Wenlin Liu

Wenlin Liu, Xikun Hu, Ping Zhong

In remote sensing object detection, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) excel at capturing local details while Vision Transformers (ViTs) are better at global context modeling. However, existing detectors typically rely on a single fixed backbone or a manually designed hybrid architecture, and thus fail to adaptively exploit these complementary strengths across inputs of diverse complexity. To address this limitation, we propose Backbone Module Composition via Reinforcement Learning (BMCR). BMCR dynamically assembles input-adaptive inference paths from reusable modules decomposed from off-the-shelf CNN and ViT backbones. To enable such cross-family composition, we first construct an extensible module toolbox. Specifically, we decompose representative CNN and ViT backbones into reusable functional modules and encapsulate each module with explicit structural, semantic, and computational metadata for compatibility-aware assembly. To bridge the gap between grid-based CNN features and token-based ViT representations, we design a lightweight Optimal Transport (OT) based transition interface that ensures distribution-aware alignment while respecting spatial consistency. The backbone composition process is then formulated as a sequential decision problem, in which a policy network progressively selects task-relevant modules according to intermediate multi-scale observations. To stabilize the joint optimization of reusable modules and the routing policy, we further develop an Adaptive Module Cooperative Optimization (AMCO) strategy that coordinates module updating, routing exploration, and reward assignment during training. On DOTA-v1.0, DOTA-v1.5 and DIOR-R, BMCR achieves 79.31\%, 73.41\% and 71.86\% mAP, respectively, surpassing strong static and dynamic baselines by up to 2.5 points while maintaining competitive efficiency.

Qi Peng, Wenlin Liu, Ruoxi Qin et al.

Adversarial attacks are considered the intrinsic vulnerability of CNNs. Defense strategies designed for attacks have been stuck in the adversarial attack-defense arms race, reflecting the imbalance between attack and defense. Dynamic Defense Framework (DDF) recently changed the passive safety status quo based on the stochastic ensemble model. The diversity of subnetworks, an essential concern in the DDF, can be effectively evaluated by the adversarial transferability between different networks. Inspired by the poor adversarial transferability between subnetworks of scratch tickets with various remaining ratios, we propose a method to realize the dynamic stochastic ensemble defense strategy. We discover the adversarial transferable diversity between robust lottery ticket subnetworks drawn from different basic structures and sparsity. The experimental results suggest that our method achieves better robust and clean recognition accuracy by adversarial transferable diversity, which would decrease the reliability of attacks.

Xinyan Zhao, Yuan Sun, Wenlin Liu et al.

This study is among the first to develop different prototypes of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) chatbots powered by GPT-4 to communicate hurricane preparedness information to diverse residents. Drawing from the Computers Are Social Actors paradigm and the literature on disaster vulnerability and cultural tailoring, we conducted a between-subjects experiment with 441 Black, Hispanic, and Caucasian residents of Florida. Our results suggest that GenAI chatbots varying in tone formality and cultural tailoring significantly influence perceptions of their friendliness and credibility, which, in turn, relate to hurricane preparedness outcomes. These results highlight the potential of using GenAI chatbots to improve diverse communities' disaster preparedness.