LGJul 10, 2022
NGAME: Negative Mining-aware Mini-batching for Extreme ClassificationKunal Dahiya, Nilesh Gupta, Deepak Saini et al.
Extreme Classification (XC) seeks to tag data points with the most relevant subset of labels from an extremely large label set. Performing deep XC with dense, learnt representations for data points and labels has attracted much attention due to its superiority over earlier XC methods that used sparse, hand-crafted features. Negative mining techniques have emerged as a critical component of all deep XC methods that allow them to scale to millions of labels. However, despite recent advances, training deep XC models with large encoder architectures such as transformers remains challenging. This paper identifies that memory overheads of popular negative mining techniques often force mini-batch sizes to remain small and slow training down. In response, this paper introduces NGAME, a light-weight mini-batch creation technique that offers provably accurate in-batch negative samples. This allows training with larger mini-batches offering significantly faster convergence and higher accuracies than existing negative sampling techniques. NGAME was found to be up to 16% more accurate than state-of-the-art methods on a wide array of benchmark datasets for extreme classification, as well as 3% more accurate at retrieving search engine queries in response to a user webpage visit to show personalized ads. In live A/B tests on a popular search engine, NGAME yielded up to 23% gains in click-through-rates.
AIMay 23
Advancing Graph Few-Shot Learning via In-Context LearningRenchu Guan, Yajun Wang, Chunli Guo et al.
Graph few-shot learning, which aims to classify nodes from novel classes with only a few labeled examples, is a widely studied problem in graph learning. However, existing methods often face two key limitations. First, the predominant graph few-shot learning paradigm relies on supervised tasks, failing to leverage the vast number of unlabeled nodes in the graph. Second, many approaches require complex task adaptation or fine-tuning during inference, limiting their efficiency and applicability. Inspired by the powerful in-context learning capabilities of large language models, we propose a novel model named VISION for adVancIng graph few-Shot learning via In-cOntext LearNing to address these challenges. Our model reframes graph few-shot learning as a fine-tuning-free sequence reasoning problem. At its core is a context-aware network that initializes nodes with role embeddings and employs a dual-context fusion module to synergistically integrate local topological structures and global task-level dependencies. This allows our model to dynamically generate class-aware representations for the query set conditioned on the support set context in a single forward pass. To effectively train our model, we introduce an unsupervised task generator that creates structure-adaptive features and constructs diverse pseudo-tasks from abundant unlabeled data. Our method unifies unsupervised meta-learning with graph in-context learning, achieving efficient inference. Extensive experiments on multiple benchmark datasets demonstrate the superiority of our model. Our public code can be found
NAMay 9
Decoupling scales via localized subspace iteration and temporal splitting for multiscale parabolic equationsEric T. Chung, Lijian Jiang, Mengnan Li et al.
Simulating diffusion in heterogeneous media presents a significant computational challenge, as resolving microscopic physical scales traditionally demands excessively fine computational grids. To overcome this barrier, we extend the Localized Subspace Iteration (LSI) framework to multiscale parabolic equations. The proposed method constructs optimal, low-dimensional trial spaces by iteratively approximating the dominant eigenspaces of local inverse operators via Localized Standard Subspace Iteration (LSSI) or Localized Krylov Subspace Iteration (LKSI). Because these LSI basis functions are inherently tailored to capture the slow-decaying, low-frequency modes of the parabolic solution, they naturally suppress error accumulation over long-term integration. To further improve computational efficiency, we decouple the basis construction into an offline phase and implement a contrast-independent, partially explicit temporal splitting scheme for online time-stepping. By explicitly advancing the dominant macroscopic modes while implicitly treating high-frequency microscopic corrections, this scheme guarantees stability without imposing restrictive time-step constraints. We establish rigorous a priori error estimates in both the energy and $L^2$ norms. Numerical experiments illustrate the accuracy and efficiency of the LSI framework, particularly highlighting the LKSI method's advantages in handling high-contrast, complex multiscale media.
LGOct 14, 2025Code
Graph Few-Shot Learning via Adaptive Spectrum Experts and Cross-Set Distribution CalibrationYonghao Liu, Yajun Wang, Chunli Guo et al.
Graph few-shot learning has attracted increasing attention due to its ability to rapidly adapt models to new tasks with only limited labeled nodes. Despite the remarkable progress made by existing graph few-shot learning methods, several key limitations remain. First, most current approaches rely on predefined and unified graph filters (e.g., low-pass or high-pass filters) to globally enhance or suppress node frequency signals. Such fixed spectral operations fail to account for the heterogeneity of local topological structures inherent in real-world graphs. Moreover, these methods often assume that the support and query sets are drawn from the same distribution. However, under few-shot conditions, the limited labeled data in the support set may not sufficiently capture the complex distribution of the query set, leading to suboptimal generalization. To address these challenges, we propose GRACE, a novel Graph few-shot leaRning framework that integrates Adaptive spectrum experts with Cross-sEt distribution calibration techniques. Theoretically, the proposed approach enhances model generalization by adapting to both local structural variations and cross-set distribution calibration. Empirically, GRACE consistently outperforms state-of-the-art baselines across a wide range of experimental settings. Our code can be found here.
NAJun 14, 2024
A semi-implicit stochastic multiscale method for radiative heat transfer problemShan Zhang, Yajun Wang, Xiaofei Guan
In this paper, we propose and analyze a new semi-implicit stochastic multiscale method for the radiative heat transfer problem with additive noise fluctuation in composite materials. In the proposed method, the strong nonlinearity term induced by heat radiation is first approximated, by a semi-implicit predictor-corrected numerical scheme, for each fixed time step, resulting in a spatially random multiscale heat transfer equation. Then, the infinite-dimensional stochastic processes are modeled and truncated using a complete orthogonal system, facilitating the reduction of the model's dimensionality in the random space. The resulting low-rank random multiscale heat transfer equation is approximated and computed by using efficient spatial basis functions based multiscale method. The main advantage of the proposed method is that it separates the computational difficulty caused by the spatial multiscale properties, the high-dimensional randomness and the strong nonlinearity of the solution, so they can be overcome separately using different strategies. The convergence analysis is carried out, and the optimal rate of convergence is also obtained for the proposed semi-implicit stochastic multiscale method. Numerical experiments on several test problems for composite materials with various microstructures are also presented to gauge the efficiency and accuracy of the proposed semi-implicit stochastic multiscale method.
NAJun 14, 2024
Localized subspace iteration methods for elliptic multiscale problemsXiaofei Guan, Lijian Jiang, Yajun Wang et al.
This paper proposes localized subspace iteration (LSI) methods to construct generalized finite element basis functions for elliptic problems with multiscale coefficients. The key components of the proposed method consist of the localization of the original differential operator and the subspace iteration of the corresponding local spectral problems, where the localization is conducted by enforcing the local homogeneous Dirichlet condition and the partition of the unity functions. From a novel perspective, some multiscale methods can be regarded as one iteration step under approximating the eigenspace of the corresponding local spectral problems. Vice versa, new multiscale methods can be designed through subspaces of spectral problem algorithms. Then, we propose the efficient localized standard subspace iteration (LSSI) method and the localized Krylov subspace iteration (LKSI) method based on the standard subspace and Krylov subspace, respectively. Convergence analysis is carried out for the proposed method. Various numerical examples demonstrate the effectiveness of our methods. In addition, the proposed methods show significant superiority in treating long-channel cases over other well-known multiscale methods.
IRApr 22, 2021
Hybrid Encoder: Towards Efficient and Precise Native AdsRecommendation via Hybrid Transformer Encoding NetworksJunhan Yang, Zheng Liu, Bowen Jin et al.
Transformer encoding networks have been proved to be a powerful tool of understanding natural languages. They are playing a critical role in native ads service, which facilitates the recommendation of appropriate ads based on user's web browsing history. For the sake of efficient recommendation, conventional methods would generate user and advertisement embeddings independently with a siamese transformer encoder, such that approximate nearest neighbour search (ANN) can be leveraged. Given that the underlying semantic about user and ad can be complicated, such independently generated embeddings are prone to information loss, which leads to inferior recommendation quality. Although another encoding strategy, the cross encoder, can be much more accurate, it will lead to huge running cost and become infeasible for realtime services, like native ads recommendation. In this work, we propose hybrid encoder, which makes efficient and precise native ads recommendation through two consecutive steps: retrieval and ranking. In the retrieval step, user and ad are encoded with a siamese component, which enables relevant candidates to be retrieved via ANN search. In the ranking step, it further represents each ad with disentangled embeddings and each user with ad-related embeddings, which contributes to the fine-grained selection of high-quality ads from the candidate set. Both steps are light-weighted, thanks to the pre-computed and cached intermedia results. To optimize the hybrid encoder's performance in this two-stage workflow, a progressive training pipeline is developed, which builds up the model's capability in the retrieval and ranking task step-by-step. The hybrid encoder's effectiveness is experimentally verified: with very little additional cost, it outperforms the siamese encoder significantly and achieves comparable recommendation quality as the cross encoder.
IRFeb 18, 2021
Multi-Interest-Aware User Modeling for Large-Scale Sequential RecommendationsJianxun Lian, Iyad Batal, Zheng Liu et al.
Precise user modeling is critical for online personalized recommendation services. Generally, users' interests are diverse and are not limited to a single aspect, which is particularly evident when their behaviors are observed for a longer time. For example, a user may demonstrate interests in cats/dogs, dancing and food \& delights when browsing short videos on Tik Tok; the same user may show interests in real estate and women's wear in her web browsing behaviors. Traditional models tend to encode a user's behaviors into a single embedding vector, which do not have enough capacity to effectively capture her diverse interests. This paper proposes a Sequential User Matrix (SUM) to accurately and efficiently capture users' diverse interests. SUM models user behavior with a multi-channel network, with each channel representing a different aspect of the user's interests. User states in different channels are updated by an \emph{erase-and-add} paradigm with interest- and instance-level attention. We further propose a local proximity debuff component and a highway connection component to make the model more robust and accurate. SUM can be maintained and updated incrementally, making it feasible to be deployed for large-scale online serving. We conduct extensive experiments on two datasets. Results demonstrate that SUM consistently outperforms state-of-the-art baselines.
CVMar 10, 2020
DymSLAM:4D Dynamic Scene Reconstruction Based on Geometrical Motion SegmentationChenjie Wang, Bin Luo, Yun Zhang et al.
Most SLAM algorithms are based on the assumption that the scene is static. However, in practice, most scenes are dynamic which usually contains moving objects, these methods are not suitable. In this paper, we introduce DymSLAM, a dynamic stereo visual SLAM system being capable of reconstructing a 4D (3D + time) dynamic scene with rigid moving objects. The only input of DymSLAM is stereo video, and its output includes a dense map of the static environment, 3D model of the moving objects and the trajectories of the camera and the moving objects. We at first detect and match the interesting points between successive frames by using traditional SLAM methods. Then the interesting points belonging to different motion models (including ego-motion and motion models of rigid moving objects) are segmented by a multi-model fitting approach. Based on the interesting points belonging to the ego-motion, we are able to estimate the trajectory of the camera and reconstruct the static background. The interesting points belonging to the motion models of rigid moving objects are then used to estimate their relative motion models to the camera and reconstruct the 3D models of the objects. We then transform the relative motion to the trajectories of the moving objects in the global reference frame. Finally, we then fuse the 3D models of the moving objects into the 3D map of the environment by considering their motion trajectories to obtain a 4D (3D+time) sequence. DymSLAM obtains information about the dynamic objects instead of ignoring them and is suitable for unknown rigid objects. Hence, the proposed system allows the robot to be employed for high-level tasks, such as obstacle avoidance for dynamic objects. We conducted experiments in a real-world environment where both the camera and the objects were moving in a wide range.
LGApr 24, 2018
Improving Native Ads CTR Prediction by Large Scale Event Embedding and Recurrent NetworksMehul Parsana, Krishna Poola, Yajun Wang et al.
Click through rate (CTR) prediction is very important for Native advertisement but also hard as there is no direct query intent. In this paper we propose a large-scale event embedding scheme to encode the each user browsing event by training a Siamese network with weak supervision on the users' consecutive events. The CTR prediction problem is modeled as a supervised recurrent neural network, which naturally model the user history as a sequence of events. Our proposed recurrent models utilizing pretrained event embedding vectors and an attention layer to model the user history. Our experiments demonstrate that our model significantly outperforms the baseline and some variants.
LGJul 31, 2014
Combinatorial Multi-Armed Bandit and Its Extension to Probabilistically Triggered ArmsWei Chen, Yajun Wang, Yang Yuan et al.
We define a general framework for a large class of combinatorial multi-armed bandit (CMAB) problems, where subsets of base arms with unknown distributions form super arms. In each round, a super arm is played and the base arms contained in the super arm are played and their outcomes are observed. We further consider the extension in which more based arms could be probabilistically triggered based on the outcomes of already triggered arms. The reward of the super arm depends on the outcomes of all played arms, and it only needs to satisfy two mild assumptions, which allow a large class of nonlinear reward instances. We assume the availability of an offline (α,β)-approximation oracle that takes the means of the outcome distributions of arms and outputs a super arm that with probability β generates an α fraction of the optimal expected reward. The objective of an online learning algorithm for CMAB is to minimize (α,β)-approximation regret, which is the difference between the αβ fraction of the expected reward when always playing the optimal super arm, and the expected reward of playing super arms according to the algorithm. We provide CUCB algorithm that achieves O(log n) distribution-dependent regret, where n is the number of rounds played, and we further provide distribution-independent bounds for a large class of reward functions. Our regret analysis is tight in that it matches the bound of UCB1 algorithm (up to a constant factor) for the classical MAB problem, and it significantly improves the regret bound in a earlier paper on combinatorial bandits with linear rewards. We apply our CMAB framework to two new applications, probabilistic maximum coverage and social influence maximization, both having nonlinear reward structures. In particular, application to social influence maximization requires our extension on probabilistically triggered arms.