This paper presents the web-based platform Machine Learning with Bricks and an accompanying two-day course designed to teach machine learning concepts to students aged 12 to 17 through programming-free robotics activities. Machine Learning with Bricks is an open source platform and combines interactive visualizations with LEGO robotics to teach three core algorithms: KNN, linear regression, and Q-learning. Students learn by collecting data, training models, and interacting with robots via a web-based interface. Pre- and post-surveys with 14 students […]

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In optimization problems, some variable subsets may have a joint non-linear or non-monotonical influence on the function value. Therefore, knowledge of variable dependencies may be crucial for effective optimization, and many state-of-the-art optimizers leverage it to improve performance. However, some real-world problem instances may be the subject of noise of various origins. In such a case, variable dependencies relevant to optimization may be hard or impossible to tell using dependency checks sufficient for problems without noise, making highly […]

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arXiv:2602.00931v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Large language model reasoning is often treated as a monolithic capability, relying on binary preference supervision that fails to capture partial progress or fine-grained reasoning quality. We introduce Continuous Utility Direct Preference Optimization (CU-DPO), a framework that aligns models to a portfolio of prompt-based cognitive strategies by replacing binary labels with continuous scores that capture fine-grained reasoning quality. We prove that learning with K strategies yields a Theta(K log K) improvement in sample […]

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arXiv:2603.01047v1 Announce Type: cross Abstract: Generative Flow Networks (GFlowNets) were developed to learn policies for efficiently sampling combinatorial candidates by interpreting their generative processes as trajectories in directed acyclic graphs. In the value-based training workflow, the objective is to enforce the balance over partial episodes between the flows of the learned policy and the estimated flows of the desired policy, implicitly encouraging policy divergence minimization. The policy-based strategy alternates between estimating the policy divergence and updating the policy, […]

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arXiv:2602.00877v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Low speed does not always guarantee safety in off-road driving. For instance, crossing a ditch may be risky at a low speed due to the risk of getting stuck, yet safe at a higher speed with a controlled, accelerated jump. Achieving such behavior requires path planning that explicitly models complex motion dynamics, whereas existing methods often neglect this aspect and plan solely based on positions or a fixed velocity. To address this gap, […]

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Machine learning (ML) models show strong promise for new biomedical prediction tasks, but concerns about trustworthiness have hindered their clinical adoption. In particular, it is often unclear whether a model relies on true clinical cues or on spurious hierarchical correlations in the data. This paper introduces a simple yet broadly applicable trustworthiness test grounded in stochastic proof-by-contradiction. Instead of just showing high test performance, our approach trains and tests on spurious labels carefully permuted based on a potential […]

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Structure-based and ligand-based computational drug design have traditionally relied on disjoint data sources and modeling assumptions, limiting their joint use at scale. In this work, we introduce Contrastive Geometric Learning for Unified Computational Drug Design (ConGLUDe), a single contrastive geometric model that unifies structure- and ligand-based training. ConGLUDe couples a geometric protein encoder that produces whole-protein representations and implicit embeddings of predicted binding sites with a fast ligand encoder, removing the need for pre-defined pockets. By aligning ligands […]

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Semi-supervised imitation learning (SSIL) consists in learning a policy from a small dataset of action-labeled trajectories and a much larger dataset of action-free trajectories. Some SSIL methods learn an inverse dynamics model (IDM) to predict the action from the current state and the next state. An IDM can act as a policy when paired with a video model (VM-IDM) or as a label generator to perform behavior cloning on action-free data (IDM labeling). In this work, we first […]

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TL;DR: The Core Arguments The Hallucination Tax: AI is architecturally optimized for confidence, not correctness. Your deep technical literacy enables you to audit the logic that ultimately runs your business. The Prompting Ceiling: Your ability to guide an AI is capped by your technical vocabulary. Better engineering knowledge equals higher-leverage prompts. The Sustainability Gap: AI agents act as mercenary developers – stateless and shortsighted. You are the architectural anchor that ensures AI’s speed multiplies your progress, rather than multiplying your technical debt. The […]

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