Reviewerly/exHarmony huggingface dataset:
Federated Learning for Data Analytics in Education

Federated learning techniques aim to train and build machine learning models based on distributed datasets across multiple devices while avoiding data leakage. The main idea is to perform training on remote devices or isolated data centers without transferring data to centralized repositories, thus mitigating privacy risks. Data analytics in education, in particular learning analytics, is a promising scenario to apply this approach to address the legal and ethical issues related to processing sensitive data. Indeed, given the nature of the data to be studied (personal data, educational outcomes, and data concerning minors), it is essential to ensure that the conduct of these studies and the publication of the results provide the necessary guarantees to protect the privacy of the individuals involved and the protection of their data. In addition, the application of quantitative techniques based on the exploitation of data on the use of educational platforms, student performance, use of devices, etc., can account for educational problems such as the determination of user profiles, personalized learning trajectories, or early dropout indicators and alerts, among others. This paper presents the application of federated learning techniques to a well-known learning analytics problem: student dropout prediction. The experiments allow us to conclude that the proposed solutions achieve comparable results from the performance point of view with the centralized versions, avoiding the concentration of all the data in a single place for training the models.
Detection and Correction of Abnormal IoT Data from Tea Plantations Based on Deep Learning

This paper proposes a data anomaly detection and correction algorithm for the tea plantation IoT system based on deep learning, aiming at the multi-cause and multi-feature characteristics of abnormal data. The algorithm is based on the Z-score standardization of the original data and the determination of sliding window size according to the sampling frequency. First, we construct a convolutional neural network (CNN) model to extract abnormal data. Second, based on the support vector machine (SVM) algorithm, the Gaussian radial basis function (RBF) and one-to-one (OVO) multiclassification method are used to classify the abnormal data. Then, after extracting the time points of abnormal data, a long short-term memory network is established for prediction with multifactor historical data. The predicted values are used to replace and correct the abnormal data. When multiple consecutive abnormal values are detected, a faulty sensor judgment is given, and the specific faulty sensor location is output. The results show that the accuracy rate and micro-specificity of abnormal data detection for the CNN-SVM model are 3–4% and 20–30% higher than those of the traditional CNN model, respectively. The anomaly detection and correction algorithm for tea plantation data established in this paper provides accurate performance.
Hate Speech and Polarization Around the “Trans Law” in Spain

The approval of the law for the real and effective equality of trans people and for the guarantee of the rights of LGTBI people (the Trans Law) has been one of the most controversial legislative actions in recent years; however, there is very little knowledge about the public’s perception of the issue and how they express their opinions in the public sphere. Supporters of the law consider that the free determination of gender is essential to end discrimination against trans people, while critics express hate speech that can be a precursor to violent actions. This work aims to fill a gap, studying the relationship between the perceptions of a controversial and polarizing issue and their public expression through social media. The main objective is to analyze the public’s perception, with special attention to age, gender, and political ideology, and compare it with the hate speech posted on Twitter. The methodology presents a survey of citizens and the use of computational methods to analyze Twitter messages with a machine-learning algorithm that classifies them as hate or not hate. The results indicate that the majority (80.1%) support the approval of the law, while those close to left and center political ideologies favor the law more than those who define themselves as right-wing. There are no significant differences according to age. Of the messages analyzed, 9.7% were classified as hate.
AMC: Adaptive Multi-expert Collaborative Network for Text-guided Image Retrieval

Text-guided image retrieval integrates reference image and text feedback as a multimodal query to search the image corresponding to user intention. Recent approaches employ multi-level matching, multiple accesses, or multiple subnetworks for better performance regardless of the heavy burden of storage and computation in the deployment. Additionally, these models not only rely on expert knowledge to handcraft image-text composing modules but also do inference by the static computational graph. It limits the representation capability and generalization ability of networks in the face of challenges from complex and varied combinations of reference image and text feedback. To break the shackles of the static network concept, we introduce the dynamic router mechanism to achieve data-dependent expert activation and flexible collaboration of multiple experts to explore more implicit multimodal fusion patterns. Specifically, we construct AMC, our A daptive M ulti-expert C ollaborative network, by using the proposed router to activate the different experts with different levels of image-text interaction. Since routers can dynamically adjust the activation of experts for the current samples, AMC can achieve the adaptive fusion mode for the different reference image and text combinations and generate dynamic computational graphs according to varied multimodal queries. Extensive experiments on two benchmark datasets demonstrate that due to benefits from the image-text composing representation produced by an adaptive multi-expert collaboration mechanism, AMC has better retrieval performance and zero-shot generalization ability than the state-of-the-art method while keeping the lightweight model and fast retrieval speed. Moreover, we analyze the visualization of path activation, attention map, and retrieval results to further understand the routing decisions and semantic localization ability of AMC. The codes and pretrained models are available at https://github.com/KevinLight831/AMC .
Spectral-Spatial Feature Enhancement Algorithm for Nighttime Object Detection and Tracking

Object detection and tracking has always been one of the important research directions in computer vision. The purpose is to determine whether the object is contained in the input image and enclose the object with a bounding box. However, most object detection and tracking methods are applied to daytime objects, and the processing of nighttime objects is imprecise. In this paper, a spectral-spatial feature enhancement algorithm for nighttime object detection and tracking is proposed, which is inspired by symmetrical neural networks. The proposed method consists of the following steps. First, preprocessing is performed on unlabeled nighttime images, including low-light enhancement, object detection, and dynamic programming. Second, object features for daytime and nighttime times are extracted and modulated with a domain-adaptive structure. Third, the Siamese network can make full use of daytime and nighttime object features, which is trained as a tracker by the above images. Fourth, the test set is subjected to feature enhancement and then input to the tracker to obtain the final detection and tracking results. The feature enhancement step includes low-light enhancement and Gabor filtering. The spatial-spectral features of the target are fully extracted in this step. The NAT2021 dataset is used in the experiments. Six methods are employed as comparisons. Multiple judgment indicators were used to analyze the research results. The experimental results show that the method achieves excellent detection and tracking performance.
Regimentation of geochemical indicator elements employing convolutional deep learning algorithm

Recently, deep learning algorithms have been popularly developed for identifying multi-element geochemical patterns related to various mineralization occurrences. Effective recognition of multi-element geochemical anomalies is essential for mineral exploration, and effective recognition is extremely dependent on integral clustering. Deep learning algorithms can achieve impressive results in comparison to the prior methods of clustering indicator elements correlated to mineralization for a region of interest due to their superb capability of extracting features from complex data. Although numerous supervised and unsupervised deep learning algorithms have been executed for the recognition of geochemical anomalies, employing them for clustering geochemical indicator elements is rarely observed. In this research, a convolutional deep learning (CDL) algorithm was architected to recognize and regiment geochemical indicator elements in Takht-e Soleyman District, Iran. Various opinions and experiments were considered to reach optimum parameters of this architecture. Fortunately, the achieved root mean square error (RMSE) values were in the appropriate range (&amp;lt;20%) which display the predicted values of the dependent variables (Pb as a pioneer of the first group and Ag as a pioneer of the second group) through their independent variables that are so close to their actual values. Also, the great R 2 adj calculated (more than 90%) for the last stage of regimentation confirms impressive accuracy and performance of the convolutional deep learning algorithm for clustering geochemical indicator elements of the study area.
Replication-Based Dynamic Energy-Aware Resource Provisioning for Scientific Workflows

Distributed computing services in cloud environments are easily accessible to end users. These services are delivered to end users via a subscription-based model. The “infrastructure as a service” (IaaS) cloud model is one of the best cloud environment models for running data- and computing-intensive applications. Real-world scientific applications are the best examples of data and computing intensiveness. For their implementation, scientific workflow applications need high-performance computational resources and a large volume of storage. The workflow tasks are linked based on computational and data interdependence. Considering the high volume and variety of scientific workflows (SWs), the resources of the IaaS cloud model require managing energy efficiently and without failure or loss. Therefore, in order to address the issues of power consumption and task failure for real-world SWs, this research work proposes a replication-based dynamic energy-aware resource provisioning (R-DEAR) strategy for SWs in an IaaS cloud environment. The proposed strategy, R-DEAR, is a resource- and service-provisioning strategy that implements a replication-based fault-tolerant and load-balancing mechanism. The proposed R-DEAR strategy schedules the tasks of a scientific workflow with a replication-based fault-tolerant mechanism. The proposed R-DEAR strategy also manages the power consumption of IaaS cloud resources dynamically through a load-sharing process. Simulation results show that the proposed R-DEAR strategy reduces energy consumption, execution cost, and execution time by 9%, 15%, and 18%, respectively, as compared with the existing state-of-the-art strategy.
Quadratic-Phase Hilbert Transform and the Associated Bedrosian Theorem

The Hilbert transform is a commonly used linear operator that separates the real and imaginary parts of an analytic signal and is employed in various fields, such as filter design, signal processing, and communication theory. However, it falls short in representing signals in generalized domains. To address this limitation, we propose a novel integral transform, coined the quadratic-phase Hilbert transform. The preliminary study encompasses the formulation of all the fundamental properties of the generalized Hilbert transform. Additionally, we examine the relationship between the quadratic-phase Fourier transform and the proposed transform, and delve into the convolution theorem for the quadratic-phase Hilbert transform. The Bedrosian theorem associated with the quadratic-phase Hilbert transform is explored in detail. The validity and accuracy of the obtained results were verified through simulations.
Review and Development of a Scalable Lightweight Blockchain Integrated Model (LightBlock) for IoT Applications

The Internet of things (IoT) is on the rise, and it is increasingly becoming a ubiquitous computing service that requires large data storage and processing. Due to the limited capabilities of most IoT devices, they always rely on cloud services for storage and computing, posing security and privacy risks. Due to its significant aspects, such as data security and privacy, Blockchain (BC) has drawn significant interest in alleviating these concerns. Despite its potential benefits, Blockchain’s high complexity and limited scalability make it computationally expensive and incompatible with IoT devices requiring lightweight solutions. Although several models have been proposed for this purpose, the issue is still far from being resolved. These models have significant constraints, such as resource optimization during operation. By presenting a scalable lightweight Blockchain integrated model (LightBlock), the primary objective of this work is to enable the usage of BC in the IoT environment. LightBlock is implemented by optimizing the components of a lightweight, scalable Blockchain. Lastly, the study’s findings should provide IoT users with a high level of security and privacy by ensuring applicability and offering end-to-end security.
MWIRGAN: Unsupervised Visible-to-MWIR Image Translation with Generative Adversarial Network

Unsupervised image-to-image translation techniques have been used in many applications, including visible-to-Long-Wave Infrared (visible-to-LWIR) image translation, but very few papers have explored visible-to-Mid-Wave Infrared (visible-to-MWIR) image translation. In this paper, we investigated unsupervised visible-to-MWIR image translation using generative adversarial networks (GANs). We proposed a new model named MWIRGAN for visible-to-MWIR image translation in a fully unsupervised manner. We utilized a perceptual loss to leverage shape identification and location changes of the objects in the translation. The experimental results showed that MWIRGAN was capable of visible-to-MWIR image translation while preserving the object’s shape with proper enhancement in the translated images and outperformed several competing state-of-the-art models. In addition, we customized the proposed model to convert game-engine-generated (a commercial software) images to MWIR images. The quantitative results showed that our proposed method could effectively generate MWIR images from game-engine-generated images, greatly benefiting MWIR data augmentation.
Video Synopsis Algorithms and Framework: A Survey and Comparative Evaluation

With the increase in video surveillance data, techniques such as video synopsis are being used to construct small videos for analysis, thereby saving storage resources. The video synopsis framework applies in real-time environments, allowing for the creation of synopsis between multiple and single-view cameras; the same framework encompasses optimization, extraction, and object detection algorithms. Contemporary state-of-the-art synopsis frameworks are suitable only for particular scenarios. This paper aims to review the traditional state-of-the-art video synopsis techniques and understand the different methods incorporated in the methodology. A comprehensive review provides analysis of varying video synopsis frameworks and their components, along with insightful evidence for classifying these techniques. We primarily investigate studies based on single-view and multiview cameras, providing a synopsis and taxonomy based on their characteristics, then identifying and briefly discussing the most commonly used datasets and evaluation metrics. At each stage of the synopsis framework, we present new trends and open challenges based on the obtained insights. Finally, we evaluate the different components such as object detection, tracking, optimization, and stitching techniques on a publicly available dataset and identify the lacuna among the different algorithms based on experimental results.
Production Planning Using a Shared Resource Register Organized According to the Assumptions of Blockchain Technology

This article presents the architecture of integration of blockchain technology (BCT) and the Internet of Things with the planning of production processes. The authors proposed a shared concept of a distributed machine database based on BCT. As part of the work, a network of connections for the exchange of production resources was created using nodes communicating in a decentralized system, which at the same time serves as an integration of the virtual and real environment. Particular attention was focused on developing an algorithm for the efficient division of production tasks between all interested network users. BCT is used to conclude smart contracts and transactions and ensure the security of exchanged production data within shared ledgers. The proposed concept is a solution enabling a modern approach to the interdisciplinary management of production resources while maintaining the highest cybersecurity standards.
Revisiting Homophily Ratio: A Relation-Aware Graph Neural Network for Homophily and Heterophily

The graph neural network (GNN) is a type of powerful deep learning model used to process graph data consisting of nodes and edges. Many studies of GNNs have modeled the relationships between the edges and labels of nodes only by homophily/heterophily, where most/few nodes with the same label tend to have an edge between each other. However, this modeling method cannot describe the multiconnection mode on graphs where homophily can coexist with heterophily. In this work, we propose a transition matrix to describe the relationships between edges and labels at the class level. Through this transition matrix, we constructed a more interpretable GNN in a neighbor-predicting manner, measured the information that the edges can provide for the node classification task, and proposed a method to test whether the labels match the edges. The results show the improvement of the proposed method against state-of-the-art (SOTA) GNNs. We also obtain the following two results: (1) the poor performance of GNNs is highly relevant to the information of edges instead of heterophily, which is always considered the main factor resulting in the decline in performance; and (2) most benchmark heterophilic datasets exhibit the label-edge mismatch problem, leading them to become intractable
Zero-Shot Image Classification Method Based on Attention Mechanism and Semantic Information Fusion

The zero-shot image classification (ZSIC) is designed to solve the classification problem when the sample is very small, or the category is missing. A common method is to use attribute or word vectors as a priori category features (auxiliary information) and complete the domain transfer from training of seen classes to recognition of unseen classes by building a mapping between image features and a priori category features. However, feature extraction of the whole image lacks discrimination, and the amount of information of single attribute features or word vector features of categories is insufficient, which makes the matching degree between image features and prior class features not high and affects the accuracy of the ZSIC model. To this end, a spatial attention mechanism is designed, and an image feature extraction module based on this attention mechanism is constructed to screen critical features with discrimination. A semantic information fusion method based on matrix decomposition is proposed, which first decomposes the attribute features and then fuses them with the extracted word vector features of a dataset to achieve information expansion. Through the above two improvement measures, the classification accuracy of the ZSIC model for unseen images is improved. The experimental results on public datasets verify the effect and superiority of the proposed methods.
Cheating Detection of Test Collusion: A Study on Machine Learning Techniques and Feature Representation

Abstract Machine learning has evolved and expanded as an interdisciplinary research method for educational sciences. However, cheating detection of test collusion among multiple examinees or sets of examinees with unusual answer patterns using machine learning techniques has remained relatively unexplored. This study investigates collusion on multiple‐choice tests by introducing feature representation methodologies and machine learning algorithms that can be jointly used as a promising method; they can be used not only to detect individual examinees involved in the collusion but also to evaluate test collusion with or without the groups of potentially dishonest examinees identified a priori. Furthermore, using small‐sample examples, the visual detection procedures of the current study were articulated to help identify questionable item response groups and simultaneously focus on the specific individuals providing anomalous answers.
Unblocking recognition: A token system for acknowledging academic contribution

Here we present a blockchain-backed token recognition system to reward the contributions that academics make to the scientific ecosystem. Recognition is important in science but current methods, systems and incentives are limited. Specifically, the traditional focus on narrow publication metrics means diverse contributions are not captured, while bias toward senior, established scientists is common. To tackle this challenge, we explore the potential of harnessing blockchain’s collaborative, decentralised and trust-brokering properties to develop a token reward system for use by research funders. Academics would be awarded tokens for undertaking common but vital tasks such as peer review, sitting on funding committees and submitting reports. These tokens would not be tradable or specifically monetisable but would serve as a validated record of scientific contribution. They would have value in professional recruitment and job placement, support grant and award applications, and inform performance appraisals and file reviews. Coordination and cooperation across multiple funding agencies in developing the platform would provide an opportunity to aggregate and standardise recognition, given academics often work with several funders. This system’s goals are to expand recognition metrics, promote efficiencies, improve the robustness of professional assessments and enable cross-funder collaboration, thereby optimising research processes and practices in a decentralised and democratised manner.
The Unit and Size of Information Supporting Auditory Feedback for Voice User Interface

The purpose of this study was to explore the unit of information and the size of the unit for designing a voice user interface. Through two experiments, this study investigated what form the information (the unit of information) should take and what size of that (the size of unit) should be when people were provided information by voice interfaces. Participants were presented with a task to recall (OX quiz) by listening to and remembering information (based on an encyclopedia) provided by smart speakers. In Experiment 1, it was revealed that participants stored information in their memory span on a sentence-by-sentences basis to determine how much information they could remember. In Experiment 2, sentence-based information was presented in various sizes, and participants evaluated 17 information units consisting of up to nine words as their memory limit. This information unit-based voice interface design could help improve users’ memory performance and usability.