Grand Rapids
Parameters vs. Context: Fine-Grained Control of Knowledge Reliance in Language Models
Bi, Baolong, Liu, Shenghua, Wang, Yiwei, Xu, Yilong, Fang, Junfeng, Mei, Lingrui, Cheng, Xueqi
Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) mitigates hallucinations in Large Language Models (LLMs) by integrating external knowledge. However, conflicts between parametric knowledge and retrieved context pose challenges, particularly when retrieved information is unreliable or the model's internal knowledge is outdated. In such cases, LLMs struggle to determine whether to rely more on their own parameters or the conflicted context. To address this, we propose **CK-PLUG**, a plug-and-play method for controlling LLMs' reliance on parametric and contextual knowledge. We introduce a novel knowledge consistency metric, Confidence Gain, which detects knowledge conflicts by measuring entropy shifts in token probability distributions after context insertion. CK-PLUG then enables fine-grained control over knowledge preference by adjusting the probability distribution of tokens with negative confidence gain through a single tuning parameter. Experiments demonstrate CK-PLUG's ability to significantly regulate knowledge reliance in counterfactual RAG scenarios while maintaining generation fluency and knowledge accuracy. For instance, on Llama3-8B, memory recall (MR) of RAG response can be adjusted within a broad range (9.9%-71.9%), compared to the baseline of 42.1%. Moreover, CK-PLUG supports adaptive control based on the model's confidence in both internal and external knowledge, achieving consistent performance improvements across various general RAG tasks. Our code is available at: $\href{https://github.com/byronBBL/CK-PLUG}{\text{this https URL}}$.
Further Exploration of Precise Binding Energies from Physics Informed Machine Learning and the Development of a Practical Ensemble Model
Bentley, I., Tedder, J., Gebran, M., Paul, A.
Sixteen new physics informed machine learning models have been trained on binding energy residuals from modern mass models that leverage shape parameters and other physical features. The models have been trained on a subset of AME 2012 data and have been verified with a subset of the AME 2020 data. Among the machine learning approaches tested in this work, the preferred approach is the least squares boosted ensemble of trees which appears to have a superior ability to both interpolate and extrapolate binding energy residuals. The machine learning models for four mass models created from the ensemble of trees approach have been combined to create a composite model called the Four Model Tree Ensemble (FMTE). The FMTE model predicts binding energy values from AME 2020 with a standard deviation of 76 keV and a mean deviation of 34 keV for all nuclei with N > 7 and Z > 7. A comparison with new mass measurements for 33 isotopes not included in AME 2012 or AME 2020 indicates that the FMTE performs better than all mass models that were tested.
Data-Driven Gradient Optimization for Field Emission Management in a Superconducting Radio-Frequency Linac
Goldenberg, Steven, Ahammed, Kawser, Carpenter, Adam, Li, Jiang, Suleiman, Riad, Tennant, Chris
However, since the energy upgrade, CEBAF has suffered from significant FE induced radiation. With RF on, dose Jefferson Lab's Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator rates observed at 30 cm from the beamline are as high Facility (CEBAF) [1] relies on two superconducting as 10 rem/h and 100 rem/h for neutron and gamma radiation, radio-frequency linear accelerators (SRF linacs) to deliver respectively. This level of radiation causes significant high-energy electron beams to nuclear physics experiments damage to beamline components, including vacuum in the four experimental halls [2]. An integral valves, magnets, and cables of beam position monitors part of these linacs are cryomodules which contain and ion pumps. Replacing these components can use multiple SRF cavities. These SRF cavities provide the significant resources. Worse, portions of both linacs are main accelerating gradients to the electron beam, and considered "Radiation Areas" for days or even weeks into currently produce the 12 GeV beam necessary for scientific scheduled downtime, limiting maintenance activities to discovery.
Extracting Explanations, Justification, and Uncertainty from Black-Box Deep Neural Networks
Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) do not inherently compute or exhibit empirically-justified task confidence. In mission critical applications, it is important to both understand associated DNN reasoning and its supporting evidence. In this paper, we propose a novel Bayesian approach to extract explanations, justifications, and uncertainty estimates from DNNs. Our approach is efficient both in terms of memory and computation, and can be applied to any black box DNN without any retraining, including applications to anomaly detection and out-of-distribution detection tasks. We validate our approach on the CIFAR-10 dataset, and show that it can significantly improve the interpretability and reliability of DNNs.
Towards Full Authorship with AI: Supporting Revision with AI-Generated Views
Kim, Jiho, Flanagan, Ray C., Haviland, Noelle E., Sun, ZeAi, Yakubu, Souad N., Maru, Edom A., Arnold, Kenneth C.
Large language models (LLMs) are shaping a new user interface (UI) paradigm in writing tools by enabling users to generate text through prompts. This paradigm shifts some creative control from the user to the system, thereby diminishing the user's authorship and autonomy in the writing process. To restore autonomy, we introduce Textfocals, a UI prototype designed to investigate a human-centered approach that emphasizes the user's role in writing. Textfocals supports the writing process by providing LLM-generated summaries, questions, and advice (i.e., LLM views) in a sidebar of a text editor, encouraging reflection and self-driven revision in writing without direct text generation. Textfocals' UI affordances, including contextually adaptive views and scaffolding for prompt selection and customization, offer a novel way to interact with LLMs where users maintain full authorship of their writing. A formative user study with Textfocals showed promising evidence that this approach might help users develop underdeveloped ideas, cater to the rhetorical audience, and clarify their writing. However, the study also showed interaction design challenges related to document navigation and scoping, prompt engineering, and context management. Our work highlights the breadth of the design space of writing support interfaces powered by generative AI that maintain authorship integrity.
Value-Compressed Sparse Column (VCSC): Sparse Matrix Storage for Redundant Data
Ruiter, Skyler, Wolfgang, Seth, Tunnell, Marc, Triche, Timothy Jr., Carrier, Erin, DeBruine, Zachary
Compressed Sparse Column (CSC) and Coordinate (COO) are popular compression formats for sparse matrices. However, both CSC and COO are general purpose and cannot take advantage of any of the properties of the data other than sparsity, such as data redundancy. Highly redundant sparse data is common in many machine learning applications, such as genomics, and is often too large for in-core computation using conventional sparse storage formats. In this paper, we present two extensions to CSC: (1) Value-Compressed Sparse Column (VCSC) and (2) Index- and Value-Compressed Sparse Column (IVCSC). VCSC takes advantage of high redundancy within a column to further compress data up to 3-fold over COO and 2.25-fold over CSC, without significant negative impact to performance characteristics. IVCSC extends VCSC by compressing index arrays through delta encoding and byte-packing, achieving a 10-fold decrease in memory usage over COO and 7.5-fold decrease over CSC. Our benchmarks on simulated and real data show that VCSC and IVCSC can be read in compressed form with little added computational cost. These two novel compression formats offer a broadly useful solution to encoding and reading redundant sparse data.
Nigerian men to face US justice in sextortion scheme that led to teen's suicide
Brian Montgomery, who lost his son to suicide after he was extorted, discussed the loss of his son and how teen boys have been blackmailed over explicit pictures on'America's Newsroom.' If you or someone you know is having thoughts of suicide, please contact the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 or 1-800-273-TALK (8255). Two Nigerian men accused of running an international sextortion ring that led to the suicide of a Michigan teenager were extradited to the U.S., and a third suspect is expected to follow. Samuel Ogoshi, 22, and Samson Ogoshi, 20, of Lagos, Nigeria, as well as Ezekial Ejehem Robert, 19, allegedly bought hacked social media accounts, posed as young women to lure teenagers and young adult men into sexual chats that included explicit images and videos, and threatened to release them unless they paid a ransom. Jordan DeMay, 17, was one of at least 100 American victims.
Meet NASA's new MOON rovers: Trio of miniature robots the size of a carry-on suitcase will create a 3D map of the lunar surface next year
Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo and goddess of the moon in Greek mythology. NASA has chosen her to personify its path back to the moon, which will see astronauts return to the lunar surface by 2025 - including the first woman and the next man. Artemis 1, formerly Exploration Mission-1, is the first in a series of increasingly complex missions that will enable human exploration to the moon and Mars. Artemis 1 will be the first integrated flight test of NASA's deep space exploration system: the Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the ground systems at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Artemis 1 will be an uncrewed flight that will provide a foundation for human deep space exploration, and demonstrate our commitment and capability to extend human existence to the moon and beyond.
Multi-growth stage plant recognition: a case study of Palmer amaranth (Amaranthus palmeri) in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum)
Coleman, Guy RY, Kutugata, Matthew, Walsh, Michael J, Bagavathiannan, Muthukumar
Many advanced, image-based precision agricultural technologies for plant breeding, field crop research, and site-specific crop management hinge on the reliable detection and phenotyping of plants across highly variable morphological growth stages. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have shown promise for image-based plant phenotyping and weed recognition, but their ability to recognize growth stages, often with stark differences in appearance, is uncertain. Amaranthus palmeri (Palmer amaranth) is a particularly challenging weed plant in cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) production, exhibiting highly variable plant morphology both across growth stages over a growing season, as well as between plants at a given growth stage due to high genetic diversity. In this paper, we investigate eight-class growth stage recognition of A. palmeri in cotton as a challenging model for You Only Look Once (YOLO) architectures. We compare 26 different architecture variants from YOLO v3, v5, v6, v6 3.0, v7, and v8 on an eight-class growth stage dataset of A. palmeri. The highest mAP@[0.5:0.95] for recognition of all growth stage classes was 47.34% achieved by v8-X, with inter-class confusion across visually similar growth stages. With all growth stages grouped as a single class, performance increased, with a maximum mean average precision (mAP@[0.5:0.95]) of 67.05% achieved by v7-Original. Single class recall of up to 81.42% was achieved by v5-X, and precision of up to 89.72% was achieved by v8-X. Class activation maps (CAM) were used to understand model attention on the complex dataset. Fewer classes, grouped by visual or size features improved performance over the ground-truth eight-class dataset. Successful growth stage detection highlights the substantial opportunity for improving plant phenotyping and weed recognition technologies with open-source object detection architectures.
A Statistical Exploration of Text Partition Into Constituents: The Case of the Priestly Source in the Books of Genesis and Exodus
Yoffe, Gideon, Bühler, Axel, Dershowitz, Nachum, Finkelstein, Israel, Piasetzky, Eli, Römer, Thomas, Sober, Barak
We present a pipeline for a statistical textual exploration, offering a stylometry-based explanation and statistical validation of a hypothesized partition of a text. Given a parameterization of the text, our pipeline: (1) detects literary features yielding the optimal overlap between the hypothesized and unsupervised partitions, (2) performs a hypothesis-testing analysis to quantify the statistical significance of the optimal overlap, while conserving implicit correlations between units of text that are more likely to be grouped, and (3) extracts and quantifies the importance of features most responsible for the classification, estimates their statistical stability and cluster-wise abundance. We apply our pipeline to the first two books in the Bible, where one stylistic component stands out in the eyes of biblical scholars, namely, the Priestly component. We identify and explore statistically significant stylistic differences between the Priestly and non-Priestly components.