The significant portion of diabetic patients was affected due to major blindness caused by Diabetic retinopathy (DR). For diabetic retinopathy, lesion segmentation, and detection the comprehensive examination is delved into the deep learning techniques application. The study conducted a systematic literature review using the PRISMA analysis and 62 articles has been investigated in the research. By including CNN-based models for DR grading, and feature fusion several deep-learning methodologies are explored during the study. For enhancing effectiveness in classification accuracy and robustness the data augmentation and ensemble learning strategies are scrutinized. By demonstrating the superior performance compared to individual models the efficacy of ensemble learning methods is investigated. The potential ensemble approaches in DR diagnosis are shown by the integration of multiple pre-trained networks with custom classifiers that yield high specificity. The diverse deep-learning techniques that are employed for detecting DR lesions are discussed within the diabetic retinopathy lesions segmentation and detection section. By emphasizing the requirement for continued research and integration into clinical practice deep learning shows promise for personalized healthcare and early detection of diabetics.

Recent advances in fine-tuning Vision-Language Models (VLMs) have witnessed the success of prompt tuning and adapter tuning, while the classic model fine-tuning on inherent parameters seems to be overlooked. It is believed that fine-tuning the parameters of VLMs with few-shot samples corrupts the pre-trained knowledge since fine-tuning the CLIP model even degrades performance. In this paper, we revisit this viewpoint, and propose a new perspective: fine-tuning the specific parameters instead of all will uncover the power of classic model fine-tuning on VLMs. Through our meticulous study, we propose ClipFit, a simple yet effective method to fine-tune CLIP without introducing any overhead of extra parameters. We demonstrate that by only fine-tuning the specific bias terms and normalization layers, ClipFit can improve the performance of zero-shot CLIP by 7.27\% average harmonic mean accuracy. Lastly, to understand how fine-tuning in CLIPFit affects the pre-trained models, we conducted extensive experimental analyses w.r.t. changes in internal parameters and representations. We found that low-level text bias layers and the first layer normalization layer change much more than other layers. The code is available at \url{https://github.com/minglllli/CLIPFit}.

The Dreamer agent provides various benefits of Model-Based Reinforcement Learning (MBRL) such as sample efficiency, reusable knowledge, and safe planning. However, its world model and policy networks inherit the limitations of recurrent neural networks and thus an important question is how an MBRL framework can benefit from the recent advances of transformers and what the challenges are in doing so. In this paper, we propose a transformer-based MBRL agent, called TransDreamer. We first introduce the Transformer State-Space Model, a world model that leverages a transformer for dynamics predictions. We then share this world model with a transformer-based policy network and obtain stability in training a transformer-based RL agent. In experiments, we apply the proposed model to 2D visual RL and 3D first-person visual RL tasks both requiring long-range memory access for memory-based reasoning. We show that the proposed model outperforms Dreamer in these complex tasks.

Precision and Recall are foundational metrics in machine learning where both accurate predictions and comprehensive coverage are essential, such as in recommender systems and multi-label learning. In these tasks, balancing precision (the proportion of relevant items among those predicted) and recall (the proportion of relevant items successfully predicted) is crucial. A key challenge is that one-sided feedback--where only positive examples are observed during training--is inherent in many practical problems. For instance, in recommender systems like YouTube, training data only consists of videos that a user has actively selected, while unselected items remain unseen. Despite this lack of negative feedback in training, avoiding undesirable recommendations at test time is essential. We introduce a PAC learning framework where each hypothesis is represented by a graph, with edges indicating positive interactions, such as between users and items. This framework subsumes the classical binary and multi-class PAC learning models as well as multi-label learning with partial feedback, where only a single random correct label per example is observed, rather than all correct labels. Our work uncovers a rich statistical and algorithmic landscape, with nuanced boundaries on what can and cannot be learned. Notably, classical methods like Empirical Risk Minimization fail in this setting, even for simple hypothesis classes with only two hypotheses. To address these challenges, we develop novel algorithms that learn exclusively from positive data, effectively minimizing both precision and recall losses. Specifically, in the realizable setting, we design algorithms that achieve optimal sample complexity guarantees. In the agnostic case, we show that it is impossible to achieve additive error guarantees--as is standard in PAC learning--and instead obtain meaningful multiplicative approximations.

Accurate urban microclimate analysis with wind velocity and temperature is vital for energy-efficient urban planning, supporting carbon reduction, enhancing public health and comfort, and advancing the low-altitude economy. However, traditional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations that couple velocity and temperature are computationally expensive. Recent machine learning advancements offer promising alternatives for accelerating urban microclimate simulations. The Fourier neural operator (FNO) has shown efficiency and accuracy in predicting single-variable velocity magnitudes in urban wind fields. Yet, for multivariable high-resolution 3D urban microclimate prediction, FNO faces three key limitations: blurry output quality, high GPU memory demand, and substantial data requirements. To address these issues, we propose a novel localized Fourier neural operator (Local-FNO) model that employs local training, geometry encoding, and patch overlapping. Local-FNO provides accurate predictions for rapidly changing turbulence in urban microclimate over 60 seconds, four times the average turbulence integral time scale, with an average error of 0.35 m/s in velocity and 0.30 {\deg}C in temperature. It also accurately captures turbulent heat flux represented by the velocity-temperature correlation. In a 2 km by 2 km domain, Local-FNO resolves turbulence patterns down to a 10 m resolution. It provides high-resolution predictions with 150 million feature dimensions on a single 32 GB GPU at nearly 50 times the speed of a CFD solver. Compared to FNO, Local-FNO achieves a 23.9% reduction in prediction error and a 47.3% improvement in turbulent fluctuation correlation.

Traditional Learning-To-Rank (LETOR) approaches, including pairwise methods like RankNet and LambdaMART, often fall short by solely focusing on pairwise comparisons, leading to sub-optimal global rankings. Conversely, deep learning based listwise methods, while aiming to optimise entire lists, require complex tuning and yield only marginal improvements over robust pairwise models. To overcome these limitations, we introduce Travelling Salesman Problem Rank (TSPRank), a hybrid pairwise-listwise ranking method. TSPRank reframes the ranking problem as a Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP), a well-known combinatorial optimisation challenge that has been extensively studied for its numerous solution algorithms and applications. This approach enables the modelling of pairwise relationships and leverages combinatorial optimisation to determine the listwise ranking. This approach can be directly integrated as an additional component into embeddings generated by existing backbone models to enhance ranking performance. Our extensive experiments across three backbone models on diverse tasks, including stock ranking, information retrieval, and historical events ordering, demonstrate that TSPRank significantly outperforms both pure pairwise and listwise methods. Our qualitative analysis reveals that TSPRank's main advantage over existing methods is its ability to harness global information better while ranking. TSPRank's robustness and superior performance across different domains highlight its potential as a versatile and effective LETOR solution. The code and preprocessed data are available at https://github.com/waylonli/TSPRank-KDD2025.

This paper introduces a new application named ArPA for Arabic kids who have trouble with pronunciation. Our application comprises two key components: the diagnostic module and the therapeutic module. The diagnostic process involves capturing the child's speech signal, preprocessing, and analyzing it using different machine learning classifiers like K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Decision Trees as well as deep neural network classifiers like ResNet18. The therapeutic module offers eye-catching gamified interfaces in which each correctly spoken letter earns a higher avatar level, providing positive reinforcement for the child's pronunciation improvement. Two datasets were used for experimental evaluation: one from a childcare centre and the other including Arabic alphabet pronunciation recordings. Our work uses a novel technique for speech recognition using Melspectrogram and MFCC images. The results show that the ResNet18 classifier on speech-to-image converted data effectively identifies mispronunciations in Arabic speech with an accuracy of 99.015\% with Mel-Spectrogram images outperforming ResNet18 with MFCC images.

Surprisingly a number of Earth's waterways remain unmapped, with a significant number in low and middle income countries. Here we build a computer vision model (WaterNet) to learn the location of waterways in the United States, based on high resolution satellite imagery and digital elevation models, and then deploy this in novel environments in the African continent. Our outputs provide detail of waterways structures hereto unmapped. When assessed against community needs requests for rural bridge building related to access to schools, health care facilities and agricultural markets, we find these newly generated waterways capture on average 93% (country range: 88-96%) of these requests whereas Open Street Map, and the state of the art data from TDX-Hydro, capture only 36% (5-72%) and 62% (37% - 85%), respectively. Because these new machine learning enabled maps are built on public and operational data acquisition this approach offers promise for capturing humanitarian needs and planning for social development in places where cartographic efforts have so far failed to deliver. The improved performance in identifying community needs missed by existing data suggests significant value for rural infrastructure development and better targeting of development interventions.

We propose an error-correcting model for the microprice, a high-frequency estimator of future prices given higher order information of imbalances in the orderbook. The model takes into account a current microprice estimate given the spread and best bid to ask imbalance, and adjusts the microprice based on recent dynamics of higher price rank imbalances. We introduce a computationally fast estimator using a recently proposed hyperdimensional vector Tsetlin machine framework and demonstrate empirically that this estimator can provide a robust estimate of future prices in the orderbook.

We address the issue of the testability of instrumental variables derived from observational data. Most existing testable implications are centered on scenarios where the treatment is a discrete variable, e.g., instrumental inequality (Pearl, 1995), or where the effect is assumed to be constant, e.g., instrumental variables condition based on the principle of independent mechanisms (Burauel, 2023). However, treatments can often be continuous variables, such as drug dosages or nutritional content levels, and non-constant effects may occur in many real-world scenarios. In this paper, we consider an additive nonlinear, non-constant effects model with unmeasured confounders, in which treatments can be either discrete or continuous, and propose an Auxiliary-based Independence Test (AIT) condition to test whether a variable is a valid instrument. We first show that if the candidate instrument is valid, then the AIT condition holds. Moreover, we illustrate the implications of the AIT condition and demonstrate that, in certain conditions, AIT conditions are necessary and sufficient to detect all invalid IVs. We also extend the AIT condition to include covariates and introduce a practical testing algorithm. Experimental results on both synthetic and three different real-world datasets show the effectiveness of our proposed condition.