pwc-archive/papers-with-abstracts huggingface dataset:
Learning to learn ecosystems from limited data -- a meta-learning approach
Authors: Zheng-Meng Zhai, Bryan Glaz, Mulugeta Haile, Ying-Cheng Lai
Date: 2024-10-02 00:00:00
Tasks: Meta-Learning, Prediction, State Estimation

A fundamental challenge in developing data-driven approaches to ecological systems for tasks such as state estimation and prediction is the paucity of the observational or measurement data. For example, modern machine-learning techniques such as deep learning or reservoir computing typically require a large quantity of data. Leveraging synthetic data from paradigmatic nonlinear but non-ecological dynamical systems, we develop a meta-learning framework with time-delayed feedforward neural networks to predict the long-term behaviors of ecological systems as characterized by their attractors. We show that the framework is capable of accurately reconstructing the ``dynamical climate'' of the ecological system with limited data. Three benchmark population models in ecology, namely the Hastings-Powell model, a three-species food chain, and the Lotka-Volterra system, are used to demonstrate the performance of the meta-learning based prediction framework. In all cases, enhanced accuracy and robustness are achieved using five to seven times less training data as compared with the corresponding machine-learning method trained solely from the ecosystem data. A number of issues affecting the prediction performance are addressed.
AAAI Workshop on AI Planning for Cyber-Physical Systems -- CAIPI24
Authors: Oliver Niggemann, Gautam Biswas, Alexander Diedrich, Jonas Ehrhardt, René Heesch, Niklas Widulle
Date: 2024-10-08 00:00:00
Tasks: Deep Reinforcement Learning

The workshop 'AI-based Planning for Cyber-Physical Systems', which took place on February 26, 2024, as part of the 38th Annual AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Vancouver, Canada, brought together researchers to discuss recent advances in AI planning methods for Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS). CPS pose a major challenge due to their complexity and data-intensive nature, which often exceeds the capabilities of traditional planning algorithms. The workshop highlighted new approaches such as neuro-symbolic architectures, large language models (LLMs), deep reinforcement learning and advances in symbolic planning. These techniques are promising when it comes to managing the complexity of CPS and have potential for real-world applications.
Technical Report: Competition Solution For Modelscope-Sora
Authors: Shengfu Chen, Hailong Liu, Wenzhao Wei
Date: 2024-09-24 00:00:00
Tasks: Text-to-Video Generation, Video Description, Video Generation

This report presents the approach adopted in the Modelscope-Sora challenge, which focuses on fine-tuning data for video generation models. The challenge evaluates participants' ability to analyze, clean, and generate high-quality datasets for video-based text-to-video tasks under specific computational constraints. The provided methodology involves data processing techniques such as video description generation, filtering, and acceleration. This report outlines the procedures and tools utilized to enhance the quality of training data, ensuring improved performance in text-to-video generation models.
Lightweight Deep Learning Framework for Accurate Particle Flow Energy Reconstruction
Authors: Yu Wang, Yangguang Zhang, Shengxiang Lin, Xingyi Zhang, Han Zhang
Date: 2024-10-08 00:00:00
Tasks: Deep Learning, Image Reconstruction

Under extreme operating conditions, characterized by high particle multiplicity and heavily overlapping shower energy deposits, classical particle flow algorithms encounter pronounced limitations in resolution, efficiency, and accuracy. To address this challenge, this paper proposes and systematically evaluates a deep learning reconstruction framework: For multichannel sparse features, we design a hybrid loss function combining weighted mean squared error with structural similarity index, effectively balancing pixel-level accuracy and structural fidelity. By integrating 3D convolutions, Squeeze-and-Excitation channel attention, and Offset self-attention modules into baseline convolutional neural networks, we enhance the model's capability to capture cross-modal spatiotemporal correlations and energy-displacement nonlinearities. Validated on custom-constructed simulation data and Pythia jet datasets, the framework's 90K-parameter lightweight variant approaches the performance of 5M-parameter baselines, while the 25M-parameter 3D model achieves state-of-the-art results in both interpolation and extrapolation tasks. Comprehensive experiments quantitatively evaluate component contributions and provide performance-parameter trade-off guidelines. All core code and data processing scripts are open-sourced on a GitHub repository to facilitate community reproducibility and extension.
A Survey for Deep Reinforcement Learning Based Network Intrusion Detection
Authors: Wanrong Yang, Alberto Acuto, Yihang Zhou, Dominik Wojtczak
Date: 2024-09-25 00:00:00
Tasks: Deep Reinforcement Learning, feature selection, Intrusion Detection, Network Intrusion Detection, reinforcement-learning, Reinforcement Learning, Survey

Cyber-attacks are becoming increasingly sophisticated and frequent, highlighting the importance of network intrusion detection systems. This paper explores the potential and challenges of using deep reinforcement learning (DRL) in network intrusion detection. It begins by introducing key DRL concepts and frameworks, such as deep Q-networks and actor-critic algorithms, and reviews recent research utilizing DRL for intrusion detection. The study evaluates challenges related to model training efficiency, detection of minority and unknown class attacks, feature selection, and handling unbalanced datasets. The performance of DRL models is comprehensively analyzed, showing that while DRL holds promise, many recent technologies remain underexplored. Some DRL models achieve state-of-the-art results on public datasets, occasionally outperforming traditional deep learning methods. The paper concludes with recommendations for enhancing DRL deployment and testing in real-world network scenarios, with a focus on Internet of Things intrusion detection. It discusses recent DRL architectures and suggests future policy functions for DRL-based intrusion detection. Finally, the paper proposes integrating DRL with generative methods to further improve performance, addressing current gaps and supporting more robust and adaptive network intrusion detection systems.
Margin-bounded Confidence Scores for Out-of-Distribution Detection
Authors: Lakpa D. Tamang, Mohamed Reda Bouadjenek, Richard Dazeley, Sunil Aryal
Date: 2024-09-22 00:00:00
Tasks: Autonomous Driving, Benchmarking, image-classification, Image Classification, Out-of-Distribution Detection

In many critical Machine Learning applications, such as autonomous driving and medical image diagnosis, the detection of out-of-distribution (OOD) samples is as crucial as accurately classifying in-distribution (ID) inputs. Recently Outlier Exposure (OE) based methods have shown promising results in detecting OOD inputs via model fine-tuning with auxiliary outlier data. However, most of the previous OE-based approaches emphasize more on synthesizing extra outlier samples or introducing regularization to diversify OOD sample space, which is rather unquantifiable in practice. In this work, we propose a novel and straightforward method called Margin bounded Confidence Scores (MaCS) to address the nontrivial OOD detection problem by enlarging the disparity between ID and OOD scores, which in turn makes the decision boundary more compact facilitating effective segregation with a simple threshold. Specifically, we augment the learning objective of an OE regularized classifier with a supplementary constraint, which penalizes high confidence scores for OOD inputs compared to that of ID and significantly enhances the OOD detection performance while maintaining the ID classification accuracy. Extensive experiments on various benchmark datasets for image classification tasks demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method by significantly outperforming state-of-the-art (S.O.T.A) methods on various benchmarking metrics. The code is publicly available at https://github.com/lakpa-tamang9/margin_ood
Locally Measuring Cross-lingual Lexical Alignment: A Domain and Word Level Perspective
Authors: Taelin Karidi, Eitan Grossman, Omri Abend
Date: 2024-10-07 00:00:00

NLP research on aligning lexical representation spaces to one another has so far focused on aligning language spaces in their entirety. However, cognitive science has long focused on a local perspective, investigating whether translation equivalents truly share the same meaning or the extent that cultural and regional influences result in meaning variations. With recent technological advances and the increasing amounts of available data, the longstanding question of cross-lingual lexical alignment can now be approached in a more data-driven manner. However, developing metrics for the task requires some methodology for comparing metric efficacy. We address this gap and present a methodology for analyzing both synthetic validations and a novel naturalistic validation using lexical gaps in the kinship domain. We further propose new metrics, hitherto unexplored on this task, based on contextualized embeddings. Our analysis spans 16 diverse languages, demonstrating that there is substantial room for improvement with the use of newer language models. Our research paves the way for more accurate and nuanced cross-lingual lexical alignment methodologies and evaluation.
Fast Optimal Locally Private Mean Estimation via Random Projections
Authors: Hilal Asi, Vitaly Feldman, Jelani Nelson, Huy L. Nguyen, Kunal Talwar
Date: 2023-06-07 00:00:00
Proceeding: NeurIPS 2023 11
Tasks: Federated Learning

We study the problem of locally private mean estimation of high-dimensional vectors in the Euclidean ball. Existing algorithms for this problem either incur sub-optimal error or have high communication and/or run-time complexity. We propose a new algorithmic framework, ProjUnit, for private mean estimation that yields algorithms that are computationally efficient, have low communication complexity, and incur optimal error up to a $1+o(1)$-factor. Our framework is deceptively simple: each randomizer projects its input to a random low-dimensional subspace, normalizes the result, and then runs an optimal algorithm such as PrivUnitG in the lower-dimensional space. In addition, we show that, by appropriately correlating the random projection matrices across devices, we can achieve fast server run-time. We mathematically analyze the error of the algorithm in terms of properties of the random projections, and study two instantiations. Lastly, our experiments for private mean estimation and private federated learning demonstrate that our algorithms empirically obtain nearly the same utility as optimal ones while having significantly lower communication and computational cost.
An Undetectable Watermark for Generative Image Models
Authors: Sam Gunn, Xuandong Zhao, Dawn Song
Date: 2024-10-09 00:00:00

We present the first undetectable watermarking scheme for generative image models. Undetectability ensures that no efficient adversary can distinguish between watermarked and un-watermarked images, even after making many adaptive queries. In particular, an undetectable watermark does not degrade image quality under any efficiently computable metric. Our scheme works by selecting the initial latents of a diffusion model using a pseudorandom error-correcting code (Christ and Gunn, 2024), a strategy which guarantees undetectability and robustness. We experimentally demonstrate that our watermarks are quality-preserving and robust using Stable Diffusion 2.1. Our experiments verify that, in contrast to every prior scheme we tested, our watermark does not degrade image quality. Our experiments also demonstrate robustness: existing watermark removal attacks fail to remove our watermark from images without significantly degrading the quality of the images. Finally, we find that we can robustly encode 512 bits in our watermark, and up to 2500 bits when the images are not subjected to watermark removal attacks. Our code is available at https://github.com/XuandongZhao/PRC-Watermark.
Color-Guided Flying Pixel Correction in Depth Images
Authors: Ekamresh Vasudevan, Shashank N. Sridhara, Eduardo Pavez, Antonio Ortega, Raghavendra Singh, Srinath Kalluri
Date: 2024-10-10 00:00:00
Tasks: Depth Estimation

We present a novel method to correct flying pixels within data captured by Time-of-flight (ToF) sensors. Flying pixel (FP) artifacts occur when signals from foreground and background objects reach the same sensor pixel, leading to a confident yet incorrect depth estimation in space - floating between two objects. Commercial RGB-D cameras have a complementary setup consisting of ToF sensors to capture depth in addition to RGB cameras. We propose a novel method to correct FPs by leveraging the aligned RGB and depth image in such RGB-D cameras to estimate the true depth values of FPs. Our method defines a 3D neighborhood around each point, representing a "field of view" that mirrors the acquisition process of ToF cameras. We propose a two-step iterative correction algorithm in which the FPs are first identified. Then, we estimate the true depth value of FPs by solving a least-squares optimization problem. Experimental results show that our proposed algorithm estimates the depth value of FPs as accurately as other algorithms in the literature.
Optimizing RIS Impairments through Semantic Communication
Authors: Nour Hello, Mattia Merluzzi, Emilio Calvanese Strinati, Luca Sanguinetti
Date: 2024-10-10 00:00:00
Tasks: Semantic Communication

This paper investigates how semantic communication can effectively influence and potentially redefine the limitations imposed by physical layer settings. Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RIS) enable the intelligent configuration of the physical layer of communication systems. However, its practical implementation is hampered by several limitations. The Semantic Communication (SemCom) paradigm introduces additional degrees of freedom that can be exploited to improve the robustness of communication against physical layer impairments. In essence, SemCom ensures that the data representation remains robust even under adverse physical conditions by emphasizing the transmission of meaningful information in a manner that is less susceptible to degradation. Through the use of SemCom, potential RIS gains are demonstrated in terms of RIS area size and the phase shift precision of its active elements.
Bending beams for 6G near-field communications
Authors: Sotiris Droulias, Giorgos Stratidakis, Angeliki Alexiou
Date: 2024-10-10 00:00:00

Future wireless connectivity is envisioned to accommodate functionalities far beyond broadband data transmission over point-to-point direct links, enabling novel scenarios, such as communication behind blockers and around corners, and innovative concepts, such as situational awareness, localization and joint communications and sensing. In this landscape, beams that are able to propagate on bent paths are ideal candidates for dynamic blockage avoidance, interference management in selected regions, and user connectivity on curved trajectories. In this work, we study beam shaping for applications in near-field wireless connectivity. We explain the underlying mechanism of beam bending and we present the design principles for tailoring the curvature of the propagation trajectory. We discuss design aspects for generation of such beams with large arrays and analyze the impact of several parameters on their performance, including the beam's footprint shape, the aperture size, the inter-element spacing, the sub-array selection of active elements, the available phase levels of the array elements and the operating frequency. We introduce the concept of near-field virtual routing (NFVR) and we demonstrate that such beams are able to address challenges of high frequency communications, such as dynamic routing, blockage avoidance and energy-efficiency, more efficiently than conventional beamforming.
Cognitive Noise and Altruistic Preferences
Authors: Niklas M. Witzig
Date: 2024-10-10 00:00:00
Tasks: Math

I study altruistic choices through the lens of a cognitively noisy decision-maker. I introduce a theoretical framework that demonstrates how increased cognitive noise can directionally affect altruistic decisions and put its implications to the test: In a laboratory experiment, participants make a series of binary choices between taking and giving monetary payments. In the treatment, to-be-calculated math sums replace straightforward monetary payments, increasing the cognitive difficulty of choosing. The Treatment group exhibits a lower sensitivity towards changes in payments and decides significantly more often in favor of the other person, i.e., is more altruistic. I explore the origins of this effect with Bayesian hierarchical models and a number-comparison task, mirroring the "mechanics" of the altruism choices absent any altruistic preference. The treatment effect is similar in this task, suggesting that the perception of numerical magnitudes drives treatment differences. The probabilistic model supports this interpretation. A series of additional results show a negative correlation between cognitive reflection and individual measures of cognitive noise, as well as associations between altruistic choice and number comparison. Overall, these results suggest that the expression of altruistic preferences -- and potentially social preferences more generally -- is affected by the cognitive difficulty of their implementation.
Comparing Mass-Preserving Numerical Methods for the Lithium-Ion Battery Single Particle Model
Authors: Joseph N. E. Lucero, Le Xu, Simona Onori
Date: 2024-10-10 00:00:00
Tasks: Management

The single particle model (SPM) is a reduced electrochemical model that holds promise for applications in battery management systems due to its ability to accurately capture battery dynamics; however, the numerical discretization of the SPM requires careful consideration to ensure numerical stability and accuracy. In this paper, we present a comparative study of two mass-preserving numerical schemes for the SPM: the finite volume method and the control volume method. Using numerical simulations, we systematically evaluate the performance of these schemes, after independently calibrating the SPM discretized with each scheme to experimental data, and find a tradeoff between accuracy (quantified by voltage root-mean-square error) and computational time. Our findings provide insights into the selection of numerical schemes for the SPM, contributing to the advancement of battery modeling and simulation techniques.
Probabilistically Input-to-State Stable Stochastic Model Predictive Control
Authors: Maik Pfefferkorn, Rolf Findeisen
Date: 2024-10-10 00:00:00
Tasks: Model Predictive Control

Employing model predictive control to systems with unbounded, stochastic disturbances poses the challenge of guaranteeing safety, i.e., repeated feasibility and stability of the closed-loop system. Especially, there are no strict repeated feasibility guarantees for standard stochastic MPC formulations. Thus, traditional stability proofs are not straightforwardly applicable. We exploit the concept of input-to-state stability in probability and outline how it can be used to provide stability guarantees, circumventing the requirement for strict repeated feasibility guarantees. Loss of feasibility is captured by a back-up controller, which is explicitly taken into account in the stability analysis. We illustrate our findings using a numeric example.
Reachability Analysis for Black-Box Dynamical Systems
Authors: Vamsi Krishna Chilakamarri, Zeyuan Feng, Somil Bansal
Date: 2024-10-10 00:00:00

Hamilton-Jacobi (HJ) reachability analysis is a powerful framework for ensuring safety and performance in autonomous systems. However, existing methods typically rely on a white-box dynamics model of the system, limiting their applicability in many practical robotics scenarios where only a black-box model of the system is available. In this work, we propose a novel reachability method to compute reachable sets and safe controllers for black-box dynamical systems. Our approach efficiently approximates the Hamiltonian function using samples from the black-box dynamics. This Hamiltonian is then used to solve the HJ Partial Differential Equation (PDE), providing the reachable set of the system. The proposed method can be applied to general nonlinear systems and can be seamlessly integrated with existing reachability toolboxes for white-box systems to extend their use to black-box systems. Through simulation studies on a black-box slip-wheel car and a quadruped robot, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach in accurately obtaining the reachable sets for black?box dynamical systems.
From Cognition to Precognition: A Future-Aware Framework for Social Navigation
Authors: Zeying Gong, Tianshuai Hu, Ronghe Qiu, Junwei Liang
Date: 2024-09-20 00:00:00
Tasks: Future prediction, Navigate, Social Navigation

To navigate safely and efficiently in crowded spaces, robots should not only perceive the current state of the environment but also anticipate future human movements. In this paper, we propose a reinforcement learning architecture, namely Falcon, to tackle socially-aware navigation by explicitly predicting human trajectories and penalizing actions that block future human paths. To facilitate realistic evaluation, we introduce a novel SocialNav benchmark containing two new datasets, Social-HM3D and Social-MP3D. This benchmark offers large-scale photo-realistic indoor scenes populated with a reasonable amount of human agents based on scene area size, incorporating natural human movements and trajectory patterns. We conduct a detailed experimental analysis with the state-of-the-art learning-based method and two classic rule-based path-planning algorithms on the new benchmark. The results demonstrate the importance of future prediction and our method achieves the best task success rate of 55% while maintaining about 90% personal space compliance. We will release our code and datasets. Videos of demonstrations can be viewed at https://zeying-gong.github.io/projects/falcon/ .
A Framework to Enable Algorithmic Design Choice Exploration in DNNs
Authors: Timothy L. Cronin IV, Sanmukh Kuppannagari
Date: 2024-10-10 00:00:00

Deep learning technologies, particularly deep neural networks (DNNs), have demonstrated significant success across many domains. This success has been accompanied by substantial advancements and innovations in the algorithms behind the operations required by DNNs. These enhanced algorithms hold the potential to greatly increase the performance of DNNs. However, discovering the best performing algorithm for a DNN and altering the DNN to use such algorithm is a difficult and time consuming task. To address this, we introduce an open source framework which provides easy to use fine grain algorithmic control for DNNs, enabling algorithmic exploration and selection. Along with built-in high performance implementations of common deep learning operations, the framework enables users to implement and select their own algorithms to be utilized by the DNN. The framework's built-in accelerated implementations are shown to yield outputs equivalent to and exhibit similar performance as implementations in PyTorch, a popular DNN framework. Moreover, the framework incurs no additional performance overhead, meaning that performance depends solely on the algorithms chosen by the user.