Multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) is a widely used Artificial Intelligence (AI) technique. However, current studies and applications need to address its scalability, non-stationarity, and trustworthiness. This paper aims to review methods and applications and point out research trends and visionary prospects for the next decade. First, this paper summarizes the basic methods and application scenarios of MARL. Second, this paper outlines the corresponding research methods and their limitations on safety, robustness, generalization, and ethical constraints that need to be addressed in the practical applications of MARL. In particular, we believe that trustworthy MARL will become a hot research topic in the next decade. In addition, we suggest that considering human interaction is essential for the practical application of MARL in various societies. Therefore, this paper also analyzes the challenges while MARL is applied to human-machine interaction.

Generating high-quality speech efficiently remains a key challenge for generative models in speech synthesis. This paper introduces VQalAttent, a lightweight model designed to generate fake speech with tunable performance and interpretability. Leveraging the AudioMNIST dataset, consisting of human utterances of decimal digits (0-9), our method employs a two-step architecture: first, a scalable vector quantized autoencoder (VQ-VAE) that compresses audio spectrograms into discrete latent representations, and second, a decoder-only transformer that learns the probability model of these latents. Trained transformer generates similar latent sequences, convertible to audio spectrograms by the VQ-VAE decoder, from which we generate fake utterances. Interpreting statistical and perceptual quality of the fakes, depending on the dimension and the extrinsic information of the latent space, enables guided improvements in larger, commercial generative models. As a valuable tool for understanding and refining audio synthesis, our results demonstrate VQalAttent's capacity to generate intelligible speech samples with limited computational resources, while the modularity and transparency of the training pipeline helps easily correlate the analytics with modular modifications, hence providing insights for the more complex models.

The real-world applications in signal processing generally involve estimating the system state or parameters in nonlinear, non-Gaussian dynamic systems. The estimation problem may get even more challenging when there are physical constraints on the system state. This tutorial-style paper reviews the Bayesian state estimation for (non)linear state-space systems and introduces the formulation of constrained state estimation in such scenarios. Specifically, we start by providing a review of unconstrained state estimation using Kalman filters (KF) for the linear systems and their extensions for nonlinear state-space systems, including extended Kalman filters (EKF), unscented Kalman filters (UKF), and ensemble Kalman filters (EnKF). Next, we present particle filters (PFs) for nonlinear state-space systems. Finally, we review constrained state estimation using various filtering techniques and highlight the advantages and disadvantages of the different constrained state estimation approaches.

Access to medical imaging and associated text data has the potential to drive major advances in healthcare research and patient outcomes. However, the presence of Protected Health Information (PHI) and Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) files presents a significant barrier to the ethical and secure sharing of imaging datasets. This paper presents a hybrid de-identification framework developed by Impact Business Information Solutions (IBIS) that combines rule-based and AI-driven techniques, and rigorous uncertainty quantification for comprehensive PHI/PII removal from both metadata and pixel data. Our approach begins with a two-tiered rule-based system targeting explicit and inferred metadata elements, further augmented by a large language model (LLM) fine-tuned for Named Entity Recognition (NER), and trained on a suite of synthetic datasets simulating realistic clinical PHI/PII. For pixel data, we employ an uncertainty-aware Faster R-CNN model to localize embedded text, extract candidate PHI via Optical Character Recognition (OCR), and apply the NER pipeline for final redaction. Crucially, uncertainty quantification provides confidence measures for AI-based detections to enhance automation reliability and enable informed human-in-the-loop verification to manage residual risks. This uncertainty-aware deidentification framework achieves robust performance across benchmark datasets and regulatory standards, including DICOM, HIPAA, and TCIA compliance metrics. By combining scalable automation, uncertainty quantification, and rigorous quality assurance, our solution addresses critical challenges in medical data de-identification and supports the secure, ethical, and trustworthy release of imaging data for research.

Transcription Factor Binding Site (TFBS) prediction is crucial for understanding gene regulation and various biological processes. This study introduces a novel Mixture of Experts (MoE) approach for TFBS prediction, integrating multiple pre-trained Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) models, each specializing in different TFBS patterns. We evaluate the performance of our MoE model against individual expert models on both in-distribution and out-of-distribution (OOD) datasets, using six randomly selected transcription factors (TFs) for OOD testing. Our results demonstrate that the MoE model achieves competitive or superior performance across diverse TF binding sites, particularly excelling in OOD scenarios. The Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistical test confirms the significance of these performance differences. Additionally, we introduce ShiftSmooth, a novel attribution mapping technique that provides more robust model interpretability by considering small shifts in input sequences. Through comprehensive explainability analysis, we show that ShiftSmooth offers superior attribution for motif discovery and localization compared to traditional Vanilla Gradient methods. Our work presents an efficient, generalizable, and interpretable solution for TFBS prediction, potentially enabling new discoveries in genome biology and advancing our understanding of transcriptional regulation.

Machine learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have fueled remarkable advancements, particularly in healthcare. Within medical imaging, ML models hold the promise of improving disease diagnoses, treatment planning, and post-treatment monitoring. Various computer vision tasks like image classification, object detection, and image segmentation are poised to become routine in clinical analysis. However, privacy concerns surrounding patient data hinder the assembly of large training datasets needed for developing and training accurate, robust, and generalizable models. Federated Learning (FL) emerges as a compelling solution, enabling organizations to collaborate on ML model training by sharing model training information (gradients) rather than data (e.g., medical images). FL's distributed learning framework facilitates inter-institutional collaboration while preserving patient privacy. However, FL, while robust in privacy preservation, faces several challenges. Sensitive information can still be gleaned from shared gradients that are passed on between organizations during model training. Additionally, in medical imaging, quantifying model confidence\uncertainty accurately is crucial due to the noise and artifacts present in the data. Uncertainty estimation in FL encounters unique hurdles due to data heterogeneity across organizations. This paper offers a comprehensive review of FL, privacy preservation, and uncertainty estimation, with a focus on medical imaging. Alongside a survey of current research, we identify gaps in the field and suggest future directions for FL research to enhance privacy and address noisy medical imaging data challenges.

Objective: Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals commonly suffer noise interference, such as baseline wander. High-quality and high-fidelity reconstruction of the ECG signals is of great significance to diagnosing cardiovascular diseases. Therefore, this paper proposes a novel ECG baseline wander and noise removal technology. Methods: We extended the diffusion model in a conditional manner that was specific to the ECG signals, namely the Deep Score-Based Diffusion model for Electrocardiogram baseline wander and noise removal (DeScoD-ECG). Moreover, we deployed a multi-shots averaging strategy that improved signal reconstructions. We conducted the experiments on the QT Database and the MIT-BIH Noise Stress Test Database to verify the feasibility of the proposed method. Baseline methods are adopted for comparison, including traditional digital filter-based and deep learning-based methods. Results: The quantities evaluation results show that the proposed method obtained outstanding performance on four distance-based similarity metrics with at least 20\% overall improvement compared with the best baseline method. Conclusion: This paper demonstrates the state-of-the-art performance of the DeScoD-ECG for ECG baseline wander and noise removal, which has better approximations of the true data distribution and higher stability under extreme noise corruptions. Significance: This study is one of the first to extend the conditional diffusion-based generative model for ECG noise removal, and the DeScoD-ECG has the potential to be widely used in biomedical applications.

Automatic Modulation Classification (AMC) is critical for efficient spectrum management and robust wireless communications. However, AMC remains challenging due to the complex interplay of signal interference and noise. In this work, we propose an innovative framework that integrates traditional signal processing techniques with Large-Language Models (LLMs) to address AMC. Our approach leverages higher-order statistics and cumulant estimation to convert quantitative signal features into structured natural language prompts. By incorporating exemplar contexts into these prompts, our method exploits the LLM's inherent familiarity with classical signal processing, enabling effective one-shot classification without additional training or preprocessing (e.g., denoising). Experimental evaluations on synthetically generated datasets, spanning both noiseless and noisy conditions, demonstrate that our framework achieves competitive performance across diverse modulation schemes and Signal-to-Noise Ratios (SNRs). Moreover, our approach paves the way for robust foundation models in wireless communications across varying channel conditions, significantly reducing the expense associated with developing channel-specific models. This work lays the foundation for scalable, interpretable, and versatile signal classification systems in next-generation wireless networks. The source code is available at this https URL

The rapid advancement of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication systems has significantly enhanced global connectivity, offering high-capacity, low-latency services crucial for next-generation applications. However, the dense configuration of LEO constellations poses challenges in resource allocation optimization and interference management, complicating coexistence with other communication systems. To address these limitations, this paper proposes a novel framework for optimizing the beam scheduling and resource allocation in multi-beam LEO systems. To satisfy the uneven terrestrial traffic demand, a hybrid beam pattern is employed to enhance the downlink quality of service and minimize the transmission latency from LEO satellites to ground user terminals. Additionally, a dynamic co-channel interference (CCI) control mechanism is developed to mitigate inter-beam interference within the LEO constellation and limit cross-system interference affecting protected users from other networks. The problem of user-beam-frequency allocation with power optimization is formulated as a mixed-integer dynamic programming model and solved using a low-complexity neural network-based graph generation algorithm. Simulation results show that the proposed approach outperforms the baseline methods of full frequency reuse and single-channel transmission, and highlights the potential for further performance improvement with multi-user transmissions.

Artificial intelligence generated content (AIGC), a rapidly advancing technology, is transforming content creation across domains, such as text, images, audio, and video. Its growing potential has attracted more and more researchers and investors to explore and expand its possibilities. This review traces AIGC's evolution through four developmental milestones-ranging from early rule-based systems to modern transfer learning models-within a unified framework that highlights how each milestone contributes uniquely to content generation. In particular, the paper employs a common example across all milestones to illustrate the capabilities and limitations of methods within each phase, providing a consistent evaluation of AIGC methodologies and their development. Furthermore, this paper addresses critical challenges associated with AIGC and proposes actionable strategies to mitigate them. This study aims to guide researchers and practitioners in selecting and optimizing AIGC models to enhance the quality and efficiency of content creation across diverse domains.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is routinely used for brain tumor diagnosis, treatment planning, and post-treatment surveillance. Recently, various models based on deep neural networks have been proposed for the pixel-level segmentation of tumors in brain MRIs. However, the structural variations, spatial dissimilarities, and intensity inhomogeneity in MRIs make segmentation a challenging task. We propose a new end-to-end brain tumor segmentation architecture based on U-Net that integrates Inception modules and dilated convolutions into its contracting and expanding paths. This allows us to extract local structural as well as global contextual information. We performed segmentation of glioma sub-regions, including tumor core, enhancing tumor, and whole tumor using Brain Tumor Segmentation (BraTS) 2018 dataset. Our proposed model performed significantly better than the state-of-the-art U-Net-based model (p<0.05) for tumor core and whole tumor segmentation.

One of the enduring challenges in education is how to empower students to take ownership of their learning by setting meaningful goals, tracking their progress, and adapting their strategies when faced with setbacks. Research has shown that this form of leaner-centered learning is best cultivated through structured, supportive environments that promote guided practice, scaffolded inquiry, and collaborative dialogue. In response, educational efforts have increasingly embraced artificial-intelligence (AI)-powered digital learning environments, ranging from educational apps and virtual labs to serious games. Recent advances in large language models (LLMs) and neuro-symbolic systems, meanwhile, offer a transformative opportunity to reimagine how support is delivered in digital learning environments. LLMs are enabling socially interactive learning experiences and scalable, cross-domain learning support that can adapt instructional strategies across varied subjects and contexts. In parallel, neuro-symbolic AI provides new avenues for designing these agents that are not only adaptive but also scalable across domains. Based on these remarks, this paper presents a multi-agent, neuro-symbolic framework designed to resolve the aforementioned challenges. The framework assigns distinct pedagogical roles to specialized agents: an RL-based 'tutor' agent provides authoritative, non-verbal scaffolding, while a proactive, LLM-powered 'peer' agent facilitates the social dimensions of learning. While prior work has explored such agents in isolation, our framework's novelty lies in unifying them through a central educational ontology. Through case studies in both college-level and middle school settings, we demonstrate the framework's adaptability across domains. We conclude by outlining key insights and future directions for advancing AI-driven learning environments.

Large Language Models (LLMs) can perform Automatic Modulation Classification (AMC) in an open-set manner without LLM fine-tuning when equipped with carefully designed in-context prompts~\cite{rostami2025plug}. Building on this prior work, we target the practical bottlenecks of long prompt contexts and large model sizes that impede in-the-loop deployment. We present Discretized Statistics in-Context Automatic Modulation Classification (DiSC-AMC), a token- and parameter-efficient variant that: (i) discretizes higher-order statistics and cumulants into compact symbolic tokens, (ii) prunes the exemplar list via a lightweight k-top neural prefilter and filters misleading/low-impact features using rationales extracted from prior LLM responses, and (iii) enforces label-only predictions through a calibrated prompt template. Together, these changes reduce both input/output tokens and the model parameter footprint by more than half while maintaining competitive accuracy. On synthetic AMC with ten modulation types under noise, a 7B \textit{DeepSeek-R1-Distill-Qwen} baseline achieves 5.2% accuracy, whereas our system, using an approximately 5B-parameter \textit{Gemini-2.5-Flash}~\cite{comanici2025gemini} model, attains 45.5% accuracy. These results demonstrate that careful discretization and context selection can cut inference cost by over 2x while preserving the advantages of prompt-based AMC and enabling practical in-the-loop use.

In the search for more effective education, there is a widespread effort to develop better approaches to personalize student education. Unassisted, educators often do not have time or resources to personally support every student in a given classroom. Motivated by this issue, and by recent advancements in artificial intelligence, this paper presents a general-purpose framework for personalized student support, applicable to any virtual educational system such as a serious game or an intelligent tutoring system. To fit any educational situation, we apply ontologies for their semantic organization, combining them with data collection considerations and multi-agent reinforcement learning. The result is a modular system that can be adapted to any virtual educational software to provide useful personalized assistance to students.

With the rise of deep neural networks, the challenge of explaining the predictions of these networks has become increasingly recognized. While many methods for explaining the decisions of deep neural networks exist, there is currently no consensus on how to evaluate them. On the other hand, robustness is a popular topic for deep learning research; however, it is hardly talked about in explainability until very recently. In this tutorial paper, we start by presenting gradient-based interpretability methods. These techniques use gradient signals to assign the burden of the decision on the input features. Later, we discuss how gradient-based methods can be evaluated for their robustness and the role that adversarial robustness plays in having meaningful explanations. We also discuss the limitations of gradient-based methods. Finally, we present the best practices and attributes that should be examined before choosing an explainability method. We conclude with the future directions for research in the area at the convergence of robustness and explainability.

Artificial intelligence (AI) and neuroscience share a rich history, with advancements in neuroscience shaping the development of AI systems capable of human-like knowledge retention. Leveraging insights from neuroscience and existing research in adversarial and continual learning, we introduce a novel framework comprising two core concepts: feature distillation and re-consolidation. Our framework, named Robust Rehearsal, addresses the challenge of catastrophic forgetting inherent in continual learning (CL) systems by distilling and rehearsing robust features. Inspired by the mammalian brain's memory consolidation process, Robust Rehearsal aims to emulate the rehearsal of distilled experiences during learning tasks. Additionally, it mimics memory re-consolidation, where new experiences influence the integration of past experiences to mitigate forgetting. Extensive experiments conducted on CIFAR10, CIFAR100, and real-world helicopter attitude datasets showcase the superior performance of CL models trained with Robust Rehearsal compared to baseline methods. Furthermore, examining different optimization training objectives-joint, continual, and adversarial learning-we highlight the crucial role of feature learning in model performance. This underscores the significance of rehearsing CL-robust samples in mitigating catastrophic forgetting. In conclusion, aligning CL approaches with neuroscience insights offers promising solutions to the challenge of catastrophic forgetting, paving the way for more robust and human-like AI systems.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has demonstrated significant potential in automating various medical imaging tasks, which could soon become routine in clinical practice for disease diagnosis, prognosis, treatment planning, and post-treatment surveillance. However, the privacy concerns surrounding patient data present a major barrier to the widespread adoption of AI in medical imaging, as large, diverse training datasets are essential for developing accurate, generalizable, and robust Artificial intelligence models. Federated Learning (FL) offers a solution that enables organizations to train AI models collaboratively without sharing sensitive data. federated learning exchanges model training information, such as gradients, between the participating sites. Despite its promise, federated learning is still in its developmental stages and faces several challenges. Notably, sensitive information can still be inferred from the gradients shared during model training. Quantifying AI models' uncertainty is vital due to potential data distribution shifts post-deployment, which can affect model performance. Uncertainty quantification (UQ) in FL is particularly challenging due to data heterogeneity across participating sites. This review provides a comprehensive examination of FL, privacy-preserving FL (PPFL), and UQ in FL. We identify key gaps in current FL methodologies and propose future research directions to enhance data privacy and trustworthiness in medical imaging applications.

Continual learning algorithms are typically exposed to untrusted sources that contain training data inserted by adversaries and bad actors. An adversary can insert a small number of poisoned samples, such as mislabeled samples from previously learned tasks, or intentional adversarial perturbed samples, into the training datasets, which can drastically reduce the model's performance. In this work, we demonstrate that continual learning systems can be manipulated by malicious misinformation and present a new category of data poisoning attacks specific for continual learners, which we refer to as {\em Poisoning Attacks Against Continual Learners} (PACOL). The effectiveness of labeling flipping attacks inspires PACOL; however, PACOL produces attack samples that do not change the sample's label and produce an attack that causes catastrophic forgetting. A comprehensive set of experiments shows the vulnerability of commonly used generative replay and regularization-based continual learning approaches against attack methods. We evaluate the ability of label-flipping and a new adversarial poison attack, namely PACOL proposed in this work, to force the continual learning system to forget the knowledge of a learned task(s). More specifically, we compared the performance degradation of continual learning systems trained on benchmark data streams with and without poisoning attacks. Moreover, we discuss the stealthiness of the attacks in which we test the success rate of data sanitization defense and other outlier detection-based defenses for filtering out adversarial samples.