This paper presents a novel hierarchical federated learning algorithm within multiple sets that incorporates quantization for communication-efficiency and demonstrates resilience to statistical heterogeneity. Unlike conventional hierarchical federated learning algorithms, our approach combines gradient aggregation in intra-set iterations with model aggregation in inter-set iterations. We offer a comprehensive analytical framework to evaluate its optimality gap and convergence rate, comparing these aspects with those of conventional algorithms. Additionally, we develop a problem formulation to derive optimal system parameters in a closed-form solution. Our findings reveal that our algorithm consistently achieves high learning accuracy over a range of parameters and significantly outperforms other hierarchical algorithms, particularly in scenarios with heterogeneous data distributions.
Open set recognition (OSR) is a critical aspect of machine learning, addressing the challenge of detecting novel classes during inference. Within the realm of deep learning, neural classifiers trained on a closed set of data typically struggle to identify novel classes, leading to erroneous predictions. To address this issue, various heuristic methods have been proposed, allowing models to express uncertainty by stating "I don't know." However, a gap in the literature remains, as there has been limited exploration of the underlying mechanisms of these methods. In this paper, we conduct an analysis of open set recognition methods, focusing on the aspect of feature diversity. Our research reveals a significant correlation between learning diverse discriminative features and enhancing OSR performance. Building on this insight, we propose a novel OSR approach that leverages the advantages of feature diversity. The efficacy of our method is substantiated through rigorous evaluation on a standard OSR testbench, demonstrating a substantial improvement over state-of-the-art methods.
This work proposes a novel learning framework for visual hand dynamics analysis that takes into account the physiological aspects of hand motion. The existing models, which are simplified joint-actuated systems, often produce unnatural motions. To address this, we integrate a musculoskeletal system with a learnable parametric hand model, MANO, to create a new model, MS-MANO. This model emulates the dynamics of muscles and tendons to drive the skeletal system, imposing physiologically realistic constraints on the resulting torque trajectories. We further propose a simulation-in-the-loop pose refinement framework, BioPR, that refines the initial estimated pose through a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) network. Our evaluation of the accuracy of MS-MANO and the efficacy of the BioPR is conducted in two separate parts. The accuracy of MS-MANO is compared with MyoSuite, while the efficacy of BioPR is benchmarked against two large-scale public datasets and two recent state-of-the-art methods. The results demonstrate that our approach consistently improves the baseline methods both quantitatively and qualitatively.
The concept of semantic communication provides a novel approach for applications in scenarios with limited communication resources. In this paper, we propose an end-to-end (E2E) semantic molecular communication system, aiming to enhance the efficiency of molecular communication systems by reducing the transmitted information. Specifically, following the joint source channel coding paradigm, the network is designed to encode the task-relevant information into the concentration of the information molecules, which is robust to the degradation of the molecular communication channel. Furthermore, we propose a channel network to enable the E2E learning over the non-differentiable molecular channel. Experimental results demonstrate the superior performance of the semantic molecular communication system over the conventional methods in classification tasks.
We introduce a novel meta-analysis framework to combine dependent tests under a general setting, and utilize it to synthesize various microbiome association tests that are calculated from the same dataset. Our development builds upon the classical meta-analysis methods of aggregating $p$-values and also a more recent general method of combining confidence distributions, but makes generalizations to handle dependent tests. The proposed framework ensures rigorous statistical guarantees, and we provide a comprehensive study and compare it with various existing dependent combination methods. Notably, we demonstrate that the widely used Cauchy combination method for dependent tests, referred to as the vanilla Cauchy combination in this article, can be viewed as a special case within our framework. Moreover, the proposed framework provides a way to address the problem when the distributional assumptions underlying the vanilla Cauchy combination are violated. Our numerical results demonstrate that ignoring the dependence among the to-be-combined components may lead to a severe size distortion phenomenon. Compared to the existing $p$-value combination methods, including the vanilla Cauchy combination method, the proposed combination framework can handle the dependence accurately and utilizes the information efficiently to construct tests with accurate size and enhanced power. The development is applied to Microbiome Association Studies, where we aggregate information from multiple existing tests using the same dataset. The combined tests harness the strengths of each individual test across a wide range of alternative spaces, %resulting in a significant enhancement of testing power across a wide range of alternative spaces, enabling more efficient and meaningful discoveries of vital microbiome associations.
Traffic dynamics is universally crucial in analyzing and designing almost any network. This article introduces a novel theoretical approach to analyzing network traffic dynamics. This theory's machinery is based on the notion of traffic divergence, which captures the flow (im)balance of network nodes and links. It features various analytical probes to investigate both spatial and temporal traffic dynamics. In particular, the maximal traffic distribution in a network can be characterized by spatial traffic divergence rate, which reveals the relative difference among node traffic divergence. To illustrate the usefulness, we apply the theory to two network-driven problems: throughput estimation of data center networks and power-optimized communication planning for robot networks, and show the merits of the proposed theory through simulations.
Bayesian nonparametric models offer a flexible and powerful framework for statistical model selection, enabling the adaptation of model complexity to the intricacies of diverse datasets. This survey intends to delve into the significance of Bayesian nonparametrics, particularly in addressing complex challenges across various domains such as statistics, computer science, and electrical engineering. By elucidating the basic properties and theoretical foundations of these nonparametric models, this survey aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of Bayesian nonparametrics and their relevance in addressing complex problems, particularly in the domain of multi-object tracking. Through this exploration, we uncover the versatility and efficacy of Bayesian nonparametric methodologies, paving the way for innovative solutions to intricate challenges across diverse disciplines.
With the breakthrough of AlphaGo, deep reinforcement learning becomes a recognized technique for solving sequential decision-making problems. Despite its reputation, data inefficiency caused by its trial and error learning mechanism makes deep reinforcement learning hard to be practical in a wide range of areas. Plenty of methods have been developed for sample efficient deep reinforcement learning, such as environment modeling, experience transfer, and distributed modifications, amongst which, distributed deep reinforcement learning has shown its potential in various applications, such as human-computer gaming, and intelligent transportation. In this paper, we conclude the state of this exciting field, by comparing the classical distributed deep reinforcement learning methods, and studying important components to achieve efficient distributed learning, covering single player single agent distributed deep reinforcement learning to the most complex multiple players multiple agents distributed deep reinforcement learning. Furthermore, we review recently released toolboxes that help to realize distributed deep reinforcement learning without many modifications of their non-distributed versions. By analyzing their strengths and weaknesses, a multi-player multi-agent distributed deep reinforcement learning toolbox is developed and released, which is further validated on Wargame, a complex environment, showing usability of the proposed toolbox for multiple players and multiple agents distributed deep reinforcement learning under complex games. Finally, we try to point out challenges and future trends, hoping this brief review can provide a guide or a spark for researchers who are interested in distributed deep reinforcement learning.
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.
Graph representation learning resurges as a trending research subject owing to the widespread use of deep learning for Euclidean data, which inspire various creative designs of neural networks in the non-Euclidean domain, particularly graphs. With the success of these graph neural networks (GNN) in the static setting, we approach further practical scenarios where the graph dynamically evolves. Existing approaches typically resort to node embeddings and use a recurrent neural network (RNN, broadly speaking) to regulate the embeddings and learn the temporal dynamics. These methods require the knowledge of a node in the full time span (including both training and testing) and are less applicable to the frequent change of the node set. In some extreme scenarios, the node sets at different time steps may completely differ. To resolve this challenge, we propose EvolveGCN, which adapts the graph convolutional network (GCN) model along the temporal dimension without resorting to node embeddings. The proposed approach captures the dynamism of the graph sequence through using an RNN to evolve the GCN parameters. Two architectures are considered for the parameter evolution. We evaluate the proposed approach on tasks including link prediction, edge classification, and node classification. The experimental results indicate a generally higher performance of EvolveGCN compared with related approaches. The code is available at \url{//github.com/IBM/EvolveGCN}.
This paper surveys the machine learning literature and presents machine learning as optimization models. Such models can benefit from the advancement of numerical optimization techniques which have already played a distinctive role in several machine learning settings. Particularly, mathematical optimization models are presented for commonly used machine learning approaches for regression, classification, clustering, and deep neural networks as well new emerging applications in machine teaching and empirical model learning. The strengths and the shortcomings of these models are discussed and potential research directions are highlighted.