OpenRaiser/Intern-Atlas huggingface dataset:
Grassmannian Fusion Frames
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2013
Year: 2013

Transmitted data may be corrupted by both noise and data loss. Grassmannian frames are in some sense optimal representations of data transmitted over a noisy channel that may lose some of the transmitted coefficients. Fusion frame (or frame of subspaces) theory is a new area that has potential to be applied to problems in such fields as distributed sensing and parallel processing. Grassmannian fusion frames combine elements from both theories. A simple, novel construction of Grassmannian fusion frames with an extension to Grassmannian fusion frames with local frames shall be presented. Some connections to sparse representations shall also be discussed.
Introduction to clarithmetic II
Venue: arXiv cs.LO 2013
Year: 2013

The earlier paper "Introduction to clarithmetic I" constructed an axiomatic system of arithmetic based on computability logic (see http://www.cis.upenn.edu/~giorgi/cl.html), and proved its soundness and extensional completeness with respect to polynomial time computability. The present paper elaborates three additional sound and complete systems in the same style and sense: one for polynomial space computability, one for elementary recursive time (and/or space) computability, and one for primitive recursive time (and/or space) computability.
A Network Coding Approach to Loss Tomography
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2013
Year: 2013

Network tomography aims at inferring internal network characteristics based on measurements at the edge of the network. In loss tomography, in particular, the characteristic of interest is the loss rate of individual links and multicast and/or unicast end-to-end probes are typically used. Independently, recent advances in network coding have shown that there are advantages from allowing intermediate nodes to process and combine, in addition to just forward, packets. In this paper, we study the problem of loss tomography in networks with network coding capabilities. We design a framework for estimating link loss rates, which leverages network coding capabilities, and we show that it improves several aspects of tomography including the identifiability of links, the trade-off between estimation accuracy and bandwidth efficiency, and the complexity of probe path selection. We discuss the cases of inferring link loss rates in a tree topology and in a general topology. In the latter case, the benefits of our approach are even more pronounced compared to standard techniques, but we also face novel challenges, such as dealing with cycles and multiple paths between sources and receivers. Overall, this work makes the connection between active network tomography and network coding.
On the Insertion Time of Cuckoo Hashing
Venue: arXiv cs.DS 2013
Year: 2013

Cuckoo hashing is an efficient technique for creating large hash tables with high space utilization and guaranteed constant access times. There, each item can be placed in a location given by any one out of k different hash functions. In this paper we investigate further the random walk heuristic for inserting in an online fashion new items into the hash table. Provided that k > 2 and that the number of items in the table is below (but arbitrarily close) to the theoretically achievable load threshold, we show a polylogarithmic bound for the maximum insertion time that holds with high probability.
On independent sets in random graphs
Venue: arXiv cs.DM 2013
Year: 2013

The independence number of a sparse random graph G(n,m) of average degree d=2m/n is well-known to be α(G(n,m))~2n ln(d)/d with high probability. Moreover, a trivial greedy algorithm w.h.p. finds an independent set of size (1+o(1)) n ln(d)/d, i.e. half the maximum size. Yet in spite of 30 years of extensive research no efficient algorithm has emerged to produce an independent set with (1+c)n ln(d)/d, for any fixed c>0. In this paper we prove that the combinatorial structure of the independent set problem in random graphs undergoes a phase transition as the size k of the independent sets passes the point k nln(d)/d. Roughly speaking, we prove that independent sets of size k>(1+c)n ln(d)/d form an intricately ragged landscape, in which local search algorithms are bound to get stuck. We illustrate this phenomenon by providing an exponential lower bound for the Metropolis process, a Markov chain for sampling independents sets.
Active Topology Inference using Network Coding
Venue: arXiv cs.NI 2013
Year: 2013

Our goal is to infer the topology of a network when (i) we can send probes between sources and receivers at the edge of the network and (ii) intermediate nodes can perform simple network coding operations, i.e., additions. Our key intuition is that network coding introduces topology-dependent correlation in the observations at the receivers, which can be exploited to infer the topology. For undirected tree topologies, we design hierarchical clustering algorithms, building on our prior work. For directed acyclic graphs (DAGs), first we decompose the topology into a number of two-source, two-receiver (2-by-2) subnetwork components and then we merge these components to reconstruct the topology. Our approach for DAGs builds on prior work on tomography, and improves upon it by employing network coding to accurately distinguish among all different 2-by-2 components. We evaluate our algorithms through simulation of a number of realistic topologies and compare them to active tomographic techniques without network coding. We also make connections between our approach and alternatives, including passive inference, traceroute, and packet marking.
Soft-Decoding-Based Strategies for Relay and Interference Channels: Analysis and Achievable Rates Using LDPC Codes
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2013
Year: 2013

We provide a rigorous mathematical analysis of two communication strategies: soft decode-and-forward (soft-DF) for relay channels, and soft partial interference-cancelation (soft-IC) for interference channels. Both strategies involve soft estimation, which assists the decoding process. We consider LDPC codes, not because of their practical benefits, but because of their analytic tractability, which enables an asymptotic analysis similar to random coding methods of information theory. Unlike some works on the closely-related demodulate-and-forward, we assume non-memoryless, code-structure-aware estimation. With soft-DF, we develop {\it simultaneous density evolution} to bound the decoding error probability at the destination. This result applies to erasure relay channels. In one variant of soft-DF, the relay applies Wyner-Ziv coding to enhance its communication with the destination, borrowing from compress-and-forward. To analyze soft-IC, we adapt existing techniques for iterative multiuser detection, and focus on binary-input additive white Gaussian noise (BIAWGN) interference channels. We prove that optimal point-to-point codes are unsuitable for soft-IC, as well as for all strategies that apply partial decoding to improve upon single-user detection (SUD) and multiuser detection (MUD), including Han-Kobayashi (HK).
Message Error Analysis of Loopy Belief Propagation for the Sum-Product Algorithm
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2013
Year: 2013

Belief propagation is known to perform extremely well in many practical statistical inference and learning problems using graphical models, even in the presence of multiple loops. The iterative use of belief propagation algorithm on loopy graphs is referred to as Loopy Belief Propagation (LBP). Various sufficient conditions for convergence of LBP have been presented; however, general necessary conditions for its convergence to a unique fixed point remain unknown. Because the approximation of beliefs to true marginal probabilities has been shown to relate to the convergence of LBP, several methods have been explored whose aim is to obtain distance bounds on beliefs when LBP fails to converge. In this paper, we derive uniform and non-uniform error bounds on messages, which are tighter than existing ones in literature, and use these bounds to derive sufficient conditions for the convergence of LBP in terms of the sum-product algorithm. We subsequently use these bounds to study the dynamic behavior of the sum-product algorithm, and analyze the relation between convergence of LBP and sparsity and walk-summability of graphical models. We finally use the bounds derived to investigate the accuracy of LBP, as well as the scheduling priority in asynchronous LBP.
On Polynomial Multiplication in Chebyshev Basis
Venue: arXiv cs.CC 2013
Year: 2013

In a recent paper Lima, Panario and Wang have provided a new method to multiply polynomials in Chebyshev basis which aims at reducing the total number of multiplication when polynomials have small degree. Their idea is to use Karatsuba's multiplication scheme to improve upon the naive method but without being able to get rid of its quadratic complexity. In this paper, we extend their result by providing a reduction scheme which allows to multiply polynomial in Chebyshev basis by using algorithms from the monomial basis case and therefore get the same asymptotic complexity estimate. Our reduction allows to use any of these algorithms without converting polynomials input to monomial basis which therefore provide a more direct reduction scheme then the one using conversions. We also demonstrate that our reduction is efficient in practice, and even outperform the performance of the best known algorithm for Chebyshev basis when polynomials have large degree. Finally, we demonstrate a linear time equivalence between the polynomial multiplication problem under monomial basis and under Chebyshev basis.
Finite symmetric functions with non-trivial arity gap
Venue: arXiv cs.DM 2013
Year: 2013

Given an $n$-ary $k-$valued function $f$, $gap(f)$ denotes the essential arity gap of $f$ which is the minimal number of essential variables in $f$ which become fictive when identifying any two distinct essential variables in $f$. In the present paper we study the properties of the symmetric function with non-trivial arity gap ($2\leq gap(f)$). We prove several results concerning decomposition of the symmetric functions with non-trivial arity gap with its minors or subfunctions. We show that all non-empty sets of essential variables in symmetric functions with non-trivial arity gap are separable.
Classification with Scattering Operators
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2013
Year: 2013

A scattering vector is a local descriptor including multiscale and multi-direction co-occurrence information. It is computed with a cascade of wavelet decompositions and complex modulus. This scattering representation is locally translation invariant and linearizes deformations. A supervised classification algorithm is computed with a PCA model selection on scattering vectors. State of the art results are obtained for handwritten digit recognition and texture classification.
Accessible Capacity of Secondary Users
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2013
Year: 2013

A new problem formulation is presented for the Gaussian interference channels (GIFC) with two pairs of users, which are distinguished as primary users and secondary users, respectively. The primary users employ a pair of encoder and decoder that were originally designed to satisfy a given error performance requirement under the assumption that no interference exists from other users. In the scenario when the secondary users attempt to access the same medium, we are interested in the maximum transmission rate (defined as {\em accessible capacity}) at which secondary users can communicate reliably without affecting the error performance requirement by the primary users under the constraint that the primary encoder (not the decoder) is kept unchanged. By modeling the primary encoder as a generalized trellis code (GTC), we are then able to treat the secondary link and the cross link from the secondary transmitter to the primary receiver as finite state channels (FSCs). Based on this, upper and lower bounds on the accessible capacity are derived. The impact of the error performance requirement by the primary users on the accessible capacity is analyzed by using the concept of interference margin. In the case of non-trivial interference margin, the secondary message is split into common and private parts and then encoded by superposition coding, which delivers a lower bound on the accessible capacity. For some special cases, these bounds can be computed numerically by using the BCJR algorithm. Numerical results are also provided to gain insight into the impacts of the GTC and the error performance requirement on the accessible capacity.
The complexity of Free-Flood-It on 2xn boards
Venue: arXiv cs.DS 2013
Year: 2013

We consider the complexity of problems related to the combinatorial game Free-Flood-It, in which players aim to make a coloured graph monochromatic with the minimum possible number of flooding operations. Our main result is that computing the length of an optimal sequence is fixed parameter tractable (with the number of colours present as a parameter) when restricted to rectangular 2xn boards. We also show that, when the number of colours is unbounded, the problem remains NP-hard on such boards. This resolves a question of Clifford, Jalsenius, Montanaro and Sach (2010).
On network coding for acyclic networks with delays
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2013
Year: 2013

Problems related to network coding for acyclic, instantaneous networks (where the edges of the acyclic graph representing the network are assumed to have zero-delay) have been extensively dealt with in the recent past. The most prominent of these problems include (a) the existence of network codes that achieve maximum rate of transmission, (b) efficient network code constructions, and (c) field size issues. In practice, however, networks have transmission delays. In network coding theory, such networks with transmission delays are generally abstracted by assuming that their edges have integer delays. Note that using enough memory at the nodes of an acyclic network with integer delays can effectively simulate instantaneous behavior, which is probably why only acyclic instantaneous networks have been primarily focused on thus far. In this work, we elaborate on issues ((a), (b) and (c) above) related to network coding for acyclic networks with integer delays, which have till now mostly been overlooked. We show that the delays associated with the edges of the network cannot be ignored, and in fact turn out to be advantageous, disadvantageous or immaterial, depending on the topology of the network and the problem considered i.e., (a), (b) or (c). In the process, we also show that for a single source multicast problem in acyclic networks (instantaneous and with delays), the network coding operations at each node can simply be limited to storing old symbols and coding them over a binary field. Therefore, operations over elements of larger fields are unnecessary in the network, the trade-off being that enough memory exists at the nodes and at the sinks, and that the sinks have more processing power.
Convergence of type-symmetric and cut-balanced consensus seeking systems (extended version)
Venue: arXiv cs.SY 2013
Year: 2013

We consider continuous-time consensus seeking systems whose time-dependent interactions are cut-balanced, in the following sense: if a group of agents influences the remaining ones, the former group is also influenced by the remaining ones by at least a proportional amount. Models involving symmetric interconnections and models in which a weighted average of the agent values is conserved are special cases. We prove that such systems always converge. We give a sufficient condition on the evolving interaction topology for the limit values of two agents to be the same. Conversely, we show that if our condition is not satisfied, then these limits are generically different. These results allow treating systems where the agent interactions are a priori unknown, e.g., random or determined endogenously by the agent values. We also derive corresponding results for discrete-time systems.
Optimal prefix codes for pairs of geometrically-distributed random variables
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2013
Year: 2013

Optimal prefix codes are studied for pairs of independent, integer-valued symbols emitted by a source with a geometric probability distribution of parameter $q$, $0{<}q{<}1$. By encoding pairs of symbols, it is possible to reduce the redundancy penalty of symbol-by-symbol encoding, while preserving the simplicity of the encoding and decoding procedures typical of Golomb codes and their variants. It is shown that optimal codes for these so-called two-dimensional geometric distributions are \emph{singular}, in the sense that a prefix code that is optimal for one value of the parameter $q$ cannot be optimal for any other value of $q$. This is in sharp contrast to the one-dimensional case, where codes are optimal for positive-length intervals of the parameter $q$. Thus, in the two-dimensional case, it is infeasible to give a compact characterization of optimal codes for all values of the parameter $q$, as was done in the one-dimensional case. Instead, optimal codes are characterized for a discrete sequence of values of $q$ that provide good coverage of the unit interval. Specifically, optimal prefix codes are described for $q=2^{-1/k}$ ($k\ge 1$), covering the range $q\ge 1/2$, and $q=2^{-k}$ ($k>1$), covering the range $q<1/2$. The described codes produce the expected reduction in redundancy with respect to the one-dimensional case, while maintaining low complexity coding operations.
Measurement Bounds for Sparse Signal Ensembles via Graphical Models
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2013
Year: 2013

In compressive sensing, a small collection of linear projections of a sparse signal contains enough information to permit signal recovery. Distributed compressive sensing (DCS) extends this framework by defining ensemble sparsity models, allowing a correlated ensemble of sparse signals to be jointly recovered from a collection of separately acquired compressive measurements. In this paper, we introduce a framework for modeling sparse signal ensembles that quantifies the intra- and inter-signal dependencies within and among the signals. This framework is based on a novel bipartite graph representation that links the sparse signal coefficients with the measurements obtained for each signal. Using our framework, we provide fundamental bounds on the number of noiseless measurements that each sensor must collect to ensure that the signals are jointly recoverable.
Finite-Memory Prediction as Well as the Empirical Mean
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2013
Year: 2013

The problem of universally predicting an individual continuous sequence using a deterministic finite-state machine (FSM) is considered. The empirical mean is used as a reference as it is the constant that fits a given sequence within a minimal square error. With this reference, a reasonable prediction performance is the regret, namely the excess square-error over the reference loss, the empirical variance. The paper analyzes the tradeoff between the number of states of the universal FSM and the attainable regret. It first studies the case of a small number of states. A class of machines, denoted Degenerated Tracking Memory (DTM), is defined and the optimal machine in this class is shown to be the optimal among all machines for small enough number of states. Unfortunately, DTM machines become suboptimal as the number of available states increases. Next, the Exponential Decaying Memory (EDM) machine, previously used for predicting binary sequences, is considered. While this machine has poorer performance for small number of states, it achieves a vanishing regret for large number of states. Following that, an asymptotic lower bound of O(k^{-2/3}) on the achievable regret of any k-state machine is derived. This bound is attained asymptotically by the EDM machine. Furthermore, a new machine, denoted the Enhanced Exponential Decaying Memory machine, is shown to outperform the EDM machine for any number of states.
Fitting Square Pegs Through Round Pipes: Unordered Delivery Wire-Compatible with TCP and TLS
Venue: arXiv cs.NI 2013
Year: 2013

Internet applications increasingly employ TCP not as a stream abstraction, but as a substrate for application-level transports, a use that converts TCP's in-order semantics from a convenience blessing to a performance curse. As Internet evolution makes TCP's use as a substrate likely to grow, we offer Minion, an architecture for backward-compatible out-of-order delivery atop TCP and TLS. Small OS API extensions allow applications to manage TCP's send buffer and to receive TCP segments out-of-order. Atop these extensions, Minion builds application-level protocols offering true unordered datagram delivery, within streams preserving strict wire-compatibility with unsecured or TLS-secured TCP connections. Minion's protocols can run on unmodified TCP stacks, but benefit incrementally when either endpoint is upgraded, for a backward-compatible deployment path. Experiments suggest that Minion can noticeably improve performance of applications such as conferencing, virtual private networking, and web browsing, while incurring minimal CPU or bandwidth costs.
An improved approximation algorithm for the minimum-cost subset k-connected subgraph problem
Venue: arXiv cs.DS 2013
Year: 2013

The minimum-cost subset $k$-connected subgraph problem is a cornerstone problem in the area of network design with vertex connectivity requirements. In this problem, we are given a graph $G=(V,E)$ with costs on edges and a set of terminals $T$. The goal is to find a minimum cost subgraph such that every pair of terminals are connected by $k$ openly (vertex) disjoint paths. In this paper, we present an approximation algorithm for the subset $k$-connected subgraph problem which improves on the previous best approximation guarantee of $O(k^2\log{k})$ by Nutov (FOCS 2009). Our approximation guarantee, $α(|T|)$, depends upon the number of terminals: [α(|T|) \ \ =\ \ O(|T|^2) & if |T| < 2k O(k \log^2 k) & if 2k\le |T| < k^2 O(k \log k) & if |T| \ge k^2] So, when the number of terminals is {\em large enough}, the approximation guarantee improves significantly. Moreover, we show that, given an approximation algorithm for $|T|=k$, we can obtain almost the same approximation guarantee for any instances with $|T|> k$. This suggests that the hardest instances of the problem are when $|T|\approx k$.
Data Reduction for Graph Coloring Problems
Venue: arXiv cs.DS 2013
Year: 2013

This paper studies the kernelization complexity of graph coloring problems with respect to certain structural parameterizations of the input instances. We are interested in how well polynomial-time data reduction can provably shrink instances of coloring problems, in terms of the chosen parameter. It is well known that deciding 3-colorability is already NP-complete, hence parameterizing by the requested number of colors is not fruitful. Instead, we pick up on a research thread initiated by Cai (DAM, 2003) who studied coloring problems parameterized by the modification distance of the input graph to a graph class on which coloring is polynomial-time solvable; for example parameterizing by the number k of vertex-deletions needed to make the graph chordal. We obtain various upper and lower bounds for kernels of such parameterizations of q-Coloring, complementing Cai's study of the time complexity with respect to these parameters. Our results show that the existence of polynomial kernels for q-Coloring parameterized by the vertex-deletion distance to a graph class F is strongly related to the existence of a function f(q) which bounds the number of vertices which are needed to preserve the NO-answer to an instance of q-List-Coloring on F.