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1301.3889
Pivotal Pruning of Trade-offs in QPNs
cs.AI
Qualitative probabilistic networks have been designed for probabilistic reasoning in a qualitative way. Due to their coarse level of representation detail, qualitative probabilistic networks do not provide for resolving trade-offs and typically yield ambiguous results upon inference. We present an algorithm for computing more insightful results for unresolved trade-offs. The algorithm builds upon the idea of using pivots to zoom in on the trade-offs and identifying the information that would serve to resolve them.
1301.3890
Monte Carlo Inference via Greedy Importance Sampling
cs.LG stat.CO stat.ML
We present a new method for conducting Monte Carlo inference in graphical models which combines explicit search with generalized importance sampling. The idea is to reduce the variance of importance sampling by searching for significant points in the target distribution. We prove that it is possible to introduce search and still maintain unbiasedness. We then demonstrate our procedure on a few simple inference tasks and show that it can improve the inference quality of standard MCMC methods, including Gibbs sampling, Metropolis sampling, and Hybrid Monte Carlo. This paper extends previous work which showed how greedy importance sampling could be correctly realized in the one-dimensional case.
1301.3891
Combining Feature and Prototype Pruning by Uncertainty Minimization
cs.LG stat.ML
We focus in this paper on dataset reduction techniques for use in k-nearest neighbor classification. In such a context, feature and prototype selections have always been independently treated by the standard storage reduction algorithms. While this certifying is theoretically justified by the fact that each subproblem is NP-hard, we assume in this paper that a joint storage reduction is in fact more intuitive and can in practice provide better results than two independent processes. Moreover, it avoids a lot of distance calculations by progressively removing useless instances during the feature pruning. While standard selection algorithms often optimize the accuracy to discriminate the set of solutions, we use in this paper a criterion based on an uncertainty measure within a nearest-neighbor graph. This choice comes from recent results that have proven that accuracy is not always the suitable criterion to optimize. In our approach, a feature or an instance is removed if its deletion improves information of the graph. Numerous experiments are presented in this paper and a statistical analysis shows the relevance of our approach, and its tolerance in the presence of noise.
1301.3893
A Knowledge Acquisition Tool for Bayesian-Network Troubleshooters
cs.AI
This paper describes a domain-specific knowledge acquisition tool for intelligent automated troubleshooters based on Bayesian networks. No Bayesian network knowledge is required to use the tool, and troubleshooting information can be specified as natural and intuitive as possible. Probabilities can be specified in the direction that is most natural to the domain expert. Thus, the knowledge acquisition efficiently removes the traditional knowledge acquisition bottleneck of Bayesian networks.
1301.3894
On the Use of Skeletons when Learning in Bayesian Networks
cs.AI
In this paper, we present a heuristic operator which aims at simultaneously optimizing the orientations of all the edges in an intermediate Bayesian network structure during the search process. This is done by alternating between the space of directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) and the space of skeletons. The found orientations of the edges are based on a scoring function rather than on induced conditional independences. This operator can be used as an extension to commonly employed search strategies. It is evaluated in experiments with artificial and real-world data.
1301.3895
Dynamic Trees: A Structured Variational Method Giving Efficient Propagation Rules
cs.LG cs.AI stat.ML
Dynamic trees are mixtures of tree structured belief networks. They solve some of the problems of fixed tree networks at the cost of making exact inference intractable. For this reason approximate methods such as sampling or mean field approaches have been used. However, mean field approximations assume a factorized distribution over node states. Such a distribution seems unlickely in the posterior, as nodes are highly correlated in the prior. Here a structured variational approach is used, where the posterior distribution over the non-evidential nodes is itself approximated by a dynamic tree. It turns out that this form can be used tractably and efficiently. The result is a set of update rules which can propagate information through the network to obtain both a full variational approximation, and the relevant marginals. The progagtion rules are more efficient than the mean field approach and give noticeable quantitative and qualitative improvement in the inference. The marginals calculated give better approximations to the posterior than loopy propagation on a small toy problem.
1301.3896
An Uncertainty Framework for Classification
cs.LG stat.ML
We define a generalized likelihood function based on uncertainty measures and show that maximizing such a likelihood function for different measures induces different types of classifiers. In the probabilistic framework, we obtain classifiers that optimize the cross-entropy function. In the possibilistic framework, we obtain classifiers that maximize the interclass margin. Furthermore, we show that the support vector machine is a sub-class of these maximum-margin classifiers.
1301.3897
A Branch-and-Bound Algorithm for MDL Learning Bayesian Networks
cs.AI cs.LG stat.ML
This paper extends the work in [Suzuki, 1996] and presents an efficient depth-first branch-and-bound algorithm for learning Bayesian network structures, based on the minimum description length (MDL) principle, for a given (consistent) variable ordering. The algorithm exhaustively searches through all network structures and guarantees to find the network with the best MDL score. Preliminary experiments show that the algorithm is efficient, and that the time complexity grows slowly with the sample size. The algorithm is useful for empirically studying both the performance of suboptimal heuristic search algorithms and the adequacy of the MDL principle in learning Bayesian networks.
1301.3898
Probabilities of Causation: Bounds and Identification
cs.AI
This paper deals with the problem of estimating the probability that one event was a cause of another in a given scenario. Using structural-semantical definitions of the probabilities of necessary or sufficient causation (or both), we show how to optimally bound these quantities from data obtained in experimental and observational studies, making minimal assumptions concerning the data-generating process. In particular, we strengthen the results of Pearl (1999) by weakening the data-generation assumptions and deriving theoretically sharp bounds on the probabilities of causation. These results delineate precisely how empirical data can be used both in settling questions of attribution and in solving attribution-related problems of decision making.
1301.3899
Model-Based Hierarchical Clustering
cs.LG cs.AI stat.ML
We present an approach to model-based hierarchical clustering by formulating an objective function based on a Bayesian analysis. This model organizes the data into a cluster hierarchy while specifying a complex feature-set partitioning that is a key component of our model. Features can have either a unique distribution in every cluster or a common distribution over some (or even all) of the clusters. The cluster subsets over which these features have such a common distribution correspond to the nodes (clusters) of the tree representing the hierarchy. We apply this general model to the problem of document clustering for which we use a multinomial likelihood function and Dirichlet priors. Our algorithm consists of a two-stage process wherein we first perform a flat clustering followed by a modified hierarchical agglomerative merging process that includes determining the features that will have common distributions over the merged clusters. The regularization induced by using the marginal likelihood automatically determines the optimal model structure including number of clusters, the depth of the tree and the subset of features to be modeled as having a common distribution at each node. We present experimental results on both synthetic data and a real document collection.
1301.3900
Conditional Independence and Markov Properties in Possibility Theory
cs.AI
Conditional independence and Markov properties are powerful tools allowing expression of multidimensional probability distributions by means of low-dimensional ones. As multidimensional possibilistic models have been studied for several years, the demand for analogous tools in possibility theory seems to be quite natural. This paper is intended to be a promotion of de Cooman's measure-theoretic approcah to possibility theory, as this approach allows us to find analogies to many important results obtained in probabilistic framework. First, we recall semi-graphoid properties of conditional possibilistic independence, parameterized by a continuous t-norm, and find sufficient conditions for a class of Archimedean t-norms to have the graphoid property. Then we introduce Markov properties and factorization of possibility distrubtions (again parameterized by a continuous t-norm) and find the relationships between them. These results are accompanied by a number of conterexamples, which show that the assumptions of specific theorems are substantial.
1301.3901
Variational Approximations between Mean Field Theory and the Junction Tree Algorithm
cs.LG cs.AI stat.ML
Recently, variational approximations such as the mean field approximation have received much interest. We extend the standard mean field method by using an approximating distribution that factorises into cluster potentials. This includes undirected graphs, directed acyclic graphs and junction trees. We derive generalized mean field equations to optimize the cluster potentials. We show that the method bridges the gap between the standard mean field approximation and the exact junction tree algorithm. In addition, we address the problem of how to choose the graphical structure of the approximating distribution. From the generalised mean field equations we derive rules to simplify the structure of the approximating distribution in advance without affecting the quality of the approximation. We also show how the method fits into some other variational approximations that are currently popular.
1301.3902
Model Criticism of Bayesian Networks with Latent Variables
cs.AI stat.AP stat.ME
The application of Bayesian networks (BNs) to cognitive assessment and intelligent tutoring systems poses new challenges for model construction. When cognitive task analyses suggest constructing a BN with several latent variables, empirical model criticism of the latent structure becomes both critical and complex. This paper introduces a methodology for criticizing models both globally (a BN in its entirety) and locally (observable nodes), and explores its value in identifying several kinds of misfit: node errors, edge errors, state errors, and prior probability errors in the latent structure. The results suggest the indices have potential for detecting model misfit and assisting in locating problematic components of the model.
1301.3903
Exploiting Qualitative Knowledge in the Learning of Conditional Probabilities of Bayesian Networks
cs.AI
Algorithms for learning the conditional probabilities of Bayesian networks with hidden variables typically operate within a high-dimensional search space and yield only locally optimal solutions. One way of limiting the search space and avoiding local optima is to impose qualitative constraints that are based on background knowledge concerning the domain. We present a method for integrating formal statements of qualitative constraints into two learning algorithms, APN and EM. In our experiments with synthetic data, this method yielded networks that satisfied the constraints almost perfectly. The accuracy of the learned networks was consistently superior to that of corresponding networks learned without constraints. The exploitation of qualitative constraints therefore appears to be a promising way to increase both the interpretability and the accuracy of learned Bayesian networks with known structure.
1301.3934
Intrinsic cell factors that influence tumourigenicity in cancer stem cells - towards hallmarks of cancer stem cells
q-bio.TO cs.CE
Since the discovery of a cancer initiating side population in solid tumours, studies focussing on the role of so-called cancer stem cells in cancer initiation and progression have abounded. The biological interrogation of these cells has yielded volumes of information about their behaviour, but there has, as of yet, not been many actionable generalised theoretical conclusions. To address this point, we have created a hybrid, discrete/continuous computational cellular automaton model of a generalised stem-cell driven tissue and explored the phenotypic traits inherent in the inciting cell and the resultant tissue growth. We identify the regions in phenotype parameter space where these initiating cells are able to cause a disruption in homeostasis, leading to tissue overgrowth and tumour formation. As our parameters and model are non-specific, they could apply to any tissue cancer stem-cell and do not assume specific genetic mutations. In this way, our model suggests that targeting these phenotypic traits could represent generalizable strategies across cancer types and represents a first attempt to identify the hallmarks of cancer stem cells.
1301.3964
Multiscale Discriminant Saliency for Visual Attention
cs.CV
The bottom-up saliency, an early stage of humans' visual attention, can be considered as a binary classification problem between center and surround classes. Discriminant power of features for the classification is measured as mutual information between features and two classes distribution. The estimated discrepancy of two feature classes very much depends on considered scale levels; then, multi-scale structure and discriminant power are integrated by employing discrete wavelet features and Hidden markov tree (HMT). With wavelet coefficients and Hidden Markov Tree parameters, quad-tree like label structures are constructed and utilized in maximum a posterior probability (MAP) of hidden class variables at corresponding dyadic sub-squares. Then, saliency value for each dyadic square at each scale level is computed with discriminant power principle and the MAP. Finally, across multiple scales is integrated the final saliency map by an information maximization rule. Both standard quantitative tools such as NSS, LCC, AUC and qualitative assessments are used for evaluating the proposed multiscale discriminant saliency method (MDIS) against the well-know information-based saliency method AIM on its Bruce Database wity eye-tracking data. Simulation results are presented and analyzed to verify the validity of MDIS as well as point out its disadvantages for further research direction.
1301.3966
Efficient Sample Reuse in Policy Gradients with Parameter-based Exploration
cs.LG stat.ML
The policy gradient approach is a flexible and powerful reinforcement learning method particularly for problems with continuous actions such as robot control. A common challenge in this scenario is how to reduce the variance of policy gradient estimates for reliable policy updates. In this paper, we combine the following three ideas and give a highly effective policy gradient method: (a) the policy gradients with parameter based exploration, which is a recently proposed policy search method with low variance of gradient estimates, (b) an importance sampling technique, which allows us to reuse previously gathered data in a consistent way, and (c) an optimal baseline, which minimizes the variance of gradient estimates with their unbiasedness being maintained. For the proposed method, we give theoretical analysis of the variance of gradient estimates and show its usefulness through extensive experiments.
1301.3991
Generic Regular Decompositions for Parametric Polynomial Systems
cs.SC cs.IT math.IT
This paper presents a generalization of our earlier work in [19]. In this paper, the two concepts, generic regular decomposition (GRD) and regular-decomposition-unstable (RDU) variety introduced in [19] for generic zero-dimensional systems, are extended to the case where the parametric systems are not necessarily zero-dimensional. An algorithm is provided to compute GRDs and the associated RDU varieties of parametric systems simultaneously on the basis of the algorithm for generic zero-dimensional systems proposed in [19]. Then the solutions of any parametric system can be represented by the solutions of finitely many regular systems and the decomposition is stable at any parameter value in the complement of the associated RDU variety of the parameter space. The related definitions and the results presented in [19] are also generalized and a further discussion on RDU varieties is given from an experimental point of view. The new algorithm has been implemented on the basis of DISCOVERER with Maple 16 and experimented with a number of benchmarks from the literature.
1301.4016
On the Classification of Exceptional Planar Functions over $\mathbb{F}_{p}$
math.AG cs.IT math.IT
We will present many strong partial results towards a classification of exceptional planar/PN monomial functions on finite fields. The techniques we use are the Weil bound, Bezout's theorem, and Bertini's theorem.
1301.4050
Punctured Trellis-Coded Modulation
cs.IT math.IT
In classic trellis-coded modulation (TCM) signal constellations of twice the cardinality are applied when compared to an uncoded transmission enabling transmission of one bit of redundancy per PAM-symbol, i.e., rates of $\frac{K}{K+1}$ when $2^{K+1}$ denotes the cardinality of the signal constellation. In order to support different rates, multi-dimensional (i.e., $\mathcal{D}$-dimensional) constellations had been proposed by means of combining subsequent one- or two-dimensional modulation steps, resulting in TCM-schemes with $\frac{1}{\mathcal{D}}$ bit redundancy per real dimension. In contrast, in this paper we propose to perform rate adjustment for TCM by means of puncturing the convolutional code (CC) on which a TCM-scheme is based on. It is shown, that due to the nontrivial mapping of the output symbols of the CC to signal points in the case of puncturing, a modification of the corresponding Viterbi-decoder algorithm and an optimization of the CC and the puncturing scheme are necessary.
1301.4072
Classification of Angle-Symmetric 6R Linkage
math.AG cs.RO cs.SC
In this paper, we consider a special kind of overconstrained 6R closed linkages which we call angle-symmetric 6R linkages. These are linkages with the property that the rotation angles are equal for each of the three pairs of opposite joints. We give a classification of these linkages. It turns that there are three types. First, we have the linkages with line symmetry. The second type is new. The third type is related to cubic motion polynomials.
1301.4083
Knowledge Matters: Importance of Prior Information for Optimization
cs.LG cs.CV cs.NE stat.ML
We explore the effect of introducing prior information into the intermediate level of neural networks for a learning task on which all the state-of-the-art machine learning algorithms tested failed to learn. We motivate our work from the hypothesis that humans learn such intermediate concepts from other individuals via a form of supervision or guidance using a curriculum. The experiments we have conducted provide positive evidence in favor of this hypothesis. In our experiments, a two-tiered MLP architecture is trained on a dataset with 64x64 binary inputs images, each image with three sprites. The final task is to decide whether all the sprites are the same or one of them is different. Sprites are pentomino tetris shapes and they are placed in an image with different locations using scaling and rotation transformations. The first part of the two-tiered MLP is pre-trained with intermediate-level targets being the presence of sprites at each location, while the second part takes the output of the first part as input and predicts the final task's target binary event. The two-tiered MLP architecture, with a few tens of thousand examples, was able to learn the task perfectly, whereas all other algorithms (include unsupervised pre-training, but also traditional algorithms like SVMs, decision trees and boosting) all perform no better than chance. We hypothesize that the optimization difficulty involved when the intermediate pre-training is not performed is due to the {\em composition} of two highly non-linear tasks. Our findings are also consistent with hypotheses on cultural learning inspired by the observations of optimization problems with deep learning, presumably because of effective local minima.
1301.4096
Evolutionary Algorithms and Dynamic Programming
cs.NE cs.DS
Recently, it has been proven that evolutionary algorithms produce good results for a wide range of combinatorial optimization problems. Some of the considered problems are tackled by evolutionary algorithms that use a representation which enables them to construct solutions in a dynamic programming fashion. We take a general approach and relate the construction of such algorithms to the development of algorithms using dynamic programming techniques. Thereby, we give general guidelines on how to develop evolutionary algorithms that have the additional ability of carrying out dynamic programming steps. Finally, we show that for a wide class of the so-called DP-benevolent problems (which are known to admit FPTAS) there exists a fully polynomial-time randomized approximation scheme based on an evolutionary algorithm.
1301.4117
Another look at expurgated bounds and their statistical-mechanical interpretation
cs.IT cond-mat.stat-mech math.IT
We revisit the derivation of expurgated error exponents using a method of type class enumeration, which is inspired by statistical-mechanical methods, and which has already been used in the derivation of random coding exponents in several other scenarios. We compare our version of the expurgated bound to both the one by Gallager and the one by Csiszar, Korner and Marton (CKM). For expurgated ensembles of fixed composition codes over finite alphabets, our basic expurgated bound coincides with the CKM expurgated bound, which is in general tighter than Gallager's bound, but with equality for the optimum type class of codewords. Our method, however, extends beyond fixed composition codes and beyond finite alphabets, where it is natural to impose input constraints (e.g., power limitation). In such cases, the CKM expurgated bound may not apply directly, and our bound is in general tighter than Gallager's bound. In addition, while both the CKM and the Gallager expurgated bounds are based on Bhattacharyya bound for bounding the pairwise error probabilities, our bound allows the more general Chernoff distance measure, thus giving rise to additional improvement using the Chernoff parameter as a degree of freedom to be optimized.
1301.4137
When you talk about "Information processing" what actually do you have in mind?
cs.AI q-bio.NC
"Information Processing" is a recently launched buzzword whose meaning is vague and obscure even for the majority of its users. The reason for this is the lack of a suitable definition for the term "information". In my attempt to amend this bizarre situation, I have realized that, following the insights of Kolmogorov's Complexity theory, information can be defined as a description of structures observable in a given data set. Two types of structures could be easily distinguished in every data set - in this regard, two types of information (information descriptions) should be designated: physical information and semantic information. Kolmogorov's theory also posits that the information descriptions should be provided as a linguistic text structure. This inevitably leads us to an assertion that information processing has to be seen as a kind of text processing. The idea is not new - inspired by the observation that human information processing is deeply rooted in natural language handling customs, Lotfi Zadeh and his followers have introduced the so-called "Computing With Words" paradigm. Despite of promotional efforts, the idea is not taking off yet. The reason - a lack of a coherent understanding of what should be called "information", and, as a result, misleading research roadmaps and objectives. I hope my humble attempt to clarify these issues would be helpful in avoiding common traps and pitfalls.
1301.4155
A Search-free DOA Estimation Algorithm for Coprime Arrays
cs.IT math.IT stat.CO
Recently, coprime arrays have been in the focus of research because of their potential in exploiting redundancy in spanning large apertures with fewer elements than suggested by theory. A coprime array consists of two uniform linear subarrays with inter-element spacings $M\lambda/2$ and $N\lambda/2$, where $M$ and $N$ are coprime integers and $\lambda$ is the wavelength of the signal. In this paper, we propose a fast search-free method for direction-of-arrival (DOA) estimation with coprime arrays. It is based on the use of methods that operate on the uniform linear subarrays of the coprime array and that enjoy many processing advantages. We first estimate the DOAs for each uniform linear subarray separately and then combine the estimates from the subarrays. For combining the estimates, we propose a method that projects the estimated point in the two-dimensional plane onto one-dimensional line segments that correspond to the entire angular domain. By doing so, we avoid the search step and consequently, we greatly reduce the computational complexity of the method. We demonstrate the performance of the method with computer simulations and compare it with that of the FD-root MUSIC method.
1301.4157
On the Product Rule for Classification Problems
cs.LG cs.CV stat.ML
We discuss theoretical aspects of the product rule for classification problems in supervised machine learning for the case of combining classifiers. We show that (1) the product rule arises from the MAP classifier supposing equivalent priors and conditional independence given a class; (2) under some conditions, the product rule is equivalent to minimizing the sum of the squared distances to the respective centers of the classes related with different features, such distances being weighted by the spread of the classes; (3) observing some hypothesis, the product rule is equivalent to concatenating the vectors of features.
1301.4168
Herded Gibbs Sampling
cs.LG stat.CO stat.ML
The Gibbs sampler is one of the most popular algorithms for inference in statistical models. In this paper, we introduce a herding variant of this algorithm, called herded Gibbs, that is entirely deterministic. We prove that herded Gibbs has an $O(1/T)$ convergence rate for models with independent variables and for fully connected probabilistic graphical models. Herded Gibbs is shown to outperform Gibbs in the tasks of image denoising with MRFs and named entity recognition with CRFs. However, the convergence for herded Gibbs for sparsely connected probabilistic graphical models is still an open problem.
1301.4171
Affinity Weighted Embedding
cs.IR cs.LG stat.ML
Supervised (linear) embedding models like Wsabie and PSI have proven successful at ranking, recommendation and annotation tasks. However, despite being scalable to large datasets they do not take full advantage of the extra data due to their linear nature, and typically underfit. We propose a new class of models which aim to provide improved performance while retaining many of the benefits of the existing class of embedding models. Our new approach works by iteratively learning a linear embedding model where the next iteration's features and labels are reweighted as a function of the previous iteration. We describe several variants of the family, and give some initial results.
1301.4177
Network Throughput Optimization via Error Correcting Codes
cs.IT cs.DM cs.NI math.IT
A new network construction method is presented for building of scalable, high throughput, low latency networks. The method is based on the exact equivalence discovered between the problem of maximizing network throughput (measured as bisection bandwidth) for a large class of practically interesting Cayley graphs and the problem of maximizing codeword distance for linear error correcting codes. Since the latter problem belongs to a more mature research field with large collections of optimal solutions available, a simple translation recipe is provided for converting the existent optimal error correcting codes into optimal throughput networks. The resulting networks, called here Long Hop networks, require 1.5-5 times fewer switches, 2-6 times fewer internal cables and 1.2-2 times fewer `average hops' than the best presently known networks for the same number of ports provided and the same total throughput. These advantage ratios increase with the network size and switch radix. Independently interesting byproduct of the discovered equivalence is an efficient O(n*log(n)) algorithm based on Walsh-Hadamard transform for computing exact bisections of this class of Cayley graphs (this is NP complete problem for general graphs).
1301.4184
Improving the Spectral Efficiency of Nonlinear Satellite Systems through Time-Frequency Packing and Advanced Processing
cs.IT math.IT
We consider realistic satellite communications systems for broadband and broadcasting applications, based on frequency-division-multiplexed linear modulations, where spectral efficiency is one of the main figures of merit. For these systems, we investigate their ultimate performance limits by using a framework to compute the spectral efficiency when suboptimal receivers are adopted and evaluating the performance improvements that can be obtained through the adoption of the time-frequency packing technique. Our analysis reveals that introducing controlled interference can significantly increase the efficiency of these systems. Moreover, if a receiver which is able to account for the interference and the nonlinear impairments is adopted, rather than a classical predistorter at the transmitter coupled with a simpler receiver, the benefits in terms of spectral efficiency can be even larger. Finally, we consider practical coded schemes and show the potential advantages of the optimized signaling formats when combined with iterative detection/decoding.
1301.4185
A new entropy power inequality for integer-valued random variables
cs.IT math.IT
The entropy power inequality (EPI) provides lower bounds on the differential entropy of the sum of two independent real-valued random variables in terms of the individual entropies. Versions of the EPI for discrete random variables have been obtained for special families of distributions with the differential entropy replaced by the discrete entropy, but no universal inequality is known (beyond trivial ones). More recently, the sumset theory for the entropy function provides a sharp inequality $H(X+X')-H(X)\geq 1/2 -o(1)$ when $X,X'$ are i.i.d. with high entropy. This paper provides the inequality $H(X+X')-H(X) \geq g(H(X))$, where $X,X'$ are arbitrary i.i.d. integer-valued random variables and where $g$ is a universal strictly positive function on $\mR_+$ satisfying $g(0)=0$. Extensions to non identically distributed random variables and to conditional entropies are also obtained.
1301.4192
On the formation of structure in growing networks
physics.soc-ph cs.SI
Based on the formation of triad junctions, the proposed mechanism generates networks that exhibit extended rather than single power law behavior. Triad formation guarantees strong neighborhood clustering and community-level characteristics as the network size grows to infinity. The asymptotic behavior is of interest in the study of directed networks in which (i) the formation of links cannot be described according to the principle of preferential attachment; (ii) the in-degree distribution fits a power law for nodes with a high degree and an exponential form otherwise; (iii) clustering properties emerge at multiple scales and depend on both the number of links that newly added nodes establish and the probability of forming triads; and (iv) groups of nodes form modules that feature less links to the rest of the nodes.
1301.4194
Financial Portfolio Optimization: Computationally guided agents to investigate, analyse and invest!?
q-fin.PM cs.CE cs.NE q-fin.CP stat.ML
Financial portfolio optimization is a widely studied problem in mathematics, statistics, financial and computational literature. It adheres to determining an optimal combination of weights associated with financial assets held in a portfolio. In practice, it faces challenges by virtue of varying math. formulations, parameters, business constraints and complex financial instruments. Empirical nature of data is no longer one-sided; thereby reflecting upside and downside trends with repeated yet unidentifiable cyclic behaviours potentially caused due to high frequency volatile movements in asset trades. Portfolio optimization under such circumstances is theoretically and computationally challenging. This work presents a novel mechanism to reach an optimal solution by encoding a variety of optimal solutions in a solution bank to guide the search process for the global investment objective formulation. It conceptualizes the role of individual solver agents that contribute optimal solutions to a bank of solutions, a super-agent solver that learns from the solution bank, and, thus reflects a knowledge-based computationally guided agents approach to investigate, analyse and reach to optimal solution for informed investment decisions. Conceptual understanding of classes of solver agents that represent varying problem formulations and, mathematically oriented deterministic solvers along with stochastic-search driven evolutionary and swarm-intelligence based techniques for optimal weights are discussed. Algorithmic implementation is presented by an enhanced neighbourhood generation mechanism in Simulated Annealing algorithm. A framework for inclusion of heuristic knowledge and human expertise from financial literature related to investment decision making process is reflected via introduction of controlled perturbation strategies using a decision matrix for neighbourhood generation.
1301.4200
Enabling Operator Reordering in Data Flow Programs Through Static Code Analysis
cs.DB cs.DC cs.PL
In many massively parallel data management platforms, programs are represented as small imperative pieces of code connected in a data flow. This popular abstraction makes it hard to apply algebraic reordering techniques employed by relational DBMSs and other systems that use an algebraic programming abstraction. We present a code analysis technique based on reverse data and control flow analysis that discovers a set of properties from user code, which can be used to emulate algebraic optimizations in this setting.
1301.4211
Information-related complexity: a problem-oriented approach
physics.data-an cs.IT math.IT
A general notion of information-related complexity applicable to both natural and man-made systems is proposed. The overall approach is to explicitly consider a rational agent performing a certain task with a quantifiable degree of success. The complexity is defined as the minimum (quasi-)quantity of information that's necessary to complete the task to the given extent -- measured by the corresponding loss. The complexity so defined is shown to generalize the existing notion of statistical complexity when the system in question can be described by a discrete-time stochastic process. The proposed definition also applies, in particular, to optimization and decision making problems under uncertainty in which case it gives the agent a useful measure of the problem's "susceptibility" to additional information and allows for an estimation of the potential value of the latter.
1301.4231
Convex conditions for robust stabilization of uncertain switched systems with guaranteed minimum dwell-time
math.OC cs.SY math.CA math.DS
Paper withdrawn by the author
1301.4240
Hypothesis Testing in High-Dimensional Regression under the Gaussian Random Design Model: Asymptotic Theory
stat.ME cs.IT math.IT math.ST stat.ML stat.TH
We consider linear regression in the high-dimensional regime where the number of observations $n$ is smaller than the number of parameters $p$. A very successful approach in this setting uses $\ell_1$-penalized least squares (a.k.a. the Lasso) to search for a subset of $s_0< n$ parameters that best explain the data, while setting the other parameters to zero. Considerable amount of work has been devoted to characterizing the estimation and model selection problems within this approach. In this paper we consider instead the fundamental, but far less understood, question of \emph{statistical significance}. More precisely, we address the problem of computing p-values for single regression coefficients. On one hand, we develop a general upper bound on the minimax power of tests with a given significance level. On the other, we prove that this upper bound is (nearly) achievable through a practical procedure in the case of random design matrices with independent entries. Our approach is based on a debiasing of the Lasso estimator. The analysis builds on a rigorous characterization of the asymptotic distribution of the Lasso estimator and its debiased version. Our result holds for optimal sample size, i.e., when $n$ is at least on the order of $s_0 \log(p/s_0)$. We generalize our approach to random design matrices with i.i.d. Gaussian rows $x_i\sim N(0,\Sigma)$. In this case we prove that a similar distributional characterization (termed `standard distributional limit') holds for $n$ much larger than $s_0(\log p)^2$. Finally, we show that for optimal sample size, $n$ being at least of order $s_0 \log(p/s_0)$, the standard distributional limit for general Gaussian designs can be derived from the replica heuristics in statistical physics.
1301.4272
View-based propagation of decomposable constraints
cs.AI
Constraints that may be obtained by composition from simpler constraints are present, in some way or another, in almost every constraint program. The decomposition of such constraints is a standard technique for obtaining an adequate propagation algorithm from a combination of propagators designed for simpler constraints. The decomposition approach is appealing in several ways. Firstly because creating a specific propagator for every constraint is clearly infeasible since the number of constraints is infinite. Secondly, because designing a propagation algorithm for complex constraints can be very challenging. Finally, reusing existing propagators allows to reduce the size of code to be developed and maintained. Traditionally, constraint solvers automatically decompose constraints into simpler ones using additional auxiliary variables and propagators, or expect the users to perform such decomposition themselves, eventually leading to the same propagation model. In this paper we explore views, an alternative way to create efficient propagators for such constraints in a modular, simple and correct way, which avoids the introduction of auxiliary variables and propagators.
1301.4289
A geometric protocol for cryptography with cards
cs.CR cs.IT math.IT
In the generalized Russian cards problem, the three players Alice, Bob and Cath draw a,b and c cards, respectively, from a deck of a+b+c cards. Players only know their own cards and what the deck of cards is. Alice and Bob are then required to communicate their hand of cards to each other by way of public messages. The communication is said to be safe if Cath does not learn the ownership of any specific card; in this paper we consider a strengthened notion of safety introduced by Swanson and Stinson which we call k-safety. An elegant solution by Atkinson views the cards as points in a finite projective plane. We propose a general solution in the spirit of Atkinson's, although based on finite vector spaces rather than projective planes, and call it the `geometric protocol'. Given arbitrary c,k>0, this protocol gives an informative and k-safe solution to the generalized Russian cards problem for infinitely many values of (a,b,c) with b=O(ac). This improves on the collection of parameters for which solutions are known. In particular, it is the first solution which guarantees $k$-safety when Cath has more than one card.
1301.4293
Latent Relation Representations for Universal Schemas
cs.LG stat.ML
Traditional relation extraction predicts relations within some fixed and finite target schema. Machine learning approaches to this task require either manual annotation or, in the case of distant supervision, existing structured sources of the same schema. The need for existing datasets can be avoided by using a universal schema: the union of all involved schemas (surface form predicates as in OpenIE, and relations in the schemas of pre-existing databases). This schema has an almost unlimited set of relations (due to surface forms), and supports integration with existing structured data (through the relation types of existing databases). To populate a database of such schema we present a family of matrix factorization models that predict affinity between database tuples and relations. We show that this achieves substantially higher accuracy than the traditional classification approach. More importantly, by operating simultaneously on relations observed in text and in pre-existing structured DBs such as Freebase, we are able to reason about unstructured and structured data in mutually-supporting ways. By doing so our approach outperforms state-of-the-art distant supervision systems.
1301.4300
Storage codes -- coding rate and repair locality
cs.IT math.IT
The {\em repair locality} of a distributed storage code is the maximum number of nodes that ever needs to be contacted during the repair of a failed node. Having small repair locality is desirable, since it is proportional to the number of disk accesses during repair. However, recent publications show that small repair locality comes with a penalty in terms of code distance or storage overhead if exact repair is required. Here, we first review some of the main results on storage codes under various repair regimes and discuss the recent work on possible (information-theoretical) trade-offs between repair locality and other code parameters like storage overhead and code distance, under the exact repair regime. Then we present some new information theoretical lower bounds on the storage overhead as a function of the repair locality, valid for all common coding and repair models. In particular, we show that if each of the $n$ nodes in a distributed storage system has storage capacity $\ga$ and if, at any time, a failed node can be {\em functionally} repaired by contacting {\em some} set of $r$ nodes (which may depend on the actual state of the system) and downloading an amount $\gb$ of data from each, then in the extreme cases where $\ga=\gb$ or $\ga = r\gb$, the maximal coding rate is at most $r/(r+1)$ or 1/2, respectively (that is, the excess storage overhead is at least $1/r$ or 1, respectively).
1301.4351
Applying machine learning techniques to improve user acceptance on ubiquitous environement
cs.IR cs.AI
Ubiquitous information access becomes more and more important nowadays and research is aimed at making it adapted to users. Our work consists in applying machine learning techniques in order to adapt the information access provided by ubiquitous systems to users when the system only knows the user social group, without knowing anything about the user interest. The adaptation procedures associate actions to perceived situations of the user. Associations are based on feedback given by the user as a reaction to the behavior of the system. Our method brings a solution to some of the problems concerning the acceptance of the system by users when applying machine learning techniques to systems at the beginning of the interaction between the system and the user.
1301.4377
Multiple models of Bayesian networks applied to offline recognition of Arabic handwritten city names
cs.CV
In this paper we address the problem of offline Arabic handwriting word recognition. Off-line recognition of handwritten words is a difficult task due to the high variability and uncertainty of human writing. The majority of the recent systems are constrained by the size of the lexicon to deal with and the number of writers. In this paper, we propose an approach for multi-writers Arabic handwritten words recognition using multiple Bayesian networks. First, we cut the image in several blocks. For each block, we compute a vector of descriptors. Then, we use K-means to cluster the low-level features including Zernik and Hu moments. Finally, we apply four variants of Bayesian networks classifiers (Na\"ive Bayes, Tree Augmented Na\"ive Bayes (TAN), Forest Augmented Na\"ive Bayes (FAN) and DBN (dynamic bayesian network) to classify the whole image of tunisian city name. The results demonstrate FAN and DBN outperform good recognition rates
1301.4394
A Compliant, Underactuated Hand for Robust Manipulation
cs.RO
This paper introduces the i-HY Hand, an underactuated hand driven by 5 actuators that is capable of performing a wide range of grasping and in-hand manipulation tasks. This hand was designed to address the need for a durable, inexpensive, moderately dexterous hand suitable for use on mobile robots. The primary focus of this paper will be on the novel minimalistic design of i-HY, which was developed by choosing a set of target tasks around which the design of the hand was optimized. Particular emphasis is placed on the development of underactuated fingers that are capable of both firm power grasps and low- stiffness fingertip grasps using only the passive mechanics of the finger mechanism. Experimental results demonstrate successful grasping of a wide range of target objects, the stability of fingertip grasping, as well as the ability to adjust the force exerted on grasped objects using the passive finger mechanics.
1301.4397
Multilevel Polar-Coded Modulation
cs.IT math.IT
A framework is proposed that allows for a joint description and optimization of both binary polar coding and the multilevel coding (MLC) approach for $2^m$-ary digital pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM). The conceptual equivalence of polar coding and multilevel coding is pointed out in detail. Based on a novel characterization of the channel polarization phenomenon, rules for the optimal choice of the bit labeling in this coded modulation scheme employing polar codes are developed. Simulation results for the AWGN channel are included.
1301.4417
The role of taste affinity in agent-based models for social recommendation
physics.soc-ph cs.SI
In the Internet era, online social media emerged as the main tool for sharing opinions and information among individuals. In this work we study an adaptive model of a social network where directed links connect users with similar tastes, and over which information propagates through social recommendation. Agent-based simulations of two different artificial settings for modeling user tastes are compared with patterns seen in real data, suggesting that users differing in their scope of interests is a more realistic assumption than users differing only in their particular interests. We further introduce an extensive set of similarity metrics based on users' past assessments, and evaluate their use in the given social recommendation model with both artificial simulations and real data. Superior recommendation performance is observed for similarity metrics that give preference to users with small scope---who thus act as selective filters in social recommendation.
1301.4430
User Interface Tools for Navigation in Conditional Probability Tables and Elicitation of Probabilities in Bayesian Networks
cs.AI
Elicitation of probabilities is one of the most laborious tasks in building decision-theoretic models, and one that has so far received only moderate attention in decision-theoretic systems. We propose a set of user interface tools for graphical probabilistic models, focusing on two aspects of probability elicitation: (1) navigation through conditional probability tables and (2) interactive graphical assessment of discrete probability distributions. We propose two new graphical views that aid navigation in very large conditional probability tables: the CPTree (Conditional Probability Tree) and the SCPT (shrinkable Conditional Probability Table). Based on what is known about graphical presentation of quantitative data to humans, we offer several useful enhancements to probability wheel and bar graph, including different chart styles and options that can be adapted to user preferences and needs. We present the results of a simple usability study that proves the value of the proposed tools.
1301.4432
Language learning from positive evidence, reconsidered: A simplicity-based approach
cs.CL
Children learn their native language by exposure to their linguistic and communicative environment, but apparently without requiring that their mistakes are corrected. Such learning from positive evidence has been viewed as raising logical problems for language acquisition. In particular, without correction, how is the child to recover from conjecturing an over-general grammar, which will be consistent with any sentence that the child hears? There have been many proposals concerning how this logical problem can be dissolved. Here, we review recent formal results showing that the learner has sufficient data to learn successfully from positive evidence, if it favours the simplest encoding of the linguistic input. Results include the ability to learn a linguistic prediction, grammaticality judgements, language production, and form-meaning mappings. The simplicity approach can also be scaled-down to analyse the ability to learn a specific linguistic constructions, and is amenable to empirical test as a framework for describing human language acquisition.
1301.4441
Communication Complexity of Channels in General Probabilistic Theories
quant-ph cs.IT math.IT
The communication complexity of a quantum channel is the minimal amount of classical communication required for classically simulating the process of preparation, transmission through the channel, and subsequent measurement of a quantum state. At present, only little is known about this quantity. In this paper, we present a procedure for systematically evaluating the communication complexity of channels in any general probabilistic theory, in particular quantum theory. The procedure is constructive and provides the most efficient classical protocols. We illustrate this procedure by evaluating the communication complexity of a quantum depolarizing channel with some finite sets of quantum states and measurements.
1301.4444
Binary Diversity for Non-Binary LDPC Codes over the Rayleigh Channel
cs.IT math.IT
In this paper we analyze the performance of several bit-interleaving strategies applied to Non-Binary Low-Density Parity-Check (LDPC) codes over the Rayleigh fading channel. The technique of bit-interleaving used over fading channel introduces diversity which could provide important gains in terms of frame error probability and detection. This paper demonstrates the importance of the way of implementing the bit-interleaving, and proposes a design of an optimized bit-interleaver inspired from the Progressive Edge Growth algorithm. This optimization algorithm depends on the topological structure of a given LDPC code and can also be applied to any degree distribution and code realization. In particular, we focus on non-binary LDPC codes based on graph with constant symbol-node connection $d_v = 2$. These regular $(2,dc)$-NB-LDPC codes demonstrate best performance, thanks to their large girths and improved decoding thresholds growing with the order of Finite Field. Simulations show excellent results of the proposed interleaving technique compared to the random interleaver as well as to the system without interleaver.
1301.4499
NIFTY - Numerical Information Field Theory - a versatile Python library for signal inference
astro-ph.IM cs.IT cs.MS math-ph math.IT math.MP physics.data-an stat.CO
NIFTY, "Numerical Information Field Theory", is a software package designed to enable the development of signal inference algorithms that operate regardless of the underlying spatial grid and its resolution. Its object-oriented framework is written in Python, although it accesses libraries written in Cython, C++, and C for efficiency. NIFTY offers a toolkit that abstracts discretized representations of continuous spaces, fields in these spaces, and operators acting on fields into classes. Thereby, the correct normalization of operations on fields is taken care of automatically without concerning the user. This allows for an abstract formulation and programming of inference algorithms, including those derived within information field theory. Thus, NIFTY permits its user to rapidly prototype algorithms in 1D, and then apply the developed code in higher-dimensional settings of real world problems. The set of spaces on which NIFTY operates comprises point sets, n-dimensional regular grids, spherical spaces, their harmonic counterparts, and product spaces constructed as combinations of those. The functionality and diversity of the package is demonstrated by a Wiener filter code example that successfully runs without modification regardless of the space on which the inference problem is defined.
1301.4524
Model Reduction of Descriptor Systems by Interpolatory Projection Methods
math.NA cs.SY math.DS
In this paper, we investigate interpolatory projection framework for model reduction of descriptor systems. With a simple numerical example, we first illustrate that employing subspace conditions from the standard state space settings to descriptor systems generically leads to unbounded H2 or H-infinity errors due to the mismatch of the polynomial parts of the full and reduced-order transfer functions. We then develop modified interpolatory subspace conditions based on the deflating subspaces that guarantee a bounded error. For the special cases of index-1 and index-2 descriptor systems, we also show how to avoid computing these deflating subspaces explicitly while still enforcing interpolation. The question of how to choose interpolation points optimally naturally arises as in the standard state space setting. We answer this question in the framework of the H2-norm by extending the Iterative Rational Krylov Algorithm (IRKA) to descriptor systems. Several numerical examples are used to illustrate the theoretical discussion.
1301.4552
Sliding Mode Control for Torque Evolution of a Double Feed Asynchronous Generator
cs.SY
This paper proposes a robust control of doublefed induction generator of wind turbine to optimize its production: that means the energy quality and efficiency. The proposed control reposes in the sliding mode control using a multimodel approach which contributes on the minimization of the static error and the chattering phenomenon. This new approach is called sliding mode multimodel control (SMMC). Simulation results show good performances of this control.
1301.4558
Lip Localization and Viseme Classification for Visual Speech Recognition
cs.CV
The need for an automatic lip-reading system is ever increasing. Infact, today, extraction and reliable analysis of facial movements make up an important part in many multimedia systems such as videoconference, low communication systems, lip-reading systems. In addition, visual information is imperative among people with special needs. We can imagine, for example, a dependent person ordering a machine with an easy lip movement or by a simple syllable pronunciation. Moreover, people with hearing problems compensate for their special needs by lip-reading as well as listening to the person with whome they are talking.
1301.4587
Consensus Networks over Finite Fields
cs.SY math.OC
This work studies consensus strategies for networks of agents with limited memory, computation, and communication capabilities. We assume that agents can process only values from a finite alphabet, and we adopt the framework of finite fields, where the alphabet consists of the integers {0,...,p-1}, for some prime number p, and operations are performed modulo p. Thus, we define a new class of consensus dynamics, which can be exploited in certain applications such as pose estimation in capacity and memory constrained sensor networks. For consensus networks over finite fields, we provide necessary and sufficient conditions on the network topology and weights to ensure convergence. We show that consensus networks over finite fields converge in finite time, a feature that can be hardly achieved over the field of real numbers. For the design of finite-field consensus networks, we propose a general design method, with high computational complexity, and a network composition rule to generate large consensus networks from smaller components. Finally, we discuss the application of finite-field consensus networks to distributed averaging and pose estimation in sensor networks.
1301.4604
Proceedings of the Twenty-Eighth Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (2012)
cs.AI
This is the Proceedings of the Twenty-Eighth Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, which was held on Catalina Island, CA August 14-18 2012.
1301.4606
Proceedings of the Nineteenth Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (2003)
cs.AI
This is the Proceedings of the Nineteenth Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, which was held in Acapulco, Mexico, August 7-10 2003
1301.4607
Proceedings of the Seventeenth Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (2001)
cs.AI
This is the Proceedings of the Seventeenth Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, which was held in Seattle, WA, August 2-5 2001
1301.4608
Proceedings of the Eighteenth Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (2002)
cs.AI
This is the Proceedings of the Eighteenth Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, which was held in Alberta, Canada, August 1-4 2002
1301.4609
Two-valued sigma-maxitive measures and Mesiar's hypothesis
math.FA cs.IT math.IT
We reformulate Mesiar's hypothesis [Possibility measures, integration and fuzzy possibility measures, Fuzzy Sets and Systems 92 (1997) 191-196], which as such was shown to be untrue by Murofushi [Two-valued possibility measures induced by $\sigma$-finite $\sigma$-additive measures, Fuzzy Sets and Systems 126 (2002) 265-268]. We prove that a two-valued $\sigma$-maxitive measure can be induced by a $\sigma$-additive measure under the additional condition that it is $\sigma$-principal.
1301.4620
Update-Efficient Error-Correcting Product-Matrix Codes
cs.IT math.IT
Regenerating codes provide an efficient way to recover data at failed nodes in distributed storage systems. It has been shown that regenerating codes can be designed to minimize the per-node storage (called MSR) or minimize the communication overhead for regeneration (called MBR). In this work, we propose new encoding schemes for $[n,d]$ error-correcting MSR and MBR codes that generalize our earlier work on error-correcting regenerating codes. We show that by choosing a suitable diagonal matrix, any generator matrix of the $[n,\alpha]$ Reed-Solomon (RS) code can be integrated into the encoding matrix. Hence, MSR codes with the least update complexity can be found. By using the coefficients of generator polynomials of $[n,k]$ and $[n,d]$ RS codes, we present a least-update-complexity encoding scheme for MBR codes. A decoding scheme is proposed that utilizes the $[n,\alpha]$ RS code to perform data reconstruction for MSR codes. The proposed decoding scheme has better error correction capability and incurs the least number of node accesses when errors are present. A new decoding scheme is also proposed for MBR codes that can correct more error-patterns.
1301.4625
Two-Way Training for Discriminatory Channel Estimation in Wireless MIMO Systems
cs.IT math.IT
This work examines the use of two-way training to efficiently discriminate the channel estimation performances at a legitimate receiver (LR) and an unauthorized receiver (UR) in a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless system. This work improves upon the original discriminatory channel estimation (DCE) scheme proposed by Chang et al where multiple stages of feedback and retraining were used. While most studies on physical layer secrecy are under the information-theoretic framework and focus directly on the data transmission phase, studies on DCE focus on the training phase and aim to provide a practical signal processing technique to discriminate between the channel estimation performances at LR and UR. A key feature of DCE designs is the insertion of artificial noise (AN) in the training signal to degrade the channel estimation performance at UR. To do so, AN must be placed in a carefully chosen subspace based on the transmitter's knowledge of LR's channel in order to minimize its effect on LR. In this paper, we adopt the idea of two-way training that allows both the transmitter and LR to send training signals to facilitate channel estimation at both ends. Both reciprocal and non-reciprocal channels are considered and a two-way DCE scheme is proposed for each scenario. {For mathematical tractability, we assume that all terminals employ the linear minimum mean square error criterion for channel estimation. Based on the mean square error (MSE) of the channel estimates at all terminals,} we formulate and solve an optimization problem where the optimal power allocation between the training signal and AN is found by minimizing the MSE of LR's channel estimate subject to a constraint on the MSE achievable at UR. Numerical results show that the proposed DCE schemes can effectively discriminate between the channel estimation and hence the data detection performances at LR and UR.
1301.4634
Transparency effect in the emergence of monopolies in social networks
physics.soc-ph cs.SI
Power law degree distribution was shown in many complex networks. However, in most real systems, deviation from power-law behavior is observed in social and economical networks and emergence of giant hubs is obvious in real network structures far from the tail of power law. We propose a model based on the information transparency (transparency means how much the information is obvious to others). This model can explain power structure in societies with non-transparency in information delivery. The emergence of ultra powerful nodes is explained as a direct result of censorship. Based on these assumptions, we define four distinct transparency regions: perfect non-transparent, low transparent, perfect transparent and exaggerated regions. We observe the emergence of some ultra powerful (very high degree) nodes in low transparent networks, in accordance with the economical and social systems. We show that the low transparent networks are more vulnerable to attacks and the controllability of low transparent networks is harder than the others. Also, the ultra powerful nodes in the low transparent networks have a smaller mean length and higher clustering coefficients than the other regions.
1301.4643
Bounds on List Decoding of Rank-Metric Codes
cs.IT math.IT
So far, there is no polynomial-time list decoding algorithm (beyond half the minimum distance) for Gabidulin codes. These codes can be seen as the rank-metric equivalent of Reed--Solomon codes. In this paper, we provide bounds on the list size of rank-metric codes in order to understand whether polynomial-time list decoding is possible or whether it works only with exponential time complexity. Three bounds on the list size are proven. The first one is a lower exponential bound for Gabidulin codes and shows that for these codes no polynomial-time list decoding beyond the Johnson radius exists. Second, an exponential upper bound is derived, which holds for any rank-metric code of length $n$ and minimum rank distance $d$. The third bound proves that there exists a rank-metric code over $\Fqm$ of length $n \leq m$ such that the list size is exponential in the length for any radius greater than half the minimum rank distance. This implies that there cannot exist a polynomial upper bound depending only on $n$ and $d$ similar to the Johnson bound in Hamming metric. All three rank-metric bounds reveal significant differences to bounds for codes in Hamming metric.
1301.4646
Physical Layer Network Coding for Two-Way Relaying with QAM
cs.IT math.IT
The design of modulation schemes for the physical layer network-coded two way relaying scenario was studied in [1], [3], [4] and [5]. In [7] it was shown that every network coding map that satisfies the exclusive law is representable by a Latin Square and conversely, and this relationship can be used to get the network coding maps satisfying the exclusive law. But, only the scenario in which the end nodes use $M$-PSK signal sets is addressed in [7] and [8]. In this paper, we address the case in which the end nodes use $M$-QAM signal sets. In a fading scenario, for certain channel conditions $\gamma e^{j \theta}$, termed singular fade states, the MA phase performance is greatly reduced. By formulating a procedure for finding the exact number of singular fade states for QAM, we show that square QAM signal sets give lesser number of singular fade states compared to PSK signal sets. This results in superior performance of $M$-QAM over $M$-PSK. It is shown that the criterion for partitioning the complex plane, for the purpose of using a particular network code for a particular fade state, is different from that used for $M$-PSK. Using a modified criterion, we describe a procedure to analytically partition the complex plane representing the channel condition. We show that when $M$-QAM ($M >4$) signal set is used, the conventional XOR network mapping fails to remove the ill effects of $\gamma e^{j \theta}=1$, which is a singular fade state for all signal sets of arbitrary size. We show that a doubly block circulant Latin Square removes this singular fade state for $M$-QAM.
1301.4655
On bibliographic networks
cs.SI cs.DL physics.soc-ph
In the paper we show that the bibliographic data can be transformed into a collection of compatible networks. Using network multiplication different interesting derived networks can be obtained. In defining them an appropriate normalization should be considered. The proposed approach can be applied also to other collections of compatible networks. We also discuss the question when the multiplication of sparse networks preserves sparseness. The proposed approaches are illustrated with analyses of collection of networks on the topic "social network" obtained from the Web of Science.
1301.4659
English Sentence Recognition using Artificial Neural Network through Mouse-based Gestures
cs.AI
Handwriting is one of the most important means of daily communication. Although the problem of handwriting recognition has been considered for more than 60 years there are still many open issues, especially in the task of unconstrained handwritten sentence recognition. This paper focuses on the automatic system that recognizes continuous English sentence through a mouse-based gestures in real-time based on Artificial Neural Network. The proposed Artificial Neural Network is trained using the traditional backpropagation algorithm for self supervised neural network which provides the system with great learning ability and thus has proven highly successful in training for feed-forward Artificial Neural Network. The designed algorithm is not only capable of translating discrete gesture moves, but also continuous gestures through the mouse. In this paper we are using the efficient neural network approach for recognizing English sentence drawn by mouse. This approach shows an efficient way of extracting the boundary of the English Sentence and specifies the area of the recognition English sentence where it has been drawn in an image and then used Artificial Neural Network to recognize the English sentence. The proposed approach English sentence recognition (ESR) system is designed and tested successfully. Experimental results show that the higher speed and accuracy were examined.
1301.4662
Recurrent Neural Network Method in Arabic Words Recognition System
cs.NE
The recognition of unconstrained handwriting continues to be a difficult task for computers despite active research for several decades. This is because handwritten text offers great challenges such as character and word segmentation, character recognition, variation between handwriting styles, different character size and no font constraints as well as the background clarity. In this paper primarily discussed Online Handwriting Recognition methods for Arabic words which being often used among then across the Middle East and North Africa people. Because of the characteristic of the whole body of the Arabic words, namely connectivity between the characters, thereby the segmentation of An Arabic word is very difficult. We introduced a recurrent neural network to online handwriting Arabic word recognition. The key innovation is a recently produce recurrent neural networks objective function known as connectionist temporal classification. The system consists of an advanced recurrent neural network with an output layer designed for sequence labeling, partially combined with a probabilistic language model. Experimental results show that unconstrained Arabic words achieve recognition rates about 79%, which is significantly higher than the about 70% using a previously developed hidden markov model based recognition system.
1301.4666
A Linearly Convergent Conditional Gradient Algorithm with Applications to Online and Stochastic Optimization
cs.LG math.OC stat.ML
Linear optimization is many times algorithmically simpler than non-linear convex optimization. Linear optimization over matroid polytopes, matching polytopes and path polytopes are example of problems for which we have simple and efficient combinatorial algorithms, but whose non-linear convex counterpart is harder and admits significantly less efficient algorithms. This motivates the computational model of convex optimization, including the offline, online and stochastic settings, using a linear optimization oracle. In this computational model we give several new results that improve over the previous state-of-the-art. Our main result is a novel conditional gradient algorithm for smooth and strongly convex optimization over polyhedral sets that performs only a single linear optimization step over the domain on each iteration and enjoys a linear convergence rate. This gives an exponential improvement in convergence rate over previous results. Based on this new conditional gradient algorithm we give the first algorithms for online convex optimization over polyhedral sets that perform only a single linear optimization step over the domain while having optimal regret guarantees, answering an open question of Kalai and Vempala, and Hazan and Kale. Our online algorithms also imply conditional gradient algorithms for non-smooth and stochastic convex optimization with the same convergence rates as projected (sub)gradient methods.
1301.4668
A MATLAB Code for Three Dimensional Linear Elastostatics using Constant Boundary Elements
cs.CE physics.comp-ph
Present work presents a code written in the very simple programming language MATLAB, for three dimensional linear elastostatics, using constant boundary elements. The code, in full or in part, is not a translation or a copy of any of the existing codes. Present paper explains how the code is written, and lists all the formulae used. Code is verified by using the code to solve a simple problem which has the well known approximate analytical solution. Of course, present work does not make any contribution to research on boundary elements, in terms of theory. But the work is justified by the fact that, to the best of author's knowledge, as of now, one cannot find an open access MATLAB code for three dimensional linear elastostatics using constant boundary elements. Author hopes this paper to be of help to beginners who wish to understand how a simple but complete boundary element code works, so that they can build upon and modify the present open access code to solve complex engineering problems quickly and easily. The code is available online for open access (as supplementary file for the present paper), and may be downloaded from the website for the present journal.
1301.4679
Cellular Tree Classifiers
stat.ML cs.LG math.ST stat.TH
The cellular tree classifier model addresses a fundamental problem in the design of classifiers for a parallel or distributed computing world: Given a data set, is it sufficient to apply a majority rule for classification, or shall one split the data into two or more parts and send each part to a potentially different computer (or cell) for further processing? At first sight, it seems impossible to define with this paradigm a consistent classifier as no cell knows the "original data size", $n$. However, we show that this is not so by exhibiting two different consistent classifiers. The consistency is universal but is only shown for distributions with nonatomic marginals.
1301.4729
Duality and Optimization for Generalized Multi-hop MIMO Amplify-and-Forward Relay Networks with Linear Constraints
cs.IT math.IT
We consider a generalized multi-hop MIMO amplify-and-forward (AF) relay network with multiple sources/destinations and arbitrarily number of relays. We establish two dualities and the corresponding dual transformations between such a network and its dual, respectively under single network linear constraint and per-hop linear constraint. The result is a generalization of the previous dualities under different special cases and is proved using new techniques which reveal more insight on the duality structure that can be exploited to optimize MIMO precoders. A unified optimization framework is proposed to find a stationary point for an important class of non-convex optimization problems of AF relay networks based on a local Lagrange dual method, where the primal algorithm only finds a stationary point for the inner loop problem of maximizing the Lagrangian w.r.t. the primal variables. The input covariance matrices are shown to satisfy a polite water-filling structure at a stationary point of the inner loop problem. The duality and polite water-filling are exploited to design fast primal algorithms. Compared to the existing algorithms, the proposed optimization framework with duality-based primal algorithms can be used to solve more general problems with lower computation cost.
1301.4730
Optimal Coding Functions for Pairwise Message Sharing on Finite-Field Multi-Way Relay Channels
cs.IT math.IT
This paper considers the finite-field multi-way relay channel with pairwise message sharing, where multiple users exchange messages through a single relay and where the users may share parts of their source messages (meaning that some message parts are known/common to more than one user). In this paper, we design an optimal functional-decode-forward coding scheme that takes the shared messages into account. More specifically, we design an optimal function for the relay to decode (from the users on the uplink) and forward (back to the users on the downlink). We then show that this proposed function-decode-forward coding scheme can achieve the capacity region of the finite-field multi-way relay channel with pairwise message sharing. This paper generalizes our previous result for the case of three users to any number of users.
1301.4753
Pattern Matching for Self- Tuning of MapReduce Jobs
cs.DC cs.AI cs.LG
In this paper, we study CPU utilization time patterns of several MapReduce applications. After extracting running patterns of several applications, they are saved in a reference database to be later used to tweak system parameters to efficiently execute unknown applications in future. To achieve this goal, CPU utilization patterns of new applications are compared with the already known ones in the reference database to find/predict their most probable execution patterns. Because of different patterns lengths, the Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) is utilized for such comparison; a correlation analysis is then applied to DTWs outcomes to produce feasible similarity patterns. Three real applications (WordCount, Exim Mainlog parsing and Terasort) are used to evaluate our hypothesis in tweaking system parameters in executing similar applications. Results were very promising and showed effectiveness of our approach on pseudo-distributed MapReduce platforms.
1301.4765
Capacity Analysis of Bidirectional AF Relay Selection with Imperfect Channel State Information
cs.IT math.IT
In this letter, we analyze the ergodic capacity of bidirectional amplify-and-forward relay selection (RS) with imperfect channel state information (CSI), i.e., outdated CSI and imperfect channel estimation. Practically, the optimal RS scheme in maximizing the ergodic capacity cannot be achieved, due to the imperfect CSI. Therefore, two suboptimal RS schemes are discussed and analyzed, in which the first RS scheme is based on the imperfect channel coefficients, and the second RS scheme is based on the predicted channel coefficients. The lower bound of the ergodic capacity with imperfect CSI is derived in a closed-form, which matches tightly with the simulation results. The results reveal that once CSI is imperfect, the ergodic capacity of bidirectional RS degrades greatly, whereas the RS scheme based on the predicted channel has better performance, and it approaches infinitely to the optimal performance, when the prediction length is sufficiently large.
1301.4767
A Linear Time Active Learning Algorithm for Link Classification -- Full Version --
cs.LG cs.SI stat.ML
We present very efficient active learning algorithms for link classification in signed networks. Our algorithms are motivated by a stochastic model in which edge labels are obtained through perturbations of a initial sign assignment consistent with a two-clustering of the nodes. We provide a theoretical analysis within this model, showing that we can achieve an optimal (to whithin a constant factor) number of mistakes on any graph G = (V,E) such that |E| = \Omega(|V|^{3/2}) by querying O(|V|^{3/2}) edge labels. More generally, we show an algorithm that achieves optimality to within a factor of O(k) by querying at most order of |V| + (|V|/k)^{3/2} edge labels. The running time of this algorithm is at most of order |E| + |V|\log|V|.
1301.4769
A Correlation Clustering Approach to Link Classification in Signed Networks -- Full Version --
cs.LG cs.DS stat.ML
Motivated by social balance theory, we develop a theory of link classification in signed networks using the correlation clustering index as measure of label regularity. We derive learning bounds in terms of correlation clustering within three fundamental transductive learning settings: online, batch and active. Our main algorithmic contribution is in the active setting, where we introduce a new family of efficient link classifiers based on covering the input graph with small circuits. These are the first active algorithms for link classification with mistake bounds that hold for arbitrary signed networks.
1301.4773
Binary Cyclic codes with two primitive nonzeros
cs.IT math.CO math.IT
In this paper, we make some progress towards a well-known conjecture on the minimum weights of binary cyclic codes with two primitive nonzeros. We also determine the Walsh spectrum of $\Tr(x^d)$ over $\F_{2^{m}}$ in the case where $m=2t$, $d=3+2^{t+1}$ and $\gcd(d, 2^{m}-1)=1$.
1301.4780
From Quantitative Spatial Operator to Qualitative Spatial Relation Using Constructive Solid Geometry, Logic Rules and Optimized 9-IM Model, A Semantic Based Approach
cs.CG cs.AI
The Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) is a data model providing a set of binary Boolean operators such as Union, Difference and Intersection. In this work, these operators are used to compute topological relations between objects defined by the constraints of the nine Intersection Model (9-IM) from Egenhofer. With the help of these constraints, we define a procedure to compute the topological relations on CSG objects. These topological relations are Disjoint, Contains, Inside, Covers, CoveredBy, Equals and Overlaps, and are defined in a top-level ontology with a specific semantic definition on relation such as Transitive, Symmetric, Asymmetric, Functional, Reflexive, and Irreflexive. The results of topological relations computation are stored in the ontology allowing after what to infer on these topological relationships. In addition, logic rules based on the Semantic Web Language allows the definition of logic programs that define which topological relationships have to be computed on which kind of objects. For instance, a "Building" that overlaps a "Railway" is a "RailStation".
1301.4781
Ontology-based Recommender System of Economic Articles
cs.IR cs.DL
Decision makers need economical information to drive their decisions. The Company Actualis SARL is specialized in the production and distribution of a press review about French regional economic actors. This economic review represents for a client a prospecting tool on partners and competitors. To reduce the overload of useless information, the company is moving towards a customized review for each customer. Three issues appear to achieve this goal. First, how to identify the elements in the text in order to extract objects that match with the recommendation's criteria presented? Second, How to define the structure of these objects, relationships and articles in order to provide a source of knowledge usable by the extraction process to produce new knowledge from articles? The latter issue is the feedback on customer experience to identify the quality of distributed information in real-time and to improve the relevance of the recommendations. This paper presents a new type of recommendation based on the semantic description of both articles and user profile.
1301.4783
From 3D Point Clouds To Semantic Objects An Ontology-Based Detection Approach
cs.CG cs.AI
This paper presents a knowledge-based detection of objects approach using the OWL ontology language, the Semantic Web Rule Language, and 3D processing built-ins aiming at combining geometrical analysis of 3D point clouds and specialist's knowledge. This combination allows the detection and the annotation of objects contained in point clouds. The context of the study is the detection of railway objects such as signals, technical cupboards, electric poles, etc. Thus, the resulting enriched and populated ontology, that contains the annotations of objects in the point clouds, is used to feed a GIS systems or an IFC file for architecture purposes.
1301.4786
Energy Cooperation in Cellular Networks with Renewable Powered Base Stations
cs.IT math.IT
In this paper, we propose a model for energy cooperation between cellular base stations (BSs) with individual hybrid power supplies (including both the conventional grid and renewable energy sources), limited energy storages, and connected by resistive power lines for energy sharing. When the renewable energy profile and energy demand profile at all BSs are deterministic or known ahead of time, we show that the optimal energy cooperation policy for the BSs can be found by solving a linear program. We show the benefits of energy cooperation in this regime. When the renewable energy and demand profiles are stochastic and only causally known at the BSs, we propose an online energy cooperation algorithm and show the optimality properties of this algorithm under certain conditions. Furthermore, the energy-saving performances of the developed offline and online algorithms are compared by simulations, and the effect of the availability of energy state information (ESI) on the performance gains of the BSs' energy cooperation is investigated. Finally, we propose a hybrid algorithm that can incorporate offline information about the energy profiles, but operates in an online manner.
1301.4793
LMMSE Estimation and Interpolation of Continuous-Time Signals from Discrete-Time Samples Using Factor Graphs
cs.IT math.IT
The factor graph approach to discrete-time linear Gaussian state space models is well developed. The paper extends this approach to continuous-time linear systems/filters that are driven by white Gaussian noise. By Gaussian message passing, we then obtain MAP/MMSE/LMMSE estimates of the input signal, or of the state, or of the output signal from noisy observations of the output signal. These estimates may be obtained with arbitrary temporal resolution. The proposed input signal estimation does not seem to have appeared in the prior Kalman filtering literature.
1301.4798
A Novel Mode Switching Scheme Utilizing Random Beamforming for Opportunistic Energy Harvesting
cs.IT math.IT
Since radio signals carry both energy and information at the same time, a unified study on simultaneous wireless information and power transfer (SWIPT) has recently drawn a significant attention for achieving wireless powered communication networks. In this paper, we study a multiple-input single-output (MISO) multicast SWIPT network with one multi-antenna transmitter sending common information to multiple single-antenna receivers simultaneously along with opportunistic wireless energy harvesting at each receiver. From the practical consideration, we assume that the channel state information (CSI) is only known at each respective receiver but is unavailable at the transmitter. We propose a novel receiver mode switching scheme for SWIPT based on a new application of the conventional random beamforming technique at the multi-antenna transmitter, which generates artificial channel fading to enable more efficient energy harvesting at each receiver when the received power exceeds a certain threshold. For the proposed scheme, we investigate the achievable information rate, harvested average power and/or power outage probability, as well as their various trade-offs in both AWGN and quasi-static fading channels. Compared to a reference scheme of periodic receiver mode switching without random transmit beamforming, the proposed scheme is shown to be able to achieve better rate-energy trade-offs when the harvested energy target is sufficiently large. Particularly, it is revealed that employing one single random beam for the proposed scheme is asymptotically optimal as the transmit power increases to infinity, and also performs the best with finite transmit power for the high harvested energy regime of most practical interests, thus leading to an appealing low-complexity implementation. Finally, we compare the rate-energy performances of the proposed scheme with different random beam designs.
1301.4824
The Weight Enumerator of Three Families of Cyclic Codes
cs.IT math.IT
Cyclic codes are a subclass of linear codes and have wide applications in consumer electronics, data storage systems, and communication systems due to their efficient encoding and decoding algorithms. Cyclic codes with many zeros and their dual codes have been a subject of study for many years. However, their weight distributions are known only for a very small number of cases. In general the calculation of the weight distribution of cyclic codes is heavily based on the evaluation of some exponential sums over finite fields. Very recently, Li, Hu, Feng and Ge studied a class of $p$-ary cyclic codes of length $p^{2m}-1$, where $p$ is a prime and $m$ is odd. They determined the weight distribution of this class of cyclic codes by establishing a connection between the involved exponential sums with the spectrum of Hermitian forms graphs. In this paper, this class of $p$-ary cyclic codes is generalized and the weight distribution of the generalized cyclic codes is settled for both even $m$ and odd $m$ alone with the idea of Li, Hu, Feng, and Ge. The weight distributions of two related families of cyclic codes are also determined.
1301.4832
Measuring Model Risk
q-fin.RM cs.IT math.IT
We propose to interpret distribution model risk as sensitivity of expected loss to changes in the risk factor distribution, and to measure the distribution model risk of a portfolio by the maximum expected loss over a set of plausible distributions defined in terms of some divergence from an estimated distribution. The divergence may be relative entropy, a Bregman distance, or an $f$-divergence. We give formulas for the calculation of distribution model risk and explicitly determine the worst case distribution from the set of plausible distributions. We also give formulas for the evaluation of divergence preferences describing ambiguity averse decision makers.
1301.4848
Integration of knowledge to support automatic object reconstruction from images and 3D data
cs.CG cs.AI
Object reconstruction is an important task in many fields of application as it allows to generate digital representations of our physical world used as base for analysis, planning, construction, visualization or other aims. A reconstruction itself normally is based on reliable data (images, 3D point clouds for example) expressing the object in his complete extent. This data then has to be compiled and analyzed in order to extract all necessary geometrical elements, which represent the object and form a digital copy of it. Traditional strategies are largely based on manual interaction and interpretation, because with increasing complexity of objects human understanding is inevitable to achieve acceptable and reliable results. But human interaction is time consuming and expensive, why many researches has already been invested to use algorithmic support, what allows to speed up the process and to reduce manual work load. Presently most of such supporting algorithms are data-driven and concentate on specific features of the objects, being accessible to numerical models. By means of these models, which normally will represent geometrical (flatness, roughness, for example) or physical features (color, texture), the data is classified and analyzed. This is successful for objects with low complexity, but gets to its limits with increasing complexness of objects. Then purely numerical strategies are not able to sufficiently model the reality. Therefore, the intention of our approach is to take human cognitive strategy as an example, and to simulate extraction processes based on available human defined knowledge for the objects of interest. Such processes will introduce a semantic structure for the objects and guide the algorithms used to detect and recognize objects, which will yield a higher effectiveness. Hence, our research proposes an approach using knowledge to guide the algorithms in 3D point cloud and image processing.
1301.4862
Active Learning of Inverse Models with Intrinsically Motivated Goal Exploration in Robots
cs.LG cs.AI cs.CV cs.NE cs.RO
We introduce the Self-Adaptive Goal Generation - Robust Intelligent Adaptive Curiosity (SAGG-RIAC) architecture as an intrinsi- cally motivated goal exploration mechanism which allows active learning of inverse models in high-dimensional redundant robots. This allows a robot to efficiently and actively learn distributions of parameterized motor skills/policies that solve a corresponding distribution of parameterized tasks/goals. The architecture makes the robot sample actively novel parameterized tasks in the task space, based on a measure of competence progress, each of which triggers low-level goal-directed learning of the motor policy pa- rameters that allow to solve it. For both learning and generalization, the system leverages regression techniques which allow to infer the motor policy parameters corresponding to a given novel parameterized task, and based on the previously learnt correspondences between policy and task parameters. We present experiments with high-dimensional continuous sensorimotor spaces in three different robotic setups: 1) learning the inverse kinematics in a highly-redundant robotic arm, 2) learning omnidirectional locomotion with motor primitives in a quadruped robot, 3) an arm learning to control a fishing rod with a flexible wire. We show that 1) exploration in the task space can be a lot faster than exploration in the actuator space for learning inverse models in redundant robots; 2) selecting goals maximizing competence progress creates developmental trajectories driving the robot to progressively focus on tasks of increasing complexity and is statistically significantly more efficient than selecting tasks randomly, as well as more efficient than different standard active motor babbling methods; 3) this architecture allows the robot to actively discover which parts of its task space it can learn to reach and which part it cannot.
1301.4910
Computational Aspects of the Calculus of Structure
cs.LO cs.AI
Logic is the science of correct inferences and a logical system is a tool to prove assertions in a certain logic in a correct way. There are many logical systems, and many ways of formalizing them, e.g., using natural deduction or sequent calculus. Calculus of structures (CoS) is a new formalism proposed by Alessio Guglielmi in 2004 that generalizes sequent calculus in the sense that inference rules can be applied at any depth inside a formula, rather than only to the main connective. With this feature, proofs in CoS are shorter than in any other formalism supporting analytical proofs. Although it is great to have the freedom and expressiveness of CoS, under the point of view of proof search more freedom means a larger search space. And that should be restricted when looking for complete automation of deductive systems. Some efforts were made to reduce this non-determinism, but they are all basically operational approaches, and no solid theoretical result regarding the computational behaviour of CoS has been achieved so far. The main focus of this thesis is to discuss ways to propose a proof search strategy for CoS suitable to implementation. This strategy should be theoretical instead of purely operational. We introduce the concept of incoherence number of substructures inside structures and we use this concept to achieve our main result: there is an algorithm that, according to our conjecture, corresponds to a proof search strategy to every provable structure in the subsystem of FBV (the multiplicative linear logic MLL plus the rule mix) containing only pairwise distinct atoms. Our algorithm is implemented and we believe our strategy is a good starting point to exploit the computational aspects of CoS in more general systems, like BV itself.
1301.4916
Solutions to Detect and Analyze Online Radicalization : A Survey
cs.IR cs.SI physics.soc-ph
Online Radicalization (also called Cyber-Terrorism or Extremism or Cyber-Racism or Cyber- Hate) is widespread and has become a major and growing concern to the society, governments and law enforcement agencies around the world. Research shows that various platforms on the Internet (low barrier to publish content, allows anonymity, provides exposure to millions of users and a potential of a very quick and widespread diffusion of message) such as YouTube (a popular video sharing website), Twitter (an online micro-blogging service), Facebook (a popular social networking website), online discussion forums and blogosphere are being misused for malicious intent. Such platforms are being used to form hate groups, racist communities, spread extremist agenda, incite anger or violence, promote radicalization, recruit members and create virtual organi- zations and communities. Automatic detection of online radicalization is a technically challenging problem because of the vast amount of the data, unstructured and noisy user-generated content, dynamically changing content and adversary behavior. There are several solutions proposed in the literature aiming to combat and counter cyber-hate and cyber-extremism. In this survey, we review solutions to detect and analyze online radicalization. We review 40 papers published at 12 venues from June 2003 to November 2011. We present a novel classification scheme to classify these papers. We analyze these techniques, perform trend analysis, discuss limitations of existing techniques and find out research gaps.
1301.4917
Dirichlet draws are sparse with high probability
cs.LG math.PR stat.ML
This note provides an elementary proof of the folklore fact that draws from a Dirichlet distribution (with parameters less than 1) are typically sparse (most coordinates are small).
1301.4926
Reconstruction Guarantee Analysis of Binary Measurement Matrices Based on Girth
cs.IT math.IT
Binary 0-1 measurement matrices, especially those from coding theory, were introduced to compressed sensing (CS) recently. Good measurement matrices with preferred properties, e.g., the restricted isometry property (RIP) and nullspace property (NSP), have no known general ways to be efficiently checked. Khajehnejad \emph{et al.} made use of \emph{girth} to certify the good performances of sparse binary measurement matrices. In this paper, we examine the performance of binary measurement matrices with uniform column weight and arbitrary girth under basis pursuit. Explicit sufficient conditions of exact reconstruction %only including $\gamma$ and $g$ are obtained, which improve the previous results derived from RIP for any girth $g$ and results from NSP when $g/2$ is odd. Moreover, we derive explicit $l_1/l_1$, $l_2/l_1$ and $l_\infty/l_1$ sparse approximation guarantees. These results further show that large girth has positive impacts on the performance of binary measurement matrices under basis pursuit, and the binary parity-check matrices of good LDPC codes are important candidates of measurement matrices.
1301.4927
"Pretty strong" converse for the quantum capacity of degradable channels
quant-ph cs.IT math.IT
We exhibit a possible road towards a strong converse for the quantum capacity of degradable channels. In particular, we show that all degradable channels obey what we call a "pretty strong" converse: When the code rate increases above the quantum capacity, the fidelity makes a discontinuous jump from 1 to at most 0.707, asymptotically. A similar result can be shown for the private (classical) capacity. Furthermore, we can show that if the strong converse holds for symmetric channels (which have quantum capacity zero), then degradable channels obey the strong converse: The above-mentioned asymptotic jump of the fidelity at the quantum capacity is then from 1 down to 0.
1301.4938
A type theoretical framework for natural language semantics: the Montagovian generative lexicon
cs.LO cs.CL
We present a framework, named the Montagovian generative lexicon, for computing the semantics of natural language sentences, expressed in many sorted higher order logic. Word meaning is depicted by lambda terms of second order lambda calculus (Girard's system F) with base types including a type for propositions and many types for sorts of a many sorted logic. This framework is able to integrate a proper treatment of lexical phenomena into a Montagovian compositional semantics, including the restriction of selection which imposes the nature of the arguments of a predicate, and the possible adaptation of a word meaning to some contexts. Among these adaptations of a word's sense to the context, ontological inclusions are handled by an extension of system F with coercive subtyping that is introduced in the present paper. The benefits of this framework for lexical pragmatics are illustrated on meaning transfers and coercions, on possible and impossible copredication over different senses, on deverbal ambiguities, and on "fictive motion". Next we show that the compositional treatment of determiners, quantifiers, plurals,... are finer grained in our framework. We then conclude with the linguistic, logical and computational perspectives opened by the Montagovian generative lexicon.
1301.4944
Evaluation of a Supervised Learning Approach for Stock Market Operations
stat.ML cs.LG stat.AP
Data mining methods have been widely applied in financial markets, with the purpose of providing suitable tools for prices forecasting and automatic trading. Particularly, learning methods aim to identify patterns in time series and, based on such patterns, to recommend buy/sell operations. The objective of this work is to evaluate the performance of Random Forests, a supervised learning method based on ensembles of decision trees, for decision support in stock markets. Preliminary results indicate good rates of successful operations and good rates of return per operation, providing a strong motivation for further research in this topic.
1301.4991
Knowledge Base Approach for 3D Objects Detection in Point Clouds Using 3D Processing and Specialists Knowledge
cs.AI
This paper presents a knowledge-based detection of objects approach using the OWL ontology language, the Semantic Web Rule Language, and 3D processing built-ins aiming at combining geometrical analysis of 3D point clouds and specialist's knowledge. Here, we share our experience regarding the creation of 3D semantic facility model out of unorganized 3D point clouds. Thus, a knowledge-based detection approach of objects using the OWL ontology language is presented. This knowledge is used to define SWRL detection rules. In addition, the combination of 3D processing built-ins and topological Built-Ins in SWRL rules allows a more flexible and intelligent detection, and the annotation of objects contained in 3D point clouds. The created WiDOP prototype takes a set of 3D point clouds as input, and produces as output a populated ontology corresponding to an indexed scene visualized within VRML language. The context of the study is the detection of railway objects materialized within the Deutsche Bahn scene such as signals, technical cupboards, electric poles, etc. Thus, the resulting enriched and populated ontology, that contains the annotations of objects in the point clouds, is used to feed a GIS system or an IFC file for architecture purposes.
1301.4992
From 9-IM Topological Operators to Qualitative Spatial Relations using 3D Selective Nef Complexes and Logic Rules for bodies
cs.AI
This paper presents a method to compute automatically topological relations using SWRL rules. The calculation of these rules is based on the definition of a Selective Nef Complexes Nef Polyhedra structure generated from standard Polyhedron. The Selective Nef Complexes is a data model providing a set of binary Boolean operators such as Union, Difference, Intersection and Symmetric difference, and unary operators such as Interior, Closure and Boundary. In this work, these operators are used to compute topological relations between objects defined by the constraints of the 9 Intersection Model (9-IM) from Egenhofer. With the help of these constraints, we defined a procedure to compute the topological relations on Nef polyhedra. These topological relationships are Disjoint, Meets, Contains, Inside, Covers, CoveredBy, Equals and Overlaps, and defined in a top-level ontology with a specific semantic definition on relation such as Transitive, Symmetric, Asymmetric, Functional, Reflexive, and Irreflexive. The results of the computation of topological relationships are stored in an OWL-DL ontology allowing after what to infer on these new relationships between objects. In addition, logic rules based on the Semantic Web Rule Language allows the definition of logic programs that define which topological relationships have to be computed on which kind of objects with specific attributes. For instance, a "Building" that overlaps a "Railway" is a "RailStation".
1301.5003
Adaptive Interference Suppression for CDMA Systems using Interpolated FIR Filters with Adaptive Interpolators in Multipath Channels
cs.IT math.IT
In this work we propose an adaptive linear receiver structure based on interpolated finite impulse response (FIR) filters with adaptive interpolators for direct sequence code division multiple access (DS-CDMA) systems in multipath channels. The interpolated minimum mean-squared error (MMSE) and the interpolated constrained minimum variance (CMV) solutions are described for a novel scheme where the interpolator is rendered time-varying in order to mitigate multiple access interference (MAI) and multiple-path propagation effects. Based upon the interpolated MMSE and CMV solutions we present computationally efficient stochastic gradient (SG) and exponentially weighted recursive least squares type (RLS) algorithms for both receiver and interpolator filters in the supervised and blind modes of operation. A convergence analysis of the algorithms and a discussion of the convergence properties of the method are carried out for both modes of operation. Simulation experiments for a downlink scenario show that the proposed structures achieve a superior BER convergence and steady-state performance to previously reported reduced-rank receivers at lower complexity.
1301.5004
Planar functions and perfect nonlinear monomials over finite fields
math.CO cs.IT math.IT math.NT
The study of finite projective planes involves planar functions, namely, functions f : F_q --> F_q such that, for each nonzero a in F_q, the function c --> f(c+a) - f(c) is a bijection on F_q. Planar functions are also used in the construction of DES-like cryptosystems, where they are called perfect nonlinear functions. We determine all planar functions on F_q of the form c --> c^t, under the assumption that q >= (t-1)^4. This implies two conjectures of Hernando, McGuire and Monserrat. Our arguments also yield a new proof of a conjecture of Segre and Bartocci from 1971 about monomial hyperovals in finite Desarguesian projective planes.