Abstract: The present disclosure describes systems and methods for image processing. Embodiments of the present disclosure include an image processing apparatus configured to generate modified images (e.g., synthetic faces) by conditionally changing attributes or landmarks of an input image. A machine learning model of the image processing apparatus encodes the input image to obtain a joint conditional vector that represents attributes and landmarks of the input image in a vector space. The joint conditional vector is then modified, according to the techniques described herein, to form a latent vector used to generate a modified image. In some cases, the machine learning model is trained using a generative adversarial network (GAN) with a normalization technique, followed by joint training of a landmark embedding and attribute embedding (e.g., to reduce inference time).

Abstract: An item recommendation system receives a set of recommendable items and a request to select, from the set of recommendable items, a contrast group. The item recommendation system selects a contrast group from the set of recommendable items by applying a image modification model to the set of recommendable items. The image modification model includes an item selection model configured to determine an unbiased conversion rate for each item of the set of recommendable items and select a recommended item from the set of recommendable items having a greatest unbiased conversion rate. The image modification model includes a contrast group selection model configured to select, for the recommended item, a contrast group comprising the recommended item and one or more contrast items. The item recommendation system transmits the contrast group responsive to the request.

Abstract: Techniques are provided through which “suspicious” websites may be identified automatically. A suspicious website is one that is associated with many changes or an inconsistent number of changes in web registry information over time. Registry information is received when changes to the registry information occur. The registry information is referred to as a transaction. A transaction is comprised of a plurality of values that each correspond to a characteristic. A characteristic is a property of a website, such as the website's contact information. A count associated with a particular characteristic-value pair is updated each time the particular value is identified in a transaction. A high count indicates that the website associated with the particular value is associated with a lot of changes. Therefore, a website associated with a high count is suspicious. Other factors that may be used for identifying a “suspicious” website include how often and how much the count changes.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for improving search results is provided. The method works by delineating sections of a document that are not relevant to the main content. The document content is subjected to ranking analysis in entirety. In response to a query results are recalled omitting terms included in the no-recall sections. Terms in the no-recall sections are not used in titles and abstracts of the results. The results are ordered at least in part by the rankings attributed to the identified no-recall sections.

Abstract: Techniques are provided for storing queries received by a search engine are in a query log. For a particular query term in the query, it is determined how many queries in the query log contain that particular query term and an intent-indicating term, and determined how many queries in the query log contain that particular query term without an intent-indicating term. Based on the ratio between the number of queries in the query log that contain the particular query term and the intent-indicating term and the number of queries in the query log that contain the particular query term without the intent-indicating term, it is determined whether the particular query term is an intent-qualified query term. In response to determining that the particular query term is an intent-qualified query term, data is stored in a computer-readable medium that identifies the query term as an intent-qualified query term.

Abstract: A method for identifying reciprocal links is provided. At a particular host, the set of hosts which link to the particular host and the set of hosts to which the particular host links are determined. The intersection and union of the two sets of hosts are also determined, and the sizes of the intersection and union are calculated. The concentration of reciprocal links at the particular host is calculated based on the sizes of the intersection and union. A ratio of the intersection size to the union size is used to determine the concentration of reciprocal links. The particular host's rank in a list of ranked search results may be changed as a result of identification of a high concentration of reciprocal links.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for improving search results is provided. The method works by delineating sections of a document that are not relevant to the main content. The document content is subjected to ranking analysis in entirety. In response to a query results are recalled omitting terms included in the no-recall sections. Terms in the no-recall sections are not used in titles and abstracts of the results. The results are ordered at least in part by the rankings attributed to the identified no-recall sections.