OpenRaiser/Intern-Atlas huggingface dataset:
A Novel Perspective for Multi-modal Multi-label Skin Lesion Classification
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

The efficacy of deep learning-based Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CAD) methods for skin diseases relies on analyzing multiple data modalities (i.e., clinical+dermoscopic images, and patient metadata) and addressing the challenges of multi-label classification. Current approaches tend to rely on limited multi-modal techniques and treat the multi-label problem as a multiple multi-class problem, overlooking issues related to imbalanced learning and multi-label correlation. This paper introduces the innovative Skin Lesion Classifier, utilizing a Multi-modal Multi-label TransFormer-based model (SkinM2Former). For multi-modal analysis, we introduce the Tri-Modal Cross-attention Transformer (TMCT) that fuses the three image and metadata modalities at various feature levels of a transformer encoder. For multi-label classification, we introduce a multi-head attention (MHA) module to learn multi-label correlations, complemented by an optimisation that handles multi-label and imbalanced learning problems. SkinM2Former achieves a mean average accuracy of 77.27% and a mean diagnostic accuracy of 77.85% on the public Derm7pt dataset, outperforming state-of-the-art (SOTA) methods.
A Neural Network-based Framework for Fast and Smooth Posture Reconstruction of a Soft Continuum Arm
Venue: arXiv cs.RO 2024
Year: 2024

A neural network-based framework is developed and experimentally demonstrated for the problem of estimating the shape of a soft continuum arm (SCA) from noisy measurements of the pose at a finite number of locations along the length of the arm. The neural network takes as input these measurements and produces as output a finite-dimensional approximation of the strain, which is further used to reconstruct the infinite-dimensional smooth posture. This problem is important for various soft robotic applications. It is challenging due to the flexible aspects that lead to the infinite-dimensional reconstruction problem for the continuous posture and strains. Because of this, past solutions to this problem are computationally intensive. The proposed fast smooth reconstruction method is shown to be five orders of magnitude faster while having comparable accuracy. The framework is evaluated on two testbeds: a simulated octopus muscular arm and a physical BR2 pneumatic soft manipulator.
Bayesian-Optimized One-Step Diffusion Model with Knowledge Distillation for Real-Time 3D Human Motion Prediction
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

Human motion prediction is a cornerstone of human-robot collaboration (HRC), as robots need to infer the future movements of human workers based on past motion cues to proactively plan their motion, ensuring safety in close collaboration scenarios. The diffusion model has demonstrated remarkable performance in predicting high-quality motion samples with reasonable diversity, but suffers from a slow generative process which necessitates multiple model evaluations, hindering real-world applications. To enable real-time prediction, in this work, we propose training a one-step multi-layer perceptron-based (MLP-based) diffusion model for motion prediction using knowledge distillation and Bayesian optimization. Our method contains two steps. First, we distill a pretrained diffusion-based motion predictor, TransFusion, directly into a one-step diffusion model with the same denoiser architecture. Then, to further reduce the inference time, we remove the computationally expensive components from the original denoiser and use knowledge distillation once again to distill the obtained one-step diffusion model into an even smaller model based solely on MLPs. Bayesian optimization is used to tune the hyperparameters for training the smaller diffusion model. Extensive experimental studies are conducted on benchmark datasets, and our model can significantly improve the inference speed, achieving real-time prediction without noticeable degradation in performance.
HSIGene: A Foundation Model For Hyperspectral Image Generation
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

Hyperspectral image (HSI) plays a vital role in various fields such as agriculture and environmental monitoring. However, due to the expensive acquisition cost, the number of hyperspectral images is limited, degenerating the performance of downstream tasks. Although some recent studies have attempted to employ diffusion models to synthesize HSIs, they still struggle with the scarcity of HSIs, affecting the reliability and diversity of the generated images. Some studies propose to incorporate multi-modal data to enhance spatial diversity, but the spectral fidelity cannot be ensured. In addition, existing HSI synthesis models are typically uncontrollable or only support single-condition control, limiting their ability to generate accurate and reliable HSIs. To alleviate these issues, we propose HSIGene, a novel HSI generation foundation model which is based on latent diffusion and supports multi-condition control, allowing for more precise and reliable HSI generation. To enhance the spatial diversity of the training data while preserving spectral fidelity, we propose a new data augmentation method based on spatial super-resolution, in which HSIs are upscaled first, and thus abundant training patches could be obtained by cropping the high-resolution HSIs. In addition, to improve the perceptual quality of the augmented data, we introduce a novel two-stage HSI super-resolution framework, which first applies RGB bands super-resolution and then utilizes our proposed Rectangular Guided Attention Network (RGAN) for guided HSI super-resolution. Experiments demonstrate that the proposed model is capable of generating a vast quantity of realistic HSIs for downstream tasks such as denoising and super-resolution. The code and models are available at https://github.com/LiPang/HSIGene.
Hidden in Plain Sound: Environmental Backdoor Poisoning Attacks on Whisper, and Mitigations
Venue: arXiv cs.CR 2024
Year: 2024

Thanks to the popularisation of transformer-based models, speech recognition (SR) is gaining traction in various application fields, such as industrial and robotics environments populated with mission-critical devices. While transformer-based SR can provide various benefits for simplifying human-machine interfacing, the research on the cybersecurity aspects of these models is lacklustre. In particular, concerning backdoor poisoning attacks. In this paper, we propose a new poisoning approach that maps different environmental trigger sounds to target phrases of different lengths, during the fine-tuning phase. We test our approach on Whisper, one of the most popular transformer-based SR model, showing that it is highly vulnerable to our attack, under several testing conditions. To mitigate the attack proposed in this paper, we investigate the use of Silero VAD, a state-of-the-art voice activity detection (VAD) model, as a defence mechanism. Our experiments show that it is possible to use VAD models to filter out malicious triggers and mitigate our attacks, with a varying degree of success, depending on the type of trigger sound and testing conditions.
Enhancing Perception of Key Changes in Remote Sensing Image Change Captioning
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

Recently, while significant progress has been made in remote sensing image change captioning, existing methods fail to filter out areas unrelated to actual changes, making models susceptible to irrelevant features. In this article, we propose a novel multimodal framework for remote sensing image change captioning, guided by Key Change Features and Instruction-tuned (KCFI). This framework aims to fully leverage the intrinsic knowledge of large language models through visual instructions and enhance the effectiveness and accuracy of change features using pixel-level change detection tasks. Specifically, KCFI includes a ViTs encoder for extracting bi-temporal remote sensing image features, a key feature perceiver for identifying critical change areas, a pixel-level change detection decoder to constrain key change features, and an instruction-tuned decoder based on a large language model. Moreover, to ensure that change description and change detection tasks are jointly optimized, we employ a dynamic weight-averaging strategy to balance the losses between the two tasks. We also explore various feature combinations for visual fine-tuning instructions and demonstrate that using only key change features to guide the large language model is the optimal choice. To validate the effectiveness of our approach, we compare it against several state-of-the-art change captioning methods on the LEVIR-CC dataset, achieving the best performance. Our code will be available at https://github.com/yangcong356/KCFI.git.
Discrete Incremental Voting on Expanders
Venue: arXiv cs.DM 2024
Year: 2024

Pull voting is a random process in which vertices of a connected graph have initial opinions chosen from a set of $k$ distinct opinions, and at each step a random vertex alters its opinion to that of a randomly chosen neighbour. If the system reaches a state where each vertex holds the same opinion, then this opinion will persist forthwith. In general the opinions are regarded as incommensurate, whereas in this paper we consider a type of pull voting suitable for integer opinions such as $\{1,2,\ldots,k\}$ which can be compared on a linear scale; for example, 1 ('disagree strongly'), 2 ('disagree'), $\ldots,$ 5 ('agree strongly'). On observing the opinion of a random neighbour, a vertex updates its opinion by a discrete change towards the value of the neighbour's opinion, if different. Discrete incremental voting is a pull voting process which mimics this behaviour. At each step a random vertex alters its opinion towards that of a randomly chosen neighbour; increasing its opinion by $+1$ if the opinion of the chosen neighbour is larger, or decreasing its opinion by $-1$, if the opinion of the neighbour is smaller. If initially there are only two adjacent integer opinions, for example $\{0,1\}$, incremental voting coincides with pull voting, but if initially there are more than two opinions this is not the case. For an $n$-vertex graph $G=(V,E)$, let $λ$ be the absolute second eigenvalue of the transition matrix $P$ of a simple random walk on $G$. Let the initial opinions of the vertices be chosen from $\{1,2,\ldots,k\}$. Let $c=\sum_{v \in V} π_v X_v$, where $X_v$ is the initial opinion of vertex $v$, and $π_v$ is the stationary distribution of the vertex. Then provided $λk=o(1)$ and $k=o(n/\log n)$, with high probability the final opinion is the initial weighted average $c$ suitably rounded to $\lfloor c \rfloor$ or $\lceil c\rceil$.
Exploring bat song syllable representations in self-supervised audio encoders
Venue: arXiv cs.SD 2024
Year: 2024

How well can deep learning models trained on human-generated sounds distinguish between another species' vocalization types? We analyze the encoding of bat song syllables in several self-supervised audio encoders, and find that models pre-trained on human speech generate the most distinctive representations of different syllable types. These findings form first steps towards the application of cross-species transfer learning in bat bioacoustics, as well as an improved understanding of out-of-distribution signal processing in audio encoder models.
Exploring the topics, sentiments and hate speech in the Spanish information environment
Venue: arXiv cs.CL 2024
Year: 2024

In the digital era, the internet and social media have transformed communication but have also facilitated the spread of hate speech and disinformation, leading to radicalization, polarization, and toxicity. This is especially concerning for media outlets due to their significant role in shaping public discourse. This study examines the topics, sentiments, and hate prevalence in 337,807 response messages (website comments and tweets) to news from five Spanish media outlets (La Vanguardia, ABC, El País, El Mundo, and 20 Minutos) in January 2021. These public reactions were originally labeled as distinct types of hate by experts following an original procedure, and they are now classified into three sentiment values (negative, neutral, or positive) and main topics. The BERTopic unsupervised framework was used to extract 81 topics, manually named with the help of Large Language Models (LLMs) and grouped into nine primary categories. Results show social issues (22.22%), expressions and slang (20.35%), and political issues (11.80%) as the most discussed. Content is mainly negative (62.7%) and neutral (28.57%), with low positivity (8.73%). Toxic narratives relate to conversation expressions, gender, feminism, and COVID-19. Despite low levels of hate speech (3.98%), the study confirms high toxicity in online responses to social and political topics.
A dynamic vision sensor object recognition model based on trainable event-driven convolution and spiking attention mechanism
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) are well-suited for processing event streams from Dynamic Visual Sensors (DVSs) due to their use of sparse spike-based coding and asynchronous event-driven computation. To extract features from DVS objects, SNNs commonly use event-driven convolution with fixed kernel parameters. These filters respond strongly to features in specific orientations while disregarding others, leading to incomplete feature extraction. To improve the current event-driven convolution feature extraction capability of SNNs, we propose a DVS object recognition model that utilizes a trainable event-driven convolution and a spiking attention mechanism. The trainable event-driven convolution is proposed in this paper to update its convolution kernel through gradient descent. This method can extract local features of the event stream more efficiently than traditional event-driven convolution. Furthermore, the spiking attention mechanism is used to extract global dependence features. The classification performances of our model are better than the baseline methods on two neuromorphic datasets including MNIST-DVS and the more complex CIFAR10-DVS. Moreover, our model showed good classification ability for short event streams. It was shown that our model can improve the performance of event-driven convolutional SNNs for DVS objects.
Exploring Large Language Models for Product Attribute Value Identification
Venue: arXiv cs.CL 2024
Year: 2024

Product attribute value identification (PAVI) involves automatically identifying attributes and their values from product information, enabling features like product search, recommendation, and comparison. Existing methods primarily rely on fine-tuning pre-trained language models, such as BART and T5, which require extensive task-specific training data and struggle to generalize to new attributes. This paper explores large language models (LLMs), such as LLaMA and Mistral, as data-efficient and robust alternatives for PAVI. We propose various strategies: comparing one-step and two-step prompt-based approaches in zero-shot settings and utilizing parametric and non-parametric knowledge through in-context learning examples. We also introduce a dense demonstration retriever based on a pre-trained T5 model and perform instruction fine-tuning to explicitly train LLMs on task-specific instructions. Extensive experiments on two product benchmarks show that our two-step approach significantly improves performance in zero-shot settings, and instruction fine-tuning further boosts performance when using training data, demonstrating the practical benefits of using LLMs for PAVI.
Towards adaptive trajectories for mixed autonomous and human-operated ships
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2024
Year: 2024

We are witnessing the rise of autonomous cars, which will likely revolutionize the way we travel. Arguably, the maritime domain lags behind, as ships operate on many more degrees of freedom (thus, a much larger search space): there is less physical infrastructure, and rules are less consistent and constraining than what is found on roads. The problem is further complicated by the inevitable co-existence of autonomous and human-operated ships: the latter may take unpredictable decisions, which require adjustments on the autonomous ones. Finally, the problem is inherently decentralised, there is no central authority, and communication means can be very diverse in terms of communication distance and performance, mandating special care on which information is shared and how. In this work, we elaborate on the challenges of trajectory prediction and adaptation for mixed autonomous and human-operated ships, and we propose initial ideas on potential approaches to address them.
Optimal Cosserat-based deformation control for robotic manipulation of linear objects
Venue: arXiv cs.RO 2024
Year: 2024

The robotic shape control of deformable linear objects has garnered increasing interest within the robotics community. Despite recent progress, the majority of shape control approaches can be classified into two main groups: open-loop control, which relies on physically realistic models to represent the object, and closed-loop control, which employs less precise models alongside visual data to compute commands. In this work, we present a novel 3D shape control approach that includes the physically realistic Cosserat model into a closed-loop control framework, using vision feedback to rectify errors in real-time. This approach capitalizes on the advantages of both groups: the realism and precision provided by physics-based models, and the rapid computation, therefore enabling real-time correction of model errors, and robustness to elastic parameter estimation inherent in vision-based approaches. This is achieved by computing a deformation Jacobian derived from both the Cosserat model and visual data. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the method, we conduct a series of shape control experiments where robots are tasked with deforming linear objects towards a desired shape.
HLLM: Enhancing Sequential Recommendations via Hierarchical Large Language Models for Item and User Modeling
Venue: arXiv cs.IR 2024
Year: 2024

Large Language Models (LLMs) have achieved remarkable success in various fields, prompting several studies to explore their potential in recommendation systems. However, these attempts have so far resulted in only modest improvements over traditional recommendation models. Moreover, three critical questions remain under-explored: firstly, the real value of LLMs' pre-trained weights, often considered to encapsulate world knowledge; secondly, the necessity of fine-tuning for recommendation tasks; lastly, whether LLMs can exhibit the same scalability benefits in recommendation systems as they do in other domains. In this paper, we propose a novel Hierarchical Large Language Model (HLLM) architecture designed to enhance sequential recommendation systems. Our approach employs a two-tier model: the first Item LLM extracts rich content features from the detailed text description of the item, while the second User LLM utilizes these features to predict users' future interests based on their interaction history. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our method effectively leverages the pre-trained capabilities of open-source LLMs, and further fine-tuning leads to significant performance boosts. Additionally, HLLM achieves excellent scalability, with the largest configuration utilizing 7B parameters for both item feature extraction and user interest modeling. Moreover, HLLM offers excellent training and serving efficiency, making it practical in real-world applications. Evaluations on two large-scale datasets, PixelRec and Amazon Reviews, show that HLLM achieves state-of-the-art results, outperforming traditional ID-based models by a wide margin. In online A/B testing, HLLM showcases notable gains, validating its practical impact in real-world recommendation scenarios. Codes are available at https://github.com/bytedance/HLLM.
Towards AI-enabled Cyber Threat Assessment in the Health Sector
Venue: arXiv cs.CR 2024
Year: 2024

Cyber attacks on the healthcare industry can have tremendous consequences and the attack surface expands continuously. In order to handle the steadily rising workload, an expanding amount of analog processes in healthcare institutions is digitized. Despite regulations becoming stricter, not all existing infrastructure is sufficiently protected against cyber attacks. With an increasing number of devices and digital processes, the system and network landscape becomes more complex and harder to manage and therefore also more difficult to protect. The aim of this project is to introduce an AI-enabled platform that collects security relevant information from the outside of a health organization, analyzes it, delivers a risk score and supports decision makers in healthcare institutions to optimize investment choices for security measures. Therefore, an architecture of such a platform is designed, relevant information sources are identified, and AI methods for relevant data collection, selection, and risk scoring are explored.
Autonomous Visual Fish Pen Inspections for Estimating the State of Biofouling Buildup Using ROV -- Extended Abstract
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

The process of fish cage inspections, which is a necessary maintenance task at any fish farm, be it small scale or industrial, is a task that has the potential to be fully automated. Replacing trained divers who perform regular inspections with autonomous marine vehicles would lower the costs of manpower and remove the risks associated with humans performing underwater inspections. Achieving such a level of autonomy implies developing an image processing algorithm that is capable of estimating the state of biofouling buildup. The aim of this work is to propose a complete solution for automating the said inspection process; from developing an autonomous control algorithm for an ROV, to automatically segmenting images of fish cages, and accurately estimating the state of biofouling. The first part is achieved by modifying a commercially available ROV with an acoustic SBL positioning system and developing a closed-loop control system. The second part is realized by implementing a proposed biofouling estimation framework, which relies on AI to perform image segmentation, and by processing images using established computer vision methods to obtain a rough estimate of the distance of the ROV from the fish cage. This also involved developing a labeling tool in order to create a dataset of images for the neural network performing the semantic segmentation to be trained on. The experimental results show the viability of using an ROV fitted with an acoustic transponder for autonomous missions, and demonstrate the biofouling estimation framework's ability to provide accurate assessments, alongside satisfactory distance estimation capabilities. In conclusion, the achieved biofouling estimation accuracy showcases clear potential for use in the aquaculture industry.