OpenRaiser/Intern-Atlas huggingface dataset:
Volume Tracking Based Reference Mesh Extraction for Time-Varying Mesh Compression
Venue: arXiv cs.MM 2024
Year: 2024

Time-Varying meshes (TVMs), characterized by their varying connectivity and number of vertices, hold significant potential in immersive media and other various applications. However, their practical utilization is challenging due to their time-varying features and large file sizes. Creating a reference mesh that contains the most essential information is a promising approach to utilizing shared information within TVMs to reduce storage and transmission costs. We propose a novel method that employs volume tracking to extract reference meshes. First, we adopt as-rigid-as-possible (ARAP) volume tracking on TVMs to get the volume centers for each mesh. Then, we use multidimensional scaling (MDS) to get reference centers that ensure the reference mesh avoids self-contact regions. Finally, we map the vertices of the meshes to reference centers and extract the reference mesh. Our approach offers a feasible solution for extracting reference meshes that can serve multiple purposes such as establishing surface correspondence, deforming the reference mesh to different shapes for I-frame based mesh compression, or defining the global shape of the TVMs.
Improved Space-Efficient Approximate Nearest Neighbor Search Using Function Inversion
Venue: arXiv cs.DS 2024
Year: 2024

Approximate nearest neighbor search (ANN) data structures have widespread applications in machine learning, computational biology, and text processing. The goal of ANN is to preprocess a set S so that, given a query q, we can find a point y whose distance from q approximates the smallest distance from q to any point in S. For most distance functions, the best-known ANN bounds for high-dimensional point sets are obtained using techniques based on locality-sensitive hashing (LSH). Unfortunately, space efficiency is a major challenge for LSH-based data structures. Classic LSH techniques require a very large amount of space, oftentimes polynomial in |S|. A long line of work has developed intricate techniques to reduce this space usage, but these techniques suffer from downsides: they must be hand tailored to each specific LSH, are often complicated, and their space reduction comes at the cost of significantly increased query times. In this paper we explore a new way to improve the space efficiency of LSH using function inversion techniques, originally developed in (Fiat and Naor 2000). We begin by describing how function inversion can be used to improve LSH data structures. This gives a fairly simple, black box method to reduce LSH space usage. Then, we give a data structure that leverages function inversion to improve the query time of the best known near-linear space data structure for approximate nearest neighbor search under Euclidean distance: the ALRW data structure of (Andoni, Laarhoven, Razenshteyn, and Waingarten 2017). ALRW was previously shown to be optimal among "list-of-points" data structures for both Euclidean and Manhattan ANN; thus, in addition to giving improved bounds, our results imply that list-of-points data structures are not optimal for Euclidean or Manhattan ANN.
Free Energy in a Circumplex Model of Emotion
Venue: arXiv cs.AI 2024
Year: 2024

Previous active inference accounts of emotion translate fluctuations in free energy to a sense of emotion, mainly focusing on valence. However, in affective science, emotions are often represented as multi-dimensional. In this paper, we propose to adopt a Circumplex Model of emotion by mapping emotions into a two-dimensional spectrum of valence and arousal. We show how one can derive a valence and arousal signal from an agent's expected free energy, relating arousal to the entropy of posterior beliefs and valence to utility less expected utility. Under this formulation, we simulate artificial agents engaged in a search task. We show that the manipulation of priors and object presence results in commonsense variability in emotional states.
Detecting Stimuli with Novel Temporal Patterns to Accelerate Functional Coverage Closure
Venue: arXiv cs.SE 2024
Year: 2024

Novel test selectors have demonstrated their effectiveness in accelerating the closure of functional coverage for various industrial digital designs in simulation-based verification. The primary advantages of these test selectors include performance that is not impacted by coverage holes, straightforward implementation, and relatively low computational expense. However, the detection of stimuli with novel temporal patterns remains largely unexplored. This paper introduces two novel test selectors designed to identify such stimuli. The experiments reveal that both test selectors can accelerate the functional coverage for a commercial bus bridge, compared to random test selection. Specifically, one selector achieves a 26.9\% reduction in the number of simulated tests required to reach 98.5\% coverage, outperforming the savings achieved by two previously published test selectors by factors of 13 and 2.68, respectively.
LOGIC-LM++: Multi-Step Refinement for Symbolic Formulations
Venue: arXiv cs.LO 2024
Year: 2024

In this paper we examine the limitations of Large Language Models (LLMs) for complex reasoning tasks. Although recent works have started to employ formal languages as an intermediate representation for reasoning tasks, they often face challenges in accurately generating and refining these formal specifications to ensure correctness. To address these issues, this paper proposes Logic-LM++, an improvement on Logic-LM . It uses the ability of LLMs to do pairwise comparisons, allowing the evaluation of the refinements suggested by the LLM. The paper demonstrates that Logic-LM++ outperforms Logic-LM and other contemporary techniques across natural language reasoning tasks on three datasets, FOLIO, ProofWriter and AR-LSAT, with an average improvement of 18.5% on standard prompting, 12.3% on chain of thought prompting and 5% on Logic-LM.
EditFollower: Tunable Car Following Models for Customizable Adaptive Cruise Control Systems
Venue: arXiv cs.RO 2024
Year: 2024

In the realm of driving technologies, fully autonomous vehicles have not been widely adopted yet, making advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) crucial for enhancing driving experiences. Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) emerges as a pivotal component of ADAS. However, current ACC systems often employ fixed settings, failing to intuitively capture drivers' social preferences and leading to potential function disengagement. To overcome these limitations, we propose the Editable Behavior Generation (EBG) model, a data-driven car-following model that allows for adjusting driving discourtesy levels. The framework integrates diverse courtesy calculation methods into long short-term memory (LSTM) and Transformer architectures, offering a comprehensive approach to capture nuanced driving dynamics. By integrating various discourtesy values during the training process, our model generates realistic agent trajectories with different levels of courtesy in car-following behavior. Experimental results on the HighD and Waymo datasets showcase a reduction in Mean Squared Error (MSE) of spacing and MSE of speed compared to baselines, establishing style controllability. To the best of our knowledge, this work represents the first data-driven car-following model capable of dynamically adjusting discourtesy levels. Our model provides valuable insights for the development of ACC systems that take into account drivers' social preferences.
Anvil: An integration of artificial intelligence, sampling techniques, and a combined CAD-CFD tool
Venue: arXiv cs.CE 2024
Year: 2024

In this work, we introduce an open-source integrated CAD-CFD tool, Anvil, which combines FreeCAD for CAD modeling and OpenFOAM for CFD analysis, along with an AI-based optimization method (Bayesian optimization) and other sampling algorithms. Anvil serves as a scientific machine learning tool for shape optimization in three modes: data generation, CFD evaluation, and shape optimization. In data generation mode, it automatically runs CFD evaluations and generates data for training a surrogate model. In optimization mode, it searches for the optimal design under given requirements and optimization metrics. In CFD mode, a single CAD file can be evaluated with a single OpenFOAM run. To use Anvil, experimenters provide a JSON configuration file and a parametric CAD seed design. Anvil can be used to study solid-fluid dynamics for any subsonic flow conditions and has been demonstrated in various simulation and optimization use cases. The open-source code for the tool, installation process, artifacts (such as CAD seed designs and example STL models), experimentation results, and detailed documentation can be found at \url{https://github.com/symbench/Anvil}.
Reducing False Discoveries in Statistically-Significant Regional-Colocation Mining: A Summary of Results
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2024
Year: 2024

Given a set \emph{S} of spatial feature types, its feature instances, a study area, and a neighbor relationship, the goal is to find pairs $<$a region ($r_{g}$), a subset \emph{C} of \emph{S}$>$ such that \emph{C} is a statistically significant regional-colocation pattern in $r_{g}$. This problem is important for applications in various domains including ecology, economics, and sociology. The problem is computationally challenging due to the exponential number of regional colocation patterns and candidate regions. Previously, we proposed a miner \cite{10.1145/3557989.3566158} that finds statistically significant regional colocation patterns. However, the numerous simultaneous statistical inferences raise the risk of false discoveries (also known as the multiple comparisons problem) and carry a high computational cost. We propose a novel algorithm, namely, multiple comparisons regional colocation miner (MultComp-RCM) which uses a Bonferroni correction. Theoretical analysis, experimental evaluation, and case study results show that the proposed method reduces both the false discovery rate and computational cost.
What do we study when studying politics and democracy? A semantic analysis of how politics and democracy are treated in SIGCHI conference papers
Venue: arXiv cs.HC 2024
Year: 2024

Human-computer interaction scholars are increasingly touching on topics related to politics or democracy. As these concepts are ambiguous, an examination of concepts' invoked meanings aids in the self-reflection of our research efforts. We conduct a thematic analysis of all papers with the word `politics' in abstract, title or keywords ($n$=378) and likewise 152 papers with the word `democracy.' We observe that these words are increasingly being used in human-computer interaction, both in absolute and relative terms. At the same time, we show that researchers invoke these words with diverse levels of analysis in mind: the early research focused on mezzo-level (i.e., small groups), but more recently the work has begun to include macro-level analysis (i.e., society and politics as played in the public sphere). After the increasing focus on the macro-level, we see a transition towards more normative and activist research, in some areas it replaces observational and empirical research. These differences indicate semantic differences, which -- in the worst case -- may limit scientific progress. We bring these differences visible to help in further exchanges of ideas and human-computer interaction community to explore how it orients itself to politics and democracy.
Robust ADAS: Enhancing Robustness of Machine Learning-based Advanced Driver Assistance Systems for Adverse Weather
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

In the realm of deploying Machine Learning-based Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ML-ADAS) into real-world scenarios, adverse weather conditions pose a significant challenge. Conventional ML models trained on clear weather data falter when faced with scenarios like extreme fog or heavy rain, potentially leading to accidents and safety hazards. This paper addresses this issue by proposing a novel approach: employing a Denoising Deep Neural Network as a preprocessing step to transform adverse weather images into clear weather images, thereby enhancing the robustness of ML-ADAS systems. The proposed method eliminates the need for retraining all subsequent Depp Neural Networks (DNN) in the ML-ADAS pipeline, thus saving computational resources and time. Moreover, it improves driver visualization, which is critical for safe navigation in adverse weather conditions. By leveraging the UNet architecture trained on an augmented KITTI dataset with synthetic adverse weather images, we develop the Weather UNet (WUNet) DNN to remove weather artifacts. Our study demonstrates substantial performance improvements in object detection with WUNet preprocessing under adverse weather conditions. Notably, in scenarios involving extreme fog, our proposed solution improves the mean Average Precision (mAP) score of the YOLOv8n from 4% to 70%.
Novel Human Machine Interface via Robust Hand Gesture Recognition System using Channel Pruned YOLOv5s Model
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

Hand gesture recognition (HGR) is a vital component in enhancing the human-computer interaction experience, particularly in multimedia applications, such as virtual reality, gaming, smart home automation systems, etc. Users can control and navigate through these applications seamlessly by accurately detecting and recognizing gestures. However, in a real-time scenario, the performance of the gesture recognition system is sometimes affected due to the presence of complex background, low-light illumination, occlusion problems, etc. Another issue is building a fast and robust gesture-controlled human-computer interface (HCI) in the real-time scenario. The overall objective of this paper is to develop an efficient hand gesture detection and classification model using a channel-pruned YOLOv5-small model and utilize the model to build a gesture-controlled HCI with a quick response time (in ms) and higher detection speed (in fps). First, the YOLOv5s model is chosen for the gesture detection task. Next, the model is simplified by using a channel-pruned algorithm. After that, the pruned model is further fine-tuned to ensure detection efficiency. We have compared our suggested scheme with other state-of-the-art works, and it is observed that our model has shown superior results in terms of mAP (mean average precision), precision (\%), recall (\%), and F1-score (\%), fast inference time (in ms), and detection speed (in fps). Our proposed method paves the way for deploying a pruned YOLOv5s model for a real-time gesture-command-based HCI to control some applications, such as the VLC media player, Spotify player, etc., using correctly classified gesture commands in real-time scenarios. The average detection speed of our proposed system has reached more than 60 frames per second (fps) in real-time, which meets the perfect requirement in real-time application control.
Enabling Student Innovation through Virtual Reality Development
Venue: arXiv cs.GL 2024
Year: 2024

It is clear, from the major press coverage that Virtual Reality (VR) development is garnering, that there is a huge amount of development interest in VR across multiple industries, including video streaming, gaming and simulated learning. Even though PC, web, and mobile are still the top platforms for software development, it is important for university computer science (CS) programs to expose students to VR as a development platform. Additionally, it is important for CS students to learn how to learn about new technologies, since change is constant in the CS field. CS curriculum changes happen much slower than the pace of technology adoption. As new technologies are introduced, CS faculty and students often learn together, especially in smaller CS programs. This paper describes how student-led VR projects are used, across the CS curriculum, as basic CS concepts are covered. The student-led VR projects are engaging, and promote learning and creativity. Additionally, each student project inspires more students to try their hand at VR development as well.
AutoSplat: Constrained Gaussian Splatting for Autonomous Driving Scene Reconstruction
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

Realistic scene reconstruction and view synthesis are essential for advancing autonomous driving systems by simulating safety-critical scenarios. 3D Gaussian Splatting excels in real-time rendering and static scene reconstructions but struggles with modeling driving scenarios due to complex backgrounds, dynamic objects, and sparse views. We propose AutoSplat, a framework employing Gaussian splatting to achieve highly realistic reconstructions of autonomous driving scenes. By imposing geometric constraints on Gaussians representing the road and sky regions, our method enables multi-view consistent simulation of challenging scenarios including lane changes. Leveraging 3D templates, we introduce a reflected Gaussian consistency constraint to supervise both the visible and unseen side of foreground objects. Moreover, to model the dynamic appearance of foreground objects, we estimate residual spherical harmonics for each foreground Gaussian. Extensive experiments on Pandaset and KITTI demonstrate that AutoSplat outperforms state-of-the-art methods in scene reconstruction and novel view synthesis across diverse driving scenarios. Visit our project page at https://autosplat.github.io/.
An AI-Based System Utilizing IoT-Enabled Ambient Sensors and LLMs for Complex Activity Tracking
Venue: arXiv cs.HC 2024
Year: 2024

Complex activity recognition plays an important role in elderly care assistance. However, the reasoning ability of edge devices is constrained by the classic machine learning model capacity. In this paper, we present a non-invasive ambient sensing system that can detect multiple activities and apply large language models (LLMs) to reason the activity sequences. This method effectively combines edge devices and LLMs to help elderly people in their daily activities, such as reminding them to take pills or handling emergencies like falls. The LLM-based edge device can also serve as an interface to interact with elderly people, especially with memory issue, assisting them in their daily lives. By deploying such a system, we believe that the smart sensing system can improve the quality of life for older people and provide more efficient protection
Co-Designing Unstructured Text Data Visualization Systems
Venue: arXiv cs.HC 2024
Year: 2024

We present our in-progress work on co-designing a visualization tool for presenting unstructured text. We have conducted a focus group with a variety of professionals who regularly analyze large corpora of unstructured text. Our preliminary insights indicate there is an unmet need to visually explore the dynamics between entities and actors extracted from unstructured text. Additionally, large corpora contain multiple perspectives on the same series of events. There is a need to disentangle these perspectives and visually show the multiple narratives present in the data. In our future work, we will co-design low-fidelity prototypes to create a broad consideration space of possible solutions for visualizing unstructured text.
AcuVR: Enhancing Acupuncture Training Workflow with Virtual Reality
Venue: arXiv cs.HC 2024
Year: 2024

Acupuncture is a widely adopted medical practice that involves inserting thin needles into specific points on the body to alleviate pain and treat various health conditions. Current learning practices heavily rely on 2D atlases and practice on peers, which are notably less intuitive and pose risks, particularly in sensitive areas such as the eyes. To address these challenges, we introduce AcuVR, a Virtual Reality (VR) based system designed to add a layer of interactivity and realism. This innovation aims to reduce the risks associated with practicing acupuncture techniques while offering more effective learning strategies. Furthermore, AcuVR incorporates medical imaging and standardized anatomy models, enabling the simulation of customized acupuncture scenarios. This feature represents a significant advancement beyond the limitations of conventional resources such as atlases and textbooks, facilitating a more immersive and personalized learning experience. The evaluation study with eight acupuncture students and practitioners revealed high participant satisfaction and pointed to the effectiveness and potential of AcuVR as a valuable addition to acupuncture training.
RefExpo: Unveiling Software Project Structures through Advanced Dependency Graph Extraction
Venue: arXiv cs.SE 2024
Year: 2024

The dependency graph (DG) of a software project offers valuable insights for identifying its key components and has been leveraged in numerous studies. However, there is a lack of reusable tools for DG extraction. Existing tools are either outdated and difficult to configure or fail to provide accurate analysis. This study introduces RefExpo, a reusable DG extraction tool that supports multiple languages such as Java, Python, and JavaScript. RefExpo is a plugin based on IntelliJ, a well-maintained and reputed IDE. We also compile an initial version of our dataset, consisting of 20 Java and Python projects. RefExpo's validity is evaluated at two levels: specific language features and comparisons against other tools, referred to as micro and macro levels. Our results show RefExpo achieves 92\% and 100\% recall on micro test suites Judge and PyCG for Python and Java, respectively. In macro-level experiments, RefExpo outperformed existing tools by 31\% and 7\% in finding unique and shared results. The installable version of RefExpo is available on the IntelliJ marketplace, and a short video describing its functionality is available on YouTube.
Improving Steering and Verification in AI-Assisted Data Analysis with Interactive Task Decomposition
Venue: arXiv cs.HC 2024
Year: 2024

LLM-powered tools like ChatGPT Data Analysis, have the potential to help users tackle the challenging task of data analysis programming, which requires expertise in data processing, programming, and statistics. However, our formative study (n=15) uncovered serious challenges in verifying AI-generated results and steering the AI (i.e., guiding the AI system to produce the desired output). We developed two contrasting approaches to address these challenges. The first (Stepwise) decomposes the problem into step-by-step subgoals with pairs of editable assumptions and code until task completion, while the second (Phasewise) decomposes the entire problem into three editable, logical phases: structured input/output assumptions, execution plan, and code. A controlled, within-subjects experiment (n=18) compared these systems against a conversational baseline. Users reported significantly greater control with the Stepwise and Phasewise systems, and found intervention, correction, and verification easier, compared to the baseline. The results suggest design guidelines and trade-offs for AI-assisted data analysis tools.