OpenRaiser/Intern-Atlas huggingface dataset:
Explaining the Unexplained: A CLass-Enhanced Attentive Response (CLEAR) Approach to Understanding Deep Neural Networks
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2017
Year: 2017

In this work, we propose CLass-Enhanced Attentive Response (CLEAR): an approach to visualize and understand the decisions made by deep neural networks (DNNs) given a specific input. CLEAR facilitates the visualization of attentive regions and levels of interest of DNNs during the decision-making process. It also enables the visualization of the most dominant classes associated with these attentive regions of interest. As such, CLEAR can mitigate some of the shortcomings of heatmap-based methods associated with decision ambiguity, and allows for better insights into the decision-making process of DNNs. Quantitative and qualitative experiments across three different datasets demonstrate the efficacy of CLEAR for gaining a better understanding of the inner workings of DNNs during the decision-making process.
Learning Joint Multilingual Sentence Representations with Neural Machine Translation
Venue: arXiv cs.CL 2017
Year: 2017

In this paper, we use the framework of neural machine translation to learn joint sentence representations across six very different languages. Our aim is that a representation which is independent of the language, is likely to capture the underlying semantics. We define a new cross-lingual similarity measure, compare up to 1.4M sentence representations and study the characteristics of close sentences. We provide experimental evidence that sentences that are close in embedding space are indeed semantically highly related, but often have quite different structure and syntax. These relations also hold when comparing sentences in different languages.
Microservices: Migration of a Mission Critical System
Venue: arXiv cs.SE 2017
Year: 2017

The microservices paradigm aims at changing the way in which software is perceived, conceived and designed. One of the foundational characteristics of this new promising paradigm, compared for instance to monolithic architectures, is scalability. In this paper, we present a real world case study in order to demonstrate how scalability is positively affected by re-implementing a monolithic architecture into microservices. The case study is based on the FX Core system, a mission critical system of Danske Bank, the largest bank in Denmark and one of the leading financial institutions in Northern Europe.
Static Analysis of Deterministic Negotiations
Venue: arXiv cs.LO 2017
Year: 2017

Negotiation diagrams are a model of concurrent computation akin to workflow Petri nets. Deterministic negotiation diagrams, equivalent to the much studied and used free-choice workflow Petri nets, are surprisingly amenable to verification. Soundness (a property close to deadlock-freedom) can be decided in PTIME. Further, other fundamental questions like computing summaries or the expected cost, can also be solved in PTIME for sound deterministic negotiation diagrams, while they are PSPACE-complete in the general case. In this paper we generalize and explain these results. We extend the classical "meet-over-all-paths" (MOP) formulation of static analysis problems to our concurrent setting, and introduce Mazurkiewicz-invariant analysis problems, which encompass the questions above and new ones. We show that any Mazurkiewicz-invariant analysis problem can be solved in PTIME for sound deterministic negotiations whenever it is in PTIME for sequential flow-graphs---even though the flow-graph of a deterministic negotiation diagram can be exponentially larger than the diagram itself. This gives a common explanation to the low-complexity of all the analysis questions studied so far. Finally, we show that classical gen/kill analyses are also an instance of our framework, and obtain a PTIME algorithm for detecting anti-patterns in free-choice workflow Petri nets. Our result is based on a novel decomposition theorem, of independent interest, showing that sound deterministic negotiation diagrams can be hierarchically decomposed into (possibly overlapping) smaller sound diagrams.
Molecular Communication using Magnetic Nanoparticles
Venue: arXiv cs.ET 2017
Year: 2017

In this paper, we propose to use magnetic nanoparticles as information carriers for molecular communication. This enables the use of an external magnetic field to guide information-carrying particles towards the receiver. We show that the particle movement can be mathematically modeled as diffusion with drift. Thereby, we reveal that the key parameters determining the magnetic force are particle size and magnetic field gradient. As an example, we consider magnetic nanoparticle based communication in a bounded two-dimensional environment. For this model, we derive an analytical expression for the channel impulse response subject to fluid flow and magnetic drift. Furthermore, adopting the symbol error rate as performance metric, we show that using magnetic nanoparticles facilitates reliable communication, even in the presence of fluid flow.
Parameterized Complexity and Approximability of Directed Odd Cycle Transversal
Venue: arXiv cs.DS 2017
Year: 2017

A directed odd cycle transversal of a directed graph (digraph) $D$ is a vertex set $S$ that intersects every odd directed cycle of $D$. In the Directed Odd Cycle Transversal (DOCT) problem, the input consists of a digraph $D$ and an integer $k$. The objective is to determine whether there exists a directed odd cycle transversal of $D$ of size at most $k$. In this paper, we settle the parameterized complexity of DOCT when parameterized by the solution size $k$ by showing that DOCT does not admit an algorithm with running time $f(k)n^{O(1)}$ unless FPT = W[1]. On the positive side, we give a factor $2$ fixed parameter tractable (FPT) approximation algorithm for the problem. More precisely, our algorithm takes as input $D$ and $k$, runs in time $2^{O(k^2)}n^{O(1)}$, and either concludes that $D$ does not have a directed odd cycle transversal of size at most $k$, or produces a solution of size at most $2k$. Finally, we provide evidence that there exists $ε> 0$ such that DOCT does not admit a factor $(1+ε)$ FPT-approximation algorithm.
Identity and Granularity of Events in Text
Venue: arXiv cs.CL 2017
Year: 2017

In this paper we describe a method to detect event descrip- tions in different news articles and to model the semantics of events and their components using RDF representations. We compare these descriptions to solve a cross-document event coreference task. Our com- ponent approach to event semantics defines identity and granularity of events at different levels. It performs close to state-of-the-art approaches on the cross-document event coreference task, while outperforming other works when assuming similar quality of event detection. We demonstrate how granularity and identity are interconnected and we discuss how se- mantic anomaly could be used to define differences between coreference, subevent and topical relations.
A Tree-based Approach for Detecting Redundant Business Rules in very Large Financial Datasets
Venue: arXiv cs.DB 2017
Year: 2017

Net Asset Value (NAV) calculation and validation is the principle task of a fund administrator. If the NAV of a fund is calculated incorrectly then there is huge impact on the fund administrator; such as monetary compensation, reputational loss, or loss of business. In general, these companies use the same methodology to calculate the NAV of a fund, however the type of fund in question dictates the set of business rules used to validate this. Today, most Fund Administrators depend heavily on human resources due to the lack of an automated standardized solutions, however due to economic climate and the need for efficiency and costs reduction many banks are now looking for an automated solution with minimal human interaction; i.e., straight through processing (STP). Within the scope of a collaboration project that focuses on building an optimal solution for NAV validation, in this paper, we will present a new approach for detecting correlated business rules. We also show how we evaluate this approach using real-world financial data.
Sparse Polynomial Interpolation with Finitely Many Values for the Coefficients
Venue: arXiv cs.SC 2017
Year: 2017

In this paper, we give new sparse interpolation algorithms for black box polynomial f whose coefficients are from a finite set. In the univariate case, we recover f from one evaluation of f(a) for a sufficiently large number a. In the multivariate case, we introduce the modified Kronecker substitution to reduce the interpolation of a multivariate polynomial to the univariate case. Both algorithms have polynomial bit-size complexity.
Track selection in Multifunction Radars: Nash and correlated equilibria
Venue: arXiv cs.GT 2017
Year: 2017

We consider a track selection problem for multi-target tracking in a multifunction radar network from a game-theoretic perspective. The problem is formulated as a non-cooperative game. The radars are considered to be players in this game with utilities modeled using a proper tracking accuracy criterion and their strategies are the observed targets whose number is known. Initially, for the problem of coordination, the Nash equilibria are characterized and, in order to find equilibria points, a distributed algorithm based on the best-response dynamics is proposed. Afterwards, the analysis is extended to the case of partial target observability and radar connectivity and heterogeneous interests among radars. The solution concept of correlated equilibria is employed and a distributed algorithm based on the regret-matching is proposed. The proposed algorithms are shown to perform well compared to the centralized approach of significantly higher complexity.
Parallel Multi Channel Convolution using General Matrix Multiplication
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2017
Year: 2017

Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have emerged as one of the most successful machine learning technologies for image and video processing. The most computationally intensive parts of CNNs are the convolutional layers, which convolve multi-channel images with multiple kernels. A common approach to implementing convolutional layers is to expand the image into a column matrix (im2col) and perform Multiple Channel Multiple Kernel (MCMK) convolution using an existing parallel General Matrix Multiplication (GEMM) library. This im2col conversion greatly increases the memory footprint of the input matrix and reduces data locality. In this paper we propose a new approach to MCMK convolution that is based on General Matrix Multiplication (GEMM), but not on im2col. Our algorithm eliminates the need for data replication on the input thereby enabling us to apply the convolution kernels on the input images directly. We have implemented several variants of our algorithm on a CPU processor and an embedded ARM processor. On the CPU, our algorithm is faster than im2col in most cases.
Optimal Power Splitting for Simultaneous Information Detection and Energy Harvesting
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2017
Year: 2017

This letter deals with the joint information and energy processing at a receiver of a point-to-point communication channel. In particular, the trade-off between the achievable information rate and harvested energy for a multiple-antenna power splitting (PS) receiver is investigated. Here, the rate- energy region characterization is of particular interest, which is intrinsically a non-convex problem. In this letter, an efficient algorithm is proposed for obtaining an approximate solution to the problem in polynomial time. This algorithm is mainly based on the Taylor approximation in conjunction with semidefinite relaxation (SDR) which is solved by interior-point methods. Moreover, we utilize the Gaussian randomization procedure to obtain a feasible solution for the original problem. It is shown that by proper receiver design the rate-energy region can be significantly enlarged compared to the state of the art, while at the same time the receiver hardware costs is reduced by utilizing less number of energy harvesting circuitry.
Recovery of damped exponentials using structured low rank matrix completion
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2017
Year: 2017

We introduce a structured low rank matrix completion algorithm to recover a series of images from their under-sampled measurements, where the signal along the parameter dimension at every pixel is described by a linear combination of exponentials. We exploit the exponential behavior of the signal at every pixel, along with the spatial smoothness of the exponential parameters to derive an annihilation relation in the Fourier domain. This relation translates to a low-rank property on a structured matrix constructed from the Fourier samples. We enforce the low rank property of the structured matrix as a regularization prior to recover the images. Since the direct use of current low rank matrix recovery schemes to this problem is associated with high computational complexity and memory demand, we adopt an iterative re-weighted least squares (IRLS) algorithm, which facilitates the exploitation of the convolutional structure of the matrix. Novel approximations involving two dimensional Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT) are introduced to drastically reduce the memory demand and computational complexity, which facilitates the extension of structured low rank methods to large scale three dimensional problems. We demonstrate our algorithm in the MR parameter mapping setting and show improvement over the state-of-the-art methods.
Distributed Formation Control of Nonlonolomic Mobile Robots by Bounded Feedback in the Presence of Obstacles
Venue: arXiv cs.RO 2017
Year: 2017

The problem of distributed formation control of nonholonomic mobile robots is addressed in this paper, in which the robots are designed to track a formation. Collision avoidance among agents is guaranteed using a control law based on a repulsive force. In an uncertain environment where obstacles exist, the construction of repulsive force and rotational direction enables agents to avoid and pass the obstacles. The control inputs of each robot are designed to be bounded. Numerical simulations with different formations are implemented to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed scheme.
Evaluating Quality of Chatbots and Intelligent Conversational Agents
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2017
Year: 2017

Chatbots are one class of intelligent, conversational software agents activated by natural language input (which can be in the form of text, voice, or both). They provide conversational output in response, and if commanded, can sometimes also execute tasks. Although chatbot technologies have existed since the 1960s and have influenced user interface development in games since the early 1980s, chatbots are now easier to train and implement. This is due to plentiful open source code, widely available development platforms, and implementation options via Software as a Service (SaaS). In addition to enhancing customer experiences and supporting learning, chatbots can also be used to engineer social harm - that is, to spread rumors and misinformation, or attack people for posting their thoughts and opinions online. This paper presents a literature review of quality issues and attributes as they relate to the contemporary issue of chatbot development and implementation. Finally, quality assessment approaches are reviewed, and a quality assessment method based on these attributes and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is proposed and examined.
Robust Transceiver Design Based on Interference Alignment for Multi-User Multi-Cell MIMO Networks with Channel Uncertainty
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2017
Year: 2017

In this paper, we firstly exploit the inter-user interference (IUI) and inter-cell interference (ICI) as useful references to develop a robust transceiver design based on interference alignment for a downlink multi-user multi-cell multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) interference network under channel estimation error. At transmitters, we propose a two-tier transmit beamforming strategy, we first achieve the inner beamforming direction and allocated power by minimizing the interference leakage as well as maximizing the system energy efficiency, respectively. Then, for the outer beamformer design, we develop an efficient conjugate gradient Grassmann manifold subspace tracking algorithm to minimize the distances between the subspace spanned by interference and the interference subspace in the time varying channel. At receivers, we propose a practical interference alignment based on fast and robust fast data projection method (FDPM) subspace tracking algorithm, to achieve the receive beamformer under channel uncertainty. Numerical results show that our proposed robust transceiver design achieves better performance compared with some existing methods in terms of the sum rate and the energy efficiency.
Kinematically Redundant Octahedral Motion Platform for Virtual Reality Simulations
Venue: arXiv cs.RO 2017
Year: 2017

We propose a novel design of a parallel manipulator of Stewart Gough type for virtual reality application of single individuals; i.e. an omni-directional treadmill is mounted on the motion platform in order to improve VR immersion by giving feedback to the human body. For this purpose we modify the well-known octahedral manipulator in a way that it has one degree of kinematical redundancy; namely an equiform reconfigurability of the base. The instantaneous kinematics and singularities of this mechanism are studied, where especially "unavoidable singularities" are characterized. These are poses of the motion platform, which can only be realized by singular configurations of the mechanism despite its kinematic redundancy.
Learn-Memorize-Recall-Reduce A Robotic Cloud Computing Paradigm
Venue: arXiv cs.DC 2017
Year: 2017

The rise of robotic applications has led to the generation of a huge volume of unstructured data, whereas the current cloud infrastructure was designed to process limited amounts of structured data. To address this problem, we propose a learn-memorize-recall-reduce paradigm for robotic cloud computing. The learning stage converts incoming unstructured data into structured data; the memorization stage provides effective storage for the massive amount of data; the recall stage provides efficient means to retrieve the raw data; while the reduction stage provides means to make sense of this massive amount of unstructured data with limited computing resources.
Understanding Norm Change: An Evolutionary Game-Theoretic Approach (Extended Version)
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2017
Year: 2017

Human societies around the world interact with each other by developing and maintaining social norms, and it is critically important to understand how such norms emerge and change. In this work, we define an evolutionary game-theoretic model to study how norms change in a society, based on the idea that different strength of norms in societies translate to different game-theoretic interaction structures and incentives. We use this model to study, both analytically and with extensive agent-based simulations, the evolutionary relationships of the need for coordination in a society (which is related to its norm strength) with two key aspects of norm change: cultural inertia (whether or how quickly the population responds when faced with conditions that make a norm change desirable), and exploration rate (the willingness of agents to try out new strategies). Our results show that a high need for coordination leads to both high cultural inertia and a low exploration rate, while a low need for coordination leads to low cultural inertia and high exploration rate. This is the first work, to our knowledge, on understanding the evolutionary causal relationships among these factors.
A Component-Based Simplex Architecture for High-Assurance Cyber-Physical Systems
Venue: arXiv cs.SY 2017
Year: 2017

We present Component-Based Simplex Architecture (CBSA), a new framework for assuring the runtime safety of component-based cyber-physical systems (CPSs). CBSA integrates Assume-Guarantee (A-G) reasoning with the core principles of the Simplex control architecture to allow component-based CPSs to run advanced, uncertified controllers while still providing runtime assurance that A-G contracts and global properties are satisfied. In CBSA, multiple Simplex instances, which can be composed in a nested, serial or parallel manner, coordinate to assure system-wide properties. Combining A-G reasoning and the Simplex architecture is a challenging problem that yields significant benefits. By utilizing A-G contracts, we are able to compositionally determine the switching logic for CBSAs, thereby alleviating the state explosion encountered by other approaches. Another benefit is that we can use A-G proof rules to decompose the proof of system-wide safety assurance into sub-proofs corresponding to the component-based structure of the system architecture. We also introduce the notion of coordinated switching between Simplex instances, a key component of our compositional approach to reasoning about CBSA switching logic. We illustrate our framework with a component-based control system for a ground rover. We formally prove that the CBSA for this system guarantees energy safety (the rover never runs out of power), and collision freedom (the rover never collides with a stationary obstacle). We also consider a CBSA for the rover that guarantees mission completion: all target destinations visited within a prescribed amount of time.
A Security Monitoring Framework For Virtualization Based HEP Infrastructures
Venue: arXiv cs.DC 2017
Year: 2017

High Energy Physics (HEP) distributed computing infrastructures require automatic tools to monitor, analyze and react to potential security incidents. These tools should collect and inspect data such as resource consumption, logs and sequence of system calls for detecting anomalies that indicate the presence of a malicious agent. They should also be able to perform automated reactions to attacks without administrator intervention. We describe a novel framework that accomplishes these requirements, with a proof of concept implementation for the ALICE experiment at CERN. We show how we achieve a fully virtualized environment that improves the security by isolating services and Jobs without a significant performance impact. We also describe a collected dataset for Machine Learning based Intrusion Prevention and Detection Systems on Grid computing. This dataset is composed of resource consumption measurements (such as CPU, RAM and network traffic), logfiles from operating system services, and system call data collected from production Jobs running in an ALICE Grid test site and a big set of malware. This malware was collected from security research sites. Based on this dataset, we will proceed to develop Machine Learning algorithms able to detect malicious Jobs.