Xia Xu

Xia Xu, Jochen Triesch

Self-supervised representation learning (SSRL) methods have shown great success in computer vision. In recent studies, augmentation-based contrastive learning methods have been proposed for learning representations that are invariant or equivariant to pre-defined data augmentation operations. However, invariant or equivariant features favor only specific downstream tasks depending on the augmentations chosen. They may result in poor performance when the learned representation does not match task requirements. Here, we consider an active observer that can manipulate views of an object and has knowledge of the action(s) that generated each view. We introduce Contrastive Invariant and Predictive Equivariant Representation learning (CIPER). CIPER comprises both invariant and equivariant learning objectives using one shared encoder and two different output heads on top of the encoder. One output head is a projection head with a state-of-the-art contrastive objective to encourage invariance to augmentations. The other is a prediction head estimating the augmentation parameters, capturing equivariant features. Both heads are discarded after training and only the encoder is used for downstream tasks. We evaluate our method on static image tasks and time-augmented image datasets. Our results show that CIPER outperforms a baseline contrastive method on various tasks. Interestingly, CIPER encourages the formation of hierarchically structured representations where different views of an object become systematically organized in the latent representation space.

Hang Li, Qiankun Dong, Xueshuo Xie et al.

Multitemporal hyperspectral image unmixing (MTHU) holds significant importance in monitoring and analyzing the dynamic changes of surface. However, compared to single-temporal unmixing, the multitemporal approach demands comprehensive consideration of information across different phases, rendering it a greater challenge. To address this challenge, we propose the Multitemporal Hyperspectral Image Unmixing Transformer (MUFormer), an end-to-end unsupervised deep learning model. To effectively perform multitemporal hyperspectral image unmixing, we introduce two key modules: the Global Awareness Module (GAM) and the Change Enhancement Module (CEM). The Global Awareness Module computes self-attention across all phases, facilitating global weight allocation. On the other hand, the Change Enhancement Module dynamically learns local temporal changes by comparing endmember changes between adjacent phases. The synergy between these modules allows for capturing semantic information regarding endmember and abundance changes, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of multitemporal hyperspectral image unmixing. We conducted experiments on one real dataset and two synthetic datasets, demonstrating that our model significantly enhances the effect of multitemporal hyperspectral image unmixing.

Jiaju Chen, Jinghua Piao, Xia Xu et al.

A long-standing challenge in economics lies not in the lack of intuition, but in the difficulty of translating intuitive insights into verifiable research. To address this challenge, we introduce AgentEconomist, an end-to-end interactive system designed to translate abstract intuitions into executable computational experiments. Grounded in a domain-specific knowledge base covering over 13,000 high-quality academic papers, the system employs a modular multi-stage architecture. Specifically, the Idea Development Stage generates literature-grounded hypotheses, the Experimental Design Stage configures simulator-aligned experimental parameters and protocols, and the Experimental Execution Stage runs experiments and returns structured analyses. Together, these stages form a human-in-the-loop, iterative workflow that translates economic intuitions into executable computational experiments. Through extensive experiments involving human expert evaluation and large language models (LLMs) as judges, we show that the system generates research ideas with stronger literature grounding and higher novelty and insight than state-of-the-art generic LLMs. Overall, AgentEconomist adopts a human-AI collaboration paradigm that enables researchers to focus on high-level intuitions, while delegating the labor-intensive processes of translation and computational execution to agents.

Ruiying Li, Bin Pan, Lan Ma et al.

Multitemporal hyperspectral unmixing can capture dynamical evolution of materials. Despite its capability, current methods emphasize variability of endmembers while neglecting dynamics of abundances, which motivates our adoption of neural ordinary differential equations to model abundances temporally. However, this motivation is hindered by two challenges: the inherent complexity in defining, modeling and solving problem, and the absence of theoretical support. To address above challenges, in this paper, we propose a multitemporal latent dynamical (MiLD) unmixing framework by capturing dynamical evolution of materials with theoretical validation. For addressing multitemporal hyperspectral unmixing, MiLD consists of problem definition, mathematical modeling, solution algorithm and theoretical support. We formulate multitemporal unmixing problem definition by conducting ordinary differential equations and developing latent variables. We transfer multitemporal unmixing to mathematical model by dynamical discretization approaches, which describe the discreteness of observed sequence images with mathematical expansions. We propose algorithm to solve problem and capture dynamics of materials, which approximates abundance evolution by neural networks. Furthermore, we provide theoretical support by validating the crucial properties, which verifies consistency, convergence and stability theorems. The major contributions of MiLD include defining problem by ordinary differential equations, modeling problem by dynamical discretization approach, solving problem by multitemporal unmixing algorithm, and presenting theoretical support. Our experiments on both synthetic and real datasets have validated the utility of our work

Ruiying Li, Bin Pan, Qiaoying Qu et al.

Multitemporal hyperspectral unmixing (MTHU) aims to model variable endmembers and dynamical abundances, which emphasizes the critical temporal information. However, existing methods have limitations in modeling temporal dependency, thus fail to capture the dynamical material evolution. Motivated by the ability of copula theory in modeling dependency structure explicitly, in this paper, we propose a copula-guided temporal dependency method (Cog-TD) for multitemporal hyperspectral unmixing. Cog-TD defines new mathematical model, constructs copula-guided framework and provides two key modules with theoretical support. The mathematical model provides explicit formulations for MTHU problem definition, which describes temporal dependency structure by incorporating copula theory. The copula-guided framework is constructed for utilizing copula function, which estimates dynamical endmembers and abundances with temporal dependency. The key modules consist of copula function estimation and temporal dependency guidance, which computes and employs temporal information to guide unmixing process. Moreover, the theoretical support demonstrates that estimated copula function is valid and the represented temporal dependency exists in hyperspectral images. The major contributions of this paper include redefining MTHU problem with temporal dependency, proposing a copula-guided framework, developing two key modules and providing theoretical support. Our experimental results on both synthetic and real-world datasets demonstrate the utility of the proposed method.

Ruiying Li, Bin Pan, Qiaoying Qu et al.

The performance of hyperspectral unmixing may be constrained by low spatial resolution, which can be enhanced using super-resolution in a multitask learning way. However, integrating super-resolution and unmixing directly may suffer two challenges: Task affinity is not verified, and the convergence of unmixing is not guaranteed. To address the above issues, in this paper, we provide theoretical analysis and propose super-resolution guided multi-task learning method for hyperspectral unmixing (SMILE). The provided theoretical analysis validates feasibility of multitask learning way and verifies task affinity, which consists of relationship and existence theorems by proving the positive guidance of super-resolution. The proposed framework generalizes positive information from super-resolution to unmixing by learning both shared and specific representations. Moreover, to guarantee the convergence, we provide the accessibility theorem by proving the optimal solution of unmixing. The major contributions of SMILE include providing progressive theoretical support, and designing a new framework for unmixing under the guidance of super-resolution. Our experiments on both synthetic and real datasets have substantiate the usefulness of our work.

Bin Pan, Shiyu Shen, Zongbin Wang et al.

Domain generalization seeks to develop models trained on a limited set of source domains that are capable of generalizing effectively to unseen target domains. While the predominant approach leverages large-scale pre-trained vision models as initialization, recent studies have highlighted that full fine-tuning can compromise the intrinsic generalization capabilities of these models. To address this limitation, parameter-efficient adaptation strategies have emerged, wherein only a subset of model parameters is selectively fine-tuned, thereby balancing task adaptation with the preservation of generalization. Motivated by this paradigm, we introduce Joint Parameter Selection (JPS), a novel method that restricts updates to a small, sparse subset of parameters, thereby retaining and harnessing the generalization strength of pre-trained models. Theoretically, we establish a generalization error bound that explicitly accounts for the sparsity of parameter updates, thereby providing a principled justification for selective fine-tuning. Practically, we design a selection mechanism employing dual operators to identify and update parameters exhibiting consistent and significant gradients across all source domains. Extensive benchmark experiments demonstrate that JPS achieves superior performance compared to state-of-the-art domain generalization methods, substantiating both the efficiency and efficacy of the proposed approach.

Xia Xu, Jochen Triesch

While human infants robustly discover their own causal efficacy, standard reinforcement learning agents remain brittle, as their reliance on correlation-based rewards fails in noisy, ecologically valid scenarios. To address this, we introduce the Causal Action Influence Score (CAIS), a novel intrinsic reward rooted in causal inference. CAIS quantifies an action's influence by measuring the 1-Wasserstein distance between the learned distribution of sensory outcomes conditional on that action, $p(h|a)$, and the baseline outcome distribution, $p(h)$. This divergence provides a robust reward that isolates the agent's causal impact from confounding environmental noise. We test our approach in a simulated infant-mobile environment where correlation-based perceptual rewards fail completely when the mobile is subjected to external forces. In stark contrast, CAIS enables the agent to filter this noise, identify its influence, and learn the correct policy. Furthermore, the high-quality predictive model learned for CAIS allows our agent, when augmented with a surprise signal, to successfully reproduce the "extinction burst" phenomenon. We conclude that explicitly inferring causality is a crucial mechanism for developing a robust sense of agency, offering a psychologically plausible framework for more adaptive autonomous systems.