Reviewerly/exHarmony huggingface dataset:
NTIRE 2021 Challenge on Quality Enhancement of Compressed Video: Dataset and Study

This paper introduces a novel dataset for video enhancement and studies the state-of-the-art methods of the NTIRE 2021 challenge on quality enhancement of com-pressed video. The challenge is the first NTIRE challenge in this direction, with three competitions, hundreds of participants and tens of proposed solutions. Our newly collected Large-scale Diverse Video (LDV) dataset is employed in the challenge. In our study, we analyze the solutions of the challenges and several representative methods from previous literature on the proposed LDV dataset. We find that the NTIRE 2021 challenge advances the state-of-the-art of quality enhancement on compressed video. The pro-posed LDV dataset is publicly available at the homepage of the challenge: https://github.com/RenYang-home/NTIRE21_VEnh
Incremental Learning via Rate Reduction

Current deep learning architectures suffer from catastrophic forgetting, a failure to retain knowledge of previously learned classes when incrementally trained on new classes. The fundamental roadblock faced by deep learning methods is that the models are optimized as "black boxes," making it difficult to properly adjust the model parameters to preserve knowledge about previously seen data. To overcome the problem of catastrophic forgetting, we propose utilizing an alternative "white box" architecture derived from the principle of rate reduction, where each layer of the network is explicitly computed without back propagation. Under this paradigm, we demonstrate that, given a pretrained network and new data classes, our approach can provably construct a new network that emulates joint training with all past and new classes. Finally, our experiments show that our proposed learning algorithm observes significantly less decay in classification performance, outperforming state of the art methods on MNIST and CIFAR-10 by a large margin and justifying the use of "white box" algorithms for incremental learning even for sufficiently complex image data.
Proximity‐aware research leadership recommendation in research collaboration via deep neural networks

Abstract Collaborator recommendation is of great significance for facilitating research collaboration. Proximities have been demonstrated to be significant factors and determinants of research collaboration. Research leadership is associated with not only the capability to integrate resources to launch and sustain the research project but also the production and academic impact of the collaboration team. However, existing studies mainly focus on social or cognitive proximity, failing to integrate critical proximities comprehensively. Besides, existing studies focus on recommending relationships among all the coauthors, ignoring leadership in research collaboration. In this article, we propose a proximity‐aware research leadership recommendation (PRLR) model to systematically integrate critical node attribute information (critical proximities) and network features to conduct research leadership recommendation by predicting the directed links in the research leadership network. PRLR integrates cognitive, geographical, and institutional proximity as node attribute information and constructs a leadership‐aware coauthorship network to preserve the research leadership information. PRLR learns the node attribute information, the local network features, and the global network features with an autoencoder model, a joint probability constraint, and an attribute‐aware skip‐gram model, respectively. Extensive experiments and ablation studies have been conducted, demonstrating that PRLR significantly outperforms the state‐of‐the‐art collaborator recommendation models in research leadership recommendation.
Research on Named Entity Recognition of Electronic Medical Records Based on RoBERTa and Radical-Level Feature

Clinical named entity recognition (CNER) identifies entities from unstructured medical records and classifies them into predefined categories. It is of great significance for follow-up clinical studies. Most of the existing CNER methods fail to give enough thought to Chinese radical-level characteristics and the specialty of the Chinese field. This paper proposes the Ra-RC model, which combines radical features and a deep learning structure to fix this problem. A bidirectional encoder representation of transformer (RoBERTa) is utilized to learn medical features thoroughly. Simultaneously, we use the bidirectional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) network to extract radical-level information to capture the internal relevance of characteristics and stitch the eigenvectors generated by RoBERTa. In addition, the relationship between labels is considered to obtain the optimal tag sequence by applying conditional random field (CRF). The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed Ra-RC model achieves F1 score 93.26% and 82.87% on the CCKS2017 and CCKS2019 datasets, respectively.
Computing Quantum Channel Capacities

The capacity of noisy quantum channels characterizes the highest rate at which information can be reliably transmitted and it is therefore of practical as well as fundamental importance. Capacities of classical channels are computed using alternating optimization schemes, called Blahut-Arimoto algorithms. In this work, we generalize classical Blahut-Arimoto algorithms to the quantum setting. In particular, we give efficient iterative schemes to compute the capacity of channels with classical input and quantum output, the quantum capacity of less noisy channels, the thermodynamic capacity of quantum channels, as well as the entanglement-assisted capacity of quantum channels. We give rigorous a priori and a posteriori bounds on the estimation error by employing quantum entropy inequalities and demonstrate fast convergence of our algorithms in numerical experiments.
HHGN: A Hierarchical Reasoning-based Heterogeneous Graph Neural Network for fact verification

Fact verification aims to retrieve related evidence from raw text to verify the correctness of a given claim. Existing works mainly leverage the single-granularity features for the representation learning of evidences, i.e., sentence features, ignoring other features like entity-level and context-level features. In addition, they usually focus on improving the prediction accuracy while lacking the interpretability of the inference process, which leads to unreliable results. Thus, in this paper, to investigate how to utilize multi-granularity semantic units for evidence representation as well as to improve the explainability of evidence reasoning, we propose a H ierarchical Reasoning-based H eterogeneous G raph Neural N etwork for fact verification (HHGN). HHGN combines multiple features of entity, sentence as well as context for evidence representation, and employs a heterogeneous graph to capture their semantic relations. Inspired by the human inference process, we design a hierarchical reasoning-based node updating strategy to propagate the evidence features. Then, we extract the potential reasoning paths from the graph to predict the label, which aggregates the results of different paths weighted by their relevance to the claim. We evaluate our proposal on FEVER, a large-scale benchmark dataset for fact verification. Our experimental results demonstrate the superiority of HHGN over the competitive baselines in both single evidence and multiple evidences settings. In addition, HHGN presents reasonable interpretability in the form of aggregating the features of relevant entity units and selecting the evidence sentences with high confidence. • A heterogeneous graph-based evidence representation method is proposed. • A hierarchical reasoning-based node features aggregation strategy is designed. • Experimental results demonstrate the superiority of our proposal on both multiple and single evidence scenarios.
Toward flexible visual analytics augmented through smooth display transitions

Visualizing big and complex multivariate data is challenging. To address this challenge, we propose flexible visual analytics (FVA) with the aim to mitigate visual complexity and interaction complexity challenges in visual analytics, while maintaining the strengths of multiple perspectives on the studied data. At the heart of our proposed approach are transitions that fluidly transform data between user-relevant views to offer various perspectives and insights into the data. While smooth display transitions have been already proposed, there has not yet been an interdisciplinary discussion to systematically conceptualize and formalize these ideas. As a call to further action, we argue that future research is necessary to develop a conceptual framework for flexible visual analytics. We discuss preliminary ideas for prioritizing multi-aspect visual representations and multi-aspect transitions between them, and consider the display user for whom such depictions are produced and made available for visual analytics. With this contribution we aim to further facilitate visual analytics on complex data sets for varying data exploration tasks and purposes based on different user characteristics and data use contexts.
Inverting Generative Adversarial Renderer for Face Reconstruction

Given a monocular face image as input, 3D face geometry reconstruction aims to recover a corresponding 3D face mesh. Recently, both optimization-based and learning-based face reconstruction methods have taken advantage of the emerging differentiable renderer and shown promising results. However, the differentiable renderer, mainly based on graphics rules, simplifies the realistic mechanism of the illumination, reflection, etc., of the real world, thus can-not produce realistic images. This brings a lot of domain-shift noise to the optimization or training process. In this work, we introduce a novel Generative Adversarial Renderer (GAR) and propose to tailor its inverted version to the general fitting pipeline, to tackle the above problem. Specifically, the carefully designed neural renderer takes a face normal map and a latent code representing other factors as inputs and renders a realistic face image. Since the GAR learns to model the complicated real-world image, in-stead of relying on the simplified graphics rules, it is capable of producing realistic images, which essentially inhibits the domain-shift noise in training and optimization. Equipped with the elaborated GAR, we further proposed a novel approach to predict 3D face parameters, in which we first obtain fine initial parameters via Renderer Inverting and then refine it with gradient-based optimizers. Extensive experiments have been conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed generative adversarial renderer and the novel optimization-based face reconstruction framework. Our method achieves state-of-the-art performances on multiple face reconstruction datasets.
The Breathing Wings: An Autobiographical Soma Design Exploration of Touch Qualities through Shape-Change Materials

Engaging with new types of programmable and smart materials in interaction design requires that we develop a deeper understanding of the somatic experiences that such materials can evoke. This pictorial presents an autobiographical exploration grounded on soma design methods that led to the Breathing Wings wearable: Covering the area of the back, it offers a dynamic embracing experience created through soft shape- changing materials, inviting the wearer to re-experience neglected body parts, the shoulder blades, where it evokes different qualities of ‘touch’. This work offers a detailed account of opening the space of designing with shape-change actuation through a somaesthetic approach to engaging with the body, materials and felt experiences. This rich design-led inquiry that placed the body in dialogue with materials and wearable, challenged the perception of the boundaries between body and wearable by shifting the agency from the human body to a co-living experience between the two.
Attention-guided Image Compression by Deep Reconstruction of Compressive Sensed Saliency Skeleton

We propose a deep learning system for attention-guided dual-layer image compression (AGDL). In the AGDL compression system, an image is encoded into two layers, a base layer and an attention-guided refinement layer. Unlike the existing ROI image compression methods that spend an extra bit budget equally on all pixels in ROI, AGDL employs a CNN module to predict those pixels on and near a saliency sketch within ROI that are critical to perceptual quality. Only the critical pixels are further sampled by compressive sensing (CS) to form a very compact refinement layer. Another novel CNN method is developed to jointly decode the two compression layers for a much refined reconstruction, while strictly satisfying the transmitted CS constraints on perceptually critical pixels. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed AGDL system advances the state of the art in perception-aware image compression.
Electric Vehicle Peer-to-Peer Energy Trading Model Based on SMES and Blockchain

As the energy internet develops, it will become possible to carry out peer-to-peer energy trading among prosumers. Different from traditional commodity trading, the process of P2P electricity trading will be affected by physical constraints such as network congestion. To avoid transaction failure, a superconducting energy storage unit is introduced. First, we established the overall structure of the electric vehicle P2P energy trading, and designed the blockchain network and smart contracts; then analyze the benefits of each user entity in the system, and optimize the user matching in the transaction process; After that, we used the co-operative game algorithm to realize P2P electricity transaction pricing model. Finally, the simulation and analysis results show that the use of superconducting energy storage has effectively improved the success rate and demand consumption rate of electric vehicle P2P energy trading.
URL Phishing Detection using Machine Learning Techniques based on URLs Lexical Analysis

Phishing URLs mainly target individuals and/or organizations through social engineering attacks by exploiting the humans' weaknesses in information security awareness. These URLs lure online users to access fake websites, and harvest their confidential information, such as debit/credit card numbers and other sensitive information. In this work, we introduce a phishing detection technique based on URL lexical analysis and machine learning classifiers. The experiments were carried out on a dataset that originally contained 1056937 labeled URLs (phishing and legitimate). This dataset was processed to generate 22 different features that were reduced further to a smaller set using different features reduction techniques. Random Forest, Gradient Boosting, Neural Network and Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers were all evaluated, and results show the superiority of SVMs, which achieved the highest accuracy in detecting the analyzed URLs with a rate of 99.89%. Our approach can be incorporated within add-on/middleware features in Internet browsers for alerting online users whenever they try to access a phishing website using only its URL.
Design Patterns and Trade‐Offs in Responsive Visualization for Communication

Abstract Increased access to mobile devices motivates the need to design communicative visualizations that are responsive to varying screen sizes. However, relatively little design guidance or tooling is currently available to authors. We contribute a detailed characterization of responsive visualization strategies in communication‐oriented visualizations, identifying 76 total strategies by analyzing 378 pairs of large screen (LS) and small screen (SS) visualizations from online articles and reports. Our analysis distinguishes between the Targets of responsive visualization, referring to what elements of a design are changed and Actions representing how targets are changed. We identify key trade‐offs related to authors' need to maintain graphical density, referring to the amount of information per pixel, while also maintaining the “message” or intended takeaways for users of a visualization. We discuss implications of our findings for future visualization tool design to support responsive transformation of visualization designs, including requirements for automated recommenders for communication‐oriented responsive visualizations.
Convolutional Neural Network-Based Visual Servoing for Eye-to-Hand Manipulator

We propose a CNN based visual servoing scheme for precise positioning of an eye-to-hand manipulator in which the control input of a robot is calculated directly from images by a neural network. In this paper, we propose Difference of Encoded Features driven Interaction matrix Network (DEFINet), a new convolutional neural network (CNN), for eye-to-hand visual servoing. DEFINet estimates a relative pose between desired and current end-effector from desired and current images captured by an eye-to-hand camera. DEFINet includes two branches of the same CNN that share weights and encode target and current images, which is inspired by the architecture of Siamese network. Regression of the relative pose from the difference of the encoded target and current image features leads to a high positioning accuracy of visual servoing using DEFINet. The training dataset is generated from sample data collected by operating a manipulator randomly in task space. The performance of the proposed visual servoing is evaluated through numerical simulation and experiments using a six-DOF industrial manipulator in a real environment. Both simulation and experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Exploring Terminology for Perception of Motion in Virtual Reality

A key aspect of Virtual Reality (VR) applications is the ability to move in the environment, which relies on the illusion of self-motion to create a good user experience. Self-motion has traditionally been studied in psychophysical studies in which a range of wording has been adopted to describe self-motion. However, it is not clear from current research whether the words used in self-motion studies match study participants' own intuitions about the experience of self-motion. We argue that the terminology used in self-motion studies should be drawn from a participant perspective to improve validity. We undertook an online study involving VR self-motion and card-sorting with 50 participants to examine current self-motion terminology. We found that participants were not familiar with the concept of self-motion and that the virtual scene itself might suggest different terminology. We suggest how studies on motion perception in VR should be designed to better reflect participants' vernacular.
Edge Guided Progressively Generative Image Outpainting

Deep-learning based generative models are proven to be capable for achieving excellent results in numerous image processing tasks with a wide range of applications. One significant improvement of deep-learning approaches compared to traditional approaches is their ability to regenerate semantically coherent images by only relying on an input with limited information. This advantage becomes even more crucial when the input size is only a very minor proportion of the output size. Such image expansion tasks can be more challenging as the missing area may originally contain many semantic features that are critical in judging the quality of an image. In this paper we propose an edge-guided generative network model for producing semantically consistent output from a small image input. Our experiments show the proposed network is able to regenerate high quality images even when some structural features are missing in the input.
Waiting around or job half-done? Sentiment in self-admitted technical debt

Self-Admitted Technical Debt (SATD) represents the admission, made through source code comments or other channels, of portions of a program being poorly implemented, containing provisional solutions or, in general, simply being not ready yet. To better understand developers' habits in SATD annotation, and possibly support their exploitation in tool support, this paper provides an in-depth analysis of the content provided in SATD comments, and the expressed sentiment. We manually inspect and classify 1038 instances from an existing dataset, grouping them along a taxonomy composed of 41 categories (of which 9 top-level ones), identifying their sentiment, and the presence of external references such as author names or issue IDs. Results of our study indicate that (i) the SATD content is crosscutting along life-cycle dimensions identified in previous work, (ii) comments related to functional problems or on-hold SATD are generally more negative than poor implementation choices or partially implemented functionality, and (iii) despite observations from previous literature, only a minority of SATD comments leverage external references.
Data Trust Framework Using Blockchain Technology and Adaptive Transaction Validation

Trust is the main barrier preventing widespread data sharing. The lack of transparent infrastructures for implementing data trust prevents many data owners from sharing their data and concerns data users regarding the quality of the shared data. Data trust is a paradigm that facilitates data sharing by forcing data users to be transparent about the process of sharing and reusing data. Blockchain technology proposes a distributed and transparent administration by employing multiple parties to maintain consensus on an immutable ledger. This paper presents an end-to-end framework for data trust to enhance trustworthy data sharing utilizing blockchain technology. The framework promotes data quality by assessing input data sets, effectively manages access control, and presents data provenance and activity monitoring. We introduce an assessment model that includes reputation, endorsement, and confidence factors to evaluate data quality. We also suggest an adaptive solution to determine the number of transaction validators based on the computed trust value. The proposed data trust framework addresses both data owners' and data users' concerns by ensuring the trustworthiness and quality of the data at origin and ethical and secure usage of the data at the end. A comprehensive experimental study indicates the presented system effectively handles a large number of transactions with low latency.
Redevelopment of the Predict: Breast Cancer website and recommendations for developing interfaces to support decision‐making

To develop a new interface for the widely used prognostic breast cancer tool: Predict: Breast Cancer. To facilitate decision-making around post-surgery breast cancer treatments. To derive recommendations for communicating the outputs of prognostic models to patients and their clinicians.We employed a user-centred design process comprised of background research and iterative testing of prototypes with clinicians and patients. Methods included surveys, focus groups and usability testing.The updated interface now caters to the needs of a wider audience through the addition of new visualisations, instantaneous updating of results, enhanced explanatory information and the addition of new predictors and outputs. A programme of future research was identified and is now underway, including the provision of quantitative data on the adverse effects of adjuvant breast cancer treatments. Based on our user-centred design process, we identify six recommendations for communicating the outputs of prognostic models including the need to contextualise statistics, identify and address gaps in knowledge, and the critical importance of engaging with prospective users when designing communications.For prognostic algorithms to fulfil their potential to assist with decision-making they need carefully designed interfaces. User-centred design puts patients and clinicians needs at the forefront, allowing them to derive the maximum benefit from prognostic models.