On the Solutions of the Interval System [<Emphasis Type="Italic">x</Emphasis>] = [<Emphasis Type="Italic">A][x</Emphasis>] + [<Emphasis Type="Italic">b</Emphasis>]

For the interval system of equations defined by [x] = [A][x]+[b]with(|[A])|1 we derive a necessary and sufficient criterion for the existence and uniqueness of solutions [x]. Generalizing former results we allow the absolute value |[A]| of [A] to be reducible.     

On the <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-accessibility of cores of <Emphasis Type="Italic">TU</Emphasis>-cooperative games

This paper proposes a strengthening of the author’s core-accessibility theorem for balanced TU-cooperative games. The obtained strengthening relaxes the influence of the nontransitivity of classical domination αv on the quality of the sequential improvement of dominated imputations in a game v. More specifically, we establish the k-accessibility of the core C(α _v ) of any balanced TU-cooperative game v for all natural numbers k: for each dominated imputation x, there exists a converging sequence of imputations x₀, x₁,..., such that x₀ = x, lim x _r ∈ C(α _v ) and x_r?m is dominated by any successive imputation x _r with m ∈ [1, k] and r ≥ m. For showing that the TU-property is essential to provide the k-accessibility of the core, we give an example of an NTU-cooperative game G with a ”black hole” representing a nonempty closed subset B ? G(N) of dominated imputations that contains all the α _G -monotonic sequential improvement trajectories originating at any point x ∈ B.     

(<Emphasis Type="Italic">a</Emphasis>, <Emphasis Type="Italic">d</Emphasis>)-Distance Antimagic Labeling of Some Types of Graphs

We analyze the necessary existence conditions for (a, d)-distance antimagic labeling of a graph G = (V, E) of order n. We obtain theorems that expand the family of not (a, d) -distance antimagic graphs. In particular, we prove that the crown P _n ○ P ₁ does not admit an (a, 1)-distance antimagic labeling for n ≥ 2 if a ≥ 2. We determine the values of a at which path P _n can be an (a, 1)-distance antimagic graph. Among regular graphs, we investigate the case of a circulant graph.     

The <Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis><Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">dual</Emphasis></Superscript>-Tree: indexing moving objects by space filling curves in the dual space

Existing spatiotemporal indexes suffer from either large update cost or poor query performance, except for the B ^x -tree (the state-of-the-art), which consists of multiple B ⁺-trees indexing the 1D values transformed from the (multi-dimensional) moving objects based on a space filling curve (Hilbert, in particular). This curve, however, does not consider object velocities, and as a result, query processing with a B ^x -tree retrieves a large number of false hits, which seriously compromises its efficiency. It is natural to wonder “can we obtain better performance by capturing also the velocity information, using a Hilbert curve of a higher dimensionality?”. This paper provides a positive answer by developing the B ^dual -tree, a novel spatiotemporal access method leveraging pure relational methodology. We show, with theoretical evidence, that the B ^dual -tree indeed outperforms the B ^x -tree in most circum- stances. Furthermore, our technique can effectively answer progressive spatiotemporal queries, which are poorly supported by B ^x -trees.     

Protecting query privacy with differentially private <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-anonymity in location-based services

Nowadays, location-based services (LBS) are facilitating people in daily life through answering LBS queries. However, privacy issues including location privacy and query privacy arise at the same time. Existing works for protecting query privacy either work on trusted servers or fail to provide sufficient privacy guarantee. This paper combines the concepts of differential privacy and k-anonymity to propose the notion of differentially private k-anonymity (DPkA) for query privacy in LBS. We recognize the sufficient and necessary condition for the availability of 0-DPkA and present how to achieve it. For cases where 0-DPkA is not achievable, we propose an algorithm to achieve ??-DPkA with minimized ??. Extensive simulations are conducted to validate the proposed mechanisms based on real-life datasets and synthetic data distributions.     

Some high-rate linear codes over <Emphasis Type="Italic">GF</Emphasis>(5) and <Emphasis Type="Italic">GF</Emphasis>(7)

Let an [n, k, d] _q code be a linear code of length n, dimension k, and with minimum Hamming distance d over GF(q). The ratio R = k/n is called the rate of a code. In this paper, [62, 53, 6]₅, [62, 48, 8]₅, [71, 56, 8]₅, [124, 113, 6]₅, [43, 36, 6]₇, [33, 23, 7]₇, and [27, 18, 7]₇ high-rate codes and new codes with parameters [42, 14, 19]₅, [42, 15, 18]₅, [48, 13, 24]₅, [52, 12, 28]₅, [71, 15, 38]₅, [71, 16, 36]₅, [72, 12, 41]₅, [78, 10, 50]₅, [88, 11, 54]₅, [88, 13, 51]₅, [124, 14, 77]₅, [32, 12, 15]₇, [32, 10, 17]₇, [36, 10, 20]₇, and [48, 10, 29]₇ are constructed. The codes with parameters [62, 53, 6]₅ and [43, 36, 6]₇ are optimal.     

Heidegger on technology and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Gelassenheit</Emphasis>: <Emphasis Type="Italic">wabi</Emphasis>-<Emphasis Type="Italic">sabi</Emphasis> and the art of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Verfallenheit</Emphasis>

The question of the contemporary relevance of Heidegger’s reflections on technology to today’s advanced technology is here explored with reference to the notion of “entanglement” towards a review of Heidegger’s understanding of technology and media, including the entertainment industry and modern digital life. Heidegger’s reflections on Gelassenheit have been connected with the aesthetics of the tea ceremony, disputing the material aesthetics of porcelain versus plastic. Here by approaching the art of wabi-sabi as the art of Verfallenheit, I argue that Gelassenheit may be understood in these terms.     

Parallel <Emphasis Type="Italic">LL</Emphasis> parsing

A deterministic parallel LL parsing algorithm is presented. The algorithm is based on a transformation from a parsing problem to parallel reduction. First, a nondeterministic version of a parallel LL parser is introduced. Then, it is transformed into the deterministic version—the LLP parser. The deterministic LLP(q,k) parser uses two kinds of information to select the next operation — a lookahead string of length up to k symbols and a lookback string of length up to q symbols. Deterministic parsing is available for LLP grammars, a subclass of LL grammars. Since the presented deterministic and nondeterministic parallel parsers are both based on parallel reduction, they are suitable for most parallel architectures.     

Testing list <Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis>-homomorphisms

In the List H- Homomorphism Problem, for a graph H that is a parameter of the problem, an instance consists of an undirected graph G with a list constraint \({L(v) \subseteq V(H)}\) for each variable \({v \in V(G)}\), and the objective is to determine whether there is a list H-homomorphism \({f:V(G) \to V(H)}\), that is, \({f(v) \in L(v)}\) for every \({v \in V(G)}\) and \({(f(u),f(v)) \in E(H)}\) whenever \({(u,v) \in E(G)}\).We consider the problem of testing list H-homomorphisms in the following weighted setting: An instance consists of an undirected graph G, list constraints L, weights imposed on the vertices of G, and a map \({f:V(G) \to V(H)}\) given as an oracle access. The objective is to determine whether f is a list H-homomorphism or far from any list H-homomorphism. The farness is measured by the total weight of vertices \({v \in V(G)}\) for which f(v) must be changed so as to make f a list H-homomorphism. In this paper, we classify graphs H with respect to the number of queries to f required to test the list H-homomorphisms. Specifically, we show that (i) list H-homomorphisms are testable with a constant number of queries if and only if H is a reflexive complete graph or an irreflexive complete bipartite graph and (ii) list H-homomorphisms are testable with a sublinear number of queries if and only if H is a bi-arc graph.     

On <Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis>-soft merotopies

The goal of this paper is to focus on the notions of merotopy and also merotopology in the soft universe. First of all, we propose L-soft merotopic (nearness) spaces and L-soft guild. Then, we study binary, contigual, regular merotopic spaces and also relations between them. We show that the category of binary L-soft nearness spaces is bireflective in the category of L-soft nearness spaces. Later, we define L-approach soft merotopological (nearness) spaces by giving several examples. Finally, we define a simpler characterization of L-approach soft grill merotopological space called grill-determined L-approach soft merotopological space. We investigate the categorical structures of these notions such as we prove that the category of grill-determined L-approach soft merotopological spaces is a topological category over the category of L-soft topological spaces. At the end, we define a partial order on the family of all L-approach soft grill merotopologies and show that this family is a completely distributive complete lattice with respect to the defined partial order.     

Emergence of anti-<Emphasis Type="Italic">F</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">R</Emphasis>) gravity in type-IV bouncing cosmology as due to <Emphasis Type="Italic">M</Emphasis><Subscript>0</Subscript>-brane

Recently, some authors considered the origin of a type-IV singular bounce in modified gravity and obtained the explicit form of F(R) which can produce this type of cosmology. In this paper, we show that during the contracting branch of type-IV bouncing cosmology, the sign of gravity changes, and antigravity emerges. In our model, M0 branes get together and shape a universe, an anti-universe, and a wormhole which connects them. As time passes, this wormhole is dissolved in the universes, F(R) gravity emerges, and the universe expands. When the brane universes become close to each other, the squared energy of their system becomes negative, and some tachyonic states are produced. To remove these states, universes are assumed to be compact, the sign of compacted gravity changes, and anti-F(R) gravity arises, which causes getting away of the universes from each other. In this theory, a Type-IV singularity occurs at t = t _s , which is the time of producing tachyons between expansion and contraction branches.     

Pseudo-Randomness of Certain Sequences of <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis> Symbols with Length <Emphasis Type="Italic">pq</Emphasis>

The theory of finite pseudo-random binary sequences was built by C. Mauduit and A. Sárközy and later extended to sequences of k symbols (or k-ary sequences). Certain constructions of pseudo-random sequences of k symbols were presented over finite fields in the literature. In this paper, two families of sequences of k symbols are constructed by using the integers modulo pq for distinct odd primes p and q. The upper bounds on the well-distribution measure and the correlation measure of the families sequences are presented in terms of certain character sums over modulo pq residue class rings. And low bounds on the linear complexity profile are also estimated.     

Sparse Support Vector Machine with <Emphasis Type="Italic">L</Emphasis><Subscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis></Subscript> Penalty for Feature Selection

We study the strategies in feature selection with sparse support vector machine (SVM). Recently, the socalled L _p -SVM (0 < p < 1) has attracted much attention because it can encourage better sparsity than the widely used L ₁-SVM. However, L _p -SVM is a non-convex and non-Lipschitz optimization problem. Solving this problem numerically is challenging. In this paper, we reformulate the L _p -SVM into an optimization model with linear objective function and smooth constraints (LOSC-SVM) so that it can be solved by numerical methods for smooth constrained optimization. Our numerical experiments on artificial datasets show that LOSC-SVM (0 < p < 1) can improve the classification performance in both feature selection and classification by choosing a suitable parameter p. We also apply it to some real-life datasets and experimental results show that it is superior to L ₁-SVM.     

(<Emphasis Type="Italic">m</Emphasis>,<Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>)-delay-partitioning approach to stability analysis for T-S fuzzy systems with interval time-varying delay

This paper is concerned with improved stability criteria for uncertain T-S fuzzy systems with interval time-varying delay by means of a new (m,N)-delay-partitioning approach. Based on an appropriate augmented LKF established in the framework of state vector augmentation, some tighter bounding inequalities (Seuret-Wirtinger’s integral inequality, Peng-Park’s integral inequality and the reciprocally convex approach) have been employed to deal with (time-varying) delay-dependent integral items of the derivative of LKF, therefore, less conservative delaydependent stability criteria can be obtained on account of none of any useful time-varying items are arbitrarily ignored. It’s worth mentioning that, when the delay-partitioning number m is fixed, less conservatism can be achieved by increase of another delay-partitioning number N, but without increasing any computing burden. Finally, one numerical example is provided to show that the proposed conditions are less conservative than existing ones.     

Symmetric Masks for In-fill Pixel Interpolation on Discrete <Emphasis Type="Italic">p</Emphasis>:<Emphasis Type="Italic">q</Emphasis> Lattices

A 2D p:q lattice contains image intensity entries at pixels located at regular, staggered intervals that are spaced p rows and q columns apart. Zero values appear at all other intermediate grid locations. We consider here the construction, for any given p:q, of convolution masks to smoothly and uniformly interpolate values across all of the intermediate grid positions. The conventional pixel-filling approach is to allocate intensities proportional to the fractional area that each grid pixel occupies inside the boundaries formed by the p:q lines. However, these area-based masks have asymmetric boundaries, flat interior values and may be odd or even in size. Where edges, lines or points are in-filled, area-based p:q masks imprint intensity patterns that recall p:q because the shape of those masks is asymmetric and depends on p:q. We aim to remove these “memory” artefacts by building symmetric p:q masks. We show here that smoother, symmetric versions of such convolution masks exist. The coefficients of the masks constructed here have simple integer values whose distribution is derived purely from symmetry considerations. We have application for these symmetric interpolation masks as part of a precise image rotation algorithm which disguises the rotation angle, as well as to smooth back-projected values when performing discrete tomographic image reconstruction.     

Novel steganographic method based on generalized <Emphasis Type="Italic">K</Emphasis>-distance <Emphasis Type="Italic">N</Emphasis>-dimensional pixel matching

In this paper, a steganographic scheme adopting the concept of the generalized K _d -distance N-dimensional pixel matching is proposed. The generalized pixel matching embeds a B-ary digit (B is a function of K and N) into a cover vector of length N, where the order-d Minkowski distance-measured embedding distortion is no larger than K. In contrast to other pixel matching-based schemes, a N-dimensional reference table is used. By choosing d, K, and N adaptively, an embedding strategy which is suitable for arbitrary relative capacity can be developed. Additionally, an optimization algorithm, namely successive iteration algorithm (SIA), is proposed to optimize the codeword assignment in the reference table. Benefited from the high dimensional embedding and the optimization algorithm, nearly maximal embedding efficiency is achieved. Compared with other content-free steganographic schemes, the proposed scheme provides better image quality and statistical security. Moreover, the proposed scheme performs comparable to state-of-the-art content-based approaches after combining with image models.     

Participant selection for <Emphasis Type="Italic">t</Emphasis>-sweep <Emphasis Type="Italic">k</Emphasis>-coverage crowd sensing tasks

With the popularization of wireless networks and mobile intelligent terminals, mobile crowd sensing is becoming a promising sensing paradigm. Tasks are assigned to users with mobile devices, which then collect and submit ambient information to the server. The composition of participants greatly determines the quality and cost of the collected information. This paper aims to select fewest participants to achieve the quality required by a sensing task. The requirement namely “t-sweep k-coverage” means for a target location, every t time interval should at least k participants sense. The participant selection problem for “t-sweep k-coverage” crowd sensing tasks is NP-hard. Through delicate matrix stacking, linear programming can be adopted to solve the problem when it is in small size. We further propose a participant selection method based on greedy strategy. The two methods are evaluated through simulated experiments using users’ call detail records. The results show that for small problems, both the two methods can find a participant set meeting the requirement. The number of participants picked by the greedy based method is roughly twice of the linear programming based method. However, when problems become larger, the linear programming based method performs unstably, while the greedy based method can still output a reasonable solution.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">A</Emphasis>-equilibrium and fuzzy <Emphasis Type="Italic">A</Emphasis>-core in pure exchange model with externalities

The paper suggests the concept of A-equilibrium that is a concretization of the “altruistic” Berge equilibrium adapted to the pure exchange models with externalities. In contrast to the classical markets, these models consider the external influence on the preferences of economic agents. In terms of an appropriate fuzzy domination, a cooperative characterization of the A-equilibrium allocations is given, and an analog of the classic core equivalence theorem is established.     

Variations for the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Q</Emphasis>- and <Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis>-factors in the polar decomposition

In this paper, the variations of both subunitary polar factors and Hermitian positive semidefinite polar factors in the polar decomposition are studied. New perturbation bounds of both polar factors are given without the restriction that A and its perturbed matrix à have the same rank. These improve recent results.     

Upper bound on the minimum distance of LDPC codes over <Emphasis Type="Italic">GF</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">q</Emphasis>) based on counting the number of syndromes

In [1] a syndrome counting based upper bound on the minimum distance of regular binary LDPC codes is given. In this paper we extend the bound to the case of irregular and generalized LDPC codes over GF(q). A comparison with the lower bound for LDPC codes over GF(q), upper bound for the codes over GF(q), and the shortening upper bound for LDPC codes is made. The new bound is shown to lie under the Gilbert–Varshamov bound at high rates.