Identifiability of discrete statistical models with latent variables is known to be challenging to study, yet crucial to a model's interpretability and reliability. This work presents a general algebraic technique to investigate identifiability of discrete models with latent and graphical components. Specifically, motivated by diagnostic tests collecting multivariate categorical data, we focus on discrete models with multiple binary latent variables. We consider the BLESS model in which the latent variables can have arbitrary dependencies among themselves while the latent-to-observed measurement graph takes a "star-forest" shape. We establish necessary and sufficient graphical criteria for identifiability, and reveal an interesting and perhaps surprising geometry of blessing-of-dependence: under the minimal conditions for generic identifiability, the parameters are identifiable if and only if the latent variables are not statistically independent. Thanks to this theory, we can perform formal hypothesis tests of identifiability in the boundary case by testing marginal independence of the observed variables. In addition to the BLESS model, we also use the technique to show identifiability and the blessing-of-dependence geometry for a more flexible model, which has a general measurement graph beyond a start forest. Our results give new understanding of statistical properties of graphical models with latent variables. They also entail useful implications for designing diagnostic tests or surveys that measure binary latent traits.
Learning compositional representation is a key aspect of object-centric learning as it enables flexible systematic generalization and supports complex visual reasoning. However, most of the existing approaches rely on auto-encoding objective, while the compositionality is implicitly imposed by the architectural or algorithmic bias in the encoder. This misalignment between auto-encoding objective and learning compositionality often results in failure of capturing meaningful object representations. In this study, we propose a novel objective that explicitly encourages compositionality of the representations. Built upon the existing object-centric learning framework (e.g., slot attention), our method incorporates additional constraints that an arbitrary mixture of object representations from two images should be valid by maximizing the likelihood of the composite data. We demonstrate that incorporating our objective to the existing framework consistently improves the objective-centric learning and enhances the robustness to the architectural choices.
The problem of optimizing discrete phases in a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) to maximize the received power at a user equipment is addressed. Necessary and sufficient conditions to achieve this maximization are given. These conditions are employed in an algorithm to achieve the maximization. New versions of the algorithm are given that are proven to achieve convergence in N or fewer steps whether the direct link is completely blocked or not, where N is the number of the RIS elements, whereas previously published results achieve this in KN or 2N number of steps where K is the number of discrete phases. Thus, for a discrete-phase RIS, the techniques presented in this paper achieve the optimum received power in the smallest number of steps published in the literature. In addition, in each of those N steps, the techniques presented in this paper determine only one or a small number of phase shifts with a simple elementwise update rule, which result in a substantial reduction of computation time, as compared to the algorithms in the literature. As a secondary result, we define the uniform polar quantization (UPQ) algorithm which is an intuitive quantization algorithm that can approximate the continuous solution with an approximation ratio of sinc^2(1/K) and achieve low time-complexity, given perfect knowledge of the channel.
Behavioural distances of transition systems modelled as coalgebras for endofunctors generalize the traditional notions of behavioural equivalence to a quantitative setting, in which states are equipped with a measure of how (dis)similar they are. Endowing transition systems with such distances essentially relies on the ability to lift functors describing the one-step behavior of the transition systems to the category of pseudometric spaces. We consider the Kantorovich lifting of a functor on quantale-valued relations, which subsumes equivalences, preorders and (directed) metrics. We use tools from fibred category theory, which allow one to see the Kantorovich lifting as arising from an appropriate fibred adjunction. Our main contributions are compositionality results for the Kantorovich lifting, where we show that that the lifting of a composed functor coincides with the composition of the liftings. In addition we describe how to lift distributive laws in the case where one of the two functors is polynomial. These results are essential ingredients for adopting up-to-techniques to the case of quantale-valued behavioural distances. Up-to techniques are a well-known coinductive technique for efficiently showing lower bounds for behavioural distances. We conclude by illustrating the results of our paper in two case studies.
The networking field is characterized by its high complexity and rapid iteration, requiring extensive expertise to accomplish network tasks, ranging from network design, configuration, diagnosis and security. The inherent complexity of these tasks, coupled with the ever-changing landscape of networking technologies and protocols, poses significant hurdles for traditional machine learning-based methods. These methods often struggle to generalize and automate complex tasks in networking, as they require extensive labeled data, domain-specific feature engineering, and frequent retraining to adapt to new scenarios. However, the recent emergence of large language models (LLMs) has sparked a new wave of possibilities in addressing these challenges. LLMs have demonstrated remarkable capabilities in natural language understanding, generation, and reasoning. These models, trained on extensive data, can benefit the networking domain. Some efforts have already explored the application of LLMs in the networking domain and revealed promising results. By reviewing recent advances, we present an abstract workflow to describe the fundamental process involved in applying LLM for Networking. We introduce the highlights of existing works by category and explain in detail how they operate at different stages of the workflow. Furthermore, we delve into the challenges encountered, discuss potential solutions, and outline future research prospects. We hope that this survey will provide insight for researchers and practitioners, promoting the development of this interdisciplinary research field.
Stochastic approximation is a class of algorithms that update a vector iteratively, incrementally, and stochastically, including, e.g., stochastic gradient descent and temporal difference learning. One fundamental challenge in analyzing a stochastic approximation algorithm is to establish its stability, i.e., to show that the stochastic vector iterates are bounded almost surely. In this paper, we extend the celebrated Borkar-Meyn theorem for stability from the Martingale difference noise setting to the Markovian noise setting, which greatly improves its applicability in reinforcement learning, especially in those off-policy reinforcement learning algorithms with linear function approximation and eligibility traces. Central to our analysis is the diminishing asymptotic rate of change of a few functions, which is implied by both a form of strong law of large numbers and a commonly used V4 Lyapunov drift condition and trivially holds if the Markov chain is finite and irreducible.
Acoustic recognition is a common task for deep learning in recent researches, with the employment of spectral feature extraction such as Short-time Fourier transform and Wavelet transform. However, not many researches have found that discuss the advantages and drawbacks, as well as performance comparison of them. In this consideration, this paper aims to comparing the attributes of these two transforms, called spectrogram and scalogram. A Convolutional Neural Networks for acoustic faults recognition is implemented, then the performance of them is recorded for comparison. A latest research on the same audio database is considered for benchmarking to see how good the designed spectrogram and scalogram is. The advantages and limitations of them are also analyzed. By doing so, the results of this paper provide indications for application scenarios of spectrogram and scalogram, as well as potential further research directions.
Balancing accuracy with computational efficiency is paramount in machine learning, particularly when dealing with high-dimensional data, such as spatial-temporal datasets. This study introduces ST-MambaSync, an innovative framework that integrates a streamlined attention layer with a simplified state-space layer. The model achieves competitive accuracy in spatial-temporal prediction tasks. We delve into the relationship between attention mechanisms and the Mamba component, revealing that Mamba functions akin to attention within a residual network structure. This comparative analysis underpins the efficiency of state-space models, elucidating their capability to deliver superior performance at reduced computational costs.
The fusion of causal models with deep learning introducing increasingly intricate data sets, such as the causal associations within images or between textual components, has surfaced as a focal research area. Nonetheless, the broadening of original causal concepts and theories to such complex, non-statistical data has been met with serious challenges. In response, our study proposes redefinitions of causal data into three distinct categories from the standpoint of causal structure and representation: definite data, semi-definite data, and indefinite data. Definite data chiefly pertains to statistical data used in conventional causal scenarios, while semi-definite data refers to a spectrum of data formats germane to deep learning, including time-series, images, text, and others. Indefinite data is an emergent research sphere inferred from the progression of data forms by us. To comprehensively present these three data paradigms, we elaborate on their formal definitions, differences manifested in datasets, resolution pathways, and development of research. We summarize key tasks and achievements pertaining to definite and semi-definite data from myriad research undertakings, present a roadmap for indefinite data, beginning with its current research conundrums. Lastly, we classify and scrutinize the key datasets presently utilized within these three paradigms.
Graphs are used widely to model complex systems, and detecting anomalies in a graph is an important task in the analysis of complex systems. Graph anomalies are patterns in a graph that do not conform to normal patterns expected of the attributes and/or structures of the graph. In recent years, graph neural networks (GNNs) have been studied extensively and have successfully performed difficult machine learning tasks in node classification, link prediction, and graph classification thanks to the highly expressive capability via message passing in effectively learning graph representations. To solve the graph anomaly detection problem, GNN-based methods leverage information about the graph attributes (or features) and/or structures to learn to score anomalies appropriately. In this survey, we review the recent advances made in detecting graph anomalies using GNN models. Specifically, we summarize GNN-based methods according to the graph type (i.e., static and dynamic), the anomaly type (i.e., node, edge, subgraph, and whole graph), and the network architecture (e.g., graph autoencoder, graph convolutional network). To the best of our knowledge, this survey is the first comprehensive review of graph anomaly detection methods based on GNNs.
The existence of representative datasets is a prerequisite of many successful artificial intelligence and machine learning models. However, the subsequent application of these models often involves scenarios that are inadequately represented in the data used for training. The reasons for this are manifold and range from time and cost constraints to ethical considerations. As a consequence, the reliable use of these models, especially in safety-critical applications, is a huge challenge. Leveraging additional, already existing sources of knowledge is key to overcome the limitations of purely data-driven approaches, and eventually to increase the generalization capability of these models. Furthermore, predictions that conform with knowledge are crucial for making trustworthy and safe decisions even in underrepresented scenarios. This work provides an overview of existing techniques and methods in the literature that combine data-based models with existing knowledge. The identified approaches are structured according to the categories integration, extraction and conformity. Special attention is given to applications in the field of autonomous driving.