NP-Hardness of Tensor Network Contraction Ordering

We study the optimal order (or sequence) of contracting a tensor network with a minimal computational cost. We conclude 2 different versions of this optimal sequence: that minimize the operation number (OMS) and that minimize the time complexity (CMS). Existing results only shows that OMS is NP-hard, but no conclusion on CMS problem. In this work, we firstly reduce CMS to CMS-0, which is a sub-problem of CMS with no free indices. Then we prove that CMS is easier than OMS, both in general and in tree cases. Last but not least, we prove that CMS is still NP-hard. Based on our results, we have built up relationships of hardness of different tensor network contraction problems.Comment: Jianyu Xu and Hanwen Zhang are equal contributors. 10 pages (reference and appendix excluded), 20 pages in total, 6 figure

Value Cards: An Educational Toolkit for Teaching Social Impacts of Machine Learning through Deliberation

Recently, there have been increasing calls for computer science curricula to complement existing technical training with topics related to Fairness, Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics. In this paper, we present Value Card, an educational toolkit to inform students and practitioners of the social impacts of different machine learning models via deliberation. This paper presents an early use of our approach in a college-level computer science course. Through an in-class activity, we report empirical data for the initial effectiveness of our approach. Our results suggest that the use of the Value Cards toolkit can improve students' understanding of both the technical definitions and trade-offs of performance metrics and apply them in real-world contexts, help them recognize the significance of considering diverse social values in the development of deployment of algorithmic systems, and enable them to communicate, negotiate and synthesize the perspectives of diverse stakeholders. Our study also demonstrates a number of caveats we need to consider when using the different variants of the Value Cards toolkit. Finally, we discuss the challenges as well as future applications of our approach.Comment: Updating authors' name

The Representation of Mosuo People and Mosuo Culture in Chinese Tourism Websites

Past research has shown that because tourism itself is a product of a gendered society, its processes are gendered in terms of construction, presentation, and consumption. This study examines how these websites shape the image of the Mosuo people and the Mosuo culture by analyzing texts in Chinese tourism websites. Ten representative Chinese tourism websites were selected for this study, and all relevant texts that could be retrieved were analyzed manually. All samples selected were officially published and represent only the attitudes of the tourism websites. The results of the study show that there are a large number of feminized or sexualized descriptions in the texts about the Mosuo people and the Mosuo culture provided by Chinese tourism websites. The language used on tourism websites is shaped by discourses of patriarchy and sexuality and is intended for heterosexual male tourists

A grazing Gomphotherium in Middle Miocene Central Asia, 10 million years prior to the origin of the Elephantidae

Feeding preference of fossil herbivorous mammals, concerning the coevolution of mammalian and floral ecosystems, has become of key research interest. In this paper, phytoliths in dental calculus from two gomphotheriid proboscideans of the middle Miocene Junggar Basin, Central Asia, have been identified, suggesting that Gomphotherium connexum was a mixed feeder, while the phytoliths from G. steinheimense indicates grazing preference. This is the earliest-known proboscidean with a predominantly grazing habit. These results are further confirmed by microwear and isotope analyses. Pollen record reveals an open steppic environment with few trees, indicating an early aridity phase in the Asian interior during the Mid-Miocene Climate Optimum, which might urge a diet remodeling of G. steinheimense. Morphological and cladistic analyses show that G. steinheimense comprises the sister taxon of tetralophodont gomphotheres, which were believed to be the general ancestral stock of derived “true elephantids”; whereas G. connexum represents a more conservative lineage in both feeding behavior and tooth morphology, which subsequently became completely extinct. Therefore, grazing by G. steinheimense may have acted as a behavior preadaptive for aridity, and allowing its lineage evolving new morphological features for surviving later in time. This study displays an interesting example of behavioral adaptation prior to morphological modification

Utilization of Local Ingredients for the Production of High-Early-Strength Engineered Cementitious Composites

The rapid repair and retrofitting of existing transportation infrastructure requires dimensional stability and ductile repair material that can obtain sufficiently high strength in a few hours to accommodate the large loading and deformation at an early age. Engineering cementitious composites (ECCs) is a class representative of the new generation of high-performance fiber-reinforced cement-based composites (HPFRCC) with medium fiber content. The unique properties of tremendous ductility and tight multiple crack behavior indicate that ECC can be used as an effective retrofit material. The wide application of this material in China will require the use of all local ingredients. In this study, based on Chinese domestic ingredients, including matrix materials and all fibers, high-early-strength ECC (HES-ECC) was designed under the guidance of strain-hardening criterion of ECC. The matrix properties and fiber/matrix interfacial micromechanics properties were obtained from three-point-bending test and single-fiber pullout test. The mechanical properties of HES-ECC were achieved by direct tensile test. The experimental results show that HES-ECC was successfully developed by using all Chinese materials. When using the domestic PVA fiber at 2%, the strength requirement can be achieved but only a low ductility. When using the domestic PE fiber at 0.8%, the strength and deformation requirement both can be obtained. The HES-ECC developed in this study exhibited compressive strength of more than 25 MPa within 6 hours, and an ultimate tensile strength of 5-6 MPa and tensile strain capacity of 3-4% after 60 days. Moreover, the cost of using domestic fiber can be largely reduced compared with using imported fiber, up to 70%; it is beneficial to the promotion of these high-early-strength ECCs in the Chinese market

Rethinking the Value of Labels for Instance-Dependent Label Noise Learning

Label noise widely exists in large-scale datasets and significantly degenerates the performances of deep learning algorithms. Due to the non-identifiability of the instance-dependent noise transition matrix, most existing algorithms address the problem by assuming the noisy label generation process to be independent of the instance features. Unfortunately, noisy labels in real-world applications often depend on both the true label and the features. In this work, we tackle instance-dependent label noise with a novel deep generative model that avoids explicitly modeling the noise transition matrix. Our algorithm leverages casual representation learning and simultaneously identifies the high-level content and style latent factors from the data. By exploiting the supervision information of noisy labels with structural causal models, our empirical evaluations on a wide range of synthetic and real-world instance-dependent label noise datasets demonstrate that the proposed algorithm significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art counterparts.Comment: 20 pages,2 figure

Three Closed-Loop Feedback Control System with Dual Disturbance Observers of an Optoelectronic Stable Control Platform

Disturbances presented in aeronautical imaging equipment can cause visual axis jitter, which directly leads to a reduction in closed-loop bandwidth and a decrease in tracking accuracy. The disturbance frequency affecting the stable control platform is mainly concentrated in the low- and middle-frequency bands, but the commonly used three closed-loop feedback control methods do not perform well in the disturbance rejection of those frequency bands. Moreover, the only disturbance observer in the acceleration loop cannot improve the low-band disturbance rejection capability due to the drift of the micro-electro-mechanical-system (MEMS) accelerometers in the low-frequency range. To solve these problems, this paper proposed dual disturbance observers (dual DOB) based on the disturbance information in the acceleration loop and the position loop. This design used two compensators to observe and compensate for the disturbances, which did not require additional sensors, and therefore did not increase system cost. Theoretical demonstrations and physical experiments showed that the designed method of the dual DOB not only improved the disturbance rejection capability of the low- and middle-frequency band of the optoelectronic stable control platform, but also improved the robustness of the system