2,335 research outputs found
Self-supervised learning for transferable representations
Machine learning has undeniably achieved remarkable advances thanks to large labelled datasets and supervised learning. However, this progress is constrained by the labour-intensive annotation process. It is not feasible to generate extensive labelled datasets for every problem we aim to address. Consequently, there has been a notable shift in recent times toward approaches that solely leverage raw data. Among these, self-supervised learning has emerged as a particularly powerful approach, offering scalability to massive datasets and showcasing considerable potential for effective knowledge transfer. This thesis investigates self-supervised representation learning with a strong focus on computer vision applications. We provide a comprehensive survey of self-supervised methods across various modalities, introducing a taxonomy that categorises them into four distinct families while also highlighting practical considerations for real-world implementation. Our focus thenceforth is on the computer vision modality, where we perform a comprehensive benchmark evaluation of state-of-the-art self supervised models against many diverse downstream transfer tasks. Our findings reveal that self-supervised models often outperform supervised learning across a spectrum of tasks, albeit with correlations weakening as tasks transition beyond classification, particularly for datasets with distribution shifts. Digging deeper, we investigate the influence of data augmentation on the transferability of contrastive learners, uncovering a trade-off between spatial and appearance-based invariances that generalise to real-world transformations. This begins to explain the differing empirical performances achieved by self-supervised learners on different downstream tasks, and it showcases the advantages of specialised representations produced with tailored augmentation. Finally, we introduce a novel self-supervised pre-training algorithm for object detection, aligning pre-training with downstream architecture and objectives, leading to reduced localisation errors and improved label efficiency. In conclusion, this thesis contributes a comprehensive understanding of self-supervised representation learning and its role in enabling effective transfer across computer vision tasks
UMSL Bulletin 2023-2024
The 2023-2024 Bulletin and Course Catalog for the University of Missouri St. Louis.https://irl.umsl.edu/bulletin/1088/thumbnail.jp
Multidisciplinary perspectives on Artificial Intelligence and the law
This open access book presents an interdisciplinary, multi-authored, edited collection of chapters on Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’) and the Law. AI technology has come to play a central role in the modern data economy. Through a combination of increased computing power, the growing availability of data and the advancement of algorithms, AI has now become an umbrella term for some of the most transformational technological breakthroughs of this age. The importance of AI stems from both the opportunities that it offers and the challenges that it entails. While AI applications hold the promise of economic growth and efficiency gains, they also create significant risks and uncertainty. The potential and perils of AI have thus come to dominate modern discussions of technology and ethics – and although AI was initially allowed to largely develop without guidelines or rules, few would deny that the law is set to play a fundamental role in shaping the future of AI. As the debate over AI is far from over, the need for rigorous analysis has never been greater. This book thus brings together contributors from different fields and backgrounds to explore how the law might provide answers to some of the most pressing questions raised by AI. An outcome of the Católica Research Centre for the Future of Law and its interdisciplinary working group on Law and Artificial Intelligence, it includes contributions by leading scholars in the fields of technology, ethics and the law.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Knowledge-based Data Processing for Multilingual Natural Language Analysis
Natural Language Processing (NLP) aids the empowerment of intelligent machines by enhancing human language understanding for linguistic-based human-computer communication. Recent developments in processing power, as well as the availability of large volumes of linguistic data, have enhanced the demand for data-driven methods for automatic semantic analysis. This paper proposes multilingual data processing using feature extraction with classification using deep learning architectures. Here, the input text data has been collected based on various languages and processed to remove missing values and null values. The processed data has been extracted using Histogram Equalization based Global Local Entropy (HEGLE) and classified using Kernel-based Radial basis Function (Ker_Rad_BF). These architectures could be utilized to process natural language. We present solutions to the multilingual sentiment analysis issue in this research article by implementing algorithms, and we compare precision factors to discover the optimum option for multilingual sentiment analysis. For the HASOC dataset, the proposed HEGLE_ Ker_Rad_BF achieved an accuracy of 98%, a precision of 97%, a recall of 90.5%, an f-1 score of 85%, RMSE of 55.6% and a loss curve analysis attained 44%. For the TRAC dataset, the accuracy of 98%, the precision attained is 97%, the Recall is 91%, the F-1 score is 87%, and the RMSE of the proposed neural network is 55%
UMSL Bulletin 2022-2023
The 2022-2023 Bulletin and Course Catalog for the University of Missouri St. Louis.https://irl.umsl.edu/bulletin/1087/thumbnail.jp
Connecting the Dots in Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence: From AI Principles, Ethics, and Key Requirements to Responsible AI Systems and Regulation
Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence (AI) is based on seven technical
requirements sustained over three main pillars that should be met throughout
the system's entire life cycle: it should be (1) lawful, (2) ethical, and (3)
robust, both from a technical and a social perspective. However, attaining
truly trustworthy AI concerns a wider vision that comprises the trustworthiness
of all processes and actors that are part of the system's life cycle, and
considers previous aspects from different lenses. A more holistic vision
contemplates four essential axes: the global principles for ethical use and
development of AI-based systems, a philosophical take on AI ethics, a
risk-based approach to AI regulation, and the mentioned pillars and
requirements. The seven requirements (human agency and oversight; robustness
and safety; privacy and data governance; transparency; diversity,
non-discrimination and fairness; societal and environmental wellbeing; and
accountability) are analyzed from a triple perspective: What each requirement
for trustworthy AI is, Why it is needed, and How each requirement can be
implemented in practice. On the other hand, a practical approach to implement
trustworthy AI systems allows defining the concept of responsibility of
AI-based systems facing the law, through a given auditing process. Therefore, a
responsible AI system is the resulting notion we introduce in this work, and a
concept of utmost necessity that can be realized through auditing processes,
subject to the challenges posed by the use of regulatory sandboxes. Our
multidisciplinary vision of trustworthy AI culminates in a debate on the
diverging views published lately about the future of AI. Our reflections in
this matter conclude that regulation is a key for reaching a consensus among
these views, and that trustworthy and responsible AI systems will be crucial
for the present and future of our society.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures, under second revie
Posthuman Creative Styling can a creative writer’s style of writing be described as procedural?
This thesis is about creative styling — the styling a creative writer might use to make their writing
unique. It addresses the question as to whether such styling can be described as procedural. Creative
styling is part of the technique a creative writer uses when writing. It is how they make the text more
‘lively’ by use of tips and tricks they have either learned or discovered. In essence these are rules, ones
the writer accrues over time by their practice. The thesis argues that the use and invention of these
rules can be set as procedures. and so describe creative styling as procedural.
The thesis follows from questioning why it is that machines or algorithms have, so far, been
incapable of producing creative writing which has value. Machine-written novels do not abound on
the bookshelves and writing styled by computers is, on the whole, dull in comparison to human-crafted
literature. It came about by thinking how it would be possible to reach a point where writing by people
and procedural writing are considered to have equal value. For this reason the thesis is set in a
posthuman context, where the differences between machines and people are erased.
The thesis uses practice to inform an original conceptual space model, based on quality dimensions
and dynamic-inter operation of spaces. This model gives an example of the procedures which a
posthuman creative writer uses when engaged in creative styling. It suggests an original formulation
for the conceptual blending of conceptual spaces, based on the casting of qualities from one space to
another. In support of and informing its arguments are ninety-nine examples of creative writing
practice which show the procedures by which style has been applied, created and assessed. It provides
a route forward for further joint research into both computational and human-coded creative writing
Talking about personal recovery in bipolar disorder: Integrating health research, natural language processing, and corpus linguistics to analyse peer online support forum posts
Background: Personal recovery, ‘living a satisfying, hopeful and contributing lifeeven with the limitations caused by the illness’ (Anthony, 1993) is of particular value in bipolar disorder where symptoms often persist despite treatment. So far, personal recovery has only been studied in researcher-constructed environments (interviews, focus groups). Support forum posts can serve as a complementary naturalistic data source. Objective: The overarching aim of this thesis was to study personal recovery experiences that people living with bipolar disorder have shared in online support forums through integrating health research, NLP, and corpus linguistics in a mixed methods approach within a pragmatic research paradigm, while considering ethical issues and involving people with lived experience. Methods: This mixed-methods study analysed: 1) previous qualitative evidence on personal recovery in bipolar disorder from interviews and focus groups 2) who self-reports a bipolar disorder diagnosis on the online discussion platform Reddit 3) the relationship of mood and posting in mental health-specific Reddit forums (subreddits) 4) discussions of personal recovery in bipolar disorder subreddits. Results: A systematic review of qualitative evidence resulted in the first framework for personal recovery in bipolar disorder, POETIC (Purpose & meaning, Optimism & hope, Empowerment, Tensions, Identity, Connectedness). Mainly young or middle-aged US-based adults self-report a bipolar disorder diagnosis on Reddit. Of these, those experiencing more intense emotions appear to be more likely to post in mental health support subreddits. Their personal recovery-related discussions in bipolar disorder subreddits primarily focussed on three domains: Purpose & meaning (particularly reproductive decisions, work), Connectedness (romantic relationships, social support), Empowerment (self-management, personal responsibility). Support forum data highlighted personal recovery issues that exclusively or more frequently came up online compared to previous evidence from interviews and focus groups. Conclusion: This project is the first to analyse non-reactive data on personal recovery in bipolar disorder. Indicating the key areas that people focus on in personal recovery when posting freely and the language they use provides a helpful starting point for formal and informal carers to understand the concerns of people diagnosed with bipolar disorder and to consider how best to offer support
Medicinal cannabis as a potential treatment for chronic pain and anxiety
Since its legalisation in Australia in 2016, the most common indications for which medicinal cannabis is prescribed are chronic pain and anxiety. This thesis aimed to explore the real-world use of cannabis for these indications, and the potential of translating this evidence into a clinical trial setting.
The effectiveness and tolerability of medicinal cannabis for chronic pain, with a subset analysis on arthritis was explored using data from the CA Clinics Observational Study (CACOS). The chronic pain patients and arthritis subset reported significantly reduced pain intensity, with dry mouth, somnolence, and fatigue the most common AEs reported.
The incidence of AEs in this cohort, and the association that these may have with concomitant medicines, cannabis constituents, and dose was also reported. Each patient was taking a median of six concomitant medications. Patients taking a gabapentinoid were more likely to report dizziness, and those taking a tricyclic antidepressant were more likely to report somnolence and anxiety.
Next in this thesis clinical trial protocols were developed, the first to examine the efficacy of a transdermal CBD cream on patients with osteoarthritis. The second protocol follows a review on aromatase inhibitor associated-arthralgia, and proposes an oral CBD-extract to improve joint pain and health-related quality of life (HRQoL).
Finally, use of cannabis for anxiety was reviewed and the effectiveness and tolerability of cannabis for anxiety, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was explored using CACOS data. Significantly reduced anxiety was observed in patients with unspecified anxiety and PTSD, and the most common AEs reported were dry mouth, somnolence, and fatigue.
The observed improvements in various HRQoL outcomes in both the chronic pain and anxiety cohorts, and the possible safety concerns raised in this thesis supports ongoing exploration of medicinal cannabis in clinical trial settings
- …