13,960 research outputs found
Some Applications of Coding Theory in Computational Complexity
Error-correcting codes and related combinatorial constructs play an important
role in several recent (and old) results in computational complexity theory. In
this paper we survey results on locally-testable and locally-decodable
error-correcting codes, and their applications to complexity theory and to
cryptography.
Locally decodable codes are error-correcting codes with sub-linear time
error-correcting algorithms. They are related to private information retrieval
(a type of cryptographic protocol), and they are used in average-case
complexity and to construct ``hard-core predicates'' for one-way permutations.
Locally testable codes are error-correcting codes with sub-linear time
error-detection algorithms, and they are the combinatorial core of
probabilistically checkable proofs
Uncertainty propagation and speculation in projective forecasts of environmental change: a lake-eutrophication example
The issue of whether models developed for current conditions can yield correct predictions when used under changed control, as is often the case in environmental management, is discussed. Two models of different complexity are compared on the basis of performance criteria, but it appears that good performance at the calibration stage does not guarantee correctly predicted behavior. A requirement for the detection of such a failure of the model is that the prediction uncertainty range is known. Two techniques to calculate uncertainty propagation are presented and compared: a stochastic first-order error propagation based on the extended Kalman filter (EKF), and a newly developed and robust Monte Carlo set-membership procedure (MCSM). The procedures are applied to a case study of water quality, generating a projective forecast of the algal dynamics in a lake (Lake Veluwe) in response to management actions that force the system into a different mode of behavior. It is found that the forecast from the more complex model falls within the prediction uncertainty range, but its informative value is low due to large uncertainty bounds. As a substitute for time-consuming revisions of the model, educated speculation about parameter shifts is offered as an alternative approach to account for expected but unmodelled changes in the system
Reliable Physical Layer Network Coding
When two or more users in a wireless network transmit simultaneously, their
electromagnetic signals are linearly superimposed on the channel. As a result,
a receiver that is interested in one of these signals sees the others as
unwanted interference. This property of the wireless medium is typically viewed
as a hindrance to reliable communication over a network. However, using a
recently developed coding strategy, interference can in fact be harnessed for
network coding. In a wired network, (linear) network coding refers to each
intermediate node taking its received packets, computing a linear combination
over a finite field, and forwarding the outcome towards the destinations. Then,
given an appropriate set of linear combinations, a destination can solve for
its desired packets. For certain topologies, this strategy can attain
significantly higher throughputs over routing-based strategies. Reliable
physical layer network coding takes this idea one step further: using
judiciously chosen linear error-correcting codes, intermediate nodes in a
wireless network can directly recover linear combinations of the packets from
the observed noisy superpositions of transmitted signals. Starting with some
simple examples, this survey explores the core ideas behind this new technique
and the possibilities it offers for communication over interference-limited
wireless networks.Comment: 19 pages, 14 figures, survey paper to appear in Proceedings of the
IEE
Signal propagation and noisy circuits
The information carried by a signal decays when the signal is corrupted by random noise. This occurs when a message is transmitted over a noisy channel, as well as when a noisy component performs computation. We first study this signal decay in the context of communication and obtain a tight bound on the rate at which information decreases as a signal crosses a noisy channel. We then use this information theoretic result to obtain depth lower bounds in the noisy circuit model of computation defined by von Neumann. In this model, each component fails (produces 1 instead of 0 or vice-versa) independently with a fixed probability, and yet the output of the circuit is required to be correct with high probability. Von Neumann showed how to construct circuits in this model that reliably compute a function and are no more than a constant factor deeper than noiseless circuits for the function. We provide a lower bound on the multiplicative increase in circuit depth necessary for reliable computation, and an upper bound on the maximum level of noise at which reliable computation is possible
A Game-Theoretic Approach for Runtime Capacity Allocation in MapReduce
Nowadays many companies have available large amounts of raw, unstructured
data. Among Big Data enabling technologies, a central place is held by the
MapReduce framework and, in particular, by its open source implementation,
Apache Hadoop. For cost effectiveness considerations, a common approach entails
sharing server clusters among multiple users. The underlying infrastructure
should provide every user with a fair share of computational resources,
ensuring that Service Level Agreements (SLAs) are met and avoiding wastes. In
this paper we consider two mathematical programming problems that model the
optimal allocation of computational resources in a Hadoop 2.x cluster with the
aim to develop new capacity allocation techniques that guarantee better
performance in shared data centers. Our goal is to get a substantial reduction
of power consumption while respecting the deadlines stated in the SLAs and
avoiding penalties associated with job rejections. The core of this approach is
a distributed algorithm for runtime capacity allocation, based on Game Theory
models and techniques, that mimics the MapReduce dynamics by means of
interacting players, namely the central Resource Manager and Class Managers
- âŠ