Publications | Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems

49 results (View BibTeX file of all listed publications)

2013

Puppet Flow

(7), Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, October 2013 (techreport)

Abstract

We introduce Puppet Flow (PF), a layered model describing the optical flow of a person in a video sequence. We consider video frames composed by two layers: a foreground layer corresponding to a person, and background. We model the background as an affine flow field. The foreground layer, being a moving person, requires reasoning about the articulated nature of the human body. We thus represent the foreground layer with the Deformable Structures model (DS), a parametrized 2D part-based human body representation. We call the motion field defined through articulated motion and deformation of the DS model, a Puppet Flow. By exploiting the DS representation, Puppet Flow is a parametrized optical flow field, where parameters are the person's pose, gender and body shape.

pdf Project Page Project Page [BibTex]

2013

ps Zuffi, S., Black, M. J. Puppet Flow (7), Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, October 2013 (techreport)

pdf Project Page Project Page [BibTex]

Learning and Optimization with Submodular Functions

Sankaran, B., Ghazvininejad, M., He, X., Kale, D., Cohen, L.

ArXiv, May 2013 (techreport)

Abstract

In many naturally occurring optimization problems one needs to ensure that the definition of the optimization problem lends itself to solutions that are tractable to compute. In cases where exact solutions cannot be computed tractably, it is beneficial to have strong guarantees on the tractable approximate solutions. In order operate under these criterion most optimization problems are cast under the umbrella of convexity or submodularity. In this report we will study design and optimization over a common class of functions called submodular functions. Set functions, and specifically submodular set functions, characterize a wide variety of naturally occurring optimization problems, and the property of submodularity of set functions has deep theoretical consequences with wide ranging applications. Informally, the property of submodularity of set functions concerns the intuitive principle of diminishing returns. This property states that adding an element to a smaller set has more value than adding it to a larger set. Common examples of submodular monotone functions are entropies, concave functions of cardinality, and matroid rank functions; non-monotone examples include graph cuts, network flows, and mutual information. In this paper we will review the formal definition of submodularity; the optimization of submodular functions, both maximization and minimization; and finally discuss some applications in relation to learning and reasoning using submodular functions.

arxiv link (url) [BibTex]

am Sankaran, B., Ghazvininejad, M., He, X., Kale, D., Cohen, L. Learning and Optimization with Submodular Functions ArXiv, May 2013 (techreport)

arxiv link (url) [BibTex]

A Quantitative Analysis of Current Practices in Optical Flow Estimation and the Principles Behind Them

Sun, D., Roth, S., Black, M. J.

(CS-10-03), Brown University, Department of Computer Science, January 2013 (techreport)

pdf [BibTex]

ps Sun, D., Roth, S., Black, M. J. A Quantitative Analysis of Current Practices in Optical Flow Estimation and the Principles Behind Them (CS-10-03), Brown University, Department of Computer Science, January 2013 (techreport)

pdf [BibTex]

A Review of Performance Variations in SMR-Based Brain–Computer Interfaces (BCIs)

Grosse-Wentrup, M., Schölkopf, B.

In Brain-Computer Interface Research, pages: 39-51, 4, SpringerBriefs in Electrical and Computer Engineering, (Editors: Guger, C., Allison, B. Z. and Edlinger, G.), Springer, 2013 (inbook)

PDF DOI [BibTex]

ei Grosse-Wentrup, M., Schölkopf, B. A Review of Performance Variations in SMR-Based Brain–Computer Interfaces (BCIs) In Brain-Computer Interface Research, pages: 39-51, 4, SpringerBriefs in Electrical and Computer Engineering, (Editors: Guger, C., Allison, B. Z. and Edlinger, G.), Springer, 2013 (inbook)

PDF DOI [BibTex]

Semi-supervised learning in causal and anticausal settings

Schölkopf, B., Janzing, D., Peters, J., Sgouritsa, E., Zhang, K., Mooij, J.

In Empirical Inference, pages: 129-141, 13, Festschrift in Honor of Vladimir Vapnik, (Editors: Schölkopf, B., Luo, Z. and Vovk, V.), Springer, 2013 (inbook)

DOI [BibTex]

ei Schölkopf, B., Janzing, D., Peters, J., Sgouritsa, E., Zhang, K., Mooij, J. Semi-supervised learning in causal and anticausal settings In Empirical Inference, pages: 129-141, 13, Festschrift in Honor of Vladimir Vapnik, (Editors: Schölkopf, B., Luo, Z. and Vovk, V.), Springer, 2013 (inbook)

DOI [BibTex]

Tractable large-scale optimization in machine learning

Sra, S.

In Tractability: Practical Approaches to Hard Problems, pages: 202-230, 7, (Editors: Bordeaux, L., Hamadi , Y., Kohli, P. and Mateescu, R. ), Cambridge University Press , 2013 (inbook)

[BibTex]

ei Sra, S. Tractable large-scale optimization in machine learning In Tractability: Practical Approaches to Hard Problems, pages: 202-230, 7, (Editors: Bordeaux, L., Hamadi , Y., Kohli, P. and Mateescu, R. ), Cambridge University Press , 2013 (inbook)

[BibTex]

Animating Samples from Gaussian Distributions

Hennig, P.

(8), Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Tübingen, Germany, 2013 (techreport)

ei pn

PDF [BibTex]

ei pn Hennig, P. Animating Samples from Gaussian Distributions (8), Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Tübingen, Germany, 2013 (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

Proceedings of the 10th European Workshop on Reinforcement Learning, Volume 24

Deisenroth, M., Szepesvári, C., Peters, J.

pages: 173, JMLR, European Workshop On Reinforcement Learning, EWRL, 2013 (proceedings)

Web [BibTex]

ei Deisenroth, M., Szepesvári, C., Peters, J. Proceedings of the 10th European Workshop on Reinforcement Learning, Volume 24 pages: 173, JMLR, European Workshop On Reinforcement Learning, EWRL, 2013 (proceedings)

Web [BibTex]

Maximizing Kepler science return per telemetered pixel: Detailed models of the focal plane in the two-wheel era

Hogg, D. W., Angus, R., Barclay, T., Dawson, R., Fergus, R., Foreman-Mackey, D., Harmeling, S., Hirsch, M., Lang, D., Montet, B. T., Schiminovich, D., Schölkopf, B.

arXiv:1309.0653, 2013 (techreport)

link (url) [BibTex]

ei Hogg, D. W., Angus, R., Barclay, T., Dawson, R., Fergus, R., Foreman-Mackey, D., Harmeling, S., Hirsch, M., Lang, D., Montet, B. T., Schiminovich, D., Schölkopf, B. Maximizing Kepler science return per telemetered pixel: Detailed models of the focal plane in the two-wheel era arXiv:1309.0653, 2013 (techreport)

link (url) [BibTex]

Maximizing Kepler science return per telemetered pixel: Searching the habitable zones of the brightest stars

Montet, B. T., Angus, R., Barclay, T., Dawson, R., Fergus, R., Foreman-Mackey, D., Harmeling, S., Hirsch, M., Hogg, D. W., Lang, D., Schiminovich, D., Schölkopf, B.

arXiv:1309.0654, 2013 (techreport)

link (url) [BibTex]

ei Montet, B. T., Angus, R., Barclay, T., Dawson, R., Fergus, R., Foreman-Mackey, D., Harmeling, S., Hirsch, M., Hogg, D. W., Lang, D., Schiminovich, D., Schölkopf, B. Maximizing Kepler science return per telemetered pixel: Searching the habitable zones of the brightest stars arXiv:1309.0654, 2013 (techreport)

link (url) [BibTex]

On the Relations and Differences between Popper Dimension, Exclusion Dimension and VC-Dimension

Seldin, Y., Schölkopf, B.

In Empirical Inference - Festschrift in Honor of Vladimir N. Vapnik, pages: 53-57, 6, (Editors: Schölkopf, B., Luo, Z. and Vovk, V.), Springer, 2013 (inbook)

[BibTex]

ei Seldin, Y., Schölkopf, B. On the Relations and Differences between Popper Dimension, Exclusion Dimension and VC-Dimension In Empirical Inference - Festschrift in Honor of Vladimir N. Vapnik, pages: 53-57, 6, (Editors: Schölkopf, B., Luo, Z. and Vovk, V.), Springer, 2013 (inbook)

[BibTex]

Empirical Inference - Festschrift in Honor of Vladimir N. Vapnik

Schölkopf, B., Luo, Z., Vovk, V.

Springer, 2013 (book)

[BibTex]

ei Schölkopf, B., Luo, Z., Vovk, V. Empirical Inference - Festschrift in Honor of Vladimir N. Vapnik Springer, 2013 (book)

[BibTex]

Behavior as broken symmetry in embodied self-organizing robots

Der, R., Martius, G.

In Advances in Artificial Life, ECAL 2013, pages: 601-608, MIT Press, 2013 (incollection)

[BibTex]

al Der, R., Martius, G. Behavior as broken symmetry in embodied self-organizing robots In Advances in Artificial Life, ECAL 2013, pages: 601-608, MIT Press, 2013 (incollection)

[BibTex]

Using Torque Redundancy to Optimize Contact Forces in Legged Robots

Righetti, L., Buchli, J., Mistry, M., Kalakrishnan, M., Schaal, S.

In Redundancy in Robot Manipulators and Multi-Robot Systems, 57, pages: 35-51, Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2013 (incollection)

Abstract

The development of legged robots for complex environments requires controllers that guarantee both high tracking performance and compliance with the environment. More specifically the control of contact interaction with the environment is of crucial importance to ensure stable, robust and safe motions. In the following, we present an inverse dynamics controller that exploits torque redundancy to directly and explicitly minimize any combination of linear and quadratic costs in the contact constraints and in the commands. Such a result is particularly relevant for legged robots as it allows to use torque redundancy to directly optimize contact interactions. For example, given a desired locomotion behavior, it can guarantee the minimization of contact forces to reduce slipping on difficult terrains while ensuring high tracking performance of the desired motion. The proposed controller is very simple and computationally efficient, and most importantly it can greatly improve the performance of legged locomotion on difficult terrains as can be seen in the experimental results.

am mg

link (url) [BibTex]

am mg Righetti, L., Buchli, J., Mistry, M., Kalakrishnan, M., Schaal, S. Using Torque Redundancy to Optimize Contact Forces in Legged Robots In Redundancy in Robot Manipulators and Multi-Robot Systems, 57, pages: 35-51, Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2013 (incollection)

link (url) [BibTex]

Class-Specific Hough Forests for Object Detection

Gall, J., Lempitsky, V.

In Decision Forests for Computer Vision and Medical Image Analysis, pages: 143-157, 11, (Editors: Criminisi, A. and Shotton, J.), Springer, 2013 (incollection)

code Project Page [BibTex]

ps Gall, J., Lempitsky, V. Class-Specific Hough Forests for Object Detection In Decision Forests for Computer Vision and Medical Image Analysis, pages: 143-157, 11, (Editors: Criminisi, A. and Shotton, J.), Springer, 2013 (incollection)

code Project Page [BibTex]

2008

Frequent Subgraph Retrieval in Geometric Graph Databases

Nowozin, S., Tsuda, K.

(180), Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, November 2008 (techreport)

Abstract

Discovery of knowledge from geometric graph databases is of particular importance in chemistry and biology, because chemical compounds and proteins are represented as graphs with 3D geometric coordinates. In such applications, scientists are not interested in the statistics of the whole database. Instead they need information about a novel drug candidate or protein at hand, represented as a query graph. We propose a polynomial-delay algorithm for geometric frequent subgraph retrieval. It enumerates all subgraphs of a single given query graph which are frequent geometric epsilon-subgraphs under the entire class of rigid geometric transformations in a database. By using geometric epsilon-subgraphs, we achieve tolerance against variations in geometry. We compare the proposed algorithm to gSpan on chemical compound data, and we show that for a given minimum support the total number of frequent patterns is substantially limited by requiring geometric matching. Although the computation time per pattern is larger than for non-geometric graph mining, the total time is within a reasonable level even for small minimum support.

PDF [BibTex]

2008

ei Nowozin, S., Tsuda, K. Frequent Subgraph Retrieval in Geometric Graph Databases (180), Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, November 2008 (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

Simultaneous Implicit Surface Reconstruction and Meshing

Giesen, J., Maier, M., Schölkopf, B.

(179), Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, November 2008 (techreport)

Abstract

We investigate an implicit method to compute a piecewise linear representation of a surface from a set of sample points. As implicit surface functions we use the weighted sum of piecewise linear kernel functions. For such a function we can partition Rd in such a way that these functions are linear on the subsets of the partition. For each subset in the partition we can then compute the zero level set of the function exactly as the intersection of a hyperplane with the subset.

PDF [BibTex]

ei Giesen, J., Maier, M., Schölkopf, B. Simultaneous Implicit Surface Reconstruction and Meshing (179), Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, November 2008 (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

Taxonomy Inference Using Kernel Dependence Measures

Blaschko, M., Gretton, A.

(181), Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, November 2008 (techreport)

Abstract

We introduce a family of unsupervised algorithms, numerical taxonomy clustering, to simultaneously cluster data, and to learn a taxonomy that encodes the relationship between the clusters. The algorithms work by maximizing the dependence between the taxonomy and the original data. The resulting taxonomy is a more informative visualization of complex data than simple clustering; in addition, taking into account the relations between different clusters is shown to substantially improve the quality of the clustering, when compared with state-of-the-art algorithms in the literature (both spectral clustering and a previous dependence maximization approach). We demonstrate our algorithm on image and text data.

PDF [BibTex]

ei Blaschko, M., Gretton, A. Taxonomy Inference Using Kernel Dependence Measures (181), Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, November 2008 (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

Large Scale Variational Inference and Experimental Design for Sparse Generalized Linear Models

Seeger, M., Nickisch, H.

(175), Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, September 2008 (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

ei Seeger, M., Nickisch, H. Large Scale Variational Inference and Experimental Design for Sparse Generalized Linear Models (175), Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, September 2008 (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

Block-Iterative Algorithms for Non-Negative Matrix Approximation

Sra, S.

(176), Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, September 2008 (techreport)

Abstract

In this report we present new algorithms for non-negative matrix approximation (NMA), commonly known as the NMF problem. Our methods improve upon the well-known methods of Lee & Seung [19] for both the Frobenius norm as well the Kullback-Leibler divergence versions of the problem. For the latter problem, our results are especially interesting because it seems to have witnessed much lesser algorithmic progress as compared to the Frobenius norm NMA problem. Our algorithms are based on a particular block-iterative acceleration technique for EM, which preserves the multiplicative nature of the updates and also ensures monotonicity. Furthermore, our algorithms also naturally apply to the Bregman-divergence NMA algorithms of Dhillon and Sra [8]. Experimentally, we show that our algorithms outperform the traditional Lee/Seung approach most of the time.

PDF [BibTex]

ei Sra, S. Block-Iterative Algorithms for Non-Negative Matrix Approximation (176), Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, September 2008 (techreport)

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Approximation Algorithms for Bregman Clustering Co-clustering and Tensor Clustering

Sra, S., Jegelka, S., Banerjee, A.

(177), Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, September 2008 (techreport)

Abstract

The Euclidean K-means problem is fundamental to clustering and over the years it has been intensely investigated. More recently, generalizations such as Bregman k-means [8], co-clustering [10], and tensor (multi-way) clustering [40] have also gained prominence. A well-known computational difficulty encountered by these clustering problems is the NP-Hardness of the associated optimization task, and commonly used methods guarantee at most local optimality. Consequently, approximation algorithms of varying degrees of sophistication have been developed, though largely for the basic Euclidean K-means (or `1-norm K-median) problem. In this paper we present approximation algorithms for several Bregman clustering problems by building upon the recent paper of Arthur and Vassilvitskii [5]. Our algorithms obtain objective values within a factor O(logK) for Bregman k-means, Bregman co-clustering, Bregman tensor clustering, and weighted kernel k-means. To our knowledge, except for some special cases, approximation algorithms have not been considered for these general clustering problems. There are several important implications of our work: (i) under the same assumptions as Ackermann et al. [1] it yields a much faster algorithm (non-exponential in K, unlike [1]) for information-theoretic clustering, (ii) it answers several open problems posed by [4], including generalizations to Bregman co-clustering, and tensor clustering, (iii) it provides practical and easy to implement methodsin contrast to several other common approximation approaches.

PDF [BibTex]

ei Sra, S., Jegelka, S., Banerjee, A. Approximation Algorithms for Bregman Clustering Co-clustering and Tensor Clustering (177), Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, September 2008 (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

Combining Appearance and Motion for Human Action Classification in Videos

Dhillon, P., Nowozin, S., Lampert, C.

(174), Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, August 2008 (techreport)

Abstract

We study the question of activity classification in videos and present a novel approach for recognizing human action categories in videos by combining information from appearance and motion of human body parts. Our approach uses a tracking step which involves Particle Filtering and a local non - parametric clustering step. The motion information is provided by the trajectory of the cluster modes of a local set of particles. The statistical information about the particles of that cluster over a number of frames provides the appearance information. Later we use a Bag ofWords model to build one histogram per video sequence from the set of these robust appearance and motion descriptors. These histograms provide us characteristic information which helps us to discriminate among various human actions and thus classify them correctly. We tested our approach on the standard KTH and Weizmann human action datasets and the results were comparable to the state of the art. Additionally our approach is able to distinguish between activities that involve the motion of complete body from those in which only certain body parts move. In other words, our method discriminates well between activities with gross motion like running, jogging etc. and local motion like waving, boxing etc.

PDF [BibTex]

ei Dhillon, P., Nowozin, S., Lampert, C. Combining Appearance and Motion for Human Action Classification in Videos (174), Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, August 2008 (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

Example-based Learning for Single-image Super-resolution and JPEG Artifact Removal

Kim, K., Kwon, Y.

(173), Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, August 2008 (techreport)

Abstract

This paper proposes a framework for single-image super-resolution and JPEG artifact removal. The underlying idea is to learn a map from input low-quality images (suitably preprocessed low-resolution or JPEG encoded images) to target high-quality images based on example pairs of input and output images. To retain the complexity of the resulting learning problem at a moderate level, a patch-based approach is taken such that kernel ridge regression (KRR) scans the input image with a small window (patch) and produces a patchvalued output for each output pixel location. These constitute a set of candidate images each of which reflects different local information. An image output is then obtained as a convex combination of candidates for each pixel based on estimated confidences of candidates. To reduce the time complexity of training and testing for KRR, a sparse solution is found by combining the ideas of kernel matching pursuit and gradient descent. As a regularized solution, KRR leads to a better generalization than simply storing the examples as it has been done in existing example-based super-resolution algorithms and results in much less noisy images. However, this may introduce blurring and ringing artifacts around major edges as sharp changes are penalized severely. A prior model of a generic image class which takes into account the discontinuity property of images is adopted to resolve this problem. Comparison with existing super-resolution and JPEG artifact removal methods shows the effectiveness of the proposed method. Furthermore, the proposed method is generic in that it has the potential to be applied to many other image enhancement applications.

PDF [BibTex]

ei Kim, K., Kwon, Y. Example-based Learning for Single-image Super-resolution and JPEG Artifact Removal (173), Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, August 2008 (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

CogRob 2008: The 6th International Cognitive Robotics Workshop

Lespérance, Y., Lakemeyer, G., Peters, J., Pirri, F.

Proceedings of the 6th International Cognitive Robotics Workshop (CogRob 2008), pages: 35, Patras University Press, Patras, Greece, 6th International Cognitive Robotics Workshop (CogRob), July 2008 (proceedings)

Web [BibTex]

ei Lespérance, Y., Lakemeyer, G., Peters, J., Pirri, F. CogRob 2008: The 6th International Cognitive Robotics Workshop Proceedings of the 6th International Cognitive Robotics Workshop (CogRob 2008), pages: 35, Patras University Press, Patras, Greece, 6th International Cognitive Robotics Workshop (CogRob), July 2008 (proceedings)

Web [BibTex]

Unsupervised Bayesian Time-series Segmentation based on Linear Gaussian State-space Models

Chiappa, S.

(171), Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, June 2008 (techreport)

Abstract

Unsupervised time-series segmentation in the general scenario in which the number of segment-types and segment boundaries are a priori unknown is a fundamental problem in many applications and requires an accurate segmentation model as well as a way of determining an appropriate number of segment-types. In most approaches, segmentation and determination of number of segment-types are addressed in two separate steps, since the segmentation model assumes a predefined number of segment-types. The determination of number of segment-types is thus achieved by training and comparing several separate models. In this paper, we take a Bayesian approach to a segmentation model based on linear Gaussian state-space models to achieve structure selection within the model. An appropriate prior distribution on the parameters is used to enforce a sparse parametrization, such that the model automatically selects the smallest number of underlying dynamical systems that explain the data well and a parsimonious structure for each dynamical system. As the resulting model is computationally intractable, we introduce a variational approximation, in which a reformulation of the problem enables to use an efficient inference algorithm.

[BibTex]

ei Chiappa, S. Unsupervised Bayesian Time-series Segmentation based on Linear Gaussian State-space Models (171), Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, June 2008 (techreport)

[BibTex]

A New Non-monotonic Gradient Projection Method for the Non-negative Least Squares Problem

Kim, D., Sra, S., Dhillon, I.

(TR-08-28), University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA, June 2008 (techreport)

Web [BibTex]

ei Kim, D., Sra, S., Dhillon, I. A New Non-monotonic Gradient Projection Method for the Non-negative Least Squares Problem (TR-08-28), University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA, June 2008 (techreport)

Web [BibTex]

Non-monotonic Poisson Likelihood Maximization

Sra, S., Kim, D., Schölkopf, B.

(170), Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, June 2008 (techreport)

Abstract

This report summarizes the theory and some main applications of a new non-monotonic algorithm for maximizing a Poisson Likelihood, which for Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is equivalent to minimizing the associated Kullback-Leibler Divergence, and for Transmission Tomography is similar to maximizing the dual of a maximum entropy problem. We call our method non-monotonic maximum likelihood (NMML) and show its application to different problems such as tomography and image restoration. We discuss some theoretical properties such as convergence for our algorithm. Our experimental results indicate that speedups obtained via our non-monotonic methods are substantial.

PDF [BibTex]

ei Sra, S., Kim, D., Schölkopf, B. Non-monotonic Poisson Likelihood Maximization (170), Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, June 2008 (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

New Frontiers in Characterizing Structure and Dynamics by NMR

Nilges, M., Markwick, P., Malliavin, TE., Rieping, W., Habeck, M.

In Computational Structural Biology: Methods and Applications, pages: 655-680, (Editors: Schwede, T. , M. C. Peitsch), World Scientific, New Jersey, NJ, USA, May 2008 (inbook)

Abstract

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has emerged as the method of choice for studying both the structure and the dynamics of biological macromolecule in solution. Despite the maturity of the NMR method for structure determination, its application faces a number of challenges. The method is limited to systems of relatively small molecular mass, data collection times are long, data analysis remains a lengthy procedure, and it is difficult to evaluate the quality of the final structures. The last years have seen significant advances in experimental techniques to overcome or reduce some limitations. The function of bio-macromolecules is determined by both their 3D structure and conformational dynamics. These molecules are inherently flexible systems displaying a broad range of dynamics on timescales from picoseconds to seconds. NMR is unique in its ability to obtain dynamic information on an atomic scale. The experimental information on structure and dynamics is intricately mixed. It is however difficult to unite both structural and dynamical information into one consistent model, and protocols for the determination of structure and dynamics are performed independently. This chapter deals with the challenges posed by the interpretation of NMR data on structure and dynamics. We will first relate the standard structure calculation methods to Bayesian probability theory. We will then briefly describe the advantages of a fully Bayesian treatment of structure calculation. Then, we will illustrate the advantages of using Bayesian reasoning at least partly in standard structure calculations. The final part will be devoted to interpretation of experimental data on dynamics.

Web [BibTex]

ei Nilges, M., Markwick, P., Malliavin, TE., Rieping, W., Habeck, M. New Frontiers in Characterizing Structure and Dynamics by NMR In Computational Structural Biology: Methods and Applications, pages: 655-680, (Editors: Schwede, T. , M. C. Peitsch), World Scientific, New Jersey, NJ, USA, May 2008 (inbook)

Web [BibTex]

A Kernel Method for the Two-sample Problem

Gretton, A., Borgwardt, K., Rasch, M., Schölkopf, B., Smola, A.

(157), Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Cybernetics Tübingen, April 2008 (techreport)

Abstract

We propose a framework for analyzing and comparing distributions, allowing us to design statistical tests to determine if two samples are drawn from different distributions. Our test statistic is the largest difference in expectations over functions in the unit ball of a reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS). We present two tests based on large deviation bounds for the test statistic, while a third is based on the asymptotic distribution of this statistic. The test statistic can be computed in quadratic time, although efficient linear time approximations are available. Several classical metrics on distributions are recovered when the function space used to compute the difference in expectations is allowed to be more general (eg.~a Banach space). We apply our two-sample tests to a variety of problems, including attribute matching for databases using the Hungarian marriage method, where they perform strongly. Excellent performance is also obtained when comparing distributions over graphs, for which these are the first such tests.

PDF [BibTex]

ei Gretton, A., Borgwardt, K., Rasch, M., Schölkopf, B., Smola, A. A Kernel Method for the Two-sample Problem (157), Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Cybernetics Tübingen, April 2008 (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

Energy Functionals for Manifold-valued Mappings and Their Properties

Hein, M., Steinke, F., Schölkopf, B.

(167), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, January 2008 (techreport)

Abstract

This technical report is merely an extended version of the appendix of Steinke et.al. "Manifold-valued Thin-Plate Splines with Applications in Computer Graphics" (2008) with complete proofs, which had to be omitted due to space restrictions. This technical report requires a basic knowledge of differential geometry. However, apart from that requirement the technical report is self-contained.

PDF [BibTex]

ei Hein, M., Steinke, F., Schölkopf, B. Energy Functionals for Manifold-valued Mappings and Their Properties (167), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, January 2008 (techreport)

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A Robot System for Biomimetic Navigation: From Snapshots to Metric Embeddings of View Graphs

Franz, MO., Stürzl, W., Reichardt, W., Mallot, HA.

In Robotics and Cognitive Approaches to Spatial Mapping, pages: 297-314, Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics ; 38, (Editors: Jefferies, M.E. , W.-K. Yeap), Springer, Berlin, Germany, 2008 (inbook)

Abstract

Complex navigation behaviour (way-finding) involves recognizing several places and encoding a spatial relationship between them. Way-finding skills can be classified into a hierarchy according to the complexity of the tasks that can be performed [8]. The most basic form of way-finding is route navigation, followed by topological navigation where several routes are integrated into a graph-like representation. The highest level, survey navigation, is reached when this graph can be embedded into a common reference frame. In this chapter, we present the building blocks for a biomimetic robot navigation system that encompasses all levels of this hierarchy. As a local navigation method, we use scene-based homing. In this scheme, a goal location is characterized either by a panoramic snapshot of the light intensities as seen from the place, or by a record of the distances to the surrounding objects. The goal is found by moving in the direction that minimizes the discrepancy between the recorded intensities or distances and the current sensory input. For learning routes, the robot selects distinct views during exploration that are close enough to be reached by snapshot-based homing. When it encounters already visited places during route learning, it connects the routes and thus forms a topological representation of its environment termed a view graph. The final stage, survey navigation, is achieved by a graph embedding procedure which complements the topologic information of the view graph with odometric position estimates. Calculation of the graph embedding is done with a modified multidimensional scaling algorithm which makes use of distances and angles between nodes.

PDF PDF DOI [BibTex]

ei Franz, MO., Stürzl, W., Reichardt, W., Mallot, HA. A Robot System for Biomimetic Navigation: From Snapshots to Metric Embeddings of View Graphs In Robotics and Cognitive Approaches to Spatial Mapping, pages: 297-314, Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics ; 38, (Editors: Jefferies, M.E. , W.-K. Yeap), Springer, Berlin, Germany, 2008 (inbook)

PDF PDF DOI [BibTex]

Biologically Inspired Polymer Micro-Patterned Adhesives

Cheung, E., Sitti, M.

EDGEWOOD CHEMICAL BIOLOGICAL CENTER ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND MD, 2008 (techreport)

[BibTex]

pi Cheung, E., Sitti, M. Biologically Inspired Polymer Micro-Patterned Adhesives EDGEWOOD CHEMICAL BIOLOGICAL CENTER ABERDEEN PROVING GROUND MD, 2008 (techreport)

[BibTex]

Hydrogen adsorption (Carbon, Zeolites, Nanocubes)

Hirscher, M., Panella, B.

In Hydrogen as a Future Energy Carrier, pages: 173-188, Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim, 2008 (incollection)

mms

[BibTex]

mms Hirscher, M., Panella, B. Hydrogen adsorption (Carbon, Zeolites, Nanocubes) In Hydrogen as a Future Energy Carrier, pages: 173-188, Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim, 2008 (incollection)

[BibTex]

Efficient inverse kinematics algorithms for highdimensional movement systems

Tevatia, G., Schaal, S.

CLMC Technical Report: TR-CLMC-2008-1, 2008, clmc (techreport)

Abstract

Real-time control of the endeffector of a humanoid robot in external coordinates requires computationally efficient solutions of the inverse kinematics problem. In this context, this paper investigates methods of resolved motion rate control (RMRC) that employ optimization criteria to resolve kinematic redundancies. In particular we focus on two established techniques, the pseudo inverse with explicit optimization and the extended Jacobian method. We prove that the extended Jacobian method includes pseudo-inverse methods as a special solution. In terms of computational complexity, however, pseudo-inverse and extended Jacobian differ significantly in favor of pseudo-inverse methods. Employing numerical estimation techniques, we introduce a computationally efficient version of the extended Jacobian with performance comparable to the original version. Our results are illustrated in simulation studies with a multiple degree-offreedom robot, and were evaluated on an actual 30 degree-of-freedom full-body humanoid robot.

link (url) [BibTex]

am Tevatia, G., Schaal, S. Efficient inverse kinematics algorithms for highdimensional movement systems CLMC Technical Report: TR-CLMC-2008-1, 2008, clmc (techreport)

link (url) [BibTex]

Ma\ssgeschneiderte Speichermaterialien

Hirscher, M.

In Von Brennstoffzellen bis Leuchtdioden (Energie und Chemie - Ein Bündnis für die Zukunft), pages: 31-33, Deutsche Bunsen-Gesellschaft für Physikalische Chemie e.V., Frankfurt am Main, 2008 (incollection)

mms

[BibTex]

mms Hirscher, M. Ma\ssgeschneiderte Speichermaterialien In Von Brennstoffzellen bis Leuchtdioden (Energie und Chemie - Ein Bündnis für die Zukunft), pages: 31-33, Deutsche Bunsen-Gesellschaft für Physikalische Chemie e.V., Frankfurt am Main, 2008 (incollection)

[BibTex]

2005

Popper, Falsification and the VC-dimension

Corfield, D., Schölkopf, B., Vapnik, V.

(145), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, November 2005 (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

2005

ei Corfield, D., Schölkopf, B., Vapnik, V. Popper, Falsification and the VC-dimension (145), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, November 2005 (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

A Combinatorial View of Graph Laplacians

Huang, J.

(144), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, August 2005 (techreport)

Abstract

Discussions about different graph Laplacian, mainly normalized and unnormalized versions of graph Laplacian, have been ardent with respect to various methods in clustering and graph based semi-supervised learning. Previous research on graph Laplacians investigated their convergence properties to Laplacian operators on continuous manifolds. There is still no strong proof on convergence for the normalized Laplacian. In this paper, we analyze different variants of graph Laplacians directly from the ways solving the original graph partitioning problem. The graph partitioning problem is a well-known combinatorial NP hard optimization problem. The spectral solutions provide evidence that normalized Laplacian encodes more reasonable considerations for graph partitioning. We also provide some examples to show their differences.

[BibTex]

ei Huang, J. A Combinatorial View of Graph Laplacians (144), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, August 2005 (techreport)

[BibTex]

Beyond Pairwise Classification and Clustering Using Hypergraphs

Zhou, D., Huang, J., Schölkopf, B.

(143), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, August 2005 (techreport)

Abstract

In many applications, relationships among objects of interest are more complex than pairwise. Simply approximating complex relationships as pairwise ones can lead to loss of information. An alternative for these applications is to analyze complex relationships among data directly, without the need to first represent the complex relationships into pairwise ones. A natural way to describe complex relationships is to use hypergraphs. A hypergraph is a graph in which edges can connect more than two vertices. Thus we consider learning from a hypergraph, and develop a general framework which is applicable to classification and clustering for complex relational data. We have applied our framework to real-world web classification problems and obtained encouraging results.

PDF [BibTex]

ei Zhou, D., Huang, J., Schölkopf, B. Beyond Pairwise Classification and Clustering Using Hypergraphs (143), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, August 2005 (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

Measuring Statistical Dependence with Hilbert-Schmidt Norms

Gretton, A., Bousquet, O., Smola, A., Schölkopf, B.

(140), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, June 2005 (techreport)

Abstract

We propose an independence criterion based on the eigenspectrum of covariance operators in reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces (RKHSs), consisting of an empirical estimate of the Hilbert-Schmidt norm of the cross-covariance operator (we term this a Hilbert-Schmidt Independence Criterion, or HSIC). This approach has several advantages, compared with previous kernel-based independence criteria. First, the empirical estimate is simpler than any other kernel dependence test, and requires no user-defined regularisation. Second, there is a clearly defined population quantity which the empirical estimate approaches in the large sample limit, with exponential convergence guaranteed between the two: this ensures that independence tests based on HSIC do not suffer from slow learning rates. Finally, we show in the context of independent component analysis (ICA) that the performance of HSIC is competitive with that of previously published kernel-based criteria, and of other recently published ICA methods.

PDF [BibTex]

ei Gretton, A., Bousquet, O., Smola, A., Schölkopf, B. Measuring Statistical Dependence with Hilbert-Schmidt Norms (140), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, June 2005 (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

Approximate Inference for Robust Gaussian Process Regression

Kuss, M., Pfingsten, T., Csato, L., Rasmussen, C.

(136), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, 2005 (techreport)

Abstract

Gaussian process (GP) priors have been successfully used in non-parametric Bayesian regression and classification models. Inference can be performed analytically only for the regression model with Gaussian noise. For all other likelihood models inference is intractable and various approximation techniques have been proposed. In recent years expectation-propagation (EP) has been developed as a general method for approximate inference. This article provides a general summary of how expectation-propagation can be used for approximate inference in Gaussian process models. Furthermore we present a case study describing its implementation for a new robust variant of Gaussian process regression. To gain further insights into the quality of the EP approximation we present experiments in which we compare to results obtained by Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling.

PDF [BibTex]

ei Kuss, M., Pfingsten, T., Csato, L., Rasmussen, C. Approximate Inference for Robust Gaussian Process Regression (136), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, 2005 (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

Support Vector Machines and Kernel Algorithms

Schölkopf, B., Smola, A.

In Encyclopedia of Biostatistics (2nd edition), Vol. 8, 8, pages: 5328-5335, (Editors: P Armitage and T Colton), John Wiley & Sons, NY USA, 2005 (inbook)

[BibTex]

ei Schölkopf, B., Smola, A. Support Vector Machines and Kernel Algorithms In Encyclopedia of Biostatistics (2nd edition), Vol. 8, 8, pages: 5328-5335, (Editors: P Armitage and T Colton), John Wiley & Sons, NY USA, 2005 (inbook)

[BibTex]

Visual perception I: Basic principles

Wagemans, J., Wichmann, F., de Beeck, H.

In Handbook of Cognition, pages: 3-47, (Editors: Lamberts, K. , R. Goldstone), Sage, London, 2005 (inbook)

[BibTex]

ei Wagemans, J., Wichmann, F., de Beeck, H. Visual perception I: Basic principles In Handbook of Cognition, pages: 3-47, (Editors: Lamberts, K. , R. Goldstone), Sage, London, 2005 (inbook)

[BibTex]

Maximum-Margin Feature Combination for Detection and Categorization

BakIr, G., Wu, M., Eichhorn, J.

Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, 2005 (techreport)

Abstract

In this paper we are concerned with the optimal combination of features of possibly different types for detection and estimation tasks in machine vision. We propose to combine features such that the resulting classifier maximizes the margin between classes. In contrast to existing approaches which are non-convex and/or generative we propose to use a discriminative model leading to convex problem formulation and complexity control. Furthermore we assert that decision functions should not compare apples and oranges by comparing features of different types directly. Instead we propose to combine different similarity measures for each different feature type. Furthermore we argue that the question: Which feature type is more discriminative for task X? is ill-posed and show empirically that the answer to this question might depend on the complexity of the decision function.

PDF [BibTex]

ei BakIr, G., Wu, M., Eichhorn, J. Maximum-Margin Feature Combination for Detection and Categorization Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, 2005 (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

Towards a Statistical Theory of Clustering. Presented at the PASCAL workshop on clustering, London

von Luxburg, U., Ben-David, S.

Presented at the PASCAL workshop on clustering, London, 2005 (techreport)

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to discuss statistical aspects of clustering in a framework where the data to be clustered has been sampled from some unknown probability distribution. Firstly, the clustering of the data set should reveal some structure of the underlying data rather than model artifacts due to the random sampling process. Secondly, the more sample points we have, the more reliable the clustering should be. We discuss which methods can and cannot be used to tackle those problems. In particular we argue that generalization bounds as they are used in statistical learning theory of classification are unsuitable in a general clustering framework. We suggest that the main replacements of generalization bounds should be convergence proofs and stability considerations. This paper should be considered as a road map paper which identifies important questions and potentially fruitful directions for future research about statistical clustering. We do not attempt to present a complete statistical theory of clustering.

PDF [BibTex]

ei von Luxburg, U., Ben-David, S. Towards a Statistical Theory of Clustering. Presented at the PASCAL workshop on clustering, London Presented at the PASCAL workshop on clustering, London, 2005 (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

Approximate Bayesian Inference for Psychometric Functions using MCMC Sampling

Kuss, M., Jäkel, F., Wichmann, F.

(135), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, 2005 (techreport)

Abstract

In psychophysical studies the psychometric function is used to model the relation between the physical stimulus intensity and the observer's ability to detect or discriminate between stimuli of different intensities. In this report we propose the use of Bayesian inference to extract the information contained in experimental data estimate the parameters of psychometric functions. Since Bayesian inference cannot be performed analytically we describe how a Markov chain Monte Carlo method can be used to generate samples from the posterior distribution over parameters. These samples are used to estimate Bayesian confidence intervals and other characteristics of the posterior distribution. In addition we discuss the parameterisation of psychometric functions and the role of prior distributions in the analysis. The proposed approach is exemplified using artificially generate d data and in a case study for real experimental data. Furthermore, we compare our approach with traditional methods based on maximum-likelihood parameter estimation combined with bootstrap techniques for confidence interval estimation. The appendix provides a description of an implementation for the R environment for statistical computing and provides the code for reproducing the results discussed in the experiment section.

PDF [BibTex]

ei Kuss, M., Jäkel, F., Wichmann, F. Approximate Bayesian Inference for Psychometric Functions using MCMC Sampling (135), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, 2005 (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

Linear and Nonlinear Estimation models applied to Hemodynamic Model

Theodorou, E.

Technical Report-2005-1, Computational Action and Vision Lab University of Minnesota, 2005, clmc (techreport)

Abstract

The relation between BOLD signal and neural activity is still poorly understood. The Gaussian Linear Model known as GLM is broadly used in many fMRI data analysis for recovering the underlying neural activity. Although GLM has been proved to be a really useful tool for analyzing fMRI data it can not be used for describing the complex biophysical process of neural metabolism. In this technical report we make use of a system of Stochastic Differential Equations that is based on Buxton model [1] for describing the underlying computational principles of hemodynamic process. Based on this SDE we built a Kalman Filter estimator so as to estimate the induced neural signal as well as the blood inflow under physiologic and sensor noise. The performance of Kalman Filter estimator is investigated under different physiologic noise characteristics and measurement frequencies.

PDF [BibTex]

am Theodorou, E. Linear and Nonlinear Estimation models applied to Hemodynamic Model Technical Report-2005-1, Computational Action and Vision Lab University of Minnesota, 2005, clmc (techreport)

PDF [BibTex]

Geckobot and waalbot: Small-scale wall climbing robots

Unver, O., Murphy, M., Sitti, M.

In Infotech@ Aerospace, pages: 6940, 2005 (incollection)

[BibTex]

pi Unver, O., Murphy, M., Sitti, M. Geckobot and waalbot: Small-scale wall climbing robots In Infotech@ Aerospace, pages: 6940, 2005 (incollection)

[BibTex]

1999

Nonparametric regression for learning nonlinear transformations

Schaal, S.

In Prerational Intelligence in Strategies, High-Level Processes and Collective Behavior, 2, pages: 595-621, (Editors: Ritter, H.;Cruse, H.;Dean, J.), Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999, clmc (inbook)

Abstract

Information processing in animals and artificial movement systems consists of a series of transformations that map sensory signals to intermediate representations, and finally to motor commands. Given the physical and neuroanatomical differences between individuals and the need for plasticity during development, it is highly likely that such transformations are learned rather than pre-programmed by evolution. Such self-organizing processes, capable of discovering nonlinear dependencies between different groups of signals, are one essential part of prerational intelligence. While neural network algorithms seem to be the natural choice when searching for solutions for learning transformations, this paper will take a more careful look at which types of neural networks are actually suited for the requirements of an autonomous learning system. The approach that we will pursue is guided by recent developments in learning theory that have linked neural network learning to well established statistical theories. In particular, this new statistical understanding has given rise to the development of neural network systems that are directly based on statistical methods. One family of such methods stems from nonparametric regression. This paper will compare nonparametric learning with the more widely used parametric counterparts in a non technical fashion, and investigate how these two families differ in their properties and their applicabilities. We will argue that nonparametric neural networks offer a set of characteristics that make them a very promising candidate for on-line learning in autonomous system.

link (url) [BibTex]

1999

am Schaal, S. Nonparametric regression for learning nonlinear transformations In Prerational Intelligence in Strategies, High-Level Processes and Collective Behavior, 2, pages: 595-621, (Editors: Ritter, H.;Cruse, H.;Dean, J.), Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999, clmc (inbook)

link (url) [BibTex]

1996

From isolation to cooperation: An alternative of a system of experts

Schaal, S., Atkeson, C. G.

In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 8, pages: 605-611, (Editors: Touretzky, D. S.;Mozer, M. C.;Hasselmo, M. E.), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1996, clmc (inbook)

Abstract

We introduce a constructive, incremental learning system for regression problems that models data by means of locally linear experts. In contrast to other approaches, the experts are trained independently and do not compete for data during learning. Only when a prediction for a query is required do the experts cooperate by blending their individual predictions. Each expert is trained by minimizing a penalized local cross validation error using second order methods. In this way, an expert is able to adjust the size and shape of the receptive field in which its predictions are valid, and also to adjust its bias on the importance of individual input dimensions. The size and shape adjustment corresponds to finding a local distance metric, while the bias adjustment accomplishes local dimensionality reduction. We derive asymptotic results for our method. In a variety of simulations we demonstrate the properties of the algorithm with respect to interference, learning speed, prediction accuracy, feature detection, and task oriented incremental learning.Â

link (url) [BibTex]

1996

am Schaal, S., Atkeson, C. G. From isolation to cooperation: An alternative of a system of experts In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 8, pages: 605-611, (Editors: Touretzky, D. S.;Mozer, M. C.;Hasselmo, M. E.), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1996, clmc (inbook)

link (url) [BibTex]

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