On semimeasures predicting Martin-Löf random sequences

Solomonoff’s central result on induction is that the prediction of a universal semimeasure M$M$ converges rapidly and with probability 1 to the true sequence generating predictor μ$\mu$, if the latter is computable. Hence, M$M$ is eligible as a universal sequence predictor in the case of unknown μ$\mu$. Despite some nearby results and proofs in the literature, the stronger result of convergence for all (Martin-Löf) random sequences remained open. Such a convergence result would be particularly interesting and natural, since randomness can be defined in terms of M$M$ itself. We show that there are universal semimeasures M$M$ which do not converge to μ$\mu$ on all μ$\mu$-random sequences, i.e. we give a partial negative answer to the open problem. We also provide a positive answer for some non-universal semimeasures. We define the incomputable measure D$D$ as a mixture over all computable measures and the enumerable semimeasure W$W$ as a mixture over all enumerable nearly measures. We show that W$W$ converges to D$D$ and D$D$ to μ$\mu$ on all random sequences. The Hellinger distance measuring closeness of two distributions plays a central role.     

Drawing slicing graphs with face areas

We consider orthogonal drawings of a plane graph G$G$ with specified face areas. For a natural number k$k$, a k$k$-gonal drawing of G$G$ is an orthogonal drawing such that the boundary of G$G$ is drawn as a rectangle and each inner face is drawn as a polygon with at most k$k$ corners whose area is equal to the specified value. In this paper, we show that every slicing graph G$G$ with a slicing tree T$T$ and a set of specified face areas admits a 10-gonal drawing D$D$ such that the boundary of each slicing subgraph that appears in T$T$ is also drawn as a polygon with at most 10 corners. Such a drawing D$D$ can be found in linear time.     

A modified hidden Markov model

This paper considers two discrete time, finite state processes X$X$ and Y$Y$. In the usual hidden Markov model X$X$ modulates the values of Y$Y$. However, the values of Y$Y$ are then i.i.d. given X$X$. In this paper a new model is considered where the Markov chain X$X$ modulates the transition probabilities of the second, observed chain Y$Y$. This more realistically can represent problems arising in DNA sequencing. Algorithms for all related filters, smoothers and parameter estimations are derived. Versions of the Viterbi algorithms are obtained.     

Divergence bounded computable real numbers

A real x$x$ is called h$h$-bounded computable  , for some function h:N→N$h:\mathbb{N}\to \mathbb{N}$, if there is a computable sequence (_xs)$(x_s)$ of rational numbers which converges to x$x$ such that, for any n∈N$n\in \mathbb{N}$, at most h(n)$h(n)$ non-overlapping pairs of its members are separated by a distance larger than 2^-n$2^{-n}$. In this paper we discuss properties of h$h$-bounded computable reals for various functions h$h$. We will show a simple sufficient condition for a class of functions h$h$ such that the corresponding h$h$-bounded computable reals form an algebraic field. A hierarchy theorem for h$h$-bounded computable reals is also shown. Besides we compare semi-computability and weak computability with the h$h$-bounded computability for special functions h$h$.     

On Hoffman's celebrated cycling LP example

We answer two questions that naturally arise while dealing with Hoffman's celebrated 50-year-old linear program to be solved by the primal simplex method, where an angle θ$\theta$ and a scaling factor ω$\omega$ are adjustable parameters. In particular, we determine what conditions have to be imposed on ω$\omega$ for classical cycling to occur with θ=2π/5$\theta =2\pi /5$, and what on θ$\theta$ with ω=±tan(θ)$\omega =\pm \tan (\theta )$. The first answer reveals that the sufficient condition widely spread over the literature is false, so fixing it turns this example into a correct example of classical cycling. Some progress towards necessary and sufficient conditions for cycling to occur in this example is also reported.     

On the minimum of a positive polynomial over the standard simplex

We present a new positive lower bound for the minimum value taken by a polynomial P$P$ with integer coefficients in k$k$ variables over the standard simplex of R^k${\mathbb{R}}^k$, assuming that P$P$ is positive on the simplex. This bound depends only on the number of variables k$k$, the degree d$d$ and the bitsize τ$\tau$ of the coefficients of P$P$ and improves all the previous bounds for arbitrary polynomials which are positive over the simplex.     

An example of relations on the Ext-quiver for the Suzuki group Sz(8) in characteristic 2

Let G$G$ be the smallest Suzuki group Sz(8) and let F$F$ be an algebraically closed field of characteristic 2. The basic algebra of the group algebra of G$G$ over F$F$ is described by its Ext-quiver and a certain set of relations.