OpenRaiser/Intern-Atlas huggingface dataset:
Human-like Decision-making at Unsignalized Intersection using Social Value Orientation
Venue: arXiv cs.RO 2023
Year: 2023

With the commercial application of automated vehicles (AVs), the sharing of roads between AVs and human-driven vehicles (HVs) becomes a common occurrence in the future. While research has focused on improving the safety and reliability of autonomous driving, it's also crucial to consider collaboration between AVs and HVs. Human-like interaction is a required capability for AVs, especially at common unsignalized intersections, as human drivers of HVs expect to maintain their driving habits for inter-vehicle interactions. This paper uses the social value orientation (SVO) in the decision-making of vehicles to describe the social interaction among multiple vehicles. Specifically, we define the quantitative calculation of the conflict-involved SVO at unsignalized intersections to enhance decision-making based on the reinforcement learning method. We use naturalistic driving scenarios with highly interactive motions for performance evaluation of the proposed method. Experimental results show that SVO is more effective in characterizing inter-vehicle interactions than conventional motion state parameters like velocity, and the proposed method can accurately reproduce naturalistic driving trajectories compared to behavior cloning.
Performance Analysis for Polar Codes under Successive Cancellation List Decoding with Fixed List Size
Venue: arXiv cs.IT 2023
Year: 2023

In this paper, we first indicate that the block error event of polar codes under successive cancellation list (SCL) decoding is composed of path loss (PL) error event and path selection (PS) error event, where the PL error event is that correct codeword is lost during the SCL decoding and the PS error event is that correct codeword is reserved in the decoded list but not selected as the decoded codeword. Then, we simplify the PL error event by assuming the all-zero codeword is transmitted and derive the probability lower bound via the joint probability density of the log-likelihood ratios of information bits. Meanwhile, the union bound calculated by the minimum weight distribution is used to evaluate the probability of the PS error event. With the performance analysis, we design a greedy bit-swapping (BS) algorithm to construct polar codes by gradually swapping information bit and frozen bit to reduce the performance lower bound of SCL decoding. The simulation results show that the BLER performance of SCL decoding is close to the lower bound in the medium to high signal-to-noise ratio region and we can optimize the lower bound to improve the BLER performance of SCL decoding by the BS algorithm.
INDCOR White Paper 0: Interactive Digital Narratives (IDNs) -- A Solution to the Challenge of Representing Complex Issues
Venue: arXiv cs.MM 2023
Year: 2023

Citizens everywhere have the right to be well-informed. Yet, with the high complexity of many contemporary issues, such as global warming and migration, our means of information need to mutually adapt. Narrative has always been at the core of information exchange - regardless of whether our ancestors sat around a fire and exchanged stories, or whether we read an article in a newspaper, or watched a TV news broadcast. Yet, the narrative formats of the newspaper article, the news broadcast, the documentary, and the textbook are severely limited when it comes to representing highly complex topics which may include several competing - and sometimes equally valid - perspectives. Such complexity contributes to a high level of uncertainty due to a multitude of factors affecting an outcome. Fortunately, with Interactive Digital Narrative (IDN), there is a novel media format which can address these challenges. IDNs can present several different perspectives in the same work, and give audiences the ability to explore them at will through decision-making. After experiencing the consequences of their decisions, the audience can replay to revisit and change these decisions in order to consider their alternatives. IDN works enable deep personalization and the inclusion of live data. These capabilities make IDN a 21st century democratic medium, empowering citizens through the understanding of complex issues. In this white paper, we discuss the challenge of representing complexity, describe the advantages offered by IDNs, and point out opportunities and strategies for deployment.
Augmenting Holistic Review in University Admission using Natural Language Processing for Essays and Recommendation Letters
Venue: arXiv cs.CL 2023
Year: 2023

University admission at many highly selective institutions uses a holistic review process, where all aspects of the application, including protected attributes (e.g., race, gender), grades, essays, and recommendation letters are considered, to compose an excellent and diverse class. In this study, we empirically evaluate how influential protected attributes are for predicting admission decisions using a machine learning (ML) model, and in how far textual information (e.g., personal essay, teacher recommendation) may substitute for the loss of protected attributes in the model. Using data from 14,915 applicants to an undergraduate admission office at a selective U.S. institution in the 2022-2023 cycle, we find that the exclusion of protected attributes from the ML model leads to substantially reduced admission-prediction performance. The inclusion of textual information via both a TF-IDF representation and a Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) model partially restores model performance, but does not appear to provide a full substitute for admitting a similarly diverse class. In particular, while the text helps with gender diversity, the proportion of URM applicants is severely impacted by the exclusion of protected attributes, and the inclusion of new attributes generated from the textual information does not recover this performance loss.
ChatGPT for Robotics: Design Principles and Model Abilities
Venue: arXiv cs.AI 2023
Year: 2023

This paper presents an experimental study regarding the use of OpenAI's ChatGPT for robotics applications. We outline a strategy that combines design principles for prompt engineering and the creation of a high-level function library which allows ChatGPT to adapt to different robotics tasks, simulators, and form factors. We focus our evaluations on the effectiveness of different prompt engineering techniques and dialog strategies towards the execution of various types of robotics tasks. We explore ChatGPT's ability to use free-form dialog, parse XML tags, and to synthesize code, in addition to the use of task-specific prompting functions and closed-loop reasoning through dialogues. Our study encompasses a range of tasks within the robotics domain, from basic logical, geometrical, and mathematical reasoning all the way to complex domains such as aerial navigation, manipulation, and embodied agents. We show that ChatGPT can be effective at solving several of such tasks, while allowing users to interact with it primarily via natural language instructions. In addition to these studies, we introduce an open-sourced research tool called PromptCraft, which contains a platform where researchers can collaboratively upload and vote on examples of good prompting schemes for robotics applications, as well as a sample robotics simulator with ChatGPT integration, making it easier for users to get started with using ChatGPT for robotics.
Miniaturized Graph Convolutional Networks with Topologically Consistent Pruning
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2023
Year: 2023

Magnitude pruning is one of the mainstream methods in lightweight architecture design whose goal is to extract subnetworks with the largest weight connections. This method is known to be successful, but under very high pruning regimes, it suffers from topological inconsistency which renders the extracted subnetworks disconnected, and this hinders their generalization ability. In this paper, we devise a novel magnitude pruning method that allows extracting subnetworks while guarantying their topological consistency. The latter ensures that only accessible and co-accessible -- impactful -- connections are kept in the resulting lightweight networks. Our solution is based on a novel reparametrization and two supervisory bi-directional networks which implement accessibility/co-accessibility and guarantee that only connected subnetworks will be selected during training. This solution allows enhancing generalization significantly, under very high pruning regimes, as corroborated through extensive experiments, involving graph convolutional networks, on the challenging task of skeleton-based action recognition.
Razor SNN: Efficient Spiking Neural Network with Temporal Embeddings
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2023
Year: 2023

The event streams generated by dynamic vision sensors (DVS) are sparse and non-uniform in the spatial domain, while still dense and redundant in the temporal domain. Although spiking neural network (SNN), the event-driven neuromorphic model, has the potential to extract spatio-temporal features from the event streams, it is not effective and efficient. Based on the above, we propose an events sparsification spiking framework dubbed as Razor SNN, pruning pointless event frames progressively. Concretely, we extend the dynamic mechanism based on the global temporal embeddings, reconstruct the features, and emphasize the events effect adaptively at the training stage. During the inference stage, eliminate fruitless frames hierarchically according to a binary mask generated by the trained temporal embeddings. Comprehensive experiments demonstrate that our Razor SNN achieves competitive performance consistently on four events-based benchmarks: DVS 128 Gesture, N-Caltech 101, CIFAR10-DVS and SHD.
Neural 3D Scene Reconstruction from Multiple 2D Images without 3D Supervision
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2023
Year: 2023

Neural 3D scene reconstruction methods have achieved impressive performance when reconstructing complex geometry and low-textured regions in indoor scenes. However, these methods heavily rely on 3D data which is costly and time-consuming to obtain in real world. In this paper, we propose a novel neural reconstruction method that reconstructs scenes using sparse depth under the plane constraints without 3D supervision. We introduce a signed distance function field, a color field, and a probability field to represent a scene. We optimize these fields to reconstruct the scene by using differentiable ray marching with accessible 2D images as supervision. We improve the reconstruction quality of complex geometry scene regions with sparse depth obtained by using the geometric constraints. The geometric constraints project 3D points on the surface to similar-looking regions with similar features in different 2D images. We impose the plane constraints to make large planes parallel or vertical to the indoor floor. Both two constraints help reconstruct accurate and smooth geometry structures of the scene. Without 3D supervision, our method achieves competitive performance compared with existing methods that use 3D supervision on the ScanNet dataset.
Feature Representation Learning for NL2SQL Generation Based on Coupling and Decoupling
Venue: arXiv cs.CL 2023
Year: 2023

The NL2SQL task involves parsing natural language statements into SQL queries. While most state-of-the-art methods treat NL2SQL as a slot-filling task and use feature representation learning techniques, they overlook explicit correlation features between the SELECT and WHERE clauses and implicit correlation features between sub-tasks within a single clause. To address this issue, we propose the Clause Feature Correlation Decoupling and Coupling (CFCDC) model, which uses a feature representation decoupling method to separate the SELECT and WHERE clauses at the parameter level. Next, we introduce a multi-task learning architecture to decouple implicit correlation feature representation between different SQL tasks in a specific clause. Moreover, we present an improved feature representation coupling module to integrate the decoupled tasks in the SELECT and WHERE clauses and predict the final SQL query. Our proposed CFCDC model demonstrates excellent performance on the WikiSQL dataset, with significant improvements in logic precision and execution accuracy. The source code for the model will be publicly available on GitHub
An Improved Deterministic Algorithm for the Online Min-Sum Set Cover Problem
Venue: arXiv cs.DS 2023
Year: 2023

We study the online variant of the Min-Sum Set Cover (MSSC) problem, a generalization of the well-known list update problem. In the MSSC problem, an algorithm has to maintain the time-varying permutation of the list of $n$ elements, and serve a sequence of requests $R_1, R_2, \dots, R_t, \dots$. Each $R_t$ is a subset of elements of cardinality at most $r$. For a requested set $R_t$, an online algorithm has to pay the cost equal to the position of the first element from $R_t$ on its list. Then, it may arbitrarily permute its list, paying the number of swapped adjacent element pairs. We present the first constructive deterministic algorithm for this problem, whose competitive ratio does not depend on $n$. Our algorithm is $O(r^2)$-competitive, which beats both the existential upper bound of $O(r^4)$ by Bienkowski and Mucha [AAAI '23] and the previous constructive bound of $O(r^{3/2} \cdot \sqrt{n})$ by Fotakis et al. [ICALP '20]. Furthermore, we show that our algorithm attains an asymptotically optimal competitive ratio of $O(r)$ when compared to the best fixed permutation of elements.
Precision Anti-Cancer Drug Selection via Neural Ranking
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2023
Year: 2023

Personalized cancer treatment requires a thorough understanding of complex interactions between drugs and cancer cell lines in varying genetic and molecular contexts. To address this, high-throughput screening has been used to generate large-scale drug response data, facilitating data-driven computational models. Such models can capture complex drug-cell line interactions across various contexts in a fully data-driven manner. However, accurately prioritizing the most sensitive drugs for each cell line still remains a significant challenge. To address this, we developed neural ranking approaches that leverage large-scale drug response data across multiple cell lines from diverse cancer types. Unlike existing approaches that primarily utilize regression and classification techniques for drug response prediction, we formulated the objective of drug selection and prioritization as a drug ranking problem. In this work, we proposed two neural listwise ranking methods that learn latent representations of drugs and cell lines, and then use those representations to score drugs in each cell line via a learnable scoring function. Specifically, we developed a neural listwise ranking method, List-One, on top of the existing method ListNet. Additionally, we proposed a novel listwise ranking method, List-All, that focuses on all the sensitive drugs instead of the top sensitive drug, unlike List-One. Our results demonstrate that List-All outperforms the best baseline with significant improvements of as much as 8.6% in hit@20 across 50% test cell lines. Furthermore, our analyses suggest that the learned latent spaces from our proposed methods demonstrate informative clustering structures and capture relevant underlying biological features. Moreover, our comprehensive empirical evaluation provides a thorough and objective comparison of the performance of different methods (including our proposed ones).
Machine learning for potion development at Hogwarts
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2023
Year: 2023

Objective: To determine whether machine learning methods can generate useful potion recipes for research and teaching at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Design: Using deep neural networks to classify generated recipes into a standard drug classification system. Setting: Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Data sources: 72 potion recipes from the Hogwarts curriculum, extracted from the Harry Potter Wiki. Results: Most generated recipes fall into the categories of psychoanaleptics and dermatologicals. The number of recipes predicted for each category reflected the number of training recipes. Predicted probabilities were often above 90% but some recipes were classified into 2 or more categories with similar probabilities which complicates anticipating the predicted effects. Conclusions: Machine learning powered methods are able to generate potentially useful potion recipes for teaching and research at Hogwarts. This corresponds to similar efforts in the non-magical world where such methods have been applied to identify potentially effective drug combinations.
Situated Cameras, Situated Knowledges: Towards an Egocentric Epistemology for Computer Vision
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2023
Year: 2023

In her influential 1988 paper, Situated Knowledges, Donna Haraway uses vision and perspective as a metaphor to discuss scientific knowledge. Today, egocentric computer vision discusses many of the same issues, except in a literal vision context. In this short position paper, we collapse that metaphor, and explore the interactions between feminist epistemology and egocentric CV as "Egocentric Epistemology." Using this framework, we argue for the use of qualitative, human-centric methods as a complement to performance benchmarks, to center both the literal and metaphorical perspective of human crowd workers in CV.
Redeeming Data Science by Decision Modelling
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2023
Year: 2023

With the explosion of applications of Data Science, the field is has come loose from its foundations. This article argues for a new program of applied research in areas familiar to researchers in Bayesian methods in AI that are needed to ground the practice of Data Science by borrowing from AI techniques for model formulation that we term ``Decision Modelling.'' This article briefly reviews the formulation process as building a causal graphical model, then discusses the process in terms of six principles that comprise \emph{Decision Quality}, a framework from the popular business literature. We claim that any successful applied ML modelling effort must include these six principles. We explain how Decision Modelling combines a conventional machine learning model with an explicit value model. To give a specific example we show how this is done by integrating a model's ROC curve with a utility model.
Collapse of Straight Soft Growing Inflated Beam Robots Under Their Own Weight
Venue: arXiv cs.RO 2023
Year: 2023

Soft, growing inflated beam robots, also known as everting vine robots, have previously been shown to navigate confined spaces with ease. Less is known about their ability to navigate three-dimensional open spaces where they have the potential to collapse under their own weight as they attempt to move through a space. Previous work has studied collapse of inflated beams and vine robots due to purely transverse or purely axial external loads. Here, we extend previous models to predict the length at which straight vine robots will collapse under their own weight at arbitrary launch angle relative to gravity, inflated diameter, and internal pressure. Our model successfully predicts the general trends of collapse behavior of straight vine robots. We find that collapse length increases non-linearly with the robot's launch angle magnitude, linearly with the robot's diameter, and with the square root of the robot's internal pressure. We also demonstrate the use of our model to determine the robot parameters required to grow a vine robot across a gap in the floor. This work forms the foundation of an approach for modeling the collapse of vine robots and inflated beams in arbitrary shapes.
Towards a Benchmark Framework for Model Order Reduction in the Mathematical Research Data Initiative (MaRDI)
Venue: arXiv cs.MS 2023
Year: 2023

The race for the most efficient, accurate, and universal algorithm in scientific computing drives innovation. At the same time, this healthy competition is only beneficial if the research output is actually comparable to prior results. Fairly comparing algorithms can be a complex endeavor, as the implementation, configuration, compute environment, and test problems need to be well-defined. Due to the increase in computer-based experiments, new infrastructure for facilitating the exchange and comparison of new algorithms is also needed. To this end, we propose a benchmark framework, as a set of generic specifications for comparing implementations of algorithms using test cases native to a community. Its value lies in its ability to fairly compare and validate existing methods for new applications, as well as compare newly developed methods with existing ones. As a prototype for a more general framework, we have begun building a benchmark tool for the model order reduction (MOR) community. The data basis of the tool is the collection of the Model Order Reduction Wiki (MORWiki). The wiki features three main categories: benchmarks, methods, and software. An editorial board curates submissions and patrols edited entries. Data sets for linear and parametric-linear models are already well represented in the existing collection. Data sets for non-linear or procedural models, for which only evaluation data, or codes / algorithmic descriptions, rather than equations, are available, are being added and extended. Properties and interesting characteristics used for benchmark selection and later assessments are recorded in the model metadata. Our tool, the Model Order Reduction Benchmarker (MORB) is under active development for linear time-invariant systems and solvers.
Single-Stage Heavy-Tailed Food Classification
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2023
Year: 2023

Deep learning based food image classification has enabled more accurate nutrition content analysis for image-based dietary assessment by predicting the types of food in eating occasion images. However, there are two major obstacles to apply food classification in real life applications. First, real life food images are usually heavy-tailed distributed, resulting in severe class-imbalance issue. Second, it is challenging to train a single-stage (i.e. end-to-end) framework under heavy-tailed data distribution, which cause the over-predictions towards head classes with rich instances and under-predictions towards tail classes with rare instance. In this work, we address both issues by introducing a novel single-stage heavy-tailed food classification framework. Our method is evaluated on two heavy-tailed food benchmark datasets, Food101-LT and VFN-LT, and achieves the best performance compared to existing work with over 5% improvements for top-1 accuracy.