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This study developed an innovative biosensor strategy for the sensitive and selective detection of canine mammary tumor biomarkers, cancer antigen 15–3 (CA 15–3) and mucin 1 (MUC-1), integrating green silver nanoparticles (GAgNPs) with machine learning (ML) algorithms to achieve high diagnostic accuracy and potential for noninvasive early detection. The GAgNPs-enhanced electrochemical biosensor demonstrated selective detection of CA 15–3 in serum and MUC-1 in tissue homogenates, with limits of detection (LODs) of 0.07 and 0.11 U mL−1, respectively. The nanoscale dimensions of the GAgNPs endowed them with electrochemically active surface areas, facilitating sensitive biomarker detection. Experimental studies targeted CA 15–3 and MUC-1 biomarkers in clinical samples, and the biosensor exhibited ease of use and good selectivity. Furthermore, ML algorithms were employed to analyze the electrochemical data and predict biomarker concentrations, enhancing the diagnostic accuracy. The Random Forest algorithm achieved 98% accuracy in tumor presence prediction, while an Artificial Neural Network attained 76% accuracy in CA 15–3-based tumor grade classification. The integration of ML techniques with the GAgNPs-based biosensor offers a promising approach for noninvasive, accurate, and early detection of canine mammary tumors, potentially revolutionizing veterinary diagnostics. This multilayered strategy, combining eco-friendly nanomaterials, electrochemical sensing, and ML algorithms, holds significant potential for advancing both biomedical research and clinical practice in the field of canine mammary tumor diagnostics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Predicting mortality and relapse in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is crucial for effective treatment and follow-up management. ALL is a common and deadly childhood cancer that often relapses after remission. In this study, we aimed to apply and evaluate machine learning-based models for predicting mortality and relapse in pediatric ALL patients. Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted on 161 children aged less than 16 years with ALL. Survival status (dead/alive) and patient experience of relapse (yes/no) were considered as the outcome variables. Ten machine learning (ML) algorithms were used to predict mortality and relapse. The performance of the algorithms was evaluated by cross-validation and reported as mean sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and area under the curve (AUC). Finally, prognostic factors were identified based on the best algorithms. Results: The mean accuracy of the ML algorithms for prediction of patient mortality ranged from 64 to 74% and for prediction of relapse, it varied from 64 to 84% on test data sets. The mean AUC of the ML algorithms for mortality and relapse was above 64%. The most important prognostic factors for predicting both mortality and relapse were identified as age at diagnosis, hemoglobin and platelets. In addition, significant prognostic factors for predicting mortality included clinical side effects such as splenomegaly, hepatomegaly and lymphadenopathy. Conclusions: Our results showed that artificial neural networks and bagging algorithms outperformed other algorithms in predicting mortality, while boosting and random forest algorithms excelled in predicting relapse in ALL patients across all criteria. These results offer significant clinical insights into the prognostic factors for children with ALL, which can inform treatment decisions and improve patient outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genomic selection (GS) can accomplish breeding faster than phenotypic selection. Improving prediction accuracy is the key to promoting GS. To improve the GS prediction accuracy and stability, we introduce parallel convolution to deep learning for GS and call it a parallel neural network for genomic selection (PNNGS). In PNNGS, information passes through convolutions of different kernel sizes in parallel. The convolutions in each branch are connected with residuals. Four different Lp loss functions train PNNGS. Through experiments, the optimal number of parallel paths for rice, sunflower, wheat, and maize is found to be 4, 6, 4, and 3, respectively. Phenotype prediction is performed on 24 cases through ridge-regression best linear unbiased prediction (RRBLUP), random forests (RF), support vector regression (SVR), deep neural network genomic prediction (DNNGP), and PNNGS. Serial DNNGP and parallel PNNGS outperform the other three algorithms. On average, PNNGS prediction accuracy is 0.031 larger than DNNGP prediction accuracy, indicating that parallelism can improve the GS model. Plants are divided into clusters through principal component analysis (PCA) and K-means clustering algorithms. The sample sizes of different clusters vary greatly, indicating that this is unbalanced data. Through stratified sampling, the prediction stability and accuracy of PNNGS are improved. When the training samples are reduced in small clusters, the prediction accuracy of PNNGS decreases significantly. Increasing the sample size of small clusters is critical to improving the prediction accuracy of GS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Additive manufacturing (AM) is a revolutionary technology transforming traditional production processes by providing exceptional mechanical characteristics. Methods: The present study aims explicitly to predict the hardness of Polycarbonate (PC) parts produced using AM. The objectives of this study are: (1) To investigate the process parameters that impact the ability to estimate the hardness of PC materials accurately, and (2) To develop a best-performing ML model from a range of models that can reliably predict the hardness of additively manufactured PC parts. Initially, fused filament fabrication (FFF), the most affordable AM technique, was used for the manufacturing of parts. Four process parameters, infill density, print direction, raster angle, and layer thickness, are selected for investigation. A heatmap is generated to obtain the influence of process parameters on hardness. Then, machine learning (ML) techniques create a range of predictive models that can predict hardness value considering the level of process parameters. Results: The developed ML models include Linear Regression, Decision Tree, Random Forest, K-nearest neighbor, Support Vector Regression, AdaBoost, and Artificial Neural Network. Further, an investigation has been done that includes choosing and improving ML algorithms and assessing the models' performance. Discussion: Prediction plots, residual plots, and evaluation metrics plots are prepared to gauge the performance of the developed models. Thus, the research enhances AM capabilities by applying predictive modeling to process parameters and improving the quality and reliability of fabricated components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The aim of this study is to assess the use of machine learning methodologies in the diagnosis of endometriosis (EM). Methods: This study included a total of 106 patients with EM and 203 patients with non-EM conditions (like simple cysts and simple uterine fibroids), all admitted to the Shunyi Women's and Children's Hospital of Beijing Children's Hospital between January 2017 and September 2022. All participants were free of comorbidities and their diagnoses were confirmed via postoperative pathology. Comparative analysis was conducted between the EM and non-EM groups. Baseline data were assessed, including white blood cell count, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio, lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio, mean platelet volume, hemoglobin, carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA125), carbohydrate antigen 199, coagulation parameters, and other serologic indicators. An optimal predictive model was developed using an artificial intelligence algorithm to determine the presence of EM. The objective is to provide new insights for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of EM. Results: The random forest algorithm demonstrated superior performance when compared to decision trees, LogitBoost, artificial neural networks, naïve Bayes, support vector machines, and linear regression in machine learning methods. Combining CA125 with the NLR yielded a better prediction of EM than using CA125 alone when applying the random forest algorithm. The accuracy of predicting EM with CA125 combined with NLR was 78.16%, with a sensitivity of 86.21% and an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.85 (P < 0.05). In contrast, using CA125 alone resulted in an EM prediction accuracy of 75.8%, with a sensitivity of 79.3% and an AUC of 0.82 (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The diagnostic value of serum CA125 combined with the NLR for EM is higher than that of serum CA125 alone. This finding indicates that NLR could serve as a new supplementary biomarker along with serum CA125 in the diagnosis of EM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The chloride migration coefficient (CMC) of concrete is crucial for evaluating its durability. This study develops ensemble models to predict the CMC of concrete, addressing the limitations of traditional, labor-intensive laboratory tests. We developed three ensemble models: an inverse variance-based model, an Artificial Neural Network (ANN)-based model, and a tree-based model using the random forest regression algorithm. These models were trained on a dataset comprising 843 concrete mix proportions from existing literature. Results indicate that ensemble models outperform single models such as ANN and Support Vector Regression (SVR) in predicting CMC, with the combined random forest and ANN model showing the highest accuracy. Sensitivity analysis using Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) reveals that the CMC is most influenced by the water-to-cement ratio and curing age. Additionally, we designed a graphical user interface (GUI) to facilitate the practical application of our models. This research offers a robust methodology for evaluating concrete durability and potential for extending the prediction to other concrete properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detecting clouds, snow, and lakes in remote sensing images is vital due to their propensity to obscure underlying surface information and hinder data extraction. In this study, we utilize Sentinel-2 images to implement a two-stage random forest (RF) algorithm for image labeling and delve into the factors influencing neural network performance across six aspects: model architecture, encoder, learning rate adjustment strategy, loss function, input image size, and different band combinations. Our findings indicate the Feature Pyramid Network (FPN) achieved the highest MIoU of 87.14%. The multi-head self-attention mechanism was less effective compared to convolutional methods for feature extraction with small datasets. Incorporating residual connections into convolutional blocks notably enhanced performance. Additionally, employing false-color images (bands 12-3-2) yielded a 4.86% improvement in MIoU compared to true-color images (bands 4-3-2). Notably, variations in model architecture, encoder structure, and input band combination had a substantial impact on performance, with parameter variations resulting in MIoU differences exceeding 5%. These results provide a reference for high-precision segmentation of clouds, snow, and lakes and offer valuable insights for applying deep learning techniques to the high-precision extraction of information from remote sensing images, thereby advancing research in deep neural networks for semantic segmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate and reliable forecasting of cancellations is important for successful revenue management in the tourism industry. The objective of this study is to develop classification models to predict hotel booking cancellations. The work involves a number of key steps, such as data preprocessing to properly prepare the data; feature engineering to identify relevant attributes to help improve the predictive ability of the models; hyperparameter settings of the models, including choice of optimizers and incorporation of dropout layers to avoid overfitting in the neural networks; potential overfitting is evaluated using K‐fold cross‐validation; and performance is analysed using the confusion matrix and various performance metrics. The algorithms used are Multilayer Perceptron Neural Network, Radial Basis Function Neural Network, Deep Neural Network, Decision Tree Classifier, Random Forest Classifier, Ada Boost Classifier and XgBoost Classifier. Finally, the results of all models are compared, visualizing Deep Neural Network and XgBoost as the most suitable models for predicting hotel reservation cancellations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Construction firms face considerable challenges in relation to finding cost-effective formwork solutions to meet increased construction demands. Project stakeholders have relied on self-consolidating concrete (SCC) to speed up the construction time because SCC is highly fluid and has numerous advantages compared to traditional concrete. To withstand SCC's high fluidity, formwork systems should be robust. Although previous research has experimentally examined various characteristics of SCC, few research studies have used machine-learning algorithms to estimate or predict the lateral pressure exerted by SCC on formwork systems. Hence, this study addressed this knowledge gap by proposing a machine-learning approach to predict the lateral pressure of SCC on vertical formwork systems. First, laboratory tests were performed to collect data on lateral pressure measurements, material factors, placement conditions, and formwork characteristics affecting the SCC lateral pressure on formwork systems. Second, four supervised machine-learning algorithms were considered in this study: k-nearest neighbor (KNN), artificial neural network (ANN), decision tree (DT), and random forest (RF). Third, the hyperparameters of the machine-learning algorithms were tuned, and their performance metrics were compared. Fourth, the most accurate predictive machine-learning model was verified on an unseen testing set. The results showed that the RF machine-learning algorithm was the best model for predicting the lateral pressure of SCC on formwork systems, with a mean percentage error of 0.8%, a mean absolute percentage error of 4.29%, and a coefficient of determination R2 of 0.9548. This study adds to the construction engineering and management body of knowledge by developing a machine-learning predictive model that can be used to accurately assess the lateral pressure exerted by SCC on formwork, which helps to ensure safe design of formwork systems and economic construction operations in formwork-related activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) is an excellent building material for strengthening concrete structures, but it is difficult to accurately evaluate the bond strength of FRP-to-concrete due to the influence of various parameters. In this study, a novel hybrid model which combines particle swarm optimization (PSO) with random forest (RF) was proposed to predict the bond strength of FRP-to-concrete. The PSO algorithm was used to optimize the hyperparameters of the RF model. A total of 749 specimens collected from the literature were used to develop the proposed PSO-RF model. Each sample contains 11 parameters required for the model. These 11 parameters are (1) the compressive strength of concrete, (2) the tensile strength of concrete, (3) the width of concrete specimen, (4) the maximum aggregate size of concrete, (5) the tensile strength of FRP, (6) the thickness of FRP, (7) the elastic modulus of FRP, (8) the tensile strength of adhesive, (9) the bond length of FRP, (10) the bond width of FRP, and (11) the bond strength of FRP-to-concrete. The proposed PSO-RF model was compared with other machine learning models as well as ten empirical equations. Six statistical indices, namely root mean squared error (RMSE), mean absolute error (MAE), coefficient of determination (R2), Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency coefficient (NSE), Willmott's Index of Agreement (WIA), and Legates-McCabe's Index (LM) were used to evaluate the prediction performance of the abovementioned models. The results show that the RMSE, MAE, R2, NSE, WIA and LM values of the PSO-RF model are 1.529 kN, 0.942 kN, 0.986, 0.984, 0.996 and 0.892, respectively, for the training datasets and 2.672 kN, 1.967 kN, 0.963, 0.961, 0.989 and 0.761, respectively, for the test datasets. It can be concluded that the proposed PSO-RF model has the best comprehensive performance in predicting the bond strength of FRP-to-concrete. In addition, the sensitivity analysis of the PSO-RF model was also conducted in this study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skin cancer diagnosis greatly benefits from advanced machine learning techniques, particularly fine-tuned deep learning models. In our research, we explored the impact of traditional machine learning and fine-tuned deep learning approaches on prediction accuracy. Our findings reveal significant improvements in predictability and accuracy with fine-tuning, particularly evident in deep learning models. The CNN, SVM, and Random Forest Classifier achieved high accuracy. However, fine-tuned deep learning models such as EfficientNetB0, ResNet34, VGG16, Inception _v3, and DenseNet121 demonstrated superior performance. To ensure comparability, we fine-tuned these models by incorporating additional layers, including one flatten layer and three densely interconnected layers. These layers play a crucial role in enhancing model efficiency and performance. The flatten layer preprocesses multidimensional feature maps, facilitating efficient information flow, while subsequent dense layers refine feature representations, capturing intricate patterns and relationships within the data. Leveraging LeakyReLU activation functions in the dense layers mitigates the vanishing gradient problem and promotes stable training. Finally, the output dense layer with a sigmoid activation function simplifies decision making for healthcare professionals by providing binary classification output. Our study underscores the significance of incorporating additional layers in fine-tuned neural network models for skin cancer classification, offering improved accuracy and reliability in diagnosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, which plays an important role in intelligent transportation systems, has been statistically proven to improve traffic efficiency and reduce the probability of accidents. In real-world applications, it is critical to accurately estimate the path loss parameter in communication channels due to the variable and complex propagation environments often encountered in inter-vehicle communication scenarios. This paper presents a study on various machine learning methods to improve path loss estimation in V2V communication using a dataset (192,000 observations) obtained from field measurements of highway environments in the Trabzon and Gümüşhane provinces in Türkiye. For this purpose, path loss estimation was carried out with different machine learning algorithms such as Artificial Neural Networks, Random Forest, Linear Regression, Gradient Boosting, Support Vector Regression, and AdaBoost by using various environmental and system features. Then, performance comparisons were conducted between machine learning methods and traditional empirical approaches such as log-distance, two-ray, and log-ray. Examining the outputs reveals that machine learning methods outperform traditional methods and yield results quickly. As a result, the Random Forest and Gradient Boosting methods demonstrated the highest prediction performances, with R2 values of 0.97 and 0.96, MAE values of 0.0557 and 0.0701, and RMSE values of 0.0774 and 0.0964, respectively, outperforming both empirical methods, other machine learning techniques, and the existing studies based on V2V. Overall, our study provides significant contributions to the existing literature by providing a comprehensive parameter set for highway environments, examining the path loss prediction performance of machine learning models with different capabilities, and comparing them with traditional methods. This study not only fills a critical gap in the existing literature but also highlights the necessity, efficiency, and originality of machine learning approaches for improving reliable V2V communication systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface waters are essential for meeting the needs of the world. In many regions, stream water quality is a major concern due to contamination from multiple sources. Stream water is also susceptible to climatic events and land-use practices influencing its catchment. Understanding the impact of such events on stream water quality is crucial for managing and protecting aquatic ecosystems and providing safe drinking water to communities that rely on these streams. Hence, monitoring and evaluating stream water quality holds significance in identifying potential hazards and implementing suitable management strategies. In this paper, a novel effort was made to determine the relative feature importance of a set of watershed characteristics (precipitation, temperature, urban land use, agricultural land use, and forest land-use factors) on four important water quality parameters (WQPs): fecal coliforms (FC), turbidity, pH, and conductivity of the Upper Green River watershed, Kentucky, USA. Random forest (RF), an ensemble learning method, was used to predict the WQPs from the causal parameters and determine the feature importance characteristics of the four WQPs previously mentioned. This model demonstrated that precipitation and temperature are the most influential factors on FC, turbidity, and pH. Forest land use and temperature are the two most important factors for conductivity. The novel feature importance factors of the RF model have likewise been confirmed for each WQP. In modeling stream WQPs, the developed the RF model outperformed the artificial neural network (ANN) model. Using the RF model, we obtain regression coefficients of (0.93, 0.74, and 0.94) for pH in training, testing, and overall. We obtain regression coefficients of (0.60, 0.64, and 0.61) using the ANN model. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Overall, the RF model was more effective than the ANN model in modeling stream WQPs. The model identified precipitation and temperature as the most influential factors on FC, turbidity, and pH, while forest land use and temperature were the most important factors in determining conductivity. It is also found that land use factors are important to improve the accuracy of WQPs predictions from climate variables. The results of this study can be used by authorities to better understand and control pollution at the watershed scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantification of bat communities and habitat heavily rely on non-invasive acoustic bat surveys the scope of which has greatly amplified with advances in remote monitoring technologies. Despite the unprecedented amount of acoustic data being collected, analysis of these data is often limited to simple species classification which provides little information on habitat function. Feeding buzzes, the rapid sequences of echolocation pulses emitted by bats during the terminal phase of prey capture, have historically been used to evaluate foraging habitat quality. Automated identification of feeding buzzes in recordings could benefit conservation by helping identify critical foraging habitat. I tested if detection of feeding buzzes in recordings could be automated with bat recordings from Ontario, Canada. Data were obtained using three different recording devices. The signal detection method involved sequentially scanning narrow frequency bands with the "Bioacoustics" R package signal detection algorithm, and extracting temporal and signal strength parameters from detections. Buzzes were best characterized by the standard deviation of the time between consecutive pulses, the average pulse duration, and the average pulse signal-to-noise ratio. Classification accuracy was highest with artificial neural networks and random forest algorithms. I compared each model's receiver operating characteristic curves and random forest provided better control over the false-positive rate so it was retained as the final model. When tested on a new dataset, buzzfindr's overall accuracy was 93.4% (95% CI: 91.5%– 94.9%). Overall accuracy was not affected by recording device type or species frequency group. Automated detection of feeding buzzes will facilitate their integration in the analytical workflow of acoustic bat studies to improve inferences on habitat use and quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To identify the key risk factors for venous thromboembolism (VTE) in urological inpatients based on the Caprini scale using an interpretable machine learning method. Methods: VTE risk data of urological inpatients were obtained based on the Caprini scale in the case hospital. Based on the data, the Boruta method was used to further select the key variables from the 37 variables in the Caprini scale. Furthermore, decision rules corresponding to each risk level were generated using the rough set (RS) method. Finally, random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), and backpropagation artificial neural network (BPANN) were used to verify the data accuracy and were compared with the RS method. Results: Following the screening, the key risk factors for VTE in urology were "(C1) Age," "(C2) Minor Surgery planned," "(C3) Obesity (BMI > 25)," "(C8) Varicose veins," "(C9) Sepsis (< 1 month)," (C10) "Serious lung disease incl. pneumonia (< 1month) " (C11) COPD," "(C16) Other risk," "(C18) Major surgery (> 45 min)," "(C19) Laparoscopic surgery (> 45 min)," "(C20) Patient confined to bed (> 72 h)," "(C18) Malignancy (present or previous)," "(C23) Central venous access," "(C31) History of DVT/PE," "(C32) Other congenital or acquired thrombophilia," and "(C34) Stroke (< 1 month." According to the decision rules of different risk levels obtained using the RS method, "(C1) Age," "(C18) Major surgery (> 45 minutes)," and "(C21) Malignancy (present or previous)" were the main factors influencing mid- and high-risk levels, and some suggestions on VTE prevention were indicated based on these three factors. The average accuracies of the RS, RF, SVM, and BPANN models were 79.5%, 87.9%, 92.6%, and 97.2%, respectively. In addition, BPANN had the highest accuracy, recall, F1-score, and precision. Conclusions: The RS model achieved poorer accuracy than the other three common machine learning models. However, the RS model provides strong interpretability and allows for the identification of high-risk factors and decision rules influencing high-risk assessments of VTE in urology. This transparency is very important for clinicians in the risk assessment process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predicting phase stability in high entropy alloys (HEAs), such as phase fractions as functions of composition and temperature, is essential for understanding alloy properties and screening desirable materials. Traditional methods like CALPHAD are computationally intensive for exploring high-dimensional compositional spaces. To address such a challenge, this study explored and compared the effectiveness of random forests (RF) and deep neural networks (DNN) for accelerating materials discovery by building surrogate models of phase stability prediction. For interpolation scenarios (testing on the same order of system as trained), RF models generally produce smaller errors than DNN models. However, for extrapolation scenarios (training on lower-order systems and testing on higher order systems), DNNs generalize more effectively than traditional ML models. DNN demonstrate the potential to predict topologically relevant phase composition when data were missing, making it a powerful predictive tool in materials discovery frameworks. The study uses a CALPHAD dataset of 480 million data points generated from a custom database, available for further model development and benchmarking. Experiments show that DNN models are data-efficient, achieving similar performance with a fraction of the dataset. This work highlights the potential of DNNs in materials discovery, providing a powerful tool for predicting phase stability in HEAs, particularly within the Cr-Hf-Mo-Nb-Ta-Ti-V-W-Zr composition space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: The field of toxicology has witnessed substantial advancements in recent years, particularly with the adoption of new approach methodologies (NAMs) to understand and predict chemical toxicity. Class-based methods such as clustering and classification are key to NAMs development and application, aiding the understanding of hazard and risk concerns associated with groups of chemicals without additional laboratory work. Advances in computational chemistry, data generation and availability, and machine learning algorithms represent important opportunities for continued improvement of these techniques to optimize their utility for specific regulatory and research purposes. However, due to their intricacy, deep understanding and careful selection are imperative to align the adequate methods with their intended applications. OBJECTIVES: This commentary aims to deepen the understanding of class-based approaches by elucidating the pivotal role of chemical similarity (structural and biological) in clustering and classification approaches (CCAs). It addresses the dichotomy between general end point–agnostic similarity, often entailing unsupervised analysis, and end point–specific similarity necessitating supervised learning. The goal is to highlight the nuances of these approaches, their applications, and common misuses. DISCUSSION: Understanding similarity is pivotal in toxicological research involving CCAs. The effectiveness of these approaches depends on the right definition and measure of similarity, which varies based on context and objectives of the study. This choice is influenced by how chemical structures are represented and the respective labels indicating biological activity, if applicable. The distinction between unsupervised clustering and supervised classification methods is vital, requiring the use of end point–agnostic vs. end point–specific similarity definition. Separate use or combination of these methods requires careful consideration to prevent bias and ensure relevance for the goal of the study. Unsupervised methods use end point– agnostic similarity measures to uncover general structural patterns and relationships, aiding hypothesis generation and facilitating exploration of datasets without the need for predefined labels or explicit guidance. Conversely, supervised techniques demand end point–specific similarity to group chemicals into predefined classes or to train classification models, allowing accurate predictions for new chemicals. Misuse can arise when unsupervised methods are applied to end point–specific contexts, like analog selection in read-across, leading to erroneous conclusions. This commentary provides insights into the significance of similarity and its role in supervised classification and unsupervised clustering approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Analyzing electrocardiographic (ECG) signals is crucial for evaluating heart function and diagnosing cardiac pathology. Traditional methods for detecting ECG changes often rely on offline analysis or subjective visual inspection, which may overlook subtle variations, particularly in the case of artifacts. In this theoretical, proof-of-concept study, we investigated the potential of five different machine learning algorithms [random forests (RFs), gradient boosting methods (GBMs), deep neural networks (DNNs), an ensemble learning technique, as well as logistic regression] to detect subtle changes in the morphology of synthetically generated ECG beats despite artifacts. Following the generation of a synthetic ECG beat using the standardized McSharry algorithm, the baseline ECG signal was modified by changing the amplitude of different ECG components by 0.01–0.06 mV. In addition, a Gaussian jitter of 0.1–0.3 mV was overlaid to simulate artifacts. Five different machine learning algorithms were then applied to detect differences between the modified ECG beats. The highest discriminatory potency, as assessed by the discriminatory accuracy, was achieved by RFs and GBMs (accuracy of up to 1.0), whereas the least accurate results were obtained by logistic regression (accuracy approximately 10% less). In a second step, a feature importance algorithm (Boruta) was used to discriminate which signal parts were responsible for difference detection. For all comparisons, only signal components that had been modified in advance were used for discretion, demonstrating that the RF model focused on the appropriate signal elements. Our findings highlight the potential of RFs and GBMs as valuable tools for detecting subtle ECG changes despite artifacts, with implications for enhancing clinical diagnosis and monitoring. Further studies are needed to validate our findings with clinical data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper proposes an innovative model able to predict the output signals of resistance and capacitance (RC) low-pass filters for machine-controlled systems. Specifically, the work is focused on the analysis of the parametric responses in the time- and frequency-domain of the filter output signals, by considering a white generic noise superimposed onto an input sinusoidal signal. The goal is to predict the filter output using a black-box model to support the denoising process by means of a double-stage RC filter. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) and random forest (RF) algorithms are compared to predict the output of noisy signals. The work is concluded by defining guidelines to correct the voltage output by knowing the predictions and by adding further RC elements correcting the distorted signals. The model is suitable for the implementation of Industry 5.0 Digital Twin (DT) networks applied to manufacturing processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine transportation accounts for approximately 90% of the total trade managed in international logistics and plays a vital role in many companies' supply chains. However, en-route factors like weather conditions or piracy incidents often delay scheduled arrivals at destination ports, leading to downstream inefficiencies. Due to the maritime industry's digital transformation, smart ports and vessels generate vast amounts of data, creating an opportunity to use the latest technologies, like machine and deep learning (ML/DL), to support terminals in their operations. This study proposes a data-driven solution for accurately predicting vessel arrival times using ML/DL techniques, including Deep Neural Networks, K-Nearest Neighbors, Decision Trees, Random Forest, and Extreme Gradient Boosting. This study collects real-world AIS data in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea from a network of public and private AIS base stations. The most relevant features are selected for training and evaluating the six ML/DL models. A comprehensive comparison is also performed against the estimated arrival time provided by shipping agents, a simple calculation-based approach, and four other ML/DL models proposed recently in the literature. The evaluation has revealed that Random Forest achieves the highest performance with an MAE of 99.9 min, closely followed by XGBoost, having an MAE of 105.0 min. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In the red-bed areas of southwestern China, subgrade uplift deformation poses a serious safety concern for high-speed trains. However, the subgrade uplift mechanisms are still not well-defined, and there is a lack of effective prediction methods for addressing this issue. The objective of this study is to build prediction model of subgrade uplift using three machine learning techniques (MLTs): artificial neural network (ANN), random forest (RF), and support vector machine (SVM). The Chengdu-Chongqing passenger dedicated line (CCPDL) was selected as the research object, and a total of 200 cuttings along the CCPDL were randomly divided into two groups: a training set (70%) and a testing set (30%). The subgrade uplift mechanism was concluded by conducting the laboratory test, field investigation and mathematical statistics. Then six subgrade uplift-conditioning factors were identified, including subgrade excavation height, subgrade excavation width, dip angle, interbedded characteristics between sandstone and mudstone, mudstone rheology, and mudstone swelling. To assess the model performance, various evaluation metrics were employed, including receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC), area under the curve (AUC), accuracy, precision, recall, specificity, and F1 score. The results demonstrate that the RF model outperforms the other MLTs in predicting subgrade uplift. Notably, among the six factors considered, subgrade excavation height was identified as the most influential factor. These findings provide valuable insights into the prediction of subgrade uplift and offer guidance for mitigating the risks associated with subgrade uplift during the construction of high-speed railways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiovascular and neurological diseases are a major cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. Such diseases require careful monitoring to effectively manage their progression. Artificial intelligence (AI) offers valuable tools for this purpose through its ability to analyse data and identify predictive patterns. This review evaluated the application of AI in cardiac and neurological diseases for their clinical impact on the general population. We reviewed studies on the application of AI in the neurological and cardiological fields. Our search was performed on the PubMed, Web of Science, Embase and Cochrane library databases. Of the initial 5862 studies, 23 studies met the inclusion criteria. The studies showed that the most commonly used algorithms in these clinical fields are Random Forest and Artificial Neural Network, followed by logistic regression and Support-Vector Machines. In addition, an ECG-AI algorithm based on convolutional neural networks has been developed and has been widely used in several studies for the detection of atrial fibrillation with good accuracy. AI has great potential to support physicians in interpretation, diagnosis, risk assessment and disease management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A complex AI system must be worked offline because the training and execution phases are processed separately. This process often requires different computer resources due to the high model requirements. A limitation of this approach is the convoluted training process that needs to be repeated to obtain models with new data continuously incorporated into the knowledge base. Although the environment may be not static, it is crucial to dynamically train models by integrating new information during execution. In this article, artificial neural networks (ANNs) are developed to predict risk levels in traffic accidents with relatively simpler configurations than a deep learning (DL) model, which is more computationally intensive. The objective is to demonstrate that efficient, fast, and comparable results can be obtained using simple architectures such as that offered by the Radial Basis Function neural network (RBFNN). This work led to the generation of a driving dataset, which was subsequently validated for testing ANN models. The driving dataset simulated the dynamic approach by adding new data to the training on-the-fly, given the constant changes in the drivers' data, vehicle information, environmental conditions, and traffic accidents. This study compares the processing time and performance of a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), Random Forest (RF), Radial Basis Function (RBF), and Multilayer Perceptron (MLP), using evaluation metrics of accuracy, Specificity, and Sensitivity-recall to recommend an appropriate, simple, and fast ANN architecture that can be implemented in a secure alert traffic system that uses encrypted data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite ongoing concerns, the primary metric utilized in bioequivalence studies to quantify absorption rate remains the maximum plasma concentration (Cmax). To more accurately depict absorption rate, the concept of "average slope" (AS) has been recently introduced. The objective of this study is to elucidate and compare the characteristics of AS and Cmax in their representation of the drug-absorption rate. For this purpose, an investigation was conducted on five drugs (nintedanib, methylphenidate, nitrofurantoin, lisdexamfetamine, and theophylline) with different absorption and disposition kinetics. The properties of AS and Cmax, as well as their correlations with other pharmacokinetic parameters, were assessed using supervised and unsupervised machine-learning algorithms, namely principal component analysis, random forest, hierarchical cluster analysis, and artificial neural networks. This study showed that, regardless of the absorption kinetics and across every ML algorithm, AS was more sensitive in reflecting the absorption rate compared to Cmax. In all drugs and methods of analysis, AS demonstrated significantly superior performance in expressing the absorption rate compared to Cmax. The joint use of different techniques complemented each other and verified the findings. Moreover, AS can be easily calculated and has the appropriate units and properties to be used as a metric to express the absorption rate in bioequivalence studies. The adoption of AS by regulatory authorities, as an absorption-rate metric, could significantly improve the accuracy and reliability of BE assessments. Overall, this study focused on addressing the longstanding problem of finding an appropriate absorption-rate metric by demonstrating the desirable properties of AS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Biologically annotated neural networks (BANNs) are feedforward Bayesian neural network models that utilize partially connected architectures based on SNP-set annotations. As an interpretable neural network, BANNs model SNP and SNP-set effects in their input and hidden layers, respectively. Furthermore, the weights and connections of the network are regarded as random variables with prior distributions reflecting the manifestation of genetic effects at various genomic scales. However, its application in genomic prediction has yet to be explored. Results: This study extended the BANNs framework to the area of genomic selection and explored the optimal SNP-set partitioning strategies by using dairy cattle datasets. The SNP-sets were partitioned based on two strategies–gene annotations and 100 kb windows, denoted as BANN_gene and BANN_100kb, respectively. The BANNs model was compared with GBLUP, random forest (RF), BayesB and BayesCπ through five replicates of five-fold cross-validation using genotypic and phenotypic data on milk production traits, type traits, and one health trait of 6,558, 6,210 and 5,962 Chinese Holsteins, respectively. Results showed that the BANNs framework achieves higher genomic prediction accuracy compared to GBLUP, RF and Bayesian methods. Specifically, the BANN_100kb demonstrated superior accuracy and the BANN_gene exhibited generally suboptimal accuracy compared to GBLUP, RF, BayesB and BayesCπ across all traits. The average accuracy improvements of BANN_100kb over GBLUP, RF, BayesB and BayesCπ were 4.86%, 3.95%, 3.84% and 1.92%, and the accuracy of BANN_gene was improved by 3.75%, 2.86%, 2.73% and 0.85% compared to GBLUP, RF, BayesB and BayesCπ, respectively across all seven traits. Meanwhile, both BANN_100kb and BANN_gene yielded lower overall mean square error values than GBLUP, RF and Bayesian methods. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrated that the BANNs framework performed better than traditional genomic prediction methods in our tested scenarios, and might serve as a promising alternative approach for genomic prediction in dairy cattle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stroke poses a significant health threat, affecting millions annually. Early and precise prediction is crucial to providing effective preventive healthcare interventions. This study applied an ensemble machine learning and data mining approach to enhance the effectiveness of stroke prediction. By employing the cross-industry standard process for data mining (CRISP-DM) methodology, various techniques, including random forest, ExtraTrees, XGBoost, artificial neural network (ANN), and genetic algorithm with ANN (GANN) were applied on two benchmark datasets to predict stroke based on several parameters, such as gender, age, various diseases, smoking status, BMI, HighCol, physical activity, hypertension, heart disease, lifestyle, and others. Due to dataset imbalance, Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE) was applied to the datasets. Hyperparameter tuning optimized the models via grid search and randomized search cross-validation. The evaluation metrics included accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, and area under the curve (AUC). The experimental results show that the ensemble ExtraTrees classifier achieved the highest accuracy (98.24%) and AUC (98.24%). Random forest also performed well, achieving 98.03% in both accuracy and AUC. Comparisons with state-of-the-art stroke prediction methods revealed that the proposed approach demonstrates superior performance, indicating its potential as a promising method for stroke prediction and offering substantial benefits to healthcare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Soil moisture of a semi-humid region was estimated from Sentinel-1 data. • Three machine learning algorithms were compared. • Random forest performed better than SVM and ANN. • Soil moisture is higher in the Yellow River National Wetland Park. • Soil moisture is affected by precipitation, temperature, and vegetation. Soil moisture (SM) plays a critical role in the growth and management of grain in semi-humid regions. However, little is known about how to integrate satellite data with machine learning to accurately retrieve SM information in these areas. This study compares the capability of three machine learning algorithms, Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Artificial Neural Network (ANN), to extract SM information over the Northwest Shandong Plain using multi-phase dual-polarized Sentinel-1A satellite data. The backscattering coefficients were obtained through standard intensity and phase processing to calculate the SAR indices, and several characteristic parameters were extracted as impact factors using the Cloude-Pottier decomposition. The importance of these factors was analyzed, while the performance of each machine learning algorithm was comprehensively evaluated using the K-fold cross-validation method. The best-performing model was utilized to retrieve the spatio-temporal changes in SM in the study area. The findings indicate the following: (1) The first eigenvalue has the greatest impact on retrieval accuracy, followed by entropy, where the intensity component of Shannon's entropy is more important than its polarization component; (2) The addition of more impact factors does not bring a continuous improvement in model performance, but the optimal factor combinations differ for different machine learning retrieval models; (3) The RF model trained using the IM12 combination demonstrates better performance than SVM and ANN in retrieving SM information, with a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.55 and a root mean square error of 6.12 vol% on the validation set. The level of SM in the Yellow River National Wetland Park is higher than that of the surrounding areas, with substantial seasonal changes. Precipitation, temperature, and vegetation significantly influence the regional variations in SM at the macroscopic level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• LULC changes of three decades from 1991 to 2021 were examined and predicted. • Multi-spectral remote sensing data and RFT were utilized to generate LULC maps. • ACR were considered to analyze the categorical land use change detection. • Impervious land has expanded 10 times within 30 years and will increase in the future. The integration of multi-spectral remote sensing and GIS-based analysis is significant for studying land cover changes, providing valuable insights for informed land management and sustainable development. The present study aims to examine land use land cover (LULC) changes of three decades from 1991 to 2021 and predict the future LULC change in Binh Duong province, Vietnam to explore a future research direction on land use change and associated challenges in the study region. Multi-spectral remote sensing data and random forest tree (RFT) were utilized to generate LULC maps. Areal statistics and annual change rate were considered to analyze the categorical land use change detection. Statistical measures such as user's accuracy, producer's accuracy, kappa coefficient, and confusion matrix were employed to assess the accuracy of LULC classification. To predict future LULC and simulate the spatio-temporal change, we considered previous year LULC maps, independent spatial variables and a combined artificial neural network (ANN) multi-layer perceptron approach. The analysis revealed that there was a huge transition from agricultural lands to residential land with industry and commerce which resulting an expansion of impervious lands and a rapid decline of agricultural land as well as of scrub land and barren lands, and a changeability of forest and plantation, croplands, and waterbodies. Our study revealed that the impervious land has expanded 10 times within 30 years and will increase in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Machine learning (ML) has been broadly applied for vadose zone applications in recent years. This article provides a comprehensive review of such developments. ML applications for variables corresponding to different complex vadose zone processes are summarized mostly in a prediction context. By analyzing and assessing these applications, we discovered extensive usages of classic ML models with relatively limited applications of deep learning (DL) approaches in general. We also recognized a lack of benchmark datasets for soil property research as well as limited integration of physics‐based vadose zone principles into the ML approaches. To facilitate this interdisciplinary research of ML in vadose zone characterization and processes, a paradigm of knowledge‐guided machine learning is suggested along with other data‐driven and ML model‐based research suggestions to advance future research. Core Ideas: Random forest and artificial neural network are two widely applied machine learning options for predicting vadose zone studies.A benchmark dataset is missing in soil property studies.We suggest vadose zone scientists explore more deep learning options and expand knowledge‐guided machine learning implementations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One expanding area of bioinformatics is medical diagnosis through the categorization of biomedical characteristics. Automatic medical strategies to boost the diagnostic through machine learning (ML) methods are challenging. They require a formal examination of their performance to identify the best conditions that enhance the ML method. This work proposes variants of the Voting and Stacking (VC and SC) ensemble strategies based on diverse auto-tuning supervised machine learning techniques to increase the efficacy of traditional baseline classifiers for the automatic diagnosis of vertebral column orthopedic illnesses. The ensemble strategies are created by first combining a complete set of auto-tuned baseline classifiers based on different processes, such as geometric, probabilistic, logic, and optimization. Next, the three most promising classifiers are selected among k-Nearest Neighbors (kNN), Naïve Bayes (NB), Logistic Regression (LR), Linear Discriminant Analysis (LDA), Quadratic Discriminant Analysis (QDA), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), and Decision Tree (DT). The grid-search K-Fold cross-validation strategy is applied to auto-tune the baseline classifier hyperparameters. The performances of the proposed ensemble strategies are independently compared with the auto-tuned baseline classifiers. A concise analysis evaluates accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, and ROC-ACU metrics. The analysis also examines the misclassified disease elements to find the most and least reliable classifiers for this specific medical problem. The results show that the VC ensemble strategy provides an improvement comparable to that of the best baseline classifier (the kNN). Meanwhile, when all baseline classifiers are included in the SC ensemble, this strategy surpasses 95% in all the evaluated metrics, standing out as the most suitable option for classifying vertebral column diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study evaluated the performance of multiple models that used machine learning to anticipate wind speed in the city of Dhaka. The NASA Power website provided the data set for this investigation. The models used for prediction included the decision tree regressor, support vector regressor, random forest, linear regression, neural network and polynomial regression. A hold-out check and k-fold cross-validation were used to assess how well these models performed. With the highest R2 scores and lowest RMSEs on both the validation and test sets, the results demonstrated that the polynomial regression model performed the best. With the lowest R2 scores and largest RMSEs on both sets, the decision tree model scored the poorest. High R2 scores and low RMSEs were achieved by the random forest model, which had comparable performance to the polynomial regression model but required a longer computation time. In addition, the neural network model demonstrated commendable predictive accuracy, yielding an R2 score of 0.67 and a low RMSE of 0.57. However, its application is contingent on the availability of substantial computational resources, given its extensive computation time of 457.93 s. The study concludes by highlighting the efficacy of the Polynomial Regression model as the optimal choice for wind speed prediction in Dhaka, offering a balance between superior performance and efficient computation. This insight provides valuable guidance for practitioners and researchers seeking effective models for similar applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Predicting postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) before delivery is crucial for enhancing patient outcomes, enabling timely transfer and implementation of prophylactic therapies. We attempted to utilize machine learning (ML) using basic pre-labor clinical data and laboratory measurements to predict postpartum Hemoglobin (Hb) in non-complicated singleton pregnancies. The local databases of two academic care centers on patient delivery were incorporated into the current study. Patients with preexisting coagulopathy, traumatic cases, and allogenic blood transfusion were excluded from all analyses. The association of pre-delivery variables with 24-h post-delivery hemoglobin level was evaluated using feature selection with Elastic Net regression and Random Forest algorithms. A suite of ML algorithms was employed to predict post-delivery Hb levels. Out of 2051 pregnant women, 1974 were included in the final analysis. After data pre-processing and redundant variable removal, the top predictors selected via feature selection for predicting post-delivery Hb were parity (B: 0.09 [0.05–0.12]), gestational age, pre-delivery hemoglobin (B:0.83 [0.80–0.85]) and fibrinogen levels (B:0.01 [0.01–0.01]), and pre-labor platelet count (B*1000: 0.77 [0.30–1.23]). Among the trained algorithms, artificial neural network provided the most accurate model (Root mean squared error: 0.62), which was subsequently deployed as a web-based calculator: https://predictivecalculators.shinyapps.io/ANN-HB. The current study shows that ML models could be utilized as accurate predictors of indirect measures of PPH and can be readily incorporated into healthcare systems. Further studies with heterogenous population-based samples may further improve the generalizability of these models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This comprehensive review delves into the intersection of ensemble machine learning models and interpretability techniques for biomass and waste gasification, a field crucial for sustainable energy solutions. It tackles challenges like feedstock variability and temperature control, highlighting the need for deeper understanding to optimize gasification processes. The study focuses on advanced modeling techniques like random forests and gradient boosting, alongside interpretability methods like the Shapley additive explanations and partial dependence plots, emphasizing their importance for transparency and informed decision‐making. Analyzing diverse case studies, the review explores successful applications while acknowledging challenges like overfitting and computational complexity, proposing strategies for practical and robust models. Notably, the review finds ensemble models consistently achieve high prediction accuracy (often exceeding R2 scores of 0.9) for gas composition, yield, and heating value. These models (34% of reviewed papers) are the most applied method, followed by artificial neural networks (26%). Heating value (12%) was the most studied performance metric. However, interpretability is often neglected during model development due to the complexity of techniques like permutation and Gini importance. The paper calls for dedicated research on utilizing and interpreting ensemble models, especially for co‐gasification scenarios, to unlock new insights into process synergy. Overall, this review serves as a valuable resource for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers, offering guidance for enhancing the efficiency and sustainability of biomass and waste gasification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deep random forest (DRF), which combines deep learning and random forest, exhibits comparable accuracy, interpretability, low memory and computational overhead to deep neural networks (DNNs) in edge intelligence tasks. However, efficient DRF accelerator is lagging behind its DNN counterparts. The key to DRF acceleration lies in realizing the branch-split operation at decision nodes. In this work, we propose implementing DRF through associative searches realized with ferroelectric analog content addressable memory (ACAM). Utilizing only two ferroelectric field effect transistors (FeFETs), the ultra-compact ACAM cell performs energy-efficient branch-split operations by storing decision boundaries as analog polarization states in FeFETs. The DRF accelerator architecture and its model mapping to ACAM arrays are presented. The functionality, characteristics, and scalability of the FeFET ACAM DRF and its robustness against FeFET device non-idealities are validated in experiments and simulations. Evaluations show that the FeFET ACAM DRF accelerator achieves ~106x/10x and ~106x/2.5x improvements in energy and latency, respectively, compared to other DRF hardware implementations on state-of-the-art CPU/ReRAM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adequacy and efficacy of simple and hybrid machine learning and Computational Intelligence algorithms were evaluated for the classification of potential prostate cancer patients in two distinct categories, the high- and the low-risk group for PCa. The evaluation is based on randomly generated surrogate data for the biomarker PSA, considering that reported epidemiological data indicated that PSA values follow a lognormal distribution. In addition, four more biomarkers were considered, namely, PSAD (PSA density), PSAV (PSA velocity), PSA ratio, and Digital Rectal Exam evaluation (DRE), as well as patient age. Seven simple classification algorithms, namely, Decision Trees, Random Forests, Support Vector Machines, K-Nearest Neighbors, Logistic Regression, Naïve Bayes, and Artificial Neural Networks, were evaluated in terms of classification accuracy. In addition, three hybrid algorithms were developed and introduced in the present work, where Genetic Algorithms were utilized as a metaheuristic searching technique in order to optimize the training set, in terms of minimizing its size, to give optimal classification accuracy for the simple algorithms including K-Nearest Neighbors, a K-means clustering algorithm, and a genetic clustering algorithm. Results indicated that prostate cancer cases can be classified with high accuracy, even by the use of small training sets, with sizes that could be even smaller than 30% of the dataset. Numerous computer experiments indicated that the proposed training set minimization does not cause overfitting of the hybrid algorithms. Finally, an easy-to-use Graphical User Interface (GUI) was implemented, incorporating all the evaluated algorithms and the decision-making procedure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the class imbalance problem in urban gain modelling (UGM) of Tabriz and Isfahan megacities in Iran by proposing novel cost-sensitive machine learning models, namely costsensitive support vector machine (CSVM), random forest (CRF) and artificial neural network (CANN). Random sampling, a frequently utilized method, fails to effectively tackle this issue by biasing models towards no change samples, which outnumber change samples. The results showed that CRF exhibited the highest accuracy (AUC = 0.560), followed by CANN (AUC = 0.557) and CSVM (AUC = 0.448) in Isfahan. In Tabriz, CRF (AUC = 0.809) and CANN (AUC = 0.818) excelled, outperforming balanced sampling models constructed with ANN, RF and SVM with the AUROC of ANN and RF boosted by 15% and 2% in validation. By emphasizing the significance of addressing class imbalance appropriately, this research highlights the improvement in modelling outcomes achievable through the cost-sensitive models especially in Tabriz case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of the smart grid (SG) offers a way to improve the generation of electrical energy as well as the corresponding transmission and distribution. Due to the versatile nature, the installing of SG consumes less area and time when compared to traditional grids. The major aim of SG is to provide controllability of assets and grid observability and enhance the security and performance of power system. An integration of internet of things (IoT) in smart grid ensures intelligent features with reduced human intervention, cost-effectiveness, and reliability. In order to communicate the useful information with the internet and other web applications, IoT-enabled sensors are widely utilized in the power grid system, which enables better grid management. A photovoltaic (PV) system and a high-gain integrated Luo converter are included in the IoT-based power monitoring system for the smart grid that is recommended as a result of these variables. The maximum solar power is tracked with a help of grey wolf optimized artificial neural network (GWO-ANN) which aids in enhanced operation of converter. The obtained converter output is applied to 3 ϕ grid through a 3 ϕ voltage source inverter (VSI). The parameters like temperature, intensity, converter voltage and current, and grid voltage and current are monitored by sensors and further stored in IoT webpage. The random forest (RF) classifier is used for the prediction of shortest path through which the monitored data are transmitted. The whole set-up contributes an improved monitoring of smart grid parameters which is proved by the generated results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

H62 brass material is one of the important materials in the process of electrical energy transmission and signal transmission, and has excellent performance in all aspects. Since the wear behavior of electrical contact pairs is particularly complex when they are in service, we evaluated the effects of load, sliding velocity, displacement amplitude, current intensity, and surface roughness on the changes in contact resistance. Machine learning (ML) algorithms were used to predict the electrical contact performance of different factors after wear to determine the correlation between different factors and contact resistance. Random forest (RF), support vector regression (SVR) and BP neural network (BPNN) algorithms were used to establish RF, SVR and BPNN models, respectively, and the experimental data were trained and tested. It was proved that BP neural network model could better predict the stable mean resistance of H62 brass alloy after wear. Characteristic analysis shows that the load and current have great influence on the predicted electrical contact properties. The wear behavior of electrical contacts is influenced by factors such as load, sliding speed, displacement amplitude, current intensity, and surface roughness during operation. Machine learning algorithms can predict the electrical contact performance after wear caused by these factors. Experimental results indicate that an increase in load, current, and surface roughness leads to a decrease in stable mean resistance, while an increase in displacement amplitude and frequency results in an increase in stable mean resistance, leading to a decline in electrical contact performance. To reduce testing time and costs and quickly obtain the electrical contact performance of H62 brass alloy after wear caused by different factors, three algorithms (random forest (RF), support vector regression (SVR), and BP neural network (BPNN)) were used to train and test experimental results, resulting in a machine learning model suitable for predicting the stable mean resistance of H62 brass alloy after wear. The prediction results showed that the BPNN model performed better in predicting the electrical contact performance compared to the RF and SVR models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nitrogen plays a fundamental role as a nutrient for the growth of leaves and the process of photosynthesis, as it directly influences the quality and yield of corn. The importance of knowing the foliar nitrogen content through Machine Learning algorithms will help determine the efficient use of nitrogen fertilization in a context of sustainable agronomic management by avoiding Nitrogen loss and preventing it from becoming a pollutant for the soil and the atmosphere. The combination of machine learning algorithms with vegetation spectral indices is a new practice that helps estimate parameters of agricultural importance such as nitrogen. The objective of the present study was to compare random forest and neural network algorithms for estimating total plant nitrogen with spectral indices. Five spectral indices were obtained from remotely piloted aircraft systems and analyzed by mean, maximum and minimum from each sample plot to finally obtain 15 indices, and total nitrogen was estimated from the georeferenced points. The most important variables were selected with backward, forward and stepwise methods and total nitrogen estimates by laboratory were compared with random forest models and artificial neural networks. The most important indices were NDREmax and TCARImax. Using 15 spectral indices, total nitrogen with a variance of 79% and 81% with random forest and artificial neural network, respectively, was estimated. And only using NDREmax and TCARmax indices, 73% and 79% were explained by random forest and artificial neural network, respectively. It is concluded that it is possible to estimate nitrogen in forage maize with two indices and it is recommended to analyze by phenological stage and with a greater number of field data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arhopalus rusticus is a significant forestry pest known for its destructive impact on various host plants. This species, commonly found in coniferous forests across the Northern Hemisphere, has successfully spread to regions like New Zealand, Australia, and South America. This research is based on the known distribution sites of A. rusticus. Projections are made for the potential global distribution of A. rusticus under historical climatic conditions (1970–2000) and future climatic conditions (2081–2100) for the four forcing scenarios of the Coupled Model International Comparison Program 6 (CMIP6). The aim was to analyze the effects of climate change on the distribution range of this pest and its invasion trend in the southern hemisphere, and to support relevant departments in enhancing the effectiveness of forestry pest control strategies. The study utilized the Biomod2 software package in R to compare six models: generalized linear models (GLMs), generalized additive models (GAMs), multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARSs), artificial neural networks (ANNs), classification and regression trees (CTAs), and random forests (RFs) for modeling species distributions. The optimal model was selected based on evaluation indexes such as AUC and TSS. Projections of A. rusticus distribution under historical and future climate scenarios were created. The prediction results were visualized using ArcGIS software (version 10.2) to classify fitness levels and calculate distribution areas. Based on evaluation metrics, random forests (RFs) demonstrated the highest average assessment index scores, indicating high prediction accuracy (AUC = 0.99, TSS = 0.91, Kappa = 0.93). Model predictions revealed that, under historical climatic conditions, A. rusticus was predominantly found in northern Europe, eastern Asia, eastern and southwestern coastal regions of North America, and there were also highly suitable regions in parts of the southern hemisphere, including central and southwestern Argentina, southern Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. Among these models, each of the CMIP6's different climate prediction scenarios had a significant impact on the predicted distribution of A. rusticus. The SSP126 scenario depicted the broadest range of suitability, while the SSP585 scenario presented the narrowest and, overall, the extent of highly suitable regions was contracting. Multi-model predictions suggested that the potential distribution area of A. rusticus during the period of 2081–2100 would likely expand compared to that of 1970–2000, ranging from an increase of 1.13% (SSP126) up to 6.61% (SSP585), positively correlating with the level of radiative forcing. Notably, the most substantial growth was observed in potentially low-suitability region, escalating from 1.17% (SSP126) to 5.55% (SSP585). The distribution of A. rusticus shows decreasing trends from coastal areas to inland areas and from high to low level suitability of regions, and further expansion into the southern hemisphere under future climate conditions. Therefore, quarantine efforts at ports of entry should be strengthened in areas that are not currently infested but are at risk of invasion, and precise preventive measures should be strengthened in areas that are at risk of further expansion under future climatic conditions to prevent its spread to inland areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stroke is a high morbidity and mortality disease that poses a serious threat to people's health. Early recognition of the various warning signs of stroke is necessary so that timely clinical intervention can help reduce the severity of stroke. Deep neural networks have powerful feature representation capabilities and can automatically learn discriminant features from large amounts of data. This paper uses a range of physiological characteristic parameters and collaborates with deep neural networks, such as the Wasserstein generative adversarial networks with gradient penalty and regression network, to construct a stroke prediction model. Firstly, to address the problem of imbalance between positive and negative samples in the stroke public data set, we performed positive sample data augmentation and utilized WGAN‐GP to generate stroke data with high fidelity and used it for the training of the prediction network model. Then, the relationship between observable physiological characteristic parameters and the predicted risk of suffering a stroke was modeled as a nonlinear mapping transformation, and a stroke prediction model based on a deep regression network was designed. Finally, the proposed method is compared with commonly used machine learning‐based classification algorithms such as decision tree, random forest, support vector machine, and artificial neural networks. The prediction results of the proposed method are optimal in the comprehensive measurement index F. Further ablation experiments also show that the designed prediction model has certain robustness and can effectively predict stroke diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaria is the most common cause of death among the parasitic diseases. Malaria continues to pose a growing threat to the public health and economic growth of nations in the tropical and subtropical parts of the world. This study aims to address this challenge by developing a predictive model for malaria outbreaks in each district of The Gambia, leveraging historical meteorological data. To achieve this objective, we employ and compare the performance of eight machine learning algorithms, including C5.0 decision trees, artificial neural networks, k-nearest neighbors, support vector machines with linear and radial kernels, logistic regression, extreme gradient boosting, and random forests. The models are evaluated using 10-fold cross-validation during the training phase, repeated five times to ensure robust validation. Our findings reveal that extreme gradient boosting and decision trees exhibit the highest prediction accuracy on the testing set, achieving 93.3% accuracy, followed closely by random forests with 91.5% accuracy. In contrast, the support vector machine with a linear kernel performs less favorably, showing a prediction accuracy of 84.8% and underperforming in specificity analysis. Notably, the integration of both climatic and non-climatic features proves to be a crucial factor in accurately predicting malaria outbreaks in The Gambia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Proposed a Hybrid Model for Paddy Crop prediction based on phenological parameters. • CNN-LSTM attained RMSE value of 0.219 t/ha compared to other existing methods. • Random Forest method achieved highest accuracy of 96.6% in paddy classification. Rice is one of the predominant food sources to fulfill the dietary requirements of well-being in India. Therefore, accurate and timely paddy crop yield prediction is crucial to ensure the food security of the country. In this direction, the present study proposed a hybrid deep-learning method based on Conv-1D and LSTM layers using the classification-derived phenological with meteorological parameters for paddy crop yield prediction. The paddy crop classification has been conducted using high-resolution (10 m) multispectral imagery based on GPS coordinates collected during the paddy field visits to extract the phenological parameters for input to the prediction model. In this context, the efficiency of Random Forest, Naïve Bayes, SVM, and Gradient Tree boost classifiers was assessed. Furthermore, we have also analyzed the accuracy of Landsat-8, Sentinel-1 GRD, and Sentinel-2 satellite imagery in paddy crop classification based on area estimation. The Statistical Abstract of Haryana was utilized to validate the paddy crop area estimation and yield prediction. The classification outcomes showed that the Random Forest method attained the highest accuracy of 96.6 % compared to other GEE-based classifiers. The proposed Hybrid Deep learning approach achieved an RMSE value of 0.219 t/ha compared to CNN, LSTM, CNN-Bi-LSTM, and Regression techniques for crop yield prediction. The study conclusion highlighted that the sentinel-2 satellite imagery performed well and found that the proposed hybrid approach provided an alternative for paddy crop yield prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Breast cancer represents a significant health concern, particularly in Saudi Arabia, where it ranks as the most prevalent cancer type among women. This study focuses on leveraging eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) techniques to predict benign and malignant breast cancer cases using various clinical and pathological features specific to Saudi Arabian patients. Six distinct models were trained and evaluated based on common performance metrics such as accuracy, precision, recall, F1 score, and AUC-ROC score. To enhance interpretability, Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanations (LIME) and SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) were applied. The analysis identified the Random Forest model as the top performer, achieving an accuracy of 0.72, along with robust precision, recall, F1 score, and AUC-ROC score values. Conversely, the Support Vector Machine model exhibited the poorest performance metrics, indicating its limited predictive capability. Notably, the XAI approaches unveiled variations in the feature importance rankings across models, underscoring the need for further investigation. These findings offer valuable insights into breast cancer diagnosis and machine learning interpretation, aiding healthcare providers in understanding and potentially integrating such technologies into clinical practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research study aims to understand the application of Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) to forecast the Self-Compacting Recycled Coarse Aggregate Concrete (SCRCAC) compressive strength. From different literature, 602 available data sets from SCRCAC mix designs are collected, and the data are rearranged, reconstructed, trained and tested for the ANN model development. The models were established using seven input variables: the mass of cementitious content, water, natural coarse aggregate content, natural fine aggregate content, recycled coarse aggregate content, chemical admixture and mineral admixture used in the SCRCAC mix designs. Two normalization techniques are used for data normalization to visualize the data distribution. For each normalization technique, three transfer functions are used for modelling. In total, six different types of models were run in MATLAB and used to estimate the 28th day SCRCAC compressive strength. Normalization technique 2 performs better than 1 and TANSING is the best transfer function. The best k-fold cross-validation fold is k = 7. The coefficient of determination for predicted and actual compressive strength is 0.78 for training and 0.86 for testing. The impact of the number of neurons and layers on the model was performed. Inputs from standards are used to forecast the 28th day compressive strength. Apart from ANN, Machine Learning (ML) techniques like random forest, extra trees, extreme boosting and light gradient boosting techniques are adopted to predict the 28th day compressive strength of SCRCAC. Compared to ML, ANN prediction shows better results in terms of sensitive analysis. The study also extended to determine 28th day compressive strength from experimental work and compared it with 28th day compressive strength from ANN best model. Standard and ANN mix designs have similar fresh and hardened properties. The average compressive strength from ANN model and experimental results are 39.067 and 38.36 MPa, respectively with correlation coefficient is 1. It appears that ANN can validly predict the compressive strength of concrete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change majorly impacts biodiversity in diverse regions across the world, including South Asia, a megadiverse area with heterogeneous climatic and vegetation regions. However, climate impacts on bats in this region are not well‐studied, and it is unclear whether climate effects will follow patterns predicted in other regions. We address this by assessing projected near‐future changes in climatically suitable areas for 110 bat species from South Asia. We used ensemble ecological niche modelling with four algorithms (random forests, artificial neural networks, multivariate adaptive regression splines and maximum entropy) to define climatically suitable areas under current conditions (1970–2000). We then extrapolated near future (2041–2060) suitable areas under four projected scenarios (combining two global climate models and two shared socioeconomic pathways, SSP2: middle‐of‐the‐road and SSP5: fossil‐fuelled development). Projected future changes in suitable areas varied across species, with most species predicted to retain most of the current area or lose small amounts. When shifts occurred due to projected climate change, new areas were generally northward of current suitable areas. Suitability hotspots, defined as regions suitable for >30% of species, were generally predicted to become smaller and more fragmented. Overall, climate change in the near future may not lead to dramatic shifts in the distribution of bat species in South Asia, but local hotspots of biodiversity may be lost. Our results offer insight into climate change effects in less studied areas and can inform conservation planning, motivating reappraisals of conservation priorities and strategies for bats in South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research conducted focused on the capabilities of various non-linear and machine learning (ML) models in estimating the higher heating value (HHV) of biomass using proximate analysis data as inputs. The research was carried out to identify the most appropriate model for the estimation of HHV, which was determined by a statistical analysis of the modeling error. In this sense, artificial neural networks (ANNs), support vector machine (SVM), random forest regression (RFR), and higher-degree polynomial models were compared. After statistical analysis of the modeling error, the ANN model was found to be the most suitable for estimating the HHV biomass and showed the highest specific regression coefficient, with an R2 of 0.92. SVM (R2 = 0.81), RFR, and polynomial models (R2 = 0.84), on the other hand, also exhibit a high degree of estimation, albeit with somewhat larger modelling errors. The study conducted suggests that ANN models are best suited for the non-linear modeling of HHV of biomass, as they can generalize and search for links between input and output data that are more robust but also more complex in structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite medical advancements in recent years, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain a major factor in rising mortality rates, challenging predictions despite extensive expertise. The healthcare sector is poised to benefit significantly from harnessing massive data and the insights we can derive from it, underscoring the importance of integrating machine learning (ML) to improve CVD prevention strategies. In this study, we addressed the major issue of class imbalance in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) 2021 heart disease dataset, including personal lifestyle factors, by exploring several resampling techniques, such as the Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE), Adaptive Synthetic Sampling (ADASYN), SMOTE-Tomek, and SMOTE-Edited Nearest Neighbor (SMOTE-ENN). Subsequently, we trained, tested, and evaluated multiple classifiers, including logistic regression (LR), decision trees (DTs), random forest (RF), gradient boosting (GB), XGBoost (XGB), CatBoost, and artificial neural networks (ANNs), comparing their performance with a primary focus on maximizing sensitivity for CVD risk prediction. Based on our findings, the hybrid resampling techniques outperformed the alternative sampling techniques, and our proposed implementation includes SMOTE-ENN coupled with CatBoost optimized through Optuna, achieving a remarkable 88% rate for recall and 82% for the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) metric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]