On universal partial words

A universal word for a finite alphabet $A$ and some integer $n\geq 1$ is a word over $A$ such that every word in $A^n$ appears exactly once as a subword (cyclically or linearly). It is well-known and easy to prove that universal words exist for any $A$ and $n$. In this work we initiate the systematic study of universal partial words. These are words that in addition to the letters from $A$ may contain an arbitrary number of occurrences of a special `joker' symbol $\Diamond\notin A$, which can be substituted by any symbol from $A$. For example, $u=0\Diamond 011100$ is a linear partial word for the binary alphabet $A=\{0,1\}$ and for $n=3$ (e.g., the first three letters of $u$ yield the subwords $000$ and $010$). We present results on the existence and non-existence of linear and cyclic universal partial words in different situations (depending on the number of $\Diamond$s and their positions), including various explicit constructions. We also provide numerous examples of universal partial words that we found with the help of a computer

On universal partial words for word-patterns and set partitions

Universal words are words containing exactly once each element from a given set of combinatorial structures admiting encoding by words. Universal partial words (u-p-words) contain, in addition to the letters from the alphabet in question, any number of occurrences of a special ``joker'' symbol. We initiate the study of u-p-words for word-patterns (essentially, surjective functions) and (2-)set partitions by proving a number of existence/non-existence results and thus extending the results in the literature on u-p-words and u-p-cycles for words and permutations. We apply methods of graph theory and combinatorics on words to obtain our results

Combinatorial Properties of Finite Models

We study countable embedding-universal and homomorphism-universal structures and unify results related to both of these notions. We show that many universal and ultrahomogeneous structures allow a concise description (called here a finite presentation). Extending classical work of Rado (for the random graph), we find a finite presentation for each of the following classes: homogeneous undirected graphs, homogeneous tournaments and homogeneous partially ordered sets. We also give a finite presentation of the rational Urysohn metric space and some homogeneous directed graphs. We survey well known structures that are finitely presented. We focus on structures endowed with natural partial orders and prove their universality. These partial orders include partial orders on sets of words, partial orders formed by geometric objects, grammars, polynomials and homomorphism orders for various combinatorial objects. We give a new combinatorial proof of the existence of embedding-universal objects for homomorphism-defined classes of structures. This relates countable embedding-universal structures to homomorphism dualities (finite homomorphism-universal structures) and Urysohn metric spaces. Our explicit construction also allows us to show several properties of these structures.Comment: PhD thesis, unofficial version (missing apple font

Strength analysis of soil blocks admixed with sugarcane bagasse ash.

This paper is mainly focusing on the stabilization of soil using sugarcane baggase ash (SBA) as a soil stabilizer. The locally available soil samples were collected and their properties were determined. Based on the laboratory test results the soil was classified as fine-grained soil. Soil stabilized blocks of dimensions 15cm x 15cm x 15cm were prepared with the following soil, cement and SBA combinations 100% soil, 80% soil + 20% cement, 80% soil +10% cement +10% SBA, 80% soil + 8% cement+ 12% SBA and 80% soil + 6% cement +14% SBA. Plain OPC cement of 43 grade and SBA from sugar factory Goa was used for the soil blocks. The blocks were moist cured for a period of 28 days. The soil stabilized blocks were then tested for their compressive strength under the universal testing machine according to BIS specifications. The effects of the SBA on the strength of the soil blocks were studied and it could be concluded that SBA can be used as a partial replacement of cement. Key words: sugarcane bagasse ash, compressive Strength, soil stabilized block, cement

Universal Lyndon Words

A word $w$ over an alphabet $\Sigma$ is a Lyndon word if there exists an order defined on $\Sigma$ for which $w$ is lexicographically smaller than all of its conjugates (other than itself). We introduce and study \emph{universal Lyndon words}, which are words over an $n$-letter alphabet that have length $n!$ and such that all the conjugates are Lyndon words. We show that universal Lyndon words exist for every $n$ and exhibit combinatorial and structural properties of these words. We then define particular prefix codes, which we call Hamiltonian lex-codes, and show that every Hamiltonian lex-code is in bijection with the set of the shortest unrepeated prefixes of the conjugates of a universal Lyndon word. This allows us to give an algorithm for constructing all the universal Lyndon words.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of MFCS 201

Partial-indistinguishability obfuscation using braids

An obfuscator is an algorithm that translates circuits into functionally-equivalent similarly-sized circuits that are hard to understand. Efficient obfuscators would have many applications in cryptography. Until recently, theoretical progress has mainly been limited to no-go results. Recent works have proposed the first efficient obfuscation algorithms for classical logic circuits, based on a notion of indistinguishability against polynomial-time adversaries. In this work, we propose a new notion of obfuscation, which we call partial-indistinguishability. This notion is based on computationally universal groups with efficiently computable normal forms, and appears to be incomparable with existing definitions. We describe universal gate sets for both classical and quantum computation, in which our definition of obfuscation can be met by polynomial-time algorithms. We also discuss some potential applications to testing quantum computers. We stress that the cryptographic security of these obfuscators, especially when composed with translation from other gate sets, remains an open question.Comment: 21 pages,Proceedings of TQC 201

The zero section of the universal semiabelian variety, and the double ramification cycle

We study the Chow ring of the boundary of the partial compactification of the universal family of principally polarized abelian varieties (ppav). We describe the subring generated by divisor classes, and compute the class of the partial compactification of the universal zero section, which turns out to lie in this subring. Our formula extends the results for the zero section of the universal uncompactified family. The partial compactification of the universal family of ppav can be thought of as the first two boundary strata in any toroidal compactification of the moduli space of ppav. Our formula provides a first step in a program to understand the Chow groups of toroidal compactifications of the moduli of ppav, especially of the perfect cone compactification, by induction on genus. By restricting to the locus of Jacobians of curves, our results extend the results of Hain on the double ramification (two-branch-point) cycle.Comment: Section 6, dealing with the Eliashberg problem for moduli of curves, rewritten. A discussion of the extension of the Abel-Jacobi map added, the resulting formula corrected. Final version, to appear in Duke Math.

Normalized Information Distance

The normalized information distance is a universal distance measure for objects of all kinds. It is based on Kolmogorov complexity and thus uncomputable, but there are ways to utilize it. First, compression algorithms can be used to approximate the Kolmogorov complexity if the objects have a string representation. Second, for names and abstract concepts, page count statistics from the World Wide Web can be used. These practical realizations of the normalized information distance can then be applied to machine learning tasks, expecially clustering, to perform feature-free and parameter-free data mining. This chapter discusses the theoretical foundations of the normalized information distance and both practical realizations. It presents numerous examples of successful real-world applications based on these distance measures, ranging from bioinformatics to music clustering to machine translation.Comment: 33 pages, 12 figures, pdf, in: Normalized information distance, in: Information Theory and Statistical Learning, Eds. M. Dehmer, F. Emmert-Streib, Springer-Verlag, New-York, To appea