OpenRaiser/Intern-Atlas huggingface dataset:
CombiNeRF: A Combination of Regularization Techniques for Few-Shot Neural Radiance Field View Synthesis
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

Neural Radiance Fields (NeRFs) have shown impressive results for novel view synthesis when a sufficiently large amount of views are available. When dealing with few-shot settings, i.e. with a small set of input views, the training could overfit those views, leading to artifacts and geometric and chromatic inconsistencies in the resulting rendering. Regularization is a valid solution that helps NeRF generalization. On the other hand, each of the most recent NeRF regularization techniques aim to mitigate a specific rendering problem. Starting from this observation, in this paper we propose CombiNeRF, a framework that synergically combines several regularization techniques, some of them novel, in order to unify the benefits of each. In particular, we regularize single and neighboring rays distributions and we add a smoothness term to regularize near geometries. After these geometric approaches, we propose to exploit Lipschitz regularization to both NeRF density and color networks and to use encoding masks for input features regularization. We show that CombiNeRF outperforms the state-of-the-art methods with few-shot settings in several publicly available datasets. We also present an ablation study on the LLFF and NeRF-Synthetic datasets that support the choices made. We release with this paper the open-source implementation of our framework.
Raw Instinct: Trust Your Classifiers and Skip the Conversion
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

Using RAW-images in computer vision problems is surprisingly underexplored considering that converting from RAW to RGB does not introduce any new capture information. In this paper, we show that a sufficiently advanced classifier can yield equivalent results on RAW input compared to RGB and present a new public dataset consisting of RAW images and the corresponding converted RGB images. Classifying images directly from RAW is attractive, as it allows for skipping the conversion to RGB, lowering computation time significantly. Two CNN classifiers are used to classify the images in both formats, confirming that classification performance can indeed be preserved. We furthermore show that the total computation time from RAW image data to classification results for RAW images can be up to 8.46 times faster than RGB. These results contribute to the evidence found in related works, that using RAW images as direct input to computer vision algorithms looks very promising.
Exploring 3D Human Pose Estimation and Forecasting from the Robot's Perspective: The HARPER Dataset
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

We introduce HARPER, a novel dataset for 3D body pose estimation and forecast in dyadic interactions between users and Spot, the quadruped robot manufactured by Boston Dynamics. The key-novelty is the focus on the robot's perspective, i.e., on the data captured by the robot's sensors. These make 3D body pose analysis challenging because being close to the ground captures humans only partially. The scenario underlying HARPER includes 15 actions, of which 10 involve physical contact between the robot and users. The Corpus contains not only the recordings of the built-in stereo cameras of Spot, but also those of a 6-camera OptiTrack system (all recordings are synchronized). This leads to ground-truth skeletal representations with a precision lower than a millimeter. In addition, the Corpus includes reproducible benchmarks on 3D Human Pose Estimation, Human Pose Forecasting, and Collision Prediction, all based on publicly available baseline approaches. This enables future HARPER users to rigorously compare their results with those we provide in this work.
Towards Single-System Illusion in Software-Defined Vehicles -- Automated, AI-Powered Workflow
Venue: arXiv cs.SE 2024
Year: 2024

We propose a novel model- and feature-based approach to development of vehicle software systems, where the end architecture is not explicitly defined. Instead, it emerges from an iterative process of search and optimization given certain constraints, requirements and hardware architecture, while retaining the property of single-system illusion, where applications run in a logically uniform environment. One of the key points of the presented approach is the inclusion of modern generative AI, specifically Large Language Models (LLMs), in the loop. With the recent advances in the field, we expect that the LLMs will be able to assist in processing of requirements, generation of formal system models, as well as generation of software deployment specification and test code. The resulting pipeline is automated to a large extent, with feedback being generated at each step.
Soft Learning Probabilistic Circuits
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2024
Year: 2024

Probabilistic Circuits (PCs) are prominent tractable probabilistic models, allowing for a range of exact inferences. This paper focuses on the main algorithm for training PCs, LearnSPN, a gold standard due to its efficiency, performance, and ease of use, in particular for tabular data. We show that LearnSPN is a greedy likelihood maximizer under mild assumptions. While inferences in PCs may use the entire circuit structure for processing queries, LearnSPN applies a hard method for learning them, propagating at each sum node a data point through one and only one of the children/edges as in a hard clustering process. We propose a new learning procedure named SoftLearn, that induces a PC using a soft clustering process. We investigate the effect of this learning-inference compatibility in PCs. Our experiments show that SoftLearn outperforms LearnSPN in many situations, yielding better likelihoods and arguably better samples. We also analyze comparable tractable models to highlight the differences between soft/hard learning and model querying.
A Mathematical Introduction to Deep Reinforcement Learning for 5G/6G Applications
Venue: arXiv cs.NI 2024
Year: 2024

Algorithmic innovation can unleash the potential of the beyond 5G (B5G)/6G communication systems. Artificial intelligence (AI)-driven zero-touch network slicing is envisaged as a promising cutting-edge technology to harness the full potential of heterogeneous 6G networks and enable the automation of demand-aware management and orchestration (MANO). The network slicing continues towards numerous slices with micro or macro services in 6G networks, and thereby, designing a robust, stable, and distributed learning mechanism is considered a necessity. In this regard, robust brain-inspired and dopamine-like learning methods, such as Actor-Critic approaches, can play a vital role. The tutorial begins with an introduction to network slicing, reinforcement learning (RL), and recent state-of-the-art (SoA) algorithms. Then, the paper elaborates on the combination of value-based and policy-based methods in the form of Actor-Critic techniques tailored to the needs of future wireless networks.
Transfer Learning for Cross-dataset Isolated Sign Language Recognition in Under-Resourced Datasets
Venue: arXiv cs.CV 2024
Year: 2024

Sign language recognition (SLR) has recently achieved a breakthrough in performance thanks to deep neural networks trained on large annotated sign datasets. Of the many different sign languages, these annotated datasets are only available for a select few. Since acquiring gloss-level labels on sign language videos is difficult, learning by transferring knowledge from existing annotated sources is useful for recognition in under-resourced sign languages. This study provides a publicly available cross-dataset transfer learning benchmark from two existing public Turkish SLR datasets. We use a temporal graph convolution-based sign language recognition approach to evaluate five supervised transfer learning approaches and experiment with closed-set and partial-set cross-dataset transfer learning. Experiments demonstrate that improvement over finetuning based transfer learning is possible with specialized supervised transfer learning methods.
Simplified Diffusion Schrödinger Bridge
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2024
Year: 2024

This paper introduces a novel theoretical simplification of the Diffusion Schrödinger Bridge (DSB) that facilitates its unification with Score-based Generative Models (SGMs), addressing the limitations of DSB in complex data generation and enabling faster convergence and enhanced performance. By employing SGMs as an initial solution for DSB, our approach capitalizes on the strengths of both frameworks, ensuring a more efficient training process and improving the performance of SGM. We also propose a reparameterization technique that, despite theoretical approximations, practically improves the network's fitting capabilities. Our extensive experimental evaluations confirm the effectiveness of the simplified DSB, demonstrating its significant improvements. We believe the contributions of this work pave the way for advanced generative modeling.
A Synergistic Approach to Wildfire Prevention and Management Using AI, ML, and 5G Technology in the United States
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2024
Year: 2024

Over the past few years, wildfires have become a worldwide environmental emergency, resulting in substantial harm to natural habitats and playing a part in the acceleration of climate change. Wildfire management methods involve prevention, response, and recovery efforts. Despite improvements in detection techniques, the rising occurrence of wildfires demands creative solutions for prompt identification and effective control. This research investigates proactive methods for detecting and handling wildfires in the United States, utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and 5G technology. The specific objective of this research covers proactive detection and prevention of wildfires using advanced technology; Active monitoring and mapping with remote sensing and signaling leveraging on 5G technology; and Advanced response mechanisms to wildfire using drones and IOT devices. This study was based on secondary data collected from government databases and analyzed using descriptive statistics. In addition, past publications were reviewed through content analysis, and narrative synthesis was used to present the observations from various studies. The results showed that developing new technology presents an opportunity to detect and manage wildfires proactively. Utilizing advanced technology could save lives and prevent significant economic losses caused by wildfires. Various methods, such as AI-enabled remote sensing and 5G-based active monitoring, can enhance proactive wildfire detection and management. In addition, super intelligent drones and IOT devices can be used for safer responses to wildfires. This forms the core of the recommendation to the fire Management Agencies and the government.
Social Intelligence Data Infrastructure: Structuring the Present and Navigating the Future
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2024
Year: 2024

As Natural Language Processing (NLP) systems become increasingly integrated into human social life, these technologies will need to increasingly rely on social intelligence. Although there are many valuable datasets that benchmark isolated dimensions of social intelligence, there does not yet exist any body of work to join these threads into a cohesive subfield in which researchers can quickly identify research gaps and future directions. Towards this goal, we build a Social AI Data Infrastructure, which consists of a comprehensive social AI taxonomy and a data library of 480 NLP datasets. Our infrastructure allows us to analyze existing dataset efforts, and also evaluate language models' performance in different social intelligence aspects. Our analyses demonstrate its utility in enabling a thorough understanding of current data landscape and providing a holistic perspective on potential directions for future dataset development. We show there is a need for multifaceted datasets, increased diversity in language and culture, more long-tailed social situations, and more interactive data in future social intelligence data efforts.
Case Studies of AI Policy Development in Africa
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2024
Year: 2024

Artificial Intelligence (AI) requires new ways of evaluating national technology use and strategy for African nations. We conduct a survey of existing 'readiness' assessments both for general digital adoption and for AI policy in particular. We conclude that existing global readiness assessments do not fully capture African states' progress in AI readiness and lay the groundwork for how assessments can be better used for the African context. We consider the extent to which these indicators map to the African context and what these indicators miss in capturing African states' on-the-ground work in meeting AI capability. Through case studies of four African nations of diverse geographic and economic dimensions, we identify nuances missed by global assessments and offer high-level policy considerations for how states can best improve their AI readiness standards and prepare their societies to capture the benefits of AI.
ClickTree: A Tree-based Method for Predicting Math Students' Performance Based on Clickstream Data
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2024
Year: 2024

The prediction of student performance and the analysis of students' learning behavior play an important role in enhancing online courses. By analysing a massive amount of clickstream data that captures student behavior, educators can gain valuable insights into the factors that influence academic outcomes and identify areas of improvement in courses. In this study, we developed ClickTree, a tree-based methodology, to predict student performance in mathematical assignments based on students' clickstream data. We extracted a set of features, including problem-level, assignment-level and student-level features, from the extensive clickstream data and trained a CatBoost tree to predict whether a student successfully answers a problem in an assignment. The developed method achieved an AUC of 0.78844 in the Educational Data Mining Cup 2023 and ranked second in the competition. Furthermore, our results indicate that students encounter more difficulties in the problem types that they must select a subset of answers from a given set as well as problem subjects of Algebra II. Additionally, students who performed well in answering end-unit assignment problems engaged more with in-unit assignments and answered more problems correctly, while those who struggled had higher tutoring request rate. The proposed method can be utilized to improve students' learning experiences, and the above insights can be integrated into mathematical courses to enhance students' learning outcomes.
Evaluating Pedagogical Incentives in Undergraduate Computing: A Mixed Methods Approach Using Learning Analytics
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2024
Year: 2024

In the context of higher education's evolving dynamics post-COVID-19, this paper assesses the impact of new pedagogical incentives implemented in a first-year undergraduate computing module at University College London. We employ a mixed methods approach, combining learning analytics with qualitative data, to evaluate the effectiveness of these incentives on increasing student engagement. A longitudinal overview of resource interactions is mapped through Bayesian network analysis of Moodle activity logs from 204 students. This analysis identifies early resource engagement as a predictive indicator of continued engagement while also suggesting that the new incentives disproportionately benefit highly engaged students. Focus group discussions complement this analysis, providing insights into student perceptions of the pedagogical changes and the module design. These qualitative findings underscore the challenge of sustaining engagement through the new incentives and highlight the importance of communication in blended learning environments. Our paper introduces an interpretable and actionable model for student engagement, which integrates objective, data-driven analysis with students' perspectives. This model provides educators with a tool to evaluate and improve instructional strategies. By demonstrating the effectiveness of our mixed methods approach in capturing the intricacies of student behaviour in digital learning environments, we underscore the model's potential to improve online pedagogical practices across diverse educational settings.
Kernel Alignment for Unsupervised Feature Selection via Matrix Factorization
Venue: arXiv cs.LG 2024
Year: 2024

By removing irrelevant and redundant features, feature selection aims to find a good representation of the original features. With the prevalence of unlabeled data, unsupervised feature selection has been proven effective in alleviating the so-called curse of dimensionality. Most existing matrix factorization-based unsupervised feature selection methods are built upon subspace learning, but they have limitations in capturing nonlinear structural information among features. It is well-known that kernel techniques can capture nonlinear structural information. In this paper, we construct a model by integrating kernel functions and kernel alignment, which can be equivalently characterized as a matrix factorization problem. However, such an extension raises another issue: the algorithm performance heavily depends on the choice of kernel, which is often unknown a priori. Therefore, we further propose a multiple kernel-based learning method. By doing so, our model can learn both linear and nonlinear similarity information and automatically generate the most appropriate kernel. Experimental analysis on real-world data demonstrates that the two proposed methods outperform other classic and state-of-the-art unsupervised feature selection methods in terms of clustering results and redundancy reduction in almost all datasets tested.
Large Language Models and User Trust: Consequence of Self-Referential Learning Loop and the Deskilling of Healthcare Professionals
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2024
Year: 2024

This paper explores the evolving relationship between clinician trust in LLMs, the transformation of data sources from predominantly human-generated to AI-generated content, and the subsequent impact on the precision of LLMs and clinician competence. One of the primary concerns identified is the potential feedback loop that arises as LLMs become more reliant on their outputs for learning, which may lead to a degradation in output quality and a reduction in clinician skills due to decreased engagement with fundamental diagnostic processes. While theoretical at this stage, this feedback loop poses a significant challenge as the integration of LLMs in healthcare deepens, emphasizing the need for proactive dialogue and strategic measures to ensure the safe and effective use of LLM technology. A key takeaway from our investigation is the critical role of user expertise and the necessity for a discerning approach to trusting and validating LLM outputs. The paper highlights how expert users, particularly clinicians, can leverage LLMs to enhance productivity by offloading routine tasks while maintaining a critical oversight to identify and correct potential inaccuracies in AI-generated content. This balance of trust and skepticism is vital for ensuring that LLMs augment rather than undermine the quality of patient care. Moreover, we delve into the potential risks associated with LLMs' self-referential learning loops and the deskilling of healthcare professionals. The risk of LLMs operating within an echo chamber, where AI-generated content feeds into the learning algorithms, threatens the diversity and quality of the data pool, potentially entrenching biases and reducing the efficacy of LLMs.
An AIC-based approach for articulating unpredictable problems in open complex environments
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2024
Year: 2024

This research paper presents an approach to enhancing the predictive capability of architects in the design and assurance of systems, focusing on systems operating in dynamic and unpredictable environments. By adopting a systems approach, we aim to improve architects' predictive capabilities in designing dependable systems (for example, ML-based systems). An aerospace case study is used to illustrate the approach. Multiple factors (challenges) influencing aircraft detection are identified, demonstrating the effectiveness of our approach in a complex operational setting. Our approach primarily aimed to enhance the architect's predictive capability.
Digital Twins: How Far from Ideas to Twins?
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2024
Year: 2024

As a bridge from virtuality to reality, Digital Twin has increased in popularity since proposed. Ideas have been proposed theoretical and practical for digital twins. From theoretical perspective, digital twin is fusion of data mapping between modalities; from practical point of view, digital twin is scenario implementation based on the Internet of Things and models. From these two perspectives, we explore the researches from idea to realization of digital twins and discuss thoroughly.
Rule based Complex Event Processing for an Air Quality Monitoring System in Smart City
Venue: arXiv cs.CY 2024
Year: 2024

In recent years, smart city-based development has gained momentum due to its versatile nature in architecture and planning for the systematic habitation of human beings. According to World Health Organization (WHO) report, air pollution causes serious respiratory diseases. Hence, it becomes necessary to real-time monitoring of air quality to minimize effect by taking time-bound decisions by the stakeholders. The air pollution comprises various compositions such as NH3, O3, SO2, NO2, etc., and their concentrations vary from location to location.The research work proposes an integrated framework for monitoring air quality using rule-based Complex Event Processing (CEP) and SPARQL queries. CEP works with the data stream based on predefined rules to detect the complex pattern, which helps in decision support for stakeholders. Initially, the dataset was collected from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) of India and this data was then preprocessed and passed through Apache Kafka. Then a knowledge graph developed based on the air quality paradigm. Consequently, convert preprocessed data into Resource Description Framework (RDF) data, and integrate with Knowledge graph which is ingested to CEP engine using Apache Jena for enhancing the decision support . Simultaneously, rules are extracted using a decision tree, and some ground truth parameters of CPCB are added and ingested to the CEP engine to determine the complex patterns. Consequently, the SPARQL query is used on real-time RDF dataset for fetching the condition of air quality as good, poor, severe, hazardous etc based on complex events detection. For validating the proposed approach various chunks of RDF are used for the deployment of events to the CEP engine, and its performance is examined over time while performing simple and complex queries.
Concept-Best-Matching: Evaluating Compositionality in Emergent Communication
Venue: arXiv cs.AI 2024
Year: 2024

Artificial agents that learn to communicate in order to accomplish a given task acquire communication protocols that are typically opaque to a human. A large body of work has attempted to evaluate the emergent communication via various evaluation measures, with \emph{compositionality} featuring as a prominent desired trait. However, current evaluation procedures do not directly expose the compositionality of the emergent communication. We propose a procedure to assess the compositionality of emergent communication by finding the best-match between emerged words and natural language concepts. The best-match algorithm provides both a global score and a translation-map from emergent words to natural language concepts. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time that such direct and interpretable mapping between emergent words and human concepts is provided.