Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Website Owner Identification Through Multi-Level Contrastive Representation Learning, Cheng Tu, Yunshan Ma, Yang Li, Min Zhang, Miao Hu, Fan Shi, Xiang Wang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Website owner identification aims to recognize the organization or individual who owns a given website that is served on the web. It is a crucial step for cyberspace surveying and mapping, playing a significant role in cyberspace administration and governance. Existing widely employed solutions for website owner identification mainly fall into two paradigms: (1) querying the public information databases such as WHOIS, which store the Internet resource’s registered users or assignees; and (2) directly extracting the organization or individual name of the website owner from the webpage using the technique of named entity recognition. However, the former is less reliable …

Unsupervised Visual Chain-Of-Thought Reasoning Via Preference Optimization, Kesen Zhao, Beier Zhu, Qianru Sun, Hanwang Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Chain-of-thought (CoT) reasoning greatly improves the interpretability and problem-solving abilities of multimodal large language models (MLLMs). However, existing ap proaches focus on text CoT, limiting their ability to lever age visual cues. Visual CoT remains underexplored, and the only work [35] is based on supervised fine-tuning that relies on extensive labeled bounding-box data and is hard to generalize to unseen cases. In this paper, we introduce Unsupervised Visual CoT (UV-CoT), a novel framework for image-level CoT reasoning via preference optimization. UV-CoTperforms preference comparisons between model generated bounding boxes (one is preferred and the other is dis-preferred), eliminating the need for …

Ivycross: A Privacy-Preserving And Concurrency Control Framework For Blockchain Interoperability, Ming Li, Jian Weng, Jia-Si Weng, Yi Li, Yongdong Wu, Dingcheng Li, Guowen Xu, Deng, Robert H.

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Interoperability is a fundamental challenge for long-envisioned blockchain applications. A mainstream approach is using Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) to support interoperable off-chain execution. However, this incurs multiple TEE configured with non-trivial storage capabilities running on fragile concurrent processing environments, rendering current strategies based on TEE far from being practical. This paper aims to fill this gap and design a practical interoperability mechanism with simplified TEE as the underlying architecture. Specifically, we present IvyCross, a TEE-based framework that achieves low-cost, privacy-preserving, and race-free blockchain interoperability. IvyCross allows running arbitrary smart contracts across heterogeneous blockchains atop two distributed TEE-powered hosts. We design …

Information-Bottleneck Driven Binary Neural Network For Change Detection, Kaijie Yin, Zhiyuan Zhang, Shu Kong, Tian Gao, Cheng-Zhong Xu, Hui Kong

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this paper, we propose Binarized Change Detection (BiCD), the first binary neural network (BNN) designed specifically for change detection. Conventional network binarization approaches, which directly quantize both weights and activations in change detection models, severely limit the network's ability to represent input data and distinguish between changed and unchanged regions. This results in significantly lower detection accuracy compared to real-valued networks. To overcome these challenges, BiCD enhances both the representational power and feature separability of BNNs, improving detection performance. Specifically, we introduce an auxiliary objective based on the Information Bottleneck (IB) principle, guiding the encoder to retain essential input …

Auxiliary Prompt Tuning Of Vision‑Language Models For Few‑Shot Out‑Of‑Distribution Detection, Wenjun Miao, Guansong Pang, Zihan Wang, Jin Zheng, Xiao Bai

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Recent advancements in CLIP-based out-of-distribution (OOD) detection have shown promising results via regularization on prompt tuning, leveraging background features extracted from a few in-distribution (ID) samples as proxies for OOD features.However, these methods suffer from an inherent limitation: a lack of diversity in the extracted OOD features from the few-shot ID data.To address this issue, we propose to leverage external datasets as auxiliary outlier data (i.e., pseudo OOD samples) to extract rich, diverse OOD features, with the features from not only background regions but also foreground object regions, thereby supporting more discriminative prompt tuning for OOD detection. We further introduce …

Mitigating Cross-Modal Representation Bias For Multicultural Image-To-Recipe Retrieval, Qing Wang, Chong-Wah Ngo, Yu Cao, Ee-Peng Lim

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Existing approaches for image-to-recipe retrieval have the implicit assumption that a food image can fully capture the details textually documented in its recipe. However, a food image only reflects the visual outcome of a cooked dish and not the underlying cooking process. Consequently, learning cross-modal representations to bridge the modality gap between images and recipes tends to ignore subtle, recipe-specific details that are not visually apparent but are crucial for recipe retrieval. Specifically, the representations are biased to capture the dominant visual elements, resulting in difficulty in ranking similar recipes with subtle differences in use of ingredients and cooking methods. …

Language-Driven 3d Human Pose Estimation In Multi-Person Scenarios: A New Dataset And Approach, Tingrui Shen, Bangzhen Liu, Zhirun Fan, Shiting Zhang, Weifeng Pan, Sun Fan, Dan Cao, Shengfeng He

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In an NBA game scenario, consider the challenge of locating and analyzing the 3D poses of players performing a user-specified action, such as attempting a shot. Traditional 3D human pose estimation (3DHPE) methods often fall short in such complex, multi-person scenes due to their lack of semantic integration and reliance on isolated pose data. To address these limitations, we introduce Language-Driven 3D Human Pose Estimation (L3DHPE), a novel approach that extends 3DHPE to general multi-person contexts by incorporating detailed language descriptions. We present Panoptic-L3D, the first dataset designed for L3DHPE, featuring 3,838 linguistic annotations for 1,476 individuals across 588 videos, …

Emoshortcuts: Emotionally Expressive Body Augmentation For Social Mixed Reality Avatars, Hyuna Seo, Youngki Lee, Rajesh Krishna Balan, Thivya Kandappu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We present EmoShortcuts1, a novel social Mixed Reality (MR) framework that enhances emotional expression by dynamically augmenting avatar body gestures to reflect users’ emotional states. While social MR enables immersive remote interactions through avatars, conveying emotions remains challenging due to limitations in head-mounted display (HMD) tracking (e.g., missing lower-body movements, such as stomping or defensive postures), and users’ tendency to deprioritize nonverbal expressions during multitasking. EmoShortcuts addresses these challenges by introducing an augmentation framework that generates expressive body gestures even when users’ physical movements are restricted. We conducted a formative study with 12 participants to identify key challenges in emotional …

Tactile Data Comics: Combining Step-By-Step Presentation Of Tactile Graphics With Verbal Narration For The Blind And Visually Impaired, Yang Jiao, Ruoting Sun, Rong Luo, Xiwen Yao, Xinran She, Kotaro Hara, Yuewen Zhang, Xinyi Fu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Tactile graphics on a refreshable display have proven effective in enabling visually impaired people to comprehend pictorial content. To further evaluate the effectiveness of refreshable tactile displays in blind education, we designed tactile data comics, a method that combines step-by-step presentation of tactile graphics with verbal narration. We conducted a user study with sixteen visually impaired students to compare tactile data comics against verbal-only and static tactile graphics. Our findings show that tactile data comics significantly improve participants’ comprehension and engagement during the learning experience. These empirical results suggest that the integration of refreshable tactile displays and tactile data comics …

Stable Score Distillation, Haiming Zhu, Yangyang Xu, Chenshu Xu, Tingrui Shen, Wenxi Liu, Yong Du, Jun Yu, Shengfeng He

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Text-guided image and 3D editing have advanced with diffusion-based models, yet methods like Delta Denoising Score often struggle with stability, spatial control, and editing strength. These limitations stem from reliance on complex auxiliary structures, which introduce conflicting optimization signals and restrict precise, localized edits. We introduce Stable Score Distillation (SSD), a streamlined framework that enhances stability and alignment in the editing process by anchoring a single classifier to the source prompt. Specifically, SSD utilizes Classifier-Free Guidance (CFG) equation to achieve cross-prompt alignment, and introduces a constant term null-text branch to stabilize the optimization process. This approach preserves the original content's …

Visual-Enhanced Multimodal Framework For Flexible Job Shop Scheduling Problem, Peng Zhao, Zhiguang Cao, Di Wang, Wen Song, Wei Pang, You Zhou, Yuan Jiang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Multimodal models leverage complementary information across modalities to enrich feature representations. While visual information shows potential in representing structure for some combinatorial optimization problems (COPs), its application to complex scheduling like the Flexible Job Shop Scheduling Problem (FJSP) remains underexplored. Current learning-based FJSP solvers predominantly rely on handcrafted state features. This dependence can lead to inconsistencies and may not fully capture the problem's intricate dynamics. Crucially, these methods overlook visual modalities. Visual representations offer a distinct advantage by inherently capturing the global topological structure and complex resource interactions within the FJSP state. Unlike localized handcrafted features, this holistic, structural view …

Developing A Strong Cps Defender: An Evolutionary Approach, Qingyuan Hu, Christopher M. Poskitt, Jun Sun, Yuqi Chen

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Cyber-physical systems (CPSs) are used extensively in critical infrastructure, underscoring the need for anomaly detection systems that are able to catch even the most motivated attackers. Traditional anomaly detection techniques typically do `one-off' training on datasets crafted by experts or generated by fuzzers, potentially limiting their ability to generalize to unseen and more subtle attack strategies. Stopping at this point misses a key opportunity: a defender can actively challenge the attacker to find more nuanced attacks, which in turn can lead to more effective detection capabilities. Building on this concept, we propose Evo-Defender, an evolutionary framework that iteratively strengthens CPS …

A Comprehensive Review Of Financial Knowledge Graphs, Jeyaraman Brindha Priyadarshini, Bing Tian Dai, Yuan Fang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Knowledge Graphs (KGs) are increasingly used in finance to manage complex, interconnected data and support advanced analytics. This survey provides an overview of how KGs are applied across various financial areas, such as fraud detection, credit risk assessment, anti-money laundering, and regulatory compliance. We examine key techniques for building and using KGs in finance, including graph construction, embedding methods, and machine learning models. The survey also discusses challenges specific to finance, like handling private data, ensuring interpretability, and managing real-time data. Additionally, we explore the emerging combination of KGs with large language models and generative AI, which offers new possibilities …

Polymind: Parallel Visual Diagramming With Large Language Models To Support Prewriting Through Microtasks, Qian Wan, Jiannan Li, Huanchen Wang, Zhicong Lu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Prewriting is the process of generating and organising ideas before a first draft. It consists of a combination of informal, iterative, and semi-structured strategies such as visual diagramming, which poses a challenge for collaborating with large language models (LLMs) in a turn-taking conversational manner. We present Polymind, a visual diagramming tool that leverages multiple LLM-powered agents to support prewriting. The system features a parallel collaboration workflow in place of the turn-taking conversational interactions. It defines multiple ''microtasks'' to simulate group collaboration scenarios such as collaborative writing and group brainstorming. Instead of repetitively prompting a chatbot for various purposes, Polymind enables …

Stroke2sketch: Harnessing Stroke Attributes For Training-Free Sketch Generation, Rui Yang, Huining Li, Yiyi Long, Xiaojun Wu, Shengfeng He

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Generating sketches guided by reference styles requires precise transfer of stroke attributes, such as line thickness, deformation, and texture sparsity, while preserving semantic structure and content fidelity. To this end, we propose Stroke2Sketch, a novel training-free framework that introduces cross-image stroke attention, a mechanism embedded within self-attention layers to establish fine-grained semantic correspondences and enable accurate stroke attribute transfer. This allows our method to adaptively integrate reference stroke characteristics into content images while maintaining structural integrity. Additionally, we develop adaptive contrast enhancement and semanticfocused attention to reinforce content preservation and foreground emphasis. Stroke2Sketch effectively synthesizes stylistically faithful sketches that closely …

Cross-Subject Mind Decoding From Inaccurate Representations, Yangyang Xu, Bangzhen Liu, Wenqi Shao, Yong Du, Shengfeng He, Tingting Zhu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Decoding stimulus images from fMRI signals has advanced with pre-trained generative models. However, existing methods struggle with cross-subject mappings due to cognitive variability and subject-specific differences. This challenge arises from sequential errors, where unidirectional mappings generate partially inaccurate representations that, when fed into diffusion models, accumulate errors and degrade reconstruction fidelity. To address this, we propose the Bidirectional Autoencoder Intertwining framework for accurate decoded representation prediction. Our approach unifies multiple subjects through a Subject Bias Modulation Module while leveraging bidirectional mapping to better capture data distributions for precise representation prediction. To further enhance fidelity when decoding representations into stimulus images, …

Parameter-Efficient Variational Autoencoder For Multimodal Multi-Interest Recommendation, Nhu Thuat Tran, Hady Wirawan Lauw

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Learning user preferences in recommendation systems is enriched by multimodal features, such as textual and visual content, and amplified by multi-interest modeling with Variational AutoEncoders (VAEs). However, prior efforts are limited by single modality focus and cumbersome, parameter-heavy architecture designs. To address these limitations, we introduce an innovative solution that blends the semantic richness of multimodal data with the representational power of multi-representation VAEs. Drawing inspiration from Mixture of Experts (MoE), we cast each VAE as an expert tailored to a specific modality, then fuse them via a novel parameter-merging function into a lean, unified model. This approach efficiently captures …

Fcad: Feature-Coupled Anisotropic Diffusion For Continuous Graph Learning, Amitoz Azad, Zhiyuan Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this work, we propose a novel continuous graph neural network called FCAD (Feature-Coupled Anisotropic Diffusion) for the task of node classification on graphs. Our approach is motivated by the success of feature-coupled anisotropic diffusion PDEs in multivalued image restoration. Our method introduces a total variation regularization-inspired anisotropic term to control diffusion between nodes and incorporates a learnable parameterization for feature coupling during the diffusion process. Our model performs competitively against several GNN baselines for both heterophilous and homophilous graphs, demonstrating notable benefits for heterophilous graphs due to the learnable feature coupling.

Seeing 3d Through 2d Lenses: 3d Few-Shot Class-Incremental Learning Via Cross-Modal Geometric Rectification, Tuo Xiang, Xuemiao Xu, Bangzhen Liu, Jinyi Li, Yong Li, Shengfeng He

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The rapid growth of 3D digital content necessitates expandable recognition systems for open-world scenarios. However, existing 3D class-incremental learning methods struggle under extreme data scarcity due to geometric misalignment and texture bias. While recent approaches integrate 3D data with 2D foundation models (e.g., CLIP), they suffer from semantic blurring caused by texture-biased projections and indiscriminate fusion of geometric-textural cues, leading to unstable decision prototypes and catastrophic forgetting. To address these issues, we propose Cross-Modal Geometric Rectification (CMGR), a framework that enhances 3D geometric fidelity by leveraging CLIP’s hierarchical spatial semantics. Specifically, we introduce a Structure-Aware Geometric Rectification module that hierarchically …

Lsfdnet: A Single-Stage Fusion And Detection Network For Ships Using Swir And Lwir, Yanyin Guo, Runxuan An, Junwei Li, Zhiyuan Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Traditional ship detection methods primarily rely on single-modal approaches, such as visible or infrared images, which limit their application in complex scenarios involving varying lighting conditions and heavy fog. To address this issue, we explore the advantages of short-wave infrared (SWIR) and long-wave infrared (LWIR) in ship detection and propose a novel single-stage image fusion detection algorithm called LSFDNet. This algorithm leverages feature interaction between the image fusion and object detection subtask networks, achieving remarkable detection performance and generating visually impressive fused images. To further improve the saliency of objects in the fused images and improve the performance of the …

Multi-Period Risk-Aware Procurement Optimization Under Covid-19 Disruption, Jonathan Chase, Hoong Chuin Lau, Jinfeng Yang, Lu Liu

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Supply chain resilience has been a topic of active research in the operations research and AI communities for several years, but the COVID-19 pandemic threw the frailties of global supply chains into sharp relief. Disruptions and delays caused by fresh outbreaks leading to lockdowns, put severe strain on supply chains in many industries. In this work we develop lockdown-resilient procurement capabilities for a global technology company. First, through analysis of lockdown data from China we develop a logarithmic regression-based lockdown prediction method to complement a supplier risk metric for conventional risks. Second, we develop a multi-period stochastic optimization model that …

Early Signs The Eu Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism Is Reshaping Eu-India Steel Trade, Gian Luca Vriz, Theodor Florian Cojoianu, Carolyn Fischer, Luca Taschini

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This study examines early signals of the EU CBAM's impact on iron and steel exporters from India by integrating firm-level export data with third-party estimates of manufacturers' emissions and production. Changes in trade flows and pricing during the CBAM reporting phase indicate that high-emission-intensity firms have decreased both their average unit prices and shipment sizes to the EU, while low-emission-intensity firms have not changed shipment behavior and may have benefited from increasing prices. Such supply chain adjustments are in line with EU policy intentions, creating opportunities for low-emission producers while reducing reliance on high-emission suppliers to the EU.

Art Forms: Born Out Of Necessity, Urmi Duttagupta

Publications and Research

This collection of artworks expresses the artist’s profound passion for mathematics and life’s complex balance. As a female mathematician, she uses artistic expression and intricate patterns to evoke mathematical beauty and feminine strength, celebrating the presence and resilience of women in mathematics.

2025 October - Tennessee Monthly Climate Report, Tennessee Climate Office, East Tennessee State University

Tennessee Climate Office Monthly Reports

Hi All,

October 2025 was a quiet month for weather across Tennessee. The major stories included improving drought conditions across the western half of the state and relatively large temperature fluctuations. There were some days with heavy rainfall in West Tennessee but flooding was minimal due to the dry conditions in September. Tennessee experienced some pronounced temperature swings during the month with many areas reaching into the 80’s or even 90’s in the first week of October as well as in the middle of October, and then down into the 20’s or 30’s by the end of the month. This …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Lanthanide Extended Structures And Their Novel Transuranic Analogues, Hunter Bernard Tisdale

Theses and Dissertations

The United States owns a substantial amount of radioactive waste as a result of decades of research, weapons manufacturing, and nuclear energy production. As nuclear energy and research continue to add to our stockpiles of waste, the issue of remediating this waste becomes more pressing. Many of the radioactive constituents of this waste, such as the transuranic (Z > 92) elements, will give off radioactivity at harmful levels for millennia. Thus, a robust method of storing this waste is paramount to ensuring public safety. Currently, nuclear waste is being processed by vitrifying it in borosilicate glass. However, this method has shortcomings …

Application Of Machine Learning For Vascular System Analysis, Alireza Bagheri Rajeoni

Theses and Dissertations

The analysis of vascular structures is critical for diagnosing, monitoring, and treating vascular diseases such as aneurysms, stenosis, and vascular calcification. Traditional methods often rely on manual interpretation of imaging data, which is time-consuming, subjective, and not scalable. This work explores the application of advanced machine learning techniques to automate and enhance vascular system analysis. Our contributions include achieving state-of-the-art accuracy in vascular segmentation, developing a machine learning pipeline to automatically quantify vascular calcification in peripheral arterial disease, and designing a multi-stage machine learning system for abdominal aortic aneurysm analysis that identifies aneurysm boundaries and estimates aneurysm volume in a …

Implicit Neural Representation For Image Reconstruction, Canyu Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

Image reconstruction seeks to restore corrupted images and recover visual content that has been lost or degraded. Such degradation may result from low resolution, occlusion, masking, or shadow interference. This problem has become an increasingly significant research topic, as visual information plays a central role in almost every aspect of modern life. Neural network based approaches have recently emerged as highly effective solutions for this task. In particular, convolutional neural networks and transformer based architectures have demonstrated remarkable success in producing visually convincing reconstructions. However, these models remain constrained in several important ways, one of the most critical being that …

Creativity In Large Language Models, Robert Kenneth Morain

Theses and Dissertations

As artificial intelligence systems approach human-level performance across a wide variety of domains, creative domains remain a critical yet underexplored area of research. Unlike traditional AI tasks with well-defined objectives, creative tasks rely on inherently subjective measures, making them particularly challenging for machines that lack human experiential context. This dissertation establishes the fundamental importance of creativity in AI systems and presents methods for improving and evaluating the creative capabilities of LLMs on the pathway toward AGI. This work addresses and examines key limitations in current LLM creativity through model innovations, development frameworks, and comparative studies. The dissertation develops novel architectural …

Detection And Prevention Of Water Inrush From Seam Floor During Coal Mining Above Confined Aquifer, Weidong Pan, Yupei Deng, Houlin Du, Shiqi Liu, Mingtao Xu, Xingjie Liu

Journal of Sustainable Mining

With the increasing intensity of coal resource exploitation in China, the geological conditions of the working face are becoming more and more complex, and the bottom plate breakage (bottom bulge) and water inrush disasters caused by pressurized water mining are becoming more prominent. This article is based on the 21605 working face of Xin’an Coal Mine in Zaozhuang Mining Group. Through theoretical analysis and numerical calculations, the characteristics and scope of coal seam floor failure in the working face are obtained. Especially, the electrode cable direct current detection system designed through self-optimization was used for actual testing. Research shows that …

The Suitability Of Advanced Geospatial Technologies In Monitoring Mine Surface Displacement, Long Quoc Nguyen, Tuyet Minh Dang, Lipecki Tomasz

Journal of Sustainable Mining

This study conducts a thorough review of the current scientific literature on the application of geospatial methods in the assessment of mining-induced displacement. The scope of research included technologies for determining deformation, subsidence, and landslide in mining areas. Global Navigation Satellite Systems, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, Terrestrial Laser Scanners, Remote Sensing, and fusion methods are approaches used to solve the research objectives. Additionally, the paper also mentions some advantages, disadvantages, and scope of application of these methods. The investigation revealed that the displacement detection method most commonly used at the moment is satellite radar interferometry.