Context-free text grammars

A text is a triple=(, ₁, ₂) such that is a labeling function, and ₁ and ₂ are linear orders on the domain of ; hence may be seen as a word (, ₁) together with an additional linear order ₂ on the domain of . The order ₂ is used to give to the word (, ₁) itsindividual hierarchical representation (syntactic structure) which may be a tree but it may be also more general than a tree. In this paper we introducecontext-free grammars for texts and investigate their basic properties. Since each text has its own individual structure, the role of such a grammar should be that of a definition of a pattern common to all individual texts. This leads to the notion of ashapely context-free text grammar also investigated in this paper.     

Unextendible Product Bases and Locally Unconvertible Bound Entangled States

Mutual convertibility of bound entangled states under local quantum operations and classical communication (LOCC) is studied. We focus on states associated with unextendible product bases (UPB) in a system of three qubits. A complete classification of such UPBs is suggested. We prove that for any pair of UPBs S and T the associated bound entangled states _S and _T cannot be converted to each other by LOCC, unless S and T coincide up to local unitaries. More specifically, there exists a finite precision (S,T) > 0 such that for any LOCC protocol mapping _S into a probabilistic ensemble (p, ), the fidelity between _T and any possible final state satisfies F(_T, ) = 1 - (S,T).PACS: 03.65.Bz; 03.67.-a; 89.70+c.     

Duality in Quantum Information Geometry

Let H be a separable Hilbert space. We consider the manifold M consisting of density operators on H such that ^p is of trace class for some p (0, 1). We say M is nearby if there exists C > 1 such that C ^–1C. We show that the space of nearby points to can be furnished with the two flat connections known as the (±)-affine structures, which are dual relative to the BKM metric. We furnish M with a norm making it into a Banach manifold.     

On improving the accuracy of the Hough transform

The subject of this paper is very high precision parameter estimation using the Hough transform. We identify various problems that adversely affect the accuracy of the Hough transform and propose a new, high accuracy method that consists of smoothing the Hough arrayH(, ) prior to finding its peak location and interpolating about this peak to find a final sub-bucket peak. We also investigate the effect of the quantizations and ofH(, ) on the final accuracy. We consider in detail the case of finding the parameters of a straight line. Using extensive simulation and a number of experiments on calibrated targets, we compare the accuracy of the method with results from the standard Hough transform method of taking the quantized peak coordinates, with results from taking the centroid about the peak, and with results from least squares fitting. The largest set of simulations cover a range of line lengths and Gaussian zero-mean noise distributions. This noise model is ideally suited to the least squares method, and yet the results from the method compare favorably. Compared to the centroid or to standard Hough estimates, the results are significantly better—for the standard Hough estimates by a factor of 3 to 10. In addition, the simulations show that as and are increased (i.e., made coarser), the sub-bucket interpolation maintains a high level of accuracy. Experiments using real images are also described, and in these the new method has errors smaller by a factor of 3 or more compared to the standard Hough estimates.     

On States,Channels, and Purification

In this note we introduce purification for a pair (, ), where is a quantum state and is a channel, which allows in particular a natural extension of the properties of related information quantities (mutual and coherent informations) to the channels with arbitrary input and output spaces. PACS: 03.67.Hk     

Unification in partially commutative semigroups

Unification algorithms have been constructed for semigroups and commutative semigroups. This paper considers the intermediate case of partially commutative semigroups. We introduce classesN and of such semigroups and justify their use. We present an equation-solving algorithm for any member of the classN. This algorithm is relative to having an algorithm to determine all non-negative solutions of a certain class of diophantine equations of degree 2 which we call -equations. The difficulties arising when attempting to solve equations in members of the class are discussed, and we present arguments that strongly suggest that unification in these semigroups is undecidable.     

Minimization of norms and logarithmic norms by diagonal similarities

It is a commonly occurring problem to find good norms · or logarithmic norms (·) for a given matrix in the sense that they should be close to respectively the spectral radius (A) and the spectral abscissa (A). Examples may be the certification thatA is convergent, i.e. (A)A<1 or stable, i.e. (A)(A)<0. Often the ordinary norms do not suffice and one would like to try simple modifications of them such as using an ordinary norm for a diagonally transformed matrix. This paper treats this problem for some of the ordinary norms.

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Minimisierung von Normen und Logarithmischen Normen durch Diagonale Transformationen

Zusammenfassung Ein oft vorkommendes praktisches Problem ist die Konstruktion von guten Normen · und logarithmischen Normen (·) für eine gegebene MatrixA. Mit gut wird dann verstanden, daß A den Spektralradius (A)=max |₁| und (A) die Spektralabszisse (A)=max Re _i gut approximieren. Beispiele findet man für konvergente Matrizen wo (A)A<1 gewünscht ist, und für stabile Matrizen wo (A)(A)<0 zu zeigen ist. Wir untersuchen hier, wie weit man mit Diagonaltransformationen und dengewöhnlichsten Normen kommen kann.

     

Schedulers for larger classes of pinwheel instances

The pinwheel is a hard-real-time scheduling problem for scheduling satellite ground stations to service a number of satellites without data loss. Given a multiset of positive integers (instance)A={a₁,..., a_n}, the problem is to find an infinite sequence (schedule) of symbols from {1,2,...,n} such that there is at least one symboli within any interval of a_i symbols (slots). Not all instancesA can be scheduled; for example, no successful schedule exists for instances whose density,(A)= _i ⁱ (l/a_i), is larger than 1. It has been shown that all instances whose densities are less than a 0.5 density threshold can always be scheduled. If a schedule exists, another concern is the design of a fast on-line scheduler (FOLS) which can generate each symbol of the schedule in constant time. Based on the idea of integer reduction, two new FOLSs which can schedule different classes of pinwheel instances, are proposed in this paper. One uses single-integer reduction and the other uses double-integer reduction. They both improve the previous 0.5 result and have density thresholds of 13/20 and2/3, respectively. In particular, if the elements inA are large, the density thresholds will asymptotically approach In 2 and 1/R2, respectively.This research was supported in part by ONR Grant N00014-87-K-0833, and was done while Francis Chin was visiting the Computer Science Program, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75083, USA.     

Indecomposable local maps of tessellation automata

Indecomposable local maps of one-dimensional tessellation automata are studied. The main results of this paper are the following. (1) For any alphabet containing two or more symbols and for anyn 1, there exist indecomposable scope-n local maps over . (2) If is a finite field of prime order, then a linear scope-n local map over is indecomposable if and only if its associated polynomial is an irreducible polynomial of degreen – 1 over , except for a trivial case. (3) Result (2) is no longer true if is a finite field whose order is not prime.     

Constructing sets of functions which have a givenF-cardinality

The termF-cardinality of (=F-card()) is introduced whereF: ^{n n} is a partial function and is a set of partial functionsf: ^{n n} . TheF-cardinality yields a lower bound for the worst-case complexity of computingF if only functionsf can be evaluated by the underlying abstract automaton without conditional jumps. This complexity bound isindependent from the oracles available for the abstract machine. Thus it is shown that any automaton which can only apply the four basic arithmetic operations needs (n logn) worst-case time to sortn numbers; this result is even true if conditional jumps witharbitrary conditions are possible. The main result of this paper is the following: Given a total functionF: ^{n n} and a natural numberk, it is almost always possible to construct a set such that itsF-cardinality has the valuek; in addition, can be required to be closed under composition of functionsf,g . Moreover, ifF is continuous, then consists of continuous functions.     

The effects of various basis image priors on MR Image MAP restoration

We extend a previously reported technique for Magnetic Resonance Image (MRI) restoration, using a physical model (spin equation) and corresponding basis images. We determine the basis images (proton density and nuclear relaxation times) from the MRI data and use them to obtain excellent restorations.Magnetic Resonance Images depend nonlinearly on proton density,, two nuclear relaxation times,T ₁ andT ₂, and two control parameters, TE and TR. We model images as Markov random fields and introduce four maximuma posteriori (MAP) restorations, nonlinear techniques using several different prior terms which reduce the correlated noise in the basis images, thereby reducing the noise in the restored MR images. The product and sum forms for basis (signal) and spatial correlations are discussed, compared and evaluated for various situations and features.     

To the Metrical Rigidity of Binary Codes

A code C in the n-dimensional metric space E ⁿ over GF(2) is called metrically rigid if each isometry I : C E ⁿ can be extended to an isometry of the whole space E ⁿ . For n large enough, metrical rigidity of any length-n binary code that contains a 2-(n, k, )-design is proved. The class of such codes includes, for instance, all families of uniformly packed codes of large enough lengths that satisfy the condition d – 2, where d is the code distance and is the covering radius.     

Topology optimization of continuum structures with material failure constraints

This work presents an efficient strategy for dealing with topology optimization associated with the problem of mass minimization under material failure constraints. Although this problem characterizes one of the oldest mechanical requirements in structural design, only a few works dealing with this subject are found in the literature. Several reasons explain this situation, among them the numerical difficulties introduced by the usually large number of stress constraints. The original formulation of the topological problem (existence/non-existence of material) is partially relaxed by following the SIMP (Solid Isotropic Microstructure with Penalization) approach and using a continuous density field as the design variable. The finite element approximation is used to solve the equilibrium problem, as well as to control through nodal parameters. The formulation accepts any failure criterion written in terms of stress and/or strain invariants. The whole minimization problem is solved by combining an augmented Lagrangian technique for the stress constraints and a trust-region box-type algorithm for dealing with side constraints (0<_min1) . Numerical results show the efficiency of the proposed approach in terms of computational costs as well as satisfaction of material failure constraints. It is also possible to see that the final designs define quite different shapes from the ones obtained in classical compliance problems.     

From Conditional Events to Conditional Measures: A New Axiomatic Approach

Our starting point is a definition of conditional event EH which differs from many seemingly similar ones adopted in the relevant literature since 1935, starting with de Finetti. In fact, if we do not assign the same third value u (undetermined) to all conditional events, but make it depend on EH, it turns out that this function t(EH) can be taken as a general conditional uncertainty measure, and we get (through a suitable – in a sense, compulsory – choice of the relevant operations among conditional events) the natural axioms for many different (besides probability) conditional measures.     

Approximation Algorithms for a Capacitated Network Design Problem

We study a capacitated network design problem with applications in local access network design. Given a network, the problem is to route flow from several sources to a sink and to install capacity on the edges to support the flow at minimum cost. Capacity can be purchased only in multiples of a fixed quantity. All the flow from a source must be routed in a single path to the sink. This NP-hard problem generalizes the Steiner tree problem and also more effectively models the applications traditionally formulated as capacitated tree problems. We present an approximation algorithm with performance ratio (_ST + 2) where _ST is the performance ratio of any approximation algorithm for the minimum Steiner tree problem. When all sources have unit demand, the ratio improves to _ST + 1) and, in particular, to 2 when all nodes in the graph are sources.     

Parallel geometric algorithms on a mesh-connected computer

We show that a number of geometric problems can be solved on a n × n mesh-connected computer (MCC) inO(n) time, which is optimal to within a constant factor, since a nontrivial data movement on an MCC requires (n) time. The problems studied here include multipoint location, planar point location, trapezoidal decomposition, intersection detection, intersection of two convex polygons, Voronoi diagram, the largest empty circle, the smallest enclosing circle, etc. TheO(n) algorithms for all of the above problems are based on the classical divide-and-conquer problem-solving strategy.This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant DCR 8420814. A preliminary version was presented in the 1987 FJCC, Dallas, TX.     

On characterizations of recursively enumerable languages

Summary Geffert has shown that earch recursively enumerable languageL over can be expressed in the formL{h(x) ^–1 g(x)x in ⁺} ^* where is an alphabet andg, h is a pair of morphisms. Our purpose is to give a simple proof for Geffert's result and then sharpen it into the form where both of the morphisms are nonerasing. In our method we modify constructions used in a representation of recursively enumerable languages in terms of equality sets and in a characterization of simple transducers in terms of morphisms. As direct consequences, we get the undecidability of the Post correspondence problem and various representations ofL. For instance,L =(L ₀) ^* whereL ₀ is a minimal linear language and is the Dyck reductiona, A.     

A variotherm mold for micro metal injection molding

In this paper, a variotherm mold was designed and fabricated for the production of 316L stainless steel microstructures by micro metal injection molding (MIM). The variotherm mold incorporated a rapid heating/cooling system, vacuum unit, hot sprue and cavity pressure transducer. The design of the variotherm mold and the process cycle of MIM using the variotherm mold were described. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the molded microstructures produced using variotherm mold and conventional mold. The experiments showed that microstructures of higher aspect ratio such as 60 m × height 191 m and 40 m × height 174 m microstructures could be injection molded with complete filling and demolded successfully using the variotherm mold. Molded microstructures with dimensions of 60 m × height 191 m were successfully debound and sintered without visual defects.     

Generating Boolean \mu-expressions

In this paper, we consider the class of Boolean -functions, which are the Boolean functions definable by -expressions (Boolean expressions in which no variable occurs more than once). We present an algorithm which transforms a Boolean formulaE into an equivalent -expression-if possible-in time linear in E times , where E is the size ofE andn _m is the number of variables that occur more than once inE. As an application, we obtain a polynomial time algorithm for Mundici's problem of recognizing -functions fromk-formulas [17]. Furthermore, we show that recognizing Boolean -functions is co-NP-complete for functions essentially dependent on all variables and we give a bound close to co-NP for the general case.     

Utilizing deontic operators in information systems specification

One major task in requirements specification is to capture the rules relevant to the problem at hand. Declarative, rule-based approaches have been suggested by many researchers in the field. However, when it comes to modeling large systems of rules, not only for the behavior of the computer system but also for the organizational environment surrounding it, current approaches have problems with limited expressiveness, flexibility, and poor comprehensibility. Hence, rule-based approaches may benefit from improvements in two directions: (1) improvement of the rule languages themselves and (2) better integration with other, complementary modeling approaches.In this article, both issues are addressed in an integrated manner. The proposal is presented in the context of the Tempora project on rule-based information systems development, but has also been integrated with PPP. Tempora has provided a rule language based on an executable temporal logic working on top of a temporal database. The rule language is integrated with static (ER-like) and dynamic (SA/RT-like) modeling approaches. In the current proposal, the integration with complementary modeling approaches is extended by including organization modeling (actors, roles), and the expressiveness of the rule language is increased by introducing deontic operators and rule hierarchies. The main contribution of the article is not seen as any one of the above-mentioned extensions, but as the resulting comprehensive modeling support. The approach is illustrated by examples taken from an industrial case study done in connection with Tempora.C. List of Symbols Subset of set - Not subset of set - Element of set - Not element of set - Equivalent to - Not equivalent to - ¬ Negation - Logical and - Logical or - Implication - Sometime in past - Sometime in future - Always in past - Always in future - Just before - Just after - u Until - s Since - Trigger - Condition - _s State condition - Consequence - _a Action - _s State - Role - Actor - ¬ - General deontic operator - O Obligatory - R Recommended - P Permitted - D Discouraged - F Forbidden - (/–) General rule - t _R Real time - t _M Model time