The L(2,1)-labeling and operations of graphs

Motivated by a variation of the channel assignment problem, a graph labeling analogous to the graph vertex coloring has been presented and is called an L(2,1)-labeling. More precisely, an L(2,1)-labeling of a graph G is a function f from the vertex set V(G) to the set of all nonnegative integers such that |f(x)-f(y)| /spl ges/ 2 if d(x,y)=1 and |f(x)-f(y)| /spl ges/ 1 if d(x,y) = 2. The L(2,1)-labeling number /spl lambda/(G) of G is the smallest number k such that G has an L(2,1)-labeling with max{f(v):v/spl isin/V(G)}=k. A conjecture states that /spl lambda/(G) /spl les/ /spl Delta//sup 2/ for any simple graph with the maximum degree /spl Delta//spl ges/2. This paper considers the graphs formed by the Cartesian product and the composition of two graphs. The new graph satisfies the conjecture above in both cases(with minor exceptions).     

Optimal linear identifying codes

Identifying codes can be used to locate malfunctioning processors. We say that a code C of length n is a linear (1,/spl les/l)-identifying code if it is a subspace of F/sub 2//sup n/ and for all X,Y/spl sube/F/sub 2//sup n/ such that |X|, |Y|/spl les/l and X/spl ne/Y, we have /spl cup//sub x/spl isin/X/(B(x)/spl cap/C)/spl ne//spl cup/y/spl isin/Y(B(y)/spl cap/C). Strongly (1,/spl les/l)-identifying codes are a variant of identifying codes. We determine the cardinalities of optimal linear (1,/spl les/l)-identifying and strongly (1,/spl les/l)-identifying codes in Hamming spaces of any dimension for locating any at most l malfunctioning processors.     

On robust and dynamic identifying codes

A subset C of vertices in an undirected graph G=(V,E) is called a 1-identifying code if the sets I(v)={u/spl isin/C:d(u,v)/spl les/1}, v/spl isin/V, are nonempty and no two of them are the same set. It is natural to consider classes of codes that retain the identification property under various conditions, e.g., when the sets I(v) are possibly slightly corrupted. We consider two such classes of robust codes. We also consider dynamic identifying codes, i.e., walks in G whose vertices form an identifying code in G.     

Order statistics from a logistic distribution and applications to survival and reliability analysis

Joint moments involving arbitrary powers of order statistics are the main concern. Consider order statistics u/sub 1/ /spl les/ u/sub 2/ /spl les/ /spl middot//spl middot//spl middot/ /spl les/ u/sub k/ coming from a simple random sample of size n from a real continuous population where u/sub 1/ = x/sub r(1):n/ is order-statistic #r/sub 1/, u/sub 2/ = x/sub r(1)+r(2):n/ is order statistic #(r/sub 1/ + r/sub 2/), et al., and u/sub k/ = x/sub r(1)+/spl middot//spl middot//spl middot/+r(k):n/ is order statistic #(r/sub 1/ +/spl middot//spl middot//spl middot/+ r/sub k/). Product moments are examined of the type E[u/sub 1//sup /spl alpha/(1)/ /spl middot/ u/sub 2//sup /spl alpha/(2)//sub /spl middot/ /spl middot//spl middot//spl middot//spl middot//u/sub k//sup /spl alpha/(k)/] where /spl alpha//sub 1/, ..., /spl alpha//sub k/ are arbitrary quantities that might be complex numbers, and E[/spl middot/] denotes the s-expected value. Some explicit evaluations are considered for a logistic population. Detailed evaluations of all integer moments of u/sub 1/ and recurrence relations, recurring only on the order of the moments, are given. Connections to survival functions in survival analysis, hazard functions in reliability situations, real type-1, type-2 /spl beta/ and Dirichlet distributions are also examined. Arbitrary product moments for the survival functions are evaluated. Very general results are obtained which can be used in many problems in various areas.     

Compression mappings on primitive sequences over Z/(p/sup e/)

Let Z/(p/sup e/) be the integer residue ring with odd prime p/spl ges/5 and integer e/spl ges/2. For a sequence a_ over Z/(p/sup e/), there is a unique p-adic expansion a_=a_/sub 0/+a_/spl middot/p+...+a_/sub e-1//spl middot/p/sup e-1/, where each a_/sub i/ is a sequence over {0,1,...,p-1}, and can be regarded as a sequence over the finite field GF(p) naturally. Let f(x) be a primitive polynomial over Z/(p/sup e/), and G'(f(x),p/sup e/) the set of all primitive sequences generated by f(x) over Z/(p/sup e/). Set /spl phi//sub e-1/ (x/sub 0/,...,x/sub e-1/) = x/sub e-1//sup k/ + /spl eta//sub e-2,1/(x/sub 0/, x/sub 1/,...,x/sub e-2/) /spl psi//sub e-1/(x/sub 0/,...,x/sub e-1/) = x/sub e-1//sup k/ + /spl eta//sub e-2,2/(x/sub 0/,x/sub 1/,...,x/sub e-2/) where /spl eta//sub e-2,1/ and /spl eta//sub e-2,2/ are arbitrary functions of e-1 variables over GF(p) and 2/spl les/k/spl les/p-1. Then the compression mapping /spl phi//sub e-1/:{G'(f(x),p/sup e/) /spl rarr/ GF(p)/sup /spl infin// a_ /spl rarr/ /spl phi//sub e-1/(a_/sub 0/,...,a_/sub e-1/) is injective, that is, a_ = b_ if and only if /spl phi//sub e-1/(a_/sub 0/,...,a_/sub e-1/) = /spl phi//sub e-1/(b_/sub 0/,...,b_/sub e-1/) for a_,b_ /spl isin/ G'(f(x),p/sup e/). Furthermore, if f(x) is a strongly primitive polynomial over Z/(p/sup e/), then /spl phi//sub e-1/(a_/sub 0/,...,a_/sub e-1/) = /spl psi//sub e-1/(b_/sub 0/,...,b_/sub e-1/) if and only if a_ = b_ and /spl phi//sub e-1/(x/sub 0/,...,x/sub e-1/) = /spl psi//sub e-1/(x/sub 0/,...,x/sub e-1/) for a_,b_ /spl isin/ G'(f(x),p/sup e/).     

Cyclic codes over GR(4/sup m/) which are also cyclic over /spl Zopf//sub 4/

Let GR(4/sup m/) be the Galois ring of characteristic 4 and cardinality 4/sup m/, and /spl alpha/_={/spl alpha//sub 0/,/spl alpha//sub 1/,...,/spl alpha//sub m-1/} be a basis of GR(4/sup m/) over /spl Zopf//sub 4/ when we regard GR(4/sup m/) as a free /spl Zopf//sub 4/-module of rank m. Define the map d/sub /spl alpha/_/ from GR(4/sup m/)[z]/(z/sup n/-1) into /spl Zopf//sub 4/[z]/(z/sup mn/-1) by d/spl alpha/_(a(z))=/spl Sigma//sub i=0//sup m-1//spl Sigma//sub j=0//sup n-1/a/sub ij/z/sup mj+i/ where a(z)=/spl Sigma//sub j=0//sup n-1/a/sub j/z/sup j/ and a/sub j/=/spl Sigma//sub i=0//sup m-1/a/sub ij//spl alpha//sub i/, a/sub ij//spl isin//spl Zopf//sub 4/. Then, for any linear code C of length n over GR(4/sup m/), its image d/sub /spl alpha/_/(C) is a /spl Zopf//sub 4/-linear code of length mn. In this article, for n and m being odd integers, it is determined all pairs (/spl alpha/_,C) such that d/sub /spl alpha/_/(C) is /spl Zopf//sub 4/-cyclic, where /spl alpha/_ is a basis of GR(4/sup m/) over /spl Zopf//sub 4/, and C is a cyclic code of length n over GR(4/sup m/).     

Asymptotic properties on codeword lengths of an optimal FV code for general sources

This correspondence is concerned with asymptotic properties on the codeword length of a fixed-to-variable length code (FV code) for a general source {X/sup n/}/sub n=1//sup /spl infin// with a finite or countably infinite alphabet. Suppose that for each n /spl ges/ 1 X/sup n/ is encoded to a binary codeword /spl phi//sub n/(X/sup n/) of length l(/spl phi//sub n/(X/sup n/)). Letting /spl epsiv//sub n/ denote the decoding error probability, we consider the following two criteria on FV codes: i) /spl epsiv//sub n/ = 0 for all n /spl ges/ 1 and ii) lim sup/sub n/spl rarr//spl infin///spl epsiv//sub n/ /spl les/ /spl epsiv/ for an arbitrarily given /spl epsiv/ /spl isin/ [0,1). Under criterion i), we show that, if X/sup n/ is encoded by an arbitrary prefix-free FV code asymptotically achieving the entropy, 1/nl(/spl phi//sub n/(X/sup n/)) - 1/nlog/sub 2/ 1/PX/sup n/(X/sup n/) /spl rarr/ 0 in probability as n /spl rarr/ /spl infin/ under a certain condition, where P/sub X//sup n/ denotes the probability distribution of X/sup n/. Under criterion ii), we first determine the minimum rate achieved by FV codes. Next, we show that 1/nl(/spl phi//sub n/(X/sup n/)) of an arbitrary FV code achieving the minimum rate in a certain sense has a property similar to the lossless case.     

The /spl Delta//sup 2/-conjecture for L(2,1)-labelings is true for direct and strong products of graphs

A variation of the channel-assignment problem is naturally modeled by L(2,1)-labelings of graphs. An L(2,1)-labeling of a graph G is an assignment of labels from {0,1,...,/spl lambda/} to the vertices of G such that vertices at distance two get different labels and adjacent vertices get labels that are at least two apart and the /spl lambda/-number /spl lambda/(G) of G is the minimum value /spl lambda/ such that G admits an L(2,1)-labeling. The /spl Delta//sup 2/-conjecture asserts that for any graph G its /spl lambda/-number is at most the square of its largest degree. In this paper it is shown that the conjecture holds for graphs that are direct or strong products of nontrivial graphs. Explicit labelings of such graphs are also constructed.     

New class of nonlinear systematic error detecting codes

A code C detects error e with probability 1-Q(e),ifQ(e) is a fraction of codewords y such that y, y+e/spl isin/C. We present a class of optimal nonlinear q-ary systematic (n, q/sup k/)-codes (robust codes) minimizing over all (n, q/sup k/)-codes the maximum of Q(e) for nonzero e. We also show that any linear (n, q/sup k/)-code V with n /spl les/2k can be modified into a nonlinear (n, q/sup k/)-code C/sub v/ with simple encoding and decoding procedures, such that the set E={e|Q(e)=1} of undetected errors for C/sub v/ is a (k-r)-dimensional subspace of V (|E|=q/sup k-r/ instead of q/sup k/ for V). For the remaining q/sup n/-q/sup k-r/ nonzero errors, Q(e)/spl les/q/sup -r/for q/spl ges/3 and Q(e)/spl les/ 2/sup -r+1/ for q=2.     

Asymptotic improvement of the Gilbert-Varshamov bound on the size of binary codes

Given positive integers n and d, let A/sub 2/(n,d) denote the maximum size of a binary code of length n and minimum distance d. The well-known Gilbert-Varshamov bound asserts that A/sub 2/(n,d)/spl ges/2/sup n//V(n,d-l), where V(n,d) = /spl sigma//sub i=0//sup d/(/sub i//sup n/) is the volume of a Hamming sphere of radius d. We show that, in fact, there exists a positive constant c such that A/sub 2/(n, d)/spl ges/c2/sup n//V(n,d-1)log/sub 2/V(n, d-1) whenever d/n/spl les/0.499. The result follows by recasting the Gilbert-Varshamov bound into a graph-theoretic framework and using the fact that the corresponding graph is locally sparse. Generalizations and extensions of this result are briefly discussed.     

Network information flow with correlated sources

Consider the following network communication setup, originating in a sensor networking application we refer to as the "sensor reachback" problem. We have a directed graph G=(V,E), where V={v/sub 0/v/sub 1/...v/sub n/} and E/spl sube/V/spl times/V. If (v/sub i/,v/sub j/)/spl isin/E, then node i can send messages to node j over a discrete memoryless channel (DMC) (X/sub ij/,p/sub ij/(y|x),Y/sub ij/), of capacity C/sub ij/. The channels are independent. Each node v/sub i/ gets to observe a source of information U/sub i/(i=0...M), with joint distribution p(U/sub 0/U/sub 1/...U/sub M/). Our goal is to solve an incast problem in G: nodes exchange messages with their neighbors, and after a finite number of communication rounds, one of the M+1 nodes (v/sub 0/ by convention) must have received enough information to reproduce the entire field of observations (U/sub 0/U/sub 1/...U/sub M/), with arbitrarily small probability of error. In this paper, we prove that such perfect reconstruction is possible if and only if H(U/sub s/ | U/sub S(c)/) < /spl Sigma//sub i/spl isin/S,j/spl isin/S(c)/ for all S/spl sube/{0...M},S/spl ne/O,0/spl isin/S(c). Our main finding is that in this setup, a general source/channel separation theorem holds, and that Shannon information behaves as a classical network flow, identical in nature to the flow of water in pipes. At first glance, it might seem surprising that separation holds in a fairly general network situation like the one we study. A closer look, however, reveals that the reason for this is that our model allows only for independent point-to-point channels between pairs of nodes, and not multiple-access and/or broadcast channels, for which separation is well known not to hold. This "information as flow" view provides an algorithmic interpretation for our results, among which perhaps the most important one is the optimality of implementing codes using a layered protocol stack.     

Near-ellipsoidal Voronoi coding

We consider a special case of Voronoi coding, where a lattice /spl Lambda/ in /spl Ropf//sup n/ is shaped (or truncated) using a lattice /spl Lambda/'={(m/sub 1/x/sub 1/,...,m/sub n/x/sub n/)|(x/sub 1/,...,x/sub n/)/spl isin//spl Lambda/} for a fixed m_=(m/sub 1/,...,m/sub n/)/spl isin/(/spl Nopf//spl bsol/{0,1})/sup n/. Using this technique, the shaping boundary is near-ellipsoidal. It is shown that the resulting codes can be indexed by standard Voronoi indexing algorithms plus a conditional modification step, as far as /spl Lambda/' is a sublattice of /spl Lambda/. We derive the underlying conditions on m_ and present generic near-ellipsoidal Voronoi indexing algorithms. Examples of constraints on m_ and conditional modification are provided for the lattices A/sub 2/, D/sub n/ (n/spl ges/2) and 2D/sub n//sup +/ (n even /spl ges/4).     

Improving the Gilbert-Varshamov bound for q-ary codes

Given positive integers q,n, and d, denote by A/sub q/(n,d) the maximum size of a q-ary code of length n and minimum distance d. The famous Gilbert-Varshamov bound asserts that A/sub q/(n,d+1)/spl ges/q/sup n//V/sub q/(n,d) where V/sub q/(n,d)=/spl Sigma//sub i=0//sup d/ (/sub i//sup n/)(q-1)/sup i/ is the volume of a q-ary sphere of radius d. Extending a recent work of Jiang and Vardy on binary codes, we show that for any positive constant /spl alpha/ less than (q-1)/q there is a positive constant c such that for d/spl les//spl alpha/n A/sub q/(n,d+1)/spl ges/cq/sup n//V/sub q/(n,d)n. This confirms a conjecture by Jiang and Vardy.     

Explicit construction of families of LDPC codes with no 4-cycles

Low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes are serious contenders to turbo codes in terms of decoding performance. One of the main problems is to give an explicit construction of such codes whose Tanner graphs have known girth. For a prime power q and m/spl ges/2, Lazebnik and Ustimenko construct a q-regular bipartite graph D(m,q) on 2q/sup m/ vertices, which has girth at least 2/spl lceil/m/2/spl rceil/+4. We regard these graphs as Tanner graphs of binary codes LU(m,q). We can determine the dimension and minimum weight of LU(2,q), and show that the weight of its minimum stopping set is at least q+2 for q odd and exactly q+2 for q even. We know that D(2,q) has girth 6 and diameter 4, whereas D(3,q) has girth 8 and diameter 6. We prove that for an odd prime p, LU(3,p) is a [p/sup 3/,k] code with k/spl ges/(p/sup 3/-2p/sup 2/+3p-2)/2. We show that the minimum weight and the weight of the minimum stopping set of LU(3,q) are at least 2q and they are exactly 2q for many LU(3,q) codes. We find some interesting LDPC codes by our partial row construction. We also give simulation results for some of our codes.     

On the filtering problem for stationary random /spl Zopf//sup 2/-fields

It is shown that whenever a stationary random field (Z/sub n,m/)/sub n,m/spl isin/z/ is given by a Borel function f:/spl Ropf//sup z/ /spl times/ /spl Ropf//sup z/ /spl rarr/ /spl Ropf/ of two stationary processes (X/sub n/)/sub n/spl isin/z/ and (Y/sub m/)/sub m/spl isin/z/ i.e., then (Z/sub n, m/) = (f((X/sub n+k/)/sub k/spl epsi/z/, (Y/sub m + /spl lscr// )/sub /spl lscr/ /spl epsi/z/)) under a mild first coordinate univalence assumption on f, the process (X/sub n/)/sub n/spl isin/z/ is measurable with respect to (Z/sub n,m/)/sub n,m/spl epsi/z/ whenever the process (Y/sub m/)/sub m/spl isin/z/ is ergodic. The notion of universal filtering property of an ergodic stationary process is introduced, and then using ergodic theory methods it is shown that an ergodic stationary process has this property if and only if the centralizer of the dynamical system canonically associated with the process does not contain a nontrivial compact subgroup.     

Sheet resistance measurement of non-standard cleanroom materials using suspended Greek cross test structures

This paper presents work on the development, fabrication and characterization of a suspended Greek cross measurement platform that can be used to determine the sheet resistance of materials that would contaminate Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) processing lines. The arms of the test structures are made of polysilicon/silicon nitride (Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/) to provide a carrier for the film to be evaluated and thick aluminum (Al) probe pads for multiple probing. The film to be evaluated is simply blanket deposited onto the structures and because of its design automatically forms a Greek cross structure with (Al) probe pads. To demonstrate its use, 1) gold (Au), 2) copper (Cu), and 3) silver(Ag) loaded chalcogenide glass Ag/sub y/(Ge/sub 30/Se/sub 70/)/sub 1-y/ have been blanket evaporated in various thicknesses onto the platform in the last processing step and autopatterned by the predefined shape of the Greek crosses. The suspension of the platform ensured electrical isolation between the test structure and the surrounding silicon (Si) substrate. The extracted effective resistivity for Au (5.1/spl times/10/sup -8/ /spl Omega//spl middot/m), Cu (1.8- 2.5/spl times/10/sup -8//spl bsol/ /spl Omega//spl middot/m) and Ag/sub y/(Ge/sub 30/Se/sub 70/)/sub 1-y/ (2.27/spl times/10/sup -5/ /spl Omega//spl middot/m-1.88 /spl Omega//spl middot/m) agree with values found in articles in the Journal of Applied Physics (1963), the Journalof Physics D: Applied Physics (1976), and the Journalof Non-Crystalline Solids (2003). These results demonstrate that the proposed Greek cross platform is fully capable to measure the sheet resistance of low (Au, Cu) and high Ag/sub y/(Ge/sub 30/Se/sub 70/)/sub 1-y/ resistive materials.     

Markov types and minimax redundancy for Markov sources

Redundancy of universal codes for a class of sources determines by how much the actual code length exceeds the optimal code length. In the minimax scenario, one designs the best code for the worst source within the class. Such minimax redundancy comes in two flavors: average minimax or worst case minimax. We study the worst case minimax redundancy of universal block codes for Markovian sources of any order. We prove that the maximal minimax redundancy for Markov sources of order r is asymptotically equal to 1/2m/sup r/(m-1)log/sub 2/n+log/sub 2/A/sub m//sup r/-(lnlnm/sup 1/(m-1)/)/lnm+o(1), where n is the length of a source sequence, m is the size of the alphabet, and A/sub m//sup r/ is an explicit constant (e.g., we find that for a binary alphabet m=2 and Markov of order r=1 the constant A/sub 2//sup 1/=16/spl middot/G/spl ap/14.655449504 where G is the Catalan number). Unlike previous attempts, we view the redundancy problem as an asymptotic evaluation of certain sums over a set of matrices representing Markov types. The enumeration of Markov types is accomplished by reducing it to counting Eulerian paths in a multigraph. In particular, we propose exact and asymptotic formulas for the number of strings of a given Markov type. All of these findings are obtained by analytic and combinatorial tools of analysis of algorithms.     

More results on the weight enumerator of product codes

We consider the product code C/sub p/ of q-ary linear codes with minimum distances d/sub c/ and d/sub r/. The words in C/sub p/ of weight less than d/sub r/d/sub c/+max(d/sub r//spl lceil/(d/sub c//g)/spl rceil/,d/sub c//spl lceil/(d/sub r//q)/spl rceil/) are characterized, and their number is expressed in the number of low-weight words of the constituent codes. For binary product codes, we give an upper bound on the number of words in C/sub p/ of weightless than min(d/sub r/(d/sub c/+/spl lceil/(d/sub c//2)/spl rceil/+1)), d/sub c/(d/sub r/+/spl lceil/(d/sub r//2)/spl rceil/+1) that is met with equality if C/sub c/ and C/sub r/ are (extended) perfect codes.     

A note on density model size testing

Let (F/sub k/)/sub k/spl ges/1/ be a nested family of parametric classes of densities with finite Vapnik-Chervonenkis dimension. Let f be a probability density belonging to F/sub k//sup */, where k/sup */ is the unknown smallest integer such that f/spl isin/F/sub k/. Given a random sample X/sub 1/,...,X/sub n/ drawn from f, an integer k/sub 0//spl ges/1 and a real number /spl alpha//spl isin/(0,1), we introduce a new, simple, explicit /spl alpha/-level consistent testing procedure of the hypothesis {H/sub 0/:k/sup */=k/sub 0/} versus the alternative {H/sub 1/:k/sup *//spl ne/k/sub 0/}. Our method is inspired by the combinatorial tools developed in Devroye and Lugosi and it includes a wide range of density models, such as mixture models, neural networks, or exponential families.