arXiv subjects

Conor Lynch

Publications and source records attributed to Conor Lynch.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Rethinking Sign Language Translation: The Impact of Signer Dependence on Model Evaluation

Sign Language Translation has advanced with deep learning, yet evaluations remain largely signer-dependent, with overlapping signers across train/dev/test. This raises concerns about whether models truly generalise or instead rely on signer-specific regularities. We conduct signer-fold cross-validation on GFSLT-VLP, GASLT, and SignCL, three leading, publicly available, gloss-free SLT models, on CSL-Daily and PHOENIX14T. Under signer-independent evaluation, performance drops sharply: on PHOENIX14T, GFSLT-VLP falls from BLEU-4 21.44 to 3.59 and ROUGE-L 42.49 to 11.89; GASLT from 15.74 to 8.26; and SignCL from 22.74 to 3.66. We also observe that in CSL-Daily many target sentences are performed by multiple signers, so common splits can place identical sentences in both training and test, inflating absolute scores by rewarding recall of recurring sentences rather than genuine generalisation. These findings indicate that signer-dependent evaluation can substantially overestimate SLT capability. We recommend: (1) adopting signer-independent protocols to ensure generalisation to unseen signers; (2) restructuring datasets to include explicit signer-independent, sentence-disjoint splits for consistent benchmarking; and (3) reporting both signer-dependent and signer-independent results together with train-test sentence overlap to improve transparency and comparability.

cs.CL↗

arXiv2026

The Influence of Iconicity in Transfer Learning for Sign Language Recognition

Most sign language recognition research relies on Transfer Learning (TL) from vision-based datasets such as ImageNet. Some extend this to alternatively available language datasets, often focusing on signs with cross-linguistic similarities. This body of work examines the necessity of these likenesses on effective knowledge transfer by comparing TL performance between iconic signs of two different sign language pairs: Chinese to Arabic and Greek to Flemish. Google Mediapipe was utilised as an input feature extractor, enabling spatial information of these signs to be processed with a Multilayer Perceptron architecture and the temporal information with a Gated Recurrent Unit. Experimental results showed a 7.02% improvement for Arabic and 1.07% for Flemish when conducting iconic TL from Chinese and Greek respectively.

cs.CL↗

arXiv2025

Validation of a 24-hour-ahead Prediction model for a Residential Electrical Load under diverse climate

Accurate household electrical energy demand prediction is essential for effectively managing sustainable Energy Communities. Integrated with the Energy Management System, these communities aim to optimise operational costs. However, most existing forecasting models are region-specific and depend on large datasets, limiting their applicability across different climates and geographical areas. These models often lack flexibility and may not perform well in regions with limited historical data, leading to inaccurate predictions. This paper proposes a global model for 24-hour-ahead hourly electrical energy demand prediction that is designed to perform effectively across diverse climate conditions and datasets. The model's efficiency is demonstrated using data from two distinct regions: Ireland, with a maritime climate and Vietnam, with a tropical climate. Remarkably, the model achieves high accuracy even with a limited dataset spanning only nine months. Its robustness is further validated across different seasons in Ireland (summer and winter) and Vietnam (dry and wet). The proposed model is evaluated against state-of-the-art machine learning and deep learning methods. Simulation results indicate that the model consistently outperforms benchmark models, showcasing its capability to provide reliable forecasts globally, regardless of varying climatic conditions and data availability. This research underscores the model's potential to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of Energy Communities worldwide. The proposed model achieves a Mean Absolute Percentage Error of 8.0% and 4.0% on the full Irish and Vietnamese datasets.

cs.LG↗