# Fine-Grained Domain Generalization with Feature Structuralization

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2406.09166 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.09166/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 40 of its 71 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 13 Jun 2024.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 40)

- [Deep Residual Learning for Image Recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.03385/) (2015)
- [An Image is Worth 16x16 Words: Transformers for Image Recognition at Scale](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.11929/) (2020)
- [ImageNet Large Scale Visual Recognition Challenge](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1409.0575/) (2014)
- [Domain-Adversarial Training of Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1505.07818/) (2015)
- [Sinkhorn Distances: Lightspeed Computation of Optimal Transportation Distances](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1306.0895/) (2013)
- [Distributionally Robust Neural Networks for Group Shifts: On the Importance of Regularization for Worst-Case Generalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.08731/) (2019)
- [Deep CORAL: Correlation Alignment for Deep Domain Adaptation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1607.01719/) (2016)
- [In Search of Lost Domain Generalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.01434/) (2020)
- [Challenging Common Assumptions in the Unsupervised Learning of Disentangled Representations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1811.12359/) (2018)
- [Generalizing to Unseen Domains: A Survey on Domain Generalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.03097/) (2021)
- [Domain Generalization: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.02503/) (2021)
- [Learning to Generalize: Meta-Learning for Domain Generalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.03463/) (2017)
- [Domain Generalization via Invariant Feature Representation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1301.2115/) (2013)
- [Domain Generalization with MixStyle](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2104.02008/) (2021)
- [Learning to Learn Single Domain Generalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.13216/) (2020)
- [The Risks of Invariant Risk Minimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2010.05761/) (2020)
- [Deep Domain-Adversarial Image Generation for Domain Generalisation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.06054/) (2020)
- [Simultaneous Deep Transfer Across Domains and Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1510.02192/) (2015)
- [Interpreting CLIP's Image Representation via Text-Based Decomposition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.05916/) (2023)
- [Improve Unsupervised Domain Adaptation with Mixup Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2001.00677/) (2020)
- [Adaptive Risk Minimization: Learning to Adapt to Domain Shift](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.02931/) (2020)
- [From Attribution Maps to Human-Understandable Explanations through Concept Relevance Propagation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.03208/) (2022)
- [Fine-Grained Image Analysis with Deep Learning: A Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.06119/) (2021)
- [Efficient Domain Generalization via Common-Specific Low-Rank Decomposition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.12815/) (2020)
- [Domain Generalization by Mutual-Information Regularization with Pre-trained Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.10789/) (2022)
- [A Large-Scale Car Dataset for Fine-Grained Categorization and Verification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.08959/) (2015)
- [DIVA: Domain Invariant Variational Autoencoders](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.10427/) (2019)
- [Interpreting Deep Visual Representations via Network Dissection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.05611/) (2017)
- [Sharpness-Aware Gradient Matching for Domain Generalization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.10353/) (2023)
- [AS-MLP: An Axial Shifted MLP Architecture for Vision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.08391/) (2021)

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [QdaVPR: A novel query-based domain-agnostic model for visual place recognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.07414/) (2026)
- [FOCUS: Bridging Fine-Grained Recognition and Open-World Discovery across Domains](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.14240/) (2026)
- [Histopathological Spectrum-Guided Prostate Stratification via Segmentation-Assisted Diagnostic Transformer](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.22703/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Fine-grained domain generalization (FGDG) is a more challenging task than traditional DG tasks due to its small inter-class variations and relatively large intra-class disparities. When domain distribution changes, the vulnerability of subtle features leads to a severe deterioration in model performance. Nevertheless, humans inherently demonstrate the capacity for generalizing to out-of-distribution data, leveraging structured multi-granularity knowledge that emerges from discerning the commonality and specificity within categories. Likewise, we propose a Feature Structuralized Domain Generalization (FSDG) model, wherein features experience structuralization into common, specific, and confounding segments, harmoniously aligned with their relevant semantic concepts, to elevate performance in FGDG. Specifically, feature structuralization (FS) is accomplished through joint optimization of five constraints: a decorrelation function applied to disentangled segments, three constraints ensuring common feature consistency and specific feature distinctiveness, and a prediction calibration term. By imposing these stipulations, FSDG is prompted to disentangle and align features based on multi-granularity knowledge, facilitating robust subtle distinctions among categories. Extensive experimentation on three benchmarks consistently validates the superiority of FSDG over state-of-the-art counterparts, with an average improvement of 6.2% in FGDG performance. Beyond that, the explainability analysis on explicit concept matching intensity between the shared concepts among categories and the model channels, along with experiments on various mainstream model architectures, substantiates the validity of FS.
