OpenRaiser/Intern-Atlas huggingface dataset:
Universal Fingerprinting: Capacity and Random-Coding Exponents
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2011
Year: 2011

This paper studies fingerprinting (traitor tracing) games in which the number of colluders and the collusion channel are unknown. The fingerprints are embedded into host sequences representing signals to be protected and provide the receiver with the capability to trace back pirated copies to the colluders. The colluders and the fingerprint embedder are subject to signal fidelity constraints. Our problem setup unifies the signal-distortion and Boneh-Shaw formulations of fingerprinting. The fundamental tradeoffs between fingerprint codelength, number of users, number of colluders, fidelity constraints, and decoding reliability are then determined. Several bounds on fingerprinting capacity have been presented in recent literature. This paper derives exact capacity formulas and presents a new randomized fingerprinting scheme with the following properties: (1) the encoder and receiver assume a nominal coalition size but do not need to know the actual coalition size and the collusion channel; (2) a tunable parameter $Δ$ trades off false-positive and false-negative error exponents; (3) the receiver provides a reliability metric for its decision; and (4) the scheme is capacity-achieving when the false-positive exponent $Δ$ tends to zero and the nominal coalition size coincides with the actual coalition size. A fundamental component of the new scheme is the use of a "time-sharing" randomized sequence. The decoder is a maximum penalized mutual information decoder, where the significance of each candidate coalition is assessed relative to a threshold, and the penalty is proportional to the coalition size. A much simpler {\em threshold decoder} that satisfies properties (1)---(3) above but not (4) is also given.
Malleable Coding with Fixed Reuse
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2011
Year: 2011

In cloud computing, storage area networks, remote backup storage, and similar settings, stored data is modified with updates from new versions. Representing information and modifying the representation are both expensive. Therefore it is desirable for the data to not only be compressed but to also be easily modified during updates. A malleable coding scheme considers both compression efficiency and ease of alteration, promoting codeword reuse. We examine the trade-off between compression efficiency and malleability cost-the difficulty of synchronizing compressed versions-measured as the length of a reused prefix portion. Through a coding theorem, the region of achievable rates and malleability is expressed as a single-letter optimization. Relationships to common information problems are also described.
Efficient Defence against Misbehaving TCP Receiver DoS Attacks
Venue: arXiv cs.CR 2011
Year: 2011

The congestion control algorithm of TCP relies on correct feedback from the receiver to determine the rate at which packets should be sent into the network. Hence, correct receiver feedback (in the form of TCP acknowledgements) is essential to the goal of sharing the scarce bandwidth resources fairly and avoiding congestion collapse in the Internet. However, the assumption that a TCP receiver can always be trusted (to generate feedback correctly) no longer holds as there are plenty of incentives for a receiver to deviate from the protocol. In fact, it has been shown that a misbehaving receiver (whose aim is to bring about congestion collapse) can easily generate acknowledgements to conceal packet loss, so as to drive a number of honest, innocent senders arbitrarily fast to create a significant number of non-responsive packet flows, leading to denial of service to other Internet users. We give the first formal treatment to this problem. We also give an efficient, provably secure mechanism to force a receiver to generate feedback correctly; any incorrect acknowledgement will be detected at the sender and cheating TCP receivers would be identified. The idea is as follows: for each packet sent, the sender generates a tag using a secret key (known to himself only); the receiver could generate a proof using the packet and the tag alone, and send it to the sender; the sender can then verify the proof using the secret key; an incorrect proof would indicate a cheating receiver. The scheme is very efficient in the sense that the TCP sender does not need to store the packet or the tag, and the proofs for multiple packets can be aggregated at the receiver. The scheme is based on an aggregate authenticator. In addition, the proposed solution can be applied to network-layer rate-limiting architectures requiring correct feedback.
The Impact of Mobility on Gossip Algorithms
Venue: arXiv cs.NI 2011
Year: 2011

The influence of node mobility on the convergence time of averaging gossip algorithms in networks is studied. It is shown that a small number of fully mobile nodes can yield a significant decrease in convergence time. A method is developed for deriving lower bounds on the convergence time by merging nodes according to their mobility pattern. This method is used to show that if the agents have one-dimensional mobility in the same direction the convergence time is improved by at most a constant. Upper bounds are obtained on the convergence time using techniques from the theory of Markov chains and show that simple models of mobility can dramatically accelerate gossip as long as the mobility paths significantly overlap. Simulations verify that different mobility patterns can have significantly different effects on the convergence of distributed algorithms.
How to eat 4/9 of a pizza
Venue: arXiv cs.DM 2011
Year: 2011

Given two players alternately picking pieces of a pizza sliced by radial cuts, in such a way that after the first piece is taken every subsequent chosen piece is adjacent to some previously taken piece, we provide a strategy for the starting player to get 4/9 of the pizza. This is best possible and settles a conjecture of Peter Winkler.
New Sequences Design from Weil Representation with Low Two-Dimensional Correlation in Both Time and Phase Shifts
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2011
Year: 2011

For a given prime $p$, a new construction of families of the complex valued sequences of period $p$ with efficient implementation is given by applying both multiplicative characters and additive characters of finite field $\mathbb{F}_p$. Such a signal set consists of $p^2(p-2)$ time-shift distinct sequences, the magnitude of the two-dimensional autocorrelation function (i.e., the ambiguity function) in both time and phase of each sequence is upper bounded by $2\sqrt{p}$ at any shift not equal to $(0, 0)$, and the magnitude of the ambiguity function of any pair of phase-shift distinct sequences is upper bounded by $4\sqrt{p}$. Furthermore, the magnitude of their Fourier transform spectrum is less than or equal to 2. A proof is given through finding a simple elementary construction for the sequences constructed from the Weil representation by Gurevich, Hadani and Sochen. An open problem for directly establishing these assertions without involving the Weil representation is addressed.
Entropy and set cardinality inequalities for partition-determined functions
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2011
Year: 2011

A new notion of partition-determined functions is introduced, and several basic inequalities are developed for the entropy of such functions of independent random variables, as well as for cardinalities of compound sets obtained using these functions. Here a compound set means a set obtained by varying each argument of a function of several variables over a set associated with that argument, where all the sets are subsets of an appropriate algebraic structure so that the function is well defined. On the one hand, the entropy inequalities developed for partition-determined functions imply entropic analogues of general inequalities of Plünnecke-Ruzsa type. On the other hand, the cardinality inequalities developed for compound sets imply several inequalities for sumsets, including for instance a generalization of inequalities proved by Gyarmati, Matolcsi and Ruzsa (2010). We also provide partial progress towards a conjecture of Ruzsa (2007) for sumsets in nonabelian groups. All proofs are elementary and rely on properly developing certain information-theoretic inequalities.
Efficient LDPC Codes over GF(q) for Lossy Data Compression
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2011
Year: 2011

In this paper we consider the lossy compression of a binary symmetric source. We present a scheme that provides a low complexity lossy compressor with near optimal empirical performance. The proposed scheme is based on b-reduced ultra-sparse LDPC codes over GF(q). Encoding is performed by the Reinforced Belief Propagation algorithm, a variant of Belief Propagation. The computational complexity at the encoder is O(<d>.n.q.log q), where <d> is the average degree of the check nodes. For our code ensemble, decoding can be performed iteratively following the inverse steps of the leaf removal algorithm. For a sparse parity-check matrix the number of needed operations is O(n).
Polynomial-Time Approximation Schemes for Subset-Connectivity Problems in Bounded-Genus Graphs
Venue: arXiv cs.DM 2011
Year: 2011

We present the first polynomial-time approximation schemes (PTASes) for the following subset-connectivity problems in edge-weighted graphs of bounded genus: Steiner tree, low-connectivity survivable-network design, and subset TSP. The schemes run in O(n log n) time for graphs embedded on both orientable and non-orientable surfaces. This work generalizes the PTAS frameworks of Borradaile, Klein, and Mathieu from planar graphs to bounded-genus graphs: any future problems shown to admit the required structure theorem for planar graphs will similarly extend to bounded-genus graphs.
Multi-unit Auctions with Budget Constraints
Venue: arXiv cs.GT 2011
Year: 2011

Motivated by sponsored search auctions, we study multi-unit auctions with budget constraints. In the mechanism we propose, Sort-Cut, understating budgets or values is weakly dominated. Since Sort-Cut's revenue is increasing in budgets and values, all kinds of equilibrium deviations from true valuations turn out to be beneficial to the auctioneer. We show that the revenue of Sort-Cut can be an order of magnitude greater than that of the natural Market Clearing Price mechanism, and we discuss the efficiency properties of its ex-post Nash equilibrium.
Graph Homomorphisms with Complex Values: A Dichotomy Theorem
Venue: arXiv cs.CC 2011
Year: 2011

Graph homomorphism has been studied intensively. Given an m x m symmetric matrix A, the graph homomorphism function is defined as \[Z_A (G) = \sum_{f:V->[m]} \prod_{(u,v)\in E} A_{f(u),f(v)}, \] where G = (V,E) is any undirected graph. The function Z_A can encode many interesting graph properties, including counting vertex covers and k-colorings. We study the computational complexity of Z_A for arbitrary symmetric matrices A with algebraic complex values. Building on work by Dyer and Greenhill, Bulatov and Grohe, and especially the recent beautiful work by Goldberg, Grohe, Jerrum and Thurley, we prove a complete dichotomy theorem for this problem. We show that Z_A is either computable in polynomial-time or #P-hard, depending explicitly on the matrix A. We further prove that the tractability criterion on A is polynomial-time decidable.
Evaluation of Marton's Inner Bound for the General Broadcast Channel
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2011
Year: 2011

The best known inner bound on the two-receiver general broadcast channel without a common message is due to Marton [3]. This result was subsequently generalized in [p. 391, Problem 10(c) 2] and [4] to broadcast channels with a common message. However the latter region is not computable (except in certain special cases) as no bounds on the cardinality of its auxiliary random variables exist. Nor is it even clear that the inner bound is a closed set. The main obstacle in proving cardinality bounds is the fact that the traditional use of the Carathéodory theorem, the main known tool for proving cardinality bounds, does not yield a finite cardinality result. One of the main contributions of this paper is the introduction of a new tool based on an identity that relates the second derivative of the Shannon entropy of a discrete random variable (under a certain perturbation) to the corresponding Fisher information. In order to go beyond the traditional Carathéodory type arguments, we identify certain properties that the auxiliary random variables corresponding to the extreme points of the inner bound need to satisfy. These properties are then used to establish cardinality bounds on the auxiliary random variables of the inner bound, thereby proving the computability of the region, and its closedness. Lastly, we establish a conjecture of \cite{NairZizhou} that Marton's inner bound and the recent outer bound of Nair and El Gamal do not match in general.
Continuous Strategy Replicator Dynamics for Multi--Agent Learning
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2011
Year: 2011

The problem of multi-agent learning and adaptation has attracted a great deal of attention in recent years. It has been suggested that the dynamics of multi agent learning can be studied using replicator equations from population biology. Most existing studies so far have been limited to discrete strategy spaces with a small number of available actions. In many cases, however, the choices available to agents are better characterized by continuous spectra. This paper suggests a generalization of the replicator framework that allows to study the adaptive dynamics of Q-learning agents with continuous strategy spaces. Instead of probability vectors, agents strategies are now characterized by probability measures over continuous variables. As a result, the ordinary differential equations for the discrete case are replaced by a system of coupled integral--differential replicator equations that describe the mutual evolution of individual agent strategies. We derive a set of functional equations describing the steady state of the replicator dynamics, examine their solutions for several two-player games, and confirm our analytical results using simulations.
Bits Through Deterministic Relay Cascades with Half-Duplex Constraint
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2011
Year: 2011

Consider a relay cascade, i.e. a network where a source node, a sink node and a certain number of intermediate source/relay nodes are arranged on a line and where adjacent node pairs are connected by error-free (q+1)-ary pipes. Suppose the source and a subset of the relays wish to communicate independent information to the sink under the condition that each relay in the cascade is half-duplex constrained. A coding scheme is developed which transfers information by an information-dependent allocation of the transmission and reception slots of the relays. The coding scheme requires synchronization on the symbol level through a shared clock. The coding strategy achieves capacity for a single source. Numerical values for the capacity of cascades of various lengths are provided, and the capacities are significantly higher than the rates which are achievable with a predetermined time-sharing approach. If the cascade includes a source and a certain number of relays with their own information, the strategy achieves the cut-set bound when the rates of the relay sources fall below certain thresholds. For cascades composed of an infinite number of half-duplex constrained relays and a single source, we derive an explicit capacity expression. Remarkably, the capacity in bits/use for q=1 is equal to the logarithm of the golden ratio, and the capacity for q=2 is 1 bit/use.
The Complexity of Probabilistic Lobbying
Venue: arXiv cs.CC 2011
Year: 2011

We propose models for lobbying in a probabilistic environment, in which an actor (called "The Lobby") seeks to influence voters' preferences of voting for or against multiple issues when the voters' preferences are represented in terms of probabilities. In particular, we provide two evaluation criteria and two bribery methods to formally describe these models, and we consider the resulting forms of lobbying with and without issue weighting. We provide a formal analysis for these problems of lobbying in a stochastic environment, and determine their classical and parameterized complexity depending on the given bribery/evaluation criteria and on various natural parameterizations. Specifically, we show that some of these problems can be solved in polynomial time, some are NP-complete but fixed-parameter tractable, and some are W[2]-complete. Finally, we provide approximability and inapproximability results for these problems and several variants.
Fast In-Memory XPath Search over Compressed Text and Tree Indexes
Venue: arXiv cs.DB 2011
Year: 2011

A large fraction of an XML document typically consists of text data. The XPath query language allows text search via the equal, contains, and starts-with predicates. Such predicates can efficiently be implemented using a compressed self-index of the document's text nodes. Most queries, however, contain some parts of querying the text of the document, plus some parts of querying the tree structure. It is therefore a challenge to choose an appropriate evaluation order for a given query, which optimally leverages the execution speeds of the text and tree indexes. Here the SXSI system is introduced; it stores the tree structure of an XML document using a bit array of opening and closing brackets, and stores the text nodes of the document using a global compressed self-index. On top of these indexes sits an XPath query engine that is based on tree automata. The engine uses fast counting queries of the text index in order to dynamically determine whether to evaluate top-down or bottom-up with respect to the tree structure. The resulting system has several advantages over existing systems: (1) on pure tree queries (without text search) such as the XPathMark queries, the SXSI system performs on par or better than the fastest known systems MonetDB and Qizx, (2) on queries that use text search, SXSI outperforms the existing systems by 1--3 orders of magnitude (depending on the size of the result set), and (3) with respect to memory consumption, SXSI outperforms all other systems for counting-only queries.
Distributed iterated elimination of strictly dominated strategies
Venue: arXiv cs.GT 2011
Year: 2011

We characterize epistemic consequences of truthful communication among rational agents in a game-theoretic setting. To this end we introduce normal-form games equipped with an interaction structure, which specifies which groups of players can communicate their preferences with each other. We then focus on a specific form of interaction, namely a distributed form of iterated elimination of strictly dominated strategies (IESDS), driven by communication among the agents. We study the outcome of IESDS after some (possibly all) messages about players' preferences have been sent. The main result of the paper provides an epistemic justification of this form of IESDS.
Two Optimal One-Error-Correcting Codes of Length 13 That Are Not Doubly Shortened Perfect Codes
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2011
Year: 2011

The doubly shortened perfect codes of length 13 are classified utilizing the classification of perfect codes in [P.R.J. Östergård and O. Pottonen, The perfect binary one-error-correcting codes of length 15: Part I - Classification, IEEE Trans. Inform. Theory, to appear]; there are 117821 such (13,512,3) codes. By applying a switching operation to those codes, two more (13,512,3) codes are obtained, which are then not doubly shortened perfect codes.
The Stackelberg Minimum Spanning Tree Game on Planar and Bounded-Treewidth Graphs
Venue: arXiv cs.GT 2011
Year: 2011

The Stackelberg Minimum Spanning Tree Game is a two-level combinatorial pricing problem played on a graph representing a network. Its edges are colored either red or blue, and the red edges have a given fixed cost, representing the competitor's prices. The first player chooses an assignment of prices to the blue edges, and the second player then buys the cheapest spanning tree, using any combination of red and blue edges. The goal of the first player is to maximize the total price of purchased blue edges. We study this problem in the cases of planar and bounded-treewidth graphs. We show that the problem is NP-hard on planar graphs but can be solved in polynomial time on graphs of bounded treewidth.
The Information Theory of Emotions of Musical Chords
Venue: arXiv cs.SD 2011
Year: 2011

The paper offers a solution to the centuries-old puzzle - why the major chords are perceived as happy and the minor chords as sad - based on the information theory of emotions. A theory and a formula of musical emotions were created. They define the sign and the amplitude of the utilitarian emotional coloration of separate major and minor chords through relative pitches of constituent sounds. Keywords: chord, major, minor, the formula of musical emotions, the information theory of emotions.
A maximum entropy theorem with applications to the measurement of biodiversity
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2011
Year: 2011

This is a preliminary article stating and proving a new maximum entropy theorem. The entropies that we consider can be used as measures of biodiversity. In that context, the question is: for a given collection of species, which frequency distribution(s) maximize the diversity? The theorem provides the answer. The chief surprise is that although we are dealing with not just a single entropy, but a one-parameter family of entropies, there is a single distribution maximizing all of them simultaneously.
D-MG Tradeoff of DF and AF Relaying Protocols over Asynchronous PAM Cooperative Networks
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2011
Year: 2011

The diversity multiplexing tradeoff of a general two-hop asynchronous cooperative network is examined for various relaying protocols such as non-orthogonal selection decode-and-forward (NSDF), orthogonal selection decode-and-forward (OSDF), non-orthogonal amplify-and-forward (NAF), and orthogonal amplify-and-forward (OAF). The transmitter nodes are assumed to send pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) signals asynchronously, in which information symbols are linearly modulated by a shaping waveform to be sent to the destination. We consider two different cases with respect to the length of the shaping waveforms in the time domain. In the theoretical case where the shaping waveforms with infinite time support are used, it is shown that asynchronism does not affect the DMT performance of the system and the same DMT as that of the corresponding synchronous network is obtained for all the aforementioned protocols. In the practical case where finite length shaping waveforms are used, it is shown that better diversity gains can be achieved at the expense of bandwidth expansion. In the decode-and-forward (DF) type protocols, the asynchronous network provides better diversity gains than those of the corresponding synchronous network throughout the range of the multiplexing gain. In the amplify-and-forward (AF) type protocols, the asynchronous network provides the same DMT as that of the corresponding synchronous counterpart under the OAF protocol; however, a better diversity gain is achieved under the NAF protocol throughout the range of the multiplexing gain. In particular, in the single relay asynchronous network, the NAF protocol provides the same DMT as that of the 2 {\times} 1 multiple-input single-output (MISO) channel.
Improved Latin Square based Secret Sharing Scheme
Venue: arXiv cs.CR 2011
Year: 2011

This paper first reviews some basic properties of cryptographic hash function, secret sharing scheme, and Latin square. Then we discuss why Latin square or its critical set is a good choice for secret representation and its relationship with secret sharing scheme. Further we enumerate the limitations of Latin square in a secret sharing scheme. Finally we propose how to apply cryptographic hash functions, herding attack technique to a Latin square based secret sharing scheme to overcome these limitations.