OpenRaiser/Intern-Atlas huggingface dataset:
Relationship between Cross-Polarization Discrimination (XPD) and Spatial Correlation in Indoor Small-Cell MIMO Systems
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2017
Year: 2017

In this letter, we present a correlated channel model for a dual-polarization antenna to omnidirectional antennas in indoor small-cell multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems. In an indoor environment, we confirm that the cross-polarization discrimination (XPD) in the direction of angle-of-departure can be represented as the spatial correlation of the MIMO channel. We also evaluate a dual-polarization antenna-based MIMO channel model and a spatially correlated channel model using a three-dimensional (3D) ray-tracing simulator. Furthermore, we provide the equivalent distance between adjacent antennas according to the XPD, providing insights into designing a dual-polarization antenna and its arrays.
Investigation and Comparison of 3GPP and NYUSIM Channel Models for 5G Wireless Communications
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2017
Year: 2017

Channel models describe how wireless channel parameters behave in a given scenario, and help evaluate link- and system-level performance. A proper channel model should be able to faithfully reproduce the channel parameters obtained in field measurements and accurately predict the spatial and temporal channel impulse response along with large-scale fading. This paper compares two popular channel models for next generation wireless communications: the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) TR 38.900 Release 14 channel model and the statistical spatial channel model NYUSIM developed by New York University (NYU). The two channel models employ different modeling approaches in many aspects, such as the line-of-sight probability, path loss, and clustering methodology. Simulations are performed using the two channel models to analyze the channel eigenvalue distribution and spectral efficiency leveraging the analog/digital hybrid beamforming methods found in the literature. Simulation results show that the 3GPP model produces different eigenvalue and spectral efficiency distributions for mmWave bands, as compared to the outcome from NYUSIM that is based on massive amounts of real-world measured data in New York City. This work shows NYUSIM is more accurate for realistic simulations than 3GPP in urban environments.
Automatic Trimap Generation for Image Matting
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2017
Year: 2017

Image matting is a longstanding problem in computational photography. Although, it has been studied for more than two decades, yet there is a challenge of developing an automatic matting algorithm which does not require any human efforts. Most of the state-of-the-art matting algorithms require human intervention in the form of trimap or scribbles to generate the alpha matte form the input image. In this paper, we present a simple and efficient approach to automatically generate the trimap from the input image and make the whole matting process free from human-in-the-loop. We use learning based matting method to generate the matte from the automatically generated trimap. Experimental results demonstrate that our method produces good quality trimap which results into accurate matte estimation. We validate our results by replacing the automatically generated trimap by manually created trimap while using the same image matting algorithm.
Entendendo o Pensamento Computacional
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2017
Year: 2017

The goal of this article is to clarify the meaning of Computational Thinking. We differentiate logical from computational reasoning and discuss the importance of Computational Thinking in solving problems. The three pillars of Computational Thinking - Abstraction, Automation and Analysis - are outlined, highlighting the role of each one in developing the skills needed for the problem-solving process. ----- O objetivo deste artigo é esclarecer o significado de Pensamento Computacional. Diferencia-se o raciocínio lógico do computacional e discute-se a importância do Pensamento Computacional na resolução de problemas. Os três pilares do Pensamento Computacional - Abstração, Automação e Análise - são delineados, destacando-se o papel de cada um deles no desenvolvimento das habilidades necessárias para o processo de solução de problemas.
Decoupled-IFTTT: Constraining Privilege in Trigger-Action Platforms for the Internet of Things
Venue: arXiv cs.CR 2017
Year: 2017

Trigger-Action platforms are an emerging class of web-based systems that enable users to create automation rules (or recipes) of the form, "If there is a smoke alarm, then turn off my oven." These platforms stitch together various online services including Internet of Things devices, social networks, and productivity tools by obtaining OAuth tokens on behalf of users. Unfortunately, these platforms also introduce a long-term security risk: If they are compromised, the attacker can misuse the OAuth tokens belonging to millions of users to arbitrarily manipulate their devices and data. In this work, we first quantify the risk users face in the context of If-This-Then-That (IFTTT). We perform the first empirical analysis of the OAuth-based authorization model of IFTTT using semi-automated tools that we built to overcome the challenges of IFTTT's closed source nature and of online service API inconsistencies. We find that 75% of IFTTT's channels, an abstraction of online services, use overprivileged OAuth tokens, increasing risks in the event of a compromise. Even if the OAuth tokens were to be privileged correctly, IFTTT's compromise will not prevent their misuse. Motivated by this empirical analysis, we design and evaluate Decoupled-IFTTT (dIFTTT), the first trigger-action platform where users do not have to give it highly-privileged access to their online services. Our design pushes the notion of fine-grained OAuth tokens to its extreme and ensures that even if the cloud service is controlled by the attacker, it cannot misuse the OAuth tokens to invoke unauthorized actions. Our evaluation establishes that dIFTTT poses modest overhead: it adds less than 15ms of latency to recipe execution time, and reduces throughput by 2.5%.
Detection and Localization of Image Forgeries using Resampling Features and Deep Learning
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2017
Year: 2017

Resampling is an important signature of manipulated images. In this paper, we propose two methods to detect and localize image manipulations based on a combination of resampling features and deep learning. In the first method, the Radon transform of resampling features are computed on overlapping image patches. Deep learning classifiers and a Gaussian conditional random field model are then used to create a heatmap. Tampered regions are located using a Random Walker segmentation method. In the second method, resampling features computed on overlapping image patches are passed through a Long short-term memory (LSTM) based network for classification and localization. We compare the performance of detection/localization of both these methods. Our experimental results show that both techniques are effective in detecting and localizing digital image forgeries.
A New Upperbound on the Broadcast Rate of Index Coding Problems with Symmetric Neighboring Interference
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2017
Year: 2017

A single unicast index coding problem (SUICP) with symmetric neighboring interference (SNI) has equal number of $K$ messages and $K$ receivers, the $k$th receiver $R_{k}$ wanting the $k$th message $x_{k}$ and having the side-information $\mathcal{K}_{k}=(\mathcal{I}_{k} \cup x_{k})^c,$ where ${I}_k= \{x_{k-U},\dots,x_{k-2},x_{k-1}\}\cup\{x_{k+1}, x_{k+2},\dots,x_{k+D}\}$ is the interference with $D$ messages after and $U$ messages before its desired message. The single unicast index coding problem with symmetric neighboring interference (SUICP-SNI) is motivated by topological interference management problems in wireless communication networks. Maleki, Cadambe and Jafar obtained the capacity of this SUICP-SNI with $K$ tending to infinity and Blasiak, Kleinberg and Lubetzky for the special case of $(D=U=1)$ with $K$ being finite. Finding the capacity of the SUICP-SNI for arbitrary $K,D$ and $U$ is a challenging open problem. In our previous work, for an SUICP-SNI with arbitrary $K,D$ and $U$, we defined a set $\mathcal{\mathbf{S}}$ of $2$-tuples such that for every $(a,b)$ in that set $\mathcal{\mathbf{S}}$, the rate $D+1+\frac{a}{b}$ is achieved by using vector linear index codes over every finite field. In this paper, we give an algorithm to find the values of $a$ and $b$ such that $(a,b) \in \mathcal{\mathbf{S}}$ and $\frac{a}{b}$ is minimum. We present a new upperbound on the broadcast rate of SUICP-SNI and prove that this upper bound coincides with the existing results on the exact value of the capacity of SUICP-SNI in the respective settings.
End-to-End Learning of Video Super-Resolution with Motion Compensation
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2017
Year: 2017

Learning approaches have shown great success in the task of super-resolving an image given a low resolution input. Video super-resolution aims for exploiting additionally the information from multiple images. Typically, the images are related via optical flow and consecutive image warping. In this paper, we provide an end-to-end video super-resolution network that, in contrast to previous works, includes the estimation of optical flow in the overall network architecture. We analyze the usage of optical flow for video super-resolution and find that common off-the-shelf image warping does not allow video super-resolution to benefit much from optical flow. We rather propose an operation for motion compensation that performs warping from low to high resolution directly. We show that with this network configuration, video super-resolution can benefit from optical flow and we obtain state-of-the-art results on the popular test sets. We also show that the processing of whole images rather than independent patches is responsible for a large increase in accuracy.
Efficient Eye Typing with 9-direction Gaze Estimation
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2017
Year: 2017

Vision based text entry systems aim to help disabled people achieve text communication using eye movement. Most previous methods have employed an existing eye tracker to predict gaze direction and design an input method based upon that. However, these methods can result in eye tracking quality becoming easily affected by various factors and lengthy amounts of time for calibration. Our paper presents a novel efficient gaze based text input method, which has the advantage of low cost and robustness. Users can type in words by looking at an on-screen keyboard and blinking. Rather than estimate gaze angles directly to track eyes, we introduce a method that divides the human gaze into nine directions. This method can effectively improve the accuracy of making a selection by gaze and blinks. We build a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) model for 9-direction gaze estimation. On the basis of the 9-direction gaze, we use a nine-key T9 input method which is widely used in candy bar phones. Bar phones were very popular in the world decades ago and have cultivated strong user habits and language models. To train a robust gaze estimator, we created a large-scale dataset with images of eyes sourced from 25 people. According to the results from our experiments, our CNN model is able to accurately estimate different people's gaze under various lighting conditions by different devices. In considering disable people's needs, we removed the complex calibration process. The input methods can run in screen mode and portable off-screen mode. Moreover, The datasets used in our experiments are made available to the community to allow further experimentation.
A new class of permutation trinomials constructed from Niho exponents
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2017
Year: 2017

Permutation polynomials over finite fields are an interesting subject due to their important applications in the areas of mathematics and engineering. In this paper we investigate the trinomial $f(x)=x^{(p-1)q+1}+x^{pq}-x^{q+(p-1)}$ over the finite field $\mathbb{F}_{q^2}$, where $p$ is an odd prime and $q=p^k$ with $k$ being a positive integer. It is shown that when $p=3$ or $5$, $f(x)$ is a permutation trinomial of $\mathbb{F}_{q^2}$ if and only if $k$ is even. This property is also true for more general class of polynomials $g(x)=x^{(q+1)l+(p-1)q+1}+x^{(q+1)l+pq}-x^{(q+1)l+q+(p-1)}$, where $l$ is a nonnegative integer and $\gcd(2l+p,q-1)=1$. Moreover, we also show that for $p=5$ the permutation trinomials $f(x)$ proposed here are new in the sense that they are not multiplicative equivalent to previously known ones of similar form.
How algorithmic popularity bias hinders or promotes quality
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2017
Year: 2017

Algorithms that favor popular items are used to help us select among many choices, from engaging articles on a social media news feed to songs and books that others have purchased, and from top-raked search engine results to highly-cited scientific papers. The goal of these algorithms is to identify high-quality items such as reliable news, beautiful movies, prestigious information sources, and important discoveries --- in short, high-quality content should rank at the top. Prior work has shown that choosing what is popular may amplify random fluctuations and ultimately lead to sub-optimal rankings. Nonetheless, it is often assumed that recommending what is popular will help high-quality content "bubble up" in practice. Here we identify the conditions in which popularity may be a viable proxy for quality content by studying a simple model of cultural market endowed with an intrinsic notion of quality. A parameter representing the cognitive cost of exploration controls the critical trade-off between quality and popularity. We find a regime of intermediate exploration cost where an optimal balance exists, such that choosing what is popular actually promotes high-quality items to the top. Outside of these limits, however, popularity bias is more likely to hinder quality. These findings clarify the effects of algorithmic popularity bias on quality outcomes, and may inform the design of more principled mechanisms for techno-social cultural markets.
A Reverse Hex Solver
Venue: arXiv cs.AI 2017
Year: 2017

We present Solrex,an automated solver for the game of Reverse Hex.Reverse Hex, also known as Rex, or Misere Hex, is the variant of the game of Hex in which the player who joins her two sides loses the game. Solrex performs a mini-max search of the state space using Scalable Parallel Depth First Proof Number Search, enhanced by the pruning of inferior moves and the early detection of certain winning strategies. Solrex is implemented on the same code base as the Hex program Solver, and can solve arbitrary positions on board sizes up to 6x6, with the hardest position taking less than four hours on four threads.
Studying and Enhancing Talking Condition Recognition in Stressful and Emotional Talking Environments Based on HMMs, CHMM2s and SPHMMs
Venue: arXiv cs.SD 2017
Year: 2017

The work of this research is devoted to studying and enhancing talking condition recognition in stressful and emotional talking environments (completely two separate environments) based on three different and separate classifiers. The three classifiers are: Hidden Markov Models (HMMs), Second-Order Circular Hidden Markov Models (CHMM2s) and Suprasegmental Hidden Markov Models (SPHMMs). The stressful talking environments that have been used in this work are composed of neutral, shouted, slow, loud, soft and fast talking conditions, while the emotional talking environments are made up of neutral, angry, sad, happy, disgust and fear emotions. The achieved results in the current work show that SPHMMs lead each of HMMs and CHMM2s in improving talking condition recognition in stressful and emotional talking environments. The results also demonstrate that talking condition recognition in stressful talking environments outperforms that in emotional talking environments by 2.7%, 1.8% and 3.3% based on HMMs, CHMM2s and SPHMMs, respectively. Based on subjective assessment by human judges, the recognition performance of stressful talking conditions leads that of emotional ones by 5.2%.
Modeling preference time in middle distance triathlons
Venue: arXiv cs.NE 2017
Year: 2017

Modeling preference time in triathlons means predicting the intermediate times of particular sports disciplines by a given overall finish time in a specific triathlon course for the athlete with the known personal best result. This is a hard task for athletes and sport trainers due to a lot of different factors that need to be taken into account, e.g., athlete's abilities, health, mental preparations and even their current sports form. So far, this process was calculated manually without any specific software tools or using the artificial intelligence. This paper presents the new solution for modeling preference time in middle distance triathlons based on particle swarm optimization algorithm and archive of existing sports results. Initial results are presented, which suggest the usefulness of proposed approach, while remarks for future improvements and use are also emphasized.
High-Quality Face Image SR Using Conditional Generative Adversarial Networks
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2017
Year: 2017

We propose a novel single face image super-resolution method, which named Face Conditional Generative Adversarial Network(FCGAN), based on boundary equilibrium generative adversarial networks. Without taking any facial prior information, our method can generate a high-resolution face image from a low-resolution one. Compared with existing studies, both our training and testing phases are end-to-end pipeline with little pre/post-processing. To enhance the convergence speed and strengthen feature propagation, skip-layer connection is further employed in the generative and discriminative networks. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our model achieves competitive performance compared with state-of-the-art models.
A simple efficient density estimator that enables fast systematic search
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2017
Year: 2017

This paper introduces a simple and efficient density estimator that enables fast systematic search. To show its advantage over commonly used kernel density estimator, we apply it to outlying aspects mining. Outlying aspects mining discovers feature subsets (or subspaces) that describe how a query stand out from a given dataset. The task demands a systematic search of subspaces. We identify that existing outlying aspects miners are restricted to datasets with small data size and dimensions because they employ kernel density estimator, which is computationally expensive, for subspace assessments. We show that a recent outlying aspects miner can run orders of magnitude faster by simply replacing its density estimator with the proposed density estimator, enabling it to deal with large datasets with thousands of dimensions that would otherwise be impossible.
Zero-Shot Fine-Grained Classification by Deep Feature Learning with Semantics
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2017
Year: 2017

Fine-grained image classification, which aims to distinguish images with subtle distinctions, is a challenging task due to two main issues: lack of sufficient training data for every class and difficulty in learning discriminative features for representation. In this paper, to address the two issues, we propose a two-phase framework for recognizing images from unseen fine-grained classes, i.e. zero-shot fine-grained classification. In the first feature learning phase, we finetune deep convolutional neural networks using hierarchical semantic structure among fine-grained classes to extract discriminative deep visual features. Meanwhile, a domain adaptation structure is induced into deep convolutional neural networks to avoid domain shift from training data to test data. In the second label inference phase, a semantic directed graph is constructed over attributes of fine-grained classes. Based on this graph, we develop a label propagation algorithm to infer the labels of images in the unseen classes. Experimental results on two benchmark datasets demonstrate that our model outperforms the state-of-the-art zero-shot learning models. In addition, the features obtained by our feature learning model also yield significant gains when they are used by other zero-shot learning models, which shows the flexility of our model in zero-shot fine-grained classification.
OPEB: Open Physical Environment Benchmark for Artificial Intelligence
Venue: arXiv cs.AI 2017
Year: 2017

Artificial Intelligence methods to solve continuous- control tasks have made significant progress in recent years. However, these algorithms have important limitations and still need significant improvement to be used in industry and real- world applications. This means that this area is still in an active research phase. To involve a large number of research groups, standard benchmarks are needed to evaluate and compare proposed algorithms. In this paper, we propose a physical environment benchmark framework to facilitate collaborative research in this area by enabling different research groups to integrate their designed benchmarks in a unified cloud-based repository and also share their actual implemented benchmarks via the cloud. We demonstrate the proposed framework using an actual implementation of the classical mountain-car example and present the results obtained using a Reinforcement Learning algorithm.
Task Interruptions in Requirements Engineering: Reality versus Perceptions!
Venue: arXiv cs.SE 2017
Year: 2017

Task switching and interruptions are a daily reality in software development projects: developers switch between Requirements Engineering (RE), coding, testing, daily meetings, and other tasks. Task switching may increase productivity through increased information flow and effective time management. However, it might also cause a cognitive load to reorient the primary task, which accounts for the decrease in developers' productivity and increases in errors. This cognitive load is even greater in cases of cognitively demanding tasks as the ones typical for RE activities. In this paper, to compare the reality of task switching in RE with the perception of developers, we conducted two studies: (i) a case study analysis on 5,076 recorded tasks of 19 developers and (ii) a survey of 25 developers. The results of our retrospective analysis show that in ALL of the cases that the disruptiveness of RE interruptions is statistically different from other software development tasks, RE related tasks are more vulnerable to interruptions compared to other task types. Moreover, we found that context switching, the priority of the interrupting task, and the interruption source and timing are key factors that impact RE interruptions. We also provided a set of RE task switching patterns along with recommendations for both practitioners and researchers. While the results of our retrospective analysis show that self-interruptions are more disruptive than external interruptions, developers have different perceptions about the disruptiveness of various sources of interruptions.