In a recent paper Wunderlich and Pehle introduced the EventProp algorithm that enables training spiking neural networks by gradient descent on exact gradients. In this paper we present extensions of EventProp to support a wider class of loss functions and an implementation in the GPU enhanced neuronal networks framework which exploits sparsity. The GPU acceleration allows us to test EventProp extensively on more challenging learning benchmarks. We find that EventProp performs well on some tasks but for others there are issues where learning is slow or fails entirely. Here, we analyse these issues in detail and discover that they relate to the use of the exact gradient of the loss function, which by its nature does not provide information about loss changes due to spike creation or spike deletion. Depending on the details of the task and loss function, descending the exact gradient with EventProp can lead to the deletion of important spikes and so to an inadvertent increase of the loss and decrease of classification accuracy and hence a failure to learn. In other situations the lack of knowledge about the benefits of creating additional spikes can lead to a lack of gradient flow into earlier layers, slowing down learning. We eventually present a first glimpse of a solution to these problems in the form of `loss shaping', where we introduce a suitable weighting function into an integral loss to increase gradient flow from the output layer towards earlier layers.

Incivility remains a major challenge for online discussion platforms, to such an extent that even conversations between well-intentioned users can often derail into uncivil behavior. Traditionally, platforms have relied on moderators to -- with or without algorithmic assistance -- take corrective actions such as removing comments or banning users. In this work we propose a complementary paradigm that directly empowers users by proactively enhancing their awareness about existing tension in the conversation they are engaging in and actively guides them as they are drafting their replies to avoid further escalation. As a proof of concept for this paradigm, we design an algorithmic tool that provides such proactive information directly to users, and conduct a user study in a popular discussion platform. Through a mixed methods approach combining surveys with a randomized controlled experiment, we uncover qualitative and quantitative insights regarding how the participants utilize and react to this information. Most participants report finding this proactive paradigm valuable, noting that it helps them to identify tension that they may have otherwise missed and prompts them to further reflect on their own replies and to revise them. These effects are corroborated by a comparison of how the participants draft their reply when our tool warns them that their conversation is at risk of derailing into uncivil behavior versus in a control condition where the tool is disabled. These preliminary findings highlight the potential of this user-centered paradigm and point to concrete directions for future implementations.

The increase in the number of unmanned aerial vehicles a.k.a. drones pose several threats to public privacy, critical infrastructure and cyber security. Hence, detecting unauthorized drones is a significant problem which received attention in the last few years. In this paper, we present our experimental work on three drone detection methods (i.e., acoustic detection, radio frequency (RF) detection, and visual detection) to evaluate their efficacy in both indoor and outdoor environments. Owing to the limitations of these schemes, we present a novel encryption-based drone detection scheme that uses a two-stage verification of the drone's received signal strength indicator (RSSI) and the encryption key generated from the drone's position coordinates to reliably detect an unauthorized drone in the presence of authorized drones.

Sparse reduced rank regression is an essential statistical learning method. In the contemporary literature, estimation is typically formulated as a nonconvex optimization that often yields to a local optimum in numerical computation. Yet, their theoretical analysis is always centered on the global optimum, resulting in a discrepancy between the statistical guarantee and the numerical computation. In this research, we offer a new algorithm to address the problem and establish an almost optimal rate for the algorithmic solution. We also demonstrate that the algorithm achieves the estimation with a polynomial number of iterations. In addition, we present a generalized information criterion to simultaneously ensure the consistency of support set recovery and rank estimation. Under the proposed criterion, we show that our algorithm can achieve the oracle reduced rank estimation with a significant probability. The numerical studies and an application in the ovarian cancer genetic data demonstrate the effectiveness and scalability of our approach.

Representation learning algorithms offer the opportunity to learn invariant representations of the input data with regard to nuisance factors. Many authors have leveraged such strategies to learn fair representations, i.e., vectors where information about sensitive attributes is removed. These methods are attractive as they may be interpreted as minimizing the mutual information between a neural layer's activations and a sensitive attribute. However, the theoretical grounding of such methods relies either on the computation of infinitely accurate adversaries or on minimizing a variational upper bound of a mutual information estimate. In this paper, we propose a methodology for direct computation of the mutual information between a neural layer and a sensitive attribute. We employ stochastically-activated binary neural networks, which lets us treat neurons as random variables. We are then able to compute (not bound) the mutual information between a layer and a sensitive attribute and use this information as a regularization factor during gradient descent. We show that this method compares favorably with the state of the art in fair representation learning and that the learned representations display a higher level of invariance compared to full-precision neural networks.

WER is a commonly used voice AI terminology. "What's your WER?" and "Our WER is X%." are a part of initial conversations between speech-to-text vendors and buyers. In this article, we'll explain the basics of WER. WER stands for Word Error Rate. It measures the accuracy of a speech-to-text (STT) solution.

One of the most common tasks performed by data scientists and data analysts are prediction and machine learning. This course will cover the basic components of building and applying prediction functions with an emphasis on practical applications. The course will provide basic grounding in concepts such as training and tests sets, overfitting, and error rates. The course will also introduce a range of model based and algorithmic machine learning methods including regression, classification trees, Naive Bayes, and random forests. The course will cover the complete process of building prediction functions including data collection, feature creation, algorithms, and evaluation.

Our goal in this paper is to exploit heteroscedastic temperature scaling as a calibration strategy for out of distribution (OOD) detection. Heteroscedasticity here refers to the fact that the optimal temperature parameter for each sample can be different, as opposed to conventional approaches that use the same value for the entire distribution. To enable this, we propose a new training strategy called anchoring that can estimate appropriate temperature values for each sample, leading to state-of-the-art OOD detection performance across several benchmarks. Using NTK theory, we show that this temperature function estimate is closely linked to the epistemic uncertainty of the classifier, which explains its behavior. In contrast to some of the best-performing OOD detection approaches, our method does not require exposure to additional outlier datasets, custom calibration objectives, or model ensembling. Through empirical studies with different OOD detection settings -- far OOD, near OOD, and semantically coherent OOD - we establish a highly effective OOD detection approach. Code to reproduce our results is available at github.com/LLNL/AMP

The autism dataset is studied to identify the differences between autistic and healthy groups. For this, the resting-state Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (rs-fMRI) data of the two groups are analyzed, and networks of connections between brain regions were created. Several classification frameworks are developed to distinguish the connectivity patterns between the groups. The best models for statistical inference and precision were compared, and the tradeoff between precision and model interpretability was analyzed. Finally, the classification accuracy measures were reported to justify the performance of our framework. Our best model can classify autistic and healthy patients on the multisite ABIDE I data with 71% accuracy.

Alzheimer's patients gradually lose their ability to think, behave, and interact with others. Medical history, laboratory tests, daily activities, and personality changes can all be used to diagnose the disorder. A series of time-consuming and expensive tests are used to diagnose the illness. The most effective way to identify Alzheimer's disease is using a Random-forest classifier in this study, along with various other Machine Learning techniques. The main goal of this study is to fine-tune the classifier to detect illness with fewer tests while maintaining a reasonable disease discovery accuracy. We successfully identified the condition in almost 94% of cases using four of the thirty frequently utilized indicators.