Supermetric search with the four-point property

Metric indexing research is concerned with the efficient evaluation of queries in metric spaces. In general, a large space of objects is arranged in such a way that, when a further object is presented as a query, those objects most similar to the query can be efficiently found. Most such mechanisms rely upon the triangle inequality property of the metric governing the space. The triangle inequality property is equivalent to a finite embedding property, which states that any three points of the space can be isometrically embedded in two-dimensional Euclidean space. In this paper, we examine a class of semimetric space which is finitely 4-embeddable in three-dimensional Euclidean space. In mathematics this property has been extensively studied and is generally known as the four-point property. All spaces with the four-point property are metric spaces, but they also have some stronger geometric guarantees. We coin the term supermetric space as, in terms of metric search, they are significantly more tractable. We show some stronger geometric guarantees deriving from the four-point property which can be used in indexing to great effect, and show results for two of the SISAP benchmark searches that are substantially better than any previously published

Improving spanning trees by upgrading nodes

We study budget constrained optimal network upgrading problems. Such problems aim at finding optimal strategies for improving a network under some cost measure subject to certain budget constraints. A general problem in this setting is the following. We are given an edge weighted graph G = (V, E) where nodes represent processors and edges represent bidirectional communication links. The processor at a node v {element_of} V can be upgraded at a cost of c(v). Such an upgrade reduces the delay of each link emanating from v. The goal is to find a minimum cost set of nodes to be upgraded so that the resulting network has the best performance with respect to some measure. We consider the problem under two measures, namely, the weight of a minimum spanning tree and the bottleneck weight of a minimum bottleneck spanning tree. We present approximation and hardness results for the problem. Our results are tight to within constant factors. We also show that these approximation algorithms can be used to construct good approximation algorithms for the dual versions of the problems where there is a budget constraint on the upgrading cost and the objectives are minimum weight spanning tree and minimum bottleneck weight spanning tree respectively

Reference point hyperplane trees

Our context of interest is tree-structured exact search in metric spaces. We make the simple observation that, the deeper a data item is within the tree, the higher the probability of that item being excluded from a search. Assuming a fixed and independent probability p of any subtree being excluded at query time, the probability of an individual data item being accessed is (1−p)d for a node at depth d. In a balanced binary tree half of the data will be at the maximum depth of the tree so this effect should be significant and observable. We test this hypothesis with two experiments on partition trees. First, we force a balance by adjusting the partition/exclusion criteria, and compare this with unbalanced trees where the mean data depth is greater. Second, we compare a generic hyperplane tree with a monotone hyperplane tree, where also the mean depth is greater. In both cases the tree with the greater mean data depth performs better in high-dimensional spaces. We then experiment with increasing the mean depth of nodes by using a small, fixed set of reference points to make exclusion decisions over the whole tree, so that almost all of the data resides at the maximum depth. Again this can be seen to reduce the overall cost of indexing. Furthermore, we observe that having already calculated reference point distances for all data, a final filtering can be applied if the distance table is retained. This reduces further the number of distance calculations required, whilst retaining scalability. The final structure can in fact be viewed as a hybrid between a generic hyperplane tree and a LAESA search structure

Node weighted network upgrade problems

Consider a network where nodes represent processors and edges represent bidirectional communication links. The processor at a node v can be upgraded at an expense of cost(v). Such an upgrade reduces the delay of each link emanating from v by a fixed factor x, where 0 < x < 1. The goal is to find a minimum cost set of nodes to be upgraded so that the resulting network has a spanning tree in which edge is of delay at most a given value {delta}. The authors provide both hardness and approximation results for the problem. They show that the problem is NP-hard and cannot be approximated within any factor {beta} < ln n, unless NP {improper_subset} DTIME(n{sup log log n}), where n is the number of nodes in the network. They then present the first polynomial time approximation algorithms for the problem. For the general case, the approximation algorithm comes within a factor of 2 ln n of the minimum upgrading cost. When the cost of upgrading each node is 1, they present an approximation algorithm with a performance guarantee of 4(2 + ln {Delta}), where {Delta} is the maximum node degree. Finally, they present a polynomial time algorithm for the class of treewidth-bounded graphs

On optimal strategies for upgrading networks

We study {ital budget constrained optimal network upgrading problems}. Such problems aim at finding optimal strategies for improving a network under some cost measure subject to certain budget constraints. Given an edge weighted graph {ital G(V,E)}, in the {ital edge based upgrading model}, it is assumed that each edge {ital e} of the given network has an associated function {ital c(e)} that specifies for each edge {ital e} the amount by which the length {ital l(e)} is to be reduced. In the {ital node based upgrading model} a node {ital v} can be upgraded at an expense of cost {ital (v)}. Such an upgrade reduces the cost of each edge incident on {ital v} by a fixed factor {rho}, where 0 < {rho} < 1. For a given budget, {ital B}, the goal is to find an improvement strategy such that the total cost of reduction is a most the given budget {ital B} and the cost of a subgraph (e.g. minimum spanning tree) under the modified edge lengths is the best over all possible strategies which obey the budget constraint. Define an ({alpha},{beta})-approximation algorithm as a polynomial-time algorithm that produces a solution within {alpha} times the optimal function value, violating the budget constraint by a factor of at most {Beta}. The results obtained in this paper include the following 1. We show that in general the problem of computing optimal reduction strategy for modifying the network as above is {bold NP}-hard. 2. In the node based model, we show how to devise a near optimal strategy for improving the bottleneck spanning tree. The algorithms have a performance guarantee of (2 ln {ital n}, 1). 3. for the edge based improvement problems we present improved (in terms of performance and time) approximation algorithms. 4. We also present pseudo-polynomial time algorithms (extendible to polynomial time approximation schemes) for a number of edge/node based improvement problems when restricted to the class of treewidth-bounded graphs

Intra-oral compartment pressures: a biofunctional model and experimental measurements under different conditions of posture

Oral posture is considered to have a major influence on the development and reoccurrence of malocclusion. A biofunctional model was tested with the null hypotheses that (1) there are no significant differences between pressures during different oral functions and (2) between pressure measurements in different oral compartments in order to substantiate various postural conditions at rest by intra-oral pressure dynamics. Atmospheric pressure monitoring was simultaneously carried out with a digital manometer in the vestibular inter-occlusal space (IOS) and at the palatal vault (sub-palatal space, SPS). Twenty subjects with normal occlusion were evaluated during the open-mouth condition (OC), gently closed lips (semi-open compartment condition, SC), with closed compartments after the generation of a negative pressure (CCN) and swallowing (SW). Pressure curve characteristics were compared between the different measurement phases (OC, SC, CCN, SW) as well as between the two compartments (IOS, SPS) using analysis of variance and Wilcoxon matched-pairs tests adopting a significance level of α = 0.05. Both null hypotheses were rejected. Average pressures (IOS, SPS) in the experimental phases were 0.0, −0.08 (OC); −0.16, −1.0 (SC); −48.79, −81.86 (CCN); and −29.25, −62.51 (SW) mbar. CCN plateau and peak characteristics significantly differed between the two compartments SPS and IOS. These results indicate the formation of two different intra-oral functional anatomical compartments which provide a deeper understanding of orofacial biofunctions and explain previous observations of negative intra-oral pressures at rest

TO CLUSTERING PROBLEMS

This paper deals with the relationship between cluster analysis and computational geometry describfng clustering strategies using a Voronoi diagram approach in general and a line separation approach to improve the efficiency in a special case. We state the following theorems: 1. The set of all centralized Z