The ability to transfer knowledge from prior experiences to novel tasks stands as a pivotal capability of intelligent agents, including both humans and computational models. This principle forms the basis of transfer learning, where large pre-trained neural networks are fine-tuned to adapt to downstream tasks. Transfer learning has demonstrated tremendous success, both in terms of task adaptation speed and performance. However there are several domains where, due to lack of data, training such large pre-trained models or foundational models is not a possibility - computational chemistry, computational immunology, and medical imaging are examples. To address these challenges, our work focuses on designing architectures to enable efficient acquisition of priors when large amounts of data are unavailable. In particular, we demonstrate that we can use neural memory to enable adaptation on non-stationary distributions with only a few samples. Then we demonstrate that our hypernetwork designs (a network that generates another network) can acquire more generalizable priors than standard networks when trained with Model Agnostic Meta-Learning (MAML). Subsequently, we apply hypernetworks to 3D scene generation, demonstrating that they can acquire priors efficiently on just a handful of training scenes, thereby leading to faster text-to-3D generation. We then extend our hypernetwork framework to perform 3D segmentation on novel scenes with limited data by efficiently transferring priors from earlier viewed scenes. Finally, we repurpose an existing molecular generative method as a pre-training framework that facilitates improved molecular property prediction, addressing critical challenges in computational immunology.

School dropout is a serious problem in distance learning, where early detection is crucial for effective intervention and student perseverance. Predicting student dropout using available educational data is a widely researched topic in learning analytics. Our partner's distance learning platform highlights the importance of integrating diverse data sources, including socio-demographic data, behavioral data, and sentiment analysis, to accurately predict dropout risks. In this paper, we introduce a novel model that combines sentiment analysis of student comments using the Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) model with socio-demographic and behavioral data analyzed through Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost). We fine-tuned BERT on student comments to capture nuanced sentiments, which were then merged with key features selected using feature importance techniques in XGBoost. Our model was tested on unseen data from the next academic year, achieving an accuracy of 84%, compared to 82% for the baseline model. Additionally, the model demonstrated superior performance in other metrics, such as precision and F1-score. The proposed method could be a vital tool in developing personalized strategies to reduce dropout rates and encourage student perseverance.

Student dropout in distance learning remains a critical challenge, with profound societal and economic consequences. While classical machine learning models leverage structured socio-demographic and behavioral data, they often fail to capture the nuanced emotional and contextual factors embedded in unstructured student interactions. This paper introduces a transformative AI framework that redefines dropout prediction through three synergistic innovations: Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) for domain-specific sentiment analysis, prompt engineering to decode academic stressors,and cross-modal attention fusion to dynamically align textual, behavioral, and socio-demographic insights. By grounding sentiment analysis in a curated knowledge base of pedagogical content, our RAG-enhanced BERT model interprets student comments with unprecedented contextual relevance, while optimized prompts isolate indicators of academic distress (e.g., "isolation," "workload anxiety"). A cross-modal attention layer then fuses these insights with temporal engagement patterns, creating holistic risk pro-files. Evaluated on a longitudinal dataset of 4 423 students, the framework achieves 89% accuracy and an F1-score of 0.88, outperforming conventional models by 7% and reducing false negatives by 21%. Beyond prediction, the system generates interpretable interventions by retrieving contextually aligned strategies (e.g., mentorship programs for isolated learners). This work bridges the gap between predictive analytics and actionable pedagogy, offering a scalable solution to mitigate dropout risks in global education systems

Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning (MARL) has shown clear effectiveness in coordinating multiple agents across simulated benchmarks and constrained scenarios. However, its deployment in real-world multi-agent systems (MAS) remains limited, primarily due to the complex and dynamic nature of such environments. These challenges arise from multiple interacting sources of variability, including fluctuating agent populations, evolving task goals, and inconsistent execution conditions. Together, these factors demand that MARL algorithms remain effective under continuously changing system configurations and operational demands. To better capture and assess this capacity for adjustment, we introduce the concept of \textit{adaptability} as a unified and practically grounded lens through which to evaluate the reliability of MARL algorithms under shifting conditions, broadly referring to any changes in the environment dynamics that may occur during learning or execution. Centred on the notion of adaptability, we propose a structured framework comprising three key dimensions: learning adaptability, policy adaptability, and scenario-driven adaptability. By adopting this adaptability perspective, we aim to support more principled assessments of MARL performance beyond narrowly defined benchmarks. Ultimately, this survey contributes to the development of algorithms that are better suited for deployment in dynamic, real-world multi-agent systems.

Watermarking techniques for large language models (LLMs) can significantly impact output quality, yet their effects on truthfulness, safety, and helpfulness remain critically underexamined. This paper presents a systematic analysis of how two popular watermarking approaches-Gumbel and KGW-affect these core alignment properties across four aligned LLMs. Our experiments reveal two distinct degradation patterns: guard attenuation, where enhanced helpfulness undermines model safety, and guard amplification, where excessive caution reduces model helpfulness. These patterns emerge from watermark-induced shifts in token distribution, surfacing the fundamental tension that exists between alignment objectives. To mitigate these degradations, we propose Alignment Resampling (AR), an inference-time sampling method that uses an external reward model to restore alignment. We establish a theoretical lower bound on the improvement in expected reward score as the sample size is increased and empirically demonstrate that sampling just 2-4 watermarked generations effectively recovers or surpasses baseline (unwatermarked) alignment scores. To overcome the limited response diversity of standard Gumbel watermarking, our modified implementation sacrifices strict distortion-freeness while maintaining robust detectability, ensuring compatibility with AR. Experimental results confirm that AR successfully recovers baseline alignment in both watermarking approaches, while maintaining strong watermark detectability. This work reveals the critical balance between watermark strength and model alignment, providing a simple inference-time solution to responsibly deploy watermarked LLMs in practice.

Diffusion and flow-based models have become the state of the art for generative AI across a wide range of data modalities, including images, videos, shapes, molecules, music, and more. This tutorial provides a self-contained introduction to diffusion and flow-based generative models from first principles. We systematically develop the necessary mathematical background in ordinary and stochastic differential equations and derive the core algorithms of flow matching and denoising diffusion models. We then provide a step-by-step guide to building image and video generators, including training methods, guidance, and architectural design. This tutorial is ideal for machine learning researchers who want to develop a principled understanding of the theory and practice of generative AI.

Generating high-fidelity real-time animated sequences of photorealistic 3D head avatars is important for many graphics applications, including immersive telepresence and movies. This is a challenging problem particularly when rendering digital avatar close-ups for showing character's facial microfeatures and expressions. To capture the expressive, detailed nature of human heads, including skin furrowing and finer-scale facial movements, we propose to couple locally-defined facial expressions with 3D Gaussian splatting to enable creating ultra-high fidelity, expressive and photorealistic 3D head avatars. In contrast to previous works that operate on a global expression space, we condition our avatar's dynamics on patch-based local expression features and synthesize 3D Gaussians at a patch level. In particular, we leverage a patch-based geometric 3D face model to extract patch expressions and learn how to translate these into local dynamic skin appearance and motion by coupling the patches with anchor points of Scaffold-GS, a recent hierarchical scene representation. These anchors are then used to synthesize 3D Gaussians on-the-fly, conditioned by patch-expressions and viewing direction. We employ color-based densification and progressive training to obtain high-quality results and faster convergence for high resolution 3K training images. By leveraging patch-level expressions, ScaffoldAvatar consistently achieves state-of-the-art performance with visually natural motion, while encompassing diverse facial expressions and styles in real time.

Tensor Network (TN) decompositions have emerged as an indispensable tool in Big Data analytics owing to their ability to provide compact low-rank representations, thus alleviating the ``Curse of Dimensionality'' inherent in handling higher-order data. At the heart of their success lies the concept of TN ranks, which governs the efficiency and expressivity of TN decompositions. However, unlike matrix ranks, TN ranks often lack a universal meaning and an intuitive interpretation, with their properties varying significantly across different TN structures. Consequently, TN ranks are frequently treated as empirically tuned hyperparameters, rather than as key design parameters inferred from domain knowledge. The aim of this Lecture Note is therefore to demystify the foundational yet frequently misunderstood concept of TN ranks through real-life examples and intuitive visualizations. We begin by illustrating how domain knowledge can guide the selection of TN ranks in widely-used models such as the Canonical Polyadic (CP) and Tucker decompositions. For more complex TN structures, we employ a self-explanatory graphical approach that generalizes to tensors of arbitrary order. Such a perspective naturally reveals the relationship between TN ranks and the corresponding ranks of tensor unfoldings (matrices), thereby circumventing cumbersome multi-index tensor algebra while facilitating domain-informed TN design. It is our hope that this Lecture Note will equip readers with a clear and unified understanding of the concept of TN rank, along with the necessary physical insight and intuition to support the selection, explainability, and deployment of tensor methods in both practical applications and educational contexts.

Programming-by-prompting with generative AI offers a new paradigm for end-user programming, shifting the focus from syntactic fluency to semantic intent. This shift holds particular promise for non-programmers such as educators, who can describe instructional goals in natural language to generate interactive learning content. Yet in bypassing direct code authoring, many of programming's core affordances - such as traceability, stepwise refinement, and behavioral testing - are lost. We propose the Chain-of-Abstractions (CoA) framework as a way to recover these affordances while preserving the expressive flexibility of natural language. CoA decomposes the synthesis process into a sequence of cognitively meaningful, task-aligned representations that function as checkpoints for specification, inspection, and refinement. We instantiate this approach in SimStep, an authoring environment for teachers that scaffolds simulation creation through four intermediate abstractions: Concept Graph, Scenario Graph, Learning Goal Graph, and UI Interaction Graph. To address ambiguities and misalignments, SimStep includes an inverse correction process that surfaces in-filled model assumptions and enables targeted revision without requiring users to manipulate code. Evaluations with educators show that CoA enables greater authoring control and interpretability in programming-by-prompting workflows.

We present a visualization infrastructure that maps data elements to agents, which have behaviors parameterized by those elements. Dynamic visualizations emerge as the agents change position, alter appearance and respond to one other. Agents move to minimize the difference between displayed agent-to-agent distances, and an input matrix of ideal distances. Our current application is visualization of streaming text. Each agent represents a significant word, visualizing it by displaying the word itself, centered in a circle sized by the frequency of word occurrence. We derive the ideal distance matrix from word cooccurrence, mapping higher co-occurrence to lower distance. To depict co-occurrence in its textual context, the ratio of intersection to circle area approximates the ratio of word co-occurrence to frequency. A networked backend process gathers articles from news feeds, blogs, Digg or Twitter, exploiting online search APIs to focus on user-chosen topics. Resulting visuals reveal the primary topics in text streams as clusters, with agent-based layout moving without instability as data streams change dynamically.