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cs/0405050
Traffic Accident Analysis Using Decision Trees and Neural Networks
cs.AI
The costs of fatalities and injuries due to traffic accident have a great impact on society. This paper presents our research to model the severity of injury resulting from traffic accidents using artificial neural networks and decision trees. We have applied them to an actual data set obtained from the National Automotive Sampling System (NASS) General Estimates System (GES). Experiment results reveal that in all the cases the decision tree outperforms the neural network. Our research analysis also shows that the three most important factors in fatal injury are: driver's seat belt usage, light condition of the roadway, and driver's alcohol usage.
cs/0405051
Short Term Load Forecasting Models in Czech Republic Using Soft Computing Paradigms
cs.AI
This paper presents a comparative study of six soft computing models namely multilayer perceptron networks, Elman recurrent neural network, radial basis function network, Hopfield model, fuzzy inference system and hybrid fuzzy neural network for the hourly electricity demand forecast of Czech Republic. The soft computing models were trained and tested using the actual hourly load data for seven years. A comparison of the proposed techniques is presented for predicting 2 day ahead demands for electricity. Simulation results indicate that hybrid fuzzy neural network and radial basis function networks are the best candidates for the analysis and forecasting of electricity demand.
cs/0405052
Decision Support Systems Using Intelligent Paradigms
cs.AI
Decision-making is a process of choosing among alternative courses of action for solving complicated problems where multi-criteria objectives are involved. The past few years have witnessed a growing recognition of Soft Computing (SC) technologies that underlie the conception, design and utilization of intelligent systems. In this paper, we present different SC paradigms involving an artificial neural network trained using the scaled conjugate gradient algorithm, two different fuzzy inference methods optimised using neural network learning/evolutionary algorithms and regression trees for developing intelligent decision support systems. We demonstrate the efficiency of the different algorithms by developing a decision support system for a Tactical Air Combat Environment (TACE). Some empirical comparisons between the different algorithms are also provided.
cs/0405054
The model of the tables in design documentation for operating with the electronic catalogs and for specifications making in a CAD system
cs.CE cs.DS
The hierarchic block model of the tables in design documentation as a part of a CAD system is described, intended for automatic specifications making of elements of the drawings, with usage of the electronic catalogs. The model is created for needs of a CAD system of reconstruction of the industrial plants, where the result of designing are the drawings, which include the specifications of different types. The adequate simulation of the specification tables is ensured with technology of storing in the drawing of the visible geometric elements and invisible parametric representation, sufficient for generation of this elements.
cs/0405055
Modular technology of developing of the extensions of a CAD system. Axonometric piping diagrams. Parametric representation
cs.CE cs.DS
Applying the modular technology of developing of the problem-oriented extensions of a CAD system to a problem of automation of creating of the axonometric piping diagrams on an example of the program system TechnoCAD GlassX is described. The proximity of composition of the schemas is detected for special technological pipe lines, systems of a water line and water drain, heating, heat supply, ventilating, air conditioning. The structured parametric representation of the schemas, including properties of objects, their link, common settings, settings by default and the special links of compatibility is reviewed.
cs/0405056
Modular technology of developing of the extensions of a CAD system. The axonometric piping diagrams. Common and special operations
cs.CE cs.DS
Applying the modular technology of developing of the problem-oriented extensions of a CAD system to a problem of automation of creating of the axonometric piping diagrams on an example of the program system TechnoCAD GlassX is described. The features of realization of common operations, composition and realization of special operations of a designing of the schemas of the special technological pipe lines, systems of a water line and water drain, heating, heat supply, ventilating, air conditioning are reviewed.
cs/0405057
Mathematical and programming toolkit of the computer aided design of the axonometric piping diagrams
cs.CE cs.DS
The problem of the automation of the designing of the axonometric piping diagrams include, as the minimum, manipulations with the flat schemas of three-dimensional wireframe objects (with dimension of 2,5). The specialized model, methodical and mathematical approaches are required because of large bulk of calculuss. Coordinate systems, data types, common principles of realization of operation with data and composition of the basic operations are described which are realised in the complex CAD system of the reconstruction of the plants TechnoCAD GlassX.
cs/0405062
Efficiency Enhancement of Probabilistic Model Building Genetic Algorithms
cs.NE
This paper presents two different efficiency-enhancement techniques for probabilistic model building genetic algorithms. The first technique proposes the use of a mutation operator which performs local search in the sub-solution neighborhood identified through the probabilistic model. The second technique proposes building and using an internal probabilistic model of the fitness along with the probabilistic model of variable interactions. The fitness values of some offspring are estimated using the probabilistic model, thereby avoiding computationally expensive function evaluations. The scalability of the aforementioned techniques are analyzed using facetwise models for convergence time and population sizing. The speed-up obtained by each of the methods is predicted and verified with empirical results. The results show that for additively separable problems the competent mutation operator requires O(k 0.5 logm)--where k is the building-block size, and m is the number of building blocks--less function evaluations than its selectorecombinative counterpart. The results also show that the use of an internal probabilistic fitness model reduces the required number of function evaluations to as low as 1-10% and yields a speed-up of 2--50.
cs/0405063
Let's Get Ready to Rumble: Crossover Versus Mutation Head to Head
cs.NE
This paper analyzes the relative advantages between crossover and mutation on a class of deterministic and stochastic additively separable problems. This study assumes that the recombination and mutation operators have the knowledge of the building blocks (BBs) and effectively exchange or search among competing BBs. Facetwise models of convergence time and population sizing have been used to determine the scalability of each algorithm. The analysis shows that for additively separable deterministic problems, the BB-wise mutation is more efficient than crossover, while the crossover outperforms the mutation on additively separable problems perturbed with additive Gaussian noise. The results show that the speed-up of using BB-wise mutation on deterministic problems is O(k^{0.5}logm), where k is the BB size, and m is the number of BBs. Likewise, the speed-up of using crossover on stochastic problems with fixed noise variance is O(mk^{0.5}log m).
cs/0405064
Designing Competent Mutation Operators via Probabilistic Model Building of Neighborhoods
cs.NE
This paper presents a competent selectomutative genetic algorithm (GA), that adapts linkage and solves hard problems quickly, reliably, and accurately. A probabilistic model building process is used to automatically identify key building blocks (BBs) of the search problem. The mutation operator uses the probabilistic model of linkage groups to find the best among competing building blocks. The competent selectomutative GA successfully solves additively separable problems of bounded difficulty, requiring only subquadratic number of function evaluations. The results show that for additively separable problems the probabilistic model building BB-wise mutation scales as O(2^km^{1.5}), and requires O(k^{0.5}logm) less function evaluations than its selectorecombinative counterpart, confirming theoretical results reported elsewhere (Sastry & Goldberg, 2004).
cs/0405065
Efficiency Enhancement of Genetic Algorithms via Building-Block-Wise Fitness Estimation
cs.NE
This paper studies fitness inheritance as an efficiency enhancement technique for a class of competent genetic algorithms called estimation distribution algorithms. Probabilistic models of important sub-solutions are developed to estimate the fitness of a proportion of individuals in the population, thereby avoiding computationally expensive function evaluations. The effect of fitness inheritance on the convergence time and population sizing are modeled and the speed-up obtained through inheritance is predicted. The results show that a fitness-inheritance mechanism which utilizes information on building-block fitnesses provides significant efficiency enhancement. For additively separable problems, fitness inheritance reduces the number of function evaluations to about half and yields a speed-up of about 1.75--2.25.
cs/0405069
Mining Frequent Itemsets from Secondary Memory
cs.DB cs.IR
Mining frequent itemsets is at the core of mining association rules, and is by now quite well understood algorithmically. However, most algorithms for mining frequent itemsets assume that the main memory is large enough for the data structures used in the mining, and very few efficient algorithms deal with the case when the database is very large or the minimum support is very low. Mining frequent itemsets from a very large database poses new challenges, as astronomical amounts of raw data is ubiquitously being recorded in commerce, science and government. In this paper, we discuss approaches to mining frequent itemsets when data structures are too large to fit in main memory. Several divide-and-conquer algorithms are given for mining from disks. Many novel techniques are introduced. Experimental results show that the techniques reduce the required disk accesses by orders of magnitude, and enable truly scalable data mining.
cs/0405071
Regression with respect to sensing actions and partial states
cs.AI
In this paper, we present a state-based regression function for planning domains where an agent does not have complete information and may have sensing actions. We consider binary domains and employ the 0-approximation [Son & Baral 2001] to define the regression function. In binary domains, the use of 0-approximation means using 3-valued states. Although planning using this approach is incomplete with respect to the full semantics, we adopt it to have a lower complexity. We prove the soundness and completeness of our regression formulation with respect to the definition of progression. More specifically, we show that (i) a plan obtained through regression for a planning problem is indeed a progression solution of that planning problem, and that (ii) for each plan found through progression, using regression one obtains that plan or an equivalent one. We then develop a conditional planner that utilizes our regression function. We prove the soundness and completeness of our planning algorithm and present experimental results with respect to several well known planning problems in the literature.
cs/0405072
Grid Databases for Shared Image Analysis in the MammoGrid Project
cs.DB cs.DC
The MammoGrid project aims to prove that Grid infrastructures can be used for collaborative clinical analysis of database-resident but geographically distributed medical images. This requires: a) the provision of a clinician-facing front-end workstation and b) the ability to service real-world clinician queries across a distributed and federated database. The MammoGrid project will prove the viability of the Grid by harnessing its power to enable radiologists from geographically dispersed hospitals to share standardized mammograms, to compare diagnoses (with and without computer aided detection of tumours) and to perform sophisticated epidemiological studies across national boundaries. This paper outlines the approach taken in MammoGrid to seamlessly connect radiologist workstations across a Grid using an "information infrastructure" and a DICOM-compliant object model residing in multiple distributed data stores in Italy and the UK
cs/0405074
MammoGrid: A Service Oriented Architecture based Medical Grid Application
cs.DC cs.DB
The MammoGrid project has recently delivered its first proof-of-concept prototype using a Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA)-based Grid application to enable distributed computing spanning national borders. The underlying AliEn Grid infrastructure has been selected because of its practicality and because of its emergence as a potential open source standards-based solution for managing and coordinating distributed resources. The resultant prototype is expected to harness the use of huge amounts of medical image data to perform epidemiological studies, advanced image processing, radiographic education and ultimately, tele-diagnosis over communities of medical virtual organisations. The MammoGrid prototype comprises a high-quality clinician visualization workstation used for data acquisition and inspection, a DICOM-compliant interface to a set of medical services (annotation, security, image analysis, data storage and querying services) residing on a so-called Grid-box and secure access to a network of other Grid-boxes connected through Grid middleware. This paper outlines the MammoGrid approach in managing a federation of Grid-connected mammography databases in the context of the recently delivered prototype and will also describe the next phase of prototyping.
cs/0405076
An Abductive Framework For Computing Knowledge Base Updates
cs.DB
This paper introduces an abductive framework for updating knowledge bases represented by extended disjunctive programs. We first provide a simple transformation from abductive programs to update programs which are logic programs specifying changes on abductive hypotheses. Then, extended abduction, which was introduced by the same authors as a generalization of traditional abduction, is computed by the answer sets of update programs. Next, different types of updates, view updates and theory updates are characterized by abductive programs and computed by update programs. The task of consistency restoration is also realized as special cases of these updates. Each update problem is comparatively assessed from the computational complexity viewpoint. The result of this paper provides a uniform framework for different types of knowledge base updates, and each update is computed using existing procedures of logic programming.
cs/0405087
A Grid Information Infrastructure for Medical Image Analysis
cs.DB cs.DC
The storage and manipulation of digital images and the analysis of the information held in those images are essential requirements for next-generation medical information systems. The medical community has been exploring collaborative approaches for managing image data and exchanging knowledge and Grid technology [1] is a promising approach to enabling distributed analysis across medical institutions and for developing new collaborative and cooperative approaches for image analysis without the necessity for clinicians to co-locate. The EU-funded MammoGrid project [2] is one example of this and it aims to develop a Europe-wide database of mammograms to support effective co-working between healthcare professionals across the EU. The MammoGrid prototype comprises a high-quality clinician visualization workstation (for data acquisition and inspection), a DICOM-compliant interface to a set of medical services (annotation, security, image analysis, data storage and querying services) residing on a so-called Grid-box and secure access to a network of other Grid-boxes connected through Grid middleware. One of the main deliverables of the project is a Grid-enabled infrastructure that manages federated mammogram databases across Europe. This paper outlines the MammoGrid Information Infrastructure (MII) for meta-data analysis and knowledge discovery in the medical imaging domain.
cs/0405090
Propositional Defeasible Logic has Linear Complexity
cs.AI
Defeasible logic is a rule-based nonmonotonic logic, with both strict and defeasible rules, and a priority relation on rules. We show that inference in the propositional form of the logic can be performed in linear time. This contrasts markedly with most other propositional nonmonotonic logics, in which inference is intractable.
cs/0405093
Computerized Face Detection and Recognition
cs.CV
This publication presents methods for face detection, analysis and recognition: fast normalized cross-correlation (fast correlation coefficient) between multiple templates based face pre-detection method, method for detection of exact face contour based on snakes and Generalized Gradient Vector Flow field, method for combining recognition algorithms based on Cumulative Match Characteristics in order to increase recognition speed and accuracy, and face recognition method based on Principal Component Analysis of the Wavelet Packet Decomposition allowing to use PCA - based recognition method with large number of training images. For all the methods are presented experimental results and comparisons of speed and accuracy with large face databases.
cs/0405095
Blind Detection and Compensation of Camera Lens Geometric Distortions
cs.CV
This paper presents a blind detection and compensation technique for camera lens geometric distortions. The lens distortion introduces higher-order correlations in the frequency domain and in turn it can be detected using higher-order spectral analysis tools without assuming any specific calibration target. The existing blind lens distortion removal method only considered a single-coefficient radial distortion model. In this paper, two coefficients are considered to model approximately the geometric distortion. All the models considered have analytical closed-form inverse formulae.
cs/0405098
A Logic for Reasoning about Evidence
cs.AI cs.LO
We introduce a logic for reasoning about evidence that essentially views evidence as a function from prior beliefs (before making an observation) to posterior beliefs (after making the observation). We provide a sound and complete axiomatization for the logic, and consider the complexity of the decision problem. Although the reasoning in the logic is mainly propositional, we allow variables representing numbers and quantification over them. This expressive power seems necessary to capture important properties of evidence.
cs/0405099
Web search engine based on DNS
cs.NI cs.IR
Now no web search engine can cover more than 60 percent of all the pages on Internet. The update interval of most pages database is almost one month. This condition hasn't changed for many years. Converge and recency problems have become the bottleneck problem of current web search engine. To solve these problems, a new system, search engine based on DNS is proposed in this paper. This system adopts the hierarchical distributed architecture like DNS, which is different from any current commercial search engine. In theory, this system can cover all the web pages on Internet. Its update interval could even be one day. The original idea, detailed content and implementation of this system all are introduced in this paper.
cs/0405104
Knowledge Reduction and Discovery based on Demarcation Information
cs.LG cs.DB cs.IT math.IT
Knowledge reduction, includes attribute reduction and value reduction, is an important topic in rough set literature. It is also closely relevant to other fields, such as machine learning and data mining. In this paper, an algorithm called TWI-SQUEEZE is proposed. It can find a reduct, or an irreducible attribute subset after two scans. Its soundness and computational complexity are given, which show that it is the fastest algorithm at present. A measure of variety is brought forward, of which algorithm TWI-SQUEEZE can be regarded as an application. The author also argues the rightness of this measure as a measure of information, which can make it a unified measure for "differentiation, a concept appeared in cognitive psychology literature. Value reduction is another important aspect of knowledge reduction. It is interesting that using the same algorithm we can execute a complete value reduction efficiently. The complete knowledge reduction, which results in an irreducible table, can therefore be accomplished after four scans of table. The byproducts of reduction are two classifiers of different styles. In this paper, various cases and models will be discussed to prove the efficiency and effectiveness of the algorithm. Some topics, such as how to integrate user preference to find a local optimal attribute subset will also be discussed.
cs/0405106
Pruning Search Space in Defeasible Argumentation
cs.AI
Defeasible argumentation has experienced a considerable growth in AI in the last decade. Theoretical results have been combined with development of practical applications in AI & Law, Case-Based Reasoning and various knowledge-based systems. However, the dialectical process associated with inference is computationally expensive. This paper focuses on speeding up this inference process by pruning the involved search space. Our approach is twofold. On one hand, we identify distinguished literals for computing defeat. On the other hand, we restrict ourselves to a subset of all possible conflicting arguments by introducing dialectical constraints.
cs/0405107
A Framework for Combining Defeasible Argumentation with Labeled Deduction
cs.AI cs.SC
In the last years, there has been an increasing demand of a variety of logical systems, prompted mostly by applications of logic in AI and other related areas. Labeled Deductive Systems (LDS) were developed as a flexible methodology to formalize such a kind of complex logical systems. Defeasible argumentation has proven to be a successful approach to formalizing commonsense reasoning, encompassing many other alternative formalisms for defeasible reasoning. Argument-based frameworks share some common notions (such as the concept of argument, defeater, etc.) along with a number of particular features which make it difficult to compare them with each other from a logical viewpoint. This paper introduces LDSar, a LDS for defeasible argumentation in which many important issues concerning defeasible argumentation are captured within a unified logical framework. We also discuss some logical properties and extensions that emerge from the proposed framework.
cs/0405113
A proposal to design expert system for the calculations in the domain of QFT
cs.AI
Main purposes of the paper are followings: 1) To show examples of the calculations in domain of QFT via ``derivative rules'' of an expert system; 2) To consider advantages and disadvantage that technology of the calculations; 3) To reflect about how one would develop new physical theories, what knowledge would be useful in their investigations and how this problem can be connected with designing an expert system.
cs/0406001
Side-Information Coding with Turbo Codes and its Application to Quantum Key Distribution
cs.IT cs.CR math.IT quant-ph
Turbo coding is a powerful class of forward error correcting codes, which can achieve performances close to the Shannon limit. The turbo principle can be applied to the problem of side-information source coding, and we investigate here its application to the reconciliation problem occurring in a continuous-variable quantum key distribution protocol.
cs/0406003
Algorithms for weighted multi-tape automata
cs.CL cs.DS
This report defines various operations for weighted multi-tape automata (WMTAs) and describes algorithms that have been implemented for those operations in the WFSC toolkit. Some algorithms are new, others are known or similar to known algorithms. The latter will be recalled to make this report more complete and self-standing. We present a new approach to multi-tape intersection, meaning the intersection of a number of tapes of one WMTA with the same number of tapes of another WMTA. In our approach, multi-tape intersection is not considered as an atomic operation but rather as a sequence of more elementary ones, which facilitates its implementation. We show an example of multi-tape intersection, actually transducer intersection, that can be compiled with our approach but not with several other methods that we analysed. To show the practical relavance of our work, we include an example of application: the preservation of intermediate results in transduction cascades.
cs/0406004
Application of Business Intelligence In Banks (Pakistan)
cs.DB
The financial services industry is rapidly changing. Factors such as globalization, deregulation, mergers and acquisitions, competition from non-financial institutions, and technological innovation, have forced companies to re-think their business.Many large companies have been using Business Intelligence (BI) computer software for some years to help them gain competitive advantage. With the introduction of cheaper and more generalized products to the market place BI is now in the reach of smaller and medium sized companies. Business Intelligence is also known as knowledge management, management information systems (MIS), Executive information systems (EIS) and On-line analytical Processing (OLAP).
cs/0406007
Parallel Mixed Bayesian Optimization Algorithm: A Scaleup Analysis
cs.NE cs.DC
Estimation of Distribution Algorithms have been proposed as a new paradigm for evolutionary optimization. This paper focuses on the parallelization of Estimation of Distribution Algorithms. More specifically, the paper discusses how to predict performance of parallel Mixed Bayesian Optimization Algorithm (MBOA) that is based on parallel construction of Bayesian networks with decision trees. We determine the time complexity of parallel Mixed Bayesian Optimization Algorithm and compare this complexity with experimental results obtained by solving the spin glass optimization problem. The empirical results fit well the theoretical time complexity, so the scalability and efficiency of parallel Mixed Bayesian Optimization Algorithm for unknown instances of spin glass benchmarks can be predicted. Furthermore, we derive the guidelines that can be used to design effective parallel Estimation of Distribution Algorithms with the speedup proportional to the number of variables in the problem.
cs/0406008
Image compression by rectangular wavelet transform
cs.CV
We study image compression by a separable wavelet basis $\big\{\psi(2^{k_1}x-i)\psi(2^{k_2}y-j),$ $\phi(x-i)\psi(2^{k_2}y-j),$ $\psi(2^{k_1}(x-i)\phi(y-j),$ $\phi(x-i)\phi(y-i)\big\},$ where $k_1, k_2 \in \mathbb{Z}_+$; $i,j\in\mathbb{Z}$; and $\phi,\psi$ are elements of a standard biorthogonal wavelet basis in $L_2(\mathbb{R})$. Because $k_1\ne k_2$, the supports of the basis elements are rectangles, and the corresponding transform is known as the {\em rectangular wavelet transform}. We prove that if one-dimensional wavelet basis has $M$ dual vanishing moments then the rate of approximation by $N$ coefficients of rectangular wavelet transform is $\mathcal{O}(N^{-M}\log^C N)$ for functions with mixed derivative of order $M$ in each direction. The square wavelet transform yields the approximation rate is $\mathcal{O}(N^{-M/2})$ for functions with all derivatives of the total order $M$. Thus, the rectangular wavelet transform can outperform the square one if an image has a mixed derivative. We provide experimental comparison of image compression which shows that rectangular wavelet transform outperform the square one.
cs/0406011
Blind Construction of Optimal Nonlinear Recursive Predictors for Discrete Sequences
cs.LG math.ST nlin.CD physics.data-an stat.TH
We present a new method for nonlinear prediction of discrete random sequences under minimal structural assumptions. We give a mathematical construction for optimal predictors of such processes, in the form of hidden Markov models. We then describe an algorithm, CSSR (Causal-State Splitting Reconstruction), which approximates the ideal predictor from data. We discuss the reliability of CSSR, its data requirements, and its performance in simulations. Finally, we compare our approach to existing methods using variable-length Markov models and cross-validated hidden Markov models, and show theoretically and experimentally that our method delivers results superior to the former and at least comparable to the latter.
cs/0406015
Zipf's law and the creation of musical context
cs.CL cond-mat.stat-mech
This article discusses the extension of the notion of context from linguistics to the domain of music. In language, the statistical regularity known as Zipf's law -which concerns the frequency of usage of different words- has been quantitatively related to the process of text generation. This connection is established by Simon's model, on the basis of a few assumptions regarding the accompanying creation of context. Here, it is shown that the statistics of note usage in musical compositions are compatible with the predictions of Simon's model. This result, which gives objective support to the conceptual likeness of context in language and music, is obtained through automatic analysis of the digital versions of several compositions. As a by-product, a quantitative measure of context definiteness is introduced and used to compare tonal and atonal works.
cs/0406016
Schema-based Scheduling of Event Processors and Buffer Minimization for Queries on Structured Data Streams
cs.DB
We introduce an extension of the XQuery language, FluX, that supports event-based query processing and the conscious handling of main memory buffers. Purely event-based queries of this language can be executed on streaming XML data in a very direct way. We then develop an algorithm that allows to efficiently rewrite XQueries into the event-based FluX language. This algorithm uses order constraints from a DTD to schedule event handlers and to thus minimize the amount of buffering required for evaluating a query. We discuss the various technical aspects of query optimization and query evaluation within our framework. This is complemented with an experimental evaluation of our approach.
cs/0406017
Using Self-Organising Mappings to Learn the Structure of Data Manifolds
cs.NE cs.CV
In this paper it is shown how to map a data manifold into a simpler form by progressively discarding small degrees of freedom. This is the key to self-organising data fusion, where the raw data is embedded in a very high-dimensional space (e.g. the pixel values of one or more images), and the requirement is to isolate the important degrees of freedom which lie on a low-dimensional manifold. A useful advantage of the approach used in this paper is that the computations are arranged as a feed-forward processing chain, where all the details of the processing in each stage of the chain are learnt by self-organisation. This approach is demonstrated using hierarchically correlated data, which causes the processing chain to split the data into separate processing channels, and then to progressively merge these channels wherever they are correlated with each other. This is the key to self-organising data fusion.
cs/0406021
A direct formulation for sparse PCA using semidefinite programming
cs.CE
We examine the problem of approximating, in the Frobenius-norm sense, a positive, semidefinite symmetric matrix by a rank-one matrix, with an upper bound on the cardinality of its eigenvector. The problem arises in the decomposition of a covariance matrix into sparse factors, and has wide applications ranging from biology to finance. We use a modification of the classical variational representation of the largest eigenvalue of a symmetric matrix, where cardinality is constrained, and derive a semidefinite programming based relaxation for our problem. We also discuss Nesterov's smooth minimization technique applied to the SDP arising in the direct sparse PCA method.
cs/0406025
Directional Consistency for Continuous Numerical Constraints
cs.AI cs.MS
Bounds consistency is usually enforced on continuous constraints by first decomposing them into binary and ternary primitives. This decomposition has long been shown to drastically slow down the computation of solutions. To tackle this, Benhamou et al. have introduced an algorithm that avoids formally decomposing constraints. Its better efficiency compared to the former method has already been experimentally demonstrated. It is shown here that their algorithm implements a strategy to enforce on a continuous constraint a consistency akin to Directional Bounds Consistency as introduced by Dechter and Pearl for discrete problems. The algorithm is analyzed in this framework, and compared with algorithms that enforce bounds consistency. These theoretical results are eventually contrasted with new experimental results on standard benchmarks from the interval constraint community.
cs/0406029
Subset Queries in Relational Databases
cs.DB
In this paper, we motivated the need for relational database systems to support subset query processing. We defined new operators in relational algebra, and new constructs in SQL for expressing subset queries. We also illustrated the applicability of subset queries through different examples expressed using extended SQL statements and relational algebra expressions. Our aim is to show the utility of subset queries for next generation applications.
cs/0406031
A Public Reference Implementation of the RAP Anaphora Resolution Algorithm
cs.CL
This paper describes a standalone, publicly-available implementation of the Resolution of Anaphora Procedure (RAP) given by Lappin and Leass (1994). The RAP algorithm resolves third person pronouns, lexical anaphors, and identifies pleonastic pronouns. Our implementation, JavaRAP, fills a current need in anaphora resolution research by providing a reference implementation that can be benchmarked against current algorithms. The implementation uses the standard, publicly available Charniak (2000) parser as input, and generates a list of anaphora-antecedent pairs as output. Alternately, an in-place annotation or substitution of the anaphors with their antecedents can be produced. Evaluation on the MUC-6 co-reference task shows that JavaRAP has an accuracy of 57.9%, similar to the performance given previously in the literature (e.g., Preiss 2002).
cs/0406032
A Dynamic Clustering-Based Markov Model for Web Usage Mining
cs.IR cs.AI
Markov models have been widely utilized for modelling user web navigation behaviour. In this work we propose a dynamic clustering-based method to increase a Markov model's accuracy in representing a collection of user web navigation sessions. The method makes use of the state cloning concept to duplicate states in a way that separates in-links whose corresponding second-order probabilities diverge. In addition, the new method incorporates a clustering technique which determines an effcient way to assign in-links with similar second-order probabilities to the same clone. We report on experiments conducted with both real and random data and we provide a comparison with the N-gram Markov concept. The results show that the number of additional states induced by the dynamic clustering method can be controlled through a threshold parameter, and suggest that the method's performance is linear time in the size of the model.
cs/0406038
A New Approach to Draw Detection by Move Repetition in Computer Chess Programming
cs.AI
We will try to tackle both the theoretical and practical aspects of a very important problem in chess programming as stated in the title of this article - the issue of draw detection by move repetition. The standard approach that has so far been employed in most chess programs is based on utilising positional matrices in original and compressed format as well as on the implementation of the so-called bitboard format. The new approach that we will be trying to introduce is based on using variant strings generated by the search algorithm (searcher) during the tree expansion in decision making. We hope to prove that this approach is more efficient than the standard treatment of the issue, especially in positions with few pieces (endgames). To illustrate what we have in mind a machine language routine that implements our theoretical assumptions is attached. The routine is part of the Axon chess program, developed by the authors. Axon, in its current incarnation, plays chess at master strength (ca. 2400-2450 Elo, based on both Axon vs computer programs and Axon vs human masters in over 3000 games altogether).
cs/0406039
Long Nonbinary Codes Exceeding the Gilbert - Varshamov Bound for any Fixed Distance
cs.IT math.IT
Let A(q,n,d) denote the maximum size of a q-ary code of length n and distance d. We study the minimum asymptotic redundancy \rho(q,n,d)=n-log_q A(q,n,d) as n grows while q and d are fixed. For any d and q<=d-1, long algebraic codes are designed that improve on the BCH codes and have the lowest asymptotic redundancy \rho(q,n,d) <= ((d-3)+1/(d-2)) log_q n known to date. Prior to this work, codes of fixed distance that asymptotically surpass BCH codes and the Gilbert-Varshamov bound were designed only for distances 4,5 and 6.
cs/0406042
Business Process Measures
cs.CE cs.PF
The paper proposes a new methodology for defining business process measures and their computation. The approach is based on metamodeling according to MOF. Especially, a metamodel providing precise definitions of typical process measures for UML activity diagram-like notation is proposed, including precise definitions how measures should be aggregated for composite process elements. The proposed approach allows defining values in a natural way, and measurement of data, which are of interest to business, without deep investigation into specific technical solutions. This provides new possibilities for business process measurement, decreasing the gap between technical solutions and asset management methodologies.
cs/0406043
The Computational Complexity of Orientation Search Problems in Cryo-Electron Microscopy
cs.DS cs.CG cs.CV
In this report we study the problem of determining three-dimensional orientations for noisy projections of randomly oriented identical particles. The problem is of central importance in the tomographic reconstruction of the density map of macromolecular complexes from electron microscope images and it has been studied intensively for more than 30 years. We analyze the computational complexity of the orientation problem and show that while several variants of the problem are $NP$-hard, inapproximable and fixed-parameter intractable, some restrictions are polynomial-time approximable within a constant factor or even solvable in logarithmic space. The orientation search problem is formalized as a constrained line arrangement problem that is of independent interest. The negative complexity results give a partial justification for the heuristic methods used in orientation search, and the positive complexity results on the orientation search have some positive implications also to the problem of finding functionally analogous genes. A preliminary version ``The Computational Complexity of Orientation Search in Cryo-Electron Microscopy'' appeared in Proc. ICCS 2004, LNCS 3036, pp. 231--238. Springer-Verlag 2004.
cs/0406047
Self-organizing neural networks in classification and image recognition
cs.CV cs.AI
Self-organizing neural networks are used for brick finding in OPERA experiment. Self-organizing neural networks and wavelet analysis used for recognition and extraction of car numbers from images.
cs/0406048
On Expanders Graphs: Parameters and Applications
cs.IT math.IT
We give a new lower bound on the expansion coefficient of an edge-vertex graph of a $d$-regular graph. As a consequence, we obtain an improvement on the lower bound on relative minimum distance of the expander codes constructed by Sipser and Spielman. We also derive some improved results on the vertex expansion of graphs that help us in improving the parameters of the expander codes of Alon, Bruck, Naor, Naor, and Roth.
cs/0406050
Finite-Length Scaling for Iteratively Decoded LDPC Ensembles
cs.IT cond-mat.dis-nn cs.DM math.IT
In this paper we investigate the behavior of iteratively decoded low-density parity-check codes over the binary erasure channel in the so-called ``waterfall region." We show that the performance curves in this region follow a very basic scaling law. We conjecture that essentially the same scaling behavior applies in a much more general setting and we provide some empirical evidence to support this conjecture. The scaling law, together with the error floor expressions developed previously, can be used for fast finite-length optimization.
cs/0406054
Building a linguistic corpus from bee dance data
cs.CL
This paper discusses the problems and possibility of collecting bee dance data in a linguistic \textit{corpus} and use linguistic instruments such as Zipf's law and entropy statistics to decide on the question whether the dance carries information of any kind. We describe this against the historical background of attempts to analyse non-human communication systems.
cs/0406055
Web Services: A Process Algebra Approach
cs.AI cs.DB
It is now well-admitted that formal methods are helpful for many issues raised in the Web service area. In this paper we present a framework for the design and verification of WSs using process algebras and their tools. We define a two-way mapping between abstract specifications written using these calculi and executable Web services written in BPEL4WS. Several choices are available: design and correct errors in BPEL4WS, using process algebra verification tools, or design and correct in process algebra and automatically obtaining the corresponding BPEL4WS code. The approaches can be combined. Process algebra are not useful only for temporal logic verification: we remark the use of simulation/bisimulation both for verification and for the hierarchical refinement design method. It is worth noting that our approach allows the use of any process algebra depending on the needs of the user at different levels (expressiveness, existence of reasoning tools, user expertise).
cs/0406056
P=NP
cs.CC cs.AI
We claim to resolve the P=?NP problem via a formal argument for P=NP.
cs/0406058
Proofs of Zero Knowledge
cs.CR cs.DB
We present a protocol for verification of ``no such entry'' replies from databases. We introduce a new cryptographic primitive as the underlying structure, the keyed hash tree, which is an extension of Merkle's hash tree. We compare our scheme to Buldas et al.'s Undeniable Attesters and Micali et al.'s Zero Knowledge Sets.
cs/0406060
Well-Definedness and Semantic Type-Checking in the Nested Relational Calculus and XQuery
cs.DB cs.PL
Two natural decision problems regarding the XML query language XQuery are well-definedness and semantic type-checking. We study these problems in the setting of a relational fragment of XQuery. We show that well-definedness and semantic type-checking are undecidable, even in the positive-existential case. Nevertheless, for a ``pure'' variant of XQuery, in which no identification is made between an item and the singleton containing that item, the problems become decidable. We also consider the analogous problems in the setting of the nested relational calculus.
cs/0407002
Annotating Predicate-Argument Structure for a Parallel Treebank
cs.CL
We report on a recently initiated project which aims at building a multi-layered parallel treebank of English and German. Particular attention is devoted to a dedicated predicate-argument layer which is used for aligning translationally equivalent sentences of the two languages. We describe both our conceptual decisions and aspects of their technical realisation. We discuss some selected problems and conclude with a few remarks on how this project relates to similar projects in the field.
cs/0407004
Zero-error communication over networks
cs.IT cs.CR math.IT
Zero-Error communication investigates communication without any error. By defining channels without probabilities, results from Elias can be used to completely characterize which channel can simulate which other channels. We introduce the ambiguity of a channel, which completely characterizes the possibility in principle of a channel to simulate any other channel. In the second part we will look at networks of players connected by channels, while some players may be corrupted. We will show how the ambiguity of a virtual channel connecting two arbitrary players can be calculated. This means that we can exactly specify what kind of zero-error communication is possible between two players in any network of players connected by channels.
cs/0407005
Statistical Machine Translation by Generalized Parsing
cs.CL
Designers of statistical machine translation (SMT) systems have begun to employ tree-structured translation models. Systems involving tree-structured translation models tend to be complex. This article aims to reduce the conceptual complexity of such systems, in order to make them easier to design, implement, debug, use, study, understand, explain, modify, and improve. In service of this goal, the article extends the theory of semiring parsing to arrive at a novel abstract parsing algorithm with five functional parameters: a logic, a grammar, a semiring, a search strategy, and a termination condition. The article then shows that all the common algorithms that revolve around tree-structured translation models, including hierarchical alignment, inference for parameter estimation, translation, and structured evaluation, can be derived by generalizing two of these parameters -- the grammar and the logic. The article culminates with a recipe for using such generalized parsers to train, apply, and evaluate an SMT system that is driven by tree-structured translation models.
cs/0407007
The semijoin algebra and the guarded fragment
cs.DB cs.LO
The semijoin algebra is the variant of the relational algebra obtained by replacing the join operator by the semijoin operator. We discuss some interesting connections between the semijoin algebra and the guarded fragment of first-order logic. We also provide an Ehrenfeucht-Fraisse game, characterizing the discerning power of the semijoin algebra. This game gives a method for showing that certain queries are not expressible in the semijoin algebra.
cs/0407008
Autogenic Training With Natural Language Processing Modules: A Recent Tool For Certain Neuro Cognitive Studies
cs.AI
Learning to respond to voice-text input involves the subject's ability in understanding the phonetic and text based contents and his/her ability to communicate based on his/her experience. The neuro-cognitive facility of the subject has to support two important domains in order to make the learning process complete. In many cases, though the understanding is complete, the response is partial. This is one valid reason why we need to support the information from the subject with scalable techniques such as Natural Language Processing (NLP) for abstraction of the contents from the output. This paper explores the feasibility of using NLP modules interlaced with Neural Networks to perform the required task in autogenic training related to medical applications.
cs/0407009
Search Using N-gram Technique Based Statistical Analysis for Knowledge Extraction in Case Based Reasoning Systems
cs.AI cs.IR
Searching techniques for Case Based Reasoning systems involve extensive methods of elimination. In this paper, we look at a new method of arriving at the right solution by performing a series of transformations upon the data. These involve N-gram based comparison and deduction of the input data with the case data, using Morphemes and Phonemes as the deciding parameters. A similar technique for eliminating possible errors using a noise removal function is performed. The error tracking and elimination is performed through a statistical analysis of obtained data, where the entire data set is analyzed as sub-categories of various etymological derivatives. A probability analysis for the closest match is then performed, which yields the final expression. This final expression is referred to the Case Base. The output is redirected through an Expert System based on best possible match. The threshold for the match is customizable, and could be set by the Knowledge-Architect.
cs/0407010
Improved error bounds for the erasure/list scheme: the binary and spherical cases
cs.IT math.IT
We derive improved bounds on the error and erasure rate for spherical codes and for binary linear codes under Forney's erasure/list decoding scheme and prove some related results.
cs/0407011
Distance distribution of binary codes and the error probability of decoding
cs.IT math.IT
We address the problem of bounding below the probability of error under maximum likelihood decoding of a binary code with a known distance distribution used on a binary symmetric channel. An improved upper bound is given for the maximum attainable exponent of this probability (the reliability function of the channel). In particular, we prove that the ``random coding exponent'' is the true value of the channel reliability for code rate $R$ in some interval immediately below the critical rate of the channel. An analogous result is obtained for the Gaussian channel.
cs/0407016
Learning for Adaptive Real-time Search
cs.AI cs.LG
Real-time heuristic search is a popular model of acting and learning in intelligent autonomous agents. Learning real-time search agents improve their performance over time by acquiring and refining a value function guiding the application of their actions. As computing the perfect value function is typically intractable, a heuristic approximation is acquired instead. Most studies of learning in real-time search (and reinforcement learning) assume that a simple value-function-greedy policy is used to select actions. This is in contrast to practice, where high-performance is usually attained by interleaving planning and acting via a lookahead search of a non-trivial depth. In this paper, we take a step toward bridging this gap and propose a novel algorithm that (i) learns a heuristic function to be used specifically with a lookahead-based policy, (ii) selects the lookahead depth adaptively in each state, (iii) gives the user control over the trade-off between exploration and exploitation. We extensively evaluate the algorithm in the sliding tile puzzle testbed comparing it to the classical LRTA* and the more recent weighted LRTA*, bounded LRTA*, and FALCONS. Improvements of 5 to 30 folds in convergence speed are observed.
cs/0407021
Multi-agent coordination using nearest neighbor rules: revisiting the Vicsek model
cs.MA cs.AI
Recently, Jadbabaie, Lin, and Morse (IEEE TAC, 48(6)2003:988-1001) offered a mathematical analysis of the discrete time model of groups of mobile autonomous agents raised by Vicsek et al. in 1995. In their paper, Jadbabaie et al. showed that all agents shall move in the same heading, provided that these agents are periodically linked together. This paper sharpens this result by showing that coordination will be reached under a very weak condition that requires all agents are finally linked together. This condition is also strictly weaker than the one Jadbabaie et al. desired.
cs/0407024
An agent-based intelligent environmental monitoring system
cs.MA cs.CE
Fairly rapid environmental changes call for continuous surveillance and on-line decision making. There are two main areas where IT technologies can be valuable. In this paper we present a multi-agent system for monitoring and assessing air-quality attributes, which uses data coming from a meteorological station. A community of software agents is assigned to monitor and validate measurements coming from several sensors, to assess air-quality, and, finally, to fire alarms to appropriate recipients, when needed. Data mining techniques have been used for adding data-driven, customized intelligence into agents. The architecture of the developed system, its domain ontology, and typical agent interactions are presented. Finally, the deployment of a real-world test case is demonstrated.
cs/0407025
An agent framework for dynamic agent retraining: Agent academy
cs.MA
Agent Academy (AA) aims to develop a multi-agent society that can train new agents for specific or general tasks, while constantly retraining existing agents in a recursive mode. The system is based on collecting information both from the environment and the behaviors of the acting agents and their related successes/failures to generate a body of data, stored in the Agent Use Repository, which is mined by the Data Miner module, in order to generate useful knowledge about the application domain. Knowledge extracted by the Data Miner is used by the Agent Training Module as to train new agents or to enhance the behavior of agents already running. In this paper the Agent Academy framework is introduced, and its overall architecture and functionality are presented. Training issues as well as agent ontologies are discussed. Finally, a scenario, which aims to provide environmental alerts to both individuals and public authorities, is described an AA-based use case.
cs/0407026
Summarizing Encyclopedic Term Descriptions on the Web
cs.CL
We are developing an automatic method to compile an encyclopedic corpus from the Web. In our previous work, paragraph-style descriptions for a term are extracted from Web pages and organized based on domains. However, these descriptions are independent and do not comprise a condensed text as in hand-crafted encyclopedias. To resolve this problem, we propose a summarization method, which produces a single text from multiple descriptions. The resultant summary concisely describes a term from different viewpoints. We also show the effectiveness of our method by means of experiments.
cs/0407027
Unsupervised Topic Adaptation for Lecture Speech Retrieval
cs.CL
We are developing a cross-media information retrieval system, in which users can view specific segments of lecture videos by submitting text queries. To produce a text index, the audio track is extracted from a lecture video and a transcription is generated by automatic speech recognition. In this paper, to improve the quality of our retrieval system, we extensively investigate the effects of adapting acoustic and language models on speech recognition. We perform an MLLR-based method to adapt an acoustic model. To obtain a corpus for language model adaptation, we use the textbook for a target lecture to search a Web collection for the pages associated with the lecture topic. We show the effectiveness of our method by means of experiments.
cs/0407028
Effects of Language Modeling on Speech-driven Question Answering
cs.CL
We integrate automatic speech recognition (ASR) and question answering (QA) to realize a speech-driven QA system, and evaluate its performance. We adapt an N-gram language model to natural language questions, so that the input of our system can be recognized with a high accuracy. We target WH-questions which consist of the topic part and fixed phrase used to ask about something. We first produce a general N-gram model intended to recognize the topic and emphasize the counts of the N-grams that correspond to the fixed phrases. Given a transcription by the ASR engine, the QA engine extracts the answer candidates from target documents. We propose a passage retrieval method robust against recognition errors in the transcription. We use the QA test collection produced in NTCIR, which is a TREC-style evaluation workshop, and show the effectiveness of our method by means of experiments.
cs/0407029
Static versus Dynamic Arbitrage Bounds on Multivariate Option Prices
cs.CE
We compare static arbitrage price bounds on basket calls, i.e. bounds that only involve buy-and-hold trading strategies, with the price range obtained within a multi-variate generalization of the Black-Scholes model. While there is no gap between these two sets of prices in the univariate case, we observe here that contrary to our intuition about model risk for at-the-money calls, there is a somewhat large gap between model prices and static arbitrage prices, hence a similarly large set of prices on which a multivariate Black-Scholes model cannot be calibrated but where no conclusion can be drawn on the presence or not of a static arbitrage opportunity.
cs/0407034
On the Complexity of Case-Based Planning
cs.AI cs.CC
We analyze the computational complexity of problems related to case-based planning: planning when a plan for a similar instance is known, and planning from a library of plans. We prove that planning from a single case has the same complexity than generative planning (i.e., planning "from scratch"); using an extended definition of cases, complexity is reduced if the domain stored in the case is similar to the one to search plans for. Planning from a library of cases is shown to have the same complexity. In both cases, the complexity of planning remains, in the worst case, PSPACE-complete.
cs/0407035
A Framework for High-Accuracy Privacy-Preserving Mining
cs.DB cs.IR
To preserve client privacy in the data mining process, a variety of techniques based on random perturbation of data records have been proposed recently. In this paper, we present a generalized matrix-theoretic model of random perturbation, which facilitates a systematic approach to the design of perturbation mechanisms for privacy-preserving mining. Specifically, we demonstrate that (a) the prior techniques differ only in their settings for the model parameters, and (b) through appropriate choice of parameter settings, we can derive new perturbation techniques that provide highly accurate mining results even under strict privacy guarantees. We also propose a novel perturbation mechanism wherein the model parameters are themselves characterized as random variables, and demonstrate that this feature provides significant improvements in privacy at a very marginal cost in accuracy. While our model is valid for random-perturbation-based privacy-preserving mining in general, we specifically evaluate its utility here with regard to frequent-itemset mining on a variety of real datasets. The experimental results indicate that our mechanisms incur substantially lower identity and support errors as compared to the prior techniques.
cs/0407037
Generalized Evolutionary Algorithm based on Tsallis Statistics
cs.AI
Generalized evolutionary algorithm based on Tsallis canonical distribution is proposed. The algorithm uses Tsallis generalized canonical distribution to weigh the configurations for `selection' instead of Gibbs-Boltzmann distribution. Our simulation results show that for an appropriate choice of non-extensive index that is offered by Tsallis statistics, evolutionary algorithms based on this generalization outperform algorithms based on Gibbs-Boltzmann distribution.
cs/0407039
On the Convergence Speed of MDL Predictions for Bernoulli Sequences
cs.LG cs.AI cs.IT math.IT math.PR
We consider the Minimum Description Length principle for online sequence prediction. If the underlying model class is discrete, then the total expected square loss is a particularly interesting performance measure: (a) this quantity is bounded, implying convergence with probability one, and (b) it additionally specifies a `rate of convergence'. Generally, for MDL only exponential loss bounds hold, as opposed to the linear bounds for a Bayes mixture. We show that this is even the case if the model class contains only Bernoulli distributions. We derive a new upper bound on the prediction error for countable Bernoulli classes. This implies a small bound (comparable to the one for Bayes mixtures) for certain important model classes. The results apply to many Machine Learning tasks including classification and hypothesis testing. We provide arguments that our theorems generalize to countable classes of i.i.d. models.
cs/0407040
Decomposition Based Search - A theoretical and experimental evaluation
cs.AI
In this paper we present and evaluate a search strategy called Decomposition Based Search (DBS) which is based on two steps: subproblem generation and subproblem solution. The generation of subproblems is done through value ranking and domain splitting. Subdomains are explored so as to generate, according to the heuristic chosen, promising subproblems first. We show that two well known search strategies, Limited Discrepancy Search (LDS) and Iterative Broadening (IB), can be seen as special cases of DBS. First we present a tuning of DBS that visits the same search nodes as IB, but avoids restarts. Then we compare both theoretically and computationally DBS and LDS using the same heuristic. We prove that DBS has a higher probability of being successful than LDS on a comparable number of nodes, under realistic assumptions. Experiments on a constraint satisfaction problem and an optimization problem show that DBS is indeed very effective if compared to LDS.
cs/0407042
Postponing Branching Decisions
cs.AI
Solution techniques for Constraint Satisfaction and Optimisation Problems often make use of backtrack search methods, exploiting variable and value ordering heuristics. In this paper, we propose and analyse a very simple method to apply in case the value ordering heuristic produces ties: postponing the branching decision. To this end, we group together values in a tie, branch on this sub-domain, and defer the decision among them to lower levels of the search tree. We show theoretically and experimentally that this simple modification can dramatically improve the efficiency of the search strategy. Although in practise similar methods may have been applied already, to our knowledge, no empirical or theoretical study has been proposed in the literature to identify when and to what extent this strategy should be used.
cs/0407044
Reduced cost-based ranking for generating promising subproblems
cs.AI
In this paper, we propose an effective search procedure that interleaves two steps: subproblem generation and subproblem solution. We mainly focus on the first part. It consists of a variable domain value ranking based on reduced costs. Exploiting the ranking, we generate, in a Limited Discrepancy Search tree, the most promising subproblems first. An interesting result is that reduced costs provide a very precise ranking that allows to almost always find the optimal solution in the first generated subproblem, even if its dimension is significantly smaller than that of the original problem. Concerning the proof of optimality, we exploit a way to increase the lower bound for subproblems at higher discrepancies. We show experimental results on the TSP and its time constrained variant to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach, but the technique could be generalized for other problems.
cs/0407046
A Bimachine Compiler for Ranked Tagging Rules
cs.CL
This paper describes a novel method of compiling ranked tagging rules into a deterministic finite-state device called a bimachine. The rules are formulated in the framework of regular rewrite operations and allow unrestricted regular expressions in both left and right rule contexts. The compiler is illustrated by an application within a speech synthesis system.
cs/0407047
Channel-Independent and Sensor-Independent Stimulus Representations
cs.CV cs.AI
This paper shows how a machine, which observes stimuli through an uncharacterized, uncalibrated channel and sensor, can glean machine-independent information (i.e., channel- and sensor-independent information) about the stimuli. First, we demonstrate that a machine defines a specific coordinate system on the stimulus state space, with the nature of that coordinate system depending on the device's channel and sensor. Thus, machines with different channels and sensors "see" the same stimulus trajectory through state space, but in different machine-specific coordinate systems. For a large variety of physical stimuli, statistical properties of that trajectory endow the stimulus configuration space with differential geometric structure (a metric and parallel transfer procedure), which can then be used to represent relative stimulus configurations in a coordinate-system-independent manner (and, therefore, in a channel- and sensor-independent manner). The resulting description is an "inner" property of the stimulus time series in the sense that it does not depend on extrinsic factors like the observer's choice of a coordinate system in which the stimulus is viewed (i.e., the observer's choice of channel and sensor). This methodology is illustrated with analytic examples and with a numerically simulated experiment. In an intelligent sensory device, this kind of representation "engine" could function as a "front-end" that passes channel/sensor-independent stimulus representations to a pattern recognition module. After a pattern recognizer has been trained in one of these devices, it could be used without change in other devices having different channels and sensors.
cs/0407049
Preferred Answer Sets for Ordered Logic Programs
cs.LO cs.AI
We extend answer set semantics to deal with inconsistent programs (containing classical negation), by finding a ``best'' answer set. Within the context of inconsistent programs, it is natural to have a partial order on rules, representing a preference for satisfying certain rules, possibly at the cost of violating less important ones. We show that such a rule order induces a natural order on extended answer sets, the minimal elements of which we call preferred answer sets. We characterize the expressiveness of the resulting semantics and show that it can simulate negation as failure, disjunction and some other formalisms such as logic programs with ordered disjunction. The approach is shown to be useful in several application areas, e.g. repairing database, where minimal repairs correspond to preferred answer sets. To appear in Theory and Practice of Logic Programming (TPLP).
cs/0407053
Design of a Parallel and Distributed Web Search Engine
cs.IR cs.DC
This paper describes the architecture of MOSE (My Own Search Engine), a scalable parallel and distributed engine for searching the web. MOSE was specifically designed to efficiently exploit affordable parallel architectures, such as clusters of workstations. Its modular and scalable architecture can easily be tuned to fulfill the bandwidth requirements of the application at hand. Both task-parallel and data-parallel approaches are exploited within MOSE in order to increase the throughput and efficiently use communication, storing and computational resources. We used a collection of html documents as a benchmark, and conducted preliminary experiments on a cluster of three SMP Linux PCs.
cs/0407054
From truth to computability I
cs.LO cs.AI cs.GT math.LO
The recently initiated approach called computability logic is a formal theory of interactive computation. See a comprehensive online source on the subject at http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~giorgi/cl.html . The present paper contains a soundness and completeness proof for the deductive system CL3 which axiomatizes the most basic first-order fragment of computability logic called the finite-depth, elementary-base fragment. Among the potential application areas for this result are the theory of interactive computation, constructive applied theories, knowledgebase systems, systems for resource-bound planning and action. This paper is self-contained as it reintroduces all relevant definitions as well as main motivations.
cs/0407057
Universal Convergence of Semimeasures on Individual Random Sequences
cs.LG cs.AI cs.CC cs.IT math.IT math.PR
Solomonoff's central result on induction is that the posterior of a universal semimeasure M converges rapidly and with probability 1 to the true sequence generating posterior mu, if the latter is computable. Hence, M is eligible as a universal sequence predictor in case of unknown mu. Despite some nearby results and proofs in the literature, the stronger result of convergence for all (Martin-Loef) random sequences remained open. Such a convergence result would be particularly interesting and natural, since randomness can be defined in terms of M itself. We show that there are universal semimeasures M which do not converge for all random sequences, i.e. we give a partial negative answer to the open problem. We also provide a positive answer for some non-universal semimeasures. We define the incomputable measure D as a mixture over all computable measures and the enumerable semimeasure W as a mixture over all enumerable nearly-measures. We show that W converges to D and D to mu on all random sequences. The Hellinger distance measuring closeness of two distributions plays a central role.
cs/0407060
Tight bounds for LDPC and LDGM codes under MAP decoding
cs.IT cond-mat.dis-nn math.IT
A new method for analyzing low density parity check (LDPC) codes and low density generator matrix (LDGM) codes under bit maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) decoding is introduced. The method is based on a rigorous approach to spin glasses developed by Francesco Guerra. It allows to construct lower bounds on the entropy of the transmitted message conditional to the received one. Based on heuristic statistical mechanics calculations, we conjecture such bounds to be tight. The result holds for standard irregular ensembles when used over binary input output symmetric channels. The method is first developed for Tanner graph ensembles with Poisson left degree distribution. It is then generalized to `multi-Poisson' graphs, and, by a completion procedure, to arbitrary degree distribution.
cs/0407061
A measure of similarity between graph vertices
cs.IR cond-mat.dis-nn cs.DM physics.data-an
We introduce a concept of similarity between vertices of directed graphs. Let G_A and G_B be two directed graphs. We define a similarity matrix whose (i, j)-th real entry expresses how similar vertex j (in G_A) is to vertex i (in G_B. The similarity matrix can be obtained as the limit of the normalized even iterates of a linear transformation. In the special case where G_A=G_B=G, the matrix is square and the (i, j)-th entry is the similarity score between the vertices i and j of G. We point out that Kleinberg's "hub and authority" method to identify web-pages relevant to a given query can be viewed as a special case of our definition in the case where one of the graphs has two vertices and a unique directed edge between them. In analogy to Kleinberg, we show that our similarity scores are given by the components of a dominant eigenvector of a non-negative matrix. Potential applications of our similarity concept are numerous. We illustrate an application for the automatic extraction of synonyms in a monolingual dictionary.
cs/0407064
A Sequent Calculus and a Theorem Prover for Standard Conditional Logics
cs.LO cs.AI
In this paper we present a cut-free sequent calculus, called SeqS, for some standard conditional logics, namely CK, CK+ID, CK+MP and CK+MP+ID. The calculus uses labels and transition formulas and can be used to prove decidability and space complexity bounds for the respective logics. We also present CondLean, a theorem prover for these logics implementing SeqS calculi written in SICStus Prolog.
cs/0407065
Word Sense Disambiguation by Web Mining for Word Co-occurrence Probabilities
cs.CL cs.IR cs.LG
This paper describes the National Research Council (NRC) Word Sense Disambiguation (WSD) system, as applied to the English Lexical Sample (ELS) task in Senseval-3. The NRC system approaches WSD as a classical supervised machine learning problem, using familiar tools such as the Weka machine learning software and Brill's rule-based part-of-speech tagger. Head words are represented as feature vectors with several hundred features. Approximately half of the features are syntactic and the other half are semantic. The main novelty in the system is the method for generating the semantic features, based on word \hbox{co-occurrence} probabilities. The probabilities are estimated using the Waterloo MultiText System with a corpus of about one terabyte of unlabeled text, collected by a web crawler.
cs/0408001
Semantic Linking - a Context-Based Approach to Interactivity in Hypermedia
cs.IR cs.LG
The semantic Web initiates new, high level access schemes to online content and applications. One area of superior need for a redefined content exploration is given by on-line educational applications and their concepts of interactivity in the framework of open hypermedia systems. In the present paper we discuss aspects and opportunities of gaining interactivity schemes from semantic notions of components. A transition from standard educational annotation to semantic statements of hyperlinks is discussed. Further on we introduce the concept of semantic link contexts as an approach to manage a coherent rhetoric of linking. A practical implementation is introduced, as well. Our semantic hyperlink implementation is based on the more general Multimedia Information Repository MIR, an open hypermedia system supporting the standards XML, Corba and JNDI.
cs/0408004
Hypermedia Learning Objects System - On the Way to a Semantic Educational Web
cs.IR cs.LG
While eLearning systems become more and more popular in daily education, available applications lack opportunities to structure, annotate and manage their contents in a high-level fashion. General efforts to improve these deficits are taken by initiatives to define rich meta data sets and a semanticWeb layer. In the present paper we introduce Hylos, an online learning system. Hylos is based on a cellular eLearning Object (ELO) information model encapsulating meta data conforming to the LOM standard. Content management is provisioned on this semantic meta data level and allows for variable, dynamically adaptable access structures. Context aware multifunctional links permit a systematic navigation depending on the learners and didactic needs, thereby exploring the capabilities of the semantic web. Hylos is built upon the more general Multimedia Information Repository (MIR) and the MIR adaptive context linking environment (MIRaCLE), its linking extension. MIR is an open system supporting the standards XML, Corba and JNDI. Hylos benefits from manageable information structures, sophisticated access logic and high-level authoring tools like the ELO editor responsible for the semi-manual creation of meta data and WYSIWYG like content editing.
cs/0408005
Educational Content Management - A Cellular Approach
cs.CY cs.IR
In recent times online educational applications more and more are requested to provide self-consistent learning offers for students at the university level. Consequently they need to cope with the wide range of complexity and interrelations university course teaching brings along. An urgent need to overcome simplistically linked HTMLc ontent pages becomes apparent. In the present paper we discuss a schematic concept of educational content construction from information cells and introduce its implementation on the storage and runtime layer. Starting from cells content is annotated according to didactic needs, structured for dynamic arrangement, dynamically decorated with hyperlinks and, as all works are based on XML, open to any presentation layer. Data can be variably accessed through URIs built on semantic path-names and edited via an adaptive authoring toolbox. Our content management approach is based on the more general Multimedia Information Repository MIR. and allows for personalisation, as well. MIR is an open system supporting the standards XML, Corba and JNDI.
cs/0408006
Why Two Sexes?
cs.NE cs.GL q-bio.PE
Evolutionary role of the separation into two sexes from a cyberneticist's point of view. [I translated this 1965 article from Russian "Nauka i Zhizn" (Science and Life) in 1988. In a popular form, the article puts forward several useful ideas not all of which even today are necessarily well known or widely accepted. Boris Lubachevsky, bdl@bell-labs.com ]
cs/0408007
Online convex optimization in the bandit setting: gradient descent without a gradient
cs.LG cs.CC
We consider a the general online convex optimization framework introduced by Zinkevich. In this setting, there is a sequence of convex functions. Each period, we must choose a signle point (from some feasible set) and pay a cost equal to the value of the next function on our chosen point. Zinkevich shows that, if the each function is revealed after the choice is made, then one can achieve vanishingly small regret relative the best single decision chosen in hindsight. We extend this to the bandit setting where we do not find out the entire functions but rather just their value at our chosen point. We show how to get vanishingly small regret in this setting. Our approach uses a simple approximation of the gradient that is computed from evaluating a function at a single (random) point. We show that this estimate is sufficient to mimic Zinkevich's gradient descent online analysis, with access to the gradient (only being able to evaluate the function at a single point).
cs/0408008
Iterative Quantization Using Codes On Graphs
cs.IT math.IT
We study codes on graphs combined with an iterative message passing algorithm for quantization. Specifically, we consider the binary erasure quantization (BEQ) problem which is the dual of the binary erasure channel (BEC) coding problem. We show that duals of capacity achieving codes for the BEC yield codes which approach the minimum possible rate for the BEQ. In contrast, low density parity check codes cannot achieve the minimum rate unless their density grows at least logarithmically with block length. Furthermore, we show that duals of efficient iterative decoding algorithms for the BEC yield efficient encoding algorithms for the BEQ. Hence our results suggest that graphical models may yield near optimal codes in source coding as well as in channel coding and that duality plays a key role in such constructions.
cs/0408010
A Simple Proportional Conflict Redistribution Rule
cs.AI
One proposes a first alternative rule of combination to WAO (Weighted Average Operator) proposed recently by Josang, Daniel and Vannoorenberghe, called Proportional Conflict Redistribution rule (denoted PCR1). PCR1 and WAO are particular cases of WO (the Weighted Operator) because the conflicting mass is redistributed with respect to some weighting factors. In this first PCR rule, the proportionalization is done for each non-empty set with respect to the non-zero sum of its corresponding mass matrix - instead of its mass column average as in WAO, but the results are the same as Ph. Smets has pointed out. Also, we extend WAO (which herein gives no solution) for the degenerate case when all column sums of all non-empty sets are zero, and then the conflicting mass is transferred to the non-empty disjunctive form of all non-empty sets together; but if this disjunctive form happens to be empty, then one considers an open world (i.e. the frame of discernment might contain new hypotheses) and thus all conflicting mass is transferred to the empty set. In addition to WAO, we propose a general formula for PCR1 (WAO for non-degenerate cases).
cs/0408011
The asymptotic number of binary codes and binary matroids
cs.IT cs.DM math.IT
The asyptotic number of nonequivalent binary n-codes is determined. This is also the asymptotic number of nonisomorphic binary n-matroids. The connection to a result of Lefmann, Roedl, Phelps is explored. The latter states that almost all binary n-codes have a trivial automorphism group.
cs/0408012
Three-Dimensional Face Orientation and Gaze Detection from a Single Image
cs.CV cs.HC
Gaze detection and head orientation are an important part of many advanced human-machine interaction applications. Many systems have been proposed for gaze detection. Typically, they require some form of user cooperation and calibration. Additionally, they may require multiple cameras and/or restricted head positions. We present a new approach for inference of both face orientation and gaze direction from a single image with no restrictions on the head position. Our algorithm is based on a face and eye model, deduced from anthropometric data. This approach allows us to use a single camera and requires no cooperation from the user. Using a single image avoids the complexities associated with of a multi-camera system. Evaluation tests show that our system is accurate, fast and can be used in a variety of applications, including ones where the user is unaware of the system.
cs/0408017
Improved Upper Bound for the Redundancy of Fix-Free Codes
cs.IT math.IT
A variable-length code is a fix-free code if no codeword is a prefix or a suffix of any other codeword. In a fix-free code any finite sequence of codewords can be decoded in both directions, which can improve the robustness to channel noise and speed up the decoding process. In this paper we prove a new sufficient condition of the existence of fix-free codes and improve the upper bound on the redundancy of optimal fix-free codes.
cs/0408021
An Algorithm for Quasi-Associative and Quasi-Markovian Rules of Combination in Information Fusion
cs.AI
In this paper one proposes a simple algorithm of combining the fusion rules, those rules which first use the conjunctive rule and then the transfer of conflicting mass to the non-empty sets, in such a way that they gain the property of associativity and fulfill the Markovian requirement for dynamic fusion. Also, a new rule, SDL-improved, is presented.
cs/0408023
On Global Warming (Softening Global Constraints)
cs.AI cs.PL
We describe soft versions of the global cardinality constraint and the regular constraint, with efficient filtering algorithms maintaining domain consistency. For both constraints, the softening is achieved by augmenting the underlying graph. The softened constraints can be used to extend the meta-constraint framework for over-constrained problems proposed by Petit, Regin and Bessiere.
cs/0408026
Incremental Construction of Minimal Acyclic Sequential Transducers from Unsorted Data
cs.CL cs.DS
This paper presents an efficient algorithm for the incremental construction of a minimal acyclic sequential transducer (ST) for a dictionary consisting of a list of input and output strings. The algorithm generalises a known method of constructing minimal finite-state automata (Daciuk et al. 2000). Unlike the algorithm published by Mihov and Maurel (2001), it does not require the input strings to be sorted. The new method is illustrated by an application to pronunciation dictionaries.
cs/0408027
CHR Grammars
cs.CL cs.PL
A grammar formalism based upon CHR is proposed analogously to the way Definite Clause Grammars are defined and implemented on top of Prolog. These grammars execute as robust bottom-up parsers with an inherent treatment of ambiguity and a high flexibility to model various linguistic phenomena. The formalism extends previous logic programming based grammars with a form of context-sensitive rules and the possibility to include extra-grammatical hypotheses in both head and body of grammar rules. Among the applications are straightforward implementations of Assumption Grammars and abduction under integrity constraints for language analysis. CHR grammars appear as a powerful tool for specification and implementation of language processors and may be proposed as a new standard for bottom-up grammars in logic programming. To appear in Theory and Practice of Logic Programming (TPLP), 2005
cs/0408030
The Revolution In Database System Architecture
cs.DB
Database system architectures are undergoing revolutionary changes. Algorithms and data are being unified by integrating programming languages with the database system. This gives an extensible object-relational system where non-procedural relational operators manipulate object sets. Coupled with this, each DBMS is now a web service. This has huge implications for how we structure applications. DBMSs are now object containers. Queues are the first objects to be added. These queues are the basis for transaction processing and workflow applica-tions. Future workflow systems are likely to be built on this core. Data cubes and online analytic processing are now baked into most DBMSs. Beyond that, DBMSs have a framework for data mining and machine learning algorithms. Decision trees, Bayes nets, clustering, and time series analysis are built in; new algorithms can be added. Text, temporal, and spatial data access methods, along with their probabilistic reasoning have been added to database systems. Allowing approximate and probabilistic answers is essential for many applications. Many believe that XML and xQuery will be the main data structure and access pattern. Database systems must accommodate that perspective.These changes mandate a much more dynamic query optimization strategy. Intelligence is moving to the periphery of the network. Each disk and each sensor will be a competent database machine. Relational algebra is a convenient way to program these systems. Database systems are now expected to be self-managing, self-healing, and always-up.