum Sensing Using Multiple Antennas
cs.PF cs.IT math.IT stat.AP
In this paper, we propose a signal-selective spectrum sensing method for cognitive radio networks and specifically targeted for receivers with multiple-antenna capability. This method is used for detecting the presence or absence of primary users based on the eigenvalues of the cyclic covariance matrix of received signals. In particular, the cyclic correlation significance test is used to detect a specific signal-of-interest by exploiting knowledge of its cyclic frequencies. The analytical threshold for achieving constant false alarm rate using this detection method is presented, verified through simulations, and shown to be independent of both the number of samples used and the noise variance, effectively eliminating the dependence on accurate noise estimation. The proposed method is also shown, through numerical simulations, to outperform existing multiple-antenna cyclostationary-based spectrum sensing algorithms under a quasi-static Rayleigh fading channel, in both spatially correlated and uncorrelated noise environments. The algorithm also has significantly lower computational complexity than these other approaches.
1210.8182
Discovering Social Circles in Ego Networks
cs.SI physics.soc-ph
People's personal social networks are big and cluttered, and currently there is no good way to automatically organize them. Social networking sites allow users to manually categorize their friends into social circles (e.g. 'circles' on Google+, and 'lists' on Facebook and Twitter), however they are laborious to construct and must be updated whenever a user's network grows. In this paper, we study the novel task of automatically identifying users' social circles. We pose this task as a multi-membership node clustering problem on a user's ego-network, a network of connections between her friends. We develop a model for detecting circles that combines network structure as well as user profile information. For each circle we learn its members and the circle-specific user profile similarity metric. Modeling node membership to multiple circles allows us to detect overlapping as well as hierarchically nested circles. Experiments show that our model accurately identifies circles on a diverse set of data from Facebook, Google+, and Twitter, for all of which we obtain hand-labeled ground-truth.
1210.8184
A stopping criterion for Markov chains when generating independent random graphs
cs.SI cs.DM physics.soc-ph
Markov chains are convenient means of generating realizations of networks with a given (joint or otherwise) degree distribution, since they simply require a procedure for rewiring edges. The major challenge is to find the right number of steps to run such a chain, so that we generate truly independent samples. Theoretical bounds for mixing times of these Markov chains are too large to be practically useful. Practitioners have no useful guide for choosing the length, and tend to pick numbers fairly arbitrarily. We give a principled mathematical argument showing that it suffices for the length to be proportional to the number of desired number of edges. We also prescribe a method for choosing this proportionality constant. We run a series of experiments showing that the distributions of common graph properties converge in this time, providing empirical evidence for our claims.
1210.8188
Relative Value Iteration for Stochastic Differential Games
math.OC cs.SY
We study zero-sum stochastic differential games with player dynamics governed by a nondegenerate controlled diffusion process. Under the assumption of uniform stability, we establish the existence of a solution to the Isaac's equation for the ergodic game and characterize the optimal stationary strategies. The data is not assumed to be bounded, nor do we assume geometric ergodicity. Thus our results extend previous work in the literature. We also study a relative value iteration scheme that takes the form of a parabolic Isaac's equation. Under the hypothesis of geometric ergodicity we show that the relative value iteration converges to the elliptic Isaac's equation as time goes to infinity. We use these results to establish convergence of the relative value iteration for risk-sensitive control problems under an asymptotic flatness assumption.
1210.8191
Performance Indicator for MIMO MMSE Receivers in the Presence of Channel Estimation Error
cs.PF cs.IT cs.NI math.IT
We present the derivation of post-processing SNR for Minimum-Mean-Squared-Error (MMSE) receivers with imperfect channel estimates, and show that it is an accurate indicator of the error rate performance of MIMO systems in the presence of channel estimation error. Simulation results show the tightness of the analysis.
1210.8193
Decision dynamics in complex networks subject to mass media and social contact transmission mechanisms
physics.soc-ph cs.SI
The dynamics of decisions in complex networks is studied within a Markov process framework using numerical simulations combined with mathematical insight into the process mechanisms. A mathematical discrete-time model is derived based on a set of basic assumptions on the convincing mechanisms associated to two opinions. The model is analyzed with respect to multiplicity of critical points, illustrating in this way the main behavior to be expected in the network. Particular interest is focussed on the effect of social network and exogenous mass media-based influences on the decision behavior. A set of numerical simulation results is provided illustrating how these mechanisms impact the final decision results. The analysis reveals (i) the presence of fixed-point multiplicity (with a maximum of four different fixed points), multistability, and sensitivity with respect to process parameters, and (ii) that mass media have a strong impact on the decision behavior.
1210.8194
Extending the Concept of Analog Butterworth Filter for Fractional Order Systems
cs.SY
This paper proposes the design of Fractional Order (FO) Butterworth filter in complex w-plane (w=sq; q being any real number) considering the presence of under-damped, hyper-damped, ultra-damped poles. This is the first attempt to design such fractional Butterworth filters in complex w-plane instead of complex s-plane, as conventionally done for integer order filters. Firstly, the concept of fractional derivatives and w-plane stability of linear fractional order systems are discussed. Detailed mathematical formulation for the design of fractional Butterworth-like filter (FBWF) in w-plane is then presented. Simulation examples are given along with a practical example to design the FO Butterworth filter with given specifications in frequency domain to show the practicability of the proposed formulation.
1210.8196
Optimized Quality Factor of Fractional Order Analog Filters with Band-Pass and Band-Stop Characteristics
cs.SY math.OC
Fractional order (FO) filters have been investigated in this paper, with band-pass (BP) and band-stop (BS) characteristics, which can not be achieved with conventional integer order filters with orders lesser then two. The quality factors for symmetric and asymmetric magnitude response have been optimized using real coded Genetic Algorithm (GA) for a user specified center frequency. Parametric influence of the FO filters on the magnitude response is also illustrated with credible numerical simulations.
1210.8197
Stabilization Based Networked Predictive Controller Design for Switched Plants
cs.SY math.OC
Stabilizing state feedback controller has been designed in this paper for a switched DC motor plant, controlled over communication network. The switched system formulation for the networked control system (NCS) with additional switching in a plant parameter along with the switching due to random packet losses, have been formulated as few set of non-strict Linear Matrix Inequalities (LMIs). In order to solve non-strict LMIs using standard LMI solver and to design the stabilizing state feedback controller, the Cone Complementary Linearization (CCL) technique has been adopted. Simulation studies have been carried out for a DC motor plant, operating at two different sampling times with random switching in the moment of inertia, representing sudden jerks.
1210.8220
Closed-loop Reference Models for Output-Feedback Adaptive Systems
math.OC cs.SY nlin.AO
Closed-loop reference models have recently been proposed for states accessible adaptive systems. They have been shown to have improved transient response over their open loop counter parts. The results in the states accessible case are extended to single input single output plants of arbitrary relative degree.
1210.8223
On the Existence of Retransmission Permutation Arrays
math.CO cs.IT math.IT
We investigate retransmission permutation arrays (RPAs) that are motivated by applications in overlapping channel transmissions. An RPA is an $n\times n$ array in which each row is a permutation of ${1, ..., n}$, and for $1\leq i\leq n$, all $n$ symbols occur in each $i\times\lceil\frac{n}{i}\rceil$ rectangle in specified corners of the array. The array has types 1, 2, 3 and 4 if the stated property holds in the top left, top right, bottom left and bottom right corners, respectively. It is called latin if it is a latin square. We show that for all positive integers $n$, there exists a type-$1,2,3,4$ $\RPA(n)$ and a type-1,2 latin $\RPA(n)$.
1210.8229
Top Down Approach to find Maximal Frequent Item Sets using Subset Creation
cs.DB
Association rule has been an area of active research in the field of knowledge discovery. Data mining researchers had improved upon the quality of association rule mining for business development by incorporating influential factors like value (utility), quantity of items sold (weight) and more for the mining of association patterns. In this paper, we propose an efficient approach to find maximal frequent itemset first. Most of the algorithms in literature used to find minimal frequent item first, then with the help of minimal frequent itemsets derive the maximal frequent itemsets. These methods consume more time to find maximal frequent itemsets. To overcome this problem, we propose a navel approach to find maximal frequent itemset directly using the concepts of subsets. The proposed method is found to be efficient in finding maximal frequent itemsets.
1210.8242
Pipelined Workflow in Hybrid MPI/Pthread runtime for External Memory Graph Construction
cs.DB cs.DC
Graph construction from a given set of edges is a data-intensive operator that appears in social network analysis, ontology enabled databases, and, other analytics processing. The operator represents an edge list to compressed sparse row (CSR) representation (or sometimes in adjacency list, or as clustered B-Tree storage). In this work, we show how to scale CSR construction to massive scale on SSD-enabled supercomputers such as Gordon using pipelined processing. We develop several abstraction and operations for external memory and parallel edge list and integer array processing that are utilized towards building a scalable algorithm for creating CSR representation. Our experiments demonstrate that this scheme is four to six times faster than currently available implementation. Moreover, our scheme can handle up to 8 billion edges (128GB) by using external memory as compared to prior schemes where performance degrades considerably for edge list size 26 million and beyond.
1210.8253
Ranks of propelinear perfect binary codes
math.CO cs.IT math.IT
It is proven that for any numbers n=2^m-1, m >= 4 and r, such that n - log(n+1)<= r <= n excluding n = r = 63, n = 127, r in {126,127} and n = r = 2047 there exists a propelinear perfect binary code of length n and rank r.
1210.8260
Mean Field Theory of Dynamical Systems Driven by External Signals
nlin.CD cond-mat.dis-nn cs.AI
Dynamical systems driven by strong external signals are ubiquituous in nature and engineering. Here we study "echo state networks", networks of a large number of randomly connected nodes, which represent a simple model of a neural network, and have important applications in machine learning. We develop a mean field theory of echo state networks. The dynamics of the network is captured by the evolution law, similar to a logistic map, for a single collective variable. When the network is driven by many independent external signals, this collective variable reaches a steady state. But when the network is driven by a single external signal, the collective variable is nonstationnary but can be characterised by its time averaged distribution. The predictions of the mean field theory, including the value of the largest Lyaponuov exponent, are compared with the numerical integration of the equations of motion.
1210.8262
On the Relation Between the Common Labelling and the Median Graph
cs.CV
In structural pattern recognition, given a set of graphs, the computation of a Generalized Median Graph is a well known problem. Some methods approach the problem by assuming a relation between the Generalized Median Graph and the Common Labelling problem. However, this relation has still not been formally proved. In this paper, we analyse such relation between both problems. The main result proves that the cost of the common labelling upper-bounds the cost of the median with respect to the given set. In addition, we show that the two problems are equivalent in some cases.
1210.8267
Detecting Linear Block Codes in Noise using the GLRT
cs.IT math.IT
In this paper, we consider the problem of distinguishing the noisy codewords of a known binary linear block code from a random bit sequence. We propose to use the generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) to solve this problem. We also give a formula to find approximate number of codewords required and compare our results with an existing method.
1210.8291
Learning in the Model Space for Fault Diagnosis
cs.LG cs.AI
The emergence of large scaled sensor networks facilitates the collection of large amounts of real-time data to monitor and control complex engineering systems. However, in many cases the collected data may be incomplete or inconsistent, while the underlying environment may be time-varying or un-formulated. In this paper, we have developed an innovative cognitive fault diagnosis framework that tackles the above challenges. This framework investigates fault diagnosis in the model space instead of in the signal space. Learning in the model space is implemented by fitting a series of models using a series of signal segments selected with a rolling window. By investigating the learning techniques in the fitted model space, faulty models can be discriminated from healthy models using one-class learning algorithm. The framework enables us to construct fault library when unknown faults occur, which can be regarded as cognitive fault isolation. This paper also theoretically investigates how to measure the pairwise distance between two models in the model space and incorporates the model distance into the learning algorithm in the model space. The results on three benchmark applications and one simulated model for the Barcelona water distribution network have confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed framework.
1210.8293
Lyapunov Control of Quantum Systems with Applications to Quantum Computing
cs.SY math.OC
In the design of complex quantum systems like ion traps for quantum computing, it is usually desired to stabilize a particular system state or make the system state track a desired trajectory. Several control theoretical approaches based on feedback seem attractive to solve such problems. But the uncertain dynamics introduced by measurement on quantum systems makes the synthesis of feedback control laws very complicated. Although we have not explicitly modeled the change in system dynamics due to measurement (we have assumed weak measurements), this is a first step towards a more detailed analysis and closed-loop feedback design. Here, we present a Lyapunov-based control approach on the lines of that developed by Mirrahimi, Rouchon, Turnici (2005). The states are assumed to be obtained from weak measurements. The Lyapunov control technique has not been applied to realistic quantum systems so far. We have extended and applied the technique to two realistic physical systems - the quantum harmonic oscillator and the n-qubit system. We also propose to extend this concept to ion traps.
1210.8296
Parameter Estimation of Switched Hammerstein Systems
cs.SY math.OC
This paper deals with the parameter estimation problem of the Single-Input-Single-Output (SISO) switched Hammerstein system. Suppose that the switching law is arbitrary but can be observed online. All subsystems are parameterized and the Recursive Least Squares (RLS) algorithm is applied to estimate their parameters. To overcome the difficulty caused by coupling of data from different subsystems, the concept "intrinsic switch" is introduced. Two cases are considered: i) The input is taken to be a sequence of independent identically distributed (i.i.d.) random variables when identification is the only purpose; ii) A diminishingly excited signal is superimposed on the control when the adaptive control law is given. The strong consistency of the estimates in both cases is established and a simulation example is given to verify the theoretical analysis.
1210.8318
Mugshot Identification from Manipulated Facial Images
cs.CV cs.MM
Editing on digital images is ubiquitous. Identification of deliberately modified facial images is a new challenge for face identification system. In this paper, we address the problem of identification of a face or person from heavily altered facial images. In this face identification problem, the input to the system is a manipulated or transformed face image and the system reports back the determined identity from a database of known individuals. Such a system can be useful in mugshot identification in which mugshot database contains two views (frontal and profile) of each criminal. We considered only frontal view from the available database for face identification and the query image is a manipulated face generated by face transformation software tool available online. We propose SIFT features for efficient face identification in this scenario. Further comparative analysis has been given with well known eigenface approach. Experiments have been conducted with real case images to evaluate the performance of both methods.
1210.8326
General BER Expression for One-Dimensional Constellations
cs.IT math.IT
A novel general ready-to-use bit-error rate (BER) expression for one-dimensional constellations is developed. The BER analysis is performed for bit patterns that form a labeling. The number of patterns for equally spaced M-PAM constellations with different BER is analyzed.
1210.8353
Temporal Autoencoding Restricted Boltzmann Machine
stat.ML cs.AI cs.LG
Much work has been done refining and characterizing the receptive fields learned by deep learning algorithms. A lot of this work has focused on the development of Gabor-like filters learned when enforcing sparsity constraints on a natural image dataset. Little work however has investigated how these filters might expand to the temporal domain, namely through training on natural movies. Here we investigate exactly this problem in established temporal deep learning algorithms as well as a new learning paradigm suggested here, the Temporal Autoencoding Restricted Boltzmann Machine (TARBM).
1210.8378
Development of a Dual Sensor Heat Control System
cs.SY
Convenience and safeguarding our home appliances have become an important issue when dealing with an advancement and growth of an economy. This research focuses on the design and construction of a Dual Sensor heat-monitoring system. The circuit works by monitoring temperature from an external input and comparing the temperature level with that of a preset temperature value. The power output of the circuit is cut off or switched OFF or an alarm is triggered ON if the temperature of the external input is equal to or, greater than the preset temperature value. The methodology involves the application of linear precision temperature sensors i.e., they generate a voltage that is directly proportional to the temperature. Basically the system is constructed using temperature sensors and comparators. The system is powered using a 12V power supply. The results of the tests showed that the power output of the circuit is switched OFF hence switching OFF the heating device or an alarm is triggered ON when the device exceeded a preset temperature level. The general operation of the system and performance is dependent on the temperature difference between the preset temperature value and external temperature intended to be monitored. The overall system was tested and found perfectly functional.
1210.8385
First Experiments with PowerPlay
cs.AI cs.LG
Like a scientist or a playing child, PowerPlay not only learns new skills to solve given problems, but also invents new interesting problems by itself. By design, it continually comes up with the fastest to find, initially novel, but eventually solvable tasks. It also continually simplifies or compresses or speeds up solutions to previous tasks. Here we describe first experiments with PowerPlay. A self-delimiting recurrent neural network SLIM RNN is used as a general computational problem solving architecture. Its connection weights can encode arbitrary, self-delimiting, halting or non-halting programs affecting both environment (through effectors) and internal states encoding abstractions of event sequences. Our PowerPlay-driven SLIM RNN learns to become an increasingly general solver of self-invented problems, continually adding new problem solving procedures to its growing skill repertoire. Extending a recent conference paper, we identify interesting, emerging, developmental stages of our open-ended system. We also show how it automatically self-modularizes, frequently re-using code for previously invented skills, always trying to invent novel tasks that can be quickly validated because they do not require too many weight changes affecting too many previous tasks.
1210.8398
An Alignment Algorithm for Sequences
cs.IT math.IT
This paper describes a new alignment algorithm for sequences that can be used for determination of deletions and substitutions. It provides several solutions out of which the best one can be chosen on the basis of minimization of gaps or other considerations. The algorithm does not use similarity tables and it performs aspects of both global and local alignment. The algorithm is compared with other sequence alignment algorithms.
1210.8400
Distributed Quantization Networks
cs.IT math.IT
Several key results in distributed source coding offer the intuition that little improvement in compression can be gained from intersensor communication when the information is coded in long blocks. However, when sensors are restricted to code their observations in small blocks (e.g., 1), intelligent collaboration between sensors can greatly reduce distortion. For networks where sensors are allowed to "chat" using a side channel that is unobservable at the fusion center, we provide asymptotically-exact characterization of distortion performance and optimal quantizer design in the high-resolution (low-distortion) regime using a framework called distributed functional scalar quantization (DFSQ). The key result is that chatting can dramatically improve performance even when intersensor communication is at very low rate, especially if the fusion center desires fidelity of a nonlinear computation applied to source realizations rather than fidelity in representing the sources themselves. We also solve the rate allocation problem when communication links have heterogeneous costs and provide a detailed example to demonstrate the theoretical and practical gains from chatting. This example for maximum computation gives insight on the gap between chatting and distributed networks, and how to optimize the intersensor communication.
1210.8436
Optimal size, freshness and time-frame for voice search vocabulary
cs.CL cs.IR
In this paper, we investigate how to optimize the vocabulary for a voice search language model. The metric we optimize over is the out-of-vocabulary (OoV) rate since it is a strong indicator of user experience. In a departure from the usual way of measuring OoV rates, web search logs allow us to compute the per-session OoV rate and thus estimate the percentage of users that experience a given OoV rate. Under very conservative text normalization, we find that a voice search vocabulary consisting of 2 to 2.5 million words extracted from 1 week of search query data will result in an aggregate OoV rate of 1%; at that size, the same OoV rate will also be experienced by 90% of users. The number of words included in the vocabulary is a stable indicator of the OoV rate. Altering the freshness of the vocabulary or the duration of the time window over which the training data is gathered does not significantly change the OoV rate. Surprisingly, a significantly larger vocabulary (approximately 10 million words) is required to guarantee OoV rates below 1% for 95% of the users.