pwc-archive/papers-with-abstracts huggingface dataset:
A Hierarchical Neural Framework for Classification and its Explanation in Large Unstructured Legal Documents
Authors: Nishchal Prasad, Mohand Boughanem, Taoufik Dkaki
Date: 2023-09-19 00:00:00
Tasks: Clustering, Language Modelling, Large Language Model, Sensitivity, Sentence, Transfer Learning

Automatic legal judgment prediction and its explanation suffer from the problem of long case documents exceeding tens of thousands of words, in general, and having a non-uniform structure. Predicting judgments from such documents and extracting their explanation becomes a challenging task, more so on documents with no structural annotation. We define this problem as "scarce annotated legal documents" and explore their lack of structural information and their long lengths with a deep-learning-based classification framework which we call MESc; "Multi-stage Encoder-based Supervised with-clustering"; for judgment prediction. We explore the adaptability of LLMs with multi-billion parameters (GPT-Neo, and GPT-J) to legal texts and their intra-domain(legal) transfer learning capacity. Alongside this, we compare their performance and adaptability with MESc and the impact of combining embeddings from their last layers. For such hierarchical models, we also propose an explanation extraction algorithm named ORSE; Occlusion sensitivity-based Relevant Sentence Extractor; based on the input-occlusion sensitivity of the model, to explain the predictions with the most relevant sentences from the document. We explore these methods and test their effectiveness with extensive experiments and ablation studies on legal documents from India, the European Union, and the United States with the ILDC dataset and a subset of the LexGLUE dataset. MESc achieves a minimum total performance gain of approximately 2 points over previous state-of-the-art proposed methods, while ORSE applied on MESc achieves a total average gain of 50% over the baseline explainability scores.
Hybrid State Space-based Learning for Sequential Data Prediction with Joint Optimization
Authors: Mustafa E. Aydın, Arda Fazla, Suleyman S. Kozat
Date: 2023-09-19 00:00:00
Tasks: Feature Engineering, Time Series

We investigate nonlinear prediction/regression in an online setting and introduce a hybrid model that effectively mitigates, via a joint mechanism through a state space formulation, the need for domain-specific feature engineering issues of conventional nonlinear prediction models and achieves an efficient mix of nonlinear and linear components. In particular, we use recursive structures to extract features from raw sequential sequences and a traditional linear time series model to deal with the intricacies of the sequential data, e.g., seasonality, trends. The state-of-the-art ensemble or hybrid models typically train the base models in a disjoint manner, which is not only time consuming but also sub-optimal due to the separation of modeling or independent training. In contrast, as the first time in the literature, we jointly optimize an enhanced recurrent neural network (LSTM) for automatic feature extraction from raw data and an ARMA-family time series model (SARIMAX) for effectively addressing peculiarities associated with time series data. We achieve this by introducing novel state space representations for the base models, which are then combined to provide a full state space representation of the hybrid or the ensemble. Hence, we are able to jointly optimize both models in a single pass via particle filtering, for which we also provide the update equations. The introduced architecture is generic so that one can use other recurrent architectures, e.g., GRUs, traditional time series-specific models, e.g., ETS or other optimization methods, e.g., EKF, UKF. Due to such novel combination and joint optimization, we demonstrate significant improvements in widely publicized real life competition datasets. We also openly share our code for further research and replicability of our results.
Love or Hate? Share or Split? Privacy-Preserving Training Using Split Learning and Homomorphic Encryption
Authors: Tanveer Khan, Khoa Nguyen, Antonis Michalas, Alexandros Bakas
Date: 2023-09-19 00:00:00
Tasks: Privacy Preserving

Split learning (SL) is a new collaborative learning technique that allows participants, e.g. a client and a server, to train machine learning models without the client sharing raw data. In this setting, the client initially applies its part of the machine learning model on the raw data to generate activation maps and then sends them to the server to continue the training process. Previous works in the field demonstrated that reconstructing activation maps could result in privacy leakage of client data. In addition to that, existing mitigation techniques that overcome the privacy leakage of SL prove to be significantly worse in terms of accuracy. In this paper, we improve upon previous works by constructing a protocol based on U-shaped SL that can operate on homomorphically encrypted data. More precisely, in our approach, the client applies homomorphic encryption on the activation maps before sending them to the server, thus protecting user privacy. This is an important improvement that reduces privacy leakage in comparison to other SL-based works. Finally, our results show that, with the optimum set of parameters, training with HE data in the U-shaped SL setting only reduces accuracy by 2.65% compared to training on plaintext. In addition, raw training data privacy is preserved.
Diffusion Models for Accurate Channel Distribution Generation
Authors: Muah Kim, Rick Fritschek, Rafael F. Schaefer
Date: 2023-09-19 00:00:00
Tasks: Image Generation, Scheduling

Strong generative models can accurately learn channel distributions. This could save recurring costs for physical measurements of the channel. Moreover, the resulting differentiable channel model supports training neural encoders by enabling gradient-based optimization. The initial approach in the literature draws upon the modern advancements in image generation, utilizing generative adversarial networks (GANs) or their enhanced variants to generate channel distributions. In this paper, we address this channel approximation challenge with diffusion models (DMs), which have demonstrated high sample quality and mode coverage in image generation. In addition to testing the generative performance of the channel distributions, we use an end-to-end (E2E) coded-modulation framework underpinned by DMs and propose an efficient training algorithm. Our simulations with various channel models show that a DM can accurately learn channel distributions, enabling an E2E framework to achieve near-optimal symbol error rates (SERs). Furthermore, we examine the trade-off between mode coverage and sampling speed through skipped sampling using sliced Wasserstein distance (SWD) and the E2E SER. We investigate the effect of noise scheduling on this trade-off, demonstrating that with an appropriate choice of parameters and techniques, sampling time can be significantly reduced with a minor increase in SWD and SER. Finally, we show that the DM can generate a correlated fading channel, whereas a strong GAN variant fails to learn the covariance. This paper highlights the potential benefits of using DMs for learning channel distributions, which could be further investigated for various channels and advanced techniques of DMs.
Exploring Sentence Type Effects on the Lombard Effect and Intelligibility Enhancement: A Comparative Study of Natural and Grid Sentences
Authors: Hongyang Chen, Yuhong Yang, Zhongyuan Wang, Weiping tu, Haojun Ai, Song Lin
Date: 2023-09-19 00:00:00
Tasks: Sentence

This study explores how sentence types affect the Lombard effect and intelligibility enhancement, focusing on comparisons between natural and grid sentences. Using the Lombard Chinese-TIMIT (LCT) corpus and the Enhanced MAndarin Lombard Grid (EMALG) corpus, we analyze changes in phonetic and acoustic features across different noise levels. Our results show that grid sentences produce more pronounced Lombard effects than natural sentences. Then, we develop and test a normal-to-Lombard conversion model, trained separately on LCT and EMALG corpora. Through subjective and objective evaluations, natural sentences are superior in maintaining speech quality in intelligibility enhancement. In contrast, grid sentences could provide superior intelligibility due to the more pronounced Lombard effect. This study provides a valuable perspective on enhancing speech communication in noisy environments.
Coreset selection can accelerate quantum machine learning models with provable generalization
Authors: Yiming Huang, Huiyuan Wang, Yuxuan Du, Xiao Yuan
Date: 2023-09-19 00:00:00
Tasks: Quantum Machine Learning

Quantum neural networks (QNNs) and quantum kernels stand as prominent figures in the realm of quantum machine learning, poised to leverage the nascent capabilities of near-term quantum computers to surmount classical machine learning challenges. Nonetheless, the training efficiency challenge poses a limitation on both QNNs and quantum kernels, curbing their efficacy when applied to extensive datasets. To confront this concern, we present a unified approach: coreset selection, aimed at expediting the training of QNNs and quantum kernels by distilling a judicious subset from the original training dataset. Furthermore, we analyze the generalization error bounds of QNNs and quantum kernels when trained on such coresets, unveiling the comparable performance with those training on the complete original dataset. Through systematic numerical simulations, we illuminate the potential of coreset selection in expediting tasks encompassing synthetic data classification, identification of quantum correlations, and quantum compiling. Our work offers a useful way to improve diverse quantum machine learning models with a theoretical guarantee while reducing the training cost.
Graph Neural Networks for Dynamic Modeling of Roller Bearing
Authors: Vinay Sharma, Jens Ravesloot, Cees Taal, Olga Fink
Date: 2023-09-19 00:00:00

In the presented work, we propose to apply the framework of graph neural networks (GNNs) to predict the dynamics of a rolling element bearing. This approach offers generalizability and interpretability, having the potential for scalable use in real-time operational digital twin systems for monitoring the health state of rotating machines. By representing the bearing's components as nodes in a graph, the GNN can effectively model the complex relationships and interactions among them. We utilize a dynamic spring-mass-damper model of a bearing to generate the training data for the GNN. In this model, discrete masses represent bearing components such as rolling elements, inner raceways, and outer raceways, while a Hertzian contact model is employed to calculate the forces between these components. We evaluate the learning and generalization capabilities of the proposed GNN framework by testing different bearing configurations that deviate from the training configurations. Through this approach, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the GNN-based method in accurately predicting the dynamics of rolling element bearings, highlighting its potential for real-time health monitoring of rotating machinery.
Minimum width for universal approximation using ReLU networks on compact domain
Authors: Namjun Kim, Chanho Min, Sejun Park
Date: 2023-09-19 00:00:00

It has been shown that deep neural networks of a large enough width are universal approximators but they are not if the width is too small. There were several attempts to characterize the minimum width $w_{\min}$ enabling the universal approximation property; however, only a few of them found the exact values. In this work, we show that the minimum width for $L^p$ approximation of $L^p$ functions from $[0,1]^{d_x}$ to $\mathbb R^{d_y}$ is exactly $\max\{d_x,d_y,2\}$ if an activation function is ReLU-Like (e.g., ReLU, GELU, Softplus). Compared to the known result for ReLU networks, $w_{\min}=\max\{d_x+1,d_y\}$ when the domain is $\smash{\mathbb R^{d_x}}$, our result first shows that approximation on a compact domain requires smaller width than on $\smash{\mathbb R^{d_x}}$. We next prove a lower bound on $w_{\min}$ for uniform approximation using general activation functions including ReLU: $w_{\min}\ge d_y+1$ if $d_x<d_y\le2d_x$. Together with our first result, this shows a dichotomy between $L^p$ and uniform approximations for general activation functions and input/output dimensions.
Differentiable Quantum Architecture Search for Quantum Reinforcement Learning
Authors: Yize Sun, Yunpu Ma, Volker Tresp
Date: 2023-09-19 00:00:00
Tasks: Q-Learning, Quantum Machine Learning, reinforcement-learning, Reinforcement Learning

Differentiable quantum architecture search (DQAS) is a gradient-based framework to design quantum circuits automatically in the NISQ era. It was motivated by such as low fidelity of quantum hardware, low flexibility of circuit architecture, high circuit design cost, barren plateau (BP) problem, and periodicity of weights. People used it to address error mitigation, unitary decomposition, and quantum approximation optimization problems based on fixed datasets. Quantum reinforcement learning (QRL) is a part of quantum machine learning and often has various data. QRL usually uses a manually designed circuit. However, the pre-defined circuit needs more flexibility for different tasks, and the circuit design based on various datasets could become intractable in the case of a large circuit. The problem of whether DQAS can be applied to quantum deep Q-learning with various datasets is still open. The main target of this work is to discover the capability of DQAS to solve quantum deep Q-learning problems. We apply a gradient-based framework DQAS on reinforcement learning tasks and evaluate it in two different environments - cart pole and frozen lake. It contains input- and output weights, progressive search, and other new features. The experiments conclude that DQAS can design quantum circuits automatically and efficiently. The evaluation results show significant outperformance compared to the manually designed circuit. Furthermore, the performance of the automatically created circuit depends on whether the super-circuit learned well during the training process. This work is the first to show that gradient-based quantum architecture search is applicable to QRL tasks.
Testable Likelihoods for Beyond-the-Standard Model Fits
Authors: Anja Beck, Méril Reboud, Danny van Dyk
Date: 2023-09-19 00:00:00
Tasks: Form, model, Normalising Flows

Studying potential BSM effects at the precision frontier requires accurate transfer of information from low-energy measurements to high-energy BSM models. We propose to use normalising flows to construct likelihood functions that achieve this transfer. Likelihood functions constructed in this way provide the means to generate additional samples and admit a ``trivial'' goodness-of-fit test in form of a $\chi^2$ test statistic. Here, we study a particular form of normalising flow, apply it to a multi-modal and non-Gaussian example, and quantify the accuracy of the likelihood function and its test statistic.
Striking a Balance: An Optimal Mechanism Design for Heterogenous Differentially Private Data Acquisition for Logistic Regression
Authors: Ameya Anjarlekar, Rasoul Etesami, R. Srikant
Date: 2023-09-19 00:00:00
Tasks: Learning Theory, Privacy Preserving

We address the challenge of solving machine learning tasks using data from privacy-sensitive sellers. Since the data is private, we design a data market that incentivizes sellers to provide their data in exchange for payments. Therefore our objective is to design a mechanism that optimizes a weighted combination of test loss, seller privacy, and payment, striking a balance between building a good privacy-preserving ML model and minimizing payments to the sellers. To achieve this, we first propose an approach to solve logistic regression with known heterogeneous differential privacy guarantees. Building on these results and leveraging standard mechanism design theory, we develop a two-step optimization framework. We further extend this approach to an online algorithm that handles the sequential arrival of sellers.
Computational Approaches for App-to-App Retrieval and Design Consistency Check
Authors: SeokHyeon Park, Wonjae Kim, Young-Ho Kim, Jinwook Seo
Date: 2023-09-19 00:00:00
Tasks: Decision Making, Retrieval

Extracting semantic representations from mobile user interfaces (UI) and using the representations for designers' decision-making processes have shown the potential to be effective computational design support tools. Current approaches rely on machine learning models trained on small-sized mobile UI datasets to extract semantic vectors and use screenshot-to-screenshot comparison to retrieve similar-looking UIs given query screenshots. However, the usability of these methods is limited because they are often not open-sourced and have complex training pipelines for practitioners to follow, and are unable to perform screenshot set-to-set (i.e., app-to-app) retrieval. To this end, we (1) employ visual models trained with large web-scale images and test whether they could extract a UI representation in a zero-shot way and outperform existing specialized models, and (2) use mathematically founded methods to enable app-to-app retrieval and design consistency analysis. Our experiments show that our methods not only improve upon previous retrieval models but also enable multiple new applications.
TensorCodec: Compact Lossy Compression of Tensors without Strong Data Assumptions
Authors: Taehyung Kwon, Jihoon Ko, Jinhong Jung, Kijung Shin
Date: 2023-09-19 00:00:00

Many real-world datasets are represented as tensors, i.e., multi-dimensional arrays of numerical values. Storing them without compression often requires substantial space, which grows exponentially with the order. While many tensor compression algorithms are available, many of them rely on strong data assumptions regarding its order, sparsity, rank, and smoothness. In this work, we propose TENSORCODEC, a lossy compression algorithm for general tensors that do not necessarily adhere to strong input data assumptions. TENSORCODEC incorporates three key ideas. The first idea is Neural Tensor-Train Decomposition (NTTD) where we integrate a recurrent neural network into Tensor-Train Decomposition to enhance its expressive power and alleviate the limitations imposed by the low-rank assumption. Another idea is to fold the input tensor into a higher-order tensor to reduce the space required by NTTD. Finally, the mode indices of the input tensor are reordered to reveal patterns that can be exploited by NTTD for improved approximation. Our analysis and experiments on 8 real-world datasets demonstrate that TENSORCODEC is (a) Concise: it gives up to 7.38x more compact compression than the best competitor with similar reconstruction error, (b) Accurate: given the same budget for compressed size, it yields up to 3.33x more accurate reconstruction than the best competitor, (c) Scalable: its empirical compression time is linear in the number of tensor entries, and it reconstructs each entry in logarithmic time. Our code and datasets are available at https://github.com/kbrother/TensorCodec.
Prominent Roles of Conditionally Invariant Components in Domain Adaptation: Theory and Algorithms
Authors: Keru Wu, Yuansi Chen, Wooseok Ha, Bin Yu
Date: 2023-09-19 00:00:00
Tasks: Domain Adaptation

Domain adaptation (DA) is a statistical learning problem that arises when the distribution of the source data used to train a model differs from that of the target data used to evaluate the model. While many DA algorithms have demonstrated considerable empirical success, blindly applying these algorithms can often lead to worse performance on new datasets. To address this, it is crucial to clarify the assumptions under which a DA algorithm has good target performance. In this work, we focus on the assumption of the presence of conditionally invariant components (CICs), which are relevant for prediction and remain conditionally invariant across the source and target data. We demonstrate that CICs, which can be estimated through conditional invariant penalty (CIP), play three prominent roles in providing target risk guarantees in DA. First, we propose a new algorithm based on CICs, importance-weighted conditional invariant penalty (IW-CIP), which has target risk guarantees beyond simple settings such as covariate shift and label shift. Second, we show that CICs help identify large discrepancies between source and target risks of other DA algorithms. Finally, we demonstrate that incorporating CICs into the domain invariant projection (DIP) algorithm can address its failure scenario caused by label-flipping features. We support our new algorithms and theoretical findings via numerical experiments on synthetic data, MNIST, CelebA, Camelyon17, and DomainNet datasets.
Using fine-tuning and min lookahead beam search to improve Whisper
Authors: Andrea Do, Oscar Brown, Zhengjie Wang, Nikhil Mathew, Zixin Liu, Jawwad Ahmed, Cheng Yu
Date: 2023-09-19 00:00:00

The performance of Whisper in low-resource languages is still far from perfect. In addition to a lack of training data on low-resource languages, we identify some limitations in the beam search algorithm used in Whisper. To address these issues, we fine-tune Whisper on additional data and propose an improved decoding algorithm. On the Vietnamese language, fine-tuning Whisper-Tiny with LoRA leads to an improvement of 38.49 in WER over the zero-shot Whisper-Tiny setting which is a further reduction of 1.45 compared to full-parameter fine-tuning. Additionally, by using Filter-Ends and Min Lookahead decoding algorithms, the WER reduces by 2.26 on average over a range of languages compared to standard beam search. These results generalise to larger Whisper model sizes. We also prove a theorem that Min Lookahead outperforms the standard beam search algorithm used in Whisper.
Learning Orbitally Stable Systems for Diagrammatically Teaching
Authors: Weiming Zhi, Tianyi Zhang, Matthew Johnson-Roberson
Date: 2023-09-19 00:00:00
Tasks: MORPH

Diagrammatic Teaching is a paradigm for robots to acquire novel skills, whereby the user provides 2D sketches over images of the scene to shape the robot's motion. In this work, we tackle the problem of teaching a robot to approach a surface and then follow cyclic motion on it, where the cycle of the motion can be arbitrarily specified by a single user-provided sketch over an image from the robot's camera. Accordingly, we contribute the Stable Diffeomorphic Diagrammatic Teaching (SDDT) framework. SDDT models the robot's motion as an Orbitally Asymptotically Stable (O.A.S.) dynamical system that learns to stablize based on a single diagrammatic sketch provided by the user. This is achieved by applying a \emph{diffeomorphism}, i.e. a differentiable and invertible function, to morph a known O.A.S. system. The parameterised diffeomorphism is then optimised with respect to the Hausdorff distance between the limit cycle of our modelled system and the sketch, to produce the desired robot motion. We provide novel theoretical insight into the behaviour of the optimised system and also empirically evaluate SDDT, both in simulation and on a quadruped with a mounted 6-DOF manipulator. Results show that we can diagrammatically teach complex cyclic motion patterns with a high degree of accuracy.