This paper presents a novel approach leveraging Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) to construct a Variational Quantized Autoencoder (VQ-VAE) with a temporal codebook inspired by hippocampal time cells. This design captures and utilizes temporal dependencies, significantly enhancing the generative capabilities of SNNs. Neuroscientific research has identified hippocampal "time cells" that fire sequentially during temporally structured experiences. Our temporal codebook emulates this behavior by triggering the activation of time cell populations based on similarity measures as input stimuli pass through it. We conducted extensive experiments on standard benchmark datasets, including MNIST, FashionMNIST, CIFAR10, CelebA, and downsampled LSUN Bedroom, to validate our model's performance. Furthermore, we evaluated the effectiveness of the temporal codebook on neuromorphic datasets NMNIST and DVS-CIFAR10, and demonstrated the model's capability with high-resolution datasets such as CelebA-HQ, LSUN Bedroom, and LSUN Church. The experimental results indicate that our method consistently outperforms existing SNN-based generative models across multiple datasets, achieving state-of-the-art performance. Notably, our approach excels in generating high-resolution and temporally consistent data, underscoring the crucial role of temporal information in SNN-based generative modeling.
We present Instant Neural Radiance Fields Stylization, a novel approach for multi-view image stylization for the 3D scene. Our approach models a neural radiance field based on neural graphics primitives, which use a hash table-based position encoder for position embedding. We split the position encoder into two parts, the content and style sub-branches, and train the network for normal novel view image synthesis with the content and style targets. In the inference stage, we execute AdaIN to the output features of the position encoder, with content and style voxel grid features as reference. With the adjusted features, the stylization of novel view images could be obtained. Our method extends the style target from style images to image sets of scenes and does not require additional network training for stylization. Given a set of images of 3D scenes and a style target(a style image or another set of 3D scenes), our method can generate stylized novel views with a consistent appearance at various view angles in less than 10 minutes on modern GPU hardware. Extensive experimental results demonstrate the validity and superiority of our method.
In this paper, we propose Evidential Conformal Prediction (ECP) method for image classifiers to generate the conformal prediction sets. Our method is designed based on a non-conformity score function that has its roots in Evidential Deep Learning (EDL) as a method of quantifying model (epistemic) uncertainty in DNN classifiers. We use evidence that are derived from the logit values of target labels to compute the components of our non-conformity score function: the heuristic notion of uncertainty in CP, uncertainty surprisal, and expected utility. Our extensive experimental evaluation demonstrates that ECP outperforms three state-of-the-art methods for generating CP sets, in terms of their set sizes and adaptivity while maintaining the coverage of true labels.
This paper examines the influence of initial guesses on trajectory planning for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) formulated in terms of Optimal Control Problem (OCP). The OCP is solved numerically using the Pseudospectral collocation method. Our approach leverages a path identified through Lazy Theta* and incorporates known constraints and a model of the UAV's behavior for the initial guess. Our findings indicate that a suitable initial guess has a beneficial influence on the planned trajectory. They also suggest promising directions for future research.
This paper presents a systematic methodology for the discretization and reduction of a class of one-dimensional Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) with inputs and outputs collocated at the spatial boundaries. The class of system that we consider is known as Boundary-Controlled Port-Hamiltonian Systems (BC-PHSs) and covers a wide class of Hyperbolic PDEs with a large type of boundary inputs and outputs. This is, for instance, the case of waves and beams with Neumann, Dirichlet, or mixed boundary conditions. Based on a Partitioned Finite Element Method (PFEM), we develop a numerical scheme for the structure-preserving spatial discretization for the class of one-dimensional BC-PHSs. We show that if the initial PDE is passive (or impedance energy preserving), the discretized model also is. In addition and since the discretized model or Full Order Model (FOM) can be of large dimension, we recall the standard Loewner framework for the Model Order Reduction (MOR) using frequency domain interpolation. We recall the main steps to produce a Reduced Order Model (ROM) that approaches the FOM in a given range of frequencies. We summarize the steps to follow in order to obtain a ROM that preserves the passive structure as well. Finally, we provide a constructive way to build a projector that allows to recover the physical meaning of the state variables from the ROM to the FOM. We use the one-dimensional wave equation and the Timoshenko beam as examples to show the versatility of the proposed approach.
In the era of large language models, applying techniques such as Retrieval Augmented Generation can better address Open-Domain Question-Answering problems. Due to constraints including model sizes and computing resources, the length of context is often limited, and it becomes challenging to empower the model to cover overlong contexts while answering questions from open domains. This paper proposes a general and convenient method to covering longer contexts in Open-Domain Question-Answering tasks. It leverages a small encoder language model that effectively encodes contexts, and the encoding applies cross-attention with origin inputs. With our method, the origin language models can cover several times longer contexts while keeping the computing requirements close to the baseline. Our experiments demonstrate that after fine-tuning, there is improved performance across two held-in datasets, four held-out datasets, and also in two In Context Learning settings.
This paper introduces MalAlgoQA, a novel dataset designed to evaluate the counterfactual reasoning capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) through a pedagogical approach. The dataset comprises mathematics and reading comprehension questions, each accompanied by four answer choices and their corresponding rationales. We focus on the incorrect answer rationales, termed "malgorithms", which highlights flawed reasoning steps leading to incorrect answers and offers valuable insights into erroneous thought processes. We also propose the Malgorithm Identification task, where LLMs are assessed based on their ability to identify corresponding malgorithm given an incorrect answer choice. To evaluate the model performance, we introduce two metrics: Algorithm Identification Accuracy (AIA) for correct answer rationale identification, and Malgorithm Identification Accuracy (MIA) for incorrect answer rationale identification. The task is challenging since state-of-the-art LLMs exhibit significant drops in MIA as compared to AIA. Moreover, we find that the chain-of-thought prompting technique not only fails to consistently enhance MIA, but can also lead to underperformance compared to simple prompting. These findings hold significant implications for the development of more cognitively-inspired LLMs to improve their counterfactual reasoning abilities, particularly through a pedagogical perspective where understanding and rectifying student misconceptions are crucial.
In this paper we describe a new conceptual framework that connects approximate Dynamic Programming (DP), Model Predictive Control (MPC), and Reinforcement Learning (RL). This framework centers around two algorithms, which are designed largely independently of each other and operate in synergy through the powerful mechanism of Newton's method. We call them the off-line training and the on-line play algorithms. The names are borrowed from some of the major successes of RL involving games; primary examples are the recent (2017) AlphaZero program (which plays chess, [SHS17], [SSS17]), and the similarly structured and earlier (1990s) TD-Gammon program (which plays backgammon, [Tes94], [Tes95], [TeG96]). In these game contexts, the off-line training algorithm is the method used to teach the program how to evaluate positions and to generate good moves at any given position, while the on-line play algorithm is the method used to play in real time against human or computer opponents. Significantly, the synergy between off-line training and on-line play also underlies MPC (as well as other major classes of sequential decision problems), and indeed the MPC design architecture is very similar to the one of AlphaZero and TD-Gammon. This conceptual insight provides a vehicle for bridging the cultural gap between RL and MPC, and sheds new light on some fundamental issues in MPC. These include the enhancement of stability properties through rollout, the treatment of uncertainty through the use of certainty equivalence, the resilience of MPC in adaptive control settings that involve changing system parameters, and the insights provided by the superlinear performance bounds implied by Newton's method.
This paper addresses the issue of sample selection bias when comparing countries using International assessments like PISA (Program for International Student Assessment). Despite its widespread use, PISA rankings may be biased due to different attrition patterns in different countries, leading to inaccurate comparisons. This study proposes a methodology to correct for sample selection bias using a quantile selection model. Applying the method to PISA 2018 data, I find that correcting for selection bias significantly changes the rankings (based on the mean) of countries' educational performances. My results highlight the importance of accounting for sample selection bias in international educational comparisons.
This paper introduces a novel neural network for efficiently solving Structured Inverse Eigenvalue Problems (SIEPs). The main contributions lie in two aspects: firstly, a unified framework is proposed that can handle various SIEPs instances. Particularly, an innovative method for handling nonnegativity constraints is devised using the ReLU function. Secondly, a novel neural network based on multilayer perceptrons, utilizing the Stiefel layer, is designed to efficiently solve SIEP. By incorporating the Stiefel layer through matrix orthogonal decomposition, the orthogonality of similarity transformations is ensured, leading to accurate solutions for SIEPs. Hence, we name this new network Stiefel Multilayer Perceptron (SMLP). Furthermore, SMLP is an unsupervised learning approach with a lightweight structure that is easy to train. Several numerical tests from literature and engineering domains demonstrate the efficiency of SMLP.
In this paper, we propose a novel Feature Decomposition and Reconstruction Learning (FDRL) method for effective facial expression recognition. We view the expression information as the combination of the shared information (expression similarities) across different expressions and the unique information (expression-specific variations) for each expression. More specifically, FDRL mainly consists of two crucial networks: a Feature Decomposition Network (FDN) and a Feature Reconstruction Network (FRN). In particular, FDN first decomposes the basic features extracted from a backbone network into a set of facial action-aware latent features to model expression similarities. Then, FRN captures the intra-feature and inter-feature relationships for latent features to characterize expression-specific variations, and reconstructs the expression feature. To this end, two modules including an intra-feature relation modeling module and an inter-feature relation modeling module are developed in FRN. Experimental results on both the in-the-lab databases (including CK+, MMI, and Oulu-CASIA) and the in-the-wild databases (including RAF-DB and SFEW) show that the proposed FDRL method consistently achieves higher recognition accuracy than several state-of-the-art methods. This clearly highlights the benefit of feature decomposition and reconstruction for classifying expressions.