Promoting AI Equity in Science: Generalized Domain Prompt Learning for Accessible VLM Research

Large-scale Vision-Language Models (VLMs) have demonstrated exceptional performance in natural vision tasks, motivating researchers across domains to explore domain-specific VLMs. However, the construction of powerful domain-specific VLMs demands vast amounts of annotated data, substantial electrical energy, and computing resources, primarily accessible to industry, yet hindering VLM research in academia. To address this challenge and foster sustainable and equitable VLM research, we present the Generalized Domain Prompt Learning (GDPL) framework. GDPL facilitates the transfer of VLMs' robust recognition capabilities from natural vision to specialized domains, without the need for extensive data or resources. By leveraging small-scale domain-specific foundation models and minimal prompt samples, GDPL empowers the language branch with domain knowledge through quaternion networks, uncovering cross-modal relationships between domain-specific vision features and natural vision-based contextual embeddings. Simultaneously, GDPL guides the vision branch into specific domains through hierarchical propagation of generated vision prompt features, grounded in well-matched vision-language relations. Furthermore, to fully harness the domain adaptation potential of VLMs, we introduce a novel low-rank adaptation approach. Extensive experiments across diverse domains like remote sensing, medical imaging, geology, Synthetic Aperture Radar, and fluid dynamics, validate the efficacy of GDPL, demonstrating its ability to achieve state-of-the-art domain recognition performance in a prompt learning paradigm. Our framework paves the way for sustainable and inclusive VLM research, transcending the barriers between academia and industry.

Revolutionizing Terrain-Precipitation Understanding through AI-driven Knowledge Discovery

Advancing our understanding of climate processes in regions characterized by intricate terrain complexity is a paramount challenge in contemporary climate science, particularly in the context of global climate change. Notably, the scarcity of observational data in these regions has imposed substantial limitations on understanding the nuanced climate dynamics therein. For the first time, utilizing cutting-edge AI-driven knowledge discovery techniques, we have uncovered explicit equations that elucidate the intricate relationship between terrain features and precipitation patterns, illuminating the previously concealed complexities governing these relationships. These equations, thus far undisclosed, exhibit remarkable accuracy compared to conventional empirical models when applied to precipitation data. Building on this foundation, we reveal a phenomenon known as the '1995 turning point,' indicating a significant shift in the terrain-precipitation relationship in approximately 1995, related to the forces of climate change. These equations have practical applications, particularly in achieving fine-scale downscaling precipitation predictions from low-resolution future climate data. This capability provides invaluable insights into the expected changes in precipitation patterns across diverse terrains under future climate scenarios.