UFO-RL: Uncertainty-Focused Optimization for Efficient Reinforcement Learning Data Selection

Scaling RL for LLMs is computationally expensive, largely due to multi-sampling for policy optimization and evaluation, making efficient data selection crucial. Inspired by the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) theory, we hypothesize LLMs learn best from data within their potential comprehension zone. Addressing the limitation of conventional, computationally intensive multi-sampling methods for data assessment, we introduce UFO-RL. This novel framework uses a computationally efficient single-pass uncertainty estimation to identify informative data instances, achieving up to 185x faster data evaluation. UFO-RL leverages this metric to select data within the estimated ZPD for training. Experiments show that training with just 10% of data selected by UFO-RL yields performance comparable to or surpassing full-data training, reducing overall training time by up to 16x while enhancing stability and generalization. UFO-RL offers a practical and highly efficient strategy for scaling RL fine-tuning of LLMs by focusing learning on valuable data.

AIR: A Systematic Analysis of Annotations, Instructions, and Response Pairs in Preference Dataset

Preference learning is critical for aligning large language models (LLMs) with human values, yet its success hinges on high-quality datasets comprising three core components: Preference \textbf{A}nnotations, \textbf{I}nstructions, and \textbf{R}esponse Pairs. Current approaches conflate these components, obscuring their individual impacts and hindering systematic optimization. In this work, we propose \textbf{AIR}, a component-wise analysis framework that systematically isolates and optimizes each component while evaluating their synergistic effects. Through rigorous experimentation, AIR reveals actionable principles: annotation simplicity (point-wise generative scoring), instruction inference stability (variance-based filtering across LLMs), and response pair quality (moderate margins + high absolute scores). When combined, these principles yield +5.3 average gains over baseline method, even with only 14k high-quality pairs. Our work shifts preference dataset design from ad hoc scaling to component-aware optimization, offering a blueprint for efficient, reproducible alignment.

RoRA: Efficient Fine-Tuning of LLM with Reliability Optimization for Rank Adaptation

Fine-tuning helps large language models (LLM) recover degraded information and enhance task performance.Although Low-Rank Adaptation (LoRA) is widely used and effective for fine-tuning, we have observed that its scaling factor can limit or even reduce performance as the rank size increases. To address this issue, we propose RoRA (Rank-adaptive Reliability Optimization), a simple yet effective method for optimizing LoRA's scaling factor. By replacing $\alpha/r$ with $\alpha/\sqrt{r}$, RoRA ensures improved performance as rank size increases. Moreover, RoRA enhances low-rank adaptation in fine-tuning uncompressed models and excels in the more challenging task of accuracy recovery when fine-tuning pruned models. Extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of RoRA in fine-tuning both uncompressed and pruned models. RoRA surpasses the state-of-the-art (SOTA) in average accuracy and robustness on LLaMA-7B/13B, LLaMA2-7B, and LLaMA3-8B, specifically outperforming LoRA and DoRA by 6.5% and 2.9% on LLaMA-7B, respectively. In pruned model fine-tuning, RoRA shows significant advantages; for SHEARED-LLAMA-1.3, a LLaMA-7B with 81.4% pruning, RoRA achieves 5.7% higher average accuracy than LoRA and 3.9% higher than DoRA.

FedCAP: Robust Federated Learning via Customized Aggregation and Personalization

Federated learning (FL), an emerging distributed machine learning paradigm, has been applied to various privacy-preserving scenarios. However, due to its distributed nature, FL faces two key issues: the non-independent and identical distribution (non-IID) of user data and vulnerability to Byzantine threats. To address these challenges, in this paper, we propose FedCAP, a robust FL framework against both data heterogeneity and Byzantine attacks. The core of FedCAP is a model update calibration mechanism to help a server capture the differences in the direction and magnitude of model updates among clients. Furthermore, we design a customized model aggregation rule that facilitates collaborative training among similar clients while accelerating the model deterioration of malicious clients. With a Euclidean norm-based anomaly detection mechanism, the server can quickly identify and permanently remove malicious clients. Moreover, the impact of data heterogeneity and Byzantine attacks can be further mitigated through personalization on the client side. We conduct extensive experiments, comparing multiple state-of-the-art baselines, to demonstrate that FedCAP performs well in several non-IID settings and shows strong robustness under a series of poisoning attacks.

Brain Tumor Classification on MRI in Light of Molecular Markers

In research findings, co-deletion of the 1p/19q gene is associated with clinical outcomes in low-grade gliomas. The ability to predict 1p19q status is critical for treatment planning and patient follow-up. This study aims to utilize a specially MRI-based convolutional neural network for brain cancer detection. Although public networks such as RestNet and AlexNet can effectively diagnose brain cancers using transfer learning, the model includes quite a few weights that have nothing to do with medical images. As a result, the diagnostic results are unreliable by the transfer learning model. To deal with the problem of trustworthiness, we create the model from the ground up, rather than depending on a pre-trained model. To enable flexibility, we combined convolution stacking with a dropout and full connect operation, it improved performance by reducing overfitting. During model training, we also supplement the given dataset and inject Gaussian noise. We use three--fold cross-validation to train the best selection model. Comparing InceptionV3, VGG16, and MobileNetV2 fine-tuned with pre-trained models, our model produces better results. On an validation set of 125 codeletion vs. 31 not codeletion images, the proposed network achieves 96.37\% percent F1-score, 97.46\% percent precision, and 96.34\% percent recall when classifying 1p/19q codeletion and not codeletion images.

Asynchronous Cell-Free Massive MIMO-OFDM: Mixed Coherent and Non-Coherent Transmissions

In this letter, we analyze the performance of mixed coherent and non-coherent transmissions approach, which can improve the performance of cell-free multiple-input multiple-output orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CF mMIMO-OFDM) systems under asynchronous reception. To this end, we first obtain the achievable downlink sum-rate for the mixed coherent and non-coherent transmissions, and then provide a closed-form expression for the case with the maximum ratio precoding. Subsequently, an efficient clustering algorithm is proposed to group access points into different clusters with the same quantized phase shift in each cluster. Numerical results demonstrate that the mixed coherent and non-coherent transmissions can effectively improve the sum-rate of CF mMIMO-OFDM systems under asynchronous reception.

Fairness in Large Language Models in Three Hour

Large Language Models (LLMs) have demonstrated remarkable success across various domains but often lack fairness considerations, potentially leading to discriminatory outcomes against marginalized populations. Unlike fairness in traditional machine learning, fairness in LLMs involves unique backgrounds, taxonomies, and fulfillment techniques. This tutorial provides a systematic overview of recent advances in the literature concerning fair LLMs, beginning with real-world case studies to introduce LLMs, followed by an analysis of bias causes therein. The concept of fairness in LLMs is then explored, summarizing the strategies for evaluating bias and the algorithms designed to promote fairness. Additionally, resources for assessing bias in LLMs, including toolkits and datasets, are compiled, and current research challenges and open questions in the field are discussed. The repository is available at \url{https://github.com/LavinWong/Fairness-in-Large-Language-Models}.

AI-Driven Healthcare: A Survey on Ensuring Fairness and Mitigating Bias

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly advancing in healthcare, enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of services across various specialties, including cardiology, ophthalmology, dermatology, emergency medicine, etc. AI applications have significantly improved diagnostic accuracy, treatment personalization, and patient outcome predictions by leveraging technologies such as machine learning, neural networks, and natural language processing. However, these advancements also introduce substantial ethical and fairness challenges, particularly related to biases in data and algorithms. These biases can lead to disparities in healthcare delivery, affecting diagnostic accuracy and treatment outcomes across different demographic groups. This survey paper examines the integration of AI in healthcare, highlighting critical challenges related to bias and exploring strategies for mitigation. We emphasize the necessity of diverse datasets, fairness-aware algorithms, and regulatory frameworks to ensure equitable healthcare delivery. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research, advocating for interdisciplinary approaches, transparency in AI decision-making, and the development of innovative and inclusive AI applications.

FairAIED: Navigating Fairness, Bias, and Ethics in Educational AI Applications

The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into education has transformative potential, providing tailored learning experiences and creative instructional approaches. However, the inherent biases in AI algorithms hinder this improvement by unintentionally perpetuating prejudice against specific demographics, especially in human-centered applications like education. This survey delves deeply into the developing topic of algorithmic fairness in educational contexts, providing a comprehensive evaluation of the diverse literature on fairness, bias, and ethics in AI-driven educational applications. It identifies the common forms of biases, such as data-related, algorithmic, and user-interaction, that fundamentally undermine the accomplishment of fairness in AI teaching aids. By outlining existing techniques for mitigating these biases, ranging from varied data gathering to algorithmic fairness interventions, the survey emphasizes the critical role of ethical considerations and legal frameworks in shaping a more equitable educational environment. Furthermore, it guides readers through the complexities of fairness measurements, methods, and datasets, shedding light on the way to bias reduction. Despite these gains, this survey highlights long-standing issues, such as achieving a balance between fairness and accuracy, as well as the need for diverse datasets. Overcoming these challenges and ensuring the ethical and fair use of AI's promise in education call for a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach.

Fairness Definitions in Language Models Explained

Language Models (LMs) have demonstrated exceptional performance across various Natural Language Processing (NLP) tasks. Despite these advancements, LMs can inherit and amplify societal biases related to sensitive attributes such as gender and race, limiting their adoption in real-world applications. Therefore, fairness has been extensively explored in LMs, leading to the proposal of various fairness notions. However, the lack of clear agreement on which fairness definition to apply in specific contexts (\textit{e.g.,} medium-sized LMs versus large-sized LMs) and the complexity of understanding the distinctions between these definitions can create confusion and impede further progress. To this end, this paper proposes a systematic survey that clarifies the definitions of fairness as they apply to LMs. Specifically, we begin with a brief introduction to LMs and fairness in LMs, followed by a comprehensive, up-to-date overview of existing fairness notions in LMs and the introduction of a novel taxonomy that categorizes these concepts based on their foundational principles and operational distinctions. We further illustrate each definition through experiments, showcasing their practical implications and outcomes. Finally, we discuss current research challenges and open questions, aiming to foster innovative ideas and advance the field. The implementation and additional resources are publicly available at https://github.com/LavinWong/Fairness-in-Large-Language-Models/tree/main/definitions.