A Global Approach for Solving Edge-Matching Puzzles

We consider apictorial edge-matching puzzles, in which the goal is to arrange a collection of puzzle pieces with colored edges so that the colors match along the edges of adjacent pieces. We devise an algebraic representation for this problem and provide conditions under which it exactly characterizes a puzzle. Using the new representation, we recast the combinatorial, discrete problem of solving puzzles as a global, polynomial system of equations with continuous variables. We further propose new algorithms for generating approximate solutions to the continuous problem by solving a sequence of convex relaxations

Artificial trapping of a stable high-density dipolar exciton fluid

We present compelling experimental evidence for a successful electrostatic trapping of two-dimensional dipolar excitons that results in stable formation of a well confined, high-density and spatially uniform dipolar exciton fluid. We show that, for at least half a microsecond, the exciton fluid sustains a density higher than the critical density for degeneracy if the exciton fluid temperature reaches the lattice temperature within that time. This method should allow for the study of strongly interacting bosons in two dimensions at low temperatures, and possibly lead towards the observation of quantum phase transitions of 2D interacting excitons, such as superfluidity and crystallization.Comment: 11 pages 4 figure

LEDGF/p75 is critical but not essential for multiple-round HIV 1 replication

status: publishe

Links that speak: The global language network and its association with global fame

International audienceLanguages vary enormously in global importance because of historical, demographic, political, and technological forces. However , beyond simple measures of population and economic power, there has been no rigorous quantitative way to define the global influence of languages. Here we use the structure of the networks connecting multilingual speakers and translated texts, as expressed in book translations, multiple language editions of Wikipedia, and Twitter, to provide a concept of language importance that goes beyond simple economic or demographic measures. We find that the structure of these three global language networks (GLNs) is centered on English as a global hub and around a handful of intermediate hub languages, which include Spanish, German, French, Russian, Portuguese, and Chinese. We validate the measure of a language's centrality in the three GLNs by showing that it exhibits a strong correlation with two independent measures of the number of famous people born in the countries associated with that language. These results suggest that the position of a language in the GLN contributes to the visibility of its speakers and the global popularity of the cultural content they produce. networks | languages | culture | digital humanities | fam

IoTSan: Fortifying the Safety of IoT Systems

Today's IoT systems include event-driven smart applications (apps) that interact with sensors and actuators. A problem specific to IoT systems is that buggy apps, unforeseen bad app interactions, or device/communication failures, can cause unsafe and dangerous physical states. Detecting flaws that lead to such states, requires a holistic view of installed apps, component devices, their configurations, and more importantly, how they interact. In this paper, we design IoTSan, a novel practical system that uses model checking as a building block to reveal "interaction-level" flaws by identifying events that can lead the system to unsafe states. In building IoTSan, we design novel techniques tailored to IoT systems, to alleviate the state explosion associated with model checking. IoTSan also automatically translates IoT apps into a format amenable to model checking. Finally, to understand the root cause of a detected vulnerability, we design an attribution mechanism to identify problematic and potentially malicious apps. We evaluate IoTSan on the Samsung SmartThings platform. From 76 manually configured systems, IoTSan detects 147 vulnerabilities. We also evaluate IoTSan with malicious SmartThings apps from a previous effort. IoTSan detects the potential safety violations and also effectively attributes these apps as malicious.Comment: Proc. of the 14th ACM CoNEXT, 201

Perceptual Dominance in Brief Presentations of Mixed Images: Human Perception vs. Deep Neural Networks

Visual perception involves continuously choosing the most prominent inputs while suppressing others. Neuroscientists induce visual competitions in various ways to study why and how the brain makes choices of what to perceive. Recently deep neural networks (DNNs) have been used as models of the ventral stream of the visual system, due to similarities in both accuracy and hierarchy of feature representation. In this study we created non-dynamic visual competitions for humans by briefly presenting mixtures of two images. We then tested feed-forward DNNs with similar mixtures and examined their behavior. We found that both humans and DNNs tend to perceive only one image when presented with a mixture of two. We revealed image parameters which predict this perceptual dominance and compared their predictability for the two visual systems. Our findings can be used to both improve DNNs as models, as well as potentially improve their performance by imitating biological behaviors