pwc-archive/papers-with-abstracts huggingface dataset:
WE economy: Potential of mutual aid distribution based on moral responsibility and risk vulnerability
Authors: Takeshi Kato
Date: 2023-12-12 00:00:00

Reducing wealth inequality and disparity is a global challenge. The economic system is mainly divided into (1) gift and reciprocity, (2) power and redistribution, (3) market exchange, and (4) mutual aid without reciprocal obligations. The current inequality stems from a capitalist economy consisting of (2) and (3). To sublimate (1), which is the human economy, to (4), the concept of a "mixbiotic society" has been proposed in the philosophical realm. This is a society in which free and diverse individuals, "I," mix with each other, recognize their respective "fundamental incapability" and sublimate them into "WE" solidarity. The economy in this society must have moral responsibility as a coadventurer and consideration for vulnerability to risk. Therefore, I focus on two factors of mind perception: moral responsibility and risk vulnerability, and propose a novel model of wealth distribution following an econophysical approach. Specifically, I developed a joint-venture model, a redistribution model in the joint-venture model, and a "WE economy" model. A simulation comparison of a combination of the joint ventures and redistribution with the WE economies reveals that WE economies are effective in reducing inequality and resilient in normalizing wealth distribution as advantages, and susceptible to free riders as disadvantages. However, this disadvantage can be compensated for by fostering consensus and fellowship, and by complementing it with joint ventures. This study essentially presents the effectiveness of moral responsibility, the complementarity between the WE economy and the joint economy, and the direction of the economy toward reducing inequality. Future challenges are to develop the WE economy model based on real economic analysis and psychology, as well as to promote WE economy fieldwork for worker coops and platform cooperatives to realize a desirable mixbiotic society.
Data-Driven Modeling and Verification of Perception-Based Autonomous Systems
Authors: Thomas Waite, Alexander Robey, Hassani Hamed, George J. Pappas, Radoslav Ivanov
Date: 2023-12-11 00:00:00
Tasks: Navigate, State Estimation

This paper addresses the problem of data-driven modeling and verification of perception-based autonomous systems. We assume the perception model can be decomposed into a canonical model (obtained from first principles or a simulator) and a noise model that contains the measurement noise introduced by the real environment. We focus on two types of noise, benign and adversarial noise, and develop a data-driven model for each type using generative models and classifiers, respectively. We show that the trained models perform well according to a variety of evaluation metrics based on downstream tasks such as state estimation and control. Finally, we verify the safety of two systems with high-dimensional data-driven models, namely an image-based version of mountain car (a reinforcement learning benchmark) as well as the F1/10 car, which uses LiDAR measurements to navigate a racing track.
Combating the effects of speed and delays in end-to-end self-driving
Authors: Ardi Tampuu, Ilmar Uduste, Kristjan Roosild
Date: 2023-12-06 00:00:00

In the behavioral cloning approach to end-to-end driving, a dataset of expert driving is collected and the model learns to guess what the expert would do in different situations. Situations are summarized in observations and the outputs are low or mid-level commands (e.g. brake, throttle, and steering; or trajectories). The models learn to match observations at time T to actions recorded at T or as simultaneously as possible. However, when deploying the models to the real world (or to an asynchronous simulation), the action predicted based on observations at time T gets applied at T + $\Delta$ T. In a variety of cases, $\Delta$ T can be considerable and significantly influence performance. We first demonstrate that driving at two different speeds is effectively two different tasks. Delays partially cause this difference and linearly amplify it. Even without computational delays, actuator delays and slipping due to inertia result in the need to perform actions preemptively when driving fast. The function mapping observations to commands becomes different compared to slow driving. We experimentally show that models trained to drive fast cannot perform the seemingly easier task of driving slow and vice-versa. Good driving models may be judged to be poor due to testing them at "a safe low speed", a task they cannot perform. Secondly, we show how to counteract the effect of delays in end-to-end networks by changing the target labels. This is in contrast to the approaches attempting to minimize the delays, i.e. the cause, not the effect. To exemplify the problems and solutions in the real world, we use 1:10 scale minicars with limited computing power, using behavioral cloning for end-to-end driving. Some of the ideas discussed here may be transferable to the wider context of self-driving, to vehicles with more compute power and end-to-mid or modular approaches.
NeuroHeed+: Improving Neuro-steered Speaker Extraction with Joint Auditory Attention Detection
Authors: Zexu Pan, Gordon Wichern, Francois G. Germain, Sameer Khurana, Jonathan Le Roux
Date: 2023-12-12 00:00:00
Tasks: EEG

Neuro-steered speaker extraction aims to extract the listener's brain-attended speech signal from a multi-talker speech signal, in which the attention is derived from the cortical activity. This activity is usually recorded using electroencephalography (EEG) devices. Though promising, current methods often have a high speaker confusion error, where the interfering speaker is extracted instead of the attended speaker, degrading the listening experience. In this work, we aim to reduce the speaker confusion error in the neuro-steered speaker extraction model through a jointly fine-tuned auxiliary auditory attention detection model. The latter reinforces the consistency between the extracted target speech signal and the EEG representation, and also improves the EEG representation. Experimental results show that the proposed network significantly outperforms the baseline in terms of speaker confusion and overall signal quality in two-talker scenarios.
w2v-SELD: A Sound Event Localization and Detection Framework for Self-Supervised Spatial Audio Pre-Training
Authors: Orlem Lima dos Santos, Karen Rosero, Roberto de Alencar Lotufo
Date: 2023-12-12 00:00:00
Tasks: Event Detection, Sound Event Detection, Sound Event Localization and Detection

Sound Event Detection and Localization (SELD) constitutes a complex task that depends on extensive multichannel audio recordings with annotated sound events and their respective locations. In this paper, we introduce a self-supervised approach for SELD adapted from the pre-training methodology of wav2vec 2.0, which learns representations directly from raw audio data, eliminating the need for supervision. By applying this approach to SELD, we can leverage a substantial amount of unlabeled 3D audio data to learn robust representations of sound events and their locations. Our method comprises two primary stages: pre-training and fine-tuning. In the pre-training phase, unlabeled 3D audio datasets are utilized to train our w2v-SELD model, capturing intricate high-level features and contextual information inherent in audio signals. Subsequently, in the fine-tuning stage, a smaller dataset with labeled SELD data fine-tunes the pre-trained model. Experimental results on benchmark datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed self-supervised approach for SELD. The model surpasses baseline systems provided with the datasets and achieves competitive performance comparable to state-of-the-art supervised methods. The code and pre-trained parameters of our w2v-SELD model are available in this repository.
Coarse-graining Complex Networks for Control Equivalence
Authors: Daniele Toller, Mirco Tribastone, Max Tschaikowski, Andrea Vandin
Date: 2023-12-12 00:00:00

The ability to control complex networks is of crucial importance across a wide range of applications in natural and engineering sciences. However, issues of both theoretical and numerical nature introduce fundamental limitations to controlling large-scale networks. In this paper, we cope with this problem by introducing a coarse-graining algorithm. It leads to an aggregated network which satisfies control equivalence, i.e., such that the optimal control values for the original network can be exactly recovered from those of the aggregated one. The algorithm is based on a partition refinement method originally devised for systems of ordinary differential equations, here extended and applied to linear dynamics on complex networks. Using a number of benchmarks from the literature we show considerable reductions across a variety of networks from biology, ecology, engineering, and social sciences.
Autonomous driving of trucks in off-road environment
Authors: Kenny A. Q. Caldas, Filipe M. Barbosa, Junior A. R. Silva, Tiago C. Santos, Iago P. Gomes, Luis A. Rosero, Denis F. Wolf, Valdir Grassi Jr
Date: 2023-12-12 00:00:00
Tasks: Autonomous Driving

Off-road driving operations can be a challenging environment for human conductors as they are subject to accidents, repetitive and tedious tasks, strong vibrations, which may affect their health in the long term. Therefore, they can benefit from a successful implementation of autonomous vehicle technology, improving safety, reducing labor costs and fuel consumption, and increasing operational efficiency. The main contribution of this paper is the experimental validation of a path tracking control strategy, composed of longitudinal and lateral controllers, on an off-road scenario with a fully-loaded heavy-duty truck. The longitudinal control strategy relies on a Non-Linear Model Predictive Controller (NMPC), which considers the path geometry and simplified vehicle dynamics to compute a smooth and comfortable input velocity, without violating the imposed constraints. The lateral controller is based on a Robust Linear Quadratic Regulator (RLQR), which considers a vehicle model subject to parametric uncertainties to minimize its lateral displacement and heading error, as well as ensure stability. Experiments were carried out using a fully-loaded vehicle on unpaved roads in an open-pit mine. The truck followed the reference path within the imposed constraints, showing robustness and driving smoothness.
Feedback-feedforward Signal Control with Exogenous Demand Estimation in Congested Urban Road Networks
Authors: Leonardo Pedroso, Pedro Batista, Markos Papageorgiou
Date: 2023-12-12 00:00:00
Tasks: Traffic Signal Control

To cope with uncertain traffic patterns and traffic models, traffic-responsive signal control strategies in the literature are designed to be robust to these uncertainties. These robust strategies still require sensing infrastructure to implement traffic-responsiveness. In this paper, we take a novel perspective and show that it is possible to use the already necessary sensing infrastructure to estimate the uncertain quantities in real time. Specifically, resorting to the store-and-forward model, we design a novel network-wide traffic-responsive strategy that estimates the occupancy and exogenous demand in each link, i.e., entering (exiting) vehicle flows at the origins (destinations) of the network or within links, in real time. Borrowing from optimal control theory, we design an optimal linear quadratic control scheme, consisting of a linear feedback term, of the occupancy of the road links, and a feedforward component, which accounts for the varying exogenous vehicle load on the network. Thereby, the resulting control scheme is a simple feedback-feedforward controller, which is fed with occupancy and exogenous demand estimates, and is suitable for real-time implementation. Numerical simulations for the urban traffic network of Chania, Greece, show that, for realistic surges in the exogenous demand, the proposed solution significantly outperforms tried-and-tested solutions that ignore the exogenous demand.
Neural Differentiable Integral Control Barrier Functions for Unknown Nonlinear Systems with Input Constraints
Authors: Vrushabh Zinage, Rohan Chandra, Efstathios Bakolas
Date: 2023-12-12 00:00:00
Tasks: Imitation Learning

In this paper, we propose a deep learning based control synthesis framework for fast and online computation of controllers that guarantees the safety of general nonlinear control systems with unknown dynamics in the presence of input constraints. Towards this goal, we propose a framework for simultaneously learning the unknown system dynamics, which can change with time due to external disturbances, and an integral control law for trajectory tracking based on imitation learning. Simultaneously, we learn corresponding safety certificates, which we refer to as Neural Integral Control Barrier Functions (Neural ICBF's), that automatically encode both the state and input constraints into a single scalar-valued function and enable the design of controllers that can guarantee that the state of the unknown system will never leave a safe subset of the state space. Finally, we provide numerical simulations that validate our proposed approach and compare it with classical as well as recent learning based methods from the relevant literature.
Beyond 1D and oversimplified kinematics: A generic analytical framework for surrogate safety measures
Authors: Sixu Li, Mohammad Anis, Dominique Lord, Hao Zhang, Yang Zhou, Xinyue Ye
Date: 2023-12-12 00:00:00

This paper presents a generic analytical framework tailored for surrogate safety measures (SSMs) that is versatile across various highway geometries, capable of encompassing vehicle dynamics of differing dimensionality and fidelity, and suitable for dynamic, real-world environments. The framework incorporates a generic vehicle movement model, accommodating a spectrum of scenarios with varying degrees of complexity and dimensionality, facilitating the prediction of future vehicle trajectories. It establishes a generic mathematical criterion to denote potential collisions, characterized by the spatial overlap between a vehicle and any other entity. A collision risk is present if the collision criterion is met at any non-negative time point, with the minimum threshold representing the remaining time to collision. The framework's proficiency spans from conventional one-dimensional (1D) SSMs to extended multi-dimensional, high-fidelity SSMs. Its validity is corroborated through simulation experiments that assess the precision of the framework when linearization is performed on the vehicle movement model. The outcomes showcase remarkable accuracy in predicting vehicle trajectories and the time remaining before potential collisions occur. The necessity of higher-dimensional and higher-fidelity SSMs is highlighted through a comparison of conventional 1D SSMs and extended three-dimensional (3D) SSMs. The results showed that using 1D SSMs over 3D SSMs could be off by 300% for non-critical Time-to-Collision (TTC) values and about 20% for critical TTC values (below 1.5 seconds). Furthermore, the framework's practical application is demonstrated through a case study that actively evaluates all potential conflicts, underscoring its effectiveness in dynamic, real-world traffic situations.
Enhanced Q-Learning Approach to Finite-Time Reachability with Maximum Probability for Probabilistic Boolean Control Networks
Authors: Hongyue Fan, Jingjie Ni, Fangfei Li
Date: 2023-12-12 00:00:00
Tasks: Q-Learning, Transfer Learning

In this paper, we investigate the problem of controlling probabilistic Boolean control networks (PBCNs) to achieve reachability with maximum probability in the finite time horizon. We address three questions: 1) finding control policies that achieve reachability with maximum probability under fixed, and particularly, varied finite time horizon, 2) leveraging prior knowledge to solve question 1) with faster convergence speed in scenarios where time is a variable framework, and 3) proposing an enhanced Q-learning (QL) method to efficiently address the aforementioned questions for large-scale PBCNs. For question 1), we demonstrate the applicability of QL method on the finite-time reachability problem. For question 2), considering the possibility of varied time frames, we incorporate transfer learning (TL) technique to leverage prior knowledge and enhance convergence speed. For question 3), an enhanced model-free QL approach that improves upon the traditional QL algorithm by introducing memory-efficient modifications to address these issues in large-scale PBCNs effectively. Finally, we apply the proposed method to two examples: a small-scale PBCN and a large-scale PBCN, demonstrating the effectiveness of our approach.
Spectral Koopman Method for Identifying Stability Boundary
Authors: Bhagyashree Umathe, Umesh Vaidya
Date: 2023-12-11 00:00:00

The paper is about characterizing the stability boundary of an autonomous dynamical system using the Koopman spectrum. For a dynamical system with an asymptotically stable equilibrium point, the domain of attraction constitutes a region consisting of all initial conditions attracted to the equilibrium point. The stability boundary is a separatrix region that separates the domain of attraction from the rest of the state space. For a large class of dynamical systems, this stability boundary consists of the union of stable manifolds of all the unstable equilibrium points on the stability boundary. We characterize the stable manifold in terms of the zero-level curve of the Koopman eigenfunction. A path-integral formula is proposed to compute the Koopman eigenfunction for a saddle-type equilibrium point on the stability boundary. The algorithm for identifying stability boundary based on the Koopman eigenfunction is attractive as it does not involve explicit knowledge of system dynamics. We present simulation results to verify the main results of the paper.
The AIRI plug-and-play algorithm for image reconstruction in radio-interferometry: variations and robustness
Authors: Matthieu Terris, Chao Tang, Adrian Jackson, Yves Wiaux
Date: 2023-12-12 00:00:00
Tasks: Astronomy, Image Reconstruction, Radio Interferometry, Uncertainty Quantification

Plug-and-Play (PnP) algorithms are appealing alternatives to proximal algorithms when solving inverse imaging problems. By learning a Deep Neural Network (DNN) denoiser behaving as a proximal operator, one waives the computational complexity of optimisation algorithms induced by sophisticated image priors, and the sub-optimality of handcrafted priors compared to DNNs. Such features are highly desirable in radio-interferometric (RI) imaging, where precision and scalability of the image reconstruction process are key. In previous work, we introduced AIRI, PnP counterpart to the unconstrained variant of the SARA optimisation algorithm, relying on a forward-backward algorithmic backbone. Here, we introduce variations of AIRI towards a more general and robust PnP paradigm in RI imaging. Firstly, we show that the AIRI denoisers can be used without any alteration to instantiate a PnP counterpart to the constrained SARA optimisation algorithm itself, relying on a primal-dual forward-backward algorithmic backbone, thus extending the remit of the AIRI paradigm. Secondly, we show that AIRI algorithms are robust to strong variations in the nature of the training dataset, with denoisers trained on medical images yielding similar reconstruction quality to those trained on astronomical images. Thirdly, we develop a functionality to quantify the model uncertainty introduced by the randomness in the training process. We validate the image reconstruction and uncertainty quantification functionality of AIRI algorithms against the SARA family and CLEAN, both in simulation and on real data of the ESO 137-006 galaxy acquired with the MeerKAT telescope. AIRI code is available in the BASPLib code library on GitHub.
State-dependent complexity of the local field potential in the primary visual cortex
Authors: Rafael M. Jungmann, Thaís Feliciano, Leandro A. A. Aguiar, Carina Soares-Cunha, Bárbara Coimbra, Ana João Rodrigues, Mauro Copelli, Fernanda S. Matias, Nivaldo A. P. de Vasconcelos, Pedro V. Carelli
Date: 2023-12-12 00:00:00

The local field potential (LFP) is as a measure of the combined activity of neurons within a region of brain tissue. While biophysical modeling schemes for LFP in cortical circuits are well established, there is a paramount lack of understanding regarding the LFP properties along the states assumed in cortical circuits over long periods. Here we use a symbolic information approach to determine the statistical complexity based on Jensen disequilibrium measure and Shannon entropy of LFP data recorded from the primary visual cortex (V1) of urethane-anesthetized rats and freely moving mice. Using these information quantifiers, we find consistent relations between LFP recordings and measures of cortical states at the neuronal level. More specifically, we show that LFP's statistical complexity is sensitive to cortical state (characterized by spiking variability), as well as to cortical layer. In addition, we apply these quantifiers to characterize behavioral states of freely moving mice, where we find indirect relations between such states and spiking variability.
Channel assisted noise propagation in a two-step cascade
Authors: Mintu Nandi, Sudip Chattopadhyay, Somshubhro Bandyopadhyay, Suman K Banik
Date: 2023-12-12 00:00:00

Signal propagation in biochemical networks is characterized by the inherent randomness in gene expression and fluctuations of the environmental components, commonly known as intrinsic and extrinsic noise, respectively. We present a theoretical framework for noise propagation in a generic two-step cascade (S$\rightarrow$X$\rightarrow$Y) regarding intrinsic and extrinsic noise. We identify different channels of noise transmission that regulate the individual and the overall noise properties of each component. Our analysis shows that the intrinsic noise of S alleviates the general noise and information transmission capacity along the cascade. On the other hand, the intrinsic noise of X and Y acts as a bottleneck of information transmission. We also show a hierarchical relationship among the intrinsic noise levels of S, X, and Y, with S exhibiting the highest level of intrinsic noise, followed by X and then Y. This hierarchy is preserved within the two-step cascade, facilitating the highest information transmission from S to Y via X.