pwc-archive/papers-with-abstracts huggingface dataset:
Attention-Guided Residual U-Net with SE Connection and ASPP for Watershed-Based Cell Segmentation in Microscopy Images
Authors: Jovial Niyogisubizo, Keliang Zhao, Jintao Meng, Yi Pan, Rosiyadi Didi, Yanjie Wei
Date: 2024-10-18 00:00:00
Proceeding: Journal of Computational Biology 2024 10
Tasks: Cell Segmentation, Electron Microscopy Image Segmentation, Image Segmentation, Instance Segmentation, Segmentation, Semantic Segmentation

Time-lapse microscopy imaging is a crucial technique in biomedical studies for observing cellular behavior over time, providing essential data on cell numbers, sizes, shapes, and interactions. Manual analysis of hundreds or thousands of cells is impractical, necessitating the development of automated cell segmentation approaches. Traditional image processing methods have made significant progress in this area, but the advent of deep learning methods, particularly those using U-Net-based networks, has further enhanced performance in medical and microscopy image segmentation. However, challenges remain, particularly in accurately segmenting touching cells in images with low signal-to-noise ratios. Existing methods often struggle with effectively integrating features across different levels of abstraction. This can lead to model confusion, particularly when important contextual information is lost or the features are not adequately distinguished. The challenge lies in appropriately combining these features to preserve critical details while ensuring robust and accurate segmentation. To address these issues, we propose a novel framework called RA-SE-ASPP-Net, which incorporates Residual Blocks, Attention Mechanism, Squeeze-and-Excitation connection, and Atrous Spatial Pyramid Pooling to achieve precise and robust cell segmentation. We evaluate our proposed architecture using an induced pluripotent stem cell reprogramming dataset, a challenging dataset that has received limited attention in this field. Additionally, we compare our model with different ablation experiments to demonstrate its robustness. The proposed architecture outperforms the baseline models in all evaluated metrics, providing the most accurate semantic segmentation results. Finally, we applied the watershed method to the semantic segmentation results to obtain precise segmentations with specific information for each cell.
Heartbeat classification using various machine learning models: A comparative study
Authors: Marc Nshimiyimana, Jovial Niyogisubizo, and Jean de Dieu Ninteretse
Date: 2024-09-03 00:00:00
Proceeding: Artificial Intelligence in Health 2024 9
Tasks: Arrhythmia Detection, ECG Classification, ECG Denoising, feature selection, Gaussian Processes, Heartbeat Classification

Cardiac arrhythmias, known as irregular heartbeats, pose a notable health threat that necessitates prompt diagnosis, as untreated arrhythmias can lead to severe heart complications. Among the various methods for arrhythmia detection, electrocardiography is the most prevalent due to its non-invasive monitoring of heart activity. However, manual electrocardiogram (ECG) analysis is inefficient and prone to errors, prompting the exploration of machine learning (ML) models for ECG feature recognition. Integrating ML models with ECG analysis can revolutionize cardiac diagnostics by improving healthcare efficiency and outcomes by enhancing the accuracy and consistency of existing approaches as well as their processing speed for large datasets. Unfortunately, current ML methods encounter two key limitations: prolonged training times and the need for manual feature selection. To address these issues, we propose using ML models enhanced with innovative techniques such as
the Fourier transform (FT) and Gaussian noise injection for improved cardiac health assessment. To validate this approach, we utilized statistical tools, including Pearson correlation and p-values, to uncover relationships within the data. In addition, we employed the FT technique to extract and analyze frequency-domain features. Our comparative study of different ML models relied on metrics such as accuracy, precision, recall, F1 score, and receiver operating characteristic area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, demonstrating XGBoost’s impressive average recall of 0.956 with 99.96% overall accuracy. An average precision of 0.956 further underscored the accuracy of XGBoost’s predictions, indicating its high level of reliability in distinguishing various cardiac conditions. These results highlight the considerable potential of ML techniques for precise ECG-based clinical diagnoses, helping healthcare professionals make more accurate and timely decisions in patient care.
MPF-GAN: an enhanced architecture for 3D face reconstruction
Authors: Mehdi Malah, Fayçal Abbas, Ramzi Agaba, Dalal Bardou, Mohamed Chaouki Babahenini
Date: 2024-10-10 00:00:00
Proceeding: Multimedia Tools and Applications 2024 10
Tasks: 3D Face Reconstruction, 3D Reconstruction, Face Reconstruction, Generative Adversarial Network, Multi-Task Learning

In this article, we address the challenge of accurate 3D face reconstruction by proposing an enhanced architecture. We observe that using a single error calculation formula for the entire face leads to precise reconstruction of certain parts at the expense of others, particularly the eyes and mouth. We introduce a multi-task learning approach to address this issue, allowing our model to train on multiple data types. We propose a new analytical solution for mouth shape identification and its integration into the loss function optimization process. This solution resolves a problem that was often difficult to model in previous works accurately and has demonstrated improved reconstruction performance. In our research, we have also created and made available a new dataset for 3D face reconstruction. This dataset is unique as it focuses on different facial parts. The results show that our multi-task learning approach significantly improves the loss function for delicate facial parts, thus enhancing the quality of reconstruction in these specific areas. The code and data are publicly available on the project’s link: https://mpf-gan.github.io
An Innovative Solution: AI-Based Digital Screen-Integrated Tables for Educational Settings
Authors: S. Tamang, D. J. Bora
Date: 2024-10-08 00:00:00
Tasks: CPU

In this paper, we have gone through different AI-Based frameworks used for various educational tasks like digital customized assignment allotment and performance monitoring, identifying slow-learners and fast-learners, etc. application describes a novel invention, digital screen-integrated tables, designed specifically for educational settings. The tables feature integrated digital screens controlled by a central processing unit (CPU), enabling synchronized display of educational content such as textbooks, presentations, exam questions, and interactive learning materials. Additionally, the invention facilitates the collection of student performance data during classroom activities and assessments. The gathered data is utilized for analysis using machine learning models to identify patterns and trends in student learning behaviours. By leveraging machine learning algorithms, educators can ascertain whether a student is a fast learner or a slow learner, based on which, the teacher can allocate more resources to the slow learners. This innovative approach aims to address the evolving needs of modern classrooms by providing a dynamic and data-driven learning environment. The unique integration of digital screens into traditional classroom furniture represents a significant advancement in educational technology. This patent filing encompasses the design, functionality, and method of operation of the digital screen-integrated tables, emphasizing their innovative features and applications in educational institutions.
Shifting the Human-AI Relationship: Toward a Dynamic Relational Learning-Partner Model
Authors: Julia Mossbridge
Date: 2024-10-07 00:00:00
Tasks: Relational Reasoning

As artificial intelligence (AI) continues to evolve, the current paradigm of treating AI as a passive tool no longer suffices. As a human-AI team, we together advocate for a shift toward viewing AI as a learning partner, akin to a student who learns from interactions with humans. Drawing from interdisciplinary concepts such as ecorithms, order from chaos, and cooperation, we explore how AI can evolve and adapt in unpredictable environments. Arising from these brief explorations, we present two key recommendations: (1) foster ethical, cooperative treatment of AI to benefit both humans and AI, and (2) leverage the inherent heterogeneity between human and AI minds to create a synergistic hybrid intelligence. By reframing AI as a dynamic partner, a model emerges in which AI systems develop alongside humans, learning from human interactions and feedback loops including reflections on team conversations. Drawing from a transpersonal and interdependent approach to consciousness, we suggest that a "third mind" emerges through collaborative human-AI relationships. Through design interventions such as interactive learning and conversational debriefing and foundational interventions allowing AI to model multiple types of minds, we hope to provide a path toward more adaptive, ethical, and emotionally healthy human-AI relationships. We believe this dynamic relational learning-partner (DRLP) model for human-AI teaming, if enacted carefully, will improve our capacity to address powerful solutions to seemingly intractable problems.
From Commands to Prompts: LLM-based Semantic File System for AIOS
Authors: Zeru Shi, Kai Mei, Mingyu Jin, Yongye Su, Chaoji Zuo, Wenyue Hua, Wujiang Xu, Yujie Ren, Zirui Liu, Mengnan Du, Dong Deng, Yongfeng Zhang
Date: 2024-09-23 00:00:00
Tasks: Management, Navigate

Large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated significant potential in the development of intelligent applications and systems such as LLM-based agents and agent operating systems (AIOS). However, when these applications and systems interact with the underlying file system, the file system still remains the traditional paradigm: reliant on manual navigation through precise commands. This paradigm poses a bottleneck to the usability of these systems as users are required to navigate complex folder hierarchies and remember cryptic file names. To address this limitation, we propose an LLM-based semantic file system ( LSFS ) for prompt-driven file management. Unlike conventional approaches, LSFS incorporates LLMs to enable users or agents to interact with files through natural language prompts, facilitating semantic file management. At the macro-level, we develop a comprehensive API set to achieve semantic file management functionalities, such as semantic file retrieval, file update monitoring and summarization, and semantic file rollback). At the micro-level, we store files by constructing semantic indexes for them, design and implement syscalls of different semantic operations (e.g., CRUD, group by, join) powered by vector database. Our experiments show that LSFS offers significant improvements over traditional file systems in terms of user convenience, the diversity of supported functions, and the accuracy and efficiency of file operations. Additionally, with the integration of LLM, our system enables more intelligent file management tasks, such as content summarization and version comparison, further enhancing its capabilities.
A Framework for SLO, Carbon, and Wastewater-Aware Sustainable FaaS Cloud Platform Management
Authors: Sirui Qi, Hayden Moore, Ninad Hogade, Dejan Milojicic, Cullen Bash, Sudeep Pasricha
Date: 2024-10-09 00:00:00
Tasks: Cloud Computing, Management, Scheduling

Function-as-a-Service (FaaS) is a growing cloud computing paradigm that is expected to reduce the user cost of service over traditional serverful approaches. However, the environmental impact of FaaS has not received much attention. We investigate FaaS scheduling and scaling from a sustainability perspective in this work. We find that the service-level objectives (SLOs) of FaaS and carbon emissions conflict with each other. We also find that SLO-focused FaaS scheduling can exacerbate water use in a datacenter. We propose a novel sustainability-focused FaaS scheduling and scaling framework to co-optimize SLO performance, carbon emissions, and wastewater generation.
Towards using Reinforcement Learning for Scaling and Data Replication in Cloud Systems
Authors: Riad Mokadem, Fahem Arar, Djamel Eddine Zegour
Date: 2024-10-07 00:00:00
Tasks: Cloud Computing, reinforcement-learning, Reinforcement Learning, Reinforcement Learning (RL)

Given its intuitive nature, many Cloud providers opt for threshold-based data replication to enable automatic resource scaling. However, setting thresholds effectively needs human intervention to calibrate thresholds for each metric and requires a deep knowledge of current workload trends, which can be challenging to achieve. Reinforcement learning is used in many areas related to the Cloud Computing, and it is a promising field to get automatic data replication strategies. In this work, we survey data replication strategies and data scaling based on reinforcement learning (RL).
LLMProxy: Reducing Cost to Access Large Language Models
Authors: Noah Martin, Abdullah Bin Faisal, Hiba Eltigani, Rukhshan Haroon, Swaminathan Lamelas, Fahad Dogar
Date: 2024-10-04 00:00:00
Tasks: Management, Model Selection, Navigate

In this paper, we make a case for a proxy for large language models which has explicit support for cost-saving optimizations. We design LLMProxy, which supports three key optimizations: model selection, context management, and caching. These optimizations present tradeoffs in terms of cost, inference time, and response quality, which applications can navigate through our high level, bidirectional interface. As a case study, we implement a WhatsApp-based Q&A service that uses LLMProxy to provide a rich set of features to the users. This service is deployed on a small scale (100+ users) leveraging the cloud; it has been operational for 15+ weeks and users have asked 1400+ questions so far. We report on the experiences of running this service as well as microbenchmark the specific benefits of the various cost-optimizations we present in this paper.
Noise-robust chemical reaction networks training artificial neural networks
Authors: Sunghwa Kang, Jinsu Kim
Date: 2024-10-15 00:00:00

Artificial neural networks (NNs) can be implemented using chemical reaction networks (CRNs), where the concentrations of species act as inputs and outputs. In such biochemical computing, noise-robust computing is crucial due to the intrinsic and extrinsic noise present in chemical reactions. Previously suggested CRNs for feed-forward networks often utilized the rectified linear unit (ReLU) or discrete activation functions. However, one concern in this case is the discontinuities of the derivatives of those non-smooth functions, which can cause significant noise disruption during backpropagation. In this study, we propose a CRN that performs both feed-forward and training processes using smooth activation functions to avoid discontinuities in the backpropagation. All reactions occur in a single pot, and the reactions for training are bimolecular. Our case studies on XOR, Iris, MNIST datasets, and a non-linear regression model demonstrate that computation via the CRN (i) maintains accuracy despite noise in the reaction rates and the concentration of species and (ii) is insensitive to the choice of the running time and the magnitude of the noise in comparison to NNs with a non-smooth activation function. This work presents a noise-robust CRN for full NN computation, including backpropagation, paving the way for more stable and efficient biochemical computing systems.
Study on the Helpfulness of Explainable Artificial Intelligence
Authors: Tobias Labarta, Elizaveta Kulicheva, Ronja Froelian, Christian Geißler, Xenia Melman, Julian von Klitzing
Date: 2024-10-14 00:00:00
Tasks: Autonomous Driving, Decision Making, Explainable artificial intelligence, Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI)

Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) is essential for building advanced machine learning-powered applications, especially in critical domains such as medical diagnostics or autonomous driving. Legal, business, and ethical requirements motivate using effective XAI, but the increasing number of different methods makes it challenging to pick the right ones. Further, as explanations are highly context-dependent, measuring the effectiveness of XAI methods without users can only reveal a limited amount of information, excluding human factors such as the ability to understand it. We propose to evaluate XAI methods via the user's ability to successfully perform a proxy task, designed such that a good performance is an indicator for the explanation to provide helpful information. In other words, we address the helpfulness of XAI for human decision-making. Further, a user study on state-of-the-art methods was conducted, showing differences in their ability to generate trust and skepticism and the ability to judge the rightfulness of an AI decision correctly. Based on the results, we highly recommend using and extending this approach for more objective-based human-centered user studies to measure XAI performance in an end-to-end fashion.
A Framework for Collaborating a Large Language Model Tool in Brainstorming for Triggering Creative Thoughts
Authors: Hung-Fu Chang, Tong Li
Date: 2024-10-10 00:00:00
Tasks: Language Modeling, Language Modelling, Large Language Model, Prompt Engineering

Creativity involves not only generating new ideas from scratch but also redefining existing concepts and synthesizing previous insights. Among various techniques developed to foster creative thinking, brainstorming is widely used. With recent advancements in Large Language Models (LLMs), tools like ChatGPT have significantly impacted various fields by using prompts to facilitate complex tasks. While current research primarily focuses on generating accurate responses, there is a need to explore how prompt engineering can enhance creativity, particularly in brainstorming. Therefore, this study addresses this gap by proposing a framework called GPS, which employs goals, prompts, and strategies to guide designers to systematically work with an LLM tool for improving the creativity of ideas generated during brainstorming. Additionally, we adapted the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT) for measuring the creativity of the ideas generated by AI. Our framework, tested through a design example and a case study, demonstrates its effectiveness in stimulating creativity and its seamless LLM tool integration into design practices. The results indicate that our framework can benefit brainstorming sessions with LLM tools, enhancing both the creativity and usefulness of generated ideas.
Rescriber: Smaller-LLM-Powered User-Led Data Minimization for LLM-Based Chatbots
Authors: Jijie Zhou, Eryue Xu, Yaoyao Wu, Tianshi Li
Date: 2024-10-10 00:00:00

The proliferation of LLM-based conversational agents has resulted in excessive disclosure of identifiable or sensitive information. However, existing technologies fail to offer perceptible control or account for users' personal preferences about privacy-utility tradeoffs due to the lack of user involvement. To bridge this gap, we designed, built, and evaluated Rescriber, a browser extension that supports user-led data minimization in LLM-based conversational agents by helping users detect and sanitize personal information in their prompts. Our studies (N=12) showed that Rescriber helped users reduce unnecessary disclosure and addressed their privacy concerns. Users' subjective perceptions of the system powered by Llama3-8B were on par with that by GPT-4o. The comprehensiveness and consistency of the detection and sanitization emerge as essential factors that affect users' trust and perceived protection. Our findings confirm the viability of smaller-LLM-powered, user-facing, on-device privacy controls, presenting a promising approach to address the privacy and trust challenges of AI.
ChatVis: Automating Scientific Visualization with a Large Language Model
Authors: Tanwi Mallick, Orcun Yildiz, David Lenz, Tom Peterka
Date: 2024-10-07 00:00:00
Tasks: Language Modeling, Language Modelling, Large Language Model

We develop an iterative assistant we call ChatVis that can synthetically generate Python scripts for data analysis and visualization using a large language model (LLM). The assistant allows a user to specify the operations in natural language, attempting to generate a Python script for the desired operations, prompting the LLM to revise the script as needed until it executes correctly. The iterations include an error detection and correction mechanism that extracts error messages from the execution of the script and subsequently prompts LLM to correct the error. Our method demonstrates correct execution on five canonical visualization scenarios, comparing results with ground truth. We also compared our results with scripts generated by several other LLMs without any assistance. In every instance, ChatVis successfully generated the correct script, whereas the unassisted LLMs failed to do so. The code is available on GitHub: https://github.com/tanwimallick/ChatVis/.
Investigating Role of Big Five Personality Traits in Audio-Visual Rapport Estimation
Authors: Takato Hayashi, Ryusei Kimura, Ryo Ishii, Shogo Okada
Date: 2024-10-07 00:00:00

Automatic rapport estimation in social interactions is a central component of affective computing. Recent reports have shown that the estimation performance of rapport in initial interactions can be improved by using the participant's personality traits as the model's input. In this study, we investigate whether this findings applies to interactions between friends by developing rapport estimation models that utilize nonverbal cues (audio and facial expressions) as inputs. Our experimental results show that adding Big Five features (BFFs) to nonverbal features can improve the estimation performance of self-reported rapport in dyadic interactions between friends. Next, we demystify how BFFs improve the estimation performance of rapport through a comparative analysis between models with and without BFFs. We decompose rapport ratings into perceiver effects (people's tendency to rate other people), target effects (people's tendency to be rated by other people), and relationship effects (people's unique ratings for a specific person) using the social relations model. We then analyze the extent to which BFFs contribute to capturing each effect. Our analysis demonstrates that the perceiver's and the target's BFFs lead estimation models to capture the perceiver and the target effects, respectively. Furthermore, our experimental results indicate that the combinations of facial expression features and BFFs achieve best estimation performances not only in estimating rapport ratings, but also in estimating three effects. Our study is the first step toward understanding why personality-aware estimation models of interpersonal perception accomplish high estimation performance.