Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Multimodal Deep Learning and Visible-Light and Hyperspectral Imaging for Fruit Maturity Estimation

Fruit maturity is a critical factor in the supply chain, consumer preference, and agriculture industry. Most classification methods on fruit maturity identify only two classes: ripe and unripe, but this paper estimates six maturity stages of papaya fruit. Deep learning architectures have gained respect and brought breakthroughs in unimodal processing. This paper suggests a novel non-destructive and multimodal classification using deep convolutional neural networks that estimate fruit maturity by feature concatenation of data acquired from two imaging modes: visible-light and hyperspectral imaging systems. Morphological changes in the sample fruits can be easily measured with RGB images, while spectral signatures that provide high sensitivity and high correlation with the internal properties of fruits can be extracted from hyperspectral images with wavelength range in between 400 nm and 900 nm—factors that must be considered when building a model. This study further modified the architectures: AlexNet, VGG16, VGG19, ResNet50, ResNeXt50, MobileNet, and MobileNetV2 to utilize multimodal data cubes composed of RGB and hyperspectral data for sensitivity analyses. These multimodal variants can achieve up to 0.90 F1 scores and 1.45% top-2 error rate for the classification of six stages. Overall, taking advantage of multimodal input coupled with powerful deep convolutional neural network models can classify fruit maturity even at refined levels of six stages. This indicates that multimodal deep learning architectures and multimodal imaging have great potential for real-time in-field fruit maturity estimation that can help estimate optimal harvest time and other in-field industrial applications.
Logic Embeddings for Complex Query Answering

Answering logical queries over incomplete knowledge bases is challenging because: 1) it calls for implicit link prediction, and 2) brute force answering of existential first-order logic queries is exponential in the number of existential variables. Recent work of query embeddings provides fast querying, but most approaches model set logic with closed regions, so lack negation. Query embeddings that do support negation use densities that suffer drawbacks: 1) only improvise logic, 2) use expensive distributions, and 3) poorly model answer uncertainty. In this paper, we propose Logic Embeddings, a new approach to embedding complex queries that uses Skolemisation to eliminate existential variables for efficient querying. It supports negation, but improves on density approaches: 1) integrates well-studied t-norm logic and directly evaluates satisfiability, 2) simplifies modeling with truth values, and 3) models uncertainty with truth bounds. Logic Embeddings are competitively fast and accurate in query answering over large, incomplete knowledge graphs, outperform on negation queries, and in particular, provide improved modeling of answer uncertainty as evidenced by a superior correlation between answer set size and embedding entropy.
A Brief Summary of Interactions Between Meta-Learning and Self-Supervised Learning

This paper briefly reviews the connections between meta-learning and self-supervised learning. Meta-learning can be applied to improve model generalization capability and to construct general AI algorithms. Self-supervised learning utilizes self-supervision from original data and extracts higher-level generalizable features through unsupervised pre-training or optimization of contrastive loss objectives. In self-supervised learning, data augmentation techniques are widely applied and data labels are not required since pseudo labels can be estimated from trained models on similar tasks. Meta-learning aims to adapt trained deep models to solve diverse tasks and to develop general AI algorithms. We review the associations of meta-learning with both generative and contrastive self-supervised learning models. Unlabeled data from multiple sources can be jointly considered even when data sources are vastly different. We show that an integration of meta-learning and self-supervised learning models can best contribute to the improvement of model generalization capability. Self-supervised learning guided by meta-learner and general meta-learning algorithms under self-supervision are both examples of possible combinations.
Simulation of runaway electron generation in fusion grade tokamak and suppression by impurity injection

During disruptions in fusion-grade tokamaks like ITER, large electric fields are induced following the thermal quench (TQ) period which can generate a substantial amount of Runaway Electrons (REs) that can carry up to 10 MA current with energies as high as several tens of MeV [1-3] in current quench phase (CQ). These runaway electrons can cause significant damage to the plasma-facing-components due to their localized energy deposition. To mitigate these effects, impurity injections of high-Z atoms have been proposed [1-3]. In this paper, we use a self-consistent 0D tokamak disruption model as implemented in PREDICT code [6] which has been upgraded to take into account the effect of impurity injections on RE dynamics as suggested in [4-5]. Dominant RE generation mechanisms such as the secondary avalanche mechanism as well as primary RE-generation mechanisms namely Dreicer, hot-tail, tritium decay and Compton scattering (from {\gamma}-rays emitted from activated walls) have been taken into account. In these simulations, the effect of impurities is taken into account considering collisions of REs with free and bound electrons as well as scattering from full and partially-shielded nuclear charge. These corrections were also implemented in the relativistic test particle model to simulate RE-dynamics in momentum space. We show that the presence of impurities has a non-uniform effect on the Runaway Electron Distribution function. We also show that the combined effect of pitch-angle scattering induced by the collisions with impurity ions and synchrotron emission loss results in the faster dissipation of RE-energy distribution function [7]. The variation of different RE generation mechanisms during different phases of the disruption, mainly before and after impurity injections is reported.
Dynamic collision avoidance for multiple robotic manipulators based on a non-cooperative multi-agent game

A flexible operation of multiple robotic manipulators in a shared workspace requires an online trajectory planning with static and dynamic collision avoidance. In this work, we propose a real-time capable motion control algorithm, based on non-linear model predictive control, which accounts for static and dynamic collision avoidance. The proposed algorithm is formulated as a non-cooperative game, where each robot is considered as an agent. Each agent optimizes its own motion and accounts for the predicted movement of surrounding agents. We propose a novel approach to formulate the dynamic collision constraints. Additionally, we account for deadlocks that might occur in a setup of multiple robotic manipulators. We validate our algorithm on a pick and place scenario for four collaborative robots operating in a common workspace in the simulation environment Gazebo. The robots are controlled by the Robot Operating System (ROS). We demonstrate, that our approach is real-time capable and, due to the distributed nature of the approach, easily scales to an arbitrary number of robot manipulators in a shared workspace.
Partitioned Graph Convolution Using Adversarial and Regression Networks for Road Travel Speed Prediction

Access to quality travel time information for roads in a road network has become increasingly important with the rising demand for real-time travel time estimation for paths within road networks. In the context of the Danish road network (DRN) dataset used in this paper, the data coverage is sparse and skewed towards arterial roads, with a coverage of 23.88% across 850,980 road segments, which makes travel time estimation difficult. Existing solutions for graph-based data processing often neglect the size of the graph, which is an apparent problem for road networks with a large amount of connected road segments. To this end, we propose a framework for predicting road segment travel speed histograms for dataless edges, based on a latent representation generated by an adversarially regularized convolutional network. We apply a partitioning algorithm to divide the graph into dense subgraphs, and then train a model for each subgraph to predict speed histograms for the nodes. The framework achieves an accuracy of 71.5% intersection and 78.5% correlation on predicting travel speed histograms using the DRN dataset. Furthermore, experiments show that partitioning the dataset into clusters increases the performance of the framework. Specifically, partitioning the road network dataset into 100 clusters, with approximately 500 road segments in each cluster, achieves a better performance than when using 10 and 20 clusters.
Block-Activated Algorithms For Multicomponent Fully Nonsmooth Minimization

Under consideration are multicomponent minimization problems involving a separable nonsmooth convex function penalizing the components individually, and nonsmooth convex coupling terms penalizing linear mixtures of the components. We investigate the application of block-activated proximal algorithms for solving such problems, i.e., algorithms which, at each iteration, need to use only a block of the underlying functions, as opposed to all of them as in standard methods. For smooth coupling functions, several block-activated algorithms exist and they are well understood. By contrast, in the fully nonsmooth case, few block-activated methods are available and little effort has been devoted to assessing them. Our goal is to shed more light on the implementation, the features, and the behavior of these algorithms, compare their merits, and provide machine learning and image recovery experiments illustrating their performance.
Fermionization and boundary states in 1+1 dimensions

In the last few years it was realized that every fermionic theory in 1+1 dimensions is a generalized Jordan-Wigner transform of a bosonic theory with a non-anomalous \mathbb{Z}_2}ℤ2 symmetry. In this note we determine how the boundary states are mapped under this correspondence. We also interpret this mapping as the fusion of the original boundary with the fermionization interface.
On the Utility of Gradient Compression in Distributed Training Systems

A rich body of prior work has highlighted the existence of communication bottlenecks in synchronous data-parallel training. To alleviate these bottlenecks, a long line of recent work proposes gradient and model compression methods. In this work, we evaluate the efficacy of gradient compression methods and compare their scalability with optimized implementations of synchronous data-parallel SGD across more than 200 different setups. Surprisingly, we observe that only in 6 cases out of more than 200, gradient compression methods provide speedup over optimized synchronous data-parallel training in the typical data-center setting. We conduct an extensive investigation to identify the root causes of this phenomenon, and offer a performance model that can be used to identify the benefits of gradient compression for a variety of system setups. Based on our analysis, we propose a list of desirable properties that gradient compression methods should satisfy, in order for them to provide a meaningful end-to-end speedup.
Incorporating Domain Knowledge into Deep Neural Networks

We present a survey of ways in which domain-knowledge has been included when constructing models with neural networks. The inclusion of domain-knowledge is of special interest not just to constructing scientific assistants, but also, many other areas that involve understanding data using human-machine collaboration. In many such instances, machine-based model construction may benefit significantly from being provided with human-knowledge of the domain encoded in a sufficiently precise form. This paper examines two broad approaches to encode such knowledge--as logical and numerical constraints--and describes techniques and results obtained in several sub-categories under each of these approaches.
Knowledge-Base Enriched Word Embeddings for Biomedical Domain

Word embeddings have been shown adept at capturing the semantic and syntactic regularities of the natural language text, as a result of which these representations have found their utility in a wide variety of downstream content analysis tasks. Commonly, these word embedding techniques derive the distributed representation of words based on the local context information. However, such approaches ignore the rich amount of explicit information present in knowledge-bases. This is problematic, as it might lead to poor representation for words with insufficient local context such as domain specific words. Furthermore, the problem becomes pronounced in domain such as bio-medicine where the presence of these domain specific words are relatively high. Towards this end, in this project, we propose a new word embedding based model for biomedical domain that jointly leverages the information from available corpora and domain knowledge in order to generate knowledge-base powered embeddings. Unlike existing approaches, the proposed methodology is simple but adept at capturing the precise knowledge available in domain resources in an accurate way. Experimental results on biomedical concept similarity and relatedness task validates the effectiveness of the proposed approach.
Dielectric relaxation of tert-butyl alcohol–water mixtures using a time-domain technique

Dielectric relaxation measurements in the frequency range 10 MHz–10 GHz have been carried out in tert-butyl alcohol–water mixtures with various concentrations over the temperature range 273–313 K using a time-domain reflectometry (TDR) method. The bilinear calibration method as suggested by Cole has been used to correct the permittivity spectra. The corrected spectra could be fitted with a single relaxation time with a small amount of Cole–Davidson behaviour. Deviations from ideal mixing behaviour in the permittivity parameter (Iµo–Iµ∞) and relaxation time (τ) suggested the formation of a polymeric structure in tert-butyl alcohol–water mixtures. The dielectric relaxation behaviour showed the same structural changes as observed in ultrasonic relaxation. However, the maxima in excess permittivity and excess relaxation time occurred at different positions. This could not be explained by a simple model of the polymeric structure.
A Secure Sensor Fusion Framework for Connected and Automated Vehicles Under Sensor Attacks

As typical applications of cyber–physical systems (CPSs), connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) are able to measure the surroundings and share local information with the other vehicles by using multimodal sensors and wireless networks. CAVs are expected to increase safety, efficiency, and capacity of our transportation systems. However, the increasing usage of sensors has also increased the vulnerability of CAVs to sensor faults and adversarial attacks. Anomalous sensor values resulting from malicious cyberattacks or faulty sensors may cause severe consequences or even fatalities. In this article, we increase the resilience of CAVs to faults and attacks by using multiple sensors for measuring the same physical variable to create redundancy. We exploit this redundancy and propose a sensor fusion algorithm for providing a robust estimate of the correct sensor information with bounded errors independent of the attack signals, and for attack detection and isolation. The proposed sensor fusion framework is applicable to a large class of security-critical CPSs. To minimize the performance degradation resulting from the usage of the estimation for control, we provide an $H_{\infty }$ controller for cooperative adaptive cruise control-equipped CAVs. The designed controller is capable of stabilizing the closed-loop dynamics of each vehicle in the platoon while reducing the joint effect of estimation errors and communication channel noise on the tracking performance and string behavior of the vehicle platoon. Numerical examples are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of our methods.
Mutual information scaling for tensor network machine learning

Tensor networks have emerged as promising tools for machine learning, inspired by their widespread use as variational ansatze in quantum many-body physics. It is well known that the success of a given tensor network ansatz depends in part on how well it can reproduce the underlying entanglement structure of the target state, with different network designs favoring different scaling patterns. We demonstrate here how a related correlation analysis can be applied to tensor network machine learning, and explore whether classical data possess correlation scaling patterns similar to those found in quantum states, which might indicate the best network to use for a given dataset. We utilize mutual information (MI) as measure of correlations in classical data, and show that it can serve as a lower-bound on the entanglement needed for a probabilistic tensor network classifier. We then develop a logistic regression algorithm to estimate the MI between bipartitions of data features, and verify its accuracy on a set of Gaussian distributions designed to mimic different correlation patterns. Using this algorithm, we characterize the scaling patterns in the Modified National Institute of Standards and Technology and Tiny Images datasets, and find clear evidence of boundary-law scaling in the latter. This quantum-inspired classical analysis offers insight into the design of tensor networks that are best suited for specific learning tasks.
Liquid‐Liquid Extraction of Rare Earth Metals Using 25,27‐Dicarboxy‐26,28‐Dimethoxy‐5,11,17,23‐Tetra‐tert‐Butylcalix[4]Arene

The extraction of lanthane, erbium and yttrium by dicarboxy-dimethoxy-calix[4]arene in 1,2-dichloroethane has been studied. Rare earth metal extraction has been shown to be accompanied by an important co-extraction of alkali ions. The extraction takes place via the formation of a mixed complex L2(RE)M, where L is the ligand, RE a rare earth metal and M an alkali ion. The stoichiometry of the extracted species has been confirmed by mass spectrometry. A poor selectivity is observed.
Noisy Truncated SGD: Optimization and Generalization

Recent empirical work on stochastic gradient descent (SGD) applied to over-parameterized deep learning has shown that most gradient components over epochs are quite small. Inspired by such observations, we rigorously study properties of Truncated SGD (T-SGD), that truncates the majority of small gradient components to zeros. Considering non-convex optimization problems, we show that the convergence rate of T-SGD matches the order of vanilla SGD. We also establish the generalization error bound for T-SGD. Further, we propose Noisy Truncated SGD (NT-SGD), which adds Gaussian noise to the truncated gradients. We prove that NT-SGD has the same convergence rate as T-SGD for non-convex optimization problems. We demonstrate that with the help of noise, NT-SGD can provably escape from saddle points and requires less noise compared to previous related work. We also prove that NT-SGD achieves better generalization error bound compared to T-SGD because of the noise. Our generalization analysis is based on uniform stability and we show that additional noise in the gradient update can boost the stability. Our experiments on a variety of benchmark datasets (MNIST, Fashion-MNIST, CIFAR-10, and CIFAR-100) with various networks (VGG and ResNet) validate the theoretical properties of NT-SGD, i.e., NT-SGD matches the speed and accuracy of vanilla SGD while effectively working with sparse gradients, and can successfully escape poor local minima.
Long Document Summarization in a Low Resource Setting using Pretrained Language Models

Abstractive summarization is the task of compressing a long document into a coherent short document while retaining salient information. Modern abstractive summarization methods are based on deep neural networks which often require large training datasets. Since collecting summarization datasets is an expensive and time-consuming task, practical industrial settings are usually low-resource. In this paper, we study a challenging low-resource setting of summarizing long legal briefs with an average source document length of 4268 words and only 120 available (document, summary) pairs. To account for data scarcity, we used a modern pre-trained abstractive summarizer BART, which only achieves 17.9 ROUGE-L as it struggles with long documents. We thus attempt to compress these long documents by identifying salient sentences in the source which best ground the summary, using a novel algorithm based on GPT-2 language model perplexity scores, that operates within the low resource regime. On feeding the compressed documents to BART, we observe a 6.0 ROUGE-L improvement. Our method also beats several competitive salience detection baselines. Furthermore, the identified salient sentences tend to agree with independent human labeling by domain experts.
TouchRoller: A Rolling Optical Tactile Sensor for Rapid Assessment of Large Surfaces

Tactile sensing is important for robots to perceive the world as it captures the texture and hardness of the object in contact and is robust to illumination and colour variances. However, due to the limited sensing area and the resistance of the fixed surface, current tactile sensors have to tap the tactile sensor on target object many times when assessing a large surface, i.e., pressing, lifting up and shifting to another region. This process is ineffective and time consuming. It is also undesirable to drag such sensors as this often damages the sensitive membrane of the sensor or the object. To address these problems, we propose a cylindrical optical tactile sensor named TouchRoller that can roll around its center axis. It maintains being in contact with the assessed surface throughout the entire motion, which allows for measuring the object continuously and effectively. Extensive experiments show that the TouchRoller sensor can cover a textured surface of 8cm*11cm in a short time of 10s, much more effectively than a flat optical tactile sensor (in 196s). The reconstructed map of the texture from the collected tactile images has a high Structural Similarity Index (SSIM) of 0.31 on average, when compared with the visual texture. In addition, the contacts on the sensor can be localised with a low localisation error, 2.63mm in the center regions and 7.66mm on average. The proposed sensor will enable the fast assessment of large surfaces with high-resolution tactile sensing, and also the effective collection of tactile images.