We introduce Neural Optimal Design of Experiments, a learning-based framework for optimal experimental design in inverse problems that avoids classical bilevel optimization and indirect sparsity regularization. NODE jointly trains a neural reconstruction model and a fixed-budget set of continuous design variables representing sensor locations, sampling times, or measurement angles, within a single optimization loop. By optimizing measurement locations directly rather than weighting a dense grid of candidates, the proposed approach enforces sparsity by design, eliminates the need for l1 tuning, and substantially reduces computational complexity. We validate NODE on an analytically tractable exponential growth benchmark, on MNIST image sampling, and illustrate its effectiveness on a real world sparse view X ray CT example. In all cases, NODE outperforms baseline approaches, demonstrating improved reconstruction accuracy and task-specific performance.

Urban morphology has long been recognized as a factor shaping human mobility, yet comparative and formal classifications of urban form across metropolitan areas remain limited. Building on theoretical principles of urban structure and advances in unsupervised learning, we systematically classified the built environment of nine U.S. metropolitan areas using structural indicators such as density, connectivity, and spatial configuration. The resulting morphological types were linked to mobility patterns through descriptive statistics, marginal effects estimation, and post hoc statistical testing. Here we show that distinct urban forms are systematically associated with different mobility behaviors, such as reticular morphologies being linked to significantly higher public transport use (marginal effect = 0.49) and reduced car dependence (-0.41), while organic forms are associated with increased car usage (0.44), and substantial declines in public transport (-0.47) and active mobility (-0.30). These effects are statistically robust (p < 1e-19), highlighting that the spatial configuration of urban areas plays a fundamental role in shaping transportation choices. Our findings extend previous work by offering a reproducible framework for classifying urban form and demonstrate the added value of morphological analysis in comparative urban research. These results suggest that urban form should be treated as a key variable in mobility planning and provide empirical support for incorporating spatial typologies into sustainable urban policy design.

This work addresses the challenge of enabling practitioners without quantum expertise to transition from classical to hybrid quantum-classical machine learning workflows. We propose a three-stage framework: starting with a classical self-training model, then introducing a minimal hybrid quantum variant, and finally applying diagnostic feedback via QMetric to refine the hybrid architecture. In experiments on the Iris dataset, the refined hybrid model improved accuracy from 0.31 in the classical approach to 0.87 in the quantum approach. These results suggest that even modest quantum components, when guided by proper diagnostics, can enhance class separation and representation capacity in hybrid learning, offering a practical pathway for classical machine learning practitioners to leverage quantum-enhanced methods.

Endoscopic endonasal approaches (EEA) have become more prevalent for minimally invasive skull base and sinus surgeries. However, rigid scopes and tools significantly decrease the surgeon's ability to operate in tight anatomical spaces and avoid critical structures such as the internal carotid artery and cranial nerves. This paper proposes a novel tendon-actuated concentric tube endonasal robot (TACTER) design in which two tendon-actuated robots are concentric to each other, resulting in an outer and inner robot that can bend independently. The outer robot is a unidirectionally asymmetric notch (UAN) nickel-titanium robot, and the inner robot is a 3D-printed bidirectional robot, with a nickel-titanium bending member. In addition, the inner robot can translate axially within the outer robot, allowing the tool to traverse through structures while bending, thereby executing follow-the-leader motion. A Cosserat-rod based mechanical model is proposed that uses tendon tension of both tendon-actuated robots and the relative translation between the robots as inputs and predicts the TACTER tip position for varying input parameters. The model is validated with experiments, and a human cadaver experiment is presented to demonstrate maneuverability from the nostril to the sphenoid sinus. This work presents the first tendon-actuated concentric tube (TACT) dexterous robotic tool capable of performing follow-the-leader motion within natural nasal orifices to cover workspaces typically required for a successful EEA.

Although many recent efforts have been devoted to its efficient implementation, its application to high dimensional data still poses significant challenges. In this paper, we present a fast and effective sparse lo gistic regression s creening rule (Slores) to identify the "0" components in the solution vector, which may lead to a substantial reduction in the number of features to be entered to the optimization. An appealing feature of Slores is that the data set needs to be scanned only once to run the screening and its computational cost is negligible compared to that of solving the sparse logistic regression problem. Moreover, Slores is independent of solvers for sparse logistic regression, thus Slores can be integrated with any existing solver to improve the efficiency. We have evaluated Slores using high-dimensional data sets from different applications. Experiments demonstrate that Slores outperforms the existing state-of-the-art screening rules and the efficiency of solving sparse logistic regression can be improved by one magnitude.

The promise of AI in medicine depends on learning from data that reflect what matters to patients and clinicians. Most existing models are trained on electronic health records (EHRs), which capture biological measures but rarely patient-clinician interactions. These relationships, central to care, unfold across voice, text, and video, yet remain absent from datasets. As a result, AI systems trained solely on EHRs risk perpetuating a narrow biomedical view of medicine and overlooking the lived exchanges that define clinical encounters. Our objective is to design, implement, and evaluate the feasibility of a longitudinal, multimodal system for capturing patient-clinician encounters, linking 360 degree video/audio recordings with surveys and EHR data to create a dataset for AI research. This single site study is in an academic outpatient endocrinology clinic at Mayo Clinic. Adult patients with in-person visits to participating clinicians are invited to enroll. Encounters are recorded with a 360 degree video camera. After each visit, patients complete a survey on empathy, satisfaction, pace, and treatment burden. Demographic and clinical data are extracted from the EHR. Feasibility is assessed using five endpoints: clinician consent, patient consent, recording success, survey completion, and data linkage across modalities. Recruitment began in January 2025. By August 2025, 35 of 36 eligible clinicians (97%) and 212 of 281 approached patients (75%) had consented. Of consented encounters, 162 (76%) had complete recordings and 204 (96%) completed the survey. This study aims to demonstrate the feasibility of a replicable framework for capturing the multimodal dynamics of patient-clinician encounters. By detailing workflows, endpoints, and ethical safeguards, it provides a template for longitudinal datasets and lays the foundation for AI models that incorporate the complexity of care.

The rapid trend of deploying artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) systems in socially consequential domains has raised growing concerns about their trustworthiness, including potential discriminatory behaviours. Research in algorithmic fairness has generated a proliferation of mathematical definitions and metrics, yet persistent misconceptions and limitations -- both within and beyond the fairness community -- limit their effectiveness, such as an unreached consensus on its understanding, prevailing measures primarily tailored to binary group settings, and superficial handling for intersectional contexts. Here we critically remark on these misconceptions and argue that fairness cannot be reduced to purely technical constraints on models; we also examine the limitations of existing fairness measures through conceptual analysis and empirical illustrations, showing their limited applicability in the face of complex real-world scenarios, challenging prevailing views on the incompatibility between accuracy and fairness as well as that among fairness measures themselves, and outlining three worth-considering principles in the design of fairness measures. We believe these findings will help bridge the gap between technical formalisation and social realities and meet the challenges of real-world AI/ML deployment.

We present Match Chat, a real-time, agent-driven assistant designed to enhance the tennis fan experience by delivering instant, accurate responses to match-related queries. Match Chat integrates Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) with Generative Computing (GenComp) techniques to synthesize key insights during live tennis singles matches. The system debuted at the 2025 Wimbledon Championships and the 2025 US Open, where it provided about 1 million users with seamless access to streaming and static data through natural language queries. The architecture is grounded in an Agent-Oriented Architecture (AOA) combining rule engines, predictive models, and agents to pre-process and optimize user queries before passing them to GenAI components. The Match Chat system had an answer accuracy of 92.83% with an average response time of 6.25 seconds under loads of up to 120 requests per second (RPS). Over 96.08% of all queries were guided using interactive prompt design, contributing to a user experience that prioritized clarity, responsiveness, and minimal effort. The system was designed to mask architectural complexity, offering a frictionless and intuitive interface that required no onboarding or technical familiarity. Across both Grand Slam deployments, Match Chat maintained 100% uptime and supported nearly 1 million unique users, underscoring the scalability and reliability of the platform. This work introduces key design patterns for real-time, consumer-facing AI systems that emphasize speed, precision, and usability that highlights a practical path for deploying performant agentic systems in dynamic environments.