Efficient algorithms for learning kernels from multiple similarity matrices with general convex loss functions

In this paper we consider the problem of learning an n × n kernel matrix from m(1) similarity matrices under general convex loss. Past research have extensively studied the m = 1 case and have derived several algorithms which require sophisticated techniques like ACCP, SOCP, etc. The existing algorithms do not apply if one uses arbitrary losses and often can not handle m > 1 case. We present several provably convergent iterative algorithms, where each iteration requires either an SVM or a Multiple Kernel Learning (MKL) solver for m > 1 case. One of the major contributions of the paper is to extend the well knownMirror Descent(MD) framework to handle Cartesian product of psd matrices. This novel extension leads to an algorithm, called EMKL, which solves the problem in O(m2 log n 2) iterations; in each iteration one solves an MKL involving m kernels and m eigen-decomposition of n × n matrices. By suitably defining a restriction on the objective function, a faster version of EMKL is proposed, called REKL,which avoids the eigen-decomposition. An alternative to both EMKL and REKL is also suggested which requires only an SVMsolver. Experimental results on real world protein data set involving several similarity matrices illustrate the efficacy of the proposed algorithms.

Modeling of concrete cracking-A hybrid technique of using displacement discontinuity element method and direct boundary element method

This paper presents a new approach by making use of a hybrid method of using the displacement discontinuity element method and direct boundary element method to model concrete cracking by incorporating fictitious crack model. Fracture mechanics approach is followed using the Hillerborg's fictitious crack model. A boundary element based substructure method and a hybrid technique of using displacement discontinuity element method and direct boundary element method are compared in this paper. In order to represent the process zone ahead of the crack, closing forces are assumed to act in such a way that they obey a linear normal stress-crack opening displacement law. Plain concrete beams with and without initial crack under three-point loading were analyzed by both the methods. The numerical results obtained were shown to agree well with the results from existing finite element method. The model is capable of reproducing the whole range of load-deflection response including strain-softening and snap-back behavior as illustrated in the numerical examples. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Hybrid systems through natural product leads: An approach towards new molecular entities

Hybrid systems are constructs of different molecular entities, natural or unnatural, to generate functional molecules in which the characteristics of various components are modulated, amplified or give rise to entirely new properties. These hybrids can be designed from carefully selected components either through domain intergration of key structural/functional features or via straightforward covalent linkages. Some of the recently reported hybrid systems based on steroid, carbohydrate, C-60-fullerene platforms, amongst others, mainly crafted with the object of enhancement of the therapeutical spectrum, will be discussed.

Improved preprocessing methods for modulo scheduling algorithms

Instruction scheduling with an automaton-based resource conflict model is well-established for normal scheduling. Such models have been generalized to software pipelining in the modulo-scheduling framework. One weakness with existing methods is that a distinct automaton must be constructed for each combination of a reservation table and initiation interval. In this work, we present a different approach to model conflicts. We construct one automaton for each reservation table which acts as a compact encoding of all the conflict automata for this table, which can be recovered for use in modulo-scheduling. The basic premise of the construction is to move away from the Proebsting-Fraser model of conflict automaton to the Muller model of automaton modelling issue sequences. The latter turns out to be useful and efficient in this situation. Having constructed this automaton, we show how to improve the estimate of resource constrained initiation interval. Such a bound is always better than the average-use estimate. We show that our bound is safe: it is always lower than the true initiation interval. This use of the automaton is orthogonal to its use in modulo-scheduling. Once we generate the required information during pre-processing, we can compute the lower bound for a program without any further reference to the automaton.

Optical and Electronic Properties of Conjugated Polymer -Nanocluster Semiconductor Hybrid Systems

Conjugated polymers are intensively pursued as candidate materials for emission and detection devices with the optical range of interest determined by the chemical structure. On the other hand the optical range for emission and detection can also be tuned by size selection in semiconductor nanoclusters. The mechanisms for charge generation and separation upon optical excitation, and light emission are different for these systems. Hybrid systems based on these different class of materials reveal interesting electronic and optical properties and add further insight into the individual characteristics of the different components. Multilayer structures and blends of these materials on different substrates were prepared for absorption, photocurrent (Iph), photoluminescence (PL) and electroluminscence (EL) studies. Polymers chosen were derivatives of polythiophene (PT) and polyparaphenylenevinylene (PPV) along with nanoclusters of cadmium sulphide of average size 4.4 nm (CdS-44). The photocurrent spectral response in these systems followed the absorption response around the band edges for each of the components and revealed additional features, which depended on bias voltage, thickness of the layers and interfacial effects. The current-voltage curves showed multi-component features with emission varying for different regimes of voltage. The emission spectral response revealed additive features and is discussed in terms of excitonic mechanisms.

Solving a part classification problem using simulated annealing-like hybrid

Part classification and coding is still considered as laborious and time-consuming exercise. Keeping in view, the crucial role, which it plays, in developing automated CAPP systems, the attempts have been made in this article to automate a few elements of this exercise using a shape analysis model. In this study, a 24-vector directional template is contemplated to represent the feature elements of the parts (candidate and prototype). Various transformation processes such as deformation, straightening, bypassing, insertion and deletion are embedded in the proposed simulated annealing (SA)-like hybrid algorithm to match the candidate part with their prototype. For a candidate part, searching its matching prototype from the information data is computationally expensive and requires large search space. However, the proposed SA-like hybrid algorithm for solving the part classification problem considerably minimizes the search space and ensures early convergence of the solution. The application of the proposed approach is illustrated by an example part. The proposed approach is applied for the classification of 100 candidate parts and their prototypes to demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Transaction-based QoS management in a Hybrid Wireless Superstore Environment

Hybrid wireless networks are extensively used in the superstores, market places, malls, etc. and provide high QoS (Quality of Service) to the end-users has become a challenging task. In this paper, we propose a policy-based transaction-aware QoS management architecture in a hybrid wireless superstore environment. The proposed scheme operates at the transaction level, for the downlink QoS management. We derive a policy for the estimation of QoS parameters, like, delay, jitter, bandwidth, availability, packet loss for every transaction before scheduling on the downlink. We also propose a QoS monitor which monitors the specified QoS and automatically adjusts the QoS according to the requirement. The proposed scheme has been simulated in hybrid wireless superstore environment and tested for various superstore transactions. The results shows that the policy-based transaction QoS management is enhance the performance and utilize network resources efficiently at the peak time of the superstore business.

Estimation of groundwater recharge of shallow aquifer on humid environment in Yaounde, Cameroon using hybrid water-fluctuation and hydrochemistry methods

A study of environmental chloride and groundwater balance has been carried out in order to estimate their relative value for measuring average groundwater recharge under a humid climatic environment with a relatively shallow water table. The hybrid water fluctuation method allowed the split of the hydrologic year into two seasons of recharge (wet season) and no recharge (dry season) to appraise specific yield during the dry season and, second, to estimate recharge from the water table rise during the wet season. This well elaborated and suitable method has then been used as a standard to assess the effectiveness of the chloride method under forest humid climatic environment. Effective specific yield of 0.08 was obtained for the study area. It reflects an effective basin-wide process and is insensitive to local heterogeneities in the aquifer system. The hybrid water fluctuation method gives an average recharge value of 87.14 mm/year at the basin scale, which represents 5.7% of the annual rainfall. Recharge value estimated based on the chloride method varies between 16.24 and 236.95 mm/year with an average value of 108.45 mm/year. It represents 7% of the mean annual precipitation. The discrepancy observed between recharge value estimated by the hybrid water fluctuation and the chloride mass balance methods appears to be very important, which could imply the ineffectiveness of the chloride mass balance method for this present humid environment.

Hybrid LCI/VSI Power Circuit-A Universal High-Power Converter Solution for Wound Field Synchronous Motor Drives

Load commutated inverter (LCI)-fed wound field synchronous motor drives are used for medium-voltage high-power drive applications. This drive suffers from drawbacks such as complex starting procedure, sixth harmonic torque pulsations, quasi square wave motor current, notches in the terminal voltages, etc. In this paper, a hybrid converter circuit, consisting of an LCI and a voltage source inverter (VSI), is proposed, which can be a universal high-power converter solution for wound field synchronous motor drives. The proposed circuit, with the addition of a current-controlled VSI, overcomes nearly all of the shortcomings present in the conventional LCI-based system besides providing many additional advantages. In the proposed drive, the motor voltage and current are always sinusoidal even with the LCI switching at the fundamental frequency. The performance of the drive is demonstrated with detailed experimental waveforms from a 15.8-hp salient pole wound field synchronous machine. Finally, a brief description of the control scheme used for the proposed circuit is given.

Low complexity Bit allocation algorithms for AAC encoding

We have developed two reduced complexity bit-allocation algorithms for MP3/AAC based audio encoding, which can be useful at low bit-rates. One algorithm derives optimum bit-allocation using constrained optimization of weighted noise-to-mask ratio and the second algorithm uses decoupled iterations for distortion control and rate control, with convergence criteria. MUSHRA based evaluation indicated that the new algorithm would be comparable to AAC but requiring only about 1/10 th the complexity.

Efficient Algorithms for Combinatorial Auctions with Volume Discounts Arising in Web Service Composition

Web services are now a key ingredient of software services offered by software enterprises. Many standardized web services are now available as commodity offerings from web service providers. An important problem for a web service requester is the web service composition problem which involves selecting the right mix of web service offerings to execute an end-to-end business process. Web service offerings are now available in bundled form as composite web services and more recently, volume discounts are also on offer, based on the number of executions of web services requested. In this paper, we develop efficient algorithms for the web service composition problem in the presence of composite web service offerings and volume discounts. We model this problem as a combinatorial auction with volume discounts. We first develop efficient polynomial time algorithms when the end-to-end service involves a linear workflow of web services. Next we develop efficient polynomial time algorithms when the end-to-end service involves a tree workflow of web services.

Faster Algorithms for Incremental Topological Ordering.Robert Tarjan

We present two online algorithms for maintaining a topological order of a directed acyclic graph as arcs are added, and detecting a cycle when one is created. Our first algorithm takes O(m 1/2) amortized time per arc and our second algorithm takes O(n 2.5/m) amortized time per arc, where n is the number of vertices and m is the total number of arcs. For sparse graphs, our O(m 1/2) bound improves the best previous bound by a factor of logn and is tight to within a constant factor for a natural class of algorithms that includes all the existing ones. Our main insight is that the two-way search method of previous algorithms does not require an ordered search, but can be more general, allowing us to avoid the use of heaps (priority queues). Instead, the deterministic version of our algorithm uses (approximate) median-finding; the randomized version of our algorithm uses uniform random sampling. For dense graphs, our O(n 2.5/m) bound improves the best previously published bound by a factor of n 1/4 and a recent bound obtained independently of our work by a factor of logn. Our main insight is that graph search is wasteful when the graph is dense and can be avoided by searching the topological order space instead. Our algorithms extend to the maintenance of strong components, in the same asymptotic time bounds.