Text-to-image synthesis has recently attracted widespread attention due to rapidly improving quality and numerous practical applications. However, the language understanding capabilities of text-to-image models are still poorly understood, which makes it difficult to reason about prompt formulations that a given model would understand well. In this work, we measure the capability of popular text-to-image models to understand $\textit{hypernymy}$, or the "is-a" relation between words. We design two automatic metrics based on the WordNet semantic hierarchy and existing image classifiers pretrained on ImageNet. These metrics both enable broad quantitative comparison of linguistic capabilities for text-to-image models and offer a way of finding fine-grained qualitative differences, such as words that are unknown to models and thus are difficult for them to draw. We comprehensively evaluate popular text-to-image models, including GLIDE, Latent Diffusion, and Stable Diffusion, showing how our metrics can provide a better understanding of the individual strengths and weaknesses of these models.
Although robust statistical estimators are less affected by outlying observations, their computation is usually more challenging. This is particularly the case in high-dimensional sparse settings. The availability of new optimization procedures, mainly developed in the computer science domain, offers new possibilities for the field of robust statistics. This paper investigates how such procedures can be used for robust sparse association estimators. The problem can be split into a robust estimation step followed by an optimization for the remaining decoupled, (bi-)convex problem. A combination of the augmented Lagrangian algorithm and adaptive gradient descent is implemented to also include suitable constraints for inducing sparsity. We provide results concerning the precision of the algorithm and show the advantages over existing algorithms in this context. High-dimensional empirical examples underline the usefulness of this procedure. Extensions to other robust sparse estimators are possible.
Data-driven surrogate modeling or metamodeling has emerged as a promising approach for reducing computational expenses of multiscale simulations. Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) is a common choice for modeling of path-dependent behavior. However, previous studies have shown that RNNs fail to make predictions that are consistent with perturbation in the input strain, leading to potential oscillations and lack of convergence when implemented within finite element simulations. In this work, we leverage neural differential equations which have recently emerged to model time series in a continuous manner and show their robustness in modeling elasto-plastic path-dependent material behavior. We develop a new sequential model called Incremental Neural Controlled Differential Equation (INCDE) for general time-variant dynamical systems, including path-dependent constitutive models. INCDE is formulated and analyzed in terms of stability and convergence. A surrogate model based on INCDE is subsequently trained and tested for J2 plasticity. The surrogate model is implemented for material point simulations and boundary value problems solved using the finite element method with various cyclic and monotonic loading protocols to demonstrate the robustness, consistency and accuracy of the proposed approach.
Fast-evolving artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms such as large language models have been driving the ever-increasing computing demands in today's data centers. Heterogeneous computing with domain-specific architectures (DSAs) brings many opportunities when scaling up and scaling out the computing system. In particular, heterogeneous chiplet architecture is favored to keep scaling up and scaling out the system as well as to reduce the design complexity and the cost stemming from the traditional monolithic chip design. However, how to interconnect computing resources and orchestrate heterogeneous chiplets is the key to success. In this paper, we first discuss the diversity and evolving demands of different AI workloads. We discuss how chiplet brings better cost efficiency and shorter time to market. Then we discuss the challenges in establishing chiplet interface standards, packaging, and security issues. We further discuss the software programming challenges in chiplet systems.
The increasing demand for latency-sensitive applications has necessitated the development of sophisticated algorithms that efficiently manage packets with end-to-end delay targets traversing the networked infrastructure. Network components must consider minimizing the packets' end-to-end delay violation probabilities (DVP) as a guiding principle throughout the transmission path to ensure timely deliveries. Active queue management (AQM) schemes are commonly used to mitigate congestion by dropping packets and controlling queuing delay. Today's established AQM schemes are threshold-driven, identifying congestion and trigger packet dropping using a predefined criteria which is unaware of packets' DVPs. In this work, we propose a novel framework, Delta, that combines end-to-end delay characterization with AQM for minimizing DVP. In a queuing theoretic environment, we show that such a policy is feasible by utilizing a data-driven approach to predict the queued packets' DVPs. That enables Delta AQM to effectively handle links with arbitrary stationary service time processes. The implementation is described in detail, and its performance is evaluated and compared with state of the art AQM algorithms. Our results show the Delta outperforms current AQM schemes substantially, in particular in scenarios where high reliability, i.e. high quantiles of the tail latency distribution, are of interest.
Enforcing orthonormal or isometric property for the weight matrices has been shown to enhance the training of deep neural networks by mitigating gradient exploding/vanishing and increasing the robustness of the learned networks. However, despite its practical performance, the theoretical analysis of orthonormality in neural networks is still lacking; for example, how orthonormality affects the convergence of the training process. In this letter, we aim to bridge this gap by providing convergence analysis for training orthonormal deep linear neural networks. Specifically, we show that Riemannian gradient descent with an appropriate initialization converges at a linear rate for training orthonormal deep linear neural networks with a class of loss functions. Unlike existing works that enforce orthonormal weight matrices for all the layers, our approach excludes this requirement for one layer, which is crucial to establish the convergence guarantee. Our results shed light on how increasing the number of hidden layers can impact the convergence speed. Experimental results validate our theoretical analysis.
The integration of experimental data into mathematical and computational models is crucial for enhancing their predictive power in real-world scenarios. However, the performance of data assimilation algorithms can be significantly degraded when measurements are corrupted by biased noise, altering the signal magnitude, or when the system dynamics lack smoothness, such as in the presence of fast oscillations or discontinuities. This paper focuses on variational state estimation using the so-called Parameterized Background Data Weak method, which relies on a parameterized background by a set of constraints, enabling state estimation by solving a minimization problem on a reduced-order background model, subject to constraints imposed by the input measurements. To address biased noise in observations, a modified formulation is proposed, incorporating a correction mechanism to handle rapid oscillations by treating them as slow-decaying modes based on a two-scale splitting of the classical reconstruction algorithm. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithms is demonstrated through various examples, including discontinuous signals and simulated Doppler ultrasound data.
Superposed orders of quantum channels have already been proved - both theoretically and experimentally - to enable unparalleled opportunities in the quantum communication domain. As a matter of fact, superposition of orders can be exploited within the quantum computing domain as well, by relaxing the (traditional) assumption underlying quantum computation about applying gates in a well-defined causal order. In this context, we address a fundamental question arising with quantum computing: whether superposed orders of single-qubit gates can enable universal quantum computation. As shown in this paper, the answer to this key question is a definitive "yes". Indeed, we prove that any two-qubit controlled quantum gate can be deterministically realized, including the so-called Barenco gate that alone enables universal quantum computation.
Large Language Models (LLMs) have shown excellent generalization capabilities that have led to the development of numerous models. These models propose various new architectures, tweaking existing architectures with refined training strategies, increasing context length, using high-quality training data, and increasing training time to outperform baselines. Analyzing new developments is crucial for identifying changes that enhance training stability and improve generalization in LLMs. This survey paper comprehensively analyses the LLMs architectures and their categorization, training strategies, training datasets, and performance evaluations and discusses future research directions. Moreover, the paper also discusses the basic building blocks and concepts behind LLMs, followed by a complete overview of LLMs, including their important features and functions. Finally, the paper summarizes significant findings from LLM research and consolidates essential architectural and training strategies for developing advanced LLMs. Given the continuous advancements in LLMs, we intend to regularly update this paper by incorporating new sections and featuring the latest LLM models.
Deep reinforcement learning algorithms can perform poorly in real-world tasks due to the discrepancy between source and target environments. This discrepancy is commonly viewed as the disturbance in transition dynamics. Many existing algorithms learn robust policies by modeling the disturbance and applying it to source environments during training, which usually requires prior knowledge about the disturbance and control of simulators. However, these algorithms can fail in scenarios where the disturbance from target environments is unknown or is intractable to model in simulators. To tackle this problem, we propose a novel model-free actor-critic algorithm -- namely, state-conservative policy optimization (SCPO) -- to learn robust policies without modeling the disturbance in advance. Specifically, SCPO reduces the disturbance in transition dynamics to that in state space and then approximates it by a simple gradient-based regularizer. The appealing features of SCPO include that it is simple to implement and does not require additional knowledge about the disturbance or specially designed simulators. Experiments in several robot control tasks demonstrate that SCPO learns robust policies against the disturbance in transition dynamics.
Image segmentation is an important component of many image understanding systems. It aims to group pixels in a spatially and perceptually coherent manner. Typically, these algorithms have a collection of parameters that control the degree of over-segmentation produced. It still remains a challenge to properly select such parameters for human-like perceptual grouping. In this work, we exploit the diversity of segments produced by different choices of parameters. We scan the segmentation parameter space and generate a collection of image segmentation hypotheses (from highly over-segmented to under-segmented). These are fed into a cost minimization framework that produces the final segmentation by selecting segments that: (1) better describe the natural contours of the image, and (2) are more stable and persistent among all the segmentation hypotheses. We compare our algorithm's performance with state-of-the-art algorithms, showing that we can achieve improved results. We also show that our framework is robust to the choice of segmentation kernel that produces the initial set of hypotheses.