OpenRaiser/Intern-Atlas huggingface dataset:
The Strong Pull of Prior Knowledge in Large Language Models and Its Impact on Emotion Recognition
Venue: arXiv cs.CL 2024
Year: 2024

In-context Learning (ICL) has emerged as a powerful paradigm for performing natural language tasks with Large Language Models (LLM) without updating the models' parameters, in contrast to the traditional gradient-based finetuning. The promise of ICL is that the LLM can adapt to perform the present task at a competitive or state-of-the-art level at a fraction of the cost. The ability of LLMs to perform tasks in this few-shot manner relies on their background knowledge of the task (or task priors). However, recent work has found that, unlike traditional learning, LLMs are unable to fully integrate information from demonstrations that contrast task priors. This can lead to performance saturation at suboptimal levels, especially for subjective tasks such as emotion recognition, where the mapping from text to emotions can differ widely due to variability in human annotations. In this work, we design experiments and propose measurements to explicitly quantify the consistency of proxies of LLM priors and their pull on the posteriors. We show that LLMs have strong yet inconsistent priors in emotion recognition that ossify their predictions. We also find that the larger the model, the stronger these effects become. Our results suggest that caution is needed when using ICL with larger LLMs for affect-centered tasks outside their pre-training domain and when interpreting ICL results.
Benchmarking Video Frame Interpolation
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

Video frame interpolation, the task of synthesizing new frames in between two or more given ones, is becoming an increasingly popular research target. However, the current evaluation of frame interpolation techniques is not ideal. Due to the plethora of test datasets available and inconsistent computation of error metrics, a coherent and fair comparison across papers is very challenging. Furthermore, new test sets have been proposed as part of method papers so they are unable to provide the in-depth evaluation of a dedicated benchmarking paper. Another severe downside is that these test sets violate the assumption of linearity when given two input frames, making it impossible to solve without an oracle. We hence strongly believe that the community would greatly benefit from a benchmarking paper, which is what we propose. Specifically, we present a benchmark which establishes consistent error metrics by utilizing a submission website that computes them, provides insights by analyzing the interpolation quality with respect to various per-pixel attributes such as the motion magnitude, contains a carefully designed test set adhering to the assumption of linearity by utilizing synthetic data, and evaluates the computational efficiency in a coherent manner.
Exploring the potential of prototype-based soft-labels data distillation for imbalanced data classification
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2024
Year: 2024

Dataset distillation aims at synthesizing a dataset by a small number of artificially generated data items, which, when used as training data, reproduce or approximate a machine learning (ML) model as if it were trained on the entire original dataset. Consequently, data distillation methods are usually tied to a specific ML algorithm. While recent literature deals mainly with distillation of large collections of images in the context of neural network models, tabular data distillation is much less represented and mainly focused on a theoretical perspective. The current paper explores the potential of a simple distillation technique previously proposed in the context of Less-than-one shot learning. The main goal is to push further the performance of prototype-based soft-labels distillation in terms of classification accuracy, by integrating optimization steps in the distillation process. The analysis is performed on real-world data sets with various degrees of imbalance. Experimental studies trace the capability of the method to distill the data, but also the opportunity to act as an augmentation method, i.e. to generate new data that is able to increase model accuracy when used in conjunction with - as opposed to instead of - the original data.
Task-Agnostic Detector for Insertion-Based Backdoor Attacks
Venue: arXiv cs.CL 2024
Year: 2024

Textual backdoor attacks pose significant security threats. Current detection approaches, typically relying on intermediate feature representation or reconstructing potential triggers, are task-specific and less effective beyond sentence classification, struggling with tasks like question answering and named entity recognition. We introduce TABDet (Task-Agnostic Backdoor Detector), a pioneering task-agnostic method for backdoor detection. TABDet leverages final layer logits combined with an efficient pooling technique, enabling unified logit representation across three prominent NLP tasks. TABDet can jointly learn from diverse task-specific models, demonstrating superior detection efficacy over traditional task-specific methods.
CADGL: Context-Aware Deep Graph Learning for Predicting Drug-Drug Interactions
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2024
Year: 2024

Examining Drug-Drug Interactions (DDIs) is a pivotal element in the process of drug development. DDIs occur when one drug's properties are affected by the inclusion of other drugs. Detecting favorable DDIs has the potential to pave the way for creating and advancing innovative medications applicable in practical settings. However, existing DDI prediction models continue to face challenges related to generalization in extreme cases, robust feature extraction, and real-life application possibilities. We aim to address these challenges by leveraging the effectiveness of context-aware deep graph learning by introducing a novel framework named CADGL. Based on a customized variational graph autoencoder (VGAE), we capture critical structural and physio-chemical information using two context preprocessors for feature extraction from two different perspectives: local neighborhood and molecular context, in a heterogeneous graphical structure. Our customized VGAE consists of a graph encoder, a latent information encoder, and an MLP decoder. CADGL surpasses other state-of-the-art DDI prediction models, excelling in predicting clinically valuable novel DDIs, supported by rigorous case studies.
Neural Image Compression with Quantization Rectifier
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2024
Year: 2024

Neural image compression has been shown to outperform traditional image codecs in terms of rate-distortion performance. However, quantization introduces errors in the compression process, which can degrade the quality of the compressed image. Existing approaches address the train-test mismatch problem incurred during quantization, the random impact of quantization on the expressiveness of image features is still unsolved. This paper presents a novel quantization rectifier (QR) method for image compression that leverages image feature correlation to mitigate the impact of quantization. Our method designs a neural network architecture that predicts unquantized features from the quantized ones, preserving feature expressiveness for better image reconstruction quality. We develop a soft-to-predictive training technique to integrate QR into existing neural image codecs. In evaluation, we integrate QR into state-of-the-art neural image codecs and compare enhanced models and baselines on the widely-used Kodak benchmark. The results show consistent coding efficiency improvement by QR with a negligible increase in the running time.
Exploring CausalWorld: Enhancing robotic manipulation via knowledge transfer and curriculum learning
Venue: arXiv cs.RO 2024
Year: 2024

This study explores a learning-based tri-finger robotic arm manipulating task, which requires complex movements and coordination among the fingers. By employing reinforcement learning, we train an agent to acquire the necessary skills for proficient manipulation. To enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the learning process, two knowledge transfer strategies, fine-tuning and curriculum learning, were utilized within the soft actor-critic architecture. Fine-tuning allows the agent to leverage pre-trained knowledge and adapt it to new tasks. Several variations like model transfer, policy transfer, and across-task transfer were implemented and evaluated. To eliminate the need for pretraining, curriculum learning decomposes the advanced task into simpler, progressive stages, mirroring how humans learn. The number of learning stages, the context of the sub-tasks, and the transition timing were found to be the critical design parameters. The key factors of two learning strategies and corresponding effects were explored in context-aware and context-unaware scenarios, enabling us to identify the scenarios where the methods demonstrate optimal performance, derive conclusive insights, and contribute to a broader range of learning-based engineering applications.
Accuracy enhancement method for speech emotion recognition from spectrogram using temporal frequency correlation and positional information learning through knowledge transfer
Venue: arXiv cs.SD 2024
Year: 2024

In this paper, we propose a method to improve the accuracy of speech emotion recognition (SER) by using vision transformer (ViT) to attend to the correlation of frequency (y-axis) with time (x-axis) in spectrogram and transferring positional information between ViT through knowledge transfer. The proposed method has the following originality i) We use vertically segmented patches of log-Mel spectrogram to analyze the correlation of frequencies over time. This type of patch allows us to correlate the most relevant frequencies for a particular emotion with the time they were uttered. ii) We propose the use of image coordinate encoding, an absolute positional encoding suitable for ViT. By normalizing the x, y coordinates of the image to -1 to 1 and concatenating them to the image, we can effectively provide valid absolute positional information for ViT. iii) Through feature map matching, the locality and location information of the teacher network is effectively transmitted to the student network. Teacher network is a ViT that contains locality of convolutional stem and absolute position information through image coordinate encoding, and student network is a structure that lacks positional encoding in the basic ViT structure. In feature map matching stage, we train through the mean absolute error (L1 loss) to minimize the difference between the feature maps of the two networks. To validate the proposed method, three emotion datasets (SAVEE, EmoDB, and CREMA-D) consisting of speech were converted into log-Mel spectrograms for comparison experiments. The experimental results show that the proposed method significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in terms of weighted accuracy while requiring significantly fewer floating point operations (FLOPs). Overall, the proposed method offers an promising solution for SER by providing improved efficiency and performance.
FedMIL: Federated-Multiple Instance Learning for Video Analysis with Optimized DPP Scheduling
Venue: arXiv cs.DC 2024
Year: 2024

Many AI platforms, including traffic monitoring systems, use Federated Learning (FL) for decentralized sensor data processing for learning-based applications while preserving privacy and ensuring secured information transfer. On the other hand, applying supervised learning to large data samples, like high-resolution images requires intensive human labor to label different parts of a data sample. Multiple Instance Learning (MIL) alleviates this challenge by operating over labels assigned to the 'bag' of instances. In this paper, we introduce Federated Multiple-Instance Learning (FedMIL). This framework applies federated learning to boost the training performance in video-based MIL tasks such as vehicle accident detection using distributed CCTV networks. However, data sources in decentralized settings are not typically Independently and Identically Distributed (IID), making client selection imperative to collectively represent the entire dataset with minimal clients. To address this challenge, we propose DPPQ, a framework based on the Determinantal Point Process (DPP) with a quality-based kernel to select clients with the most diverse datasets that achieve better performance compared to both random selection and current DPP-based client selection methods even with less data utilization in the majority of non-IID cases. This offers a significant advantage for deployment on edge devices with limited computational resources, providing a reliable solution for training AI models in massive smart sensor networks.
Addressing Myopic Constrained POMDP Planning with Recursive Dual Ascent
Venue: arXiv cs.AI 2024
Year: 2024

Lagrangian-guided Monte Carlo tree search with global dual ascent has been applied to solve large constrained partially observable Markov decision processes (CPOMDPs) online. In this work, we demonstrate that these global dual parameters can lead to myopic action selection during exploration, ultimately leading to suboptimal decision making. To address this, we introduce history-dependent dual variables that guide local action selection and are optimized with recursive dual ascent. We empirically compare the performance of our approach on a motivating toy example and two large CPOMDPs, demonstrating improved exploration, and ultimately, safer outcomes.
Formal Verification of the Empty Hexagon Number
Venue: arXiv cs.CG 2024
Year: 2024

A recent breakthrough in computer-assisted mathematics showed that every set of $30$ points in the plane in general position (i.e., without three on a common line) contains an empty convex hexagon, thus closing a line of research dating back to the 1930s. Through a combination of geometric insights and automated reasoning techniques, Heule and Scheucher constructed a CNF formula $ϕ_n$, with $O(n^4)$ clauses, whose unsatisfiability implies that no set of $n$ points in general position can avoid an empty convex hexagon. An unsatisfiability proof for n = 30 was then found with a SAT solver using 17300 CPU hours of parallel computation, thus implying that the empty hexagon number h(6) is equal to 30. In this paper, we formalize and verify this result in the Lean theorem prover. Our formalization covers discrete computational geometry ideas and SAT encoding techniques that have been successfully applied to similar Erdős-Szekeres-type problems. In particular, our framework provides tools to connect standard mathematical objects to propositional assignments, which represents a key step towards the formal verification of other SAT-based mathematical results. Overall, we hope that this work sets a new standard for verification when extensive computation is used for discrete geometry problems, and that it increases the trust the mathematical community has in computer-assisted proofs in this area.
An Empirical Study of Training ID-Agnostic Multi-modal Sequential Recommenders
Venue: arXiv cs.IR 2024
Year: 2024

Sequential Recommendation (SR) aims to predict future user-item interactions based on historical interactions. While many SR approaches concentrate on user IDs and item IDs, the human perception of the world through multi-modal signals, like text and images, has inspired researchers to delve into constructing SR from multi-modal information without using IDs. However, the complexity of multi-modal learning manifests in diverse feature extractors, fusion methods, and pre-trained models. Consequently, designing a simple and universal \textbf{M}ulti-\textbf{M}odal \textbf{S}equential \textbf{R}ecommendation (\textbf{MMSR}) framework remains a formidable challenge. We systematically summarize the existing multi-modal related SR methods and distill the essence into four core components: visual encoder, text encoder, multimodal fusion module, and sequential architecture. Along these dimensions, we dissect the model designs, and answer the following sub-questions: First, we explore how to construct MMSR from scratch, ensuring its performance either on par with or exceeds existing SR methods without complex techniques. Second, we examine if MMSR can benefit from existing multi-modal pre-training paradigms. Third, we assess MMSR's capability in tackling common challenges like cold start and domain transferring. Our experiment results across four real-world recommendation scenarios demonstrate the great potential ID-agnostic multi-modal sequential recommendation. Our framework can be found at: https://github.com/MMSR23/MMSR.
Generalization Error Analysis for Sparse Mixture-of-Experts: A Preliminary Study
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2024
Year: 2024

Mixture-of-Experts (MoE) represents an ensemble methodology that amalgamates predictions from several specialized sub-models (referred to as experts). This fusion is accomplished through a router mechanism, dynamically assigning weights to each expert's contribution based on the input data. Conventional MoE mechanisms select all available experts, incurring substantial computational costs. In contrast, Sparse Mixture-of-Experts (Sparse MoE) selectively engages only a limited number, or even just one expert, significantly reducing computation overhead while empirically preserving, and sometimes even enhancing, performance. Despite its wide-ranging applications and these advantageous characteristics, MoE's theoretical underpinnings have remained elusive. In this paper, we embark on an exploration of Sparse MoE's generalization error concerning various critical factors. Specifically, we investigate the impact of the number of data samples, the total number of experts, the sparsity in expert selection, the complexity of the routing mechanism, and the complexity of individual experts. Our analysis sheds light on \textit{how \textbf{sparsity} contributes to the MoE's generalization}, offering insights from the perspective of classical learning theory.
The Privacy Policy Permission Model: A Unified View of Privacy Policies
Venue: arXiv cs.CR 2024
Year: 2024

Organizations use privacy policies to communicate their data collection practices to their clients. A privacy policy is a set of statements that specifies how an organization gathers, uses, discloses, and maintains a client's data. However, most privacy policies lack a clear, complete explanation of how data providers' information is used. We propose a modeling methodology, called the Privacy Policy Permission Model (PPPM), that provides a uniform, easy-to-understand representation of privacy policies, which can accurately and clearly show how data is used within an organization's practice. Using this methodology, a privacy policy is captured as a diagram. The diagram is capable of highlighting inconsistencies and inaccuracies in the privacy policy. The methodology supports privacy officers in properly and clearly articulating an organization's privacy policy.
Masked Multi-Domain Network: Multi-Type and Multi-Scenario Conversion Rate Prediction with a Single Model
Venue: arXiv cs.IR 2024
Year: 2024

In real-world advertising systems, conversions have different types in nature and ads can be shown in different display scenarios, both of which highly impact the actual conversion rate (CVR). This results in the multi-type and multi-scenario CVR prediction problem. A desired model for this problem should satisfy the following requirements: 1) Accuracy: the model should achieve fine-grained accuracy with respect to any conversion type in any display scenario. 2) Scalability: the model parameter size should be affordable. 3) Convenience: the model should not require a large amount of effort in data partitioning, subset processing and separate storage. Existing approaches cannot simultaneously satisfy these requirements. For example, building a separate model for each (conversion type, display scenario) pair is neither scalable nor convenient. Building a unified model trained on all the data with conversion type and display scenario included as two features is not accurate enough. In this paper, we propose the Masked Multi-domain Network (MMN) to solve this problem. To achieve the accuracy requirement, we model domain-specific parameters and propose a dynamically weighted loss to account for the loss scale imbalance issue within each mini-batch. To achieve the scalability requirement, we propose a parameter sharing and composition strategy to reduce model parameters from a product space to a sum space. To achieve the convenience requirement, we propose an auto-masking strategy which can take mixed data from all the domains as input. It avoids the overhead caused by data partitioning, individual processing and separate storage. Both offline and online experimental results validate the superiority of MMN for multi-type and multi-scenario CVR prediction. MMN is now the serving model for real-time CVR prediction in UC Toutiao.
An Empirical Study of ChatGPT-Related Projects and Their Issues on GitHub
Venue: arXiv cs.SE 2024
Year: 2024

Since the launch of ChatGPT in 2022, an increasing number of ChatGPT-related projects are being published on GitHub, sparking widespread discussions. However, GitHub does not provide a detailed classification of these projects to help users effectively explore interested projects. Additionally, the issues raised by users for these projects cover various aspects, e.g., installation, usage, and updates. It would be valuable to help developers prioritize more urgent issues and improve development efficiency. We retrieved 71,244 projects from GitHub using the keyword `ChatGPT' and selected the top 200 representative projects with the highest numbers of stars as our dataset. By analyzing the project descriptions, we identified three primary categories of ChatGPT-related projects, namely ChatGPT Implementation & Training, ChatGPT Application, ChatGPT Improvement & Extension. Next, we applied a topic modeling technique to 23,609 issues of those projects and identified ten issue topics, e.g., model reply and interaction interface. We further analyzed the popularity, difficulty, and evolution of each issue topic within the three project categories. Our main findings are: 1) The increase in the number of projects within the three categories is closely related to the development of ChatGPT; and 2) There are significant differences in the popularity, difficulty, and evolutionary trends of the issue topics across the three project categories. Based on these findings, we finally provided implications for project developers and platform managers on how to better develop and manage ChatGPT-related projects.
DiffGaze: A Diffusion Model for Continuous Gaze Sequence Generation on 360° Images
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

We present DiffGaze, a novel method for generating realistic and diverse continuous human gaze sequences on 360° images based on a conditional score-based denoising diffusion model. Generating human gaze on 360° images is important for various human-computer interaction and computer graphics applications, e.g. for creating large-scale eye tracking datasets or for realistic animation of virtual humans. However, existing methods are limited to predicting discrete fixation sequences or aggregated saliency maps, thereby neglecting crucial parts of natural gaze behaviour. Our method uses features extracted from 360° images as condition and uses two transformers to model the temporal and spatial dependencies of continuous human gaze. We evaluate DiffGaze on two 360° image benchmarks for gaze sequence generation as well as scanpath prediction and saliency prediction. Our evaluations show that DiffGaze outperforms state-of-the-art methods on all tasks on both benchmarks. We also report a 21-participant user study showing that our method generates gaze sequences that are indistinguishable from real human sequences.