pwc-archive/papers-with-abstracts huggingface dataset:
Performance Bounds for Near-Field Multi-Antenna Range Estimation of Extended Targets
Authors: Guillaume Thiran, François De Saint Moulin, Claude Oestges, Luc Vandendorpe
Date: 2024-04-10 00:00:00

In this paper, performance bounds for the multi-antenna near-field range estimation of extended targets are provided. First, analytic expressions of the ambiguity functions are obtained, emphasising the cooperation between the waveform delay and the near-field phase shift information. The impact of estimating the range of an extended target with a point target model is analysed, showing that a model mismatch leads to severe performance degradation in the near-field region. Secondly, Cramer-Rao bounds are derived. Expressions emphasising the parameters' impact are obtained, the parameters being the carrier frequency, and the central frequency and root-mean-square bandwidth of the waveform. The near-field range information is shown to depend on the root-mean-square value of the propagation delay derivatives, this value scaling with the fourth power of the ratio between the antenna array dimension and the target range.
The Sandwich meta-framework for architecture agnostic deep privacy-preserving transfer learning for non-invasive brainwave decoding
Authors: Xiaoxi Wei, Jyotindra Narayan, A. Aldo Faisal
Date: 2024-04-10 00:00:00
Tasks: EEG, Eeg Decoding, Federated Learning, Motor Imagery, Privacy Preserving, Transfer Learning

Machine learning has enhanced the performance of decoding signals indicating human behaviour. EEG decoding, as an exemplar indicating neural activity and human thoughts non-invasively, has been helpful in neural activity analysis and aiding patients via brain-computer interfaces. However, training machine learning algorithms on EEG encounters two primary challenges: variability across data sets and privacy concerns using data from individuals and data centres. Our objective is to address these challenges by integrating transfer learning for data variability and federated learning for data privacy into a unified approach. We introduce the Sandwich as a novel deep privacy-preserving meta-framework combining transfer learning and federated learning. The Sandwich framework comprises three components: federated networks (first layers) that handle data set differences at the input level, a shared network (middle layer) learning common rules and applying transfer learning, and individual classifiers (final layers) for specific tasks of each data set. It enables the central network (central server) to benefit from multiple data sets, while local branches (local servers) maintain data and label privacy. We evaluated the `Sandwich' meta-architecture in various configurations using the BEETL motor imagery challenge, a benchmark for heterogeneous EEG data sets. Compared with baseline models, our `Sandwich' implementations showed superior performance. The best-performing model, the Inception Sandwich with deep set alignment (Inception-SD-Deepset), exceeded baseline methods by 9%. The `Sandwich' framework demonstrates significant advancements in federated deep transfer learning for diverse tasks and data sets. It outperforms conventional deep learning methods, showcasing the potential for effective use of larger, heterogeneous data sets with enhanced privacy as a model-agnostic meta-framework.
Harnessing the Power of AI-Generated Content for Semantic Communication
Authors: Yiru Wang, Wanting Yang, Zehui Xiong, Yuping Zhao, Tony Q. S. Quek, Zhu Han
Date: 2024-04-10 00:00:00
Tasks: Semantic Communication

Semantic Communication (SemCom) is envisaged as the next-generation paradigm to address challenges stemming from the conflicts between the increasing volume of transmission data and the scarcity of spectrum resources. However, existing SemCom systems face drawbacks, such as low explainability, modality rigidity, and inadequate reconstruction functionality. Recognizing the transformative capabilities of AI-generated content (AIGC) technologies in content generation, this paper explores a pioneering approach by integrating them into SemCom to address the aforementioned challenges. We employ a three-layer model to illustrate the proposed AIGC-assisted SemCom (AIGC-SCM) architecture, emphasizing its clear deviation from existing SemCom. Grounded in this model, we investigate various AIGC technologies with the potential to augment SemCom's performance. In alignment with SemCom's goal of conveying semantic meanings, we also introduce the new evaluation methods for our AIGC-SCM system. Subsequently, we explore communication scenarios where our proposed AIGC-SCM can realize its potential. For practical implementation, we construct a detailed integration workflow and conduct a case study in a virtual reality image transmission scenario. The results demonstrate our ability to maintain a high degree of alignment between the reconstructed content and the original source information, while substantially minimizing the data volume required for transmission. These findings pave the way for further enhancements in communication efficiency and the improvement of Quality of Service. At last, we present future directions for AIGC-SCM studies.
UAV-Assisted Enhanced Coverage and Capacity in Dynamic MU-mMIMO IoT Systems: A Deep Reinforcement Learning Approach
Authors: MohammadMahdi Ghadaksaz, Mobeen Mahmood, Tho Le-Ngoc
Date: 2024-04-10 00:00:00
Tasks: Deep Reinforcement Learning, Reinforcement Learning (RL)

This study focuses on a multi-user massive multiple-input multiple-output (MU-mMIMO) system by incorporating an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) as a decode-and-forward (DF) relay between the base station (BS) and multiple Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices. Our primary objective is to maximize the overall achievable rate (AR) by introducing a novel framework that integrates joint hybrid beamforming (HBF) and UAV localization in dynamic MU-mMIMO IoT systems. Particularly, HBF stages for BS and UAV are designed by leveraging slow time-varying angular information, whereas a deep reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm, namely deep deterministic policy gradient (DDPG) with continuous action space, is developed to train the UAV for its deployment. By using a customized reward function, the RL agent learns an optimal UAV deployment policy capable of adapting to both static and dynamic environments. The illustrative results show that the proposed DDPG-based UAV deployment (DDPG-UD) can achieve approximately 99.5% of the sum-rate capacity achieved by particle swarm optimization (PSO)-based UAV deployment (PSO-UD), while requiring a significantly reduced runtime at approximately 68.50% of that needed by PSO-UD, offering an efficient solution in dynamic MU-mMIMO environments.
Embedding-based comparison of reaction networks of Wnt signaling
Authors: Bryan S. Hernandez, Patrick Vincent N. Lubenia, Eduardo R. Mendoza
Date: 2024-04-01 00:00:00

This work introduces a new method for comparing two reaction networks of the same or closely related systems through their embedded networks in terms of the shared set of species. Hence, we call this method the Common Species Embedded Networks (CSEN) analysis. Using this approach, we conduct a comparison of existing reaction networks associated with Wnt signaling models (Lee, Schmitz, MacLean, and Feinberg) that we have identified. The analysis yields three important results for these Wnt models. First, the CSEN analysis of the Lee (mono-stationary) and Feinberg (multi-stationary) shows a strong similarity, justifying the study of the Feinberg model, which was a modified Lee model constructed to study an important network property called "concordance". It also challenge the absoluteness of discrimination of the models into mono-stationarity versus multi-stationarity, which is a main result of Maclean et al. (PNAS USA 2015). Second, the CSEN analysis provides evidence supporting a strong similarity between the Schmitz and MacLean models, as indicated by the "proximate equivalence" that we have identified. Third, the analysis underscores the absence of a comparable relationship between the Feinberg and MacLean models, highlighting distinctive differences between the two. Thus, our approach could be a useful tool to compare mathematical models of the same or closely related systems.
Blood lipoproteins shape the phenotype and lipid content of early atherosclerotic lesion macrophages: a dual-structured mathematical model
Authors: Keith L Chambers, Mary R Myerscough, Michael G Watson, Helen M Byrne
Date: 2024-04-10 00:00:00

Macrophages in atherosclerotic lesions exhibit a spectrum of behaviours or phenotypes. The phenotypic distribution of monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs), its correlation with MDM lipid content, and relation to blood lipoprotein densities are not well understood. Of particular interest is the balance between low density lipoproteins (LDL) and high density lipoproteins (HDL), which carry bad and good cholesterol respectively. To address these issues, we have developed a mathematical model for early atherosclerosis in which the MDM population is structured by phenotype and lipid content. The model admits a simpler, closed subsystem whose analysis shows how lesion composition becomes more pathological as the blood density of LDL increases relative to the HDL capacity. We use asymptotic analysis to derive a power-law relationship between MDM phenotype and lipid content at steady-state. This relationship enables us to understand why, for example, lipid-laden MDMs have a more inflammatory phenotype than lipid-poor MDMs when blood LDL lipid density greatly exceeds HDL capacity. We show further that the MDM phenotype distribution always attains a local maximum, while the lipid content distribution may be unimodal, adopt a quasi-uniform profile or decrease monotonically. Pathological lesions exhibit a local maximum in both the phenotype and lipid content MDM distributions, with the maximum at an inflammatory phenotype and near the lipid content capacity respectively. These results illustrate how macrophage heterogeneity arises in early atherosclerosis and provide a framework for future model validation through comparison with single-cell RNA sequencing data.
Adaptive behavior with stable synapses
Authors: Cristiano Capone, Luca Falorsi
Date: 2024-04-10 00:00:00
Tasks: In-Context Learning

Behavioral changes in animals and humans, as a consequence of an error or a verbal instruction, can be extremely rapid. Improvement in behavioral performances are usually associated in machine learning and reinforcement learning to synaptic plasticity, and, in general, to changes and optimization of network parameters. However, such rapid changes are not coherent with the timescales of synaptic plasticity, suggesting that the mechanism responsible for that could be a dynamical network reconfiguration. In the last few years, similar capabilities have been observed in transformers, foundational architecture in the field of machine learning that are widely used in applications such as natural language and image processing. Transformers are capable of in-context learning, the ability to adapt and acquire new information dynamically within the context of the task or environment they are currently engaged in, without the need for significant changes to their underlying parameters. Building upon the notion of something unique within transformers enabling the emergence of this property, we claim that it could also be supported by input segregation and dendritic amplification, features extensively observed in biological networks. We propose an architecture composed of gain-modulated recurrent networks that excels at in-context learning, showing abilities inaccessible to standard networks.
Oxygen, Angiogenesis, Cancer and Immune Interplay in Breast Tumor Micro-Environment: A Computational Investigation
Authors: Navid Mohammad Mirzaei, Panayotis G. Kevrekidis, Leili Shahriyari
Date: 2024-04-10 00:00:00
Tasks: parameter estimation

Breast cancer is one of the most challenging global health problems among women. This study investigates the intricate breast tumor microenvironment (TME) dynamics utilizing data from Mammary-specific Polyomavirus Middle T Antigen Overexpression mouse models (MMTV-PyMT). It incorporates Endothelial Cells (ECs), oxygen, and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factors (VEGF) to examine the interplay of angiogenesis, hypoxia, VEGF, and the immune cells in cancer progression. We introduce an approach to impute the immune cell fractions within the TME using single-cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) data from MMTV-PyMT mice. We further quantify our analysis by estimating cell counts using cell size data and laboratory findings from existing literature. Parameter estimation is carried out via a Hybrid Genetic Algorithm (HGA). Our simulations reveal various TME behaviors, emphasizing the critical role of adipocytes, angiogenesis, hypoxia, and oxygen transport in driving immune responses and cancer progression. The global sensitivity analyses highlight potential therapeutic intervention points, such as VEGFs' critical role in EC growth and oxygen transportation and severe hypoxia's effect on the cancer and the total number of cells. The VEGF-mediated production rate of ECs shows an essential time-dependent impact, highlighting the importance of early intervention in slowing cancer progression. These findings align with the observations from the clinical trials demonstrating the efficacy of VEGF inhibitors and suggest a timely intervention for better outcomes.
Hedonic Models Incorporating ESG Factors for Time Series of Average Annual Home Prices
Authors: Jason R. Bailey, W. Brent Lindquist, Svetlozar T. Rachev
Date: 2024-04-10 00:00:00
Tasks: Diversity, Time Series

Using data from 2000 through 2022, we analyze the predictive capability of the annual numbers of new home constructions and four available environmental, social, and governance factors on the average annual price of homes sold in eight major U.S. cities. We contrast the predictive capability of a P-spline generalized additive model (GAM) against a strictly linear version of the commonly used generalized linear model (GLM). As the data for the annual price and predictor variables constitute non-stationary time series, to avoid spurious correlations in the analysis we transform each time series appropriately to produce stationary series for use in the GAM and GLM models. While arithmetic returns or first differences are adequate transformations for the predictor variables, for the average price response variable we utilize the series of innovations obtained from AR(q)-ARCH(1) fits. Based on the GAM results, we find that the influence of ESG factors varies markedly by city, reflecting geographic diversity. Notably, the presence of air conditioning emerges as a strong factor. Despite limitations on the length of available time series, this study represents a pivotal step toward integrating ESG considerations into predictive real estate models.
Addressing the generalization of 3D registration methods with a featureless baseline and an unbiased benchmark
Authors: Bojanić, David; Bartol, Kristijan; Forest, Josep; Petković, Tomislav; Pribanić, Tomislav
Date: 2024-03-23 00:00:00
Proceeding: Machine Vision and Applications 2024 3
Tasks: Benchmarking, Image to Point Cloud Registration, Point Cloud Registration

Recent 3D registration methods are mostly learning-based that either find correspondences in feature space and match them, or directly estimate the registration transformation from the given point cloud features. Therefore, these feature-based methods have difficulties with generalizing onto point clouds that differ substantially from their training data. This issue is not so apparent because of the problematic benchmark definitions that cannot provide any in-depth analysis and contain a bias toward similar data. Therefore, we propose a methodology to create a 3D registration benchmark, given a point cloud dataset, that provides a more informative evaluation of a method w.r.t. other benchmarks. Using this methodology, we create a novel FAUST-partial (FP) benchmark, based on the FAUST dataset, with several difficulty levels. The FP benchmark addresses the limitations of the current benchmarks: lack of data and parameter range variability, and allows to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a 3D registration method w.r.t. a single registration parameter. Using the new FP benchmark, we provide a thorough analysis of the current state-of-the-art methods and observe that the current method still struggle to generalize onto severely different out-of-sample data. Therefore, we propose a simple featureless traditional 3D registration baseline method based on the weighted cross-correlation between two given point clouds. Our method achieves strong results on current benchmarking datasets, outperforming most deep learning methods. Our source code is available on github.com/DavidBoja/exhaustive-grid-search.
PrimeNet: Pre-Training for Irregular Multivariate Time Series
Authors: Ranak Roy Chowdhury, Jiacheng Li, Xiyuan Zhang, Dezhi Hong, Rajesh K. Gupta, Jingbo Shang
Date: 2023-06-26 00:00:00
Proceeding: AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence 2023 6
Tasks: Contrastive Learning, Irregular Time Series, Multivariate Time Series Forecasting, Representation Learning, Time Series, Time Series Forecasting, Triplet

Real-world applications often involve irregular time series, for which the time intervals between successive observations are non-uniform. Irregularity across multiple features in a multi-variate time series further results in a different subset of features at any given time (i.e., asynchronicity). Existing pre-training schemes for time-series, however, often assume regularity of time series and make no special treatment of irregularity. We argue that such irregularity offers insight about domain property of the data — for example, frequency of hospital visits may signal patient health condition — that can guide representation learning. In this work, we propose PrimeNet to learn a self-supervised representation for irregular multivariate time series. Specifcally, we design a time-sensitive contrastive learning and data reconstruction task to pre-train a model. Irregular time series exhibits considerable variations in sampling density over time. Hence, our triplet generation strategy follows the density of the original data points, preserving its native irregularity. Moreover, the sampling density variation over time makes data reconstruction diffcult for different regions. Therefore, we design a data
masking technique that always masks a constant time duration to accommodate reconstruction for regions of different sampling density. We learn with these tasks using unlabeled data to build a pre-trained model and fine-tune on a downstream task with limited labeled data, in contrast with existing fully supervised approach for irregular time-series, requiring large amounts of labeled data. Experiment results show that PrimeNet signifcantly outperforms state-of-the-art methods on naturally irregular and asynchronous data from Healthcare and IoT applications for several downstream tasks, including classifcation, interpolation, and regression.
Data driven prediction models of energy use of appliances in a low-energy house
Authors: Luis M. Candanedo, Véronique Feldheim, Dominique Deramaix
Date: 2017-01-31 00:00:00
Proceeding: Energy and Buildings 2017 1
Tasks: Prediction

This paper presents and discusses data-driven predictive models for the energy use of appliances. Data used include measurements of temperature and humidity sensors from a wireless network, weather from a nearby airport station and recorded energy use of lighting fixtures. The paper discusses data filtering to remove non-predictive parameters and feature ranking. Four statistical models were trained with repeated cross validation and evaluated in a testing set: (a) multiple linear regression, (b) support vector machine with radial kernel, (c) random forest and (d) gradient boosting machines (GBM). The best model (GBM) was able to explain 97% of the variance (R2) in the training set and with 57% in the testing set when using all the predictors. From the wireless network, the data from the kitchen, laundry and living room were ranked the highest in importance for the energy prediction. The prediction models with only the weather data, selected the atmospheric pressure (which is correlated to wind speed) as the most relevant weather data variable in the prediction. Therefore, atmospheric pressure may be important to include in energy prediction models and for building performance modeling.
Outlier-Robust Gromov-Wasserstein for Graph Data
Authors: Lemin Kong, Jiajin Li, Jianheng Tang, Anthony Man-Cho So
Date: 2023-02-09 00:00:00
Proceeding: NeurIPS 2023 11
Tasks: Graph Learning

Gromov-Wasserstein (GW) distance is a powerful tool for comparing and aligning probability distributions supported on different metric spaces. Recently, GW has become the main modeling technique for aligning heterogeneous data for a wide range of graph learning tasks. However, the GW distance is known to be highly sensitive to outliers, which can result in large inaccuracies if the outliers are given the same weight as other samples in the objective function. To mitigate this issue, we introduce a new and robust version of the GW distance called RGW. RGW features optimistically perturbed marginal constraints within a Kullback-Leibler divergence-based ambiguity set. To make the benefits of RGW more accessible in practice, we develop a computationally efficient and theoretically provable procedure using Bregman proximal alternating linearized minimization algorithm. Through extensive experimentation, we validate our theoretical results and demonstrate the effectiveness of RGW on real-world graph learning tasks, such as subgraph matching and partial shape correspondence.
Swarm Reinforcement Learning For Adaptive Mesh Refinement
Authors: Niklas Freymuth, Philipp Dahlinger, Tobias Würth, Simon Reisch, Luise Kärger, Gerhard Neumann
Date: 2023-04-03 00:00:00
Proceeding: NeurIPS 2023 11
Tasks: reinforcement-learning, Reinforcement Learning

Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) enhances the Finite Element Method, an important technique for simulating complex problems in engineering, by dynamically refining mesh regions, enabling a favorable trade-off between computational speed and simulation accuracy. Classical methods for AMR depend on heuristics or expensive error estimators, hindering their use for complex simulations. Recent learning-based AMR methods tackle these issues, but so far scale only to simple toy examples. We formulate AMR as a novel Adaptive Swarm Markov Decision Process in which a mesh is modeled as a system of simple collaborating agents that may split into multiple new agents. This framework allows for a spatial reward formulation that simplifies the credit assignment problem, which we combine with Message Passing Networks to propagate information between neighboring mesh elements. We experimentally validate our approach, Adaptive Swarm Mesh Refinement (ASMR), on challenging refinement tasks. Our approach learns reliable and efficient refinement strategies that can robustly generalize to different domains during inference. Additionally, it achieves a speedup of up to $2$ orders of magnitude compared to uniform refinements in more demanding simulations. We outperform learned baselines and heuristics, achieving a refinement quality that is on par with costly error-based oracle AMR strategies.