This study presents a hybrid model for classifying handwritten digits in the MNIST dataset, combining convolutional neural networks (CNNs) with a multi-well Hopfield network. The approach employs a CNN to extract high-dimensional features from input images, which are then clustered into class-specific prototypes using k-means clustering. These prototypes serve as attractors in a multi-well energy landscape, where a Hopfield network performs classification by minimizing an energy function that balances feature similarity and class assignment.The model's design enables robust handling of intraclass variability, such as diverse handwriting styles, while providing an interpretable framework through its energy-based decision process. Through systematic optimization of the CNN architecture and the number of wells, the model achieves a high test accuracy of 99.2% on 10,000 MNIST images, demonstrating its effectiveness for image classification tasks. The findings highlight the critical role of deep feature extraction and sufficient prototype coverage in achieving high performance, with potential for broader applications in pattern recognition.

The rapid advancement of large language models (LLMs) has raised concerns about cultural bias, fairness, and their applicability in diverse linguistic and underrepresented regional contexts. To enhance and benchmark the capabilities of LLMs, there is a need to develop large-scale resources focused on multilingual, local, and cultural contexts. In this study, we propose the NativQA framework, which can seamlessly construct large-scale, culturally and regionally aligned QA datasets in native languages. The framework utilizes user-defined seed queries and leverages search engines to collect location-specific, everyday information. It has been evaluated across 39 locations in 24 countries and in 7 languages -- ranging from extremely low-resource to high-resource languages -- resulting in over 300K Question-Answer (QA) pairs. The developed resources can be used for LLM benchmarking and further fine-tuning. The framework has been made publicly available for the community (https://gitlab.com/nativqa/nativqa-framework).

This paper presents our submission to the ACMMM25 - Grand Challenge on Multimedia Verification. We developed a multi-agent verification system that combines Multimodal Large Language Models (MLLMs) with specialized verification tools to detect multimedia misinformation. Our system operates through six stages: raw data processing, planning, information extraction, deep research, evidence collection, and report generation. The core Deep Researcher Agent employs four tools: reverse image search, metadata analysis, fact-checking databases, and verified news processing that extracts spatial, temporal, attribution, and motivational context. We demonstrate our approach on a challenge dataset sample involving complex multimedia content. Our system successfully verified content authenticity, extracted precise geolocation and timing information, and traced source attribution across multiple platforms, effectively addressing real-world multimedia verification scenarios.

In this study we introduce a novel energy functional for long-sequence memory, building upon the framework of dense Hopfield networks which achieves exponential storage capacity through higher-order interactions. Building upon earlier work on long-sequence Hopfield memory models, we propose a temporal kernal $K(m, k)$ to incorporate temporal dependencies, enabling efficient sequential retrieval of patterns over extended sequences. We demonstrate the successful application of this technique for the storage and sequential retrieval of movies frames which are well suited for this because of the high dimensional vectors that make up each frame creating enough variation between even sequential frames in the high dimensional space. The technique has applications in modern transformer architectures, including efficient long-sequence modeling, memory augmentation, improved attention with temporal bias, and enhanced handling of long-term dependencies in time-series data. Our model offers a promising approach to address the limitations of transformers in long-context tasks, with potential implications for natural language processing, forecasting, and beyond.

One of the most difficult challenges in cybersecurity is eliminating Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. Automating this task using artificial intelligence is a complex process due to the inherent class imbalance and lack of sufficient labeled samples of real-world datasets. This research investigates the use of Semi-Supervised Learning (SSL) techniques to improve DDoS attack detection when data is imbalanced and partially labeled. In this process, 13 state-of-the-art SSL algorithms are evaluated for detecting DDoS attacks in several scenarios. We evaluate their practical efficacy and shortcomings, including the extent to which they work in extreme environments. The results will offer insight into designing intelligent Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) that are robust against class imbalance and handle partially labeled data.

In this work we propose an energy functional along the lines of Modern Hopfield Networks (MNH), the stationary points of which correspond to the attention due to Vaswani et al. [12], thus unifying both frameworks. The minima of this landscape form "context wells" - stable configurations that encapsulate the contextual relationships among tokens. A compelling picture emerges: across $n$ token embeddings an energy landscape is defined whose gradient corresponds to the attention computation. Non-linear attention mechanisms offer a means to enhance the capabilities of transformer models for various sequence modeling tasks by improving the model's understanding of complex relationships, learning of representations, and overall efficiency and performance. A rough analogy can be seen via cubic splines which offer a richer representation of non-linear data where a simpler linear model may be inadequate. This approach can be used for the introduction of non-linear heads in transformer based models such as BERT, [6], etc.

IDS aims to protect computer networks from security threats by detecting, notifying, and taking appropriate action to prevent illegal access and protect confidential information. As the globe becomes increasingly dependent on technology and automated processes, ensuring secured systems, applications, and networks has become one of the most significant problems of this era. The global web and digital technology have significantly accelerated the evolution of the modern world, necessitating the use of telecommunications and data transfer platforms. Researchers are enhancing the effectiveness of IDS by incorporating popular datasets into machine learning algorithms. IDS, equipped with machine learning classifiers, enhances security attack detection accuracy by identifying normal or abnormal network traffic. This paper explores the methods of capturing and reviewing intrusion detection systems (IDS) and evaluates the challenges existing datasets face. A deluge of research on machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) architecture-based intrusion detection techniques has been conducted in the past ten years on various cybersecurity datasets, including KDDCUP'99, NSL-KDD, UNSW-NB15, CICIDS-2017, and CSE-CIC-IDS2018. We conducted a literature review and presented an in-depth analysis of various intrusion detection methods that use SVM, KNN, DT, LR, NB, RF, XGBOOST, Adaboost, and ANN. We provide an overview of each technique, explaining the role of the classifiers and algorithms used. A detailed tabular analysis highlights the datasets used, classifiers employed, attacks detected, evaluation metrics, and conclusions drawn. This article offers a thorough review for future IDS research.

Psychiatric disorders affect millions globally, yet their diagnosis faces significant challenges in clinical practice due to subjective assessments and accessibility concerns, leading to potential delays in treatment. To help address this issue, we present Heart2Mind, a human-centered contestable psychiatric disorder diagnosis system using wearable electrocardiogram (ECG) monitors. Our approach leverages cardiac biomarkers, particularly heart rate variability (HRV) and R-R intervals (RRI) time series, as objective indicators of autonomic dysfunction in psychiatric conditions. The system comprises three key components: (1) a Cardiac Monitoring Interface (CMI) for real-time data acquisition from Polar H9/H10 devices; (2) a Multi-Scale Temporal-Frequency Transformer (MSTFT) that processes RRI time series through integrated time-frequency domain analysis; (3) a Contestable Diagnosis Interface (CDI) combining Self-Adversarial Explanations (SAEs) with contestable Large Language Models (LLMs). Our MSTFT achieves 91.7% accuracy on the HRV-ACC dataset using leave-one-out cross-validation, outperforming state-of-the-art methods. SAEs successfully detect inconsistencies in model predictions by comparing attention-based and gradient-based explanations, while LLMs enable clinicians to validate correct predictions and contest erroneous ones. This work demonstrates the feasibility of combining wearable technology with Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) and contestable LLMs to create a transparent, contestable system for psychiatric diagnosis that maintains clinical oversight while leveraging advanced AI capabilities. Our implementation is publicly available at: https://github.com/Analytics-Everywhere-Lab/heart2mind.

--Incorporating an autonomous auxiliary camera into robot-assisted minimally invasive surgery (RAMIS) enhances spatial awareness and eliminates manual viewpoint control. Existing path planning methods for auxiliary cameras track two-dimensional surgical features but do not simultaneously account for camera orientation, workspace constraints, and robot joint limits. This study presents AutoCam: an automatic auxiliary camera placement method to improve visualization in RAMIS. Implemented on the da Vinci Research Kit, the system uses a priority-based, workspace-constrained control algorithm that combines heuristic geometric placement with nonlinear optimization to ensure robust camera tracking. A user study (N=6) demonstrated that the system maintained 99.84% visibility of a salient feature and achieved a pose error of 4.36 2.11 degrees and 1.95 5.66 mm. The controller was computationally efficient, with a loop time of 6.8 12.8 ms. An additional pilot study (N=6), where novices completed a Fundamentals of Laparoscopic Surgery training task, suggests that users can teleoperate just as effectively from AutoCam's viewpoint as from the endoscope's while still benefiting from AutoCam's improved visual coverage of the scene. These results indicate that an auxiliary camera can be autonomously controlled using the da Vinci patient-side manipulators to track a salient feature, laying the groundwork for new multi-camera visualization methods in RAMIS. OBOT assisted minimally invasive surgery (RAMIS) has been adopted in over 60 countries [1] and is shown to reduce postoperative blood loss, shorten hospitalization times, and enable tremor filtering and enhanced dexterity [2], [3]. Most surgical robots, including the da Vinci (Intuitive Surgical, Inc.) and Hugo (Medtronic, Inc.) systems, have a single endoscopic camera (ECM) restricted to rotate about the remote center of motion (RCM) at the incision site [4]. Having only one viewpoint with limited maneuverability compromises global awareness of the surgical scene [5] and impedes surgical workflow when the endoscope is occluded [4], [6], [7]. This work was supported by the NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarships, the NSERC Discovery Grant, and the C.A. Laszlo Biomedical Engineering Chair held by Professor Salcudean. A. Banks and R. Moore contributed equally to this work. Salcudean are with the University of British Columbia, V ancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada. A. E. Abdelaal is with Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, United States.

The securit y of cloud environments, such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), is complex and dynamic. St atic security policies have be come inadequate as threats evolve and cloud resources exhibit elasticity [1]. This paper addresses the limitations of static policies by proposing a security policy management framework that uses reinforcement learning (RL) to adapt dynamically. Specifically, we employ deep reinforcement learni ng algorithms, including deep Q Networks and proximal polic y op timization, enabling the learning and continuous adjustment of controls such as firewall rules and Identity an d Access Management (IAM) poli cies. The proposed RL based solution leverages cloud telemetry data (AWS Cloud Trail logs, network traffic data, threat intelligence feeds) to continuously refine security policies, maximizing threat mitigation, and compliance while minimizing resource impact. Experimental results d emonstrate that our adaptive RL bas ed framework significantly out performs static policies, achieving higher intrusion detection rates (92 % compared to 82% for static policies) and substantially reducing incident detection and response times by 58%. In a ddition, it maintains high con formity with security requirements and efficient resource usage. I. INTRODUCTION Cloud security is a critical concern as more orga nizations rely on cloud infras tructure. AWS an d other cloud platforms provide security configurations such as firewall rules and IAM policies, which are typically managed through static policies set by administrators. However, static policies cannot adapt to the dynamic nature of cloud environments, where workloads, users, and attack patterns change rapidly [1]. This rigidity exposes cloud deployments to new threats or misconfigurations that are not covered by static rules. For instance, static firewall rules may fail to detect novel attack patterns, and fixed IAM roles may become over privileged as resources scale, increasing risk . Problem Statement: Traditional cloud security policy management cannot keep pace with evolving threats and agile DevOps practices. M anual policy updates are error prone and slow.