Accurately quantifying tree cover is an important metric for ecosystem monitoring and for assessing progress in restored sites. Recent works have shown that deep learning-based segmentation algorithms are capable of accurately mapping trees at country and continental scales using high-resolution aerial and satellite imagery. Mapping at high (ideally sub-meter) resolution is necessary to identify individual trees, however there are few open-access datasets containing instance level annotations and those that exist are small or not geographically diverse. We present a novel open-access dataset for individual tree crown delineation (TCD) in high-resolution aerial imagery sourced from OpenAerialMap (OAM). Our dataset, OAM-TCD, comprises 5072 2048x2048 px images at 10 cm/px resolution with associated human-labeled instance masks for over 280k individual and 56k groups of trees. By sampling imagery from around the world, we are able to better capture the diversity and morphology of trees in different terrestrial biomes and in both urban and natural environments. Using our dataset, we train reference instance and semantic segmentation models that compare favorably to existing state-of-the-art models. We assess performance through k-fold cross-validation and comparison with existing datasets; additionally we demonstrate compelling results on independent aerial imagery captured over Switzerland and compare to municipal tree inventories and LIDAR-derived canopy maps in the city of Zurich. Our dataset, models and training/benchmark code are publicly released under permissive open-source licenses: Creative Commons (majority CC BY 4.0), and Apache 2.0 respectively.

Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a life-threatening condition where rapid and accurate diagnosis is imperative yet difficult due to predominantly atypical symptomatology. Computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) is acknowledged as the gold standard imaging tool in clinics, yet it can be contraindicated for emergency department (ED) patients and represents an onerous procedure, thus necessitating PE identification through non-contrast CT (NCT) scans. In this work, we explore the feasibility of applying a deep-learning approach to NCT scans for PE identification. We propose a novel Cross-Phase Mutual learNing framework (CPMN) that fosters knowledge transfer from CTPA to NCT, while concurrently conducting embolism segmentation and abnormality classification in a multi-task manner. The proposed CPMN leverages the Inter-Feature Alignment (IFA) strategy that enhances spatial contiguity and mutual learning between the dual-pathway network, while the Intra-Feature Discrepancy (IFD) strategy can facilitate precise segmentation of PE against complex backgrounds for single-pathway networks. For a comprehensive assessment of the proposed approach, a large-scale dualphase dataset containing 334 PE patients and 1,105 normal subjects has been established. Experimental results demonstrate that CPMN achieves the leading identification performance, which is 95.4% and 99.6% in patient-level sensitivity and specificity on NCT scans, indicating the potential of our approach as an economical, accessible, and precise tool for PE identification in clinical practice. Keywords: Pulmonary embolism Cross-phase mutual learning Multitask learning Non-contrast CT *These authors contributed equally to this work.

Large Language Models (LLMs) are increasingly integrated into diverse industries, posing substantial security risks due to unauthorized replication and misuse. To mitigate these concerns, robust identification mechanisms are widely acknowledged as an effective strategy. Identification systems for LLMs now rely heavily on watermarking technology to manage and protect intellectual property and ensure data security. However, previous studies have primarily concentrated on the basic principles of algorithms and lacked a comprehensive analysis of watermarking theory and practice from the perspective of intelligent identification. To bridge this gap, firstly, we explore how a robust identity recognition system can be effectively implemented and managed within LLMs by various participants using watermarking technology. Secondly, we propose a mathematical framework based on mutual information theory, which systematizes the identification process to achieve more precise and customized watermarking. Additionally, we present a comprehensive evaluation of performance metrics for LLM watermarking, reflecting participant preferences and advancing discussions on its identification applications. Lastly, we outline the existing challenges in current watermarking technologies and theoretical frameworks, and provide directional guidance to address these challenges. Our systematic classification and detailed exposition aim to enhance the comparison and evaluation of various methods, fostering further research and development toward a transparent, secure, and equitable LLM ecosystem.

Local feature selection in machine learning provides instance-specific explanations by focusing on the most relevant features for each prediction, enhancing the interpretability of complex models. However, such methods tend to produce misleading explanations by encoding additional information in their selections. In this work, we attribute the problem of misleading selections by formalizing the concepts of label and feature leakage. We rigorously derive the necessary and sufficient conditions under which we can guarantee no leakage, and show existing methods do not meet these conditions. Furthermore, we propose the first local feature selection method that is proven to have no leakage called SUWR. Our experimental results indicate that SUWR is less prone to overfitting and combines state-of-the-art predictive performance with high feature-selection sparsity. Our generic and easily extendable formal approach provides a strong theoretical basis for future work on interpretability with reliable explanations.

We present Cephalo, a series of multimodal vision large language models (V-LLMs) designed for materials science applications, integrating visual and linguistic data for enhanced understanding. A key innovation of Cephalo is its advanced dataset generation method. Cephalo is trained on integrated image and text data from thousands of scientific papers and science-focused Wikipedia data demonstrates can interpret complex visual scenes, generate precise language descriptions, and answer queries about images effectively. The combination of a vision encoder with an autoregressive transformer supports multimodal natural language understanding, which can be coupled with other generative methods to create an image-to-text-to-3D pipeline. To develop more capable models from smaller ones, we report both mixture-of-expert methods and model merging. We examine the models in diverse use cases that incorporate biological materials, fracture and engineering analysis, protein biophysics, and bio-inspired design based on insect behavior. Generative applications include bio-inspired designs, including pollen-inspired architected materials, as well as the synthesis of bio-inspired material microstructures from a photograph of a solar eclipse. Additional model fine-tuning with a series of molecular dynamics results demonstrate Cephalo's enhanced capabilities to accurately predict statistical features of stress and atomic energy distributions, as well as crack dynamics and damage in materials.

Gathering data and identifying events in various traffic situations remains an essential challenge for the systematic evaluation of a perception system's performance. Analyzing large-scale, typically unstructured, multi-modal, time series data obtained from video, radar, and LiDAR is computationally demanding, particularly when meta-information or annotations are missing. We compare Optical Flow (OF) and Deep Learning (DL) to feed computationally efficient event detection via space-filling curves on video data from a forward-facing, in-vehicle camera. Our first approach leverages unexpected disturbances in the OF field from vehicle surroundings; the second approach is a DL model trained on human visual attention to predict a driver's gaze to spot potential event locations. We feed these results to a space-filling curve to reduce dimensionality and achieve computationally efficient event retrieval. We systematically evaluate our concept by obtaining characteristic patterns for both approaches from a large-scale virtual dataset (SMIRK) and applied our findings to the Zenseact Open Dataset (ZOD), a large multi-modal, real-world dataset, collected over two years in 14 different European countries. Our results yield that the OF approach excels in specificity and reduces false positives, while the DL approach demonstrates superior sensitivity. Both approaches offer comparable processing speed, making them suitable for real-time applications.

This research explores the nuanced differences in texts produced by AI and those written by humans, aiming to elucidate how language is expressed differently by AI and humans. Through comprehensive statistical data analysis, the study investigates various linguistic traits, patterns of creativity, and potential biases inherent in human-written and AI- generated texts. The significance of this research lies in its contribution to understanding AI's creative capabilities and its impact on literature, communication, and societal frameworks. By examining a meticulously curated dataset comprising 500K essays spanning diverse topics and genres, generated by LLMs, or written by humans, the study uncovers the deeper layers of linguistic expression and provides insights into the cognitive processes underlying both AI and human-driven textual compositions. The analysis revealed that human-authored essays tend to have a higher total word count on average than AI-generated essays but have a shorter average word length compared to AI- generated essays, and while both groups exhibit high levels of fluency, the vocabulary diversity of Human authored content is higher than AI generated content. However, AI- generated essays show a slightly higher level of novelty, suggesting the potential for generating more original content through AI systems. The paper addresses challenges in assessing the language generation capabilities of AI models and emphasizes the importance of datasets that reflect the complexities of human-AI collaborative writing. Through systematic preprocessing and rigorous statistical analysis, this study offers valuable insights into the evolving landscape of AI-generated content and informs future developments in natural language processing (NLP).

Binding affinity optimization is crucial in early-stage drug discovery. While numerous machine learning methods exist for predicting ligand potency, their comparative efficacy remains unclear. This study evaluates the performance of classical tree-based models and advanced neural networks in protein-ligand binding affinity prediction. Our comprehensive benchmarking encompasses 2D models utilizing ligand-only RDKit embeddings and Large Language Model (LLM) ligand representations, as well as 3D neural networks incorporating bound protein-ligand conformations. We assess these models across multiple standard datasets, examining various predictive scenarios including classification, ranking, regression, and active learning. Results indicate that simpler models can surpass more complex ones in specific tasks, while 3D models leveraging structural information become increasingly competitive with larger training datasets containing compounds with labelled affinity data against multiple targets. Pre-trained 3D models, by incorporating protein pocket environments, demonstrate significant advantages in data-scarce scenarios for specific binding pockets. Additionally, LLM pretraining on 2D ligand data enhances complex model performance, providing versatile embeddings that outperform traditional RDKit features in computational efficiency. Finally, we show that combining 2D and 3D model strengths improves active learning outcomes beyond current state-of-the-art approaches. These findings offer valuable insights for optimizing machine learning strategies in drug discovery pipelines.

In recent years, methods for producing highly realistic synthetic images have significantly advanced, allowing the creation of high-quality images from text prompts that describe the desired content. Even more impressively, Stable Diffusion (SD) models now provide users with the option of creating synthetic images in an image-to-image translation fashion, modifying images in the latent space of advanced autoencoders. This striking evolution, however, brings an alarming consequence: it is possible to pass an image through SD autoencoders to reproduce a synthetic copy of the image with high realism and almost no visual artifacts. This process, known as SD image laundering, can transform real images into lookalike synthetic ones and risks complicating forensic analysis for content authenticity verification. Our paper investigates the forensic implications of image laundering, revealing a serious potential to obscure traces of real content, including sensitive and harmful materials that could be mistakenly classified as synthetic, thereby undermining the protection of individuals depicted. To address this issue, we propose a two-stage detection pipeline that effectively differentiates between pristine, laundered, and fully synthetic images (those generated from text prompts), showing robustness across various conditions. Finally, we highlight another alarming property of image laundering, which appears to mask the unique artifacts exploited by forensic detectors to solve the camera model identification task, strongly undermining their performance. Our experimental code is available at https://github.com/polimi-ispl/synthetic-image-detection.

Anomaly detection is an important function in IoT applications for finding outliers caused by abnormal events. Anomaly detection sometimes comes with high-frequency data sampling which should be carried out at Edge devices rather than Cloud. In this paper, we consider the case that multiple IoT devices are installed in a single remote site and that they collaboratively detect anomalies from the observations with device-to-device communications. For this, we propose a fully distributed collaborative scheme for training distributed anomaly detectors with Wireless Ad Hoc Federated Learning, namely "WAFL-Autoencoder". We introduce the concept of Global Anomaly which sample is not only rare to the local device but rare to all the devices in the target domain. We also propose a distributed threshold-finding algorithm for Global Anomaly detection. With our standard benchmark-based evaluation, we have confirmed that our scheme trained anomaly detectors perfectly across the devices. We have also confirmed that the devices collaboratively found thresholds for Global Anomaly detection with low false positive rates while achieving high true positive rates with few exceptions.