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This article presents the Labeled Random Finite Set (LRFS) framework for multi-object systems-systems in which the number of objects and their states are unknown and vary randomly with time. In particular, we focus on state and trajectory estimation via a multi-object State Space Model (SSM) that admits principled tractable multi-object tracking filters/smoothers. Unlike the single-object counterpart, a time sequence of states does not necessarily represent the trajectory of a multi-object system. The LRFS formulation enables a time sequence of multi-object states to represent the multi-object trajectory that accommodates trajectory crossings and fragmentations. We present the basics of LRFS, covering a suite of commonly used models and mathematical apparatus (including the latest results not published elsewhere). Building on this, we outline the fundamentals of multi-object state space modeling and estimation using LRFS, which formally address object identities/trajectories, ancestries for spawning objects, and characterization of the uncertainty on the ensemble of objects (and their trajectories). Numerical solutions to multi-object SSM problems are inherently far more challenging than those in standard SSM. To bridge the gap between theory and practice, we discuss state-of-the-art implementations that address key computational bottlenecks in the number of objects, measurements, sensors, and scans.

Graphite, conventionally regarded as a gapless material, exhibits a bandgap of ~100 meV in nano-scale patterned highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), as revealed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). Our advanced first-principles calculations, incorporating photoemission matrix element effects, predict this bandgap with remarkable accuracy and attribute it to mechanical distortions introduced during patterning. This work bridges theory and experiment, providing the direct evidence of a tunable bandgap in HOPG. Beyond its fundamental significance, this finding opens new possibilities for designing materials with tailored electronic properties, enabling advancements in terahertz devices and optoelectronics., Comment: 33 pages, 9 figures

Large Language Models (LLMs) have demonstrated the potential to address some issues within the semiconductor industry. However, they are often general-purpose models that lack the specialized knowledge needed to tackle the unique challenges of this sector, such as the intricate physics and chemistry of semiconductor devices and processes. SemiKong, the first industry-specific LLM for the semiconductor domain, provides a foundation that can be used to develop tailored proprietary models. With SemiKong 1.0, we aim to develop a foundational model capable of understanding etching problems at an expert level. Our key contributions include (a) curating a comprehensive corpus of semiconductor-related texts, (b) creating a foundational model with in-depth semiconductor knowledge, and (c) introducing a framework for integrating expert knowledge, thereby advancing the evaluation process of domain-specific AI models. Through fine-tuning a pre-trained LLM using our curated dataset, we have shown that SemiKong outperforms larger, general-purpose LLMs in various semiconductor manufacturing and design tasks. Our extensive experiments underscore the importance of developing domain-specific LLMs as a foundation for company- or tool-specific proprietary models, paving the way for further research and applications in the semiconductor domain. Code and dataset will be available at https://github.com/aitomatic/semikong, Comment: On-going work

Naturalistic driving action localization task aims to recognize and comprehend human behaviors and actions from video data captured during real-world driving scenarios. Previous studies have shown great action localization performance by applying a recognition model followed by probability-based post-processing. Nevertheless, the probabilities provided by the recognition model frequently contain confused information causing challenge for post-processing. In this work, we adopt an action recognition model based on self-supervise learning to detect distracted activities and give potential action probabilities. Subsequently, a constraint ensemble strategy takes advantages of multi-camera views to provide robust predictions. Finally, we introduce a conditional post-processing operation to locate distracted behaviours and action temporal boundaries precisely. Experimenting on test set A2, our method obtains the sixth position on the public leaderboard of track 3 of the 2024 AI City Challenge., Comment: Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Workshop 2024

In this paper, we propose ZeFaV - a zero-shot based fact-checking verification framework to enhance the performance on fact verification task of large language models by leveraging the in-context learning ability of large language models to extract the relations among the entities within a claim, re-organized the information from the evidence in a relationally logical form, and combine the above information with the original evidence to generate the context from which our fact-checking model provide verdicts for the input claims. We conducted empirical experiments to evaluate our approach on two multi-hop fact-checking datasets including HoVer and FEVEROUS, and achieved potential results results comparable to other state-of-the-art fact verification task methods., Comment: This pre-print has been published in PRICAI 2024: Trends in Artificial Intelligence. The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-96-0119-6_28

Photoelectron diffraction (PED) is a powerful and essential experimental technique for resolving the structure of surfaces with sub-angstrom resolution. In the high energy regime, researchers in angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) observe modulating patterns attributed to X-ray-PED (XPD) effects. This is accompanied by other challenges such as low cross-sections, significant photon momentum transfer, and non-negligible phonon scattering. Overall, XPD is not only an advantageous approach but also exhibits unexpected effects. To disentangle these diffraction influences, we present a PED implementation for the SPRKKR package that utilizes multiple scattering theory and a one-step model in the photoemission process. Unlike real-space implementations of the multiple scattering XPD formalism, we propose a k-space implementation based on the layer KKR method. The main advantage of this method is its ability to address a very broad kinetic energy range (20-8000 eV) without convergence problems related to angular momentum and cluster size. Furthermore, the so-called alloy analogy model can be used to simulate XPD at finite temperatures as well as XPD effects observed in soft and hard X-ray ARPES. For practical applications, we have calculated the circular dichroism in angular distributions (CDAD) associated with core-level photoemission of 2p from Si(100) and 3p from Ge(100). Photoelectrons are excited by hard X-rays (6000 eV) with right and left circularly polarized radiation (RCP and LCP, respectively).

Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) is a promising method for addressing some of the memory-related challenges associated with Large Language Models (LLMs). Two separate systems form the RAG pipeline, the retriever and the reader, and the impact of each on downstream task performance is not well-understood. Here, we work towards the goal of understanding how retrievers can be optimized for RAG pipelines for common tasks such as Question Answering (QA). We conduct experiments focused on the relationship between retrieval and RAG performance on QA and attributed QA and unveil a number of insights useful to practitioners developing high-performance RAG pipelines. For example, lowering search accuracy has minor implications for RAG performance while potentially increasing retrieval speed and memory efficiency., Comment: Accepted to NeurIPS 2024 Workshop ATTRIB

Polariton lasing is a promising phenomenon with potential applications in next-generation lasers that operate without the need for population inversion. Applying a perpendicular magnetic field to a quantum well (QW) significantly alters the properties of exciton-polaritons. In this theoretical study, we investigate how the lasing threshold of QW exciton-polaritons depends on the magnetic field. By modifying the exciton's effective mass and Rabi splitting, the magnetic field induces notable changes in the relaxation kinetics, which directly affect the lasing threshold. For low-energy pumping, an increase in the magnetic field delays the lasing threshold, while for high-energy pumping, the threshold is reached at much lower pump intensities. Furthermore, increasing both the pump energy and the magnetic field enhances relaxation efficiency, leading to a substantially larger number of condensed polaritons. Our result gives insights into the modulation of exciton-polariton condensation through magnetic fields, with potential implications for the design of low-threshold polariton lasers., Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures

We extend the Wirtinger number of links, an invariant originally defined by Blair et al. in terms of extending initial colorings of some strands of a diagram to the entire diagram, to spatial graphs. We prove that the Wirtinger number equals the bridge index of spatial graphs, and we implement an algorithm in Python which gives a more efficient way to estimate upper bounds of bridge indices. Combined with lower bounds from diagram colorings by elements from certain algebraic structures, we obtain exact bridge indices for a large family of spatial graphs., Comment: 27 pages, 21 figures, comments very welcome!

While smart contracts are foundational elements of blockchain applications, their inherent susceptibility to security vulnerabilities poses a significant challenge. Existing training datasets employed for vulnerability detection tools may be limited, potentially compromising their efficacy. This paper presents a method for improving the quantity and quality of smart contract vulnerability datasets and evaluates current detection methods. The approach centers around semantic-preserving code transformation, a technique that modifies the source code structure without altering its semantic meaning. The transformed code snippets are inserted into all potential locations within benign smart contract code, creating new vulnerable contract versions. This method aims to generate a wider variety of vulnerable codes, including those that can bypass detection by current analysis tools. The paper experiments evaluate the method's effectiveness using tools like Slither, Mythril, and CrossFuzz, focusing on metrics like the number of generated vulnerable samples and the false negative rate in detecting these vulnerabilities. The improved results show that many newly created vulnerabilities can bypass tools and the false reporting rate goes up to 100% and increases dataset size minimum by 2.5X.

Long-range imaging in the thermal infrared band is critical for applications such as environmental monitoring, industrial inspections, and surveillance. To achieve high quality imaging, these systems typically require large apertures and many elements with complex shapes to correct aberrations, adding significant weight and cost. Large-area metasurface optics offer a promising solution for weight reduction; however, their substantial chromatic aberrations limit their effectiveness in the long-wave infrared (LWIR) band where broadband imaging is typically desired. In this work, we introduce a hybrid system comprising four refractive lenses and two all-silicon metasurface correctors (meta-correctors) to achieve high-quality, broadband thermal imaging at long range. Compared to a refractive-only assembly, our system demonstrates a three-fold contrast enhancement at the detector's half-Nyquist frequency. Testing outside the laboratory reveals noticeably sharper images, with human features clearly recognizable at distances of 250 meters. The assembly utilizes off-the-shelf refractive elements and avoids the use of germanium, which poses a supply chain risk. Our findings highlight the potential of hybrid meta-corrector systems to enable long-range, lightweight, and cost-effective LWIR imaging solutions.

REST (Representational State Transfer) APIs have become integral for data communication and exchange due to their simplicity, scalability, and compatibility with web standards. However, ensuring REST APIs' reliability through rigorous testing poses significant challenges, given the complexities of operations, parameters, inputs, dependencies, and call sequences. In this paper, we introduce MUCOREST, a novel Reinforcement Learning (RL)-based API testing approach that leverages Q-learning to maximize code coverage and output coverage, thereby improving bug discovery. By focusing on these proximate objectives rather than the abstract goal of maximizing failures, MUCOREST effectively discovers critical code areas and diverse API behaviors. The experimental results on a benchmark of 10 services show that MUCOREST significantly outperforms state-of-the-art API testing approaches by 11.6-261.1% in the number of discovered API bugs. MUCOREST can generate much fewer API calls to discover the same number of bugs compared to the other approaches. Furthermore, 12.17%-64.09% of the bugs discovered by the other techniques can also be found by MUCOREST., Comment: Accepted by KSE'24

Detecting the presence of anomalies in regression models is a crucial task in machine learning, as anomalies can significantly impact the accuracy and reliability of predictions. Random Sample Consensus (RANSAC) is one of the most popular robust regression methods for addressing this challenge. However, this method lacks the capability to guarantee the reliability of the anomaly detection (AD) results. In this paper, we propose a novel statistical method for testing the AD results obtained by RANSAC, named CTRL-RANSAC (controllable RANSAC). The key strength of the proposed method lies in its ability to control the probability of misidentifying anomalies below a pre-specified level $\alpha$ (e.g., $\alpha = 0.05$). By examining the selection strategy of RANSAC and leveraging the Selective Inference (SI) framework, we prove that achieving controllable RANSAC is indeed feasible. Furthermore, we introduce a more strategic and computationally efficient approach to enhance the true detection rate and overall performance of the CTRL-RANSAC. Experiments conducted on synthetic and real-world datasets robustly support our theoretical results, showcasing the superior performance of the proposed method.

Feature Selection (FS) under domain adaptation (DA) is a critical task in machine learning, especially when dealing with limited target data. However, existing methods lack the capability to guarantee the reliability of FS under DA. In this paper, we introduce a novel statistical method to statistically test FS reliability under DA, named SFS-DA (statistical FS-DA). The key strength of SFS-DA lies in its ability to control the false positive rate (FPR) below a pre-specified level $\alpha$ (e.g., 0.05) while maximizing the true positive rate. Compared to the literature on statistical FS, SFS-DA presents a unique challenge in addressing the effect of DA to ensure the validity of the inference on FS results. We overcome this challenge by leveraging the Selective Inference (SI) framework. Specifically, by carefully examining the FS process under DA whose operations can be characterized by linear and quadratic inequalities, we prove that achieving FPR control in SFS-DA is indeed possible. Furthermore, we enhance the true detection rate by introducing a more strategic approach. Experiments conducted on both synthetic and real-world datasets robustly support our theoretical results, showcasing the superior performance of the proposed SFS-DA method.

Predictive maintenance of railway infrastructure, especially railroads, is essential to ensure safety. However, accurate prediction of crack evolution represents a major challenge due to the complex interactions between intrinsic and external factors, as well as measurement uncertainties. Effective modeling requires a multidimensional approach and a comprehensive understanding of these dynamics and uncertainties. Motivated by an industrial use case based on collected real data containing measured crack lengths, this paper introduces a robust Bayesian multi-horizon approach for predicting the temporal evolution of crack lengths on rails. This model captures the intricate interplay between various factors influencing crack growth. Additionally, the Bayesian approach quantifies both epistemic and aleatoric uncertainties, providing a confidence interval around predictions. To enhance the model's reliability for railroad maintenance, specific constraints are incorporated. These constraints limit non-physical crack propagation behavior and prioritize safety. The findings reveal a trade-off between prediction accuracy and constraint compliance, highlighting the nuanced decision-making process in model training. This study offers insights into advanced predictive modeling for dynamic temporal forecasting, particularly in railway maintenance, with potential applications in other domains.

As large language models (LLMs) continue to advance, the need for precise and efficient evaluation metrics becomes more pressing. Traditional approaches, while informative, often face limitations in computational demands and interpretability. In this paper, we introduce a novel hybrid evaluation method that integrates two established techniques: entropy derived from covariance matrices and the Matrix Nuclear Norm (MNN). Our method begins by normalizing hidden states from LLMs, then computes the covariance matrix and MNN from these representations. We further calculate the entropy of the covariance matrix to capture uncertainty and redundancy in the model's outputs. By combining these metrics into a composite score, we offer a comprehensive evaluation framework that balances accuracy with computational efficiency. Additionally, our approach allows for flexibility in adjusting the weightings between entropy and MNN, tailoring the evaluation for different objectives. Through a series of experiments on various LLMs, we demonstrate the robustness and efficacy of our method, offering deeper insights into model performance. This work contributes to the ongoing development of LLM evaluation and opens avenues for future innovations in model assessment techniques., Comment: The method is currently under experimentation

In this paper, cyber-attack prevention for the prosumer-based electric vehicle (EV) charging stations (EVCSs) is investigated, which covers two aspects: 1) cyber-attack detection on prosumers' network traffic (NT) data, and 2) cyber-attack intervention. To establish an effective prevention mechanism, several challenges need to be tackled, for instance, the NT data per prosumer may be non-independent and identically distributed (non-IID), and the boundary between benign and malicious traffic becomes blurred. To this end, we propose an edge-assisted federated prototype knowledge distillation (E-FPKD) approach, where each client is deployed on a dedicated local edge server (DLES) and can report its availability for joining the federated learning (FL) process. Prior to the E-FPKD approach, to enhance accuracy, the Pearson Correlation Coefficient is adopted for feature selection. Regarding the proposed E-FPKD approach, we integrate the knowledge distillation and prototype aggregation technique into FL to deal with the non-IID challenge. To address the boundary issue, instead of directly calculating the distance between benign and malicious traffic, we consider maximizing the overall detection correctness of all prosumers (ODC), which can mitigate the computational cost compared with the former way. After detection, a rule-based method will be triggered at each DLES for cyber-attack intervention. Experimental analysis demonstrates that the proposed E-FPKD can achieve the largest ODC on NSL-KDD, UNSW-NB15, and IoTID20 datasets in both binary and multi-class classification, compared with baselines. For instance, the ODC for IoTID20 obtained via the proposed method is separately 0.3782% and 4.4471% greater than FedProto and FedAU in multi-class classification., Comment: 27 pages, 12 figures

In this paper, we propose Transformer Layer Injection (TLI), a novel method for efficiently upscaling large language models (LLMs) while minimizing computational costs and maintaining model performance. Model scale is a key factor in enhancing the quality of machine learning models, and TLI addresses the challenge of scaling by reducing initial loss, minimizing fine-tuning requirements, and preserving model complexity. Our approach improves upon the conventional Depth Up-Scaling (DUS) technique by injecting new layers into every set of K layers, enabling hidden representations to pass through transformer blocks with minimal disruption. We compare TLI with existing approaches, including Mixture of Experts (MoE) and DUS, and validate its efficiency through experiments on small LLMs (LLama3 1B, 3B, and 8B). Results show that TLI achieves better initialization, requires fewer training steps, and delivers superior accuracy on tasks such as KoBEST and KMCQA, with models performing effectively even without additional training. TLI is demonstrated to be both data-efficient and cost-effective, significantly outperforming existing methods. Its scalability and simplicity make it a promising solution for upscaling transformer-based models, with potential applications in scaling models from 10B to 405B parameters.

We prove appropriate generic vanishing theorems for singular varieties, generalizing the well-known generic vanishing theorem by Green and Lazarsfeld in [GL87] and the generic vanishing theorem of Nakano type in [PS13]. Our theorem explains the counterexample of Hacon and Kov\'acs in [HK15]., Comment: 23 pages. Comments are welcome!

Motivated by the optimality principles for non-subdifferentiable optimization problems, we introduce new relative subdifferentials and examine some properties for relatively lower semicontinuous functions including $\epsilon$-regular subdifferential and limiting subdifferential relative to a set. The fuzzy sum rule for the relative $\epsilon$-regular subdifferentials and the sum rule for the relative limiting subdifferentials are established. We utilize these relative subdifferentials to establish optimality conditions for non-subdifferentiable optimization problems under mild constraint qualifications. Examples are given to demonstrate that the optimality conditions obtained work better and sharper than some existing results. We also provide different versions of mean value theorems via the relative subdifferentials and employ them to characterize the equivalences between the convexity relative to a set and the monotonicity of the relative subdifferentials of a non-subdifferentiable function.

Current LLM benchmarks focus on evaluating models' memory of facts and semantic relations, primarily assessing semantic aspects of long-term memory. However, in humans, long-term memory also includes episodic memory, which links memories to their contexts, such as the time and place they occurred. The ability to contextualize memories is crucial for many cognitive tasks and everyday functions. This form of memory has not been evaluated in LLMs with existing benchmarks. To address the gap in evaluating memory in LLMs, we introduce Sequence Order Recall Tasks (SORT), which we adapt from tasks used to study episodic memory in cognitive psychology. SORT requires LLMs to recall the correct order of text segments, and provides a general framework that is both easily extendable and does not require any additional annotations. We present an initial evaluation dataset, Book-SORT, comprising 36k pairs of segments extracted from 9 books recently added to the public domain. Based on a human experiment with 155 participants, we show that humans can recall sequence order based on long-term memory of a book. We find that models can perform the task with high accuracy when relevant text is given in-context during the SORT evaluation. However, when presented with the book text only during training, LLMs' performance on SORT falls short. By allowing to evaluate more aspects of memory, we believe that SORT will aid in the emerging development of memory-augmented models.

Designing neural network architectures that can handle data symmetry is crucial. This is especially important for geometric graphs whose properties are equivariance under Euclidean transformations. Current equivariant graph neural networks (EGNNs), particularly those using message passing, have a limitation in expressive power. Recent high-order graph neural networks can overcome this limitation, yet they lack equivariance properties, representing a notable drawback in certain applications in chemistry and physical sciences. In this paper, we introduce the Clifford Group Equivariant Graph Neural Networks (CG-EGNNs), a novel EGNN that enhances high-order message passing by integrating high-order local structures in the context of Clifford algebras. As a key benefit of using Clifford algebras, CG-EGNN can learn functions that capture equivariance from positional features. By adopting the high-order message passing mechanism, CG-EGNN gains richer information from neighbors, thus improving model performance. Furthermore, we establish the universality property of the $k$-hop message passing framework, showcasing greater expressive power of CG-EGNNs with additional $k$-hop message passing mechanism. We empirically validate that CG-EGNNs outperform previous methods on various benchmarks including n-body, CMU motion capture, and MD17, highlighting their effectiveness in geometric deep learning.

Neural Functional Networks (NFNs) have gained increasing interest due to their wide range of applications, including extracting information from implicit representations of data, editing network weights, and evaluating policies. A key design principle of NFNs is their adherence to the permutation and scaling symmetries inherent in the connectionist structure of the input neural networks. Recent NFNs have been proposed with permutation and scaling equivariance based on either graph-based message-passing mechanisms or parameter-sharing mechanisms. However, graph-based equivariant NFNs suffer from high memory consumption and long running times. On the other hand, parameter-sharing-based NFNs built upon equivariant linear layers exhibit lower memory consumption and faster running time, yet their expressivity is limited due to the large size of the symmetric group of the input neural networks. The challenge of designing a permutation and scaling equivariant NFN that maintains low memory consumption and running time while preserving expressivity remains unresolved. In this paper, we propose a novel solution with the development of MAGEP-NFN (Monomial mAtrix Group Equivariant Polynomial NFN). Our approach follows the parameter-sharing mechanism but differs from previous works by constructing a nonlinear equivariant layer represented as a polynomial in the input weights. This polynomial formulation enables us to incorporate additional relationships between weights from different input hidden layers, enhancing the model's expressivity while keeping memory consumption and running time low, thereby addressing the aforementioned challenge. We provide empirical evidence demonstrating that MAGEP-NFN achieves competitive performance and efficiency compared to existing baselines.

This paper systematically explores neural functional networks (NFN) for transformer architectures. NFN are specialized neural networks that treat the weights, gradients, or sparsity patterns of a deep neural network (DNN) as input data and have proven valuable for tasks such as learnable optimizers, implicit data representations, and weight editing. While NFN have been extensively developed for MLP and CNN, no prior work has addressed their design for transformers, despite the importance of transformers in modern deep learning. This paper aims to address this gap by providing a systematic study of NFN for transformers. We first determine the maximal symmetric group of the weights in a multi-head attention module as well as a necessary and sufficient condition under which two sets of hyperparameters of the multi-head attention module define the same function. We then define the weight space of transformer architectures and its associated group action, which leads to the design principles for NFN in transformers. Based on these, we introduce Transformer-NFN, an NFN that is equivariant under this group action. Additionally, we release a dataset of more than 125,000 Transformers model checkpoints trained on two datasets with two different tasks, providing a benchmark for evaluating Transformer-NFN and encouraging further research on transformer training and performance.

Selective state space models (SSM), such as Mamba, have gained prominence for their effectiveness in modeling sequential data. Despite their outstanding empirical performance, a comprehensive theoretical understanding of deep selective SSM remains elusive, hindering their further development and adoption for applications that need high fidelity. In this paper, we investigate the dynamical properties of tokens in a pre-trained Mamba model. In particular, we derive the dynamical system governing the continuous-time limit of the Mamba model and characterize the asymptotic behavior of its solutions. In the one-dimensional case, we prove that only one of the following two scenarios happens: either all tokens converge to zero, or all tokens diverge to infinity. We provide criteria based on model parameters to determine when each scenario occurs. For the convergent scenario, we empirically verify that this scenario negatively impacts the model's performance. For the divergent scenario, we prove that different tokens will diverge to infinity at different rates, thereby contributing unequally to the updates during model training. Based on these investigations, we propose two refinements for the model: excluding the convergent scenario and reordering tokens based on their importance scores, both aimed at improving practical performance. Our experimental results validate these refinements, offering insights into enhancing Mamba's effectiveness in real-world applications.

Second-order optimization methods offer notable advantages in training deep neural networks by utilizing curvature information to achieve faster convergence. However, traditional second-order techniques are computationally prohibitive, primarily due to the large matrix inversions and high memory demands they require. While adaptive trust-region methods have been developed to mitigate these issues, their performance is often hindered by conservative estimates of key parameters, such as the Lipschitz constant of the Hessian, resulting in suboptimal outcomes. In this paper, we introduce SecondOrderAdaptiveAdam (SOAA), a novel optimization algorithm designed to overcome these limitations. SOAA approximates the Fisher information matrix using a diagonal representation, reducing computational complexity from \(O(n^{2})\) to \(O(n)\), thereby making it suitable for large-scale deep learning models, including large language models (LLMs). Additionally, the algorithm integrates an adaptive trust-region mechanism that dynamically adjusts the trust region size based on observed loss reduction, ensuring both robust convergence and computational efficiency. We empirically demonstrate that SOAA achieves faster and more stable convergence compared to first-order optimizers, such as Adam, under similar computational constraints. However, the diagonal approximation of the Fisher information matrix may be less effective in capturing higher-order interactions between gradients, suggesting potential areas for further refinement and future research.

Recent research has focused on the risks associated with poor sitting posture and the impact of sitting on biological parameters, such as heart rate because prolonged sitting is common across all ages and professions. In this work, we propose a novel approach that can display simultaneously posture and heart rate in real-time. In this device, pressure sensors are embedded into a flexible separate cushion easily put on any chair to provide sitting behaviours and a smartwatch-like PPG module is worn on the user's wrist. Regarding posture classification, pressure figures of ten pressure sensors under the seat bottom are inputs of four machine learning models, giving a high accuracy of 99 per cent. Besides, the Electrocardiography recording module is illustrated with the same results as a commercial device called DFRobot. Another advantage of this smart chair is that it not only simultaneously displays both sitting postures and heart rates on external devices like laptops, mobile phones, or televisions through microcontrollers but also offers the relationship between them to help people adjust their sitting behaviours, avoiding influencing heart rate. The smart chair is expected to be useful equipment for people with a sedentary lifestyle, especially office workers.

Automatic polyp segmentation is crucial for effective diagnosis and treatment in colonoscopy images. Traditional methods encounter significant challenges in accurately delineating polyps due to limitations in feature representation and the handling of variability in polyp appearance. Deep learning techniques, including CNN and Transformer-based methods, have been explored to improve polyp segmentation accuracy. However, existing approaches often neglect additional semantics, restricting their ability to acquire adequate contexts of polyps in colonoscopy images. In this paper, we propose an innovative method named ``Automatic Polyp Segmentation with Self-Enriched Semantic Model'' to address these limitations. First, we extract a sequence of features from an input image and decode high-level features to generate an initial segmentation mask. Using the proposed self-enriched semantic module, we query potential semantics and augment deep features with additional semantics, thereby aiding the model in understanding context more effectively. Extensive experiments show superior segmentation performance of the proposed method against state-of-the-art polyp segmentation baselines across five polyp benchmarks in both superior learning and generalization capabilities., Comment: Asian Conference on Computer Vision 2024

Large Language Models (LLMs) have shown remarkable capabilities, but their inherent probabilistic nature often leads to inconsistency and inaccuracy in complex problem-solving tasks. This paper introduces DANA (Domain-Aware Neurosymbolic Agent), an architecture that addresses these issues by integrating domain-specific knowledge with neurosymbolic approaches. We begin by analyzing current AI architectures, including AutoGPT, LangChain ReAct and OpenAI's ChatGPT, through a neurosymbolic lens, highlighting how their reliance on probabilistic inference contributes to inconsistent outputs. In response, DANA captures and applies domain expertise in both natural-language and symbolic forms, enabling more deterministic and reliable problem-solving behaviors. We implement a variant of DANA using Hierarchical Task Plans (HTPs) in the open-source OpenSSA framework. This implementation achieves over 90\% accuracy on the FinanceBench financial-analysis benchmark, significantly outperforming current LLM-based systems in both consistency and accuracy. Application of DANA in physical industries such as semiconductor shows that its flexible architecture for incorporating knowledge is effective in mitigating the probabilistic limitations of LLMs and has potential in tackling complex, real-world problems that require reliability and precision.

Amodal Instance Segmentation (AIS) presents an intriguing challenge, including the segmentation prediction of both visible and occluded parts of objects within images. Previous methods have often relied on shape prior information gleaned from training data to enhance amodal segmentation. However, these approaches are susceptible to overfitting and disregard object category details. Recent advancements highlight the potential of conditioned diffusion models, pretrained on extensive datasets, to generate images from latent space. Drawing inspiration from this, we propose AISDiff with a Diffusion Shape Prior Estimation (DiffSP) module. AISDiff begins with the prediction of the visible segmentation mask and object category, alongside occlusion-aware processing through the prediction of occluding masks. Subsequently, these elements are inputted into our DiffSP module to infer the shape prior of the object. DiffSP utilizes conditioned diffusion models pretrained on extensive datasets to extract rich visual features for shape prior estimation. Additionally, we introduce the Shape Prior Amodal Predictor, which utilizes attention-based feature maps from the shape prior to refine amodal segmentation. Experiments across various AIS benchmarks demonstrate the effectiveness of our AISDiff., Comment: ACCV2024; Project page: https://uark-aicv.github.io/AISDiff

We prove an injectivity theorem for the cohomology of the Du Bois complexes of varieties with isolated singularities. We use this to deduce vanishing statements for the cohomologies of higher Du Bois complexes of such varieties. Besides some extensions and conjectures in the non-isolated case, we also provide analogues for intersection complexes., Comment: 26 pages; small corrections and additions made

Vision language models have played a key role in extracting meaningful features for various robotic applications. Among these, Contrastive Language-Image Pretraining (CLIP) is widely used in robotic tasks that require both vision and natural language understanding. However, CLIP was trained solely on static images paired with text prompts and has not yet been fully adapted for robotic tasks involving dynamic actions. In this paper, we introduce Robotic-CLIP to enhance robotic perception capabilities. We first gather and label large-scale action data, and then build our Robotic-CLIP by fine-tuning CLIP on 309,433 videos (~7.4 million frames) of action data using contrastive learning. By leveraging action data, Robotic-CLIP inherits CLIP's strong image performance while gaining the ability to understand actions in robotic contexts. Intensive experiments show that our Robotic-CLIP outperforms other CLIP-based models across various language-driven robotic tasks. Additionally, we demonstrate the practical effectiveness of Robotic-CLIP in real-world grasping applications., Comment: 7 pages

Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) is a common method for integrating external knowledge into pretrained Large Language Models (LLMs) to enhance accuracy and relevancy in question answering (QA) tasks. However, prompt engineering and resource efficiency remain significant bottlenecks in developing optimal and robust RAG solutions for real-world QA applications. Recent studies have shown success in using fine tuning to address these problems; in particular, Retrieval Augmented Fine Tuning (RAFT) applied to smaller 7B models has demonstrated superior performance compared to RAG setups with much larger models such as GPT-3.5. The combination of RAFT with parameter-efficient fine tuning (PEFT) techniques, such as Low-Rank Adaptation (LoRA), promises an even more efficient solution, yet remains an unexplored area. In this work, we combine RAFT with LoRA to reduce fine tuning and storage requirements and gain faster inference times while maintaining comparable RAG performance. This results in a more compute-efficient RAFT, or CRAFT, which is particularly useful for knowledge-intensive QA tasks in resource-constrained environments where internet access may be restricted and hardware resources limited., Comment: 6 pages, 2 tables

A fundamental idea in wave mechanics is that propagation in a periodic medium can be described by Bloch waves whose conserved crystal momenta define their transformations when displaced by the set of discrete lattice translations. In ordered materials where incommensurate spatial periods compete, this general principle is rendered ineffective, often with dramatic consequences. Examples are crystals with broken symmetries from charge or spin density waves, quasiperiodic lattices that produce diffraction patterns with crystallographically forbidden point symmetries, and stacks of two-dimensional lattices with a relative rotation (twist) between layers. In special cases when there is a small difference between the competing periods, a useful work-around is a continuum description where a periodic long-wavelength field produces Bragg scattering that coherently mixes short-wavelength carrier waves. In this work, we advocate an alternative approach to study three-dimensional twisted crystals that replaces their spectrally congested momentum-space Bloch band structures with a representation using squeezed coherent states in a Fock space of free-particle vortex states. This reorganization of the Hilbert space highlights the crucial role of the Coriolis force in the equations of motion that leads to unconventional phase space dynamics and edge state structure generic to a family of complex crystals., Comment: 9 + 16 pages; 4 + 6 figures. Comments are very appreciated!

Code completion is essential in software development, helping developers by predicting code snippets based on context. Among completion tasks, Method Body Completion (MBC) is particularly challenging as it involves generating complete method bodies based on their signatures and context. This task becomes significantly harder in large repositories, where method bodies must integrate repositoryspecific elements such as custom APIs, inter-module dependencies, and project-specific conventions. In this paper, we introduce RAMBO, a novel RAG-based approach for repository-level MBC. Instead of retrieving similar method bodies, RAMBO identifies essential repository-specific elements, such as classes, methods, and variables/fields, and their relevant usages. By incorporating these elements and their relevant usages into the code generation process, RAMBO ensures more accurate and contextually relevant method bodies. Our experimental results with leading code LLMs across 40 Java projects show that RAMBO significantly outperformed the state-of-the-art repository-level MBC approaches, with the improvements of up to 46% in BLEU, 57% in CodeBLEU, 36% in Compilation Rate, and up to 3X in Exact Match. Notably, RAMBO surpassed RepoCoder Oracle method by up to 12% in Exact Match, setting a new benchmark for repository-level MBC.

Manual parallelization of code remains a significant challenge due to the complexities of modern software systems and the widespread adoption of multi-core architectures. This paper introduces OMPar, an AI-driven tool designed to automate the parallelization of C/C++ code using OpenMP pragmas. OMPar integrates Large Language Models (LLMs) through two key components: OMPify, which assesses loop parallelization potential, and MonoCoder-OMP, a new fine-tuned model which generates precise OpenMP pragmas. The evaluation of OMPar follows the same rigorous process applied to traditional tools like source-to-source AutoPar and ICPC compilers: (1) ensuring the generated code compiles and runs correctly in serial form, (2) assessing performance with the gradual addition of threads and corresponding physical cores, and (3) verifying and validating the correctness of the code's output. Benchmarks from HeCBench and ParEval are used to evaluate accuracy and performance. Experimental results demonstrate that OMPar significantly outperforms traditional methods, achieving higher accuracy in identifying parallelizable loops and generating efficient pragmas. Beyond accuracy, OMPar offers advantages such as the ability to work on partial or incomplete codebases and the capacity to continuously learn from new code patterns, enhancing its parallelization capabilities over time. These results underscore the potential of LLMs in revolutionizing automatic parallelization techniques, paving the way for more efficient and scalable parallel computing systems.

This paper has two primary objectives. First, we investigate fundamental qualitative properties of the generalized multi-source Weber problem formulated using the Minkowski gauge function. This includes proving the existence of global optimal solutions, demonstrating the compactness of the solution set, and establishing optimality conditions for these solutions. Second, we apply Nesterov's smoothing and the adaptive Boosted Difference of Convex functions Algorithm (BDCA) to solve both the unconstrained and constrained versions of the generalized multi-source Weber problems. These algorithms build upon the work presented in [6,19]. We conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the adaptive BDCA, comparing its performance to the method proposed in [19], and provide insights into its efficiency.

Stochastic optimization problems in large-scale multi-stakeholder networked systems (e.g., power grids and supply chains) rely on data-driven scenarios to encapsulate complex spatiotemporal interdependencies. However, centralized aggregation of stakeholder data is challenging due to the existence of data silos resulting from computational and logistical bottlenecks. In this paper, we present SplitVAEs, a decentralized scenario generation framework that leverages variational autoencoders to generate high-quality scenarios without moving stakeholder data. With the help of experiments on distributed memory systems, we demonstrate the broad applicability of SplitVAEs in a variety of domain areas that are dominated by a large number of stakeholders. Our experiments indicate that SplitVAEs can learn spatial and temporal interdependencies in large-scale networks to generate scenarios that match the joint historical distribution of stakeholder data in a decentralized manner. Our experiments show that SplitVAEs deliver robust performance compared to centralized, state-of-the-art benchmark methods while significantly reducing data transmission costs, leading to a scalable, privacy-enhancing alternative to scenario generation., Comment: This work has been submitted to the IEEE for possible publication

In this paper, we study generalized versions of the k-center problem, which involves finding k circles of the smallest possible equal radius that cover a finite set of points in the plane. By utilizing the Minkowski gauge function, we extend this problem to generalized balls induced by various convex sets in finite dimensions, rather than limiting it to circles in the plane. First, we establish several fundamental properties of the global optimal solutions to this problem. We then introduce the notion of local optimal solutions and provide a sufficient condition for their existence. We also provide several illustrative examples to clarify the proposed problems.

Neural functional networks (NFNs) have recently gained significant attention due to their diverse applications, ranging from predicting network generalization and network editing to classifying implicit neural representation. Previous NFN designs often depend on permutation symmetries in neural networks' weights, which traditionally arise from the unordered arrangement of neurons in hidden layers. However, these designs do not take into account the weight scaling symmetries of $\ReLU$ networks, and the weight sign flipping symmetries of $\sin$ or $\Tanh$ networks. In this paper, we extend the study of the group action on the network weights from the group of permutation matrices to the group of monomial matrices by incorporating scaling/sign-flipping symmetries. Particularly, we encode these scaling/sign-flipping symmetries by designing our corresponding equivariant and invariant layers. We name our new family of NFNs the Monomial Matrix Group Equivariant Neural Functional Networks (Monomial-NFN). Because of the expansion of the symmetries, Monomial-NFN has much fewer independent trainable parameters compared to the baseline NFNs in the literature, thus enhancing the model's efficiency. Moreover, for fully connected and convolutional neural networks, we theoretically prove that all groups that leave these networks invariant while acting on their weight spaces are some subgroups of the monomial matrix group. We provide empirical evidence to demonstrate the advantages of our model over existing baselines, achieving competitive performance and efficiency., Comment: 10 pages in the main text. Published at NeurIPS 2024. The code is available at https://github.com/MathematicalAI-NUS/Monomial-NFN

We study the size and shape statistics of ground state fuzzy spheres when projected onto the transverse plane, utilizing the regularized SU(N=2) matrix model in D=(1+3)-dimensional spacetime. We show that they appear as ellipses, from matrix/membrane correspondence. With our numerical and analytical approximation for the ground state wavefunction, we provide estimations for their expected surface areas, perimeters, eccentricities, and shape-parameters. These geometric constants of quantum membranes deviate drastically from classical mechanics.

The Von Neumann bottleneck, a fundamental challenge in conventional computer architecture, arises from the inability to execute fetch and data operations simultaneously due to a shared bus linking processing and memory units. This bottleneck significantly limits system performance, increases energy consumption, and exacerbates computational complexity. Emerging technologies such as Resistive Random Access Memories (RRAMs), leveraging crossbar arrays, offer promising alternatives for addressing the demands of data-intensive computational tasks through in-memory computing of analog vector-matrix multiplication (VMM) operations. However, the propagation of errors due to device and circuit-level imperfections remains a significant challenge. In this study, we introduce MELISO (In-Memory Linear Solver), a comprehensive end-to-end VMM benchmarking framework tailored for RRAM-based systems. MELISO evaluates the error propagation in VMM operations, analyzing the impact of RRAM device metrics on error magnitude and distribution. This paper introduces the MELISO framework and demonstrates its utility in characterizing and mitigating VMM error propagation using state-of-the-art RRAM device metrics., Comment: ICONS 2024.Copyright 2024 IEEE.Personal use of this material is permitted.Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses,in any current or future media,including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes,creating new collective works,for resale or redistribution to servers or lists or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works

Audio-driven talking face generation is a widely researched topic due to its high applicability. Reconstructing a talking face using audio significantly contributes to fields such as education, healthcare, online conversations, virtual assistants, and virtual reality. Early studies often focused solely on changing the mouth movements, which resulted in outcomes with limited practical applications. Recently, researchers have proposed a new approach of constructing the entire face, including face pose, neck, and shoulders. To achieve this, they need to generate through landmarks. However, creating stable landmarks that align well with the audio is a challenge. In this paper, we propose the KFusion of Dual-Domain model, a robust model that generates landmarks from audio. We separate the audio into two distinct domains to learn emotional information and facial context, then use a fusion mechanism based on the KAN model. Our model demonstrates high efficiency compared to recent models. This will lay the groundwork for the development of the audio-driven talking face generation problem in the future.

In response to the ongoing pandemic and health emergency of COVID-19, several models have been used to understand the dynamics of virus spread. Some employ mathematical models like the compartmental SEIHRD approach and others rely on agent-based modeling (ABM). In this paper, a new city-based agent-based modeling approach called COVID19-CBABM is introduced. It considers not only the transmission mechanism simulated by the SEHIRD compartments but also models people movements and their interactions with their surroundings, particularly their interactions at different types of Points of Interest (POI), such as supermarkets. Through the development of knowledge extraction procedures for Safegraph data, our approach simulates realistic conditions based on spatial patterns and infection conditions considering locations where people spend their time in a given city. Our model was implemented in Python using the Mesa-Geo framework. COVID19-CBABM is portable and can be easily extended by adding more complicated scenarios. Therefore, it is a useful tool to assist the government and health authorities in evaluating strategic decisions and actions efficiently against this epidemic, using the unique mobility patterns of each city.