Honghui Du

Haiwen Du, Zheng Ju, Yu An et al.

Spectrum analysis systems in online water quality testing are designed to detect types and concentrations of pollutants and enable regulatory agencies to respond promptly to pollution incidents. However, spectral data-based testing devices suffer from complex noise patterns when deployed in non-laboratory environments. To make the analysis model applicable to more environments, we propose a noise patterns transferring model, which takes the spectrum of standard water samples in different environments as cases and learns the differences in their noise patterns, thus enabling noise patterns to transfer to unknown samples. Unfortunately, the inevitable sample-level baseline noise makes the model unable to obtain the paired data that only differ in dataset-level environmental noise. To address the problem, we generate a sample-to-sample case-base to exclude the interference of sample-level noise on dataset-level noise learning, enhancing the system's learning performance. Experiments on spectral data with different background noises demonstrate the good noise-transferring ability of the proposed method against baseline systems ranging from wavelet denoising, deep neural networks, and generative models. From this research, we posit that our method can enhance the performance of DL models by generating high-quality cases. The source code is made publicly available online at https://github.com/Magnomic/CNST.

Honghui Du, QiZhi He

We present the neural-integrated meshfree (NIM) method, a differentiable programming-based hybrid meshfree approach within the field of computational mechanics. NIM seamlessly integrates traditional physics-based meshfree discretization techniques with deep learning architectures. It employs a hybrid approximation scheme, NeuroPU, to effectively represent the solution by combining continuous DNN representations with partition of unity (PU) basis functions associated with the underlying spatial discretization. This neural-numerical hybridization not only enhances the solution representation through functional space decomposition but also reduces both the size of DNN model and the need for spatial gradient computations based on automatic differentiation, leading to a significant improvement in training efficiency. Under the NIM framework, we propose two truly meshfree solvers: the strong form-based NIM (S-NIM) and the local variational form-based NIM (V-NIM). In the S-NIM solver, the strong-form governing equation is directly considered in the loss function, while the V-NIM solver employs a local Petrov-Galerkin approach that allows the construction of variational residuals based on arbitrary overlapping subdomains. This ensures both the satisfaction of underlying physics and the preservation of meshfree property. We perform extensive numerical experiments on both stationary and transient benchmark problems to assess the effectiveness of the proposed NIM methods in terms of accuracy, scalability, generalizability, and convergence properties. Moreover, comparative analysis with other physics-informed machine learning methods demonstrates that NIM, especially V-NIM, significantly enhances both accuracy and efficiency in end-to-end predictive capabilities.

Honghui Du, Binyao Guo, QiZhi He

The present study aims to extend the novel physics-informed machine learning approach, specifically the neural-integrated meshfree (NIM) method, to model finite-strain problems characterized by nonlinear elasticity and large deformations. To this end, the hyperelastic material models are integrated into the loss function of the NIM method by employing a consistent local variational formulation. Thanks to the inherent differentiable programming capabilities, NIM can circumvent the need for derivation of Newton-Raphson linearization of the variational form and the resulting tangent stiffness matrix, typically required in traditional numerical methods. Additionally, NIM utilizes a hybrid neural-numerical approximation encoded with partition-of-unity basis functions, coined NeuroPU, to effectively represent the displacement and streamline the training process. NeuroPU can also be used for approximating the unknown material fields, enabling NIM a unified framework for both forward and inverse modeling. For the imposition of displacement boundary conditions, this study introduces a new approach based on singular kernel functions into the NeuroPU approximation, leveraging its unique feature that allows for customized basis functions. Numerical experiments demonstrate the NIM method's capability in forward hyperelasticity modeling, achieving desirable accuracy, with errors among $10^{-3} \sim 10^{-5}$ in the relative $L_2$ norm, comparable to the well-established finite element solvers. Furthermore, NIM is applied to address the complex task of identifying heterogeneous mechanical properties of hyperelastic materials from strain data, validating its effectiveness in the inverse modeling of nonlinear materials. To leverage GPU acceleration, NIM is fully implemented on the JAX deep learning framework in this study, utilizing the accelerator-oriented array computation capabilities offered by JAX.

Siteng Ma, Honghui Du, Prateek Mathur et al.

Detecting changes in longitudinal medical imaging using deep learning requires a substantial amount of accurately labeled data. However, labeling these images is notably more costly and time-consuming than labeling other image types, as it requires labeling across various time points, where new lesions can be minor, and subtle changes are easily missed. Deep Active Learning (DAL) has shown promise in minimizing labeling costs by selectively querying the most informative samples, but existing studies have primarily focused on static tasks like classification and segmentation. Consequently, the conventional DAL approach cannot be directly applied to change detection tasks, which involve identifying subtle differences across multiple images. In this study, we propose a novel DAL framework, named Longitudinal Medical Imaging Active Learning (LMI-AL), tailored specifically for longitudinal medical imaging. By pairing and differencing all 2D slices from baseline and follow-up 3D images, LMI-AL iteratively selects the most informative pairs for labeling using DAL, training a deep learning model with minimal manual annotation. Experimental results demonstrate that, with less than 8% of the data labeled, LMI-AL can achieve performance comparable to models trained on fully labeled datasets. We also provide a detailed analysis of the method's performance, as guidance for future research. The code is publicly available at https://github.com/HelenMa9998/Longitudinal_AL.

Honghui Du, Leandro Minku, Huiyu Zhou

Concept drift is a major problem in online learning due to its impact on the predictive performance of data stream mining systems. Recent studies have started exploring data streams from different sources as a strategy to tackle concept drift in a given target domain. These approaches make the assumption that at least one of the source models represents a concept similar to the target concept, which may not hold in many real-world scenarios. In this paper, we propose a novel approach called Multi-source mApping with tRansfer LearnIng for Non-stationary Environments (MARLINE). MARLINE can benefit from knowledge from multiple data sources in non-stationary environments even when source and target concepts do not match. This is achieved by projecting the target concept to the space of each source concept, enabling multiple source sub-classifiers to contribute towards the prediction of the target concept as part of an ensemble. Experiments on several synthetic and real-world datasets show that MARLINE was more accurate than several state-of-the-art data stream learning approaches.

Honghui Du, QiZhi He

Differentiable programming has emerged as a powerful paradigm in scientific computing, enabling automatic differentiation through simulation pipelines and naturally supporting both forward and inverse modeling. We present JAX-MPM, a general-purpose differentiable meshfree solver based on the material point method (MPM) and implemented in the modern JAX architecture. The solver adopts a hybrid Eulerian-Lagrangian framework to capture large deformations, frictional contact, and inelastic material behavior, with emphasis on geomechanics and geophysical hazard applications. Leveraging GPU acceleration and automatic differentiation, JAX-MPM enables efficient gradient-based optimization directly through its time-stepping solvers and supports joint training of physical models with deep learning to infer unknown system conditions and uncover hidden constitutive parameters. We validate JAX-MPM through a series of 2D and 3D benchmark simulations, including dam-break and granular collapse problems, demonstrating both numerical accuracy and GPU-accelerated performance. Results show that a high-resolution 3D granular cylinder collapse with 2.7 million particles completes 1000 time steps in approximately 22 seconds (single precision) and 98 seconds (double precision) on a single GPU. Beyond high-fidelity forward modeling, we demonstrate the framework's inverse modeling capabilities through tasks such as velocity field reconstruction and the estimation of spatially varying friction from sparse data. In particular, JAX-MPM accommodates data assimilation from both Lagrangian (particle-based) and Eulerian (region-based) observations, and can be seamlessly coupled with neural network representations. These results establish JAX-MPM as a unified and scalable differentiable meshfree platform that advances fast physical simulation and data assimilation for complex solid and geophysical systems.

Honghui Du, Leandro Minku, Aonghus Lawlor et al.

Label concepts in multi-label data streams often experience drift in non-stationary environments, either independently or in relation to other labels. Transferring knowledge between related labels can accelerate adaptation, yet research on multi-label transfer learning for data streams remains limited. To address this, we propose two novel transfer learning methods: BR-MARLENE leverages knowledge from different labels in both source and target streams for multi-label classification; BRPW-MARLENE builds on this by explicitly modelling and transferring pairwise label dependencies to enhance learning performance. Comprehensive experiments show that both methods outperform state-of-the-art multi-label stream approaches in non-stationary environments, demonstrating the effectiveness of inter-label knowledge transfer for improved predictive performance.

Siteng Ma, Honghui Du, Yu An et al.

Deep learning has achieved significant breakthroughs in medical imaging, but these advancements are often dependent on large, well-annotated datasets. However, obtaining such datasets poses a significant challenge, as it requires time-consuming and labor-intensive annotations from medical experts. Consequently, there is growing interest in learning paradigms such as incomplete, inexact, and absent supervision, which are designed to operate under limited, inexact, or missing labels. This survey categorizes and reviews the evolving research in these areas, analyzing around 600 notable contributions since 2018. It covers tasks such as image classification, segmentation, and detection across various medical application areas, including but not limited to brain, chest, and cardiac imaging. We attempt to establish the relationships among existing research studies in related areas. We provide formal definitions of different learning paradigms and offer a comprehensive summary and interpretation of various learning mechanisms and strategies, aiding readers in better understanding the current research landscape and ideas. We also discuss potential future research challenges.

Honghui Du, Leandro L. Minku, Huiyu Zhou

In data stream mining, predictive models typically suffer drops in predictive performance due to concept drift. As enough data representing the new concept must be collected for the new concept to be well learnt, the predictive performance of existing models usually takes some time to recover from concept drift. To speed up recovery from concept drift and improve predictive performance in data stream mining, this work proposes a novel approach called Multi-sourcE onLine TrAnsfer learning for Non-statIonary Environments (Melanie). Melanie is the first approach able to transfer knowledge between multiple data streaming sources in non-stationary environments. It creates several sub-classifiers to learn different aspects from different source and target concepts over time. The sub-classifiers that match the current target concept well are identified, and used to compose an ensemble for predicting examples from the target concept. We evaluate Melanie on several synthetic data streams containing different types of concept drift and on real world data streams. The results indicate that Melanie can deal with a variety drifts and improve predictive performance over existing data stream learning algorithms by making use of multiple sources.