3,974 research outputs found
Achieving New Upper Bounds for the Hypergraph Duality Problem through Logic
The hypergraph duality problem DUAL is defined as follows: given two simple
hypergraphs and , decide whether
consists precisely of all minimal transversals of (in which case
we say that is the dual of ). This problem is
equivalent to deciding whether two given non-redundant monotone DNFs are dual.
It is known that non-DUAL, the complementary problem to DUAL, is in
, where
denotes the complexity class of all problems that after a nondeterministic
guess of bits can be decided (checked) within complexity class
. It was conjectured that non-DUAL is in . In this paper we prove this conjecture and actually
place the non-DUAL problem into the complexity class which is a subclass of . We here refer to the logtime-uniform version of
, which corresponds to , i.e., first order
logic augmented by counting quantifiers. We achieve the latter bound in two
steps. First, based on existing problem decomposition methods, we develop a new
nondeterministic algorithm for non-DUAL that requires to guess
bits. We then proceed by a logical analysis of this algorithm, allowing us to
formulate its deterministic part in . From this result, by
the well known inclusion , it follows
that DUAL belongs also to . Finally, by exploiting
the principles on which the proposed nondeterministic algorithm is based, we
devise a deterministic algorithm that, given two hypergraphs and
, computes in quadratic logspace a transversal of
missing in .Comment: Restructured the presentation in order to be the extended version of
a paper that will shortly appear in SIAM Journal on Computin
Evaluating the Usability of Automatically Generated Captions for People who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
The accuracy of Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) technology has improved,
but it is still imperfect in many settings. Researchers who evaluate ASR
performance often focus on improving the Word Error Rate (WER) metric, but WER
has been found to have little correlation with human-subject performance on
many applications. We propose a new captioning-focused evaluation metric that
better predicts the impact of ASR recognition errors on the usability of
automatically generated captions for people who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing
(DHH). Through a user study with 30 DHH users, we compared our new metric with
the traditional WER metric on a caption usability evaluation task. In a
side-by-side comparison of pairs of ASR text output (with identical WER), the
texts preferred by our new metric were preferred by DHH participants. Further,
our metric had significantly higher correlation with DHH participants'
subjective scores on the usability of a caption, as compared to the correlation
between WER metric and participant subjective scores. This new metric could be
used to select ASR systems for captioning applications, and it may be a better
metric for ASR researchers to consider when optimizing ASR systems.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, published in ACM SIGACCESS Conference on
Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS '17
Double-lepton polarization asymmetries in the (B -> K l^+ l^-) decay beyond the Standard Model
General expressions for the double-lepton polarizations in the (B -> K l^+
l^-) decay are obtained, using model independent effective Hamiltonian,
including all possible interactions. Correlations between the averaged
double-lepton polarization asymmetries and the branching ratio, as well as, the
averaged single-lepton polarization asymmetry are studied. It is observed that,
study of the double-lepton polarization asymmetries can serve as a good test
for establishing new physics beyond the Standard Model.Comment: 21 pages, 18 figures, LaTeX formatte
Ordering behavior in retail stores and implications for automated replenishment
Retail store managers may not follow order advices generated by an automated inventory replenishment system if their incentives dier from the cost minimization objective of the system or if they perceive the system to be suboptimal. We study the ordering behavior of retail store managers in a supermarket chain to characterize such deviations in ordering behavior and investigate their potential drivers. Using orders, shipments, and POS data for 19; 417 item-store combinations over 5 stores, we nd that store managers systematically modify automated order advices by advancing orders from peak to non-peak days. We show that order advancement is explained signicantly by hypothesized product characteristics, such as case-pack size relative to average demand per item, net shelf space, product variety, demand uncertainty, and seasonality error. Our results suggest that store managers add value. They improve upon the automated replenishment system by incorporating two ignored factors: in-store handling costs and sales improvement potential through better in-stock. We test a heuristic procedure, based on our regression results, to modify order advices to mimic the behavior of store managers. Our method performs better than the store managers by achieving a more balanced handling workload with similar average days of inventory
Editorial: Empirical elephants—Why multiple methods are essential to quality research in operations and supply chain management
Field Measurement of Soil Surface Chemical Transport Properties for Comparison of Management Zones
Management of chemicals in soil is important, yet the complexity of field soils limits prediction of management effects on transport. To date, few methods have been available for field measurement of chemical transport properties, but a recently developed dripper–time domain reflectometry technique allows rapid collection of data for determining these properties. The objective of this work was to apply this technique for comparison of chemical transport properties for different soil management zones. Experiments were conducted comparing four interrow management zones: no-till nontrafficked, no-till trafficked, chisel plow nontrafficked, and chisel plow trafficked. Drip emitters were positioned at 12 locations in each zone and used to apply water followed by a step input of CaCl2 tracer solution. Breakthrough curves were measured via electrical conductivity with time domain reflectometry probes. The mobile–immobile model was fit to the breakthrough curves to determine chemical transport properties. Mean chemical transport properties were 0.34, 0.11 h−1, 10 cm h−1, 164 cm2 h−1, and 5 cm, for the immobile water fraction, mass exchange coefficient, average pore-water velocity, mobile dispersion coefficient, and dispersivity, respectively. All five properties showed significant differences between management zones. Differences in mass exchange and mobile dispersion coefficients coincided with differences in tillage, while differences in mean pore water velocities coincided with differences in traffic. The immobile water fraction was largest for the no-till nontrafficked zone. These results represent one of very few reports for field measurement of chemical transport properties and the first application of this approach for comparison of chemical transport properties across management zones
Synthesis and characterization of solid SiO2/P2O5/ZrO2-PVP membrane for fuel cell applications
A novel polymer network membrane composed by SiO2/P2O5Â/ZrO2-PVP was prepared to improve the proton conductivity of PVP membrane. Its physico-chemical properties were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA), and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). XRD data shows that the crystallinity increases with increase in concentration of SiO2 andZrO2. Our results indicate the formation and interconnection of ion clusters. It is observed that this new membrane exhibits better proton conductivity as compared to the pristine membrane making them suitable for fuel cell applications
Probing the Active Sites of MoS 2 Based Hydrotreating Catalysts Using Modulation Excitation Spectroscopy
An overview of chickpea breeding programs in Myanmar
Chickpea is an important legume in Myanmar, not only for local consumption but also for export earnings. Major chickpeaproducing area is the central dry zone which contributes 96% of the chickpea production. Kabuli chickpea is mainly grown for export, while desi chickpea is for local consumption. Eight improved varieties of chickpea (5 desi and 3 kabuli) have been released in Myanmar. The adoption of improved varieties and improved crop production practices has led to remarkable increase in chickpea yields and production
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