Archives for 2013

Today I read a paper titled “A Study on the Behavior of a Neural Network for Grouping the Data”

The abstract is:
One of the frequently stated advantages of neural networks is that they can work effectively with non-normally distributed data.

But optimal results are possible with normalized data.In this paper, how normality of the input affects the behaviour of a K-means fast learning artificial neural network(KFLANN) for grouping the data is presented.

Basically, the grouping of high dimensional input data is controlled by additional neural network input parameters namely vigilance and tolerance.Neural networks learn faster and give better performance if the input variables are pre-processed before being fed to the input units of the neural network.

A common way of dealing with data that is not normally distributed is to perform some form of mathematical transformation on the data that shifts it towards a normal distribution.In a neural network, data preprocessing transforms the data into a format that will be more easily and effectively processed for the purpose of the user.

Among various methods, Normalization is one which organizes data for more efficient access.

Experimental results on several artificial and synthetic data sets indicate that the groups formed in the data vary with non-normally distributed data and normalized data and also depends on the normalization method used.

Today I read a paper titled “Ball Striking Algorithm for a 3 DOF Ping-Pong Playing Robot Based on Particle Swarm Optimization”

The abstract is:
This paper illustrates how a 3 degrees of freedom, Cartesian robot can be given the task of playing ping pong against a human player.

We present an algorithm based on particle swarm optimization for the robot to calculate when and how to hit an approaching ball.

Simulation results are shown to depict the effectiveness of our approach.

Although emphasis is placed on sending the ball to a desired point on the ping pong table, it is shown that our method may be adjusted to meet the requirements of a variety of ball hitting strategies.

Today I read a paper titled “Content Base Image Retrieval Using Phong Shading”

The abstract is:
The digital image data is rapidly expanding in quantity and heterogeneity.

The traditional information retrieval techniques does not meet the user’s demand, so there is need to develop an efficient system for content based image retrieval.

Content based image retrieval means retrieval of images from database on the basis of visual features of image like as color, texture etc.

In our proposed method feature are extracted after applying Phong shading on input image.

Phong shading, flattering out the dull surfaces of the image The features are extracted using color, texture & edge density methods.

Feature extracted values are used to find the similarity between input query image and the data base image.

It can be measure by the Euclidean distance formula.

The experimental result shows that the proposed approach has a better retrieval results with phong shading.

Today I read a paper titled “Automatic Network Fingerprinting through Single-Node Motifs”

The abstract is:
Complex networks have been characterised by their specific connectivity patterns (network motifs), but their building blocks can also be identified and described by node-motifs—a combination of local network features.

One technique to identify single node-motifs has been presented by Costa et al.

(L.

D.

F.

Costa, F.

A.

Rodrigues, C.

C.

Hilgetag, and M.

Kaiser, Europhys.

Lett., 87, 1, 2009).

Here, we first suggest improvements to the method including how its parameters can be determined automatically.

Such automatic routines make high-throughput studies of many networks feasible.

Second, the new routines are validated in different network-series.

Third, we provide an example of how the method can be used to analyse network time-series.

In conclusion, we provide a robust method for systematically discovering and classifying characteristic nodes of a network.

In contrast to classical motif analysis, our approach can identify individual components (here: nodes) that are specific to a network.

Such special nodes, as hubs before, might be found to play critical roles in real-world networks.

Today I read a paper titled “Diffusion of Confidential Information on Networks”

The abstract is:
This is a natural generalization of the previous work by Dan, “Modeling and Simulation of Diffusion Phenomena on Social Networks,” to appear in The proceedings of 2011 Third International Conference on Computer Modeling and Simulation.

In this paper, we consider the diffusion phenomena of personal or secret information on the variety of networks, such as complete, random, stochastic and scale-free networks.

Today I read a paper titled “Multi-Vehicle Cooperative Control Using Mixed Integer Linear Programming”

The abstract is:
We present methods to synthesize cooperative strategies for multi-vehicle control problems using mixed integer linear programming.

Complex multi-vehicle control problems are expressed as mixed logical dynamical systems.

Optimal strategies for these systems are then solved for using mixed integer linear programming.

We motivate the methods on problems derived from an adversarial game between two teams of robots called RoboFlag.

We assume the strategy for one team is fixed and governed by state machines.

The strategy for the other team is generated using our methods.

Finally, we perform an average case computational complexity study on our approach.

Today I read a paper titled “Efficient Video Indexing on the Web: A System that Leverages User Interactions with a Video Player”

The abstract is:
In this paper, we propose a user-based video indexing method, that automatically generates thumbnails of the most important scenes of an online video stream, by analyzing users’ interactions with a web video player.

As a test bench to verify our idea we have extended the YouTube video player into the VideoSkip system.

In addition, VideoSkip uses a web-database (Google Application Engine) to keep a record of some important parameters, such as the timing of basic user actions (play, pause, skip).

Moreover, we implemented an algorithm that selects representative thumbnails.

Finally, we populated the system with data from an experiment with nine users.

We found that the VideoSkip system indexes video content by leveraging implicit users interactions, such as pause and thirty seconds skip.

Our early findings point toward improvements of the web video player and its thumbnail generation technique.

The VideSkip system could compliment content-based algorithms, in order to achieve efficient video-indexing in difficult videos, such as lectures or sports.

Today I read a paper titled “I, Quantum Robot: Quantum Mind control on a Quantum Computer”

The abstract is:
The logic which describes quantum robots is not orthodox quantum logic, but a deductive calculus which reproduces the quantum tasks (computational processes, and actions) taking into account quantum superposition and quantum entanglement.

A way toward the realization of intelligent quantum robots is to adopt a quantum metalanguage to control quantum robots.

A physical implementation of a quantum metalanguage might be the use of coherent states in brain signals.

Today I read a paper titled “Implementation of an Onboard Visual Tracking System with Small Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)”

The abstract is:
This paper presents a visual tracking system that is capable or running real time on-board a small UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle).

The tracking system is computationally efficient and invariant to lighting changes and rotation of the object or the camera.

Detection and tracking is autonomously carried out on the payload computer and there are two different methods for creation of the image patches.

The first method starts detecting and tracking using a stored image patch created prior to flight with previous flight data.

The second method allows the operator on the ground to select the interest object for the UAV to track.

The tracking system is capable of re-detecting the object of interest in the events of tracking failure.

Performance of the tracking system was verified both in the lab and during actual flights of the UAV.

Results show that the system can run on-board and track a diverse set of objects in real time.

Today I read a paper titled “Preferential attachment in growing spatial networks”

The abstract is:
We obtain the degree distribution for a class of growing network models on flat and curved spaces.

These models evolve by preferential attachment weighted by a function of the distance between nodes.

The degree distribution of these models is similar to the one of the fitness model of Bianconi and Barabasi, with a fitness distribution dependent on the metric and the density of nodes.

We show that curvature singularities in these spaces can give rise to asymptotic Bose-Einstein condensation, but transient condensation can be observed also in smooth hyperbolic spaces with strong curvature.

We provide numerical results for spaces of constant curvature (sphere, flat and hyperbolic space) and we discuss the conditions for the breakdown of this approach and the critical points of the transition to distance-dominated attachment.

Finally we discuss the distribution of link lengths.

Today I read a paper titled “Fast B-spline Curve Fitting by L-BFGS”

The abstract is:
We propose a novel method for fitting planar B-spline curves to unorganized data points.

In traditional methods, optimization of control points and foot points are performed in two very time-consuming steps in each iteration: 1) control points are updated by setting up and solving a linear system of equations; and 2) foot points are computed by projecting each data point onto a B-spline curve.

Our method uses the L-BFGS optimization method to optimize control points and foot points simultaneously and therefore it does not need to perform either matrix computation or foot point projection in every iteration.

As a result, our method is much faster than existing methods.

Today I read a paper titled “Suppressing Epidemics with a Limited Amount of Immunization Units”

The abstract is:
The way diseases spread through schools, epidemics through countries, and viruses through the Internet is crucial in determining their risk.

Although each of these threats has its own characteristics, its underlying network determines the spreading.

To restrain the spreading, a widely used approach is the fragmentation of these networks through immunization, so that epidemics cannot spread.

Here we develop an immunization approach based on optimizing the susceptible size, which outperforms the best known strategy based on immunizing the highest-betweenness links or nodes.

We find that the network’s vulnerability can be significantly reduced, demonstrating this on three different real networks: the global flight network, a school friendship network, and the internet.

In all cases, we find that not only is the average infection probability significantly suppressed, but also for the most relevant case of a small and limited number of immunization units the infection probability can be reduced by up to 55%.

Today I read a paper titled “Information tracking approach to segmentation of ultrasound imagery of prostate”

The abstract is:
The size and geometry of the prostate are known to be pivotal quantities used by clinicians to assess the condition of the gland during prostate cancer screening.

As an alternative to palpation, an increasing number of methods for estimation of the above-mentioned quantities are based on using imagery data of prostate.

The necessity to process large volumes of such data creates a need for automatic segmentation tools which would allow the estimation to be carried out with maximum accuracy and efficiency.

In particular, the use of transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) imaging in prostate cancer screening seems to be becoming a standard clinical practice due to the high benefit-to-cost ratio of this imaging modality.

Unfortunately, the segmentation of TRUS images is still hampered by relatively low contrast and reduced SNR of the images, thereby requiring the segmentation algorithms to incorporate prior knowledge about the geometry of the gland.

In this paper, a novel approach to the problem of segmenting the TRUS images is described.

The proposed approach is based on the concept of distribution tracking, which provides a unified framework for modeling and fusing image-related and morphological features of the prostate.

Moreover, the same framework allows the segmentation to be regularized via using a new type of “weak” shape priors, which minimally bias the estimation procedure, while rendering the latter stable and robust.

Today I read a paper titled “Diffusion of Information in Robot Swarms”

The abstract is:
This work is devoted to communication approaches, which spread information in robot swarms.

These mechanisms are useful for large-scale systems and also for such cases when a limited communication equipment does not allow routing of information packages.

We focus on two approaches such as virtual fields and epidemic algorithms, discuss several aspects of hardware implementation and demonstrate experiments performed with microrobots “Jasmine”.

Today I read a paper titled “Haptic Science and Technology”

The abstract is:
Haptic technology, or haptics, is a tactile feedback technology which takes advantage of a user’s sense of touch by applying forces, vibrations, and/or motions upon the user.

This mechanical stimulation may be used to assist in the creation of virtual objects (objects existing only in a computer simulation), for control of such virtual objects, and for the enhancement of the remote control of machines and devices.

It has been described as for the sense of touch what computer graphics does for vision.

Although haptic devices are capable of measuring bulk or reactive forces that are applied by the user, it should not be confused with touch or tactile sensors that measure the pressure or force exerted by the user to the interface.

Today I read a paper titled “Design-on-demand or how to create a target-oriented social web-site”

The abstract is:
We describe an informal methodology for developing on-line applications, which is, to some extent, complementary to the Web 2.0 aspects of web development.

The presented methodology is suitable for developing low-cost and non-cost web sites targeted at medium-sized communities.

We present basic building blocks used in the described strategy.

To achieve a better understanding of the discussed concepts we comment on their application during the realization of two web projects.

We focus on the role of community-driven development, which is crucial for projects of the discussed type.