OpenRaiser/Intern-Atlas huggingface dataset:
Self-paced brain-computer interface control of ambulation in a virtual reality environment
Venue: arXiv cs.HC 2012
Year: 2012

Objective: Spinal cord injury (SCI) often leaves affected individuals unable to ambulate. Electroencephalogramme (EEG) based brain-computer interface (BCI) controlled lower extremity prostheses may restore intuitive and able-body-like ambulation after SCI. To test its feasibility, the authors developed and tested a novel EEG-based, data-driven BCI system for intuitive and self-paced control of the ambulation of an avatar within a virtual reality environment (VRE). Approach: Eight able-bodied subjects and one with SCI underwent the following 10-min training session: subjects alternated between idling and walking kinaesthetic motor imageries (KMI) while their EEG were recorded and analysed to generate subject-specific decoding models. Subjects then performed a goal-oriented online task, repeated over 5 sessions, in which they utilised the KMI to control the linear ambulation of an avatar and make 10 sequential stops at designated points within the VRE. Main results: The average offline training performance across subjects was 77.2 +/- 9.5%, ranging from 64.3% (p = 0.00176) to 94.5% (p = 6.26*10^-23), with chance performance being 50%. The average online performance was 8.4 +/- 1.0 (out of 10) successful stops and 303 +/- 53 sec completion time (perfect = 211 sec). All subjects achieved performances significantly different than those of random walk (p < 0.05) in 44 of the 45 online sessions. Significance: By using a data-driven machine learning approach to decode users' KMI, this BCIVRE system enabled intuitive and purposeful self-paced control of ambulation after only a 10-minute training. The ability to achieve such BCI control with minimal training indicates that the implementation of future BCI-lower extremity prosthesis systems may be feasible.
Link Adaptation with Untrusted Relay Assignment: Design and Performance Analysis
Venue: arXiv cs.NI 2012
Year: 2012

In this paper, a link adaptation and untrusted relay assignment (LAURA) framework for efficient and reliable wireless cooperative communications with physical layer security is proposed. Using sharp channel codes in different transmission modes, reliability for the destination and security in the presence of untrusted relays (low probability of interception) are provided through rate and power allocation. Within this framework, several schemes are designed for highly spectrally efficient link adaptation and relay selection, which involve different levels of complexity and channel state information requirement. Analytical and simulation performance evaluation of the proposed LAURA schemes are provided, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the presented designs. The results indicate that power adaptation at the source plays a critical role in spectral efficiency performance. Also, it is shown that relay selection based on the signal to noise ratio of the source to relays channels provides an interesting balance of performance and complexity within the proposed LAURA framework.
Epistemic Temporal Logic for Information Flow Security
Venue: arXiv cs.CR 2012
Year: 2012

Temporal epistemic logic is a well-established framework for expressing agents knowledge and how it evolves over time. Within language-based security these are central issues, for instance in the context of declassification. We propose to bring these two areas together. The paper presents a computational model and an epistemic temporal logic used to reason about knowledge acquired by observing program outputs. This approach is shown to elegantly capture standard notions of noninterference and declassification in the literature as well as information flow properties where sensitive and public data intermingle in delicate ways.
Bounded-Contention Coding for Wireless Networks in the High SNR Regime
Venue: arXiv cs.NI 2012
Year: 2012

Efficient communication in wireless networks is typically challenged by the possibility of interference among several transmitting nodes. Much important research has been invested in decreasing the number of collisions in order to obtain faster algorithms for communication in such networks. This paper proposes a novel approach for wireless communication, which embraces collisions rather than avoiding them, over an additive channel. It introduces a coding technique called Bounded-Contention Coding (BCC) that allows collisions to be successfully decoded by the receiving nodes into the original transmissions and whose complexity depends on a bound on the contention among the transmitters. BCC enables deterministic local broadcast in a network with n nodes and at most a transmitters with information of l bits each within O(a log n + al) bits of communication with full-duplex radios, and O((a log n + al)(log n)) bits, with high probability, with half-duplex radios. When combined with random linear network coding, BCC gives global broadcast within O((D + a + log n)(a log n + l)) bits, with high probability. This also holds in dynamic networks that can change arbitrarily over time by a worst-case adversary. When no bound on the contention is given, it is shown how to probabilistically estimate it and obtain global broadcast that is adaptive to the true contention in the network.
Benchmarking recognition results on word image datasets
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2012
Year: 2012

We have benchmarked the maximum obtainable recognition accuracy on various word image datasets using manual segmentation and a currently available commercial OCR. We have developed a Matlab program, with graphical user interface, for semi-automated pixel level segmentation of word images. We discuss the advantages of pixel level annotation. We have covered five databases adding up to over 3600 word images. These word images have been cropped from camera captured scene, born-digital and street view images. We recognize the segmented word image using the trial version of Nuance Omnipage OCR. We also discuss, how the degradations introduced during acquisition or inaccuracies introduced during creation of word images affect the recognition of the word present in the image. Word images for different kinds of degradations and correction for slant and curvy nature of words are also discussed. The word recognition rates obtained on ICDAR 2003, Sign evaluation, Street view, Born-digital and ICDAR 2011 datasets are 83.9%, 89.3%, 79.6%, 88.5% and 86.7% respectively.
Unconditionally stable schemes for non-stationary convection-diffusion equations
Venue: arXiv cs.NA 2012
Year: 2012

Convection-diffusion problem are the base for continuum mechanics. The main features of these problems are associated with an indefinite operator the problem. In this work we construct unconditionally stable scheme for non-stationary convection-diffusion equations, which are based on use of new variables. Also, we consider these equations in the form of convection-diffusion-reaction and construct unconditionally stable schemes when explicit-implicit approximations are used with splitting of the reaction operator.
Link Prediction via Generalized Coupled Tensor Factorisation
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2012
Year: 2012

This study deals with the missing link prediction problem: the problem of predicting the existence of missing connections between entities of interest. We address link prediction using coupled analysis of relational datasets represented as heterogeneous data, i.e., datasets in the form of matrices and higher-order tensors. We propose to use an approach based on probabilistic interpretation of tensor factorisation models, i.e., Generalised Coupled Tensor Factorisation, which can simultaneously fit a large class of tensor models to higher-order tensors/matrices with com- mon latent factors using different loss functions. Numerical experiments demonstrate that joint analysis of data from multiple sources via coupled factorisation improves the link prediction performance and the selection of right loss function and tensor model is crucial for accurately predicting missing links.
Towards a statement of the S-adic conjecture through examples
Venue: arXiv cs.DM 2012
Year: 2012

The $S$-adic conjecture claims that there exists a condition $C$ such that a sequence has a sub-linear complexity if and only if it is an $S$-adic sequence satisfying Condition $C$ for some finite set $S$ of morphisms. We present an overview of the factor complexity of $S$-adic sequences and we give some examples that either illustrate some interesting properties or that are counter-examples to what could be believed to be "a good Condition $C$".
Development of a Novel Robot for Transperineal Needle Based Interventions: Focal Therapy, Brachytherapy and Prostate Biopsies
Venue: arXiv cs.RO 2012
Year: 2012

Purpose: We report what is to our knowledge the initial experience with a new 3-dimensional ultrasound robotic system for prostate brachytherapy assistance, focal therapy and prostate biopsies. Its ability to track prostate motion intraoperatively allows it to manage motions and guide needles to predefined targets. Materials and Methods: A robotic system was created for transrectal ultrasound guided needle implantation combined with intraoperative prostate tracking. Experiments were done on 90 targets embedded in a total of 9 mobile, deformable, synthetic prostate phantoms. Experiments involved trying to insert glass beads as close as possible to targets in multimodal anthropomorphic imaging phantoms. Results were measured by segmenting the inserted beads in computerized tomography volumes of the phantoms. Results: The robot reached the chosen targets in phantoms with a median accuracy of 2.73 mm and a median prostate motion of 5.46 mm. Accuracy was better at the apex than at the base (2.28 vs 3.83 mm, p <0.001), and similar for horizontal and angled needle inclinations (2.7 vs 2.82 mm, p = 0.18). Conclusions: To our knowledge this robot for prostate focal therapy, brachytherapy and targeted prostate biopsies is the first system to use intraoperative prostate motion tracking to guide needles into the prostate. Preliminary experiments show its ability to reach targets despite prostate motion.
On Benchmarking Embedded Linux Flash File Systems
Venue: arXiv cs.OS 2012
Year: 2012

Due to its attractive characteristics in terms of performance, weight and power consumption, NAND flash memory became the main non volatile memory (NVM) in embedded systems. Those NVMs also present some specific characteristics/constraints: good but asymmetric I/O performance, limited lifetime, write/erase granularity asymmetry, etc. Those peculiarities are either managed in hardware for flash disks (SSDs, SD cards, USB sticks, etc.) or in software for raw embedded flash chips. When managed in software, flash algorithms and structures are implemented in a specific flash file system (FFS). In this paper, we present a performance study of the most widely used FFSs in embedded Linux: JFFS2, UBIFS,and YAFFS. We show some very particular behaviors and large performance disparities for tested FFS operations such as mounting, copying, and searching file trees, compression, etc.
Adaptive Generation Method of OFDM Signals in SLM Schemes for Low-complexity
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2012
Year: 2012

There are many selected mapping (SLM) schemes to reduce the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) signals. Beginning with the conventional SLM scheme, there have been proposed many low-complexity SLM schemes including Lim's, Wang's, and Baxely's SLM schemes typically. In this paper, we propose an adaptive generation (AG) method of OFDM signals in SLM schemes. By generating the alternative OFDM signals adaptively, unnecessary computational complexity of SLM schemes can be removed without any degradation of their PAPR reduction performance. In this paper, we apply the AG method to various SLM schemes which are the conventional SLM scheme and its low-complexity versions such as Lim's, Wang's, and Baxely's SLM schemes. Of course, the AG method can be applied to most of existing SLM schemes easily. The numerical results show that the AG method can reduce their computational complexity substantially.
Spread of Influence and Content in Mobile Opportunistic Networks
Venue: arXiv cs.SI 2012
Year: 2012

We consider a setting in which a single item of content (such as a song or a video clip) is disseminated in a population of mobile nodes by opportunistic copying when pairs of nodes come in radio contact. We propose and study models that capture the joint evolution of the population of nodes interested in the content (referred to as destinations), and the population of nodes that possess the content. The evolution of interest in the content is captured using an influence spread model and the content spread occurs via epidemic copying. Nodes not yet interested in the content are called relays; the influence spread process converts relays into destinations. We consider the decentralized setting, where interest in the content and the spread of the content evolve by pairwise interactions between the mobiles. We derive fluid limits for the joint evolution models and obtain optimal policies for copying to relay nodes in order to deliver content to a desired fraction of destinations. We prove that a time-threshold policy is optimal while copying to relays. We then provide insights into the effects of various system parameters on the co-evolution model through simulations.
Using Space-Time trellis Codes For AF Relay Channels
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2012
Year: 2012

We consider the analysis and design of space-time trellis codes (STTCs) for a cooperative relay channel operating in amplify-and-forward (AF) mode assuming the source and destination nodes are equipped with multiple antennas but the relay node has single antenna. We derive a pairwise error probability (PEP) expression for the performance of STTCs in this type of channels. A simple upper-bound on PEP is then derived and is maximized to find the optimum STTCs. We show that the designed STTCs based on the derived criterion achieve full diversity in the AF relay channels especially at high signal-to-noise-ratios (SNRs). The maximum achievable diversity in relay channels with single-antenna relay is bounded by $\min(M,N)$ where $M$ and $N$ are respectively the number of antennas in source and destination nodes. Simulation results confirm that the proposed codes achieve the maximum diversity and also provide an appealing coding gain.
Incremental Control Synthesis in Probabilistic Environments with Temporal Logic Constraints
Venue: arXiv cs.RO 2012
Year: 2012

In this paper, we present a method for optimal control synthesis of a plant that interacts with a set of agents in a graph-like environment. The control specification is given as a temporal logic statement about some properties that hold at the vertices of the environment. The plant is assumed to be deterministic, while the agents are probabilistic Markov models. The goal is to control the plant such that the probability of satisfying a syntactically co-safe Linear Temporal Logic formula is maximized. We propose a computationally efficient incremental approach based on the fact that temporal logic verification is computationally cheaper than synthesis. We present a case-study where we compare our approach to the classical non-incremental approach in terms of computation time and memory usage.
Integrated Symbolic Design of Unstable Nonlinear Networked Control Systems
Venue: arXiv cs.SY 2012
Year: 2012

The research area of Networked Control Systems (NCS) has been the topic of intensive study in the last decade. In this paper we give a contribution to this research line by addressing symbolic control design of (possibly unstable) nonlinear NCS with specifications expressed in terms of automata. We first derive symbolic models that are shown to approximate the given NCS in the sense of (alternating) approximate simulation. We then address symbolic control design with specifications expressed in terms of automata. We finally derive efficient algorithms for the synthesis of the proposed symbolic controllers that cope with the inherent computational complexity of the problem at hand.
Controlling the Error Floor in LDPC Decoding
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2012
Year: 2012

The error floor of LDPC is revisited as an effect of dynamic message behavior in the so-called absorption sets of the code. It is shown that if the signal growth in the absorption sets is properly balanced by the growth of set-external messages, the error floor can be lowered to essentially arbitrarily low levels. Importance sampling techniques are discussed and used to verify the analysis, as well as to discuss the impact of iterations and message quantization on the code performance in the ultra-low BER (error floor) regime.
One-sided Precoder Designs on Manifolds for Interference Alignment
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2012
Year: 2012

Interference alignment (IA) is a technique recently shown to achieve the maximum degrees of freedom (DoF) of $K$-user interference channel. In this paper, we focus on the precoder designs on manifolds for IA. By restricting the optimization only at the transmitters' side, it will alleviate the overhead induced by alternation between the forward and reverse links significantly. Firstly a classical steepest descent (SD) algorithm in multi-dimensional complex space is proposed to achieve feasible IA. Then we reform the optimization problem on Stiefel manifold, and propose a novel SD algorithm based on this manifold with lower dimensions. Moreover, aiming at further reducing the complexity, Grassmann manifold is introduced to derive corresponding algorithm for reaching the perfect IA. Numerical simulations show that the proposed algorithms on manifolds have better convergence performance and higher system capacity than previous methods, also achieve the maximum DoF.
On Side Channel Cryptanalysis and Sequential Decoding
Venue: arXiv cs.CR 2012
Year: 2012

This paper presents an approach for side channel cryptanalysis with iterative approximate Bayesian inference, based on sequential decoding methods. Reliability information about subkey hypotheses is generated in the form of likelihoods, and sets of subkey hypothesis likelihoods are optimally combined into key bit log likelihood ratios. The redundancy of expanded keys in multi-round cryptographic schemes is exploited to correct round key estimation errors. This is achieved by sequential decoding, where subkey candidates are sorted by a probabilistic path metric and iteratively extended. The M-algorithm is presented as a concrete implementation example with deterministic run-time behaviour. The resulting algorithm contains previous hard decision differential analysis as special case for single-round analysis and M=1, and is strictly more accurate otherwise. The trade-off between estimation accuracy and complexity is scalable by parameter choice. The proposed algorithm is simulatively shown in an example scenario to reduce the number of required side channel traces compared to standard differential analysis by a factor of two when run with reasonable complexity, for the whole investigated signal-to-noise ratio range.
Necessary and sufficient conditions of solution uniqueness in $\ell_1$ minimization
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2012
Year: 2012

This paper shows that the solutions to various convex $\ell_1$ minimization problems are \emph{unique} if and only if a common set of conditions are satisfied. This result applies broadly to the basis pursuit model, basis pursuit denoising model, Lasso model, as well as other $\ell_1$ models that either minimize $f(Ax-b)$ or impose the constraint $f(Ax-b)\leqσ$, where $f$ is a strictly convex function. For these models, this paper proves that, given a solution $x^*$ and defining $I=\supp(x^*)$ and $s=\sign(x^*_I)$, $x^*$ is the unique solution if and only if $A_I$ has full column rank and there exists $y$ such that $A_I^Ty=s$ and $|a_i^Ty|_\infty<1$ for $i\not\in I$. This condition is previously known to be sufficient for the basis pursuit model to have a unique solution supported on $I$. Indeed, it is also necessary, and applies to a variety of other $\ell_1$ models. The paper also discusses ways to recognize unique solutions and verify the uniqueness conditions numerically.
Computational Complexity of Interactive Behaviors
Venue: arXiv cs.CC 2012
Year: 2012

The theory of computational complexity focuses on functions and, hence, studies programs whose interactive behavior is reduced to a simple question/answer pattern. We propose a broader theory whose ultimate goal is expressing and analyzing the intrinsic difficulty of fully general interactive behaviors. To this extent, we use standard tools from concurrency theory, including labelled transition systems (formalizing behaviors) and their asynchronous extension (providing causality information). Behaviors are implemented by means of a multiprocessor machine executing CCS-like processes. The resulting theory is shown to be consistent with the classical definitions: when we restrict to functional behaviors (i.e., question/answer patterns), we recover several standard computational complexity classes.
Data Gathering for Sensing Applications in Vehicular Networks
Venue: arXiv cs.NI 2012
Year: 2012

We propose to use Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANET) as the infrastructure for an urban cyber-physical system for gathering up-to-date data about a city, like traffic conditions or environmental parameters. In this context, it is critical to design a data collection protocol that enables retrieving the data from the vehicles in almost real-time in an efficient way for urban scenarios. We propose Back off-based Per-hop Forwarding (BPF), a broadcast-based receiver-oriented protocol that uses the destination location information to select the forwarding order among the nodes receiving the packet. BFP does not require nodes to exchange periodic messages with their neighbors communicating their locations to keep a low management message overhead. It uses geographic information about the final destination node in the header of each data packet to route it in a hop-by-hop basis. It takes advantage of redundant forwarding to increase packet delivery to a destination, what is more critical in an urban scenario than in a highway, where the road topology does not represent a challenge for forwarding. We evaluate the performance of the BPF protocol using ns-3 and a Manhattan grid topology and compare it with well-known broadcast suppression techniques. Our results show that BPF achieves significantly higher packet delivery rates at a reduced redundancy cost.
Security Issues in the Android Cross-Layer Architecture
Venue: arXiv cs.CR 2012
Year: 2012

The security of Android has been recently challenged by the discovery of a number of vulnerabilities involving different layers of the Android stack. We argue that such vulnerabilities are largely related to the interplay among layers composing the Android stack. Thus, we also argue that such interplay has been underestimated from a security point-of-view and a systematic analysis of the Android interplay has not been carried out yet. To this aim, in this paper we provide a simple model of the Android cross-layer interactions based on the concept of flow, as a basis for analyzing the Android interplay. In particular, our model allows us to reason about the security implications associated with the cross-layer interactions in Android, including a recently discovered vulnerability that allows a malicious application to make Android devices totally unresponsive. We used the proposed model to carry out an empirical assessment of some flows within the Android cross-layered architecture. Our experiments indicate that little control is exercised by the Android Security Framework (ASF) over cross-layer interactions in Android. In particular, we observed that the ASF lacks in discriminating the originator of a flow and sensitive security issues arise between the Android stack and the Linux kernel, thereby indicating that the attack surface of the Android platform is wider than expected.