arXiv subjects

Tom Bush

Publications and source records attributed to Tom Bush.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Spatial Attention Supervision for Defect Localization: Exploiting Ground-Truth Masks as Training Signal in Diffusion-Augmented Defect Detection

Ground-truth defect masks in industrial inspection datasets are typically reserved for evaluation. This paper repurposes them as spatial supervision signals during training of classification networks, teaching a model not just what to predict but where to look. The method adds an activation-based attention alignment loss that steers convolutional feature maps toward defect regions, in a mixed-supervision formulation that also accommodates samples without masks, such as diffusion-generated images. Combined with DDPM augmentation, synthetic images contribute quantity while masks contribute spatial precision. We evaluate 85 models (four CNN backbones under a 2x2 data/training factorial over five seeds, plus a Swin-V2-T transformer baseline) on the MVTec-AD bottle benchmark, with localization measured on held-out defect images excluded from classifier gradient updates. Main findings: (1) attention-guided training improves activation-based localization (Pixel-AUROC) by +18.0% for EfficientNetB0 with augmentation (p=0.005, Cohen's d=2.6) and +18.7% for ResNet50 (p=0.008), significant in four of eight CNN settings (uncorrected for multiple comparisons) with no significant change in classification; (2) for EfficientNetB0 a data x training-mode interaction is significant (p=0.002), consistent with a super-additive effect (+13.6% combined vs +1.6% summed individual effects); (3) architectures with weaker spatial representations benefit most, whereas ConvNeXt-T shows no effect, apparently because its depthwise-convolution activations yield spatially uninformative channel-mean maps; (4) unsupervised PatchCore remains the strongest localizer (Pixel-AUROC=0.983), contextualizing the supervised gains. These results show that existing evaluation masks can act as practical training signals that measurably and reproducibly improve where defect classifiers attend.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2025

Beyond Visualization: Building Decision Intelligence Through Iterative Dashboard Refinement

Effective business intelligence (BI) dashboards evolve through iterative refinement rather than single-pass design. Addressing the lack of structured improvement frameworks in BI practice, this study documents the four-stage evolution of a Power BI dashboard analyzing profitability decline in a fictional retail firm, Global Superstore. Using a dataset of \$12.64 million in sales across seven markets and three product categories, the project demonstrates how feedback-driven iteration and gap analysis convert exploratory visuals into decision-support tools. Guided by four executive questions on profitability, market prioritization, discount effects, and shipping costs, each iteration resolved analytical or interpretive shortcomings identified through collaborative review. Key findings include margin erosion in furniture (6.94% vs. 13.99% for technology), a 20% discount threshold beyond which profitability declined, and \$1.35 million in unrecovered shipping costs. Contributions include: (a) a replicable feedback-driven methodology grounded in iterative gap analysis; (b) DAX-based technical enhancements improving interpretive clarity; (c) an inductively derived six-element narrative framework; and (d) evidence that narrative coherence emerges organically through structured refinement. The methodology suggests transferable value for both BI practitioners and educators, pending validation across diverse organizational contexts.

cs.HC↗

arXiv2025

Quantifying Label-Induced Bias in Large Language Model Self- and Cross-Evaluations

Large language models (LLMs) are increasingly deployed as evaluators of text quality, yet the validity of their judgments remains underexplored. This study investigates systematic bias in self- and cross-model evaluations across three prominent LLMs: ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. We designed a controlled experiment in which blog posts authored by each model were evaluated by all three models under four labeling conditions: no attribution, true attribution, and two false-attribution scenarios. Evaluations employed both holistic preference voting and granular quality ratings across three dimensions Coherence, Informativeness, and Conciseness with all scores normalized to percentages for direct comparison. Our findings reveal pronounced asymmetries in model judgments: the "Claude" label consistently elevated scores regardless of actual authorship, while the "Gemini" label systematically depressed them. False attribution frequently reversed preference rankings, producing shifts of up to 50 percentage points in voting outcomes and up to 12 percentage points in quality ratings. Notably, Gemini exhibited severe self-deprecation under true labels, while Claude demonstrated intensified self-preference. These results demonstrate that perceived model identity can substantially distort both high-level judgments and fine-grained quality assessments, independent of content quality. Our findings challenge the reliability of LLM-as-judge paradigms and underscore the critical need for blind evaluation protocols and diverse multi-model validation frameworks to ensure fairness and validity in automated text evaluation and LLM benchmarking.

cs.CL↗

arXiv2025

Enhancing Glass Defect Detection with Diffusion Models: Addressing Imbalanced Datasets in Manufacturing Quality Control

Visual defect detection in industrial glass manufacturing remains a critical challenge due to the low frequency of defective products, leading to imbalanced datasets that limit the performance of deep learning models and computer vision systems. This paper presents a novel approach using Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models (DDPMs) to generate synthetic defective glass product images for data augmentation, effectively addressing class imbalance issues in manufacturing quality control and automated visual inspection. The methodology significantly enhances image classification performance of standard CNN architectures (ResNet50V2, EfficientNetB0, and MobileNetV2) in detecting anomalies by increasing the minority class representation. Experimental results demonstrate substantial improvements in key machine learning metrics, particularly in recall for defective samples across all tested deep neural network architectures while maintaining perfect precision on the validation set. The most dramatic improvement was observed in ResNet50V2's overall classification accuracy, which increased from 78\% to 93\% when trained with the augmented data. This work provides a scalable, cost-effective approach to enhancing automated defect detection in glass manufacturing that can potentially be extended to other industrial quality assurance systems and industries with similar class imbalance challenges.

cs.CV↗