Three Query Locally Decodable Codes with Higher Correctness Require Exponential Length

Locally decodable codes are error correcting codes with the extra property that, in order to retrieve the correct value of just one position of the input with high probability, it is sufficient to read a small number of positions of the corresponding, possibly corrupted codeword. A breakthrough result by Yekhanin showed that 3-query linear locally decodable codes may have subexponential length. The construction of Yekhanin, and the three query constructions that followed, achieve correctness only up to a certain limit which is $1 - 3 delta$ for nonbinary codes, where an adversary is allowed to corrupt up to delta fraction of the codeword. The largest correctness for a subexponential length 3-query binary code is achieved in a construction by Woodruff, and it is below 1 - 3 delta. We show that achieving slightly larger correctness (as a function of $delta$) requires exponential codeword length for 3-query codes. Previously, there were no larger than quadratic lower bounds known for locally decodable codes with more than 2 queries, even in the case of 3-query linear codes. Our results hold for linear codes over arbitrary finite fields and for binary nonlinear codes. Considering larger number of queries, we obtain lower bounds for q-query codes for q>3, under certain assumptions on the decoding algorithm that have been commonly used in previous constructions. We also prove bounds on the largest correctness achievable by these decoding algorithms, regardless of the length of the code. Our results explain the limitations on correctness in previous constructions using such decoding algorithms. In addition, our results imply tradeoffs on the parameters of error correcting data structures

Assortative human pair-bonding for partner ancestry and allelic variation of the dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) gene

The 7R allele of the dopamine receptor D4 gene has been associated with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and risk taking. On the cross-population scale, 7R allele frequencies have been shown to be higher in populations with more of a history of long-term migrations. It has also been shown that the 7R allele is associated with individuals having multiple-ancestries. Here we conduct a replication of this latter finding with two independent samples. Measures of subjects’ ancestry are used to examine past reproductive bonds. The individuals’ history of inter-racial/ancestral dating and their feelings about this are also assessed. Tentative support for an association between multiple ancestries and the 7R allele were found. These results are dependent upon the method of questioning subjects about their ancestries. Inter-racial dating and feelings about inter-racial pairing were not related to the presence of the 7R allele. This might be accounted for by secular trends that might have substantively altered the decision-making process employed when considering relationships with individuals from different groups. This study provides continued support for the 7R allele playing a role in migration and/or mate choice patterns. However, replications and extensions of this study are needed and must carefully consider how ancestry/race is assessed

Is predictability salient? A study of attentional capture by auditory patterns.

In this series of behavioural and electroencephalography (EEG) experiments, we investigate the extent to which repeating patterns of sounds capture attention. Work in the visual domain has revealed attentional capture by statistically predictable stimuli, consistent with predictive coding accounts which suggest that attention is drawn to sensory regularities. Here, stimuli comprised rapid sequences of tone pips, arranged in regular (REG) or random (RAND) patterns. EEG data demonstrate that the brain rapidly recognizes predictable patterns manifested as a rapid increase in responses to REG relative to RAND sequences. This increase is reminiscent of the increase in gain on neural responses to attended stimuli often seen in the neuroimaging literature, and thus consistent with the hypothesis that predictable sequences draw attention. To study potential attentional capture by auditory regularities, we used REG and RAND sequences in two different behavioural tasks designed to reveal effects of attentional capture by regularity. Overall, the pattern of results suggests that regularity does not capture attention.This article is part of the themed issue 'Auditory and visual scene analysis'

Dissecting stellar chemical abundance space with t-SNE

In the era of large-scale Galactic astronomy and multi-object spectroscopic stellar surveys, the sample sizes and the number of available stellar chemical abundances have reached dimensions in which it has become difficult to process all the available information in an effective manner. In this paper we demonstrate the use of a dimensionality-reduction technique (t-distributed stochastic neighbour embedding; t-SNE) for analysing the stellar abundance-space distribution. While the non-parametric non-linear behaviour of this technique makes it difficult to estimate the significance of any abundance-space substructure found, we show that our results depend little on parameter choices and are robust to abundance errors. By reanalysing the high-resolution high-signal-to-noise solar-neighbourhood HARPS-GTO sample with t-SNE, we find clearer chemical separations of the high- and low-[α/Fe] disc sequences, hints for multiple populations in the high-[α/Fe] population, and indications that the chemical evolution of the high-[α/Fe] metal-rich stars is connected with the super-metal-rich stars. We also identify a number of chemically peculiar stars, among them a high-confidence s-process-enhanced abundance-ratio pair (HD 91345/HD 126681) with very similar ages and v X and v Y velocities, which we suggest have a common birth origin, possibly a dwarf galaxy. Our results demonstrate the potential of abundance-space t-SNE and similar methods for chemical-tagging studies with large spectroscopic surveys

DETReg: Unsupervised Pretraining with Region Priors for Object Detection

Recent self-supervised pretraining methods for object detection largely focus on pretraining the backbone of the object detector, neglecting key parts of detection architecture. Instead, we introduce DETReg, a new self-supervised method that pretrains the entire object detection network, including the object localization and embedding components. During pretraining, DETReg predicts object localizations to match the localizations from an unsupervised region proposal generator and simultaneously aligns the corresponding feature embeddings with embeddings from a self-supervised image encoder. We implement DETReg using the DETR family of detectors and show that it improves over competitive baselines when finetuned on COCO, PASCAL VOC, and Airbus Ship benchmarks. In low-data regimes, including semi-supervised and few-shot learning settings, DETReg establishes many state-of-the-art results, e.g., on COCO we see a +6.0 AP improvement for 10-shot detection and over 2 AP improvements when training with only 1\% of the labels. For code and pretrained models, visit the project page at https://amirbar.net/detregComment: CVPR 2022 Camera Read

Using boundary objects to make students brokers across disciplines: A dialogue between students and their lecturers on Bertolini’S node-place model

The competencies required for steering urban development sustainably are scattered amongst various disciplines. This is particularly relevant for planners working at the interface of different sub-disciplines, such as transport and land-use planning, exemplified by transit-oriented development (TOD). In this paper, we use Bertolini’s node-place model (NPM) example for TOD to test whether it enables interdisciplinary work to be undertaken in planning education. We tested our hypothesis in two design studios by challenging urban design students to develop their own design brief based on an NPM. The paper is of a dialogic, discursive nature. Students discuss whether or not the NPM enables them to better understand the relationship between transit and urban development and to develop spatial strategies based upon an integrative approach. Our discussion reveals that the NPM cannot necessarily bridge disciplinary boundaries successfully. However, both lecturers and students see value in the model as a didactic instrument