OpenRaiser/Intern-Atlas huggingface dataset:
Mix and Match: Markov Chains & Mixing Times for Matching in Rideshare
Venue: arXiv cs.DS 2019
Year: 2019

Rideshare platforms such as Uber and Lyft dynamically dispatch drivers to match riders' requests. We model the dispatching process in rideshare as a Markov chain that takes into account the geographic mobility of both drivers and riders over time. Prior work explores dispatch policies in the limit of such Markov chains; we characterize when this limit assumption is valid, under a variety of natural dispatch policies. We give explicit bounds on convergence in general, and exact (including constants) convergence rates for special cases. Then, on simulated and real transit data, we show that our bounds characterize convergence rates -- even when the necessary theoretical assumptions are relaxed. Additionally these policies compare well against a standard reinforcement learning algorithm which optimizes for profit without any convergence properties.
Morphing and Sampling Network for Dense Point Cloud Completion
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2019
Year: 2019

3D point cloud completion, the task of inferring the complete geometric shape from a partial point cloud, has been attracting attention in the community. For acquiring high-fidelity dense point clouds and avoiding uneven distribution, blurred details, or structural loss of existing methods' results, we propose a novel approach to complete the partial point cloud in two stages. Specifically, in the first stage, the approach predicts a complete but coarse-grained point cloud with a collection of parametric surface elements. Then, in the second stage, it merges the coarse-grained prediction with the input point cloud by a novel sampling algorithm. Our method utilizes a joint loss function to guide the distribution of the points. Extensive experiments verify the effectiveness of our method and demonstrate that it outperforms the existing methods in both the Earth Mover's Distance (EMD) and the Chamfer Distance (CD).
Active Search for Nearest Neighbors
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2019
Year: 2019

In pattern recognition or machine learning, it is a very fundamental task to find nearest neighbors of a given point. All the methods for the task work basically by comparing the given point to all the points in the data set. That is why the computational cost increases with the number of data points. However, the human visual system seems to work in a different way. When the human visual system tries to find the neighbors of one point on a map, it directly focuses on the area around the point and actively searches the neighbors by looking or zooming in and out around the point. In this paper, we propose an innovative search method for nearest neighbors, which seems very similar to how human visual system works on the task.
JNET: Learning User Representations via Joint Network Embedding and Topic Embedding
Venue: arXiv cs.SI 2019
Year: 2019

User representation learning is vital to capture diverse user preferences, while it is also challenging as user intents are latent and scattered among complex and different modalities of user-generated data, thus, not directly measurable. Inspired by the concept of user schema in social psychology, we take a new perspective to perform user representation learning by constructing a shared latent space to capture the dependency among different modalities of user-generated data. Both users and topics are embedded to the same space to encode users' social connections and text content, to facilitate joint modeling of different modalities, via a probabilistic generative framework. We evaluated the proposed solution on large collections of Yelp reviews and StackOverflow discussion posts, with their associated network structures. The proposed model outperformed several state-of-the-art topic modeling based user models with better predictive power in unseen documents, and state-of-the-art network embedding based user models with improved link prediction quality in unseen nodes. The learnt user representations are also proved to be useful in content recommendation, e.g., expert finding in StackOverflow.
Secure Regularized Zero Forcing for Multiuser MIMOME Channels
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2019
Year: 2019

This paper proposes a new linear precoding scheme for downlink transmission in MIMOME channels, referred to as secure regularized zero forcing. The scheme modifies regularized zero forcing precoding, such that the beamformers further suppress the information leakage towards the eavesdroppers. The proposed scheme is characterized in the large-system limit, and a closed-form expression for the achievable ergodic secrecy rate per user is derived. Numerical investigations demonstrate high robustness against the quality of eavesdroppers' channel.
Interpreting Context of Images using Scene Graphs
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2019
Year: 2019

Understanding a visual scene incorporates objects, relationships, and context. Traditional methods working on an image mostly focus on object detection and fail to capture the relationship between the objects. Relationships can give rich semantic information about the objects in a scene. The context can be conducive to comprehending an image since it will help us to perceive the relation between the objects and thus, give us a deeper insight into the image. Through this idea, our project delivers a model that focuses on finding the context present in an image by representing the image as a graph, where the nodes will the objects and edges will be the relation between them. The context is found using the visual and semantic cues which are further concatenated and given to the Support Vector Machines (SVM) to detect the relation between two objects. This presents us with the context of the image which can be further used in applications such as similar image retrieval, image captioning, or story generation.
Location Forensics of Media Recordings Utilizing Cascaded SVM and Pole-matching Classifiers
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2019
Year: 2019

Information regarding the location of power distribution grid can be extracted from the power signature embedded in the multimedia signals (e.g., audio, video data) recorded near electrical activities. This implicit mechanism of identifying the origin-of-recording can be a very promising tool for multimedia forensics and security applications. In this work, we have developed a novel grid-of-origin identification system from media recording that consists of a number of support vector machine (SVM) followed by pole-matching (PM) classifiers. First, we determine the nominal frequency of the grid (50 or 60 Hz) based on the spectral observation. Then an SVM classifier, trained for the detection of a grid with a particular nominal frequency, narrows down the list of possible grids on the basis of different discriminating features extracted from the electric network frequency (ENF) signal. The decision of the SVM classifier is then passed to the PM classifier that detects the final grid based on the minimum distance between the estimated poles of test and training grids. Thus, we start from the problem of classifying grids with different nominal frequencies and simplify the problem of classification in three stages based on nominal frequency, SVM and finally using PM classifier. This cascaded system of classification ensures better accuracy (15.57% higher) compared to traditional ENF-based SVM classifiers described in the literature.
A System-level Behavioral Detection Framework for Compromised CPS Devices: Smart-Grid Case
Venue: arXiv cs.CR 2019
Year: 2019

Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) play a significant role in our critical infrastructure networks from power-distribution to utility networks. The emerging smart-grid concept is a compelling critical CPS infrastructure that relies on two-way communications between smart devices to increase efficiency, enhance reliability, and reduce costs. However, compromised devices in the smart grid poses several security challenges. Consequences of propagating fake data or stealing sensitive smart grid information via compromised devices are costly. Hence, early behavioral detection of compromised devices is critical for protecting the smart grid's components and data. To address these concerns, in this paper, we introduce a novel and configurable system-level framework to identify compromised smart grid devices. The framework combines system and function call tracing techniques with signal processing and statistical analysis to detect compromised devices based on their behavioral characteristics. We measure the efficacy of our framework with a realistic smart grid substation testbed that includes both resource-limited and resource-rich devices. In total, using our framework, we analyze six different types of compromised device scenarios with different resources and attack payloads. To the best of our knowledge, the proposed framework is the first in detecting compromised CPS smart grid devices with system and function-level call tracing techniques. The experimental results reveal an excellent rate for the detection of compromised devices. Specifically, performance metrics include accuracy values between 95% and 99% for the different attack scenarios. Finally, the performance analysis demonstrates that the use of the proposed framework has minimal overhead on the smart grid devices' computing resources.
Risk Bounds for Low Cost Bipartite Ranking
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2019
Year: 2019

Bipartite ranking is an important supervised learning problem; however, unlike regression or classification, it has a quadratic dependence on the number of samples. To circumvent the prohibitive sample cost, many recent work focus on stochastic gradient-based methods. In this paper we consider an alternative approach, which leverages the structure of the widely-adopted pairwise squared loss, to obtain a stochastic and low cost algorithm that does not require stochastic gradients or learning rates. Using a novel uniform risk bound---based on matrix and vector concentration inequalities---we show that the sample size required for competitive performance against the all-pairs batch algorithm does not have a quadratic dependence. Generalization bounds for both the batch and low cost stochastic algorithms are presented. Experimental results show significant speed gain against the batch algorithm, as well as competitive performance against state-of-the-art bipartite ranking algorithms on real datasets.
Multi-Scale Self-Attention for Text Classification
Venue: arXiv cs.CL 2019
Year: 2019

In this paper, we introduce the prior knowledge, multi-scale structure, into self-attention modules. We propose a Multi-Scale Transformer which uses multi-scale multi-head self-attention to capture features from different scales. Based on the linguistic perspective and the analysis of pre-trained Transformer (BERT) on a huge corpus, we further design a strategy to control the scale distribution for each layer. Results of three different kinds of tasks (21 datasets) show our Multi-Scale Transformer outperforms the standard Transformer consistently and significantly on small and moderate size datasets.
MORPHOSYS: Efficient Colocation of QoS-Constrained Workloads in the Cloud
Venue: arXiv cs.DC 2019
Year: 2019

In hosting environments such as IaaS clouds, desirable application performance is usually guaranteed through the use of Service Level Agreements (SLAs), which specify minimal fractions of resource capacities that must be allocated for use for proper operation. Arbitrary colocation of applications with different SLAs on a single host may result in inefficient utilization of the host's resources. In this paper, we propose that periodic resource allocation and consumption models be used for a more granular expression of SLAs. Our proposed SLA model has the salient feature that it exposes flexibilities that enable the IaaS provider to safelya transform SLAs from one form to another for the purpose of achieving more efficient colocation. Towards that goal, we present MorphoSys: a framework for a service that allows the manipulation of SLAs to enable efficient colocation of workloads. We present results from extensive trace-driven simulations of colocated Video-on-Demand servers in a cloud setting. The results show that potentially-significant reduction in wasted resources (by as much as 60%) are possible using MorphoSys.
GANCoder: An Automatic Natural Language-to-Programming Language Translation Approach based on GAN
Venue: arXiv cs.CL 2019
Year: 2019

We propose GANCoder, an automatic programming approach based on Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN), which can generate the same functional and logical programming language codes conditioned on the given natural language utterances. The adversarial training between generator and discriminator helps generator learn distribution of dataset and improve code generation quality. Our experimental results show that GANCoder can achieve comparable accuracy with the state-of-the-art methods and is more stable when programming languages.
An Attribute Oriented Induction based Methodology for Data Driven Predictive Maintenance
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2019
Year: 2019

Attribute Oriented Induction (AOI) is a data mining algorithm used for extracting knowledge of relational data, taking into account expert knowledge. It is a clustering algorithm that works by transforming the values of the attributes and converting an instance into others that are more generic or ambiguous. In this way, it seeks similarities between elements to generate data groupings. AOI was initially conceived as an algorithm for knowledge discovery in databases, but over the years it has been applied to other areas such as spatial patterns, intrusion detection or strategy making. In this paper, AOI has been extended to the field of Predictive Maintenance. The objective is to demonstrate that combining expert knowledge and data collected from the machine can provide good results in the Predictive Maintenance of industrial assets. To this end we adapted the algorithm and used an LSTM approach to perform both the Anomaly Detection (AD) and the Remaining Useful Life (RUL). The results obtained confirm the validity of the proposal, as the methodology was able to detect anomalies, and calculate the RUL until breakage with considerable degree of accuracy.
Securing Soft IP Cores in FPGA based Reconfigurable Mobile Heterogeneous Systems
Venue: arXiv cs.CR 2019
Year: 2019

The mobile application market is rapidly growing and changing, offering always brand new software to install in increasingly powerful devices. Mobile devices become pervasive and more heterogeneous, embedding latest technologies such as multicore architectures, special-purpose circuits and reconfigurable logic. In a future mobile market scenario reconfigurable systems are employed to provide high-speed functionalities to assist execution of applications. However, new security concerns are introduced. In particular, protecting the Intellectual Property of the exchanged soft IP cores is a serious concern. The available techniques for preserving integrity, confidentiality and authenticity suffer from the limitation of heavily relying onto the system designer. In this paper we propose two different protocols suitable for the secure deployment of soft IP cores in FPGA-based mobile heterogeneous systems where multiple independent actors are involved: a simple scenario requiring trust relationship between entities, and a more complex scenario where no trust relationship exists through adoption of the Direct Anonymous Attestation protocol. Finally, we provide a prototype implementation of the proposed architectures.
GDPArrrrr: Using Privacy Laws to Steal Identities
Venue: arXiv cs.CR 2019
Year: 2019

The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has become a touchstone model for modern privacy law, in part because it empowers consumers with unprecedented control over the use of their personal information. However, this same power may be susceptible to abuse by malicious attackers. In this paper, we consider how legal ambiguity surrounding the "Right of Access" process may be abused by social engineers. This hypothesis is tested through an adversarial case study of more than 150 businesses. We find that many organizations fail to employ adequate safeguards against Right of Access abuse and thus risk exposing sensitive information to unauthorized third parties. This information varied in sensitivity from simple public records to Social Security Numbers and account passwords. These findings suggest a critical need to improve the implementation of the subject access request process. To this end, we propose possible remediations which may be appropriate for further consideration by government, industry and individuals.
Prototype Selection Based on Clustering and Conformance Metrics for Model Discovery
Venue: arXiv cs.DB 2019
Year: 2019

Process discovery aims at automatically creating process models on the basis of event data captured during the execution of business processes. Process discovery algorithms tend to use all of the event data to discover a process model. This attitude sometimes leads to discover imprecise and/or complex process models that may conceal important information of processes. To address this problem, several techniques, from data filtering to model repair, have been elaborated in the literature. In this paper, we introduce a new incremental prototype selection algorithm based on clustering of process instances. The method aims to iteratively compute a unique process model with a different set of selected prototypes, i.e., representative of whole event data and stops when conformance metrics decrease. The proposed method has been implemented in both the ProM and the RapidProM platforms. We applied the proposed method on several real event data with state-of-the-art, process discovery algorithms. Results show that using the proposed method leads to improve the general quality of discovered process models.
Temporarily Unavailable: Memory Inhibition in Cognitive and Computer Science
Venue: arXiv cs.AI 2019
Year: 2019

Inhibition is one of the core concepts in Cognitive Psychology. The idea of inhibitory mechanisms actively weakening representations in the human mind has inspired a great number of studies in various research domains. In contrast, Computer Science only recently has begun to consider inhibition as a second basic processing quality beside activation. Here, we review psychological research on inhibition in memory and link the gained insights with the current efforts in Computer Science of incorporating inhibitory principles for optimizing information retrieval in Personal Information Management. Four common aspects guide this review in both domains: 1. The purpose of inhibition to increase processing efficiency. 2. Its relation to activation. 3. Its links to contexts. 4. Its temporariness. In summary, the concept of inhibition has been used by Computer Science for enhancing software in various ways already. Yet, we also identify areas for promising future developments of inhibitory mechanisms, particularly context inhibition.
Learning a faceted customer segmentation for discovering new business opportunities at Intel
Venue: arXiv cs.IR 2019
Year: 2019

For sales and marketing organizations within large enterprises, identifying and understanding new markets, customers and partners is a key challenge. Intel's Sales and Marketing Group (SMG) faces similar challenges while growing in new markets and domains and evolving its existing business. In today's complex technological and commercial landscape, there is need for intelligent automation supporting a fine-grained understanding of businesses in order to help SMG sift through millions of companies across many geographies and languages and identify relevant directions. We present a system developed in our company that mines millions of public business web pages, and extracts a faceted customer representation. We focus on two key customer aspects that are essential for finding relevant opportunities: industry segments (ranging from broad verticals such as healthcare, to more specific fields such as 'video analytics') and functional roles (e.g., 'manufacturer' or 'retail'). To address the challenge of labeled data collection, we enrich our data with external information gleaned from Wikipedia, and develop a semi-supervised multi-label, multi-lingual deep learning model that parses customer website texts and classifies them into their respective facets. Our system scans and indexes companies as part of a large-scale knowledge graph that currently holds tens of millions of connected entities with thousands being fetched, enriched and connected to the graph by the hour in real time, and also supports knowledge and insight discovery. In experiments conducted in our company, we are able to significantly boost the performance of sales personnel in the task of discovering new customers and commercial partnership opportunities.
Consider ethical and social challenges in smart grid research
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2019
Year: 2019

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are increasingly seen as key technologies for building more decentralised and resilient energy grids, but researchers must consider the ethical and social implications of their use
Recent Developments in Iterative Methods for Reducing Synchronization
Venue: arXiv cs.DC 2019
Year: 2019

On modern parallel architectures, the cost of synchronization among processors can often dominate the cost of floating-point computation. Several modifications of the existing methods have been proposed in order to keep the communication cost as low as possible. This paper aims at providing a brief overview of recent advances in parallel iterative methods for solving large-scale problems. We refer the reader to the related references for more details on the derivation, implementation, performance, and analysis of these techniques.
Improving Model Drift for Robust Object Tracking
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2019
Year: 2019

Discriminative correlation filters show excellent performance in object tracking. However, in complex scenes, the apparent characteristics of the tracked target are variable, which makes it easy to pollute the model and cause the model drift. In this paper, considering that the secondary peak has a greater impact on the model update, we propose a method for detecting the primary and secondary peaks of the response map. Secondly, a novel confidence function which uses the adaptive update discriminant mechanism is proposed, which yield good robustness. Thirdly, we propose a robust tracker with correlation filters, which uses hand-crafted features and can improve model drift in complex scenes. Finally, in order to cope with the current trackers' multi-feature response merge, we propose a simple exponential adaptive merge approach. Extensive experiments are performed on OTB2013, OTB100 and TC128 datasets. Our approach performs superiorly against several state-of-the-art trackers while runs at speed in real time.