Fine-Tuning Stable Diffusion XL for Stylistic Icon Generation: A Comparison of Caption Size

In this paper, we show different fine-tuning methods for Stable Diffusion XL; this includes inference steps, and caption customization for each image to align with generating images in the style of a commercial 2D icon training set. We also show how important it is to properly define what "high-quality" really is especially for a commercial-use environment. As generative AI models continue to gain widespread acceptance and usage, there emerge many different ways to optimize and evaluate them for various applications. Specifically text-to-image models, such as Stable Diffusion XL and DALL-E 3 require distinct evaluation practices to effectively generate high-quality icons according to a specific style. Although some images that are generated based on a certain style may have a lower FID score (better), we show how this is not absolute in and of itself even for rasterized icons. While FID scores reflect the similarity of generated images to the overall training set, CLIP scores measure the alignment between generated images and their textual descriptions. We show how FID scores miss significant aspects, such as the minority of pixel differences that matter most in an icon, while CLIP scores result in misjudging the quality of icons. The CLIP model's understanding of "similarity" is shaped by its own training data; which does not account for feature variation in our style of choice. Our findings highlight the need for specialized evaluation metrics and fine-tuning approaches when generating high-quality commercial icons, potentially leading to more effective and tailored applications of text-to-image models in professional design contexts.

Utilizing Model Residuals to Identify Rental Properties of Interest: The Price Anomaly Score (PAS) and Its Application to Real-time Data in Manhattan

Understanding whether a property is priced fairly hinders buyers and sellers since they usually do not have an objective viewpoint of the price distribution for the overall market of their interest. Drawing from data collected of all possible available properties for rent in Manhattan as of September 2023, this paper aims to strengthen our understanding of model residuals; specifically on machine learning models which generalize for a majority of the distribution of a well-proportioned dataset. Most models generally perceive deviations from predicted values as mere inaccuracies, however this paper proposes a different vantage point: when generalizing to at least 75\% of the data-set, the remaining deviations reveal significant insights. To harness these insights, we introduce the Price Anomaly Score (PAS), a metric capable of capturing boundaries between irregularly predicted prices. By combining relative pricing discrepancies with statistical significance, the Price Anomaly Score (PAS) offers a multifaceted view of rental valuations. This metric allows experts to identify overpriced or underpriced properties within a dataset by aggregating PAS values, then fine-tuning upper and lower boundaries to any threshold to set indicators of choice.

Microvasculature Segmentation in Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP)

Image segmentation serves as a critical tool across a range of applications, encompassing autonomous driving's pedestrian detection and pre-operative tumor delineation in the medical sector. Among these applications, we focus on the National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Human BioMolecular Atlas Program (HuBMAP), a significant initiative aimed at creating detailed cellular maps of the human body. In this study, we concentrate on segmenting various microvascular structures in human kidneys, utilizing 2D Periodic Acid-Schiff (PAS)-stained histology images. Our methodology begins with a foundational FastAI U-Net model, upon which we investigate alternative backbone architectures, delve into deeper models, and experiment with Feature Pyramid Networks. We rigorously evaluate these varied approaches by benchmarking their performance against our baseline U-Net model. This study thus offers a comprehensive exploration of cutting-edge segmentation techniques, providing valuable insights for future research in the field.