Overview
Simulating Biases for Interpretable Fairness in Offline and Online Classifiers
Inácio, Ricardo, Kokkinogenis, Zafeiris, Cerqueira, Vitor, Soares, Carlos
Predictive models often reinforce biases which were originally embedded in their training data, through skewed decisions. In such cases, mitigation methods are critical to ensure that, regardless of the prevailing disparities, model outcomes are adjusted to be fair. To assess this, datasets could be systematically generated with specific biases, to train machine learning classifiers. Then, predictive outcomes could aid in the understanding of this bias embedding process. Hence, an agent-based model (ABM), depicting a loan application process that represents various systemic biases across two demographic groups, was developed to produce synthetic datasets. Then, by applying classifiers trained on them to predict loan outcomes, we can assess how biased data leads to unfairness. This highlights a main contribution of this work: a framework for synthetic dataset generation with controllable bias injection. We also contribute with a novel explainability technique, which shows how mitigations affect the way classifiers leverage data features, via second-order Shapley values. In experiments, both offline and online learning approaches are employed. Mitigations are applied at different stages of the modelling pipeline, such as during pre-processing and in-processing.
The Bayesian Approach to Continual Learning: An Overview
Continual learning is an online paradigm where a learner continually accumulates knowledge from different tasks encountered over sequential time steps. Importantly, the learner is required to extend and update its knowledge without forgetting about the learning experience acquired from the past, and while avoiding the need to retrain from scratch. Given its sequential nature and its resemblance to the way humans think, continual learning offers an opportunity to address several challenges which currently stand in the way of widening the range of applicability of deep models to further real-world problems. The continual need to update the learner with data arriving sequentially strikes inherent congruence between continual learning and Bayesian inference which provides a principal platform to keep updating the prior beliefs of a model given new data, without completely forgetting the knowledge acquired from the old data. This survey inspects different settings of Bayesian continual learning, namely task-incremental learning and class-incremental learning. We begin by discussing definitions of continual learning along with its Bayesian setting, as well as the links with related fields, such as domain adaptation, transfer learning and meta-learning. Afterwards, we introduce a taxonomy offering a comprehensive categorization of algorithms belonging to the Bayesian continual learning paradigm. Meanwhile, we analyze the state-of-the-art while zooming in on some of the most prominent Bayesian continual learning algorithms to date. Furthermore, we shed some light on links between continual learning and developmental psychology, and correspondingly introduce analogies between both fields. We follow that with a discussion of current challenges, and finally conclude with potential areas for future research on Bayesian continual learning.
Privacy-Preserving Multi-Stage Fall Detection Framework with Semi-supervised Federated Learning and Robotic Vision Confirmation
Azghadi, Seyed Alireza Rahimi, Nguyen, Truong-Thanh-Hung, Fournier, Helene, Wachowicz, Monica, Richard, Rene, Palma, Francis, Cao, Hung
The aging population is growing rapidly, and so is the danger of falls in older adults. A major cause of injury is falling, and detection in time can greatly save medical expenses and recovery time. However, to provide timely intervention and avoid unnecessary alarms, detection systems must be effective and reliable while addressing privacy concerns regarding the user. In this work, we propose a framework for detecting falls using several complementary systems: a semi-supervised federated learning-based fall detection system (SF2D), an indoor localization and navigation system, and a vision-based human fall recognition system. A wearable device and an edge device identify a fall scenario in the first system. On top of that, the second system uses an indoor localization technique first to localize the fall location and then navigate a robot to inspect the scenario. A vision-based detection system running on an edge device with a mounted camera on a robot is used to recognize fallen people. Each of the systems of this proposed framework achieves different accuracy rates. Specifically, the SF2D has a 0.81% failure rate equivalent to 99.19% accuracy, while the vision-based fallen people detection achieves 96.3% accuracy. However, when we combine the accuracy of these two systems with the accuracy of the navigation system (95% success rate), our proposed framework creates a highly reliable performance for fall detection, with an overall accuracy of 99.99%. Not only is the proposed framework safe for older adults, but it is also a privacy-preserving solution for detecting falls.
Toward Real-World Table Agents: Capabilities, Workflows, and Design Principles for LLM-based Table Intelligence
Tian, Jiaming, Li, Liyao, Ye, Wentao, Wang, Haobo, Wang, Lingxin, Yu, Lihua, Ren, Zujie, Chen, Gang, Zhao, Junbo
Tables are fundamental in domains such as finance, healthcare, and public administration, yet real-world table tasks often involve noise, structural heterogeneity, and semantic complexity--issues underexplored in existing research that primarily targets clean academic datasets. This survey focuses on LLM-based Table Agents, which aim to automate table-centric workflows by integrating preprocessing, reasoning, and domain adaptation. We define five core competencies--C1: Table Structure Understanding, C2: Table and Query Semantic Understanding, C3: Table Retrieval and Compression, C4: Executable Reasoning with Traceability, and C5: Cross-Domain Generalization--to analyze and compare current approaches. In addition, a detailed examination of the Text-to-SQL Agent reveals a performance gap between academic benchmarks and real-world scenarios, especially for open-source models. Finally, we provide actionable insights to improve the robustness, generalization, and efficiency of LLM-based Table Agents in practical settings.
Adaptability in Multi-Agent Reinforcement Learning: A Framework and Unified Review
Hu, Siyi, Hady, Mohamad A, Qiao, Jianglin, Cao, Jimmy, Pratama, Mahardhika, Kowalczyk, Ryszard
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.
Foundation Model Driven Robotics: A Comprehensive Review
Khan, Muhammad Tayyab, Waheed, Ammar
The rapid emergence of foundation models, particularly Large Language Models (LLMs) and Vision-Language Models (VLMs), has introduced a transformative paradigm in robotics. These models offer powerful capabilities in semantic understanding, high-level reasoning, and cross-modal generalization, enabling significant advances in perception, planning, control, and human-robot interaction. This critical review provides a structured synthesis of recent developments, categorizing applications across simulation-driven design, open-world execution, sim-to-real transfer, and adaptable robotics. Unlike existing surveys that emphasize isolated capabilities, this work highlights integrated, system-level strategies and evaluates their practical feasibility in real-world environments. Key enabling trends such as procedural scene generation, policy generalization, and multimodal reasoning are discussed alongside core bottlenecks, including limited embodiment, lack of multimodal data, safety risks, and computational constraints. Through this lens, this paper identifies both the architectural strengths and critical limitations of foundation model-based robotics, highlighting open challenges in real-time operation, grounding, resilience, and trust. The review concludes with a roadmap for future research aimed at bridging semantic reasoning and physical intelligence through more robust, interpretable, and embodied models.
DAFOS: Dynamic Adaptive Fanout Optimization Sampler
Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) are becoming an essential tool for learning from graph-structured data, however uniform neighbor sampling and static fanout settings frequently limit GNNs' scalability and efficiency. In this paper, we propose the Dynamic Adaptive Fanout Optimization Sampler (DAFOS), a novel approach that dynamically adjusts the fanout based on model performance and prioritizes important nodes during training. Our approach leverages node scoring based on node degree to focus computational resources on structurally important nodes, incrementing the fanout as the model training progresses. DAFOS also integrates an early stopping mechanism to halt training when performance gains diminish. Experiments conducted on three benchmark datasets, ogbnarxiv, Reddit, and ogbn-products, demonstrate that our approach significantly improves training speed and accuracy compared to a state-of-the-art approach. DAFOS achieves a 3.57x speedup on the ogbn-arxiv dataset and a 12.6x speedup on the Reddit dataset while improving the F1 score from 68.5% to 71.21% on ogbn-arxiv and from 73.78% to 76.88% on the ogbn-products dataset, respectively. These results highlight the potential of DAFOS as an efficient and scalable solution for large-scale GNN training.
LNN-powered Fluid Antenna Multiple Access
Alvim, Pedro D., Silva, Hugerles S., Dias, Ugo S., Badarneh, Osamah S., Figueiredo, Felipe A. P., de Souza, Rausley A. A.
Fluid antenna systems represent an innovative approach in wireless communication, recently applied in multiple access to optimize the signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio through port selection. This letter frames the port selection problem as a multi-label classification task for the first time, improving best-port selection with limited port observations. We address this challenge by leveraging liquid neural networks (LNNs) to predict the optimal port under emerging fluid antenna multiple access scenarios alongside a more general $α$-$μ$ fading model. We also apply hyperparameter optimization to refine LNN architectures for different observation scenarios. Our approach yields lower outage probability values than existing methods.
Barriers in Integrating Medical Visual Question Answering into Radiology Workflows: A Scoping Review and Clinicians' Insights
Mishra, Deepali, Silpasuwanchai, Chaklam, Modi, Ashutosh, Sushil, Madhumita, Chumnanvej, Sorayouth
Medical Visual Question Answering (MedVQA) is a promising tool to assist radiologists by automating medical image interpretation through question answering. Despite advances in models and datasets, MedVQA's integration into clinical workflows remains limited. This study systematically reviews 68 publications (2018-2024) and surveys 50 clinicians from India and Thailand to examine MedVQA's practical utility, challenges, and gaps. Following the Arksey and O'Malley scoping review framework, we used a two-pronged approach: (1) reviewing studies to identify key concepts, advancements, and research gaps in radiology workflows, and (2) surveying clinicians to capture their perspectives on MedVQA's clinical relevance. Our review reveals that nearly 60% of QA pairs are non-diagnostic and lack clinical relevance. Most datasets and models do not support multi-view, multi-resolution imaging, EHR integration, or domain knowledge, features essential for clinical diagnosis. Furthermore, there is a clear mismatch between current evaluation metrics and clinical needs. The clinician survey confirms this disconnect: only 29.8% consider MedVQA systems highly useful. Key concerns include the absence of patient history or domain knowledge (87.2%), preference for manually curated datasets (51.1%), and the need for multi-view image support (78.7%). Additionally, 66% favor models focused on specific anatomical regions, and 89.4% prefer dialogue-based interactive systems. While MedVQA shows strong potential, challenges such as limited multimodal analysis, lack of patient context, and misaligned evaluation approaches must be addressed for effective clinical integration.
GR-LLMs: Recent Advances in Generative Recommendation Based on Large Language Models
Yang, Zhen, Lin, Haitao, xue, Jiawei, Zhang, Ziji
In the past year, Generative Recommendations (GRs) have undergone substantial advancements, especially in leveraging the powerful sequence modeling and reasoning capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) to enhance overall recommendation performance. LLM-based GRs are forming a new paradigm that is distinctly different from discriminative recommendations, showing strong potential to replace traditional recommendation systems heavily dependent on complex hand-crafted features. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive survey aimed at facilitating further research of LLM-based GRs. Initially, we outline the general preliminaries and application cases of LLM-based GRs. Subsequently, we introduce the main considerations when LLM-based GRs are applied in real industrial scenarios. Finally, we explore promising directions for LLM-based GRs. We hope that this survey contributes to the ongoing advancement of the GR domain.