761 research outputs found
A general theory of DNA-mediated and other valence-limited interactions
We present a general theory for predicting the interaction potentials between
DNA-coated colloids, and more broadly, any particles that interact via
valence-limited ligand-receptor binding. Our theory correctly incorporates the
configurational and combinatorial entropic factors that play a key role in
valence-limited interactions. By rigorously enforcing self-consistency, it
achieves near-quantitative accuracy with respect to detailed Monte Carlo
calculations. With suitable approximations and in particular geometries, our
theory reduces to previous successful treatments, which are now united in a
common and extensible framework. We expect our tools to be useful to other
researchers investigating ligand-mediated interactions. A complete and
well-documented Python implementation is freely available at
http://github.com/patvarilly/DNACC .Comment: 18 pages, 10 figure
On the Pseudo-Deterministic Query Complexity of NP Search Problems
We study pseudo-deterministic query complexity - randomized query algorithms that are required to output the same answer with high probability on all inputs. We prove Ω(√n) lower bounds on the pseudo-deterministic complexity of a large family of search problems based on unsatisfiable random CNF instances, and also for the promise problem (FIND1) of finding a 1 in a vector populated with at least half one’s. This gives an exponential separation between randomized query complexity and pseudo-deterministic complexity, which is tight in the quantum setting. As applications we partially solve a related combinatorial coloring problem, and we separate random tree-like Resolution from its pseudo-deterministic version. In contrast to our lower bound, we show, surprisingly, that in the zero-error, average case setting, the three notions (deterministic, randomized, pseudo-deterministic) collapse
Subspace-Invariant AC Formulas
We consider the action of a linear subspace of on the set of
AC formulas with inputs labeled by literals in the set , where an element acts on formulas by
transposing the th pair of literals for all such that . A
formula is {\em -invariant} if it is fixed by this action. For example,
there is a well-known recursive construction of depth formulas of size
computing the -variable PARITY function; these
formulas are easily seen to be -invariant where is the subspace of
even-weight elements of . In this paper we establish a nearly
matching lower bound on the -invariant depth
formula size of PARITY. Quantitatively this improves the best known
lower bound for {\em unrestricted} depth
formulas, while avoiding the use of the switching lemma. More generally,
for any linear subspaces , we show that if a Boolean function is
-invariant and non-constant over , then its -invariant depth
formula size is at least where is the minimum Hamming
weight of a vector in
On Disperser/Lifting Properties of the Index and Inner-Product Functions
Query-to-communication lifting theorems, which connect the query complexity of a Boolean function to the communication complexity of an associated "lifted" function obtained by composing the function with many copies of another function known as a gadget, have been instrumental in resolving many open questions in computational complexity. A number of important complexity questions could be resolved if we could make substantial improvements in the input size required for lifting with the Index function, which is a universal gadget for lifting, from its current near-linear size down to polylogarithmic in the number of inputs N of the original function or, ideally, constant. The near-linear size bound was recently shown by Lovett, Meka, Mertz, Pitassi and Zhang [Shachar Lovett et al., 2022] using a recent breakthrough improvement on the Sunflower Lemma to show that a certain graph associated with an Index function of that size is a disperser. They also stated a conjecture about the Index function that is essential for further improvements in the size required for lifting with Index using current techniques. In this paper we prove the following;
- The conjecture of Lovett et al. is false when the size of the Index gadget is less than logarithmic in N.
- The same limitation applies to the Inner-Product function. More precisely, the Inner-Product function, which is known to satisfy the disperser property at size O(log N), also does not have this property when its size is less than log N.
- Notwithstanding the above, we prove a lifting theorem that applies to Index gadgets of any size at least 4 and yields lower bounds for a restricted class of communication protocols in which one of the players is limited to sending parities of its inputs.
- Using a modification of the same idea with improved lifting parameters we derive a strong lifting theorem from decision tree size to parity decision tree size. We use this, in turn, to derive a general lifting theorem in proof complexity from tree-resolution size to tree-like Res(?) refutation size, which yields many new exponential lower bounds on such proofs
Flexible and Robust Counterfactual Explanations with Minimal Satisfiable Perturbations
Counterfactual explanations (CFEs) exemplify how to minimally modify a
feature vector to achieve a different prediction for an instance. CFEs can
enhance informational fairness and trustworthiness, and provide suggestions for
users who receive adverse predictions. However, recent research has shown that
multiple CFEs can be offered for the same instance or instances with slight
differences. Multiple CFEs provide flexible choices and cover diverse
desiderata for user selection. However, individual fairness and model
reliability will be damaged if unstable CFEs with different costs are returned.
Existing methods fail to exploit flexibility and address the concerns of
non-robustness simultaneously. To address these issues, we propose a
conceptually simple yet effective solution named Counterfactual Explanations
with Minimal Satisfiable Perturbations (CEMSP). Specifically, CEMSP constrains
changing values of abnormal features with the help of their semantically
meaningful normal ranges. For efficiency, we model the problem as a Boolean
satisfiability problem to modify as few features as possible. Additionally,
CEMSP is a general framework and can easily accommodate more practical
requirements, e.g., casualty and actionability. Compared to existing methods,
we conduct comprehensive experiments on both synthetic and real-world datasets
to demonstrate that our method provides more robust explanations while
preserving flexibility.Comment: Accepted by CIKM 202
Mechanical characterization of different epoxy resins enhanced with carbon nanofibers
Epoxy with carbon nanofibers (CNFs) are effective nano enhanced materials that can be prepared by easy and low-cost method. The present paper compares the improvements, in terms of flexural and viscoelastic properties, of two epoxy resins reinforced with different weight percentages (wt.%) of CNFs. These epoxy resins have different viscosities, and weight contents between 0% and 1% of CNFs were used to achieve the maximum mechanical properties. Subsequently, for the best configurations obtained, the sensitivity to the strain rate and the viscoelastic behaviour (stress relaxation and creep) were analysed based on international standards. It was possible to conclude that, for both resins, carbon CNFs promote significant improvements in all the studied mechanical properties, even for different contents by weight.
 
Circuit Depth Reductions
The best known size lower bounds against unrestricted circuits have remained
around for several decades. Moreover, the only known technique for proving
lower bounds in this model, gate elimination, is inherently limited to proving
lower bounds of less than . In this work, we propose a non-gate-elimination
approach for obtaining circuit lower bounds, via certain depth-three lower
bounds. We prove that every (unbounded-depth) circuit of size can be
expressed as an OR of -CNFs. For DeMorgan formulas, the best
known size lower bounds have been stuck at around for decades.
Under a plausible hypothesis about probabilistic polynomials, we show that
-size DeMorgan formulas have
-size depth-3 circuits which are approximate
sums of -degree polynomials over .
While these structural results do not immediately lead to new lower bounds,
they do suggest new avenues of attack on these longstanding lower bound
problems.
Our results complement the classical depth- reduction results of Valiant,
which show that logarithmic-depth circuits of linear size can be computed by an
OR of -CNFs, and slightly stronger results for
series-parallel circuits. It is known that no purely graph-theoretic reduction
could yield interesting depth-3 circuits from circuits of super-logarithmic
depth. We overcome this limitation (for small-size circuits) by taking into
account both the graph-theoretic and functional properties of circuits and
formulas.
We show that improvements of the following pseudorandom constructions imply
new circuit lower bounds: dispersers for varieties, correlation with constant
degree polynomials, matrix rigidity, and hardness for depth- circuits with
constant bottom fan-in
- …