The Mixup method has proven to be a powerful data augmentation technique in Computer Vision, with many successors that perform image mixing in a guided manner. One of the interesting research directions is transferring the underlying Mixup idea to other domains, e.g. Natural Language Processing (NLP). Even though there already exist several methods that apply Mixup to textual data, there is still room for new, improved approaches. In this work, we introduce AttentionMix, a novel mixing method that relies on attention-based information. While the paper focuses on the BERT attention mechanism, the proposed approach can be applied to generally any attention-based model. AttentionMix is evaluated on 3 standard sentiment classification datasets and in all three cases outperforms two benchmark approaches that utilize Mixup mechanism, as well as the vanilla BERT method. The results confirm that the attention-based information can be effectively used for data augmentation in the NLP domain.
Remotely sensed data are dominated by mixed Land Use and Land Cover (LULC) types. Spectral unmixing is a technique to extract information from mixed pixels into their constituent LULC types and corresponding abundance fractions. Traditionally, solving this task has relied on either classical methods that require prior knowledge of endmembers or machine learning methods that avoid explicit endmembers calculation, also known as blind spectral unmixing (BSU). Most BSU studies based on Deep Learning (DL) focus on one time-step hyperspectral or multispectral data. To our knowledge, here we provide the first study on BSU of LULC classes using MODIS multispectral time series, in presence of missing data, with end-to-end DL models. We further boost the performance of a Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM)-based model by incorporating geographic plus topographic (geo-topographic) and climatic ancillary information. Our experiments show that combining spectral-temporal input data together with geo-topographic and climatic information substantially improves the abundance estimation of LULC classes in mixed pixels. To carry out this study, we built a new labeled dataset of the region of Andalusia (Spain) with monthly multispectral time series of pixels for the year 2013 from MODIS at 460m resolution, for two hierarchical levels of LULC classes, named Andalusia MultiSpectral MultiTemporal Unmixing (Andalusia-MSMTU). This dataset provides, at the pixel level, a multispectral time series plus ancillary information annotated with the abundance of each LULC class inside each pixel. The dataset (//zenodo.org/record/7752348##.ZBmkkezMLdo) and code (//github.com/jrodriguezortega/MSMTU) are available to the public.
The evaluation of the fidelity of eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) methods to their underlying models is a challenging task, primarily due to the absence of a ground truth for explanations. However, assessing fidelity is a necessary step for ensuring a correct XAI methodology. In this study, we conduct a fair and objective comparison of the current state-of-the-art XAI methods by introducing three novel image datasets with reliable ground truth for explanations. The primary objective of this comparison is to identify methods with low fidelity and eliminate them from further research, thereby promoting the development of more trustworthy and effective XAI techniques. Our results demonstrate that XAI methods based on the backpropagation of output information to input yield higher accuracy and reliability compared to methods relying on sensitivity analysis or Class Activation Maps (CAM). However, the backpropagation method tends to generate more noisy saliency maps. These findings have significant implications for the advancement of XAI methods, enabling the elimination of erroneous explanations and fostering the development of more robust and reliable XAI.
Augmented Reality (AR) has emerged as a significant advancement in surgical procedures, offering a solution to the challenges posed by traditional neuronavigation methods. These conventional techniques often necessitate surgeons to split their focus between the surgical site and a separate monitor that displays guiding images. Over the years, many systems have been developed to register and track the hologram at the targeted locations, each employed its own evaluation technique. On the other hand, hologram displacement measurement is not a straightforward task because of various factors such as occlusion, Vengence-Accomodation Conflict, and unstable holograms in space. In this study, we explore and classify different techniques for assessing an AR-assisted neurosurgery system and propose a new technique to systematize the assessment procedure. Moreover, we conduct a deeper investigation to assess surgeon error in the pre- and intra-operative phases of the surgery based on the respective feedback given. We found that although the system can undergo registration and tracking errors, physical feedback can significantly reduce the error caused by hologram displacement. However, the lack of visual feedback on the hologram does not have a significant effect on the user 3D perception.
The use of the non-parametric Restricted Mean Survival Time endpoint (RMST) has grown in popularity as trialists look to analyse time-to-event outcomes without the restrictions of the proportional hazards assumption. In this paper, we evaluate the power and type I error rate of the parametric and non-parametric RMST estimators when treatment effect is explained by multiple covariates, including an interaction term. Utilising the RMST estimator in this way allows the combined treatment effect to be summarised as a one-dimensional estimator, which is evaluated using a one-sided hypothesis Z-test. The estimators are either fully specified or misspecified, both in terms of unaccounted covariates or misspecified knot points (where trials exhibit crossing survival curves). A placebo-controlled trial of Gamma interferon is used as a motivating example to simulate associated survival times. When correctly specified, the parametric RMST estimator has the greatest power, regardless of the time of analysis. The misspecified RMST estimator generally performs similarly when covariates mirror those of the fitted case study dataset. However, as the magnitude of the unaccounted covariate increases, the associated power of the estimator decreases. In all cases, the non-parametric RMST estimator has the lowest power, and power remains very reliant on the time of analysis (with a later analysis time correlated with greater power).
In prediction settings where data are collected over time, it is often of interest to understand both the importance of variables for predicting the response at each time point and the importance summarized over the time series. Building on recent advances in estimation and inference for variable importance measures, we define summaries of variable importance trajectories. These measures can be estimated and the same approaches for inference can be applied regardless of the choice of the algorithm(s) used to estimate the prediction function. We propose a nonparametric efficient estimation and inference procedure as well as a null hypothesis testing procedure that are valid even when complex machine learning tools are used for prediction. Through simulations, we demonstrate that our proposed procedures have good operating characteristics, and we illustrate their use by investigating the longitudinal importance of risk factors for suicide attempt.
Canonical correlation analysis (CCA) is a popular statistical technique for exploring relationships between datasets. In recent years, the estimation of sparse canonical vectors has emerged as an important but challenging variant of the CCA problem, with widespread applications. Unfortunately, existing rate-optimal estimators for sparse canonical vectors have high computational cost. We propose a quasi-Bayesian estimation procedure that not only achieves the minimax estimation rate, but also is easy to compute by Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). The method builds on Tan et al. (2018) and uses a re-scaled Rayleigh quotient function as the quasi-log-likelihood. However, unlike Tan et al. (2018), we adopt a Bayesian framework that combines this quasi-log-likelihood with a spike-and-slab prior to regularize the inference and promote sparsity. We investigate the empirical behavior of the proposed method on both continuous and truncated data, and we demonstrate that it outperforms several state-of-the-art methods. As an application, we use the proposed methodology to maximally correlate clinical variables and proteomic data for better understanding the Covid-19 disease.
The Causal Roadmap outlines a systematic approach to our research endeavors: define quantity of interest, evaluate needed assumptions, conduct statistical estimation, and carefully interpret of results. At the estimation step, it is essential that the estimation algorithm be chosen thoughtfully for its theoretical properties and expected performance. Simulations can help researchers gain a better understanding of an estimator's statistical performance under conditions unique to the real-data application. This in turn can inform the rigorous pre-specification of a Statistical Analysis Plan (SAP), not only stating the estimand (e.g., G-computation formula), the estimator (e.g., targeted minimum loss-based estimation [TMLE]), and adjustment variables, but also the implementation of the estimator -- including nuisance parameter estimation and approach for variance estimation. Doing so helps ensure valid inference (e.g., 95% confidence intervals with appropriate coverage). Failing to pre-specify estimation can lead to data dredging and inflated Type-I error rates.
In recent years, research involving human participants has been critical to advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), particularly in the areas of conversational, human-compatible, and cooperative AI. For example, around 12% and 6% of publications at recent AAAI and NeurIPS conferences indicate the collection of original human data, respectively. Yet AI and ML researchers lack guidelines for ethical, transparent research practices with human participants. Fewer than one out of every four of these AAAI and NeurIPS papers provide details of ethical review, the collection of informed consent, or participant compensation. This paper aims to bridge this gap by exploring normative similarities and differences between AI research and related fields that involve human participants. Though psychology, human-computer interaction, and other adjacent fields offer historic lessons and helpful insights, AI research raises several specific concerns$\unicode{x2014}$namely, participatory design, crowdsourced dataset development, and an expansive role of corporations$\unicode{x2014}$that necessitate a contextual ethics framework. To address these concerns, this paper outlines a set of guidelines for ethical and transparent practice with human participants in AI and ML research. These guidelines can be found in Section 4 on pp. 4$\unicode{x2013}$7.
Physics-based and first-principles models pervade the engineering and physical sciences, allowing for the ability to model the dynamics of complex systems with a prescribed accuracy. The approximations used in deriving governing equations often result in discrepancies between the model and sensor-based measurements of the system, revealing the approximate nature of the equations and/or the signal-to-noise ratio of the sensor itself. In modern dynamical systems, such discrepancies between model and measurement can lead to poor quantification, often undermining the ability to produce accurate and precise control algorithms. We introduce a discrepancy modeling framework to identify the missing physics and resolve the model-measurement mismatch with two distinct approaches: (i) by learning a model for the evolution of systematic state-space residual, and (ii) by discovering a model for the deterministic dynamical error. Regardless of approach, a common suite of data-driven model discovery methods can be used. The choice of method depends on one's intent (e.g., mechanistic interpretability) for discrepancy modeling, sensor measurement characteristics (e.g., quantity, quality, resolution), and constraints imposed by practical applications (e.g., modeling approaches using the suite of data-driven modeling methods on three continuous dynamical systems under varying signal-to-noise ratios. Finally, we emphasize structural shortcomings of each discrepancy modeling approach depending on error type. In summary, if the true dynamics are unknown (i.e., an imperfect model), one should learn a discrepancy model of the missing physics in the dynamical space. Yet, if the true dynamics are known yet model-measurement mismatch still exists, one should learn a discrepancy model in the state space.
Recent work pre-training Transformers with self-supervised objectives on large text corpora has shown great success when fine-tuned on downstream NLP tasks including text summarization. However, pre-training objectives tailored for abstractive text summarization have not been explored. Furthermore there is a lack of systematic evaluation across diverse domains. In this work, we propose pre-training large Transformer-based encoder-decoder models on massive text corpora with a new self-supervised objective. In PEGASUS, important sentences are removed/masked from an input document and are generated together as one output sequence from the remaining sentences, similar to an extractive summary. We evaluated our best PEGASUS model on 12 downstream summarization tasks spanning news, science, stories, instructions, emails, patents, and legislative bills. Experiments demonstrate it achieves state-of-the-art performance on all 12 downstream datasets measured by ROUGE scores. Our model also shows surprising performance on low-resource summarization, surpassing previous state-of-the-art results on 6 datasets with only 1000 examples. Finally we validated our results using human evaluation and show that our model summaries achieve human performance on multiple datasets.