OpenRaiser/Intern-Atlas huggingface dataset:
Multi-Bit Mechanism: A Novel Information Transmission Paradigm for Spiking Neural Networks
Venue: arXiv cs.NE 2024
Year: 2024

Since proposed, spiking neural networks (SNNs) gain recognition for their high performance, low power consumption and enhanced biological interpretability. However, while bringing these advantages, the binary nature of spikes also leads to considerable information loss in SNNs, ultimately causing performance degradation. We claim that the limited expressiveness of current binary spikes, resulting in substantial information loss, is the fundamental issue behind these challenges. To alleviate this, our research introduces a multi-bit information transmission mechanism for SNNs. This mechanism expands the output of spiking neurons from the original single bit to multiple bits, enhancing the expressiveness of the spikes and reducing information loss during the forward process, while still maintaining the low energy consumption advantage of SNNs. For SNNs, this represents a new paradigm of information transmission. Moreover, to further utilize the limited spikes, we extract effective signals from the previous layer to re-stimulate the neurons, thus encouraging full spikes emission across various bit levels. We conducted extensive experiments with our proposed method using both direct training method and ANN-SNN conversion method, and the results show consistent performance improvements.
Large Language Models Understand Layout
Venue: arXiv cs.CL 2024
Year: 2024

Large language models (LLMs) demonstrate extraordinary abilities in a wide range of natural language processing (NLP) tasks. In this paper, we show that, beyond text understanding capability, LLMs are capable of processing text layouts that are denoted by spatial markers. They are able to answer questions that require explicit spatial perceiving and reasoning, while a drastic performance drop is observed when the spatial markers from the original data are excluded. We perform a series of experiments with the GPT-3.5, Baichuan2, Llama2 and ChatGLM3 models on various types of layout-sensitive datasets for further analysis. The experimental results reveal that the layout understanding ability of LLMs is mainly introduced by the coding data for pretraining, which is further enhanced at the instruction-tuning stage. In addition, layout understanding can be enhanced by integrating low-cost, auto-generated data approached by a novel text game. Finally, we show that layout understanding ability is beneficial for building efficient visual question-answering (VQA) systems.
Smooth Path Planning Using a Gaussian Process Regression Map for Mobile Robot Navigation
Venue: arXiv cs.RO 2024
Year: 2024

In the context of ground robot navigation in unstructured hazardous environments, the coupling of efficient path planning with an adequate environment representation is a crucial topic in order to guarantee the robot safety while ensuring the accomplishment of its mission. This paper discusses the exploitation of an environment representation obtained via Gaussian process regression (GPR) for smooth path planning using gradient descent Bézier curve optimisation (BCO). A continuous differentiable GPR of the terrain traversability and obstacle distance is used to plan paths with a weighted A* discrete planner, a T-RRT sampling-based planner and BCO using A* or T-RRT computed paths as prior. Numerical experiments in procedurally generated 2D environments allowed to compare the paths planned by the described methods and highlight the benefits of the joint use of the GPR continuous representation and the BCO smooth path planning with these different priors.
Automated Computational Energy Minimization of ML Algorithms using Constrained Bayesian Optimization
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2024
Year: 2024

Bayesian optimization (BO) is an efficient framework for optimization of black-box objectives when function evaluations are costly and gradient information is not easily accessible. BO has been successfully applied to automate the task of hyperparameter optimization (HPO) in machine learning (ML) models with the primary objective of optimizing predictive performance on held-out data. In recent years, however, with ever-growing model sizes, the energy cost associated with model training has become an important factor for ML applications. Here we evaluate Constrained Bayesian Optimization (CBO) with the primary objective of minimizing energy consumption and subject to the constraint that the generalization performance is above some threshold. We evaluate our approach on regression and classification tasks and demonstrate that CBO achieves lower energy consumption without compromising the predictive performance of ML models.
Multimodal Machine Learning for Automated Assessment of Attention-Related Processes during Learning
Venue: arXiv cs.HC 2024
Year: 2024

Attention is a key factor for successful learning, with research indicating strong associations between (in)attention and learning outcomes. This dissertation advanced the field by focusing on the automated detection of attention-related processes using eye tracking, computer vision, and machine learning, offering a more objective, continuous, and scalable assessment than traditional methods such as self-reports or observations. It introduced novel computational approaches for assessing various dimensions of (in)attention in online and classroom learning settings and addressing the challenges of precise fine-granular assessment, generalizability, and in-the-wild data quality. First, this dissertation explored the automated detection of mind-wandering, a shift in attention away from the learning task. Aware and unaware mind wandering were distinguished employing a novel multimodal approach that integrated eye tracking, video, and physiological data. Further, the generalizability of scalable webcam-based detection across diverse tasks, settings, and target groups was examined. Second, this thesis investigated attention indicators during online learning. Eye-tracking analyses revealed significantly greater gaze synchronization among attentive learners. Third, it addressed attention-related processes in classroom learning by detecting hand-raising as an indicator of behavioral engagement using a novel view-invariant and occlusion-robust skeleton-based approach. This thesis advanced the automated assessment of attention-related processes within educational settings by developing and refining methods for detecting mind wandering, on-task behavior, and behavioral engagement. It bridges educational theory with advanced methods from computer science, enhancing our understanding of attention-related processes that significantly impact learning outcomes and educational practices.
Integrating AI in College Education: Positive yet Mixed Experiences with ChatGPT
Venue: arXiv cs.AI 2024
Year: 2024

The integration of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots into higher education marks a shift towards a new generation of pedagogical tools, mirroring the arrival of milestones like the internet. With the launch of ChatGPT-4 Turbo in November 2023, we developed a ChatGPT-based teaching application (https://chat.openai.com/g/g-1imx1py4K-chatge-medical-imaging) and integrated it into our undergraduate medical imaging course in the Spring 2024 semester. This study investigates the use of ChatGPT throughout a semester-long trial, providing insights into students' engagement, perception, and the overall educational effectiveness of the technology. We systematically collected and analyzed data concerning students' interaction with ChatGPT, focusing on their attitudes, concerns, and usage patterns. The findings indicate that ChatGPT offers significant advantages such as improved information access and increased interactivity, but its adoption is accompanied by concerns about the accuracy of the information provided and the necessity for well-defined guidelines to optimize its use.
Evaluating the Fairness of Neural Collapse in Medical Image Classification
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

Deep learning has achieved impressive performance across various medical imaging tasks. However, its inherent bias against specific groups hinders its clinical applicability in equitable healthcare systems. A recently discovered phenomenon, Neural Collapse (NC), has shown potential in improving the generalization of state-of-the-art deep learning models. Nonetheless, its implications on bias in medical imaging remain unexplored. Our study investigates deep learning fairness through the lens of NC. We analyze the training dynamics of models as they approach NC when training using biased datasets, and examine the subsequent impact on test performance, specifically focusing on label bias. We find that biased training initially results in different NC configurations across subgroups, before converging to a final NC solution by memorizing all data samples. Through extensive experiments on three medical imaging datasets -- PAPILA, HAM10000, and CheXpert -- we find that in biased settings, NC can lead to a significant drop in F1 score across all subgroups. Our code is available at https://gitlab.com/radiology/neuro/neural-collapse-fairness
Neural Network-based Information Set Weighting for Playing Reconnaissance Blind Chess
Venue: arXiv cs.AI 2024
Year: 2024

In imperfect information games, the game state is generally not fully observable to players. Therefore, good gameplay requires policies that deal with the different information that is hidden from each player. To combat this, effective algorithms often reason about information sets; the sets of all possible game states that are consistent with a player's observations. While there is no way to distinguish between the states within an information set, this property does not imply that all states are equally likely to occur in play. We extend previous research on assigning weights to the states in an information set in order to facilitate better gameplay in the imperfect information game of Reconnaissance Blind Chess. For this, we train two different neural networks which estimate the likelihood of each state in an information set from historical game data. Experimentally, we find that a Siamese neural network is able to achieve higher accuracy and is more efficient than a classical convolutional neural network for the given domain. Finally, we evaluate an RBC-playing agent that is based on the generated weightings and compare different parameter settings that influence how strongly it should rely on them. The resulting best player is ranked 5th on the public leaderboard.
Causality-driven Sequence Segmentation for Enhancing Multiphase Industrial Process Data Analysis and Soft Sensing
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2024
Year: 2024

The dynamic characteristics of multiphase industrial processes present significant challenges in the field of industrial big data modeling. Traditional soft sensing models frequently neglect the process dynamics and have difficulty in capturing transient phenomena like phase transitions. To address this issue, this article introduces a causality-driven sequence segmentation (CDSS) model. This model first identifies the local dynamic properties of the causal relationships between variables, which are also referred to as causal mechanisms. It then segments the sequence into different phases based on the sudden shifts in causal mechanisms that occur during phase transitions. Additionally, a novel metric, similarity distance, is designed to evaluate the temporal consistency of causal mechanisms, which includes both causal similarity distance and stable similarity distance. The discovered causal relationships in each phase are represented as a temporal causal graph (TCG). Furthermore, a soft sensing model called temporal-causal graph convolutional network (TC-GCN) is trained for each phase, by using the time-extended data and the adjacency matrix of TCG. The numerical examples are utilized to validate the proposed CDSS model, and the segmentation results demonstrate that CDSS has excellent performance on segmenting both stable and unstable multiphase series. Especially, it has higher accuracy in separating non-stationary time series compared to other methods. The effectiveness of the proposed CDSS model and the TC-GCN model is also verified through a penicillin fermentation process. Experimental results indicate that the breakpoints discovered by CDSS align well with the reaction mechanisms and TC-GCN significantly has excellent predictive accuracy.
6GSoft: Software for Edge-to-Cloud Continuum
Venue: arXiv cs.SE 2024
Year: 2024

In the era of 6G, developing and managing software requires cutting-edge software engineering (SE) theories and practices tailored for such complexity across a vast number of connected edge devices. Our project aims to lead the development of sustainable methods and energy-efficient orchestration models specifically for edge environments, enhancing architectural support driven by AI for contemporary edge-to-cloud continuum computing. This initiative seeks to position Finland at the forefront of the 6G landscape, focusing on sophisticated edge orchestration and robust software architectures to optimize the performance and scalability of edge networks. Collaborating with leading Finnish universities and companies, the project emphasizes deep industry-academia collaboration and international expertise to address critical challenges in edge orchestration and software architecture, aiming to drive significant advancements in software productivity and market impact.
Deform-Mamba Network for MRI Super-Resolution
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

In this paper, we propose a new architecture, called Deform-Mamba, for MR image super-resolution. Unlike conventional CNN or Transformer-based super-resolution approaches which encounter challenges related to the local respective field or heavy computational cost, our approach aims to effectively explore the local and global information of images. Specifically, we develop a Deform-Mamba encoder which is composed of two branches, modulated deform block and vision Mamba block. We also design a multi-view context module in the bottleneck layer to explore the multi-view contextual content. Thanks to the extracted features of the encoder, which include content-adaptive local and efficient global information, the vision Mamba decoder finally generates high-quality MR images. Moreover, we introduce a contrastive edge loss to promote the reconstruction of edge and contrast related content. Quantitative and qualitative experimental results indicate that our approach on IXI and fastMRI datasets achieves competitive performance.
MMIS: Multimodal Dataset for Interior Scene Visual Generation and Recognition
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

We introduce MMIS, a novel dataset designed to advance MultiModal Interior Scene generation and recognition. MMIS consists of nearly 160,000 images. Each image within the dataset is accompanied by its corresponding textual description and an audio recording of that description, providing rich and diverse sources of information for scene generation and recognition. MMIS encompasses a wide range of interior spaces, capturing various styles, layouts, and furnishings. To construct this dataset, we employed careful processes involving the collection of images, the generation of textual descriptions, and corresponding speech annotations. The presented dataset contributes to research in multi-modal representation learning tasks such as image generation, retrieval, captioning, and classification.
Multi-Texture Synthesis through Signal Responsive Neural Cellular Automata
Venue: arXiv cs.NE 2024
Year: 2024

Neural Cellular Automata (NCA) have proven to be effective in a variety of fields, with numerous biologically inspired applications. One of the fields, in which NCAs perform well is the generation of textures, modelling global patterns from local interactions governed by uniform and coherent rules. This paper aims to enhance the usability of NCAs in texture synthesis by addressing a shortcoming of current NCA architectures for texture generation, which requires separately trained NCA for each individual texture. In this work, we train a single NCA for the evolution of multiple textures, based on individual examples. Our solution provides texture information in the state of each cell, in the form of an internally coded genomic signal, which enables the NCA to generate the expected texture. Such a neural cellular automaton not only maintains its regenerative capability but also allows for interpolation between learned textures and supports grafting techniques. This demonstrates the ability to edit generated textures and the potential for them to merge and coexist within the same automaton. We also address questions related to the influence of the genomic information and the cost function on the evolution of the NCA.
Advancing Automated Deception Detection: A Multimodal Approach to Feature Extraction and Analysis
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

With the exponential increase in video content, the need for accurate deception detection in human-centric video analysis has become paramount. This research focuses on the extraction and combination of various features to enhance the accuracy of deception detection models. By systematically extracting features from visual, audio, and text data, and experimenting with different combinations, we developed a robust model that achieved an impressive 99% accuracy. Our methodology emphasizes the significance of feature engineering in deception detection, providing a clear and interpretable framework. We trained various machine learning models, including LSTM, BiLSTM, and pre-trained CNNs, using both single and multi-modal approaches. The results demonstrated that combining multiple modalities significantly enhances detection performance compared to single modality training. This study highlights the potential of strategic feature extraction and combination in developing reliable and transparent automated deception detection systems in video analysis, paving the way for more advanced and accurate detection methodologies in future research.
Evaluating Predictive Models in Cybersecurity: A Comparative Analysis of Machine and Deep Learning Techniques for Threat Detection
Venue: arXiv cs.CR 2024
Year: 2024

As these attacks become more and more difficult to see, the need for the great hi-tech models that detect them is undeniable. This paper examines and compares various machine learning as well as deep learning models to choose the most suitable ones for detecting and fighting against cybersecurity risks. The two datasets are used in the study to assess models like Naive Bayes, SVM, Random Forest, and deep learning architectures, i.e., VGG16, in the context of accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score. Analysis shows that Random Forest and Extra Trees do better in terms of accuracy though in different aspects of the dataset characteristics and types of threat. This research not only emphasizes the strengths and weaknesses of each predictive model but also addresses the difficulties associated with deploying such technologies in the real-world environment, such as data dependency and computational demands. The research findings are targeted at cybersecurity professionals to help them select appropriate predictive models and configure them to strengthen the security measures against cyber threats completely.
Leveraging Transformers for Weakly Supervised Object Localization in Unconstrained Videos
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

Weakly-Supervised Video Object Localization (WSVOL) involves localizing an object in videos using only video-level labels, also referred to as tags. State-of-the-art WSVOL methods like Temporal CAM (TCAM) rely on class activation mapping (CAM) and typically require a pre-trained CNN classifier. However, their localization accuracy is affected by their tendency to minimize the mutual information between different instances of a class and exploit temporal information during training for downstream tasks, e.g., detection and tracking. In the absence of bounding box annotation, it is challenging to exploit precise information about objects from temporal cues because the model struggles to locate objects over time. To address these issues, a novel method called transformer based CAM for videos (TrCAM-V), is proposed for WSVOL. It consists of a DeiT backbone with two heads for classification and localization. The classification head is trained using standard classification loss (CL), while the localization head is trained using pseudo-labels that are extracted using a pre-trained CLIP model. From these pseudo-labels, the high and low activation values are considered to be foreground and background regions, respectively. Our TrCAM-V method allows training a localization network by sampling pseudo-pixels on the fly from these regions. Additionally, a conditional random field (CRF) loss is employed to align the object boundaries with the foreground map. During inference, the model can process individual frames for real-time localization applications. Extensive experiments on challenging YouTube-Objects unconstrained video datasets show that our TrCAM-V method achieves new state-of-the-art performance in terms of classification and localization accuracy.
LLMcap: Large Language Model for Unsupervised PCAP Failure Detection
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2024
Year: 2024

The integration of advanced technologies into telecommunication networks complicates troubleshooting, posing challenges for manual error identification in Packet Capture (PCAP) data. This manual approach, requiring substantial resources, becomes impractical at larger scales. Machine learning (ML) methods offer alternatives, but the scarcity of labeled data limits accuracy. In this study, we propose a self-supervised, large language model-based (LLMcap) method for PCAP failure detection. LLMcap leverages language-learning abilities and employs masked language modeling to learn grammar, context, and structure. Tested rigorously on various PCAPs, it demonstrates high accuracy despite the absence of labeled data during training, presenting a promising solution for efficient network analysis. Index Terms: Network troubleshooting, Packet Capture Analysis, Self-Supervised Learning, Large Language Model, Network Quality of Service, Network Performance.
ERR@HRI 2024 Challenge: Multimodal Detection of Errors and Failures in Human-Robot Interactions
Venue: arXiv cs.RO 2024
Year: 2024

Despite the recent advancements in robotics and machine learning (ML), the deployment of autonomous robots in our everyday lives is still an open challenge. This is due to multiple reasons among which are their frequent mistakes, such as interrupting people or having delayed responses, as well as their limited ability to understand human speech, i.e., failure in tasks like transcribing speech to text. These mistakes may disrupt interactions and negatively influence human perception of these robots. To address this problem, robots need to have the ability to detect human-robot interaction (HRI) failures. The ERR@HRI 2024 challenge tackles this by offering a benchmark multimodal dataset of robot failures during human-robot interactions (HRI), encouraging researchers to develop and benchmark multimodal machine learning models to detect these failures. We created a dataset featuring multimodal non-verbal interaction data, including facial, speech, and pose features from video clips of interactions with a robotic coach, annotated with labels indicating the presence or absence of robot mistakes, user awkwardness, and interaction ruptures, allowing for the training and evaluation of predictive models. Challenge participants have been invited to submit their multimodal ML models for detection of robot errors and to be evaluated against various performance metrics such as accuracy, precision, recall, F1 score, with and without a margin of error reflecting the time-sensitivity of these metrics. The results of this challenge will help the research field in better understanding the robot failures in human-robot interactions and designing autonomous robots that can mitigate their own errors after successfully detecting them.