OpenRaiser/Intern-Atlas huggingface dataset:
Enhancing Mortality Prediction in Heart Failure Patients: Exploring Preprocessing Methods for Imbalanced Clinical Datasets
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2023
Year: 2023

Heart failure (HF) is a critical condition in which the accurate prediction of mortality plays a vital role in guiding patient management decisions. However, clinical datasets used for mortality prediction in HF often suffer from an imbalanced distribution of classes, posing significant challenges. In this paper, we explore preprocessing methods for enhancing one-month mortality prediction in HF patients. We present a comprehensive preprocessing framework including scaling, outliers processing and resampling as key techniques. We also employed an aware encoding approach to effectively handle missing values in clinical datasets. Our study utilizes a comprehensive dataset from the Persian Registry Of cardio Vascular disease (PROVE) with a significant class imbalance. By leveraging appropriate preprocessing techniques and Machine Learning (ML) algorithms, we aim to improve mortality prediction performance for HF patients. The results reveal an average enhancement of approximately 3.6% in F1 score and 2.7% in MCC for tree-based models, specifically Random Forest (RF) and XGBoost (XGB). This demonstrates the efficiency of our preprocessing approach in effectively handling Imbalanced Clinical Datasets (ICD). Our findings hold promise in guiding healthcare professionals to make informed decisions and improve patient outcomes in HF management.
It HAS to be Subjective: Human Annotator Simulation via Zero-shot Density Estimation
Venue: arXiv cs.CL 2023
Year: 2023

Human annotator simulation (HAS) serves as a cost-effective substitute for human evaluation such as data annotation and system assessment. Human perception and behaviour during human evaluation exhibit inherent variability due to diverse cognitive processes and subjective interpretations, which should be taken into account in modelling to better mimic the way people perceive and interact with the world. This paper introduces a novel meta-learning framework that treats HAS as a zero-shot density estimation problem, which incorporates human variability and allows for the efficient generation of human-like annotations for unlabelled test inputs. Under this framework, we propose two new model classes, conditional integer flows and conditional softmax flows, to account for ordinal and categorical annotations, respectively. The proposed method is evaluated on three real-world human evaluation tasks and shows superior capability and efficiency to predict the aggregated behaviours of human annotators, match the distribution of human annotations, and simulate the inter-annotator disagreements.
Exploring Benchmarks for Self-Driving Labs using Color Matching
Venue: arXiv cs.RO 2023
Year: 2023

Self Driving Labs (SDLs) that combine automation of experimental procedures with autonomous decision making are gaining popularity as a means of increasing the throughput of scientific workflows. The task of identifying quantities of supplied colored pigments that match a target color, the color matching problem, provides a simple and flexible SDL test case, as it requires experiment proposal, sample creation, and sample analysis, three common components in autonomous discovery applications. We present a robotic solution to the color matching problem that allows for fully autonomous execution of a color matching protocol. Our solution leverages the WEI science factory platform to enable portability across different robotic hardware, the use of alternative optimization methods for continuous refinement, and automated publication of results for experiment tracking and post-hoc analysis.
Nonparametric active learning for cost-sensitive classification
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2023
Year: 2023

Cost-sensitive learning is a common type of machine learning problem where different errors of prediction incur different costs. In this paper, we design a generic nonparametric active learning algorithm for cost-sensitive classification. Based on the construction of confidence bounds for the expected prediction cost functions of each label, our algorithm sequentially selects the most informative vector points. Then it interacts with them by only querying the costs of prediction that could be the smallest. We prove that our algorithm attains optimal rate of convergence in terms of the number of interactions with the feature vector space. Furthermore, in terms of a general version of Tsybakov's noise assumption, the gain over the corresponding passive learning is explicitly characterized by the probability-mass of the boundary decision. Additionally, we prove the near-optimality of obtained upper bounds by providing matching (up to logarithmic factor) lower bounds.
Performance evaluation of Machine learning algorithms for Intrusion Detection System
Venue: arXiv cs.CR 2023
Year: 2023

The escalation of hazards to safety and hijacking of digital networks are among the strongest perilous difficulties that must be addressed in the present day. Numerous safety procedures were set up to track and recognize any illicit activity on the network's infrastructure. IDS are the best way to resist and recognize intrusions on internet connections and digital technologies. To classify network traffic as normal or anomalous, Machine Learning (ML) classifiers are increasingly utilized. An IDS with machine learning increases the accuracy with which security attacks are detected. This paper focuses on intrusion detection systems (IDSs) analysis using ML techniques. IDSs utilizing ML techniques are efficient and precise at identifying network assaults. In data with large dimensional spaces, however, the efficacy of these systems degrades. correspondingly, the case is essential to execute a feasible feature removal technique capable of getting rid of characteristics that have little effect on the classification process. In this paper, we analyze the KDD CUP-'99' intrusion detection dataset used for training and validating ML models. Then, we implement ML classifiers such as Logistic Regression, Decision Tree, K-Nearest Neighbour, Naive Bayes, Bernoulli Naive Bayes, Multinomial Naive Bayes, XG-Boost Classifier, Ada-Boost, Random Forest, SVM, Rocchio classifier, Ridge, Passive-Aggressive classifier, ANN besides Perceptron (PPN), the optimal classifiers are determined by comparing the results of Stochastic Gradient Descent and back-propagation neural networks for IDS, Conventional categorization indicators, such as "accuracy, precision, recall, and the f1-measure, have been used to evaluate the performance of the ML classification algorithms.
A Task-oriented Dialog Model with Task-progressive and Policy-aware Pre-training
Venue: arXiv cs.CL 2023
Year: 2023

Pre-trained conversation models (PCMs) have achieved promising progress in recent years. However, existing PCMs for Task-oriented dialog (TOD) are insufficient for capturing the sequential nature of the TOD-related tasks, as well as for learning dialog policy information. To alleviate these problems, this paper proposes a task-progressive PCM with two policy-aware pre-training tasks. The model is pre-trained through three stages where TOD-related tasks are progressively employed according to the task logic of the TOD system. A global policy consistency task is designed to capture the multi-turn dialog policy sequential relation, and an act-based contrastive learning task is designed to capture similarities among samples with the same dialog policy. Our model achieves better results on both MultiWOZ and In-Car end-to-end dialog modeling benchmarks with only 18\% parameters and 25\% pre-training data compared to the previous state-of-the-art PCM, GALAXY.
Finger-UNet: A U-Net based Multi-Task Architecture for Deep Fingerprint Enhancement
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2023
Year: 2023

For decades, fingerprint recognition has been prevalent for security, forensics, and other biometric applications. However, the availability of good-quality fingerprints is challenging, making recognition difficult. Fingerprint images might be degraded with a poor ridge structure and noisy or less contrasting backgrounds. Hence, fingerprint enhancement plays a vital role in the early stages of the fingerprint recognition/verification pipeline. In this paper, we investigate and improvise the encoder-decoder style architecture and suggest intuitive modifications to U-Net to enhance low-quality fingerprints effectively. We investigate the use of Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) for fingerprint enhancement and use a wavelet attention module instead of max pooling which proves advantageous for our task. Moreover, we replace regular convolutions with depthwise separable convolutions, which significantly reduces the memory footprint of the model without degrading the performance. We also demonstrate that incorporating domain knowledge with fingerprint minutiae prediction task can improve fingerprint reconstruction through multi-task learning. Furthermore, we also integrate the orientation estimation task to propagate the knowledge of ridge orientations to enhance the performance further. We present the experimental results and evaluate our model on FVC 2002 and NIST SD302 databases to show the effectiveness of our approach compared to previous works.
Knowledge Engineering using Large Language Models
Venue: arXiv cs.AI 2023
Year: 2023

Knowledge engineering is a discipline that focuses on the creation and maintenance of processes that generate and apply knowledge. Traditionally, knowledge engineering approaches have focused on knowledge expressed in formal languages. The emergence of large language models and their capabilities to effectively work with natural language, in its broadest sense, raises questions about the foundations and practice of knowledge engineering. Here, we outline the potential role of LLMs in knowledge engineering, identifying two central directions: 1) creating hybrid neuro-symbolic knowledge systems; and 2) enabling knowledge engineering in natural language. Additionally, we formulate key open research questions to tackle these directions.
Streamlining Attack Tree Generation: A Fragment-Based Approach
Venue: arXiv cs.CR 2023
Year: 2023

Attack graphs are a tool for analyzing security vulnerabilities that capture different and prospective attacks on a system. As a threat modeling tool, it shows possible paths that an attacker can exploit to achieve a particular goal. However, due to the large number of vulnerabilities that are published on a daily basis, they have the potential to rapidly expand in size. Consequently, this necessitates a significant amount of resources to generate attack graphs. In addition, generating composited attack models for complex systems such as self-adaptive or AI is very difficult due to their nature to continuously change. In this paper, we present a novel fragment-based attack graph generation approach that utilizes information from publicly available information security databases. Furthermore, we also propose a domain-specific language for attack modeling, which we employ in the proposed attack graph generation approach. Finally, we present a demonstrator example showcasing the attack generator's capability to replicate a verified attack chain, as previously confirmed by security experts.
Balancing Efficiency vs. Effectiveness and Providing Missing Label Robustness in Multi-Label Stream Classification
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2023
Year: 2023

Available works addressing multi-label classification in a data stream environment focus on proposing accurate models; however, these models often exhibit inefficiency and cannot balance effectiveness and efficiency. In this work, we propose a neural network-based approach that tackles this issue and is suitable for high-dimensional multi-label classification. Our model uses a selective concept drift adaptation mechanism that makes it suitable for a non-stationary environment. Additionally, we adapt our model to an environment with missing labels using a simple yet effective imputation strategy and demonstrate that it outperforms a vast majority of the state-of-the-art supervised models. To achieve our purposes, we introduce a weighted binary relevance-based approach named ML-BELS using the Broad Ensemble Learning System (BELS) as its base classifier. Instead of a chain of stacked classifiers, our model employs independent weighted ensembles, with the weights generated by the predictions of a BELS classifier. We show that using the weighting strategy on datasets with low label cardinality negatively impacts the accuracy of the model; with this in mind, we use the label cardinality as a trigger for applying the weights. We present an extensive assessment of our model using 11 state-of-the-art baselines, five synthetics, and 13 real-world datasets, all with different characteristics. Our results demonstrate that the proposed approach ML-BELS is successful in balancing effectiveness and efficiency, and is robust to missing labels and concept drift.
GeRA: Label-Efficient Geometrically Regularized Alignment
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2023
Year: 2023

Pretrained unimodal encoders incorporate rich semantic information into embedding space structures. To be similarly informative, multi-modal encoders typically require massive amounts of paired data for alignment and training. We introduce a semi-supervised Geometrically Regularized Alignment (GeRA) method to align the embedding spaces of pretrained unimodal encoders in a label-efficient way. Our method leverages the manifold geometry of unpaired (unlabeled) data to improve alignment performance. To prevent distortions to local geometry during the alignment process, potentially disrupting semantic neighborhood structures and causing misalignment of unobserved pairs, we introduce a geometric loss term. This term is built upon a diffusion operator that captures the local manifold geometry of the unimodal pretrained encoders. GeRA is modality-agnostic and thus can be used to align pretrained encoders from any data modalities. We provide empirical evidence to the effectiveness of our method in the domains of speech-text and image-text alignment. Our experiments demonstrate significant improvement in alignment quality compared to a variaty of leading baselines, especially with a small amount of paired data, using our proposed geometric regularization.
A Roadmap towards Intelligent Operations for Reliable Cloud Computing Systems
Venue: arXiv cs.SE 2023
Year: 2023

The increasing complexity and usage of cloud systems have made it challenging for service providers to ensure reliability. This paper highlights two main challenges, namely internal and external factors, that affect the reliability of cloud microservices. Afterward, we discuss the data-driven approach that can resolve these challenges from four key aspects: ticket management, log management, multimodal analysis, and the microservice resilience testing approach. The experiments conducted show that the proposed data-driven AIOps solution significantly enhances system reliability from multiple angles.
You Do Not Need Additional Priors in Camouflage Object Detection
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2023
Year: 2023

Camouflage object detection (COD) poses a significant challenge due to the high resemblance between camouflaged objects and their surroundings. Although current deep learning methods have made significant progress in detecting camouflaged objects, many of them heavily rely on additional prior information. However, acquiring such additional prior information is both expensive and impractical in real-world scenarios. Therefore, there is a need to develop a network for camouflage object detection that does not depend on additional priors. In this paper, we propose a novel adaptive feature aggregation method that effectively combines multi-layer feature information to generate guidance information. In contrast to previous approaches that rely on edge or ranking priors, our method directly leverages information extracted from image features to guide model training. Through extensive experimental results, we demonstrate that our proposed method achieves comparable or superior performance when compared to state-of-the-art approaches.
Mind the Gap: Federated Learning Broadens Domain Generalization in Diagnostic AI Models
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2023
Year: 2023

Developing robust artificial intelligence (AI) models that generalize well to unseen datasets is challenging and usually requires large and variable datasets, preferably from multiple institutions. In federated learning (FL), a model is trained collaboratively at numerous sites that hold local datasets without exchanging them. So far, the impact of training strategy, i.e., local versus collaborative, on the diagnostic on-domain and off-domain performance of AI models interpreting chest radiographs has not been assessed. Consequently, using 610,000 chest radiographs from five institutions across the globe, we assessed diagnostic performance as a function of training strategy (i.e., local vs. collaborative), network architecture (i.e., convolutional vs. transformer-based), generalization performance (i.e., on-domain vs. off-domain), imaging finding (i.e., cardiomegaly, pleural effusion, pneumonia, atelectasis, consolidation, pneumothorax, and no abnormality), dataset size (i.e., from n=18,000 to 213,921 radiographs), and dataset diversity. Large datasets not only showed minimal performance gains with FL but, in some instances, even exhibited decreases. In contrast, smaller datasets revealed marked improvements. Thus, on-domain performance was mainly driven by training data size. However, off-domain performance leaned more on training diversity. When trained collaboratively across diverse external institutions, AI models consistently surpassed models trained locally for off-domain tasks, emphasizing FL's potential in leveraging data diversity. In conclusion, FL can bolster diagnostic privacy, reproducibility, and off-domain reliability of AI models and, potentially, optimize healthcare outcomes.
Towards a Universal Understanding of Color Harmony: Fuzzy Approach
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2023
Year: 2023

Harmony level prediction is receiving increasing attention nowadays. Color plays a crucial role in affecting human aesthetic responses. In this paper, we explore color harmony using a fuzzy-based color model and address the question of its universality. For our experiments, we utilize a dataset containing attractive images from five different domains: fashion, art, nature, interior design, and brand logos. We aim to identify harmony patterns and dominant color palettes within these images using a fuzzy approach. It is well-suited for this task because it can handle the inherent subjectivity and contextual variability associated with aesthetics and color harmony evaluation. Our experimental results suggest that color harmony is largely universal. Additionally, our findings reveal that color harmony is not solely influenced by hue relationships on the color wheel but also by the saturation and intensity of colors. In palettes with high harmony levels, we observed a prevalent adherence to color wheel principles while maintaining moderate levels of saturation and intensity. These findings contribute to ongoing research on color harmony and its underlying principles, offering valuable insights for designers, artists, and researchers in the field of aesthetics.
Subsurface Characterization using Ensemble-based Approaches with Deep Generative Models
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2023
Year: 2023

Estimating spatially distributed properties such as hydraulic conductivity (K) from available sparse measurements is a great challenge in subsurface characterization. However, the use of inverse modeling is limited for ill-posed, high-dimensional applications due to computational costs and poor prediction accuracy with sparse datasets. In this paper, we combine Wasserstein Generative Adversarial Network with Gradient Penalty (WGAN-GP), a deep generative model that can accurately capture complex subsurface structure, and Ensemble Smoother with Multiple Data Assimilation (ES-MDA), an ensemble-based inversion method, for accurate and accelerated subsurface characterization. WGAN-GP is trained to generate high-dimensional K fields from a low-dimensional latent space and ES-MDA then updates the latent variables by assimilating available measurements. Several subsurface examples are used to evaluate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method and the main features of the unknown K fields are characterized accurately with reliable uncertainty quantification. Furthermore, the estimation performance is compared with a widely-used variational, i.e., optimization-based, inversion approach, and the proposed approach outperforms the variational inversion method, especially for the channelized and fractured field examples. We explain such superior performance by visualizing the objective function in the latent space: because of nonlinear and aggressive dimension reduction via generative modeling, the objective function surface becomes extremely complex while the ensemble approximation can smooth out the multi-modal surface during the minimization. This suggests that the ensemble-based approach works well over the variational approach when combined with deep generative models at the cost of forward model runs unless convergence-ensuring modifications are implemented in the variational inversion.
uSee: Unified Speech Enhancement and Editing with Conditional Diffusion Models
Venue: arXiv cs.SD 2023
Year: 2023

Speech enhancement aims to improve the quality of speech signals in terms of quality and intelligibility, and speech editing refers to the process of editing the speech according to specific user needs. In this paper, we propose a Unified Speech Enhancement and Editing (uSee) model with conditional diffusion models to handle various tasks at the same time in a generative manner. Specifically, by providing multiple types of conditions including self-supervised learning embeddings and proper text prompts to the score-based diffusion model, we can enable controllable generation of the unified speech enhancement and editing model to perform corresponding actions on the source speech. Our experiments show that our proposed uSee model can achieve superior performance in both speech denoising and dereverberation compared to other related generative speech enhancement models, and can perform speech editing given desired environmental sound text description, signal-to-noise ratios (SNR), and room impulse responses (RIR). Demos of the generated speech are available at https://muqiaoy.github.io/usee.
Harnessing the Power of Multi-Lingual Datasets for Pre-training: Towards Enhancing Text Spotting Performance
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2023
Year: 2023

The adaptation capability to a wide range of domains is crucial for scene text spotting models when deployed to real-world conditions. However, existing state-of-the-art (SOTA) approaches usually incorporate scene text detection and recognition simply by pretraining on natural scene text datasets, which do not directly exploit the intermediate feature representations between multiple domains. Here, we investigate the problem of domain-adaptive scene text spotting, i.e., training a model on multi-domain source data such that it can directly adapt to target domains rather than being specialized for a specific domain or scenario. Further, we investigate a transformer baseline called Swin-TESTR to focus on solving scene-text spotting for both regular and arbitrary-shaped scene text along with an exhaustive evaluation. The results clearly demonstrate the potential of intermediate representations to achieve significant performance on text spotting benchmarks across multiple domains (e.g. language, synth-to-real, and documents). both in terms of accuracy and efficiency.