Reviewerly/exHarmony huggingface dataset:
Weakly Supervised Brain Lesion Segmentation via Attentional Representation Learning

In this paper, we propose a new weakly supervised 3D brain lesion segmentation approach using attentional representation learning. Our approach only requires image-level labels, and is able to produce accurate segmentation of the 3D lesion volumes. To achieve that, we design a novel dimensional independent attention mechanism on top of the Class Activation Maps (CAMs), which refines the 3D CAMs to obtain better estimates of the lesion volumes, without introducing significantly more trainable variables. The generated attentional CAMs are then used as a source of weak supervision signals to learn a representation model, which can reliably separate the voxels belong to the lesion volumes from those of the normal tissues. The proposed approach has been evaluated on the publicly available BraTS and ISLES datasets. We show with comprehensive experiments that our approach significantly outperforms the competing weakly-supervised methods in both initial lesion localization and the final segmentation, and is able to achieve comparable Dice scores in segmentation comparing to the fully supervised baselines.
exBERT: A Visual Analysis Tool to Explore Learned Representations in Transformers Models

Large language models can produce powerful contextual representations that lead to improvements across many NLP tasks. Since these models are typically guided by a sequence of learned self attention mechanisms and may comprise undesired inductive biases, it is paramount to be able to explore what the attention has learned. While static analyses of these models lead to targeted insights, interactive tools are more dynamic and can help humans better gain an intuition for the model-internal reasoning process. We present exBERT, an interactive tool named after the popular BERT language model, that provides insights into the meaning of the contextual representations by matching a human-specified input to similar contexts in a large annotated dataset. By aggregating the annotations of the matching similar contexts, exBERT helps intuitively explain what each attention-head has learned.
Spatial Warping Network for 3D Segmentation of the Hippocampus in MR Images

Accurate segmentations of neuroanatomical structures are essential for volumetric and morphological assessment, but manual segmentation is time-consuming and error-prone. We propose a convolutional neural network for structural segmentation based on deformation of an example mask that is disease-state agnostic, which we apply to the hippocampus. The hippocampus is one of the first subcortical structures affected by Alzheimer’s disease, atrophying as the disease progresses. As the disease state may be unknown, and due to the varying degrees of atrophy, an accurate shape prior is not always available. The proposed network is based on an adapted spatial transformer network that learns a deformation field to resample an initial binary mask, to create an output segmentation. This segmentation is learnt by the network from the input T1-weighted MRI in an end-to-end manner. Experiments on the HarP dataset show that the network outperforms other segmentation methods and is consistent across disease states, independent of the degree of disease-related atrophy. We also explore the effect of the initial binary mask on the segmentation, showing that the it is insensitive to the size and initial location of the binary mask.
Image Object Recognition via Deep Feature-Based Adaptive Joint Sparse Representation

An image object recognition approach based on deep features and adaptive weighted joint sparse representation (D-AJSR) is proposed in this paper. D-AJSR is a data-lightweight classification framework, which can classify and recognize objects well with few training samples. In D-AJSR, the convolutional neural network (CNN) is used to extract the deep features of the training samples and test samples. Then, we use the adaptive weighted joint sparse representation to identify the objects, in which the eigenvectors are reconstructed by calculating the contribution weights of each eigenvector. Aiming at the high-dimensional problem of deep features, we use the principal component analysis (PCA) method to reduce the dimensions. Lastly, combined with the joint sparse model, the public features and private features of images are extracted from the training sample feature set so as to construct the joint feature dictionary. Based on the joint feature dictionary, sparse representation-based classifier (SRC) is used to recognize the objects. Experiments on face images and remote sensing images show that D-AJSR is superior to the traditional SRC method and some other advanced methods.
Biomedical word sense disambiguation with bidirectional long short-term memory and attention-based neural networks

Abstract Background In recent years, deep learning methods have been applied to many natural language processing tasks to achieve state-of-the-art performance. However, in the biomedical domain, they have not out-performed supervised word sense disambiguation (WSD) methods based on support vector machines or random forests, possibly due to inherent similarities of medical word senses. Results In this paper, we propose two deep-learning-based models for supervised WSD: a model based on bi-directional long short-term memory (BiLSTM) network, and an attention model based on self-attention architecture. Our result shows that the BiLSTM neural network model with a suitable upper layer structure performs even better than the existing state-of-the-art models on the MSH WSD dataset, while our attention model was 3 or 4 times faster than our BiLSTM model with good accuracy. In addition, we trained “universal” models in order to disambiguate all ambiguous words together. That is, we concatenate the embedding of the target ambiguous word to the max-pooled vector in the universal models, acting as a “hint”. The result shows that our universal BiLSTM neural network model yielded about 90 percent accuracy. Conclusion Deep contextual models based on sequential information processing methods are able to capture the relative contextual information from pre-trained input word embeddings, in order to provide state-of-the-art results for supervised biomedical WSD tasks.
A Decentralized System for Green Energy Distribution in a Smart Grid

A smart grid is a two-way communication distributed energy network that enables efficient energy generation and distribution. Due to increased interest in renewable energy production and consumption, energy distribution using a centralized grid architecture has limited applicability. Blockchain technology has attained significant attention recently and provides a number of ways for reliable processing and storage of data in a decentralized manner. It is now recognized that trustless decentralized energy production and transfer using blockchain technology is a promising approach. This work proposes a novel blockchain-based decentralized green energy distribution system for trustless reliable energy exchanges in a smart grid. The proof of distribution problem in a decentralized environment is first formalized. The reliability and validity of the energy distribution system is established by way of a robustness evaluation model. An extensive experimental study is performed to evaluate the effectiveness and soundness of the solution. Finally, a decentralized green energy distribution smart-grid case study is presented to demonstrate the utility of the system in real-life situations.
Detection of Foreign Matter on High-Speed Train Underbody Based on Deep Learning

When a high-speed train is running, it is easy for foreign objects like rail-side plastic bags to enter bottom bogies, cables and equipment gaps, which affects the safety of driving. At present, the detection accuracy of such foreign objects is low. To solve this problem, the present study used the latest deep learning based object detection networks, such as SSD and Faster R-CNN, which combined with different feature extractors to build a detection network. Through data augmentation of a sample, the number of sizes was expanded. By the idea of transfer learning, the COCO dataset was used as the source data to transfer features to the new detection network and then retrained to build a train bottom plastic bag detection network based on deep learning. It was shown that through data augmentation, the precision of each combination significantly improved. Moreover, the results using combination of SSD and MobileNet obtained the fastest detection speed with an average time of 41 ms and a precision rate of 81.3%. The accuracy using combination of SSD + Inception V2 combination reached to 89.7%, with an average time of 53 ms.
A data management workflow of biodiversity data from the field to data users

Heterogeneity of biodiversity data from the collections, research, and management communities presents challenges for data findability, accessibility, interoperability, and reusability. Workflows designed with data collection, standards, dissemination, and reuse in mind will generate better information across geopolitical, administrative, and institutional boundaries. Here, we present our data workflow as a case study of how we collected, shared, and used data from multiple sources.In 2012, we initiated the collection of biodiversity data relating to Michigan prairie fens, including data on plant communities and the federally endangered Poweshiek skipperling (Oarisma poweshiek).Over 23,000 occurrence records were compiled in a database following Darwin Core standards. The records were linked with media and biological, chemical, and geometric measurements. We published the data as Global Biodiversity Information Facility data sets and in Symbiota SEINet portals.We highlight data collection techniques that optimized transcription time, including the use of predetermined and controlled vocabulary, Darwin Core terms, and data dictionaries. The validity and longevity of our data were supported by voucher specimens, metadata with measurement records, and published manuscripts detailing methods and data sets. Key to our data dissemination was cooperation among partners and the utilization of dynamic tools. To increase data interoperability, we need flexible and customizable data collection templates, coding, and enhanced communication among communities using biodiversity data.
Vehicle Type Classification Using an Enhanced Sparse-Filtered Convolutional Neural Network With Layer-Skipping Strategy

In this paper, a vehicle type classification approach is proposed by using an enhanced feature extraction technique based on Sparse-Filtered Convolutional Neural Network with Layer-Skipping strategy (SF-CNNLS). To extract rich and discriminant vehicle features, we introduce Three-Channels of SF-CNNLS (TC-SF-CNNLS) as the feature extraction technique. Local and global features of vehicles are extracted from three channels of an image which are, luminance and chromatic components. This technique is inspired by how human eyes differentiating objects that share almost similar features. TC-SF-CNNLS is tested with a benchmark dataset that provides frontal-view images to classify vehicle types of the bus, passenger car, taxi, minivan, SUV, and truck with Softmax Regression as a classifier. This test aims to observe the ability of this technique in differentiating vehicles with almost similar features but different classes. A test is also conducted with the self-obtained dataset (SPINT) to observe the effectiveness of this technique. The results are observed based on accuracy, precision, recall, and f-score, whereby, TCSF-NNLS has successfully recognized all the classes with an average accuracy of 0.905, precision is between 0.8629 to 0.9548, recall is between 0.83 to 0.96 and f-score is between 0.8564 to 0.9523. In addition, this technique is able to outperform other existing techniques with an average accuracy of 93.% compared to only 89.2% when 5 classes of vehicles are tested.
Arena: A General Evaluation Platform and Building Toolkit for Multi-Agent Intelligence

Learning agents that are not only capable of taking tests, but also innovating is becoming a hot topic in AI. One of the most promising paths towards this vision is multi-agent learning, where agents act as the environment for each other, and improving each agent means proposing new problems for others. However, existing evaluation platforms are either not compatible with multi-agent settings, or limited to a specific game. That is, there is not yet a general evaluation platform for research on multi-agent intelligence. To this end, we introduce Arena, a general evaluation platform for multi-agent intelligence with 35 games of diverse logics and representations. Furthermore, multi-agent intelligence is still at the stage where many problems remain unexplored. Therefore, we provide a building toolkit for researchers to easily invent and build novel multi-agent problems from the provided game set based on a GUI-configurable social tree and five basic multi-agent reward schemes. Finally, we provide Python implementations of five state-of-the-art deep multi-agent reinforcement learning baselines. Along with the baseline implementations, we release a set of 100 best agents/teams that we can train with different training schemes for each game, as the base for evaluating agents with population performance. As such, the research community can perform comparisons under a stable and uniform standard. All the implementations and accompanied tutorials have been open-sourced for the community at https://sites.google.com/view/arena-unity/.
Learning from Easy to Complex: Adaptive Multi-Curricula Learning for Neural Dialogue Generation

Current state-of-the-art neural dialogue systems are mainly data-driven and are trained on human-generated responses. However, due to the subjectivity and open-ended nature of human conversations, the complexity of training dialogues varies greatly. The noise and uneven complexity of query-response pairs impede the learning efficiency and effects of the neural dialogue generation models. What is more, so far, there are no unified dialogue complexity measurements, and the dialogue complexity embodies multiple aspects of attributes—specificity, repetitiveness, relevance, etc. Inspired by human behaviors of learning to converse, where children learn from easy dialogues to complex ones and dynamically adjust their learning progress, in this paper, we first analyze five dialogue attributes to measure the dialogue complexity in multiple perspectives on three publicly available corpora. Then, we propose an adaptive multi-curricula learning framework to schedule a committee of the organized curricula. The framework is established upon the reinforcement learning paradigm, which automatically chooses different curricula at the evolving learning process according to the learning status of the neural dialogue generation model. Extensive experiments conducted on five state-of-the-art models demonstrate its learning efficiency and effectiveness with respect to 13 automatic evaluation metrics and human judgments.
Facial Attribute Capsules for Noise Face Super Resolution

Existing face super-resolution (SR) methods mainly assume the input image to be noise-free. Their performance degrades drastically when applied to real-world scenarios where the input image is always contaminated by noise. In this paper, we propose a Facial Attribute Capsules Network (FACN) to deal with the problem of high-scale super-resolution of noisy face image. Capsule is a group of neurons whose activity vector models different properties of the same entity. Inspired by the concept of capsule, we propose an integrated representation model of facial information, which named Facial Attribute Capsule (FAC). In the SR processing, we first generated a group of FACs from the input LR face, and then reconstructed the HR face from this group of FACs. Aiming to effectively improve the robustness of FAC to noise, we generate FAC in semantic, probabilistic and facial attributes manners by means of integrated learning strategy. Each FAC can be divided into two sub-capsules: Semantic Capsule (SC) and Probabilistic Capsule (PC). Them describe an explicit facial attribute in detail from two aspects of semantic representation and probability distribution. The group of FACs model an image as a combination of facial attribute information in the semantic space and probabilistic space by an attribute-disentangling way. The diverse FACs could better combine the face prior information to generate the face images with fine-grained semantic attributes. Extensive benchmark experiments show that our method achieves superior hallucination results and outperforms state-of-the-art for very low resolution (LR) noise face image super resolution.
Analytical Modeling for a Video-Based Vehicle Speed Measurement Framework

Traffic analyses, particularly speed measurements, are highly valuable in terms of road safety and traffic management. In this paper, an analytical model is presented to measure the speed of a moving vehicle using an off-the-shelf video camera. The method utilizes the temporal sampling rate of the camera and several intrusion lines in order to estimate the probability density function (PDF) of a vehicle's speed. The proposed model provides not only an accurate estimate of the speed, but also the possibility of being able to study the performance boundaries with respect to the camera frame rate as well as the placement and number of intrusion lines in advance. This analytical model is verified by comparing its PDF outputs with the results obtained via a simulation of the corresponding movements. In addition, as a proof-of-concept, the proposed model is implemented for a video-based vehicle speed measurement system. The experimental results demonstrate the model's capability in terms of taking accurate measurements of the speed via a consideration of the temporal sampling rate and lowering the deviation by utilizing more intrusion lines. The analytical model is highly versatile and can be used as the core of various video-based speed measurement systems in transportation and surveillance applications.
Compounding the Performance Improvements of Assembled Techniques in a Convolutional Neural Network

Recent studies in image classification have demonstrated a variety of techniques for improving the performance of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). However, attempts to combine existing techniques to create a practical model are still uncommon. In this study, we carry out extensive experiments to validate that carefully assembling these techniques and applying them to basic CNN models (e.g. ResNet and MobileNet) can improve the accuracy and robustness of the models while minimizing the loss of throughput. Our proposed assembled ResNet-50 shows improvements in top-1 accuracy from 76.3\% to 82.78\%, mCE from 76.0\% to 48.9\% and mFR from 57.7\% to 32.3\% on ILSVRC2012 validation set. With these improvements, inference throughput only decreases from 536 to 312. To verify the performance improvement in transfer learning, fine grained classification and image retrieval tasks were tested on several public datasets and showed that the improvement to backbone network performance boosted transfer learning performance significantly. Our approach achieved 1st place in the iFood Competition Fine-Grained Visual Recognition at CVPR 2019, and the source code and trained models are available at https://github.com/clovaai/assembled-cnn
Implementing a GPU-based parallel MAX–MIN Ant System

The MAX–MIN Ant System (MMAS) is one of the best-known Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) algorithms proven to be efficient at finding satisfactory solutions to many difficult combinatorial optimization problems. The slow-down in Moore’s law, and the availability of graphics processing units (GPUs) capable of conducting general-purpose computations at high speed, has sparked considerable research efforts into the development of GPU-based ACO implementations. In this paper, we discuss a range of novel ideas for improving the GPU-based parallel MMAS implementation, allowing it to better utilize the computing power offered by two subsequent Nvidia GPU architectures. Specifically, based on the weighted reservoir sampling algorithm we propose a novel parallel implementation of the node selection procedure, which is at the heart of the MMAS and other ACO algorithms. We also present a memory-efficient implementation of another key-component – the tabu list structure – which is used in the ACO’s solution construction stage. The proposed implementations, combined with the existing approaches, lead to a total of six MMAS variants, which are evaluated on a set of Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) instances ranging from 198 to 3795 cities. The results show that our MMAS implementation is competitive with state-of-the-art GPU-based and multi-core CPU-based parallel ACO implementations: in fact, the times obtained for the Nvidia V100 Volta GPU were up to 7.18x and 21.79x smaller, respectively. The fastest of the proposed MMAS variants is able to generate over 1 million candidate solutions per second when solving a 1002-city instance. Moreover, we show that, combined with the 2-opt local search heuristic, the proposed parallel MMAS finds high-quality solutions for the TSP instances with up to 18,512 nodes.
Why Do People Buy Seemingly Irrelevant Items in Voice Product Search?

One emerging benefit of voice assistants is to facilitate product search experience, allowing users to express orally which products they seek, and taking actions on retrieved results such as adding them to their cart or sending the product details to their mobile phone for further examination. Looking at users' behavior in product search, supported by a digital voice assistant, we have observed an interesting phenomenon where users purchase or engage with search results that are objectively judged irrelevant to their queries.
Fighting fire with fire: Exploring the potential of technology to help victims combat intimate partner violence

Every country in the world has been affected by the epidemic of intimate partner violence. It is now known that technology facilitates intimate partner violence by enabling perpetrators new ways of abusing, controlling, harassing, and isolating their current or former partner. However, there has been a tendency to neglect consideration of the promise technology holds in combating intimate partner violence. Understanding how technology is being misused to facilitate intimate partner violence is critical to its prevention. However, it is equally essential to acknowledge the opportunities technology creates in protecting and empowering victims. The purpose of this article is to explore these opportunities. Importantly, it steers away from victim-blaming, simplistic, and often unhelpful solutions that expect victims to refrain from using technology. Instead, this article views access to the internet as a human right and focuses on innovative uses of technology that can allow victims to maintain their virtual identity while maintaining their online safety.