279 research outputs found
Addressing Item-Cold Start Problem in Recommendation Systems using Model Based Approach and Deep Learning
Traditional recommendation systems rely on past usage data in order to
generate new recommendations. Those approaches fail to generate sensible
recommendations for new users and items into the system due to missing
information about their past interactions. In this paper, we propose a solution
for successfully addressing item-cold start problem which uses model-based
approach and recent advances in deep learning. In particular, we use latent
factor model for recommendation, and predict the latent factors from item's
descriptions using convolutional neural network when they cannot be obtained
from usage data. Latent factors obtained by applying matrix factorization to
the available usage data are used as ground truth to train the convolutional
neural network. To create latent factor representations for the new items, the
convolutional neural network uses their textual description. The results from
the experiments reveal that the proposed approach significantly outperforms
several baseline estimators
Marginal release under local differential privacy
Many analysis and machine learning tasks require the availability of marginal statistics on multidimensional datasets while providing strong privacy guarantees for the data subjects. Applications for these statistics range from finding correlations in the data to fitting sophisticated prediction models. In this paper, we provide a set of algorithms for materializing marginal statistics under the strong model of local differential privacy. We prove the first tight theoretical bounds on the accuracy of marginals compiled under each approach, perform empirical evaluation to confirm these bounds, and evaluate them for tasks such as modeling and correlation testing. Our results show that releasing information based on (local) Fourier transformations of the input is preferable to alternatives based directly on (local) marginals
On Deterministic Sketching and Streaming for Sparse Recovery and Norm Estimation
We study classic streaming and sparse recovery problems using deterministic
linear sketches, including l1/l1 and linf/l1 sparse recovery problems (the
latter also being known as l1-heavy hitters), norm estimation, and approximate
inner product. We focus on devising a fixed matrix A in R^{m x n} and a
deterministic recovery/estimation procedure which work for all possible input
vectors simultaneously. Our results improve upon existing work, the following
being our main contributions:
* A proof that linf/l1 sparse recovery and inner product estimation are
equivalent, and that incoherent matrices can be used to solve both problems.
Our upper bound for the number of measurements is m=O(eps^{-2}*min{log n, (log
n / log(1/eps))^2}). We can also obtain fast sketching and recovery algorithms
by making use of the Fast Johnson-Lindenstrauss transform. Both our running
times and number of measurements improve upon previous work. We can also obtain
better error guarantees than previous work in terms of a smaller tail of the
input vector.
* A new lower bound for the number of linear measurements required to solve
l1/l1 sparse recovery. We show Omega(k/eps^2 + klog(n/k)/eps) measurements are
required to recover an x' with |x - x'|_1 <= (1+eps)|x_{tail(k)}|_1, where
x_{tail(k)} is x projected onto all but its largest k coordinates in magnitude.
* A tight bound of m = Theta(eps^{-2}log(eps^2 n)) on the number of
measurements required to solve deterministic norm estimation, i.e., to recover
|x|_2 +/- eps|x|_1.
For all the problems we study, tight bounds are already known for the
randomized complexity from previous work, except in the case of l1/l1 sparse
recovery, where a nearly tight bound is known. Our work thus aims to study the
deterministic complexities of these problems
Deterministic Sampling and Range Counting in Geometric Data Streams
We present memory-efficient deterministic algorithms for constructing
epsilon-nets and epsilon-approximations of streams of geometric data. Unlike
probabilistic approaches, these deterministic samples provide guaranteed bounds
on their approximation factors. We show how our deterministic samples can be
used to answer approximate online iceberg geometric queries on data streams. We
use these techniques to approximate several robust statistics of geometric data
streams, including Tukey depth, simplicial depth, regression depth, the
Thiel-Sen estimator, and the least median of squares. Our algorithms use only a
polylogarithmic amount of memory, provided the desired approximation factors
are inverse-polylogarithmic. We also include a lower bound for non-iceberg
geometric queries.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figur
Theology, News and Notes - Vol. 55, No. 02
Theology News & Notes was a theological journal published by Fuller Theological Seminary from 1954 through 2014.https://digitalcommons.fuller.edu/tnn/1162/thumbnail.jp
Superselectors: Efficient Constructions and Applications
We introduce a new combinatorial structure: the superselector. We show that
superselectors subsume several important combinatorial structures used in the
past few years to solve problems in group testing, compressed sensing,
multi-channel conflict resolution and data security. We prove close upper and
lower bounds on the size of superselectors and we provide efficient algorithms
for their constructions. Albeit our bounds are very general, when they are
instantiated on the combinatorial structures that are particular cases of
superselectors (e.g., (p,k,n)-selectors, (d,\ell)-list-disjunct matrices,
MUT_k(r)-families, FUT(k, a)-families, etc.) they match the best known bounds
in terms of size of the structures (the relevant parameter in the
applications). For appropriate values of parameters, our results also provide
the first efficient deterministic algorithms for the construction of such
structures
Dual-modality, fluorescent, PLGA encapsulated bismuth nanoparticles for molecular and cellular fluorescence imaging and computed tomography
Reports of molecular and cellular imaging using computed tomography (CT) are rapidly increasing. Many of these reports use gold nanoparticles. Bismuth has similar CT contrast properties to gold while being approximately 1000-fold less expensive. Herein we report the design, fabrication, characterization, and CT and fluorescence imaging properties of a novel, dual modality, fluorescent, polymer encapsulated bismuth nanoparticle construct for computed tomography and fluorescence imaging. We also report on cellular internalization and preliminary in vitro and in vivo toxicity effects of these constructs. 40 nm bismuth(0) nanocrystals were synthesized and encapsulated within 120 nm Poly(DL-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles by oil-in-water emulsion methodologies. Coumarin-6 was co-encapsulated to impart fluorescence. High encapsulation efficiency was achieved ∼ 70% bismuth w/w. Particles were shown to internalize within cells following incubation in culture. Bismuth nanocrystals and PLGA encapsulated bismuth nanoparticles exhibited >90% and >70% degradation, respectively, within 24 hours in acidic, lysosomal environment mimicking media and both remained nearly 100% stable in cytosolic/extracellular fluid mimicking media. μCT and clinical CT imaging was performed at multiple X-ray tube voltages to measure concentration dependent attenuation rates as well as to establish the ability to detect the nanoparticles in an ex vivo biological sample. Dual fluorescence and CT imaging is demonstrated as well. In vivo toxicity studies in rats revealed neither clinically apparent side effects nor major alterations in serum chemistry and hematology parameters. Calculations on minimal detection requirements for in vivo targeted imaging using these nanoparticles are presented. Indeed, our results indicate that these nanoparticles may serve as a platform for sensitive and specific targeted molecular CT and fluorescence imaging
Topical Ferumoxytol Nanoparticles Disrupt Biofilms and Prevent Tooth Decay in Vivo Via Intrinsic Catalytic Activity
Ferumoxytol is a nanoparticle formulation approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for systemic use to treat iron deficiency. Here, we show that, in addition, ferumoxytol disrupts intractable oral biofilms and prevents tooth decay (dental caries) via intrinsic peroxidase-like activity. Ferumoxytol binds within the biofilm ultrastructure and generates free radicals from hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), causing in situ bacterial death via cell membrane disruption and extracellular polymeric substances matrix degradation. In combination with low concentrations of H2O2, ferumoxytol inhibits biofilm accumulation on natural teeth in a human-derived ex vivo biofilm model, and prevents acid damage of the mineralized tissue. Topical oral treatment with ferumoxytol and H2O2 suppresses the development of dental caries in vivo, preventing the onset of severe tooth decay (cavities) in a rodent model of the disease. Microbiome and histological analyses show no adverse effects on oral microbiota diversity, and gingival and mucosal tissues. Our results reveal a new biomedical application for ferumoxytol as topical treatment of a prevalent and costly biofilm-induced oral disease
Emergence of Superlattice Dirac Points in Graphene on Hexagonal Boron Nitride
The Schr\"odinger equation dictates that the propagation of nearly free
electrons through a weak periodic potential results in the opening of band gaps
near points of the reciprocal lattice known as Brillouin zone boundaries.
However, in the case of massless Dirac fermions, it has been predicted that the
chirality of the charge carriers prevents the opening of a band gap and instead
new Dirac points appear in the electronic structure of the material. Graphene
on hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) exhibits a rotation dependent Moir\'e pattern.
In this letter, we show experimentally and theoretically that this Moir\'e
pattern acts as a weak periodic potential and thereby leads to the emergence of
a new set of Dirac points at an energy determined by its wavelength. The new
massless Dirac fermions generated at these superlattice Dirac points are
characterized by a significantly reduced Fermi velocity. The local density of
states near these Dirac cones exhibits hexagonal modulations indicating an
anisotropic Fermi velocity.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure
Fingerprints in Compressed Strings
The Karp-Rabin fingerprint of a string is a type of hash value that due to its strong properties has been used in many string algorithms. In this paper we show how to construct a data structure for a string S of size N compressed by a context-free grammar of size n that answers fingerprint queries. That is, given indices i and j, the answer to a query is the fingerprint of the substring S[i,j]. We present the first O(n) space data structures that answer fingerprint queries without decompressing any characters. For Straight Line Programs (SLP) we get O(logN) query time, and for Linear SLPs (an SLP derivative that captures LZ78 compression and its variations) we get O(log log N) query time. Hence, our data structures has the same time and space complexity as for random access in SLPs. We utilize the fingerprint data structures to solve the longest common extension problem in query time O(log N log l) and O(log l log log l + log log N) for SLPs and Linear SLPs, respectively. Here, l denotes the length of the LCE
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