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Yue Wu

Publications and source records attributed to Yue Wu.

At least 217 records · Page 12Linked to original sources

An Experimental Study of Different Aggregation Schemes in Semi-Asynchronous Federated Learning

Federated learning is highly valued due to its high-performance computing in distributed environments while safeguarding data privacy. To address resource heterogeneity, researchers have proposed a semi-asynchronous federated learning (SAFL) architecture. However, the performance gap between different aggregation targets in SAFL remain unexplored. In this paper, we systematically compare the performance between two algorithm modes, FedSGD and FedAvg that correspond to aggregating gradients and models, respectively. Our results across various task scenarios indicate these two modes exhibit a substantial performance gap. Specifically, FedSGD achieves higher accuracy and faster convergence but experiences more severe fluctuates in accuracy, whereas FedAvg excels in handling straggler issues but converges slower with reduced accuracy.

cs.DC↗

Topological Origin of Floquet Thermalization in Periodically Driven Many-body Systems

Floquet engineering is a powerful manipulation method in modern quantum technology. However, unwanted heating is the main challenge of Floquet engineering, therefore the Floquet thermalization has attracting considerable attentions recently. In this work, we investigate thermalization of periodically driven many-body systems through the lens of Krylov complexity, and find a topological origin of different thermalization behaviors. We demonstrate that If the topology of the Krylov chain is nontrivial, a periodically driven system will reach a state with finite temperature. When the Krylov chain is topologically trivial, the system will be heated to infinite temperature. We further show that the prethermalization can be understood as the tunnelling process of a quasi-edge mode through the local gap on Krylov chain. This picture provides a systematically method to obtain the effective prethermal Hamiltonian.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Automatic Controllable Colorization via Imagination

We propose a framework for automatic colorization that allows for iterative editing and modifications. The core of our framework lies in an imagination module: by understanding the content within a grayscale image, we utilize a pre-trained image generation model to generate multiple images that contain the same content. These images serve as references for coloring, mimicking the process of human experts. As the synthesized images can be imperfect or different from the original grayscale image, we propose a Reference Refinement Module to select the optimal reference composition. Unlike most previous end-to-end automatic colorization algorithms, our framework allows for iterative and localized modifications of the colorization results because we explicitly model the coloring samples. Extensive experiments demonstrate the superiority of our framework over existing automatic colorization algorithms in editability and flexibility. Project page: https://xy-cong.github.io/imagine-colorization.

cs.CV↗

Causal knowledge engineering: A case study from COVID-19

COVID-19 appeared abruptly in early 2020, requiring a rapid response amid a context of great uncertainty. Good quality data and knowledge was initially lacking, and many early models had to be developed with causal assumptions and estimations built in to supplement limited data, often with no reliable approach for identifying, validating and documenting these causal assumptions. Our team embarked on a knowledge engineering process to develop a causal knowledge base consisting of several causal BNs for diverse aspects of COVID-19. The unique challenges of the setting lead to experiments with the elicitation approach, and what emerged was a knowledge engineering method we call Causal Knowledge Engineering (CKE). The CKE provides a structured approach for building a causal knowledge base that can support the development of a variety of application-specific models. Here we describe the CKE method, and use our COVID-19 work as a case study to provide a detailed discussion and analysis of the method.

cs.AI↗

Editing Massive Concepts in Text-to-Image Diffusion Models

Text-to-image diffusion models suffer from the risk of generating outdated, copyrighted, incorrect, and biased content. While previous methods have mitigated the issues on a small scale, it is essential to handle them simultaneously in larger-scale real-world scenarios. We propose a two-stage method, Editing Massive Concepts In Diffusion Models (EMCID). The first stage performs memory optimization for each individual concept with dual self-distillation from text alignment loss and diffusion noise prediction loss. The second stage conducts massive concept editing with multi-layer, closed form model editing. We further propose a comprehensive benchmark, named ImageNet Concept Editing Benchmark (ICEB), for evaluating massive concept editing for T2I models with two subtasks, free-form prompts, massive concept categories, and extensive evaluation metrics. Extensive experiments conducted on our proposed benchmark and previous benchmarks demonstrate the superior scalability of EMCID for editing up to 1,000 concepts, providing a practical approach for fast adjustment and re-deployment of T2I diffusion models in real-world applications.

cs.CV↗

E-DoH: Elegantly Detecting the Depths of Open DoH Service on the Internet

In recent years, DNS over Encrypted (DoE) methods have been regarded as a novel trend within the realm of the DNS ecosystem. In these DoE methods, DNS over HTTPS (DoH) provides encryption to protect data confidentiality while providing better obfuscation to avoid censorship by multiplexing port 443 with web services. This development introduced certain inconveniences in discovering publicly available DoH services. In this paper, we propose the E-DoH method for elegant and efficient DoH service detection. First, we optimized the probing mechanism to enable a single DoH connection to accomplish multiple tasks including service discovery, correctness validation and dependency construction. Second, we propose an efficient DoH detection tool. This tool can enhance probing efficiency while significantly reduce the required traffic volume. Third, based on the above optimization methods, we conducted an exploration of the IPv4 space and performed an in-depth analysis of DoH based on the collected information. Through experiments, our approach demonstrates a remarkable 80% improvement in time efficiency, and only requires 4%-20% traffic volume to complete the detection task. In wild detection, our approach discovered 46k DoH services, which nearly doubles the number discovered by the state-of-the-art. Based on the collected data, we present several intriguing conclusions about the current DoH service ecosystem.

cs.CR↗

SmartPlay: A Benchmark for LLMs as Intelligent Agents

Recent large language models (LLMs) have demonstrated great potential toward intelligent agents and next-gen automation, but there currently lacks a systematic benchmark for evaluating LLMs' abilities as agents. We introduce SmartPlay: both a challenging benchmark and a methodology for evaluating LLMs as agents. SmartPlay consists of 6 different games, including Rock-Paper-Scissors, Tower of Hanoi, Minecraft. Each game features a unique setting, providing up to 20 evaluation settings and infinite environment variations. Each game in SmartPlay uniquely challenges a subset of 9 important capabilities of an intelligent LLM agent, including reasoning with object dependencies, planning ahead, spatial reasoning, learning from history, and understanding randomness. The distinction between the set of capabilities each game test allows us to analyze each capability separately. SmartPlay serves not only as a rigorous testing ground for evaluating the overall performance of LLM agents but also as a road-map for identifying gaps in current methodologies. We release our benchmark at github.com/Microsoft/SmartPlay

cs.LG↗

PixArt-Σ: Weak-to-Strong Training of Diffusion Transformer for 4K Text-to-Image Generation

In this paper, we introduce PixArt-Σ, a Diffusion Transformer model~(DiT) capable of directly generating images at 4K resolution. PixArt-Σrepresents a significant advancement over its predecessor, PixArt-α, offering images of markedly higher fidelity and improved alignment with text prompts. A key feature of PixArt-Σis its training efficiency. Leveraging the foundational pre-training of PixArt-α, it evolves from the `weaker' baseline to a `stronger' model via incorporating higher quality data, a process we term "weak-to-strong training". The advancements in PixArt-Σare twofold: (1) High-Quality Training Data: PixArt-Σincorporates superior-quality image data, paired with more precise and detailed image captions. (2) Efficient Token Compression: we propose a novel attention module within the DiT framework that compresses both keys and values, significantly improving efficiency and facilitating ultra-high-resolution image generation. Thanks to these improvements, PixArt-Σachieves superior image quality and user prompt adherence capabilities with significantly smaller model size (0.6B parameters) than existing text-to-image diffusion models, such as SDXL (2.6B parameters) and SD Cascade (5.1B parameters). Moreover, PixArt-Σ's capability to generate 4K images supports the creation of high-resolution posters and wallpapers, efficiently bolstering the production of high-quality visual content in industries such as film and gaming.

cs.CV↗

EyeGPT: Ophthalmic Assistant with Large Language Models

Artificial intelligence (AI) has gained significant attention in healthcare consultation due to its potential to improve clinical workflow and enhance medical communication. However, owing to the complex nature of medical information, large language models (LLM) trained with general world knowledge might not possess the capability to tackle medical-related tasks at an expert level. Here, we introduce EyeGPT, a specialized LLM designed specifically for ophthalmology, using three optimization strategies including role-playing, finetuning, and retrieval-augmented generation. In particular, we proposed a comprehensive evaluation framework that encompasses a diverse dataset, covering various subspecialties of ophthalmology, different users, and diverse inquiry intents. Moreover, we considered multiple evaluation metrics, including accuracy, understandability, trustworthiness, empathy, and the proportion of hallucinations. By assessing the performance of different EyeGPT variants, we identify the most effective one, which exhibits comparable levels of understandability, trustworthiness, and empathy to human ophthalmologists (all Ps>0.05). Overall, ur study provides valuable insights for future research, facilitating comprehensive comparisons and evaluations of different strategies for developing specialized LLMs in ophthalmology. The potential benefits include enhancing the patient experience in eye care and optimizing ophthalmologists' services.

cs.CL↗

Reliable Conflictive Multi-View Learning

Multi-view learning aims to combine multiple features to achieve more comprehensive descriptions of data. Most previous works assume that multiple views are strictly aligned. However, real-world multi-view data may contain low-quality conflictive instances, which show conflictive information in different views. Previous methods for this problem mainly focus on eliminating the conflictive data instances by removing them or replacing conflictive views. Nevertheless, real-world applications usually require making decisions for conflictive instances rather than only eliminating them. To solve this, we point out a new Reliable Conflictive Multi-view Learning (RCML) problem, which requires the model to provide decision results and attached reliabilities for conflictive multi-view data. We develop an Evidential Conflictive Multi-view Learning (ECML) method for this problem. ECML first learns view-specific evidence, which could be termed as the amount of support to each category collected from data. Then, we can construct view-specific opinions consisting of decision results and reliability. In the multi-view fusion stage, we propose a conflictive opinion aggregation strategy and theoretically prove this strategy can exactly model the relation of multi-view common and view-specific reliabilities. Experiments performed on 6 datasets verify the effectiveness of ECML.

cs.LG↗

GCOF: Self-iterative Text Generation for Copywriting Using Large Language Model

Large language models(LLM) such as ChatGPT have substantially simplified the generation of marketing copy, yet producing content satisfying domain specific requirements, such as effectively engaging customers, remains a significant challenge. In this work, we introduce the Genetic Copy Optimization Framework (GCOF) designed to enhance both efficiency and engagememnt of marketing copy creation. We conduct explicit feature engineering within the prompts of LLM. Additionally, we modify the crossover operator in Genetic Algorithm (GA), integrating it into the GCOF to enable automatic feature engineering. This integration facilitates a self-iterative refinement of the marketing copy. Compared to human curated copy, Online results indicate that copy produced by our framework achieves an average increase in click-through rate (CTR) of over $50\%$.

cs.CL↗

The practice of qualitative parameterisation in the development of Bayesian networks

The typical phases of Bayesian network (BN) structured development include specification of purpose and scope, structure development, parameterisation and validation. Structure development is typically focused on qualitative issues and parameterisation quantitative issues, however there are qualitative and quantitative issues that arise in both phases. A common step that occurs after the initial structure has been developed is to perform a rough parameterisation that only captures and illustrates the intended qualitative behaviour of the model. This is done prior to a more rigorous parameterisation, ensuring that the structure is fit for purpose, as well as supporting later development and validation. In our collective experience and in discussions with other modellers, this step is an important part of the development process, but is under-reported in the literature. Since the practice focuses on qualitative issues, despite being quantitative in nature, we call this step qualitative parameterisation and provide an outline of its role in the BN development process.

cs.AI↗

Bootstrapping Audio-Visual Segmentation by Strengthening Audio Cues

How to effectively interact audio with vision has garnered considerable interest within the multi-modality research field. Recently, a novel audio-visual segmentation (AVS) task has been proposed, aiming to segment the sounding objects in video frames under the guidance of audio cues. However, most existing AVS methods are hindered by a modality imbalance where the visual features tend to dominate those of the audio modality, due to a unidirectional and insufficient integration of audio cues. This imbalance skews the feature representation towards the visual aspect, impeding the learning of joint audio-visual representations and potentially causing segmentation inaccuracies. To address this issue, we propose AVSAC. Our approach features a Bidirectional Audio-Visual Decoder (BAVD) with integrated bidirectional bridges, enhancing audio cues and fostering continuous interplay between audio and visual modalities. This bidirectional interaction narrows the modality imbalance, facilitating more effective learning of integrated audio-visual representations. Additionally, we present a strategy for audio-visual frame-wise synchrony as fine-grained guidance of BAVD. This strategy enhances the share of auditory components in visual features, contributing to a more balanced audio-visual representation learning. Extensive experiments show that our method attains new benchmarks in AVS performance.

cs.CV↗

TCI-Former: Thermal Conduction-Inspired Transformer for Infrared Small Target Detection

Infrared small target detection (ISTD) is critical to national security and has been extensively applied in military areas. ISTD aims to segment small target pixels from background. Most ISTD networks focus on designing feature extraction blocks or feature fusion modules, but rarely describe the ISTD process from the feature map evolution perspective. In the ISTD process, the network attention gradually shifts towards target areas. We abstract this process as the directional movement of feature map pixels to target areas through convolution, pooling and interactions with surrounding pixels, which can be analogous to the movement of thermal particles constrained by surrounding variables and particles. In light of this analogy, we propose Thermal Conduction-Inspired Transformer (TCI-Former) based on the theoretical principles of thermal conduction. According to thermal conduction differential equation in heat dynamics, we derive the pixel movement differential equation (PMDE) in the image domain and further develop two modules: Thermal Conduction-Inspired Attention (TCIA) and Thermal Conduction Boundary Module (TCBM). TCIA incorporates finite difference method with PMDE to reach a numerical approximation so that target body features can be extracted. To further remove errors in boundary areas, TCBM is designed and supervised by boundary masks to refine target body features with fine boundary details. Experiments on IRSTD-1k and NUAA-SIRST demonstrate the superiority of our method.

cs.CV↗

DoF Analysis for (M, N)-Channels through a Number-Filling Puzzle

We consider a $\sf K$ user interference network with general connectivity, described by a matrix $\mat{N}$, and general message flows, described by a matrix $\mat{M}$. Previous studies have demonstrated that the standard interference scheme (IA) might not be optimal for networks with sparse connectivity. In this paper, we formalize a general IA coding scheme and an intuitive number-filling puzzle for given $\mat{M}$ and $\mat{N}$ in a way that the score of the solution to the puzzle determines the optimum sum degrees that can be achieved by the IA scheme. A solution to the puzzle is proposed for a general class of symmetric channels, and it is shown that this solution leads to significantly higher $\SDoF$ than the standard IA scheme.

cs.IT↗

A Survey of Reasoning with Foundation Models

Reasoning, a crucial ability for complex problem-solving, plays a pivotal role in various real-world settings such as negotiation, medical diagnosis, and criminal investigation. It serves as a fundamental methodology in the field of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). With the ongoing development of foundation models, e.g., Large Language Models (LLMs), there is a growing interest in exploring their abilities in reasoning tasks. In this paper, we introduce seminal foundation models proposed or adaptable for reasoning, highlighting the latest advancements in various reasoning tasks, methods, and benchmarks. We then delve into the potential future directions behind the emergence of reasoning abilities within foundation models. We also discuss the relevance of multimodal learning, autonomous agents, and super alignment in the context of reasoning. By discussing these future research directions, we hope to inspire researchers in their exploration of this field, stimulate further advancements in reasoning with foundation models, and contribute to the development of AGI.

cs.AI↗

A Randomized Runge-Kutta Method for time-irregular delay differential equations

In this paper we investigate the existence, uniqueness and approximation of solutions of delay differential equations (DDEs) with the right-hand side functions $f=f(t,x,z)$ that are Lipschitz continuous with respect to $x$ but only Hölder continuous with respect to $(t,z)$. We give a construction of the randomized two-stage Runge-Kutta scheme for DDEs and investigate its upper error bound in the $L^p(Ω)$-norm for $p\in [2,+\infty)$. Finally, we report on results of numerical experiments.

math.NA↗

MoMA: Model-based Mirror Ascent for Offline Reinforcement Learning

Model-based offline reinforcement learning methods (RL) have achieved state-of-the-art performance in many decision-making problems thanks to their sample efficiency and generalizability. Despite these advancements, existing model-based offline RL approaches either focus on theoretical studies without developing practical algorithms or rely on a restricted parametric policy space, thus not fully leveraging the advantages of an unrestricted policy space inherent to model-based methods. To address this limitation, we develop MoMA, a model-based mirror ascent algorithm with general function approximations under partial coverage of offline data. MoMA distinguishes itself from existing literature by employing an unrestricted policy class. In each iteration, MoMA conservatively estimates the value function by a minimization procedure within a confidence set of transition models in the policy evaluation step, then updates the policy with general function approximations instead of commonly-used parametric policy classes in the policy improvement step. Under some mild assumptions, we establish theoretical guarantees of MoMA by proving an upper bound on the suboptimality of the returned policy. We also provide a practically implementable, approximate version of the algorithm. The effectiveness of MoMA is demonstrated via numerical studies.

cs.LG↗