Mitigating Image Captioning Hallucinations in Vision-Language Models

Hallucinations in vision-language models (VLMs) hinder reliability and real-world applicability, usually stemming from distribution shifts between pretraining data and test samples. Existing solutions, such as retraining or fine-tuning on additional data, demand significant computational resources and labor-intensive data collection, while ensemble-based methods incur additional costs by introducing auxiliary VLMs. To address these challenges, we propose a novel test-time adaptation framework using reinforcement learning to mitigate hallucinations during inference without retraining or any auxiliary VLMs. By updating only the learnable parameters in the layer normalization of the language model (approximately 0.003% of the model parameters), our method reduces distribution shifts between test samples and pretraining samples. A CLIP-based hallucination evaluation model is proposed to provide dual rewards to VLMs. Experimental results demonstrate a 15.4% and 17.3% reduction in hallucination rates on LLaVA and InstructBLIP, respectively. Our approach outperforms state-of-the-art baselines with a 68.3% improvement in hallucination mitigation, demonstrating its effectiveness.

4D Multimodal Co-attention Fusion Network with Latent Contrastive Alignment for Alzheimer's Diagnosis

Multimodal neuroimaging provides complementary structural and functional insights into both human brain organization and disease-related dynamics. Recent studies demonstrate enhanced diagnostic sensitivity for Alzheimer's disease (AD) through synergistic integration of neuroimaging data (e.g., sMRI, fMRI) with behavioral cognitive scores tabular data biomarkers. However, the intrinsic heterogeneity across modalities (e.g., 4D spatiotemporal fMRI dynamics vs. 3D anatomical sMRI structure) presents critical challenges for discriminative feature fusion. To bridge this gap, we propose M2M-AlignNet: a geometry-aware multimodal co-attention network with latent alignment for early AD diagnosis using sMRI and fMRI. At the core of our approach is a multi-patch-to-multi-patch (M2M) contrastive loss function that quantifies and reduces representational discrepancies via geometry-weighted patch correspondence, explicitly aligning fMRI components across brain regions with their sMRI structural substrates without one-to-one constraints. Additionally, we propose a latent-as-query co-attention module to autonomously discover fusion patterns, circumventing modality prioritization biases while minimizing feature redundancy. We conduct extensive experiments to confirm the effectiveness of our method and highlight the correspondance between fMRI and sMRI as AD biomarkers.

Active Learning Methods for Efficient Data Utilization and Model Performance Enhancement

In the era of data-driven intelligence, the paradox of data abundance and annotation scarcity has emerged as a critical bottleneck in the advancement of machine learning. This paper gives a detailed overview of Active Learning (AL), which is a strategy in machine learning that helps models achieve better performance using fewer labeled examples. It introduces the basic concepts of AL and discusses how it is used in various fields such as computer vision, natural language processing, transfer learning, and real-world applications. The paper focuses on important research topics such as uncertainty estimation, handling of class imbalance, domain adaptation, fairness, and the creation of strong evaluation metrics and benchmarks. It also shows that learning methods inspired by humans and guided by questions can improve data efficiency and help models learn more effectively. In addition, this paper talks about current challenges in the field, including the need to rebuild trust, ensure reproducibility, and deal with inconsistent methodologies. It points out that AL often gives better results than passive learning, especially when good evaluation measures are used. This work aims to be useful for both researchers and practitioners by providing key insights and proposing directions for future progress in active learning.

Feature Alignment and Representation Transfer in Knowledge Distillation for Large Language Models

Knowledge distillation (KD) is a technique for transferring knowledge from complex teacher models to simpler student models, significantly enhancing model efficiency and accuracy. It has demonstrated substantial advancements in various applications including image classification, object detection, language modeling, text classification, and sentiment analysis. Recent innovations in KD methods, such as attention-based approaches, block-wise logit distillation, and decoupling distillation, have notably improved student model performance. These techniques focus on stimulus complexity, attention mechanisms, and global information capture to optimize knowledge transfer. In addition, KD has proven effective in compressing large language models while preserving accuracy, reducing computational overhead, and improving inference speed. This survey synthesizes the latest literature, highlighting key findings, contributions, and future directions in knowledge distillation to provide insights for researchers and practitioners on its evolving role in artificial intelligence and machine learning.

MagicID: Hybrid Preference Optimization for ID-Consistent and Dynamic-Preserved Video Customization

Video identity customization seeks to produce high-fidelity videos that maintain consistent identity and exhibit significant dynamics based on users' reference images. However, existing approaches face two key challenges: identity degradation over extended video length and reduced dynamics during training, primarily due to their reliance on traditional self-reconstruction training with static images. To address these issues, we introduce $\textbf{MagicID}$, a novel framework designed to directly promote the generation of identity-consistent and dynamically rich videos tailored to user preferences. Specifically, we propose constructing pairwise preference video data with explicit identity and dynamic rewards for preference learning, instead of sticking to the traditional self-reconstruction. To address the constraints of customized preference data, we introduce a hybrid sampling strategy. This approach first prioritizes identity preservation by leveraging static videos derived from reference images, then enhances dynamic motion quality in the generated videos using a Frontier-based sampling method. By utilizing these hybrid preference pairs, we optimize the model to align with the reward differences between pairs of customized preferences. Extensive experiments show that MagicID successfully achieves consistent identity and natural dynamics, surpassing existing methods across various metrics.

CAD-VAE: Leveraging Correlation-Aware Latents for Comprehensive Fair Disentanglement

While deep generative models have significantly advanced representation learning, they may inherit or amplify biases and fairness issues by encoding sensitive attributes alongside predictive features. Enforcing strict independence in disentanglement is often unrealistic when target and sensitive factors are naturally correlated. To address this challenge, we propose CAD-VAE (Correlation-Aware Disentangled VAE), which introduces a correlated latent code to capture the shared information between target and sensitive attributes. Given this correlated latent, our method effectively separates overlapping factors without extra domain knowledge by directly minimizing the conditional mutual information between target and sensitive codes. A relevance-driven optimization strategy refines the correlated code by efficiently capturing essential correlated features and eliminating redundancy. Extensive experiments on benchmark datasets demonstrate that CAD-VAE produces fairer representations, realistic counterfactuals, and improved fairness-aware image editing.

Generative Adversarial Networks Bridging Art and Machine Intelligence

Generative Adversarial Networks (GAN) have greatly influenced the development of computer vision and artificial intelligence in the past decade and also connected art and machine intelligence together. This book begins with a detailed introduction to the fundamental principles and historical development of GANs, contrasting them with traditional generative models and elucidating the core adversarial mechanisms through illustrative Python examples. The text systematically addresses the mathematical and theoretical underpinnings including probability theory, statistics, and game theory providing a solid framework for understanding the objectives, loss functions, and optimisation challenges inherent to GAN training. Subsequent chapters review classic variants such as Conditional GANs, DCGANs, InfoGAN, and LAPGAN before progressing to advanced training methodologies like Wasserstein GANs, GANs with gradient penalty, least squares GANs, and spectral normalisation techniques. The book further examines architectural enhancements and task-specific adaptations in generators and discriminators, showcasing practical implementations in high resolution image generation, artistic style transfer, video synthesis, text to image generation and other multimedia applications. The concluding sections offer insights into emerging research trends, including self-attention mechanisms, transformer-based generative models, and a comparative analysis with diffusion models, thus charting promising directions for future developments in both academic and applied settings.

TD-RD: A Top-Down Benchmark with Real-Time Framework for Road Damage Detection

Object detection has witnessed remarkable advancements over the past decade, largely driven by breakthroughs in deep learning and the proliferation of large scale datasets. However, the domain of road damage detection remains relatively under explored, despite its critical significance for applications such as infrastructure maintenance and road safety. This paper addresses this gap by introducing a novel top down benchmark that offers a complementary perspective to existing datasets, specifically tailored for road damage detection. Our proposed Top Down Road Damage Detection Dataset (TDRD) includes three primary categories of road damage cracks, potholes, and patches captured from a top down viewpoint. The dataset consists of 7,088 high resolution images, encompassing 12,882 annotated instances of road damage. Additionally, we present a novel real time object detection framework, TDYOLOV10, designed to handle the unique challenges posed by the TDRD dataset. Comparative studies with state of the art models demonstrate competitive baseline results. By releasing TDRD, we aim to accelerate research in this crucial area. A sample of the dataset will be made publicly available upon the paper's acceptance.

From Aleatoric to Epistemic: Exploring Uncertainty Quantification Techniques in Artificial Intelligence

Uncertainty quantification (UQ) is a critical aspect of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, particularly in high-risk domains such as healthcare, autonomous systems, and financial technology, where decision-making processes must account for uncertainty. This review explores the evolution of uncertainty quantification techniques in AI, distinguishing between aleatoric and epistemic uncertainties, and discusses the mathematical foundations and methods used to quantify these uncertainties. We provide an overview of advanced techniques, including probabilistic methods, ensemble learning, sampling-based approaches, and generative models, while also highlighting hybrid approaches that integrate domain-specific knowledge. Furthermore, we examine the diverse applications of UQ across various fields, emphasizing its impact on decision-making, predictive accuracy, and system robustness. The review also addresses key challenges such as scalability, efficiency, and integration with explainable AI, and outlines future directions for research in this rapidly developing area. Through this comprehensive survey, we aim to provide a deeper understanding of UQ's role in enhancing the reliability, safety, and trustworthiness of AI systems.

From Noise to Nuance: Advances in Deep Generative Image Models

Deep learning-based image generation has undergone a paradigm shift since 2021, marked by fundamental architectural breakthroughs and computational innovations. Through reviewing architectural innovations and empirical results, this paper analyzes the transition from traditional generative methods to advanced architectures, with focus on compute-efficient diffusion models and vision transformer architectures. We examine how recent developments in Stable Diffusion, DALL-E, and consistency models have redefined the capabilities and performance boundaries of image synthesis, while addressing persistent challenges in efficiency and quality. Our analysis focuses on the evolution of latent space representations, cross-attention mechanisms, and parameter-efficient training methodologies that enable accelerated inference under resource constraints. While more efficient training methods enable faster inference, advanced control mechanisms like ControlNet and regional attention systems have simultaneously improved generation precision and content customization. We investigate how enhanced multi-modal understanding and zero-shot generation capabilities are reshaping practical applications across industries. Our analysis demonstrates that despite remarkable advances in generation quality and computational efficiency, critical challenges remain in developing resource-conscious architectures and interpretable generation systems for industrial applications. The paper concludes by mapping promising research directions, including neural architecture optimization and explainable generation frameworks.