OpenRaiser/Intern-Atlas huggingface dataset:
Robust Transmission Network Expansion Planning in Energy Systems: Improving Computational Performance
Venue: arXiv cs.CE 2015
Year: 2015

In recent advances in solving the problem of transmission network expansion planning, the use of robust optimization techniques has been put forward, as an alternative to stochastic mathematical programming methods, to make the problem tractable in realistic systems. Different sources of uncertainty have been considered, mainly related to the capacity and availability of generation facilities and demand, and making use of adaptive robust optimization models. The mathematical formulations for these models give rise to three-level mixed-integer optimization problems, which are solved using different strategies. Although it is true that these robust methods are more efficient than their stochastic counterparts, it is also correct that solution times for mixed-integer linear programming problems increase exponentially with respect to the size of the problem. Because of this, practitioners and system operators need to use computationally efficient methods when solving this type of problem. In this paper the issue of improving computational performance by taking different features from existing algorithms is addressed. In particular, we replace the lower-level problem with a dual one, and solve the resulting bi-level problem using a primal cutting plane algorithm within a decomposition scheme. By using this alternative and simple approach, the computing time for solving transmission expansion planning problems has been reduced drastically. Numerical results in an illustrative example, the IEEE-24 and IEEE 118-bus test systems demonstrate that the algorithm is superior in terms of computational performance with respect to existing methods.
An Improved Feature Descriptor for Recognition of Handwritten Bangla Alphabet
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2015
Year: 2015

Appropriate feature set for representation of pattern classes is one of the most important aspects of handwritten character recognition. The effectiveness of features depends on the discriminating power of the features chosen to represent patterns of different classes. However, discriminatory features are not easily measurable. Investigative experimentation is necessary for identifying discriminatory features. In the present work we have identified a new variation of feature set which significantly outperforms on handwritten Bangla alphabet from the previously used feature set. 132 number of features in all viz. modified shadow features, octant and centroid features, distance based features, quad tree based longest run features are used here. Using this feature set the recognition performance increases sharply from the 75.05% observed in our previous work [7], to 85.40% on 50 character classes with MLP based classifier on the same dataset.
Unsupervised image segmentation by Global and local Criteria Optimization Based on Bayesian Networks
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2015
Year: 2015

Today Bayesian networks are more used in many areas of decision support and image processing. In this way, our proposed approach uses Bayesian Network to modelize the segmented image quality. This quality is calculated on a set of attributes that represent local evaluation measures. The idea is to have these local levels chosen in a way to be intersected into them to keep the overall appearance of segmentation. The approach operates in two phases: the first phase is to make an over-segmentation which gives superpixels card. In the second phase, we model the superpixels by a Bayesian Network. To find the segmented image with the best overall quality we used two approximate inference methods, the first using ICM algorithm which is widely used in Markov Models and a second is a recursive method called algorithm of model decomposition based on max-product algorithm which is very popular in the recent works of image segmentation. For our model, we have shown that the composition of these two algorithms leads to good segmentation performance.
A Modular Multiscale Approach to Overlapping Community Detection
Venue: arXiv cs.SI 2015
Year: 2015

In this work we address the problem of detecting overlapping communities in social networks. Because the word "community" is an ambiguous term, it is necessary to quantify what it means to be a community within the context of a particular type of problem. Our interpretation is that this quantification must be done at a minimum of three scales. These scales are at the level of: individual nodes, individual communities, and the network as a whole. Each of these scales involves quantitative features of community structure that are not accurately represented at the other scales, but are important for defining a particular notion of community. Our work focuses on providing sensible ways to quantify what is desired at each of these scales for a notion of community applicable to social networks, and using these models to develop a community detection algorithm. Appealing features of our approach is that it naturally allows for nodes to belong to multiple communities, and is computationally efficient for large networks with low overall edge density. The scaling of the algorithm is $O(N~\overline{k^2} + \overline{N_{com}^2})$, where $N$ is the number of nodes in the network, $\overline{N_{com}^2}$ is the average squared community size, and $\overline{k^2}$ is the expected value of a node's degree squared. Although our work focuses on developing a computationally efficient algorithm for overlapping community detection in the context of social networks, our primary contribution is developing a methodology that is highly modular and can easily be adapted to target specific notions of community.
Associative Arrays: Unified Mathematics for Spreadsheets, Databases, Matrices, and Graphs
Venue: arXiv cs.DB 2015
Year: 2015

Data processing systems impose multiple views on data as it is processed by the system. These views include spreadsheets, databases, matrices, and graphs. The common theme amongst these views is the need to store and operate on data as whole sets instead of as individual data elements. This work describes a common mathematical representation of these data sets (associative arrays) that applies across a wide range of applications and technologies. Associative arrays unify and simplify these different approaches for representing and manipulating data into common two-dimensional view of data. Specifically, associative arrays (1) reduce the effort required to pass data between steps in a data processing system, (2) allow steps to be interchanged with full confidence that the results will be unchanged, and (3) make it possible to recognize when steps can be simplified or eliminated. Most database system naturally support associative arrays via their tabular interfaces. The D4M implementation of associative arrays uses this feature to provide a common interface across SQL, NoSQL, and NewSQL databases.
Radio Frequency Propagation Model and Fading of Wireless Signal at 2.4 GHz in Underground Coal Mine
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2015
Year: 2015

Deployment of wireless sensor networks and wireless communication systems have become indispensable for better real-time data acquisition from ground monitoring devices, gas sensors, and equipment used in underground mines as well as in locating the miners, since conventional methods like use of wireline communication are rendered ineffective in the event of mine hazards such as roof-falls, fire hazard etc. Before implementation of any wireless system, the variable path loss indices for different work place should be determined; this helps in better signal reception and sensor-node localisation. This also improves the method by which miner carrying the wireless device is tracked. This paper proposes a novel method for parameter determination of a suitable radio propagation model with the help of results of a practical experiment carried out in an underground coal mine of Southern India. The path loss indices along with other essential parameters for accurate localisation have been determined using XBee module and ZigBee protocol at 2.4 GHz frequency.
An $O(n^ε)$ Space and Polynomial Time Algorithm for Reachability in Directed Layered Planar Graphs
Venue: arXiv cs.DS 2015
Year: 2015

Given a graph $G$ and two vertices $s$ and $t$ in it, {\em graph reachability} is the problem of checking whether there exists a path from $s$ to $t$ in $G$. We show that reachability in directed layered planar graphs can be decided in polynomial time and $O(n^ε)$ space, for any $ε> 0$. The previous best known space bound for this problem with polynomial time was approximately $O(\sqrt{n})$ space \cite{INPVW13}. Deciding graph reachability in {\SC} is an important open question in complexity theory and in this paper we make progress towards resolving this question.
Efficient local search limitation strategy for single machine total weighted tardiness scheduling with sequence-dependent setup times
Venue: arXiv cs.AI 2015
Year: 2015

This paper concerns the single machine total weighted tardiness scheduling with sequence-dependent setup times, usually referred as $1|s_{ij}|\sum w_jT_j$. In this $\mathcal{NP}$-hard problem, each job has an associated processing time, due date and a weight. For each pair of jobs $i$ and $j$, there may be a setup time before starting to process $j$ in case this job is scheduled immediately after $i$. The objective is to determine a schedule that minimizes the total weighted tardiness, where the tardiness of a job is equal to its completion time minus its due date, in case the job is completely processed only after its due date, and is equal to zero otherwise. Due to its complexity, this problem is most commonly solved by heuristics. The aim of this work is to develop a simple yet effective limitation strategy that speeds up the local search procedure without a significant loss in the solution quality. Such strategy consists of a filtering mechanism that prevents unpromising moves to be evaluated. The proposed strategy has been embedded in a local search based metaheuristic from the literature and tested in classical benchmark instances. Computational experiments revealed that the limitation strategy enabled the metaheuristic to be extremely competitive when compared to other algorithms from the literature, since it allowed the use of a large number of neighborhood structures without a significant increase in the CPU time and, consequently, high quality solutions could be achieved in a matter of seconds. In addition, we analyzed the effectiveness of the proposed strategy in two other well-known metaheuristics. Further experiments were also carried out on benchmark instances of problem $1|s_{ij}|\sum T_j$.
Linear independence of rank 1 matrices and the dimension of *-products of codes
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2015
Year: 2015

We show that with high probability, random rank 1 matrices over a finite field are in (linearly) general position, at least provided their shape k x l is not excessively unbalanced. This translates into saying that the dimension of the *-product of two [n, k] and [n, l] random codes is equal to min(n, kl), as one would have expected. Our work is inspired by a similar result of Cascudo-Cramer-Mirandola-Zemor dealing with *-squares of codes, which it complements, especially regarding applications to the analysis of McEliece-type cryptosystems. We also briefly mention the case of higher *-powers, which require to take the Frobenius into account. We then conclude with some open problems.
On Interference Alignment with Imperfect CSI: Characterizations of Outage Probability, Ergodic Rate and SER
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2015
Year: 2015

In this paper, we give a unified performance analysis of interference alignment (IA) over MIMO interference channels. Rather than the asymptotic characterization, i.e. degree of freedom (DOF) at high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), we focus on the other practical performance metrics, namely outage probability, ergodic rate and symbol error rate (SER). In particular, we consider imperfect IA due to the fact that the transmitters usually have only imperfect channel state information (CSI) in practical scenario. By characterizing the impact of imperfect CSI, we derive the exact closed-form expressions of outage probability, ergodic rate and SER in terms of CSI accuracy, transmit SNR, channel condition, number of antennas, and the number of data streams of each communication pair. Furthermore, we obtain some important guidelines for performance optimization of IA under imperfect CSI by minimizing the performance loss over IA with perfect CSI. Finally, our theoretical claims are validated by simulation results.
A tie-break model for graph search
Venue: arXiv cs.DS 2015
Year: 2015

In this paper, we consider the problem of the recognition of various kinds of orderings produced by graph searches. To this aim, we introduce a new framework, the Tie-Breaking Label Search (TBLS), in order to handle a broad variety of searches. This new model is based on partial orders defined on the label set and it unifies the General Label Search (GLS) formalism of Krueger, Simonet and Berry (2011), and the "pattern-conditions" formalism of Corneil and Krueger (2008). It allows us to derive some general properties including new pattern-conditions (yielding memory-efficient certificates) for many usual searches, including BFS, DFS, LBFS and LDFS. Furthermore, the new model allows easy expression of multi-sweep uses of searches that depend on previous (search) orderings of the graph's vertex set.
HARQ Buffer Management: An Information-Theoretic View
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2015
Year: 2015

A key practical constraint on the design of Hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) schemes is the size of the on-chip buffer that is available at the receiver to store previously received packets. In fact, in modern wireless standards such as LTE and LTE-A, the HARQ buffer size is one of the main drivers of the modem area and power consumption. This has recently highlighted the importance of HARQ buffer management, that is, of the use of buffer-aware transmission schemes and of advanced compression policies for the storage of received data. This work investigates HARQ buffer management by leveraging information-theoretic achievability arguments based on random coding. Specifically, standard HARQ schemes, namely Type-I, Chase Combining and Incremental Redundancy, are first studied under the assumption of a finite-capacity HARQ buffer by considering both coded modulation, via Gaussian signaling, and Bit Interleaved Coded Modulation (BICM). The analysis sheds light on the impact of different compression strategies, namely the conventional compression log-likelihood ratios and the direct digitization of baseband signals, on the throughput. Then, coding strategies based on layered modulation and optimized coding blocklength are investigated, highlighting the benefits of HARQ buffer-aware transmission schemes. The optimization of baseband compression for multiple-antenna links is also studied, demonstrating the optimality of a transform coding approach.
Exploring Human Vision Driven Features for Pedestrian Detection
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2015
Year: 2015

Motivated by the center-surround mechanism in the human visual attention system, we propose to use average contrast maps for the challenge of pedestrian detection in street scenes due to the observation that pedestrians indeed exhibit discriminative contrast texture. Our main contributions are first to design a local, statistical multi-channel descriptorin order to incorporate both color and gradient information. Second, we introduce a multi-direction and multi-scale contrast scheme based on grid-cells in order to integrate expressive local variations. Contributing to the issue of selecting most discriminative features for assessing and classification, we perform extensive comparisons w.r.t. statistical descriptors, contrast measurements, and scale structures. This way, we obtain reasonable results under various configurations. Empirical findings from applying our optimized detector on the INRIA and Caltech pedestrian datasets show that our features yield state-of-the-art performance in pedestrian detection.
Proactive Push with Energy Harvesting Based Small Cells in Heterogeneous Networks
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2015
Year: 2015

Motivated by the recent development of energy harvesting communications, and the trend of multimedia contents caching and push at the access edge and user terminals, this paper considers how to design an effective push mechanism of energy harvesting powered small-cell base stations (SBSs) in heterogeneous networks. The problem is formulated as a Markov decision process by optimizing the push policy based on the battery energy, user request and content popularity state to maximize the service capability of SBSs. We extensively analyze the problem and propose an effective policy iteration algorithm to find the optimal policy. According to the numerical results, we find that the optimal policy reveals a state dependent threshold based structure. Besides, more than 50% performance gain is achieved by the optimal push policy compared with the non-push policy.
On Longest Repeat Queries
Venue: arXiv cs.DS 2015
Year: 2015

Repeat finding in strings has important applications in subfields such as computational biology. Surprisingly, all prior work on repeat finding did not consider the constraint on the locality of repeats. In this paper, we propose and study the problem of finding longest repetitive substrings covering particular string positions. We propose an $O(n)$ time and space algorithm for finding the longest repeat covering every position of a string of size $n$. Our work is optimal since the reading and the storage of an input string of size $n$ takes $O(n)$ time and space. Because any substring of a repeat is also a repeat, our solution to longest repeat queries effectively provides a "stabbing" tool for practitioners for finding most of the repeats that cover particular string positions.
Fast Inverse Nonlinear Fourier Transform For Generating Multi-Solitons In Optical Fiber
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2015
Year: 2015

The achievable data rates of current fiber-optic wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) systems are limited by nonlinear interactions between different subchannels. Recently, it was thus proposed to replace the conventional Fourier transform in WDM systems with an appropriately defined nonlinear Fourier transform (NFT). The computational complexity of NFTs is a topic of current research. In this paper, a fast inverse NFT algorithm for the important special case of multi-solitonic signals is presented. The algorithm requires only $\mathcal{O}(D\log^{2}D)$ floating point operations to compute $D$ samples of a multi-soliton. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first algorithm for this problem with $\log^{2}$-linear complexity. The paper also includes a many samples analysis of the generated nonlinear Fourier spectra.
Constructing LZ78 Tries and Position Heaps in Linear Time for Large Alphabets
Venue: arXiv cs.DS 2015
Year: 2015

We present the first worst-case linear-time algorithm to compute the Lempel-Ziv 78 factorization of a given string over an integer alphabet. Our algorithm is based on nearest marked ancestor queries on the suffix tree of the given string. We also show that the same technique can be used to construct the position heap of a set of strings in worst-case linear time, when the set of strings is given as a trie.
Accelerating Polynomial Homotopy Continuation on a Graphics Processing Unit with Double Double and Quad Double Arithmetic
Venue: arXiv cs.MS 2015
Year: 2015

Numerical continuation methods track a solution path defined by a homotopy. The systems we consider are defined by polynomials in several variables with complex coefficients. For larger dimensions and degrees, the numerical conditioning worsens and hardware double precision becomes often insufficient to reach the end of the solution path. With double double and quad double arithmetic, we can solve larger problems that we could not solve with hardware double arithmetic, but at a higher computational cost. This cost overhead can be compensated by acceleration on a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). We describe our implementation and report on computational results on benchmark polynomial systems.
On Longest Repeat Queries Using GPU
Venue: arXiv cs.DC 2015
Year: 2015

Repeat finding in strings has important applications in subfields such as computational biology. The challenge of finding the longest repeats covering particular string positions was recently proposed and solved by İleri et al., using a total of the optimal $O(n)$ time and space, where $n$ is the string size. However, their solution can only find the \emph{leftmost} longest repeat for each of the $n$ string position. It is also not known how to parallelize their solution. In this paper, we propose a new solution for longest repeat finding, which although is theoretically suboptimal in time but is conceptually simpler and works faster and uses less memory space in practice than the optimal solution. Further, our solution can find \emph{all} longest repeats of every string position, while still maintaining a faster processing speed and less memory space usage. Moreover, our solution is \emph{parallelizable} in the shared memory architecture (SMA), enabling it to take advantage of the modern multi-processor computing platforms such as the general-purpose graphics processing units (GPU). We have implemented both the sequential and parallel versions of our solution. Experiments with both biological and non-biological data show that our sequential and parallel solutions are faster than the optimal solution by a factor of 2--3.5 and 6--14, respectively, and use less memory space.
Inclusion within Continuous Belief Functions
Venue: arXiv cs.AI 2015
Year: 2015

Defining and modeling the relation of inclusion between continuous belief function may be considered as an important operation in order to study their behaviors. Within this paper we will propose and present two forms of inclusion: The strict and the partial one. In order to develop this relation, we will study the case of consonant belief function. To do so, we will simulate normal distributions allowing us to model and analyze these relations. Based on that, we will determine the parameters influencing and characterizing the two forms of inclusion.
Massively-concurrent Agent-based Evolutionary Computing
Venue: arXiv cs.MA 2015
Year: 2015

The fusion of the multi-agent paradigm with evolutionary computation yielded promising results in many optimization problems. Evolutionary multi-agent system (EMAS) are more similar to biological evolution than classical evolutionary algorithms. However, technological limitations prevented the use of fully asynchronous agents in previous EMAS implementations. In this paper we present a new algorithm for agent-based evolutionary computations. The individuals are represented as fully autonomous and asynchronous agents. An efficient implementation of this algorithm was possible through the use of modern technologies based on functional languages (namely Erlang and Scala), which natively support lightweight processes and asynchronous communication. Our experiments show that such an asynchronous approach is both faster and more efficient in solving common optimization problems.
Factorization of Rational Motions: A Survey with Examples and Applications
Venue: arXiv cs.RO 2015
Year: 2015

Since its introduction in 2012, the factorization theory for rational motions quickly evolved and found applications in theoretical and applied mechanism science. We provide an accessible introduction to motion factorization with many examples, summarize recent developments and hint at some new applications. In particular, we provide pseudo-code for the generic factorization algorithm, demonstrate how to find a replacement linkage for a special case in the synthesis of Bennett mechanisms and, as an example of non-generic factorization, synthesize open chains for circular and elliptic translations.