pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
Improving Reinforcement Learning by using Case-Based Heuristics

The original publication is available at www.springerlink.comThis work presents a new approach that allows the use of cases in\ud
a case base as heuristics to speed up Reinforcement Learning algorithms, combining\ud
Case Based Reasoning (CBR) and Reinforcement Learning (RL) techniques.\ud
This approach, called Case Based Heuristically Accelerated Reinforcement\ud
Learning (CB-HARL), builds upon an emerging technique, the Heuristic\ud
Accelerated Reinforcement Learning (HARL), in which RL methods are accelerated\ud
by making use of heuristic information. CB-HARL is a subset of RL that\ud
makes use of a heuristic function derived from a case base, in a Case Based Reasoning\ud
manner. An algorithm that incorporates CBR techniques into the Heuristically\ud
Accelerated Q–Learning is also proposed. Empirical evaluations were conducted\ud
in a simulator for the RoboCup Four-Legged Soccer Competition, and\ud
results obtained shows that using CB-HARL, the agents learn faster than using\ud
either RL or HARL methods.This work has been partially funded by the FI grant and the BE grant from the\ud
AGAUR, the 2005-SGR-00093 project, supported by the Generalitat de Catalunya, the\ud
MID-CBR project grant TIN 2006-15140-C03-01 and FEDER funds. Reinaldo Bianchi\ud
is supported by CNPq grant 201591/2007-3 and FAPESP grant 2009/01610-1.Peer reviewe
Efficient Global Minimization for the Multiphase Chan-Vese Model of Image Segmentation

The Mumford-Shah model is an important variational image segmentation
model. A popular multiphase level set approach, the Chan-Vese
model, was developed as a numerical realization by representing the phases
by several overlapping level set functions. Recently, a variant representation
of the Chan-Vese model with binary level set functions was proposed.
In both approaches, the gradient descent equations had to be solved numerically,
a procedure which is slow and has the potential of getting stuck
in a local minima.
In this work, we develop an efficient and global minimization method
for a discrete version of the level set representation of the Chan-Vese model
with 4 regions (phases), based on graph cuts. If the average intensity values
of the different regions are sufficiently evenly distributed, the energy
function is submodular. It is shown theoretically and experimentally that
the condition is expected to hold for the most commonly used data terms.
We have also developed a method for minimizing nonsubmodular functions,
that can produce global solutions in practice should the condition
not be satisfied, which may happen for the L1 data term
Distributed privilege enforcement in PACS

We present a new access control mechanism for P2P networks\ud
with distributed enforcement, called P2P Access Control System (PACS). PACS enforces powerful access control models like RBAC with administrative delegation inside a P2P network in a pure P2P manner, which is not possible in any of the currently used P2P access control mechanisms. PACS uses client-side enforcement to support the replication of confidential data. To avoid a single point of failure at the time of privilege enforcement, we use threshold cryptography to distribute the enforcement among the participants. Our analysis of the expected number of messages and the computational effort needed in PACS shows that its increased flexibility comes with an acceptable additional overhead
Improving the Quality of EEG Data in Patients With Alzheimers Disease Using ICA

Does Independent Component Analysis (ICA) denature EEG
signals? We applied ICA to two groups of subjects (mild Alzheimer
patients and control subjects). The aim of this study was to examine
whether or not the ICA method can reduce both group di®erences and
within-subject variability. We found that ICA diminished Leave-One-
Out root mean square error (RMSE) of validation (from 0.32 to 0.28),
indicative of the reduction of group di®erence. More interestingly, ICA
reduced the inter-subject variability within each group (¾ = 2:54 in the
± range before ICA, ¾ = 1:56 after, Bartlett p = 0.046 after Bonfer-
roni correction). Additionally, we present a method to limit the impact
of human error (' 13:8%, with 75.6% inter-cleaner agreement) during
ICA cleaning, and reduce human bias. These ¯ndings suggests the novel
usefulness of ICA in clinical EEG in Alzheimer's disease for reduction of
subject variability
An Application of Martin-Löf Randomness to Effective Probability Theory

ISBN : 978-3-642-03072-7International audienceIn this paper we provide a framework for computable analysis of measure, probability and integration theories. We work on computable metric spaces with computable Borel probability measures. We introduce and study the framework of layerwise computability which lies on Martin-Löf randomness and the existence of a universal randomness test. We then prove characterizations of effective notions of measurability and integrability in terms of layerwise computability. On the one hand it gives a simple way of handling effective measure theory, on the other hand it provides powerful tools to study Martin-Löf randomness, as illustrated in a sequel paper
Numberings and randomness

We prove various results on effective numberings and Friedberg numberings of
families related to algorithmic randomness. The family of all Martin-L\"of
random left-computably enumerable reals has a Friedberg numbering, as does the
family of all $\Pi^0_1$ classes of positive measure. On the other hand, the
$\Pi^0_1$ classes contained in the Martin-L\"of random reals do not even have
an effective numbering, nor do the left-c.e. reals satisfying a fixed
randomness constant. For $\Pi^0_1$ classes contained in the class of reals
satisfying a fixed randomness constant, we prove that at least an effective
numbering exists.Comment: The final publication is available at Springer via
  http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-03073-4_
Default Conceptual Graph Rules: Preliminary Results for an Agronomy Application

International audienceIn this paper, we extend Simple Conceptual Graphs with Reiter's default rules. The motivation for this extension came from the type of reasonings involved in an agronomy application, namely the simulation of food processing. Our contribution is many fold: rst, the expressivity of this new language corresponds to our modeling purposes. Second, we provide an effective characterization of sound and complete reasonings in this language. Third, we identify a decidable subclass of Reiter's default logics. Last we identify our language as a superset of SREC-, and provide the lacking semantics for the latter language
Travelling waves in a straight square duct

Isothermal, incompressible flow in a straight duct with square cross-section is known to be linearly stable [1]. Direct numerical simulation, on the other hand, has revealed that turbulence in this geometry is self-sustained above a Reynolds number value of approximately 1100, based on the bulk velocity and the duct half-width [2].\ud
Numerous non-linear equilibrium solutions have already been identified in plane Couette, plane Poiseuille and pipe flows [3, 4, 5], and their role in the transition process as well as their relevance to the statistics of turbulent flow have been investigated [6, 7, 8]. No non-linear travelling-wave solutions for the flow through a square duct have been published to date
Multidimensional integrated ontologies: a framework for designing semantic data warehouses

The Semantic Web enables companies and organizations to gather huge amounts of valuable semantically annotated data concerning their subjects of interest. Nowadays, many applications attach metadata and semantic annotations taken from domain and application ontologies to the information they generate. From our point of view, the concepts in these ontologies could describe the facts, dimensions, categories and values implied in the analysis subjects of a data warehouse. In this paper we propose the Semantic Data Warehouse to be a repository of ontologies and semantically annotated data resources. We also propose an ontology-driven framework to design multidimensional analysis models for Semantic Data Warehouses. This framework provides means for building an integrated ontology, called the Multidimensional Integrated Ontology (MIO), including the classes, relationships and instances that represent interesting analysis dimensions and measures. The reasoning capabilities of a MIO can be used to check the properties required by current multidimensional databases (e.g., dimension orthogonality, category satisfiability, etc.). In this paper we also sketch how the instance data of a MIO can be translated into OLAP cubes for analysis purposes. Finally, some implementation issues of the overall framework are discusse
Podcasts in higher education : students’ and lecturers’ perspectives

This paper reports the use of podcasts in blended-learning at the University of Minho, in Portugal. Six lecturers created their own podcasts with different purposes in order to support their undergraduate and graduate courses and their students’ (n=318) learning. The reported study belongs to a broader project about the impact of podcasts in blended-learning and it reports data from two semesters. Results give evidence of students’ acceptance regarding podcasts although they do not yet make use of the advantages of media and mobile technologies. The lecturers considered podcasts worthwhile for teaching and for students to learn, but they are time-consuming and there is no institutional recognition. In spite of this, they intend to continue using podcasts in their courses.Universidade do Minho. Centro de Investigação em Educação (CIEd)Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) - PTDC/CED/70751/200
The Language : Rationale and Fundamentals

The Business Process Management domain has evolved at a dramatic pace over the past two decades and the notion of the business process has become a ubiquitous part of the modern business enterprise. Most organizations now view their operations in terms of business processes and manage these business processes in the same way as other corporate assets. In recent years, an increasingly broad range of generic technology has become available for automating business processes. This is part of a growing trend in the software engineering field throughout the past 40 years, where aspects of functionality that are potentially reusable on a widespread basis have coalesced into generic software components. Figure 2.1 illustrates this trend and shows how software systems have evolved from the monolithic applications of the 1960s developed in their entirety often by a single development team to today’s offerings that are based on the integration of a range of generic technologies with only a small component of the application actually being developed from scratch. In the 1990s, generic functionality for the automation of business processes first became commercially available in the form of workflow technology and subsequently evolved in the broader field of business process management systems (BPMS). This technology alleviated the necessity to develop process support within applications from scratch and provided a variety of off-the-shelf options on which these requirements could be based. The demand for this technology was significant and it is estimated that by 2000 there were well over 200 distinct workflow offerings in the market, each with a distinct conceptual foundation. Anticipating the difficulties that would be experienced by organizations seeking to utilize and integrate distinct workflow offerings, the Workflow Management Coalition (WfMC), an industry group formed to advance technology in this area, proposed a standard reference model for workflow technology with an express desire to seek a common platform for achieving workflow interoperation
The abstract streaming machine: compile-time performance modelling of stream programs on heterogeneous multiprocessors

Stream programming offers a portable way for regular applications such as digital video, software radio, multimedia and 3D graphics to exploit a multiprocessor machine. The compiler maps a portable stream program onto the target, automatically sizing communications buffers and applying optimizing transformations such as task fission or fusion, unrolling loops and aggregating communication. We present a machine description and performance model for an iterative stream compilation flow, which represents the stream program running on a heterogeneous multiprocessor system with distributed or shared memory. The model is a key component of the ACOTES open-source stream compiler currently under development. Our experiments on the Cell Broadband Engine show that the predicted throughput has a maximum relative error of 15% across our benchmarks.Postprint (published version
Extended static checking by calculation using the pointfree transform

The pointfree transform offers to the predicate calculus what the La- place transform offers to the differential/integral calculus: the possibility of chang- ing the underlying mathematical space so as to enable agile algebraic calculation. This paper addresses the foundations of the transform and its application to a calculational approach to extended static checking (ESC) in the context of ab- stract modeling. In particular, a calculus is given whose rules help in breaking the complexity of the proof obligations involved in static checking arguments. The close connection between such calculus and that of weakest pre-conditions makes it possible to use the latter in ESC proof obligation discharge, where point- free notation is again used, this time to calculate with invariant properties to be maintained.
A connection with the “everything is a relation” lemma of Alloy is estab- lished, showing how close to each other the pointfree and Alloy notations are. The main advantage of this connection is that of complementing pen-and-paper pointfree calculations with model checking support wherever validating sizable abstract models.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT
Globes on the Web – The Technical Background\ud
and the First Items of the Virtual Globes Museum

The “Virtual Globes Museum” project has several aims. It preserves globes for the future and provides an opportunity of examining rare globes without the risk of doing any harm to them. It also can help in globe-restoring as the restoration work can be done on the virtual copy of a globe.\ud
The first part of the paper will present possible solutions to the problem of dinteractive digital globe publishing on the Internet. It describes the processing method of\ud
the two possible source materials: globe prints and photographs. The visualization of results is realized in two different ways. The first one is a 3D virtual world created by using the VRML language. The second one is a special “globe layer” in KML, which can be used in the Google Earth software. The advantages and disadvantages\ud
of each solution are also examined. The second part of the paper will introduce the most interesting items of the\ud
museum
Strongly Secure Certificateless Key Agreement

We introduce a formal model for certificateless authenticated key exchange (CL-AKE) protocols. Contrary to what might be expected, we show that the natural combination of an ID-based AKE protocol with a public key based AKE protocol cannot provide strong security. We provide the first one-round CL-AKE scheme proven secure in the random oracle model. \ud
We introduce two variants of the Diffie-Hellman trapdoor the introduced by \cite{DBLP:conf/eurocrypt/CashKS08}.\ud
The proposed key agreement scheme is secure as long as each party has at least one uncompromised secret. Thus, our scheme is secure even if the key generation centre learns the ephemeral secrets of both parties
Cryptanalysis of the LAKE hash family

We analyse the security of the cryptographic hash function LAKE-256 proposed at FSE 2008 by Aumasson, Meier and Phan. By exploiting non-injectivity of some of the building primitives of LAKE, we show three different collision and near-collision attacks on the compression function. The first attack uses differences in the chaining values and the block counter and finds collisions with complexity 233. The second attack utilizes differences in the chaining values and salt and yields collisions with complexity 242. The final attack uses differences only in the chaining values to yield near-collisions with complexity 299. All our attacks are independent of the number of rounds in the compression function. We illustrate the first two attacks by showing examples of collisions and near-collisions
An Alternative Method for Solving a Certain Class of Fractional Kinetic
  Equations

An alternative method for solving the fractional kinetic equations solved
earlier by Haubold and Mathai (2000) and Saxena et al. (2002, 2004a, 2004b) is
recently given by Saxena and Kalla (2007). This method can also be applied in
solving more general fractional kinetic equations than the ones solved by the
aforesaid authors. In view of the usefulness and importance of the kinetic
equation in certain physical problems governing reaction-diffusion in complex
systems and anomalous diffusion, the authors present an alternative simple
method for deriving the solution of the generalized forms of the fractional
kinetic equations solved by the aforesaid authors and Nonnenmacher and Metzler
(1995). The method depends on the use of the Riemann-Liouville fractional
calculus operators. It has been shown by the application of Riemann-Liouville
fractional integral operator and its interesting properties, that the solution
of the given fractional kinetic equation can be obtained in a straight-forward
manner. This method does not make use of the Laplace transform.Comment: 7 pages, LaTe
Extended Reaction Rate Integral as Solutions of Some General
  Differential Equations

Here an extended form of the reaction rate probability integral, in the case
of nonresonant thermonuclear reactions with the depleted tail and the right
tail cut off, is considered. The reaction rate integral then can be looked upon
as the inverse of the convolution of the Mellin transforms of Tsallis type
statistics of nonextensive statistical mechanics and stretched exponential as
well as that of superstatistics and stretched exponentials. The differential
equations satisfied by the extended probability integrals are derived. The idea
used is a novel one of evaluating the extended integrals in terms of some
special functions and then by invoking the differential equations satisfied by
these special functions. Some special cases of limiting situations are also
discussed.Comment: 9 pages, LaTe
Solutions of the Fractional Reaction Equation and the Fractional
  Diffusion Equation

In view of the role of reaction equations in physical problems, the authors
derive the explicit solution of a fractional reaction equation of general
character, that unifies and extends earlier results. Further, an alternative
shorter method based on a result developed by the authors is given to derive
the solution of a fractional diffusion equation. Fox functions and
Mittag-Leffler functions are used for closed-form representations of the
solutions of the respective differential equations.Comment: 10 pages, LaTe
Generalized Mittag-Leffler Distributions and Processes for Applications
  in Astrophysics and Time Series Modeling

Geometric generalized Mittag-Leffler distributions having the Laplace
transform $\frac{1}{1+\beta\log(1+t^\alpha)},0<\alpha\le 2,\beta>0$ is
introduced and its properties are discussed. Autoregressive processes with
Mittag-Leffler and geometric generalized Mittag-Leffler marginal distributions
are developed. Haubold and Mathai (2000) derived a closed form representation
of the fractional kinetic equation and thermonuclear function in terms of
Mittag-Leffler function. Saxena et al (2002, 2004a,b) extended the result and
derived the solutions of a number of fractional kinetic equations in terms of
generalized Mittag-Leffler functions. These results are useful in explaining
various fundamental laws of physics. Here we develop first-order autoregressive
time series models and the properties are explored. The results have
applications in various areas like astrophysics, space sciences, meteorology,
financial modeling and reliability modeling.Comment: 12 pages, LaTe
Evolution of the influence of geography on the location of production in Spain (1930-2005)

In this paper, we investigate the relative importance of geographic features on the location of production in Spain. Specifically, we want to quantify how much of the spatial pattern of GDP can be attributed to only exoge-nous first nature elements (physical and political geography) and how much can be derived from endogenous second nature factors (man-made agglomeration economies). In order to disentangle both effects empiri-cally, and to learn how they are interrelated, we control for second nature. We use a methodology based on an analysis of variance (ANOVA), which is applied to a panel of 47 Spanish provinces in the period 1930-2005. We demonstrate that results can be biased if spatial autocorrelation and spatial heterogeneity, as well as multicollinearity and endogeneity, are not prop-erly taken into account. In the Spanish case, we detect strong spatial het-erogeneity in the form of two main clusters. As expected, gross second na-ture forces are more important than net natural advantages, though their effects range from about 55% in the hinterland to 80% in the coast.
Adaptability properties of a Collaborative Virtual Environment for Training

International audienceIn order to be used in various contexts of training, a desirable property for a virtual environment for training, especially a collaborative one, is adaptability. In this paper, we identify two levels of adaptability the environment should offer. The first level concerns the parametering of the components of the application, especially the scenario and the actors' behavior. The second level appears during the execution of the application where the actors should be able to adapt the scenario xecution to the context. The models proposed in this paper fully satisfy those requirements. The scenario, the virtual world, the actors and the training session can be parametrized. Moreover, an action selection mechanism enables the actors to dynamically choose an action to perform depending on both the current context and the past actions. Finally we validate our models by presenting an illustrative scenario within the GVT environment
Exploration of affect sensing from speech and metaphorical text

We report new developments on affect detection from textual metaphorical affective expression and affect sensing from speech. The textual affect detection component has been embedded in an intelligent conversational AI agent interacting with human users under loose scenarios. The detected affective states from text also play an important role in producing emotional animation for users' avatars. Evaluation of the affect detection from speech and text is provided. Our work contributes to the conference themes on engagement and emotion, virtual AI agents, narrative storytelling in education and evaluation of affective social interaction