Forward Once for All: Structural Parameterized Adaptation for Efficient Cloud-coordinated On-device Recommendation

In cloud-centric recommender system, regular data exchanges between user devices and cloud could potentially elevate bandwidth demands and privacy risks. On-device recommendation emerges as a viable solution by performing reranking locally to alleviate these concerns. Existing methods primarily focus on developing local adaptive parameters, while potentially neglecting the critical role of tailor-made model architecture. Insights from broader research domains suggest that varying data distributions might favor distinct architectures for better fitting. In addition, imposing a uniform model structure across heterogeneous devices may result in risking inefficacy on less capable devices or sub-optimal performance on those with sufficient capabilities. In response to these gaps, our paper introduces Forward-OFA, a novel approach for the dynamic construction of device-specific networks (both structure and parameters). Forward-OFA employs a structure controller to selectively determine whether each block needs to be assembled for a given device. However, during the training of the structure controller, these assembled heterogeneous structures are jointly optimized, where the co-adaption among blocks might encounter gradient conflicts. To mitigate this, Forward-OFA is designed to establish a structure-guided mapping of real-time behaviors to the parameters of assembled networks. Structure-related parameters and parallel components within the mapper prevent each part from receiving heterogeneous gradients from others, thus bypassing the gradient conflicts for coupled optimization. Besides, direct mapping enables Forward-OFA to achieve adaptation through only one forward pass, allowing for swift adaptation to changing interests and eliminating the requirement for on-device backpropagation. Experiments on real-world datasets demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of Forward-OFA.

InfiFusion: A Unified Framework for Enhanced Cross-Model Reasoning via LLM Fusion

Large Language Models (LLMs) have demonstrated strong performance across various reasoning tasks, yet building a single model that consistently excels across all domains remains challenging. This paper addresses this problem by exploring strategies to integrate multiple domain-specialized models into an efficient pivot model.We propose two fusion strategies to combine the strengths of multiple LLMs: (1) a pairwise, multi-step fusion approach that sequentially distills each source model into the pivot model, followed by a weight merging step to integrate the distilled models into the final model. This method achieves strong performance but requires substantial training effort; and (2) a unified fusion approach that aggregates all source models' outputs simultaneously.To improve the fusion process, we introduce a novel Rate-Skewness Adaptive Fusion (RSAF) technique, which dynamically adjusts top-K ratios during parameter merging for enhanced flexibility and stability.Furthermore, we propose an uncertainty-based weighting method for the unified approach, which dynamically balances the contributions of source models and outperforms other logits/distribution ensemble methods.We achieved accuracy improvements of 9.27%, 8.80%, and 8.89% on the GSM8K, MATH, and HumanEval tasks, respectively.

FedCFA: Alleviating Simpson's Paradox in Model Aggregation with Counterfactual Federated Learning

Federated learning (FL) is a promising technology for data privacy and distributed optimization, but it suffers from data imbalance and heterogeneity among clients. Existing FL methods try to solve the problems by aligning client with server model or by correcting client model with control variables. These methods excel on IID and general Non-IID data but perform mediocrely in Simpson's Paradox scenarios. Simpson's Paradox refers to the phenomenon that the trend observed on the global dataset disappears or reverses on a subset, which may lead to the fact that global model obtained through aggregation in FL does not accurately reflect the distribution of global data. Thus, we propose FedCFA, a novel FL framework employing counterfactual learning to generate counterfactual samples by replacing local data critical factors with global average data, aligning local data distributions with the global and mitigating Simpson's Paradox effects. In addition, to improve the quality of counterfactual samples, we introduce factor decorrelation (FDC) loss to reduce the correlation among features and thus improve the independence of extracted factors. We conduct extensive experiments on six datasets and verify that our method outperforms other FL methods in terms of efficiency and global model accuracy under limited communication rounds.

Non-Terrestrial Networking for 6G: Evolution, Opportunities, and Future Directions

From 5G onwards, Non-Terrestrial Networks (NTNs) have emerged as a key component of future network architectures. Leveraging Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellations, NTNs are capable of building a space Internet and present a paradigm shift in delivering mobile services to even the most remote regions on Earth. However, the extensive coverage and rapid movement of LEO satellites pose unique challenges for NTN networking, including user equipment (UE) access and inter-satellite delivery, which directly impact the quality of service (QoS) and data transmission continuity. This paper offers an in-depth review of advanced NTN management technologies in the context of 6G evolution, focusing on radio resource management, mobility management, and dynamic network slicing. Building on this foundation and considering the latest trends in NTN development, we then present some innovative perspectives to emerging challenges in satellite beamforming, handover mechanisms, and inter-satellite transmissions. Lastly, we identify open research issues and propose future directions aimed at advancing satellite Internet deployment and enhancing NTN performance.

Preliminary Evaluation of the Test-Time Training Layers in Recommendation System (Student Abstract)

This paper explores the application and effectiveness of Test-Time Training (TTT) layers in improving the performance of recommendation systems. We developed a model, TTT4Rec, utilizing TTT-Linear as the feature extraction layer. Our tests across multiple datasets indicate that TTT4Rec, as a base model, performs comparably or even surpasses other baseline models in similar environments.

ProGraph: Temporally-alignable Probability Guided Graph Topological Modeling for 3D Human Reconstruction

Current 3D human motion reconstruction methods from monocular videos rely on features within the current reconstruction window, leading to distortion and deformations in the human structure under local occlusions or blurriness in video frames. To estimate realistic 3D human mesh sequences based on incomplete features, we propose Temporally-alignable Probability Guided Graph Topological Modeling for 3D Human Reconstruction (ProGraph). For missing parts recovery, we exploit the explicit topological-aware probability distribution across the entire motion sequence. To restore the complete human, Graph Topological Modeling (GTM) learns the underlying topological structure, focusing on the relationships inherent in the individual parts. Next, to generate blurred motion parts, Temporal-alignable Probability Distribution (TPDist) utilizes the GTM to predict features based on distribution. This interactive mechanism facilitates motion consistency, allowing the restoration of human parts. Furthermore, Hierarchical Human Loss (HHLoss) constrains the probability distribution errors of inter-frame features during topological structure variation. Our Method achieves superior results than other SOTA methods in addressing occlusions and blurriness on 3DPW.

Fine-Grained Guidance for Retrievers: Leveraging LLMs' Feedback in Retrieval-Augmented Generation

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) has proven to be an effective method for mitigating hallucination issues inherent in large language models (LLMs). Previous approaches typically train retrievers based on semantic similarity, lacking optimization for RAG. More recent works have proposed aligning retrievers with the preference signals of LLMs. However, these preference signals are often difficult for dense retrievers, which typically have weaker language capabilities, to understand and learn effectively. Drawing inspiration from pedagogical theories like Guided Discovery Learning, we propose a novel framework, FiGRet (Fine-grained Guidance for Retrievers), which leverages the language capabilities of LLMs to construct examples from a more granular, information-centric perspective to guide the learning of retrievers. Specifically, our method utilizes LLMs to construct easy-to-understand examples from samples where the retriever performs poorly, focusing on three learning objectives highly relevant to the RAG scenario: relevance, comprehensiveness, and purity. These examples serve as scaffolding to ultimately align the retriever with the LLM's preferences. Furthermore, we employ a dual curriculum learning strategy and leverage the reciprocal feedback between LLM and retriever to further enhance the performance of the RAG system. A series of experiments demonstrate that our proposed framework enhances the performance of RAG systems equipped with different retrievers and is applicable to various LLMs.

Multi-Uncertainty Aware Autonomous Cooperative Planning

Autonomous cooperative planning (ACP) is a promising technique to improve the efficiency and safety of multi-vehicle interactions for future intelligent transportation systems. However, realizing robust ACP is a challenge due to the aggregation of perception, motion, and communication uncertainties. This paper proposes a novel multi-uncertainty aware ACP (MUACP) framework that simultaneously accounts for multiple types of uncertainties via regularized cooperative model predictive control (RC-MPC). The regularizers and constraints for perception, motion, and communication are constructed according to the confidence levels, weather conditions, and outage probabilities, respectively. The effectiveness of the proposed method is evaluated in the Car Learning to Act (CARLA) simulation platform. Results demonstrate that the proposed MUACP efficiently performs cooperative formation in real time and outperforms other benchmark approaches in various scenarios under imperfect knowledge of the environment.

Unconstrained Model Merging for Enhanced LLM Reasoning

Recent advancements in building domain-specific large language models (LLMs) have shown remarkable success, especially in tasks requiring reasoning abilities like logical inference over complex relationships and multi-step problem solving. However, creating a powerful all-in-one LLM remains challenging due to the need for proprietary data and vast computational resources. As a resource-friendly alternative, we explore the potential of merging multiple expert models into a single LLM. Existing studies on model merging mainly focus on generalist LLMs instead of domain experts, or the LLMs under the same architecture and size. In this work, we propose an unconstrained model merging framework that accommodates both homogeneous and heterogeneous model architectures with a focus on reasoning tasks. A fine-grained layer-wise weight merging strategy is designed for homogeneous models merging, while heterogeneous model merging is built upon the probabilistic distribution knowledge derived from instruction-response fine-tuning data. Across 7 benchmarks and 9 reasoning-optimized LLMs, we reveal key findings that combinatorial reasoning emerges from merging which surpasses simple additive effects. We propose that unconstrained model merging could serve as a foundation for decentralized LLMs, marking a notable progression from the existing centralized LLM framework. This evolution could enhance wider participation and stimulate additional advancement in the field of artificial intelligence, effectively addressing the constraints posed by centralized models.

Semantic Codebook Learning for Dynamic Recommendation Models

Dynamic sequential recommendation (DSR) can generate model parameters based on user behavior to improve the personalization of sequential recommendation under various user preferences. However, it faces the challenges of large parameter search space and sparse and noisy user-item interactions, which reduces the applicability of the generated model parameters. The Semantic Codebook Learning for Dynamic Recommendation Models (SOLID) framework presents a significant advancement in DSR by effectively tackling these challenges. By transforming item sequences into semantic sequences and employing a dual parameter model, SOLID compresses the parameter generation search space and leverages homogeneity within the recommendation system. The introduction of the semantic metacode and semantic codebook, which stores disentangled item representations, ensures robust and accurate parameter generation. Extensive experiments demonstrates that SOLID consistently outperforms existing DSR, delivering more accurate, stable, and robust recommendations.