Overview
Homomorphic WiSARDs: Efficient Weightless Neural Network training over encrypted data
Neumann, Leonardo, Guimarães, Antonio, Aranha, Diego F., Borin, Edson
The widespread application of machine learning algorithms is a matter of increasing concern for the data privacy research community, and many have sought to develop privacy-preserving techniques for it. Among existing approaches, the homomorphic evaluation of ML algorithms stands out by performing operations directly over encrypted data, enabling strong guarantees of confidentiality. The homomorphic evaluation of inference algorithms is practical even for relatively deep Convolution Neural Networks (CNNs). However, training is still a major challenge, with current solutions often resorting to lightweight algorithms that can be unfit for solving more complex problems, such as image recognition. This work introduces the homomorphic evaluation of Wilkie, Stonham, and Aleksander's Recognition Device (WiSARD) and subsequent Weightless Neural Networks (WNNs) for training and inference on encrypted data. Compared to CNNs, WNNs offer better performance with a relatively small accuracy drop. We develop a complete framework for it, including several building blocks that can be of independent interest. Our framework achieves 91.7% accuracy on the MNIST dataset after only 3.5 minutes of encrypted training (multi-threaded), going up to 93.8% in 3.5 hours. For the HAM10000 dataset, we achieve 67.9% accuracy in just 1.5 minutes, going up to 69.9% after 1 hour. Compared to the state of the art on the HE evaluation of CNN training, Glyph (Lou et al., NeurIPS 2020), these results represent a speedup of up to 1200 times with an accuracy loss of at most 5.4%. For HAM10000, we even achieved a 0.65% accuracy improvement while being 60 times faster than Glyph. We also provide solutions for small-scale encrypted training. In a single thread on a desktop machine using less than 200MB of memory, we train over 1000 MNIST images in 12 minutes or over the entire Wisconsin Breast Cancer dataset in just 11 seconds.
Bayesian Nonparametrics: An Alternative to Deep Learning
Bayesian nonparametric models offer a flexible and powerful framework for statistical model selection, enabling the adaptation of model complexity to the intricacies of diverse datasets. This survey intends to delve into the significance of Bayesian nonparametrics, particularly in addressing complex challenges across various domains such as statistics, computer science, and electrical engineering. By elucidating the basic properties and theoretical foundations of these nonparametric models, this survey aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of Bayesian nonparametrics and their relevance in addressing complex problems, particularly in the domain of multi-object tracking. Through this exploration, we uncover the versatility and efficacy of Bayesian nonparametric methodologies, paving the way for innovative solutions to intricate challenges across diverse disciplines.
Expectations Versus Reality: Evaluating Intrusion Detection Systems in Practice
Hesford, Jake, Cheng, Daniel, Wan, Alan, Huynh, Larry, Kim, Seungho, Kim, Hyoungshick, Hong, Jin B.
However, it is or flows. Where a dataset does not contain both of these also a challenge when trying to compare them and choose the formats, adapting it into the form expected by a given IDS is best one for your needs, because there is no standardisation non-trivial, where the expected format is not the one provided due to the complexity of the environment that these IDSs by the dataset authors. This discrepancy presents challenges were designed for. In order to determine to what degree in obtaining satisfactory results when an IDS and dataset are IDSs can be adapted to different environments, we compare incompatible without significant processing [1]. Our evaluation their performance across common Network Intrusion process was further complicated by the necessity of converting Detection Systems (NIDS) datasets. This approach aims to these datasets into formats compatible with various IDS provide a more standardized basis for comparison, taking into solutions. This data wrangling could amplify the errors and account different variables such as attack types, networking inconsistencies inherent in the datasets.
The State of Lithium-Ion Battery Health Prognostics in the CPS Era
Shinde, Gaurav, Mohapatra, Rohan, Krishan, Pooja, Garg, Harish, Prabhu, Srikanth, Das, Sanchari, Masum, Mohammad, Sengupta, Saptarshi
Lithium-ion batteries (Li-ion) have revolutionized energy storage technology, becoming integral to our daily lives by powering a diverse range of devices and applications. Their high energy density, fast power response, recyclability, and mobility advantages have made them the preferred choice for numerous sectors. This paper explores the seamless integration of Prognostics and Health Management within batteries, presenting a multidisciplinary approach that enhances the reliability, safety, and performance of these powerhouses. Remaining useful life (RUL), a critical concept in prognostics, is examined in depth, emphasizing its role in predicting component failure before it occurs. The paper reviews various RUL prediction methods, from traditional models to cutting-edge data-driven techniques. Furthermore, it highlights the paradigm shift toward deep learning architectures within the field of Li-ion battery health prognostics, elucidating the pivotal role of deep learning in addressing battery system complexities. Practical applications of PHM across industries are also explored, offering readers insights into real-world implementations.This paper serves as a comprehensive guide, catering to both researchers and practitioners in the field of Li-ion battery PHM.
Enhancing Efficiency in Vision Transformer Networks: Design Techniques and Insights
Heidari, Moein, Azad, Reza, Kolahi, Sina Ghorbani, Arimond, René, Niggemeier, Leon, Sulaiman, Alaa, Bozorgpour, Afshin, Aghdam, Ehsan Khodapanah, Kazerouni, Amirhossein, Hacihaliloglu, Ilker, Merhof, Dorit
Intrigued by the inherent ability of the human visual system to identify salient regions in complex scenes, attention mechanisms have been seamlessly integrated into various Computer Vision (CV) tasks. Building upon this paradigm, Vision Transformer (ViT) networks exploit attention mechanisms for improved efficiency. This review navigates the landscape of redesigned attention mechanisms within ViTs, aiming to enhance their performance. This paper provides a comprehensive exploration of techniques and insights for designing attention mechanisms, systematically reviewing recent literature in the field of CV. This survey begins with an introduction to the theoretical foundations and fundamental concepts underlying attention mechanisms. We then present a systematic taxonomy of various attention mechanisms within ViTs, employing redesigned approaches. A multi-perspective categorization is proposed based on their application, objectives, and the type of attention applied. The analysis includes an exploration of the novelty, strengths, weaknesses, and an in-depth evaluation of the different proposed strategies. This culminates in the development of taxonomies that highlight key properties and contributions. Finally, we gather the reviewed studies along with their available open-source implementations at our \href{https://github.com/mindflow-institue/Awesome-Attention-Mechanism-in-Medical-Imaging}{GitHub}\footnote{\url{https://github.com/xmindflow/Awesome-Attention-Mechanism-in-Medical-Imaging}}. We aim to regularly update it with the most recent relevant papers.
A Review of Multi-Modal Large Language and Vision Models
Carolan, Kilian, Fennelly, Laura, Smeaton, Alan F.
Large Language Models (LLMs) have recently emerged as a focal point of research and application, driven by their unprecedented ability to understand and generate text with human-like quality. Even more recently, LLMs have been extended into multi-modal large language models (MM-LLMs) which extends their capabilities to deal with image, video and audio information, in addition to text. This opens up applications like text-to-video generation, image captioning, text-to-speech, and more and is achieved either by retro-fitting an LLM with multi-modal capabilities, or building a MM-LLM from scratch. This paper provides an extensive review of the current state of those LLMs with multi-modal capabilities as well as the very recent MM-LLMs. It covers the historical development of LLMs especially the advances enabled by transformer-based architectures like OpenAI's GPT series and Google's BERT, as well as the role of attention mechanisms in enhancing model performance. The paper includes coverage of the major and most important of the LLMs and MM-LLMs and also covers the techniques of model tuning, including fine-tuning and prompt engineering, which tailor pre-trained models to specific tasks or domains. Ethical considerations and challenges, such as data bias and model misuse, are also analysed to underscore the importance of responsible AI development and deployment. Finally, we discuss the implications of open-source versus proprietary models in AI research. Through this review, we provide insights into the transformative potential of MM-LLMs in various applications.
Enhancing Trust and Privacy in Distributed Networks: A Comprehensive Survey on Blockchain-based Federated Learning
Liu, Ji, Chen, Chunlu, Li, Yu, Sun, Lin, Song, Yulun, Zhou, Jingbo, Jing, Bo, Dou, Dejing
While centralized servers pose a risk of being a single point of failure, decentralized approaches like blockchain offer a compelling solution by implementing a consensus mechanism among multiple entities. Merging distributed computing with cryptographic techniques, decentralized technologies introduce a novel computing paradigm. Blockchain ensures secure, transparent, and tamper-proof data management by validating and recording transactions via consensus across network nodes. Federated Learning (FL), as a distributed machine learning framework, enables participants to collaboratively train models while safeguarding data privacy by avoiding direct raw data exchange. Despite the growing interest in decentralized methods, their application in FL remains underexplored. This paper presents a thorough investigation into Blockchain-based FL (BCFL), spotlighting the synergy between blockchain's security features and FL's privacy-preserving model training capabilities. First, we present the taxonomy of BCFL from three aspects, including decentralized, separate networks, and reputation-based architectures. Then, we summarize the general architecture of BCFL systems, providing a comprehensive perspective on FL architectures informed by blockchain. Afterward, we analyze the application of BCFL in healthcare, IoT, and other privacy-sensitive areas. Finally, we identify future research directions of BCFL.
On permutation-invariant neural networks
Kimura, Masanari, Shimizu, Ryotaro, Hirakawa, Yuki, Goto, Ryosuke, Saito, Yuki
Conventional machine learning algorithms have traditionally been designed under the assumption that input data follows a vector-based format, with an emphasis on vector-centric paradigms. However, as the demand for tasks involving set-based inputs has grown, there has been a paradigm shift in the research community towards addressing these challenges. In recent years, the emergence of neural network architectures such as Deep Sets and Transformers has presented a significant advancement in the treatment of set-based data. These architectures are specifically engineered to naturally accommodate sets as input, enabling more effective representation and processing of set structures. Consequently, there has been a surge of research endeavors dedicated to exploring and harnessing the capabilities of these architectures for various tasks involving the approximation of set functions. This comprehensive survey aims to provide an overview of the diverse problem settings and ongoing research efforts pertaining to neural networks that approximate set functions. By delving into the intricacies of these approaches and elucidating the associated challenges, the survey aims to equip readers with a comprehensive understanding of the field. Through this comprehensive perspective, we hope that researchers can gain valuable insights into the potential applications, inherent limitations, and future directions of set-based neural networks. Indeed, from this survey we gain two insights: i) Deep Sets and its variants can be generalized by differences in the aggregation function, and ii) the behavior of Deep Sets is sensitive to the choice of the aggregation function. From these observations, we show that Deep Sets, one of the well-known permutation-invariant neural networks, can be generalized in the sense of a quasi-arithmetic mean.
DELTA: Pre-train a Discriminative Encoder for Legal Case Retrieval via Structural Word Alignment
Li, Haitao, Ai, Qingyao, Han, Xinyan, Chen, Jia, Dong, Qian, Liu, Yiqun, Chen, Chong, Tian, Qi
Recent research demonstrates the effectiveness of using pre-trained language models for legal case retrieval. Most of the existing works focus on improving the representation ability for the contextualized embedding of the [CLS] token and calculate relevance using textual semantic similarity. However, in the legal domain, textual semantic similarity does not always imply that the cases are relevant enough. Instead, relevance in legal cases primarily depends on the similarity of key facts that impact the final judgment. Without proper treatments, the discriminative ability of learned representations could be limited since legal cases are lengthy and contain numerous non-key facts. To this end, we introduce DELTA, a discriminative model designed for legal case retrieval. The basic idea involves pinpointing key facts in legal cases and pulling the contextualized embedding of the [CLS] token closer to the key facts while pushing away from the non-key facts, which can warm up the case embedding space in an unsupervised manner. To be specific, this study brings the word alignment mechanism to the contextual masked auto-encoder. First, we leverage shallow decoders to create information bottlenecks, aiming to enhance the representation ability. Second, we employ the deep decoder to enable translation between different structures, with the goal of pinpointing key facts to enhance discriminative ability. Comprehensive experiments conducted on publicly available legal benchmarks show that our approach can outperform existing state-of-the-art methods in legal case retrieval. It provides a new perspective on the in-depth understanding and processing of legal case documents.
Attacks, Defenses and Evaluations for LLM Conversation Safety: A Survey
Dong, Zhichen, Zhou, Zhanhui, Yang, Chao, Shao, Jing, Qiao, Yu
Large Language Models (LLMs) are now commonplace in conversation applications. However, their risks of misuse for generating harmful responses have raised serious societal concerns and spurred recent research on LLM conversation safety. Therefore, in this survey, we provide a comprehensive overview of recent studies, covering three critical aspects of LLM conversation safety: attacks, defenses, and evaluations. Our goal is to provide a structured summary that enhances understanding of LLM conversation safety and encourages further investigation into this important subject. For easy reference, we have categorized all the studies mentioned in this survey according to our taxonomy, available at: https://github.com/niconi19/LLM-conversation-safety.