Statistical Learning
A Generative Graph Contrastive Learning Model with Global Signal
Graph contrastive learning (GCL) has garnered significant attention recently since it learns complex structural information from graphs through self-supervised learning manner. However, prevalent GCL models may suffer from performance degradation due to inappropriate contrastive signals. Concretely, they commonly generate augmented views based on random perturbation, which leads to biased essential structures due to the introduction of noise. In addition, they assign equal weight to both hard and easy sample pairs, thereby ignoring the difference in importance of the sample pairs. To address these issues, this study proposes a novel Contrastive Signal Generative Framework for Accurate Graph Learning (CSG2L) with the following two-fold ideas: a) building a singular value decomposition (SVD)-directed augmented module (SVD-aug) to obtain the global interactions as well as avoiding the random noise perturbation; b) designing a local-global dependency learning module (LGDL) with an adaptive reweighting strategy which can differentiate the effects of hard and easy sample pairs. Extensive experiments on benchmark datasets demonstrate that the proposed CSG2L outperforms the state-of-art baselines. Moreover, CSG2L is compatible with a variety of GNNs.
Tree Boosting Methods for Balanced andImbalanced Classification and their Robustness Over Time in Risk Assessment
Velarde, Gissel, Weichert, Michael, Deshmunkh, Anuj, Deshmane, Sanjay, Sudhir, Anindya, Sharma, Khushboo, Joshi, Vaibhav
Most real-world classification problems deal with imbalanced datasets, posing a challenge for Artificial Intelligence (AI), i.e., machine learning algorithms, because the minority class, which is of extreme interest, often proves difficult to be detected. This paper empirically evaluates tree boosting methods' performance given different dataset sizes and class distributions, from perfectly balanced to highly imbalanced. For tabular data, tree-based methods such as XGBoost, stand out in several benchmarks due to detection performance and speed. Therefore, XGBoost and Imbalance-XGBoost are evaluated. After introducing the motivation to address risk assessment with machine learning, the paper reviews evaluation metrics for detection systems or binary classifiers. It proposes a method for data preparation followed by tree boosting methods including hyper-parameter optimization. The method is evaluated on private datasets of 1 thousand (K), 10K and 100K samples on distributions with 50, 45, 25, and 5 percent positive samples. As expected, the developed method increases its recognition performance as more data is given for training and the F1 score decreases as the data distribution becomes more imbalanced, but it is still significantly superior to the baseline of precision-recall determined by the ratio of positives divided by positives and negatives. Sampling to balance the training set does not provide consistent improvement and deteriorates detection. In contrast, classifier hyper-parameter optimization improves recognition, but should be applied carefully depending on data volume and distribution. Finally, the developed method is robust to data variation over time up to some point. Retraining can be used when performance starts deteriorating.
Temperature Estimation in Induction Motors using Machine Learning
Li, Dinan, Kakosimos, Panagiotis
-- The number of electrified powertrains is ever increasing today t owards a more sustainable future; thus, it is essential that unwanted failures are prevented, and a reliable operation is secured . Monitoring the internal temperatures of motors and keeping them under their thresholds is an important first step. Conventional modeling methods require expert knowledge and complicated mathematical appro aches . With all the data a modern electric drive collect s nowadays during the system operation, it is feasible to apply data - driven approach es for estimat ing thermal behaviors . In this paper, multiple machine - learning methods are investigated on their capa bility to approximate the temperatures of the stator winding and bearing in induction motors . The explored algorithms vary from linear to neural network s . For this reason, experimental lab data ha ve been captured from a powertrain under predetermined operating conditions. F or each approach, a hyperparameter search is then performed to find the optimal configuration. All the models are evaluated by various metrics, and i t has been found that neur al networks perform satisfactor ily even under transient c onditions. In [1], the percentage share of specific failures in induction machines has been presented .
Random-Set Large Language Models
Mubashar, Muhammad, Manchingal, Shireen Kudukkil, Cuzzolin, Fabio
Large Language Models (LLMs) are known to produce very high-quality tests and responses to our queries. But how much can we trust this generated text? In this paper, we study the problem of uncertainty quantification in LLMs. We propose a novel Random-Set Large Language Model (RSLLM) approach which predicts finite random sets (belief functions) over the token space, rather than probability vectors as in classical LLMs. In order to allow so efficiently, we also present a methodology based on hierarchical clustering to extract and use a budget of "focal" subsets of tokens upon which the belief prediction is defined, rather than using all possible collections of tokens, making the method scalable yet effective. RS-LLMs encode the epistemic uncertainty induced in their generation process by the size and diversity of its training set via the size of the credal sets associated with the predicted belief functions. The proposed approach is evaluated on CoQA and OBQA datasets using Llama2-7b, Mistral-7b and Phi-2 models and is shown to outperform the standard model in both datasets in terms of correctness of answer while also showing potential in estimating the second level uncertainty in its predictions and providing the capability to detect when its hallucinating.
Efficient GNN Training Through Structure-Aware Randomized Mini-Batching
Balaji, Vignesh, Kozyrakis, Christos, Chechik, Gal, Maron, Haggai
Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) enable learning on realworld graphs and mini-batch training has emerged as the de facto standard for training GNNs because it can scale to very large graphs and improve convergence. Current mini-batch construction policies largely ignore efficiency considerations of GNN training. Specifically, existing mini-batching techniques employ randomization schemes to improve accuracy and convergence. However, these randomization schemes are often agnostic to the structural properties of the graph (for eg. community structure), resulting in highly irregular memory access patterns during GNN training that make suboptimal use of on-chip GPU caches. On the other hand, while deterministic mini-batching based solely on graph structure delivers fast runtime performance, the lack of randomness compromises both the final model accuracy and training convergence speed. In this paper, we present Community-structure-aware Randomized Mini-batching (COMM-RAND), a novel methodology that bridges the gap between the above extremes. COMM-RAND allows practitioners to explore the space between pure randomness and pure graph structural awareness during mini-batch construction, leading to significantly more efficient GNN training with similar accuracy. We evaluated COMM-RAND across four popular graph learning benchmarks. COMM-RAND cuts down GNN training time by up to 2.76x (1.8x on average) while achieving an accuracy that is within 1.79% points (0.42% on average) compared to popular random mini-batching approaches.
Range-based 6-DoF Monte Carlo SLAM with Gradient-guided Particle Filter on GPU
Nakao, Takumi, Koide, Kenji, Takanose, Aoki, Oishi, Shuji, Yokozuka, Masashi, Date, Hisashi
-- This paper presents range-based 6-DoF Monte Carlo SLAM with a gradient-guided particle update strategy. While non-parametric state estimation methods, such as particle filters, are robust in situations with high ambiguity, they are known to be unsuitable for high-dimensional problems due to the curse of dimensionality. T o address this issue, we propose a particle update strategy that improves the sampling efficiency by using the gradient information of the likelihood function to guide particles toward its mode. Additionally, we introduce a keyframe-based map representation that represents the global map as a set of past frames (i.e., keyframes) to mitigate memory consumption. The keyframe poses for each particle are corrected using a simple loop closure method to maintain trajectory consistency. The combination of gradient information and keyframe-based map representation significantly enhances sampling efficiency and reduces memory usage compared to traditional RBPF approaches. T o process a large number of particles (e.g., 100,000 particles) in real-time, the proposed framework is designed to fully exploit GPU parallel processing. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method exhibits extreme robustness to state ambiguity and can even deal with kidnapping situations, such as when the sensor moves to different floors via an elevator, with minimal heuristics.
Modes of Sequence Models and Learning Coefficients
Chen, Zhongtian, Murfet, Daniel
We develop a geometric account of sequence modelling that links patterns in the data to measurable properties of the loss landscape in transformer networks. First, we cast conditional sequence distributions into a Hilbert-space framework and apply tensor decompositions to identify their principal modes. Truncating the small-amplitude modes yields an effective data distribution that preserves dominant structure while discarding statistical detail. Second, we show theoretically that Local Learning Coefficient (LLC) estimates are insensitive to modes below a data-dependent threshold. Consequently, the LLC calculated in practice characterises the geometry of the effective rather than the true distribution. This insight clarifies why reliable LLC estimates can be obtained even when a network parameter is not a strict minimiser of the population loss, and it highlights how the inverse temperature in SGLD acts as a resolution dial on the landscape structure.
Self-Balancing, Memory Efficient, Dynamic Metric Space Data Maintenance, for Rapid Multi-Kernel Estimation
Ellendula, Aditya S, Bajaj, Chandrajit
We present a dynamic self-balancing octree data structure that enables efficient neighborhood maintenance in evolving metric spaces, a key challenge in modern machine learning systems. Many learning and generative models operate as dynamical systems whose representations evolve during training, requiring fast, adaptive spatial organization. Our two-parameter octree supports logarithmic-time updates and queries, eliminating the need for costly full rebuilds as data distributions shift. We demonstrate its effectiveness in four areas: (1) accelerating Stein variational gradient descent by supporting more particles with lower overhead; (2) enabling real-time, incremental KNN classification with logarithmic complexity; (3) facilitating efficient, dynamic indexing and retrieval for retrieval-augmented generation; and (4) improving sample efficiency by jointly optimizing input and latent spaces. Across all applications, our approach yields exponential speedups while preserving accuracy, particularly in high-dimensional spaces where maintaining adaptive spatial structure is critical.
Mathematics of Continual Learning
Continual learning is an emerging subject in machine learning that aims to solve multiple tasks presented sequentially to the learner without forgetting previously learned tasks. Recently, many deep learning based approaches have been proposed for continual learning, however the mathematical foundations behind existing continual learning methods remain underdeveloped. On the other hand, adaptive filtering is a classic subject in signal processing with a rich history of mathematically principled methods. However, its role in understanding the foundations of continual learning has been underappreciated. In this tutorial, we review the basic principles behind both continual learning and adaptive filtering, and present a comparative analysis that highlights multiple connections between them. These connections allow us to enhance the mathematical foundations of continual learning based on existing results for adaptive filtering, extend adaptive filtering insights using existing continual learning methods, and discuss a few research directions for continual learning suggested by the historical developments in adaptive filtering.
PTCL: Pseudo-Label Temporal Curriculum Learning for Label-Limited Dynamic Graph
Zhang, Shengtao, Zhang, Haokai, Lou, Shiqi, Wang, Zicheng, Zeng, Zinan, Wang, Yilin, Luo, Minnan
Dynamic node classification is critical for modeling evolving systems like financial transactions and academic collaborations. In such systems, dynamically capturing node information changes is critical for dynamic node classification, which usually requires all labels at every timestamp. However, it is difficult to collect all dynamic labels in real-world scenarios due to high annotation costs and label uncertainty (e.g., ambiguous or delayed labels in fraud detection). In contrast, final timestamp labels are easier to obtain as they rely on complete temporal patterns and are usually maintained as a unique label for each user in many open platforms, without tracking the history data. To bridge this gap, we propose PTCL(Pseudo-label Temporal Curriculum Learning), a pioneering method addressing label-limited dynamic node classification where only final labels are available. PTCL introduces: (1) a temporal decoupling architecture separating the backbone (learning time-aware representations) and decoder (strictly aligned with final labels), which generate pseudo-labels, and (2) a Temporal Curriculum Learning strategy that prioritizes pseudo-labels closer to the final timestamp by assigning them higher weights using an exponentially decaying function. We contribute a new academic dataset (CoOAG), capturing long-range research interest in dynamic graph. Experiments across real-world scenarios demonstrate PTCL's consistent superiority over other methods adapted to this task. Beyond methodology, we propose a unified framework FLiD (Framework for Label-Limited Dynamic Node Classification), consisting of a complete preparation workflow, training pipeline, and evaluation standards, and supporting various models and datasets. The code can be found at https://github.com/3205914485/FLiD.