Africa
Hierarchical Repository-Level Code Summarization for Business Applications Using Local LLMs
Dhulshette, Nilesh, Shah, Sapan, Kulkarni, Vinay
In large-scale software development, understanding the functionality and intent behind complex codebases is critical for effective development and maintenance. While code summarization has been widely studied, existing methods primarily focus on smaller code units, such as functions, and struggle with larger code artifacts like files and packages. Additionally, current summarization models tend to emphasize low-level implementation details, often overlooking the domain and business context that are crucial for real-world applications. This paper proposes a two-step hierarchical approach for repository-level code summarization, tailored to business applications. First, smaller code units such as functions and variables are identified using syntax analysis and summarized with local LLMs. These summaries are then aggregated to generate higher-level file and package summaries. To ensure the summaries are grounded in business context, we design custom prompts that capture the intended purpose of code artifacts based on the domain and problem context of the business application. We evaluate our approach on a business support system (BSS) for the telecommunications domain, showing that syntax analysis-based hierarchical summarization improves coverage, while business-context grounding enhances the relevance of the generated summaries.
Pareto Set Learning for Multi-Objective Reinforcement Learning
Liu, Erlong, Wu, Yu-Chang, Huang, Xiaobin, Gao, Chengrui, Wang, Ren-Jian, Xue, Ke, Qian, Chao
Multi-objective decision-making problems have emerged in numerous real-world scenarios, such as video games, navigation and robotics. Considering the clear advantages of Reinforcement Learning (RL) in optimizing decision-making processes, researchers have delved into the development of Multi-Objective RL (MORL) methods for solving multi-objective decision problems. However, previous methods either cannot obtain the entire Pareto front, or employ only a single policy network for all the preferences over multiple objectives, which may not produce personalized solutions for each preference. To address these limitations, we propose a novel decomposition-based framework for MORL, Pareto Set Learning for MORL (PSL-MORL), that harnesses the generation capability of hypernetwork to produce the parameters of the policy network for each decomposition weight, generating relatively distinct policies for various scalarized subproblems with high efficiency. PSL-MORL is a general framework, which is compatible for any RL algorithm. The theoretical result guarantees the superiority of the model capacity of PSL-MORL and the optimality of the obtained policy network. Through extensive experiments on diverse benchmarks, we demonstrate the effectiveness of PSL-MORL in achieving dense coverage of the Pareto front, significantly outperforming state-of-the-art MORL methods in the hypervolume and sparsity indicators.
KaLM-Embedding: Superior Training Data Brings A Stronger Embedding Model
Hu, Xinshuo, Shan, Zifei, Zhao, Xinping, Sun, Zetian, Liu, Zhenyu, Li, Dongfang, Ye, Shaolin, Wei, Xinyuan, Chen, Qian, Hu, Baotian, Wang, Haofen, Yu, Jun, Zhang, Min
As retrieval-augmented generation prevails in large language models, embedding models are becoming increasingly crucial. Despite the growing number of general embedding models, prior work often overlooks the critical role of training data quality. In this work, we introduce KaLM-Embedding, a general multilingual embedding model that leverages a large quantity of cleaner, more diverse, and domain-specific training data. Our model has been trained with key techniques proven to enhance performance: (1) persona-based synthetic data to create diversified examples distilled from LLMs, (2) ranking consistency filtering to remove less informative samples, and (3) semi-homogeneous task batch sampling to improve training efficacy. Departing from traditional BERT-like architectures, we adopt Qwen2-0.5B as the pre-trained model, facilitating the adaptation of auto-regressive language models for general embedding tasks. Extensive evaluations of the MTEB benchmark across multiple languages show that our model outperforms others of comparable size, setting a new standard for multilingual embedding models with less than 1B parameters.
AfriMed-QA: A Pan-African, Multi-Specialty, Medical Question-Answering Benchmark Dataset
Olatunji, Tobi, Nimo, Charles, Owodunni, Abraham, Abdullahi, Tassallah, Ayodele, Emmanuel, Sanni, Mardhiyah, Aka, Chinemelu, Omofoye, Folafunmi, Yuehgoh, Foutse, Faniran, Timothy, Dossou, Bonaventure F. P., Yekini, Moshood, Kemp, Jonas, Heller, Katherine, Omeke, Jude Chidubem, MD, Chidi Asuzu, Etori, Naome A., Ndiaye, Aimérou, Okoh, Ifeoma, Ocansey, Evans Doe, Kinara, Wendy, Best, Michael, Essa, Irfan, Moore, Stephen Edward, Fourie, Chris, Asiedu, Mercy Nyamewaa
Recent advancements in large language model(LLM) performance on medical multiple choice question (MCQ) benchmarks have stimulated interest from healthcare providers and patients globally. Particularly in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) facing acute physician shortages and lack of specialists, LLMs offer a potentially scalable pathway to enhance healthcare access and reduce costs. However, their effectiveness in the Global South, especially across the African continent, remains to be established. In this work, we introduce AfriMed-QA, the first large scale Pan-African English multi-specialty medical Question-Answering (QA) dataset, 15,000 questions (open and closed-ended) sourced from over 60 medical schools across 16 countries, covering 32 medical specialties. We further evaluate 30 LLMs across multiple axes including correctness and demographic bias. Our findings show significant performance variation across specialties and geographies, MCQ performance clearly lags USMLE (MedQA). We find that biomedical LLMs underperform general models and smaller edge-friendly LLMs struggle to achieve a passing score. Interestingly, human evaluations show a consistent consumer preference for LLM answers and explanations when compared with clinician answers.
Addressing Hallucinations in Language Models with Knowledge Graph Embeddings as an Additional Modality
Chekalina, Viktoriia, Razzhigaev, Anton, Goncharova, Elizaveta, Kuznetsov, Andrey
In this paper we present an approach to reduce hallucinations in Large Language Models (LLMs) by incorporating Knowledge Graphs (KGs) as an additional modality. Our method involves transforming input text into a set of KG embeddings and using an adapter to integrate these embeddings into the language model space, without relying on external retrieval processes. To facilitate this, we created WikiEntities, a dataset containing over 3 million Wikipedia texts annotated with entities from Wikidata and their corresponding embeddings from PyTorch-BigGraph. This dataset serves as a valuable resource for training Entity Linking models and adapting the described method to various LLMs using specialized adapters. Our method does not require fine-tuning of the language models themselves; instead, we only train the adapter. This ensures that the model's performance on other tasks is not affected. We trained an adapter for the Mistral 7B, LLaMA 2-7B (chat), and LLaMA 3-8B (instruct) models using this dataset and demonstrated that our approach improves performance on the HaluEval, True-False benchmarks and FEVER dataset. The results indicate that incorporating KGs as a new modality can effectively reduce hallucinations and improve the factual accuracy of language models, all without the need for external retrieval.
Multiple-Input Variational Auto-Encoder for Anomaly Detection in Heterogeneous Data
Dinh, Phai Vu, Nguyen, Diep N., Hoang, Dinh Thai, Nguyen, Quang Uy, Dutkiewicz, Eryk
Anomaly detection (AD) plays a pivotal role in AI applications, e.g., in classification, and intrusion/threat detection in cybersecurity. However, most existing methods face challenges of heterogeneity amongst feature subsets posed by non-independent and identically distributed (non-IID) data. We propose a novel neural network model called Multiple-Input Auto-Encoder for AD (MIAEAD) to address this. MIAEAD assigns an anomaly score to each feature subset of a data sample to indicate its likelihood of being an anomaly. This is done by using the reconstruction error of its sub-encoder as the anomaly score. All sub-encoders are then simultaneously trained using unsupervised learning to determine the anomaly scores of feature subsets. The final AUC of MIAEAD is calculated for each sub-dataset, and the maximum AUC obtained among the sub-datasets is selected. To leverage the modelling of the distribution of normal data to identify anomalies of the generative models, we develop a novel neural network architecture/model called Multiple-Input Variational Auto-Encoder (MIVAE). MIVAE can process feature subsets through its sub-encoders before learning distribution of normal data in the latent space. This allows MIVAE to identify anomalies that deviate from the learned distribution. We theoretically prove that the difference in the average anomaly score between normal samples and anomalies obtained by the proposed MIVAE is greater than that of the Variational Auto-Encoder (VAEAD), resulting in a higher AUC for MIVAE. Extensive experiments on eight real-world anomaly datasets demonstrate the superior performance of MIAEAD and MIVAE over conventional methods and the state-of-the-art unsupervised models, by up to 6% in terms of AUC score. Alternatively, MIAEAD and MIVAE have a high AUC when applied to feature subsets with low heterogeneity based on the coefficient of variation (CV) score.
Revolutionizing Communication with Deep Learning and XAI for Enhanced Arabic Sign Language Recognition
Balat, Mazen, Awaad, Rewaa, Zaky, Ahmed B., Aly, Salah A.
This study introduces an integrated approach to recognizing Arabic Sign Language (ArSL) using state-of-the-art deep learning models such as MobileNetV3, ResNet50, and EfficientNet-B2. These models are further enhanced by explainable AI (XAI) techniques to boost interpretability. The ArSL2018 and RGB Arabic Alphabets Sign Language (AASL) datasets are employed, with EfficientNet-B2 achieving peak accuracies of 99.48\% and 98.99\%, respectively. Key innovations include sophisticated data augmentation methods to mitigate class imbalance, implementation of stratified 5-fold cross-validation for better generalization, and the use of Grad-CAM for clear model decision transparency. The proposed system not only sets new benchmarks in recognition accuracy but also emphasizes interpretability, making it suitable for applications in healthcare, education, and inclusive communication technologies.
Combining imaging and shape features for prediction tasks of Alzheimer's disease classification and brain age regression
Shehata, Nairouz, Piçarra, Carolina, Glocker, Ben
We investigate combining imaging and shape features extracted from MRI for the clinically relevant tasks of brain age prediction and Alzheimer's disease classification. Our proposed model fuses ResNet-extracted image embeddings with shape embeddings from a bespoke graph neural network. The shape embeddings are derived from surface meshes of 15 brain structures, capturing detailed geometric information. Combined with the appearance features from T1-weighted images, we observe improvements in the prediction performance on both tasks, with substantial gains for classification. We evaluate the model using public datasets, including CamCAN, IXI, and OASIS3, demonstrating the effectiveness of fusing imaging and shape features for brain analysis.
Kriging and Gaussian Process Interpolation for Georeferenced Data Augmentation
Ferber, Frédérick Fabre, Gay, Dominique, Soulié, Jean-Christophe, Diatta, Jean, Maillard, Odalric-Ambrym
Data augmentation is a crucial step in the development of robust supervised learning models, especially when dealing with limited datasets. This study explores interpolation techniques for the augmentation of geo-referenced data, with the aim of predicting the presence of Commelina benghalensis L. in sugarcane plots in La R{\'e}union. Given the spatial nature of the data and the high cost of data collection, we evaluated two interpolation approaches: Gaussian processes (GPs) with different kernels and kriging with various variograms. The objectives of this work are threefold: (i) to identify which interpolation methods offer the best predictive performance for various regression algorithms, (ii) to analyze the evolution of performance as a function of the number of observations added, and (iii) to assess the spatial consistency of augmented datasets. The results show that GP-based methods, in particular with combined kernels (GP-COMB), significantly improve the performance of regression algorithms while requiring less additional data. Although kriging shows slightly lower performance, it is distinguished by a more homogeneous spatial coverage, a potential advantage in certain contexts.
A monthly sub-national Harmonized Food Insecurity Dataset for comprehensive analysis and predictive modeling
Machefer, Mélissande, Ronco, Michele, Thomas, Anne-Claire, Assouline, Michael, Rabier, Melanie, Corbane, Christina, Rembold, Felix
Food security is a complex, multidimensional concept challenging to measure comprehensively. Effective anticipation, monitoring, and mitigation of food crises require timely and comprehensive global data. This paper introduces the Harmonized Food Insecurity Dataset (HFID), an open-source resource consolidating four key data sources: the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC)/Cadre Harmonis\'e (CH) phases, the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) IPC-compatible phases, and the World Food Program's (WFP) Food Consumption Score (FCS) and reduced Coping Strategy Index (rCSI). Updated monthly and using a common reference system for administrative units, the HFID offers extensive spatial and temporal coverage. It serves as a vital tool for food security experts and humanitarian agencies, providing a unified resource for analyzing food security conditions and highlighting global data disparities. The scientific community can also leverage the HFID to develop data-driven predictive models, enhancing the capacity to forecast and prevent future food crises.