Models of sensory processing and learning in the cortex need to efficiently assign credit to synapses in all areas. In deep learning, a known solution is error backpropagation, which however requires biologically implausible weight transport from feed-forward to feedback paths. We introduce Phaseless Alignment Learning (PAL), a bio-plausible method to learn efficient feedback weights in layered cortical hierarchies. This is achieved by exploiting the noise naturally found in biophysical systems as an additional carrier of information. In our dynamical system, all weights are learned simultaneously with always-on plasticity and using only information locally available to the synapses. Our method is completely phase-free (no forward and backward passes or phased learning) and allows for efficient error propagation across multi-layer cortical hierarchies, while maintaining biologically plausible signal transport and learning. Our method is applicable to a wide class of models and improves on previously known biologically plausible ways of credit assignment: compared to random synaptic feedback, it can solve complex tasks with less neurons and learn more useful latent representations. We demonstrate this on various classification tasks using a cortical microcircuit model with prospective coding.

Whole slide images (WSI) are microscopy images of stained tissue slides routinely prepared for diagnosis and treatment selection in medical practice. WSI are very large (gigapixel size) and complex (made of up to millions of cells). The current state-of-the-art (SoTA) approach to classify WSI subdivides them into tiles, encodes them by pre-trained networks and applies Multiple Instance Learning (MIL) to train for specific downstream tasks. However, annotated datasets are often small, typically a few hundred to a few thousand WSI, which may cause overfitting and underperforming models. Conversely, the number of unannotated WSI is ever increasing, with datasets of tens of thousands (soon to be millions) of images available. While it has been previously proposed to use these unannotated data to identify suitable tile representations by self-supervised learning (SSL), downstream classification tasks still require full supervision because parts of the MIL architecture is not trained during tile level SSL pre-training. Here, we propose a strategy of slide level SSL to leverage the large number of WSI without annotations to infer powerful slide representations. Applying our method to The Cancer-Genome Atlas, one of the most widely used data resources in cancer research (16 TB image data), we are able to downsize the dataset to 23 MB without any loss in predictive power: we show that a linear classifier trained on top of these embeddings maintains or improves previous SoTA performances on various benchmark WSI classification tasks. Finally, we observe that training a classifier on these representations with tiny datasets (e.g. 50 slides) improved performances over SoTA by an average of +6.3 AUC points over all downstream tasks.

早期分类算法可帮助用户对机器学习模型的预测更快地反应。例如，医院的预警系统使临床医生通过准确预测感染来改善患者的结局。尽管早期分类系统正在迅速发展，但仍然存在一个主要差距：现有系统不考虑不规则的时间序列，这些时间序列之间的观察结果之间存在不平衡且经常长的差距。众所周知，这种系列在医疗保健等有影响力的领域中普遍存在。我们弥合了这一差距，并研究了不规则时间序列的早期分类，这是早期分类器的新环境，它为更真实的问题打开了大门。我们的解决方案“停止＆Hop”使用连续的重复网络实时建模正在进行的不规则时间序列，而不规则的停止策略接受了加强学习的培训，可以预测何时停止和对流媒体系列进行分类。通过采用实价阶梯尺寸，停止策略可以灵活地决定何时实时停止持续的系列。这样，停止和HOP无缝地集成了观测时间安排中包含的信息，这是在这种情况下进行早期分类的新的至关重要的来源，并与时间序列值一起为不规则时间序列提供早期分类。使用四个合成和三个现实世界数据集，我们证明，与适应这个新问题的最新替代方案相比，停止和跳跃始终如一地做出更早，更准确的预测。我们的代码可在https://github.com/thartvigsen/stopandhop上公开获取。

The occurrence of vacuum arcs or radio frequency (rf) breakdowns is one of the most prevalent factors limiting the high-gradient performance of normal conducting rf cavities in particle accelerators. In this paper, we search for the existence of previously unrecognized features related to the incidence of rf breakdowns by applying a machine learning strategy to high-gradient cavity data from CERN's test stand for the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC). By interpreting the parameters of the learned models with explainable artificial intelligence (AI), we reverse-engineer physical properties for deriving fast, reliable, and simple rule-based models. Based on 6 months of historical data and dedicated experiments, our models show fractions of data with a high influence on the occurrence of breakdowns. Specifically, it is shown that the field emitted current following an initial breakdown is closely related to the probability of another breakdown occurring shortly thereafter. Results also indicate that the cavity pressure should be monitored with increased temporal resolution in future experiments, to further explore the vacuum activity associated with breakdowns.

灵巧的操纵仍然是机器人技术中的一个空缺问题。为了协调研究界为解决这个问题的努力，我们提出了共同的基准。我们设计和构建了机器人平台，该平台托管在MPI上供智能系统托管，可以远程访问。每个平台由三个能够敏捷物体操纵的机器人手指组成。用户能够通过提交自动执行的代码（类似于计算群集）来远程控制平台。使用此设置，i）我们举办机器人竞赛，来自世界任何地方的团队访问我们的平台以应对具有挑战性的任务ii）我们发布了在这些比赛中收集的数据集（包括数百个机器人小时），而我们为研究人员提供了访问自己项目的这些平台。

感知，规划，估算和控制的当代方法允许机器人在不确定，非结构化环境中的远程代理中稳健运行。此进度现在创造了机器人不仅在隔离，而且在我们的复杂环境中运行的机器人。意识到这个机会需要一种高效且灵活的媒介，人类可以与协作机器人沟通。自然语言提供了一种这样的媒体，通过对自然语言理解的统计方法的重大进展，现在能够解释各种自由形式命令。然而，大多数当代方法需要机器人环境的详细，现有的空间语义地图，这些环境模拟了话语可能引用的可能引用的空间。因此，当机器人部署在新的，先前未知或部分观察到的环境中时，这些方法发生故障，特别是当环境的心理模型在人类运营商和机器人之间不同时。本文提供了一种新的学习框架的全面描述，允许现场和服务机器人解释并正确执行先验未知，非结构化环境中的自然语言指令。对于我们的方法而不是我们的语言作为“传感器” - 在话语中隐含的“传感器” - 推断的空间，拓扑和语义信息，然后利用这些信息来学习在潜在环境模型上的分布。我们将此分布纳入概率，语言接地模型中，并在机器人的动作空间的象征性表示中推断出分布。我们使用模仿学习来确定对环境和行为分布的原因的信仰空间政策。我们通过各种导航和移动操纵实验评估我们的框架。

View-dependent effects such as reflections pose a substantial challenge for image-based and neural rendering algorithms. Above all, curved reflectors are particularly hard, as they lead to highly non-linear reflection flows as the camera moves. We introduce a new point-based representation to compute Neural Point Catacaustics allowing novel-view synthesis of scenes with curved reflectors, from a set of casually-captured input photos. At the core of our method is a neural warp field that models catacaustic trajectories of reflections, so complex specular effects can be rendered using efficient point splatting in conjunction with a neural renderer. One of our key contributions is the explicit representation of reflections with a reflection point cloud which is displaced by the neural warp field, and a primary point cloud which is optimized to represent the rest of the scene. After a short manual annotation step, our approach allows interactive high-quality renderings of novel views with accurate reflection flow. Additionally, the explicit representation of reflection flow supports several forms of scene manipulation in captured scenes, such as reflection editing, cloning of specular objects, reflection tracking across views, and comfortable stereo viewing. We provide the source code and other supplemental material on https://repo-sam.inria.fr/ fungraph/neural_catacaustics/

Edge computing is changing the face of many industries and services. Common edge computing models offload computing which is prone to security risks and privacy violation. However, advances in deep learning enabled Internet of Things (IoTs) to take decisions and run cognitive tasks locally. This research introduces a decentralized-control edge model where most computation and decisions are moved to the IoT level. The model aims at decreasing communication to the edge which in return enhances efficiency and decreases latency. The model also avoids data transfer which raises security and privacy risks. To examine the model, we developed SAFEMYRIDES, a scene-aware ridesharing monitoring system where smart phones are detecting violations at the runtime. Current real-time monitoring systems are costly and require continuous network connectivity. The system uses optimized deep learning that run locally on IoTs to detect violations in ridesharing and record violation incidences. The system would enhance safety and security in ridesharing without violating privacy.

Cognitive Computing (COC) aims to build highly cognitive machines with low computational resources that respond in real-time. However, scholarly literature shows varying research areas and various interpretations of COC. This calls for a cohesive architecture that delineates the nature of COC. We argue that if Herbert Simon considered the design science is the science of artificial, cognitive systems are the products of cognitive science or 'the newest science of the artificial'. Therefore, building a conceptual basis for COC is an essential step into prospective cognitive computing-based systems. This paper proposes an architecture of COC through analyzing the literature on COC using a myriad of statistical analysis methods. Then, we compare the statistical analysis results with previous qualitative analysis results to confirm our findings. The study also comprehensively surveys the recent research on COC to identify the state of the art and connect the advances in varied research disciplines in COC. The study found that there are three underlaying computing paradigms, Von-Neuman, Neuromorphic Engineering and Quantum Computing, that comprehensively complement the structure of cognitive computation. The research discuss possible applications and open research directions under the COC umbrella.

Reading comprehension of legal text can be a particularly challenging task due to the length and complexity of legal clauses and a shortage of expert-annotated datasets. To address this challenge, we introduce the Merger Agreement Understanding Dataset (MAUD), an expert-annotated reading comprehension dataset based on the American Bar Association's 2021 Public Target Deal Points Study, with over 39,000 examples and over 47,000 total annotations. Our fine-tuned Transformer baselines show promising results, with models performing well above random on most questions. However, on a large subset of questions, there is still room for significant improvement. As the only expert-annotated merger agreement dataset, MAUD is valuable as a benchmark for both the legal profession and the NLP community.