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AAR:Attention Remodulation for Weakly Supervised Semantic Segmentation

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Abstract

Weakly Supervised Semantic Segmentation is a crucial task in computer vision. However, existing methods that utilize Class Activation Maps (CAMs) with classification tasks can only identify a small part of the region. To address this limitation, we propose a novel Attention Activation Remodulation (AAR) scheme that leverages traditional CAMs and the remodulation branch to obtain weighted CAMs for recalibrated supervision. The AAR scheme re-arranges important features’ distribution from the channel and space perspectives, which regulates segmentation-oriented activation responses. In addition, we propose a Feature Pixel Extraction Module (FPEM) that utilizes contextual information to improve pixel prediction. Furthermore, the proposed scheme can be combined with other methods to improve overall performance. Extensive experiments on the PASCAL VOC 2012 dataset demonstrate the effectiveness of the AAR mechanism and FPEM module.

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Data Availability

The data and materials utilized in this study are based on the VOC2012 dataset, which is a widely used benchmark dataset in computer vision research. The VOC2012 dataset contains a diverse collection of images annotated with object bounding boxes and class labels. It is specifically designed for object detection, segmentation, and classification tasks. Access to the VOC2012 dataset can be obtained by following the steps outlined on the official website of the Visual Object Classes (VOC) challenge. The dataset can be downloaded from https://pjreddie.com/projects/pascal-voc-dataset-mirror/. Researchers are required to agree to the terms and conditions provided by the VOC challenge organizers before gaining access to the dataset.

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Funding

This research was supported by the Research Foundation of the Institute of Environment-friendly Materials and Occupational Health (Wuhu), Anhui University of Science and Technology (No. ALW2021YF04), the Anhui University of Science and Technology Graduate Innovation Fund(No.2022CX2126), and the University Synergy Innovation Program of Anhui Province (No. GXXT-2021-006), and this study is supported by the open Foundation of Anhui Engineering Research Center of Intelligent Perception and Elderly Care, Chuzhou University, under Grant No.20220PB01.

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Contributions

Yu-e Lin provided guidance during the experiment and guidance on the grammar of the article when writing the article. Houguo Li completed the experimental part of the thesis and the general writing of the article. **ngzhu Liang revised the first edition of the paper and put forward many valuable suggestions. Mengfan Li completed the drawing of Figs 16 of the article and completed the editing of references at the same time. Huilin Liu query relevant information when writing an article.

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Correspondence to **ngzhu Liang.

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The authors declare no direct or indirect interest in the work submitted for publication in this study.The dissertation is written by graduate students to meet academic requirements.No organization or individual will gain any benefit from the publication of this work.

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Lin, Ye., Li, H., Liang, X. et al. AAR:Attention Remodulation for Weakly Supervised Semantic Segmentation. J Supercomput 80, 9096–9114 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-023-05786-z

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