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Motivation: The association between weather conditions and stroke incidence has been a subject of interest for several years, yet the findings from various studies remain inconsistent. Additionally, predictive modelling in this context has been infrequent. This study explores the relationship of extremely high ischaemic stroke incidence and meteorological factors within the Slovak population. Furthermore, it aims to construct forecasting models of extremely high number of strokes. Methods: Over a five-year period, a total of 52,036 cases of ischemic stroke were documented. Days exhibiting a notable surge in ischemic stroke occurrences (surpassing the 90th percentile of historical records) were identified as extreme cases. These cases were then scrutinized alongside daily meteorological parameters spanning from 2015 to 2019. To create forecasts for the occurrence of these extreme cases one day in advance, three distinct methods were employed: Logistic regression, Random Forest for Time Series, and Croston's method. Results: For each of the analyzed stroke centers, the cross-correlations between instances of extremely high stroke numbers and meteorological factors yielded negligible results. Predictive performance achieved by forecasts generated through multivariate logistic regression and Random Forest for time series analysis, which incorporated meteorological data, was on par with that of Croston's method. Notably, Croston's method relies solely on the stroke time series data. All three forecasting methods exhibited limited predictive accuracy. Conclusions: The task of predicting days characterized by an exceptionally high number of strokes proved to be challenging across all three explored methods. The inclusion of meteorological parameters did not yield substantive improvements in forecasting accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era marked by pervasive digital connectivity, cybersecurity concerns have escalated. The rapid evolution of technology has led to a spectrum of cyber threats, including sophisticated zero-day attacks. This research addresses the challenge of existing intrusion detection systems in identifying zero-day attacks using the CIC-MalMem-2022 dataset and autoencoders for anomaly detection. The trained autoencoder is integrated with XGBoost and Random Forest, resulting in the models XGBoost-AE and Random Forest-AE. The study demonstrates that incorporating an anomaly detector into traditional models significantly enhances performance. The Random Forest-AE model achieved 100% accuracy, precision, recall, F1 score, and Matthews Correlation Coefficient (MCC), outperforming the methods proposed by Balasubramanian et al., Khan, Mezina et al., Smith et al., and Dener et al. When tested on unseen data, the Random Forest-AE model achieved an accuracy of 99.9892%, precision of 100%, recall of 99.9803%, F1 score of 99.9901%, and MCC of 99.8313%. This research highlights the effectiveness of the proposed model in maintaining high accuracy even with previously unseen data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When conducting condition recognition research on AC contactor vibration signals through time-frequency analysis, the feature data exhibit a high degree of redundancy, which leads to repetitive information and hinders the accuracy of recognition. To address the redundancy issue in the features of AC contactor vibration signals, this study introduces a feature selection method based on Regularized Random Forest with Recursive Selection (RFRS). Initially, a test platform for AC contactor vibration signals was established, and time-frequency domain features of the AC contactor vibration signals were extracted. Subsequently, the traditional Random Forest (RF) was refined by optimizing its stopping criteria using the Recursive Feature Elimination approach and by incorporating a regularization coefficient during the splitting process to direct the split towards significant features. This modification not only enhances the Random Forest's capacity to leverage existing information but also introduces a bias, enabling it to favor important features. Finally, through case analysis, the proposed method effectively reduced the dimensionality of the feature set and achieved an average of 87.37% for Recall, 87.41% for F1-Score, 88.38% for Precision, and 85.74% for Accuracy. The overall performance of this method surpasses that of the three mainstream feature selection methods: Spearman's rank correlation coefficient method, the embedded method, and the filter method. This study thus provides a rather effective feature selection approach for the state recognition study of AC contactors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of interconnected metabolic risk factors, including abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, and elevated fasting blood glucose levels, that result in an increased risk of heart disease and stroke. In this research, we aim to identify the risk factors that have an impact on MetS in the Bangladeshi population. Subsequently, we intend to construct predictive machine learning (ML) models and ultimately, assess the accuracy and reliability of these models. In this particular study, we utilized the ATP III criteria as the basis for evaluating various health parameters from a dataset comprising 8185 participants in Bangladesh. After employing multiple ML algorithms, we identified that 27.8% of the population exhibited a prevalence of MetS. The prevalence of MetS was higher among females, accounting for 58.3% of the cases, compared to males with a prevalence of 41.7%. Initially, we identified the crucial variables using Chi-Square and Random Forest techniques. Subsequently, the obtained optimal variables are employed to train various models including Decision Trees, Random Forests, Support Vector Machines, Extreme Gradient Boosting, K-nearest neighbors, and Logistic Regression. Particularly we employed the ATP III criteria, which utilizes the Waist-to-Height Ratio (WHtR) as an anthropometric index for diagnosing abdominal obesity. Our analysis indicated that Age, SBP, WHtR, FBG, WC, DBP, marital status, HC, TGs, and smoking emerged as the most significant factors when using Chi-Square and Random Forest analyses. However, further investigation is necessary to evaluate its precision as a classification tool and to improve the accuracy of all classifiers for MetS prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Combining different drugs synergistically is an essential aspect of developing effective treatments. Although there is a plethora of research on computational prediction for new combination therapies, there is limited to no research on combination therapies in the treatment of viral diseases. This paper proposes AI-based models for predicting novel antiviral combinations to treat virus diseases synergistically. To do this, we assembled a comprehensive dataset comprising information on viral strains, drug compounds, and their known interactions. As far as we know, this is the first dataset and learning model on combination therapy for viruses. Our proposal includes using a random forest model, an SVM model, and a deep model to train viral combination therapy. The machine learning models showed the highest performance, and the predicted values were validated by a t-test, indicating the effectiveness of the proposed methods. One of the predicted combinations of acyclovir and ribavirin has been experimentally confirmed to have a synergistic antiviral effect against herpes simplex type-1 virus, as described in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lactate analysis plays an important role in sports science and training decisions for optimising performance, endurance, and overall success in sports. Two parameters are widely used for these goals: aerobic (AeT) and anaerobic (AnT) thresholds. However, determining AeT proves more challenging than AnT threshold due to both physiological intricacies and practical considerations. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine AeT and AnT thresholds using machine learning modelling (ML) and to compare ML-obtained results with the parameters' values determined using conventional methods. ML seems to be highly useful due to its ability to handle complex, personalised data, identify nonlinear relationships, and provide accurate predictions. The 183 results of CardioPulmonary Exercise Test (CPET) accompanied by lactate and heart ratio analyses from amateur athletes were enrolled to the study and ML models using the following algorithms: Random Forest, XGBoost (Extreme Gradient Boosting), and LightGBM (Light Gradient Boosting Machine) and metrics: R2, mean absolute error (MAE), mean squared error (MSE) and root mean square error (RMSE). The regressors used belong to the group of ensemble learning algorithms that combine the predictions of multiple base models to improve overall performance and counteract overfitting to training data. Based on evaluation metrics, the following models give the best predictions: for AeT: Random Forest has an R2 value of 0.645, MAE of 4.630, MSE of 44.450, RMSE of 6.667; and for AnT: LightGBM has an R2 of 0.803, the highest among the models, MAE of 3.439, the lowest among the models, MSE of 20.953, and RMSE of 4.577. Outlined research experiments, a comprehensive review of existing literature in the field, and obtained results suggest that ML models can be trained to make personalised predictions based on an individual athlete's unique physiological response to exercise. Athletes exhibit significant variation in their AeT and AT, and ML can capture these individual differences, allowing for tailored training recommendations and performance optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimation of fruit quality parameters are usually based on destructive techniques which are tedious, costly and unreliable when dealing with huge amounts of fruits. Alternatively, non–destructive techniques such as image processing and spectral reflectance would be useful in rapid detection of fruit quality parameters. This research study aimed to assess the potential of image processing, spectral reflectance indices (SRIs), and machine learning models such as decision tree (DT) and random forest (RF) to qualitatively estimate characteristics of mandarin and tomato fruits at different ripening stages. Quality parameters such as chlorophyll a (Chl a), chlorophyll b (Chl b), total soluble solids (TSS), titratable acidity (TA), TSS/TA, carotenoids (car), lycopene and firmness were measured. The results showed that Red-Blue-Green (RGB) indices and newly developed SRIs demonstrated high efficiency for quantifying different fruit properties. For example, the R2 of the relationships between all RGB indices (RGBI) and measured parameters varied between 0.62 and 0.96 for mandarin and varied between 0.29 and 0.90 for tomato. The RGBI such as visible atmospheric resistant index (VARI) and normalized red (Rn) presented the highest R2 = 0.96 with car of mandarin fruits. While excess red vegetation index (ExR) presented the highest R2 = 0.84 with car of tomato fruits. The SRIs such as RSI 710,600, and R730,650 showed the greatest R2 values with respect to Chl a (R2 = 0.80) for mandarin fruits while the GI had the greatest R2 with Chl a (R2 = 0.68) for tomato fruits. Combining RGB and SRIs with DT and RF models would be a robust strategy for estimating eight observed variables associated with reasonable accuracy. Regarding mandarin fruits, in the task of predicting Chl a, the DT-2HV model delivered exceptional results, registering an R2 of 0.993 with an RMSE of 0.149 for the training set, and an R2 of 0.991 with an RMSE of 0.114 for the validation set. As well as for tomato fruits, the DT-5HV model demonstrated exemplary performance in the Chl a prediction, achieving an R2 of 0.905 and an RMSE of 0.077 for the training dataset, and an R2 of 0.785 with an RMSE of 0.077 for the validation dataset. The overall outcomes showed that the RGB, newly SRIs as well as DT and RF based RGBI, and SRIs could be used to evaluate the measured parameters of mandarin and tomato fruits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Synthetic lethality (SL) and synthetic viability (SV) are commonly studied genetic interactions in the targeted therapy approach in cancer. In SL, inhibiting either of the genes does not affect the cancer cell survival, but inhibiting both leads to a lethal phenotype. In SV, inhibiting the vulnerable gene makes the cancer cell sick; inhibiting the partner gene rescues and promotes cell viability. Many low and high-throughput experimental approaches have been employed to identify SLs and SVs, but they are time-consuming and expensive. The computational tools for SL prediction involve statistical and machine-learning approaches. Almost all machine learning tools are binary classifiers and involve only identifying SL pairs. Most importantly, there are limited properties known that best describe and discriminate SL from SV. We developed MAGICAL (Multi-class Approach for Genetic Interaction in Cancer via Algorithm Learning), a multi-class random forest based machine learning model for genetic interaction prediction. Network properties of protein derived from physical protein-protein interactions are used as features to classify SL and SV. The model results in an accuracy of ~80% for the training dataset (CGIdb, BioGRID, and SynLethDB) and performs well on DepMap and other experimentally derived reported datasets. Amongst all the network properties, the shortest path, average neighbor2, average betweenness, average triangle, and adhesion have significant discriminatory power. MAGICAL is the first multi-class model to identify discriminatory features of synthetic lethal and viable interactions. MAGICAL can predict SL and SV interactions with better accuracy and precision than any existing binary classifier. Author summary: Targeted therapy aims to selectively target cancer cells without damaging the normal ones. Synthetic lethality is a negative genetic interaction in which alteration of both genes leads to cell death and mediates drug sensitivity. In contrast, synthetic viability is a positive genetic interaction in which gene alteration rescues the cell sickness induced by alteration in the vulnerable gene and promotes cell viability, leading to drug resistance. Hence, identifying these genetic interactions is crucial to fostering selective treatment and improving the patient's health. We have designed MAGICAL, a multi-class classifier for predicting genetic interactions, a machine-learning model that can predict SL and SV based on the network properties. We aim to address how these genetic interactions get affected when the placement of the nodes (genes) in the network changes. As genetic interaction in cancer has a key role in precision oncology/targeted therapy, this work would enable researchers to understand how these interactions foster better treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Precise prediction of soil salinity using visible, and near-infrared (vis-NIR) spectroscopy is crucial for ensuring food security and effective environmental management. This paper focuses on the precise prediction of soil salinity utilizing visible and near-infrared (vis-NIR) spectroscopy, a critical factor for food security and effective environmental management. The objective is to utilize vis-NIR spectra alongside a multiple regression model (MLR) and a random forest (RF) modeling approach to predict soil salinity across various land use types, such as farmlands, bare lands, and rangelands accurately. To this end, we selected 150 sampling points representatives of these diverse land uses. At each point, we collected soil samples to measure the soil salinity (ECe) and employed a portable spectrometer to capture the spectral reflectance across the full wavelength range of 400 to 2400 nm. The methodology involved using both individual spectral reflectance values and combinations of reflectance values from different wavelengths as input variables for developing the MLR and RF models. The results indicated that the RF model (RMSE = 4.85 dS m-1, R2 = 0.87, and RPD = 3.15), utilizing combined factors as input variables, outperformed others. Furthermore, our analysis across different land uses revealed that models incorporating combined input variables yielded significantly better results, particularly for farmlands and rangelands. This study underscores the potential of combining vis-NIR spectroscopy with advanced modeling techniques to enhance the accuracy of soil salinity predictions, thereby supporting more informed agricultural and environmental management decisions. [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]

Credit scorecards are essential tools for banks to assess the creditworthiness of loan applicants. While advanced machine learning models like XGBoost and random forest often outperform traditional logistic regression in predictive accuracy, their lack of interpretability hinders their adoption in practice. This study bridges the gap between research and practice by developing a novel framework for constructing interpretable credit scorecards using Shapley values. We apply this framework to two credit datasets, discretizing numerical variables and utilizing one-hot encoding to facilitate model development. Shapley values are then employed to derive credit scores for each predictor variable group in XGBoost, random forest, LightGBM, and CatBoost models. Our results demonstrate that this approach yields credit scorecards with interpretability comparable to logistic regression while maintaining superior predictive accuracy. This framework offers a practical and effective solution for credit practitioners seeking to leverage the power of advanced models without sacrificing transparency and regulatory compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Depression post-myocardial infarction (MI) is becoming more prevalent. The gut-brain axis (GBA), influenced by the gut microbiota, is a critical component in understanding depression post-MI. Despite the well-established connection between gut microbiota and depression post-MI, this relationship remains incompletely understood. Methods and analysis: This protocol will follow the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis Protocol (PRISMA-P) 2020 statement. Beginning from inception to October 2023, a systematic search will be conducted across eight electronic databases, including PubMed, MEDLINE, Scopus, Embase, Cochrane Clinical Trials Database, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and China Biomedical Literature Database. Pre-selected studies will be independently assessed by two researchers following a standard inclusion, data extraction and quality assessment protocol. The primary outcome measures are differences in the profile of gut microbiota and rating scale scores for depression. Fixed-effects models will be used when both clinical heterogeneity and statistical heterogeneity are low, otherwise random-effects models will be used. Furthermore, subgroup analyses will be conducted on the depression severity of the participants using the same psychiatric scales employed, study type and geographic region. Random forest plot runs and research-related statistical analyses will be carried out using Rev Man V.5.3 software. Expected results: This study will identify the association between the gut microbiota and the onset of depression post-MI, and provide evidence for the use of probiotics as an adjunctive treatment for depression post-MI. Trial registration: Prospero registration number:CRD42023444026. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite seed production being nutrient-limited, the influence of nutrient pathways on granivore distributions is unclear. This article examines the influence of geology and soil on the distribution of glossy black-cockatoos (Calyptorhynchus lathami), which feed almost exclusively on the kernels of casuarinas (Allocasuarina spp. and Casuarina spp.), and are selective about the trees in which they feed. To clarify the basis of this selection, Food Value (a measure of dry matter intake rate) and kernel nutrient content were compared between feeding and non-feeding trees of drooping sheoak (A. verticillata). Random forest modelling was then used to examine the influence of geology and soil chemistry on Food Value. Finally, logistic generalised additive modelling was used to examine the influence of geology on cockatoo feeding records across the range of black sheoak (A. littoralis) and forest oak (A. torulosa), drawing on a statewide dataset. Food Value–but not kernel nutrient concentrations–influenced feeding tree selection. Soils under drooping sheoak were nutritionally poor, with low nitrogen and phosphorus (despite high concentrations of these nutrients in the kernels), and characterised by two principal components: SALINITY (dominated by exchangeable magnesium and sodium, electrical conductivity, and sulphur) and ACIDITY (pH, iron, and aluminium). Random forest modelling showed that Food Value was highest on sedimentary rocks, with a high ACIDITY score, less than 18 meq 100 g-1 exchangeable calcium, and less than 4% soil organic carbon. The odds of cockatoos selecting casuarinas as feedings tree were three times higher on non-calcareous sedimentary rocks than on other rock types. Non-calcareous sedimentary rocks produce low-fertility, acid soils, which promote nitrogen-fixation by Frankia. I therefore conclude that glossy black-cockatoo distribution is controlled by the casuarina's symbiotic relationship with Frankia, which is ultimately controlled by geology; and that similar relationships may be responsible for the prevalence of several other species on low-fertility and/or acid soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Screening and treatment of dysglycemia (prediabetes and diabetes) represent significant challenges in advancing the Healthy China initiative. Identifying the crucial factors contributing to dysglycemia in urban-rural areas is essential for the implementation of targeted, precise interventions. Methods: Data for 26,157 adults in Fujian Province, China, were collected using the Social Factors Special Survey Form through a multi-stage random sampling method, wherein 18 variables contributing to dysglycemia were analyzed with logistic regression and the random forest model. Objective: Investigating urban-rural differences and critical factors in dysglycemia prevalence in Fujian, China, with the simultaneous development of separate predictive models for urban and rural areas. Result: The detection rate of dysglycemia among adults was 35.26%, with rates of 34.1% in urban areas and 35.8% in rural areas. Common factors influencing dysglycemia included education, age, BMI, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. For rural residents, higher income (OR = 0.80, 95% CI [0.74, 0.87]), average sleep quality (OR = 0.89, 95% CI [0.80, 0.99]), good sleep quality (OR = 0.89, 95% CI [0.80, 1.00]), and high physical activity (PA) (OR = 0.87, 95% CI [0.79, 0.96]) emerged as protective factors. Conversely, a daily sleep duration over 8 hours (OR = 1.46, 95% CI [1.03, 1.28]) and middle income (OR = 1.12, 95% CI [1.03, 1.22]) were specific risk factors. In urban areas, being male (OR = 1.14, 95% CI [1.02, 1.26]), cohabitation (OR = 1.18, 95% CI [1.02, 1.37]), and central obesity (OR = 1.35, 95% CI [1.19, 1.53]) were identified as unique risk factors. Using logistic regression outcomes, a random forest model was developed to predict dysglycemia, achieving accuracies of 75.35% (rural) and 76.95% (urban) with ROC areas of 0.77 (rural) and 0.75 (urban). Conclusion: This study identifies key factors affecting dysglycemia in urban and rural Fujian residents, including common factors such as education, age, BMI, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. Notably, rural-specific protective factors are higher income and good sleep quality, while urban-specific risk factors include being male and central obesity. These findings support the development of targeted prevention and intervention strategies for dysglycemia, tailored to the unique characteristics of urban and rural populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface freshwater is a vital resource that is declining globally, predominantly due to climate and land use changes. Cambodia is no exception and the loss threatens many species, such as the giant ibis a Critically Endangered waterbird. We aimed to quantify the spatial and temporal (2000–2020) change of surface water availability across northern and eastern Cambodia and to assess the impact of this on the giant ibis. We used a Random Forest Classifier to determine the changes and we tested the impact of land use and geographical covariates using spatially explicit regression models. We found an overall reduction of surface water availability of 4.16%. This was predominantly driven by the presence of Economic Land Concessions and roads which increased the probability of extreme drying and flooding events. The presence of protected areas reduced these probabilities. We found changes in precipitation patterns over the wider landscape did not correlate with changes in surface water availability, supporting the overriding influence of land use change. 98% of giant ibis nests recorded during the time period were found within 25m of surface water during the dry season, highlighting their dependency on surface water. The overall surface water decline resulted in a 25% reduction in dry season suitable habitat for the giant ibis. Although absolute changes in surface water over the whole area were relatively small, the impact on the highest quality habitat for ibis is disproportionate and therefore threatens its populations. Defining the threats to such an endangered species is crucial for effective management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a cutting-edge net-shape manufacturing technique called Additive Layer Manufacturing (ALM), highly complex components that are not achievable with conventional wrought and cast methods can be produced. As a result, the aerospace sector is paying closer attention to using this technology to fabricate superalloys based on nickel to develop the holistic gas turbine. Because of this, there is an increasing need for the mechanical characterisation of such material. Conventional mechanical testing is hampered by the limited availability of material that has been processed, especially given the large number of process factors that need to be assessed. Thus, the present study focuses on manufacturing CM247LC Ni-based superalloy with exceptional mechanical characteristics by laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF). This study evaluates the effect of input process variables such as laser power, scan speed, hatch distance and volumetric energy density on the mechanical performance of the LPBF CM247LC superalloy. The maximum value of as-built tensile strength obtained in the study is 997.81 MPa. Plotting Pearson's heatmap and the Feature importance (F-test) was used in the data analysis to examine the impact of input parameters on tensile strength. The accuracy of the tensile strength data classification by machine learning algorithms, such as k-nearest neighbours, Naïve Baiyes, Support vector machine, XGBoost, AdaBoost, Decision tree, Random forest, and logistic regression algorithms, was 92.5%, 83.75%, 83%, 85%, 87.5%, 90%, 91.25%, and 77.5%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Terrestrial and ocean ecosystems are increasingly under threat from an array of anthropogenic pressures. And while threats mount, how people view and value nature is changing. In the United States (U.S.) in particular, there is a shift away from viewing nature as something to 'dominate,' as evidenced in the decline in hunting. However, it is unclear if or how opinions around environmental issues and conservation need might differ when comparing ocean versus terrestrial ecosystems, especially given the prevalence and continued importance of wild capture fishing in the U.S. We employed two national parallel surveys, one focused on oceans, the other land, receiving responses from nearly every state in the U.S. (N = 1,973). While we found only slight, but statistically significant more concern for ocean habitats and animals over terrestrial ecosystems, this did not translate to increased willingness to monetarily support more ocean conservation actions. Using Random Forest models, we also found the best predictor of conservation need was feeling most impacted by environmental issues personally (self and/or community), regardless of ecosystem type. In fact, land versus sea (survey) had the lowest rank in the models, underscoring the importance of general nature-based interactions. Instead, the number of outdoor recreational activities was a highly ranked variable explaining the level of reported impact to self/community, with people who participate in 2 or more activities scoring higher levels of impact, on average. Notably, people who hunt and fish, versus only do one or the other, reported higher levels of impact and participated in more activities overall, providing a more nuanced finding regarding the nature 'dominance hypothesis.' Voting, not political affiliation, was also important in explaining responses, and governmental mechanisms to fund conservation were favored over voluntary. Overall, our results add to the strong existing literature that access and connection to nature is key, but uniquely broad connection may "float all boats," especially when diversified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate variability has become one of the most pressing issues of our time, affecting various aspects of the environment, including the agriculture sector. This study examines the impact of climate variability on Ghana's maize yield for all agro-ecological zones and administrative regions in Ghana using annual data from 1992 to 2019. The study also employs the stacking ensemble learning model (SELM) in predicting the maize yield in the different regions taking random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), gradient boosting (GB), decision tree (DT), and linear regression (LR) as base models. The findings of the study reveal that maize production in the regions of Ghana is inconsistent, with some regions having high variability. All the climate variables considered have positive impact on maize yield, with a lesser variability of temperature in the Guinea savanna zones and a higher temperature variability in the Volta Region. Carbon dioxide (CO2) also plays a significant role in predicting maize yield across all regions of Ghana. Among the machine learning models utilized, the stacking ensemble model consistently performed better in many regions such as in the Western, Upper East, Upper West, and Greater Accra regions. These findings are important in understanding the impact of climate variability on the yield of maize in Ghana, highlighting regional disparities in maize yield in the country, and highlighting the need for advanced techniques for forecasting, which are important for further investigation and interventions for agricultural planning and decision-making on food security in Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tumor microenvironments (TMEs) contain vast amounts of information on patient's cancer through their cellular composition and the spatial distribution of tumor cells and immune cell populations. Exploring variations in TMEs between patient groups, as well as determining the extent to which this information can predict outcomes such as patient survival or treatment success with emerging immunotherapies, is of great interest. Moreover, in the face of a large number of cell interactions to consider, we often wish to identify specific interactions that are useful in making such predictions. We present an approach to achieve these goals based on summarizing spatial relationships in the TME using spatial K functions, and then applying functional data analysis and random forest models to both predict outcomes of interest and identify important spatial relationships. This approach is shown to be effective in simulation experiments at both identifying important spatial interactions while also controlling the false discovery rate. We further used the proposed approach to interrogate two real data sets of Multiplexed Ion Beam Images of TMEs in triple negative breast cancer and lung cancer patients. The methods proposed are publicly available in a companion R package funkycells. Author summary: Spatial data on the tumor microenvironment (TME) are becoming more prevalent. Existing methods to interrogate such data often have several limitations: (1) they can rely on estimating the spatial relationships among cells by examining simple counts of cells within a single radius, (2) they may not come with ways to evaluate the statistical significance of any findings, or (3) they model individual interactions independently of other interactions. Our approach leverages techniques in spatial statistics and uses a benchmark ensemble machine learning method to address each of these deficiencies; it (1) uses K functions to encode the relative densities of cells over all radii up to a user-selected maximum radius, (2) employs permutation and cross-validation to evaluate the statistical significance of any findings on the spatial interactions in the TME, and (3) models multiple interactions simultaneously. Our approach is freely available with an R implementation called funkycells. In the analysis of two real data sets, we have seen that the method performs well, and gives the expected results. We think this will be a robust tool for researchers looking to interrogate TME data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted governments worldwide to implement a range of containment measures, including mass gathering restrictions, social distancing, and school closures. Despite these efforts, vaccines continue to be the safest and most effective means of combating such viruses. Yet, vaccine hesitancy persists, posing a significant public health concern, particularly with the emergence of new COVID-19 variants. To effectively address this issue, timely data is crucial for understanding the various factors contributing to vaccine hesitancy. While previous research has largely relied on traditional surveys for this information, recent sources of data, such as social media, have gained attention. However, the potential of social media data as a reliable proxy for information on population hesitancy, especially when compared with survey data, remains underexplored. This paper aims to bridge this gap. Our approach uses social, demographic, and economic data to predict vaccine hesitancy levels in the ten most populous US metropolitan areas. We employ machine learning algorithms to compare a set of baseline models that contain only these variables with models that incorporate survey data and social media data separately. Our results show that XGBoost algorithm consistently outperforms Random Forest and Linear Regression, with marginal differences between Random Forest and XGBoost. This was especially the case with models that incorporate survey or social media data, thus highlighting the promise of the latter data as a complementary information source. Results also reveal variations in influential variables across the five hesitancy classes, such as age, ethnicity, occupation, and political inclination. Further, the application of models to different MSAs yields mixed results, emphasizing the uniqueness of communities and the need for complementary data approaches. In summary, this study underscores social media data's potential for understanding vaccine hesitancy, emphasizes the importance of tailoring interventions to specific communities, and suggests the value of combining different data sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Malnutrition in pregnant women significantly affects both mother and child health. This research aims to identify the best machine learning (ML) techniques for predicting the nutritional status of pregnant women in Bangladesh and detect the most essential features based on the best-performed algorithm. Methods: This study used retrospective cross-sectional data from the Bangladeshi Demographic and Health Survey 2017–18. Different feature transformations and machine learning classifiers were applied to find the best transformation and classification model. Results: This investigation found that robust scaling outperformed all feature transformation methods. The result shows that the Random Forest algorithm with robust scaling outperforms all other machine learning algorithms with 74.75% accuracy, 57.91% kappa statistics, 73.36% precision, 73.08% recall, and 73.09% f1 score. In addition, the Random Forest algorithm had the highest precision (76.76%) and f1 score (71.71%) for predicting the underweight class, as well as an expected precision of 82.01% and f1 score of 83.78% for the overweight/obese class when compared to other algorithms with a robust scaling method. The respondent's age, wealth index, region, husband's education level, husband's age, and occupation were crucial features for predicting the nutritional status of pregnant women in Bangladesh. Conclusion: The proposed classifier could help predict the expected outcome and reduce the burden of malnutrition among pregnant women in Bangladesh. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Web applications are important for various online businesses and operations because of their platform stability and low operation cost. The increasing usage of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices within a network has contributed to the rise of network intrusion issues due to malicious Uniform Resource Locators (URLs). Generally, malicious URLs are initiated to promote scams, attacks, and frauds which can lead to high-risk intrusion. Several methods have been developed to detect malicious URLs in previous works. There has been a good amount of work done to detect malicious URLs using various methods such as random forest, regression, LightGBM, and more as reported in the literature. However, most of the previous works focused on the binary classification of malicious URLs and are tested on limited URL datasets. Nevertheless, the detection of malicious URLs remains a challenging task that remains open to research. Hence, this work proposed a stacking-based ensemble classifier to perform multi-class classification of malicious URLs on larger URL datasets to justify the robustness of the proposed method. This study focuses on obtaining lexical features directly from the URL to identify malicious websites. Then, the proposed stacking-based ensemble classifier is developed by integrating Random Forest, XGBoost, LightGBM, and CatBoost. In addition, hyperparameter tuning was performed using the Randomized Search method to optimize the proposed classifier. The proposed stacking-based ensemble classifier aims to take advantage of the performance of each machine learning model and aggregate the output to improve prediction accuracy. The classification accuracies of the machine learning model when applied individually are 93.6%, 95.2%, 95.7% and 94.8% for random forest, XGBoost, LightGBM, and CatBoost respectively. The proposed stacking-based ensemble classifier has shown significant results in classifying four classes of malicious URLs (phishing, malware, defacement, and benign) with an average accuracy of 96.8% when benchmarked with previous works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skin cancer has a significant impact on the lives of many individuals annually and is recognized as the most prevalent type of cancer. In the United States, an estimated annual incidence of approximately 3.5 million people receiving a diagnosis of skin cancer underscores its widespread prevalence. Furthermore, the prognosis for individuals afflicted with advancing stages of skin cancer experiences a substantial decline in survival rates. This paper is dedicated to aiding healthcare experts in distinguishing between benign and malignant skin cancer cases by employing a range of machine learning and deep learning techniques and different feature extractors and feature selectors to enhance the evaluation metrics. In this paper, different transfer learning models are employed as feature extractors, and to enhance the evaluation metrics, a feature selection layer is designed, which includes diverse techniques such as Univariate, Mutual Information, ANOVA, PCA, XGB, Lasso, Random Forest, and Variance. Among transfer models, DenseNet-201 was selected as the primary feature extractor to identify features from data. Subsequently, the Lasso method was applied for feature selection, utilizing diverse machine learning approaches such as MLP, XGB, RF, and NB. To optimize accuracy and precision, ensemble methods were employed to identify and enhance the best-performing models. The study provides accuracy and sensitivity rates of 87.72% and 92.15%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the conception of social media, research on political communication has pointed toward the risk that the social media environment can foster political echo chambers. However, this has recently been contradicted by some studies demonstrating "cross-cutting discussions" on social media. The current study extends this literature by particularly focusing on communication on political vlogger videos and having mainstream news outlet videos as a reference point. Specifically, this study addresses five points: (1) to what extent cross-partisan comments occupy conservative and liberal vloggers' comment threads and if there is a significant difference between the two, (2) the possibility that comments from vlogger videos can be utilized to predict the political leanings of comments on mainstream news outlet videos, (3) if the proportion of cross-cutting discussions on mainstream news outlet videos significantly varies by the news outlet's political leaning, (4) if a neutral news outlet channel can work as a venue for cross-cutting discussions, and (5) if the proportion of cross-cutting comments in mainstream news outlet comment threads is significantly different from that in vlogger comment threads. Both manual and computational analyses were employed; the political leanings of vlogger comments were analyzed by manual content analysis, and based on the results, the political leanings of mainstream news outlet comments were analyzed by NLP classifiers using three different algorithms—logistic regression, SVM, and random forest. As a result, we found that the proportion of cross-cutting discussions significantly varies by both the channel's political leaning and media type. In addition, our results suggest the possibility of neutral news outlets as a place for cross-cutting discussions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the recent advances in the Internet and communication technologies, network systems and data have evolved rapidly. The emergence of new attacks jeopardizes network security and make it really challenging to detect intrusions. Multiple network attacks by an intruder are unavoidable. Our research targets the critical issue of class imbalance in intrusion detection, a reflection of the real-world scenario where legitimate network activities significantly out number malicious ones. This imbalance can adversely affect the learning process of predictive models, often resulting in high false-negative rates, a major concern in Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS). By focusing on datasets with this imbalance, we aim to develop and refine advanced algorithms and techniques, such as anomaly detection, cost-sensitive learning, and oversampling methods, to effectively handle such disparities. The primary goal is to create models that are highly sensitive to intrusions while minimizing false alarms, an essential aspect of effective IDS. This approach is not only practical for real-world applications but also enhances the theoretical understanding of managing class imbalance in machine learning. Our research, by addressing these significant challenges, is positioned to make substantial contributions to cybersecurity, providing valuable insights and applicable solutions in the fight against digital threats and ensuring robustness and relevance in IDS development. An intrusion detection system (IDS) checks network traffic for security, availability, and being non-shared. Despite the efforts of many researchers, contemporary IDSs still need to further improve detection accuracy, reduce false alarms, and detect new intrusions. The mean convolutional layer (MCL), feature-weighted attention (FWA) learning, a bidirectional long short-term memory (BILSTM) network, and the random forest algorithm are all parts of our unique hybrid model called MCL-FWA-BILSTM. The CNN-MCL layer for feature extraction receives data after preprocessing. After convolution, pooling, and flattening phases, feature vectors are obtained. The BI-LSTM and self-attention feature weights are used in the suggested method to mitigate the effects of class imbalance. The attention layer and the BI-LSTM features are concatenated to create mapped features before feeding them to the random forest algorithm for classification. Our methodology and model performance were validated using NSL-KDD and UNSW-NB-15, two widely available IDS datasets. The suggested model's accuracies on binary and multi-class classification tasks using the NSL-KDD dataset are 99.67% and 99.88%, respectively. The model's binary and multi-class classification accuracies on the UNSW-NB15 dataset are 99.56% and 99.45%, respectively. Further, we compared the suggested approach with other previous machine learning and deep learning models and found it to outperform them in detection rate, FPR, and F-score. For both binary and multiclass classifications, the proposed method reduces false positives while increasing the number of true positives. The model proficiently identifies diverse network intrusions on computer networks and accomplishes its intended purpose. The suggested model will be helpful in a variety of network security research fields and applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Herein, the spatial evolution characteristics of high-level Grade A tourist attractions in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) urban agglomeration, from 2001 to 2021, are studied by comprehensively applying the nearest neighbor index, kernel density analysis, standard deviation ellipse, and spatial autocorrelation. High-level Grade A tourist attractions are investigated using the random forest model as the driving mechanism of the spatial pattern. Results show that 1) the spatial distribution of high-level Class A tourist attractions in the YRD city cluster has grown to be an agglomeration, and the high-density areas have evolved from "point-like dispersion to regiment-like combination," gradually forming a B-shaped core density structure. 2) The spatial distribution comprises an overall "northwest–southeast" direction, a small counterclockwise rotation, the distribution of the center of gravity to the southwest migration, and the center of gravity from the territory of Suzhou City to the territory of Huzhou City. 3) The high-level Class A tourist attractions in the YRD city cluster as a whole show a strong positive spatial correlation, and the significantly clustered areas include three types: high-high (H-H), low-low (L-L), and low-high (L-H). 4) The spatial distribution of high, A-level tourist attractions in the YRD city cluster results from the combined action of the natural environment, resource endowment, socioeconomy, and policy background. Each element has a nonlinear and complex influence on the distribution of scenic spots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Random forests have emerged as a promising tool in comparative metagenomics because they can predict environmental characteristics based on microbial composition in datasets where β-diversity metrics fall short of revealing meaningful relationships between samples. Nevertheless, despite this efficacy, they lack biological insight in tandem with their predictions, potentially hindering scientific advancement. To overcome this limitation, we leverage a geometric characterization of random forests to introduce a data-driven phylogenetic β-diversity metric, the adaptive Haar-like distance. This new metric assigns a weight to each internal node (i.e., split or bifurcation) of a reference phylogeny, indicating the relative importance of that node in discerning environmental samples based on their microbial composition. Alongside this, a weighted nearest-neighbors classifier, constructed using the adaptive metric, can be used as a proxy for the random forest while maintaining accuracy on par with that of the original forest and another state-of-the-art classifier, CoDaCoRe. As shown in datasets from diverse microbial environments, however, the new metric and classifier significantly enhance the biological interpretability and visualization of high-dimensional metagenomic samples. Author summary: Traditional phylogenetic β-diversity metrics, particularly weighted and unweighted UniFrac, have had great success in comparing and visualizing high-dimensional metagenomic samples. Nonetheless, these metrics rely upon pre-established biological assumptions that might not capture key microbial players or relationships between some samples. On the contrary, supervised machine learning algorithms, such as random forests, can often capture intricate relationships between microbial samples; however, unveiling these relationships is often challenging due to the intricate inner mechanisms inherent to these algorithms. The adaptive Haar-like distance integrates the merits of β-diversity metrics and random forests, allowing for precise, intuitive, and visual comparison of metagenomic samples, offering valuable scientific insight into the distinctions and associations among microbial environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy-related occupant behaviour in the built environment is considered crucial when aiming towards Energy Efficiency (EE), especially given the notion that people are most often unaware and disengaged regarding the impacts of energy-consuming habits. In order to affect such energy-related behaviour, various approaches have been employed, being the most common the provision of recommendations towards more energy-efficient actions. In this work, the authors extend prior research findings in an effort to automatically identify the optimal Persuasion Strategy (PS), out of ten pre-selected by experts, tailored to a user (i.e., the context to trigger a message, allocate a task or providing cues to enact an action). This process aims to successfully influence the employees' decisions about EE in tertiary buildings. The framework presented in this study utilizes cultural traits and socio-economic information. It is based on one of the largest survey datasets on this subject, comprising responses from 743 users collected through an online survey in four countries across Europe (Spain, Greece, Austria and the UK). The resulting framework was designed as a cascade of sequential data-driven prediction models. The first step employs a particular case of matrix factorisation to rank the ten PP in terms of preference for each user, followed by a random forest regression model that uses these rankings as a filtering step to compute scores for each PP and conclude with the best selection for each user. An ex-post assessment of the individual steps and the combined ensemble revealed increased accuracy over baseline non-personalised methods. Furthermore, the analysis also sheds light on important user characteristics to take into account for future interventions related to EE and the most effective persuasion strategies to adopt based on user data. Discussion and implications of the reported results are provided in the text regarding the flourishing field of personalisation to motivate pro-environmental behaviour change in tertiary buildings. [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]

Background: Dysbiosis during childhood impacts the configuration and maturation of the microbiota. The immaturity of the infant microbiota is linked with the development of inflammatory, allergic, and dysmetabolic diseases. Aims: To identify taxonomic changes associated with age and GDM and classify the maturity of the intestinal microbiota of children of mothers with GDM and children without GDM (n-GDM). Methods: Next-generation sequencing was used to analyze the V3–V4 region of 16S rRNA gene. QIIME2 and Picrust2 were used to determine the difference in the relative abundance of bacterial genera between the study groups and to predict the functional profile of the intestinal microbiota. Results: According to age, the older GDM groups showed a lower alpha diversity and different abundance of Enterobacteriaceae, Veillonella, Clostridiales, and Bacteroides. Regarding the functional profile, PWY-7377 and K05895 associated with Vitamin B12 metabolism were reduced in GDM groups. Compared to n-GDM group, GDM offspring had microbiota immaturity as age-discriminatory taxa in random forest failed to classify GDM offspring according to developmental age (OOB error 81%). Conclusion. Offspring from mothers with GDM have a distinctive taxonomic profile related to taxa associated with gut microbiota immaturity. [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]

This study presents a novel approach to modeling the velocity-time curve in 100m sprinting by integrating machine learning algorithms. It critically addresses the limitations of traditional speed models, which often require extensive and intricate data collection, by proposing a more accessible and accurate method using fewer variables. The research utilized data from various international track events from 1987 to 2019. Two machine learning models, Random Forest (RF) and Neural Network (NN), were employed to predict the velocity-time curve, focusing on the acceleration phase of the sprint. The models were evaluated against the traditional exponential speed model using Mean Squared Error (MSE), with the NN model demonstrating superior performance. Additionally, the study explored the correlation between maximum velocity, the time of maximum velocity occurrence, the duration of the maximum speed phase, and the overall 100m sprint time. The findings indicate a strong negative correlation between maximum velocity and final time, offering new insights into the dynamics of sprinting performance. This research contributes significantly to the field of sports science, particularly in optimizing training and performance analysis in sprinting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, researchers have proven the effectiveness and speediness of machine learning-based cancer diagnosis models. However, it is difficult to explain the results generated by machine learning models, especially ones that utilized complex high-dimensional data like RNA sequencing data. In this study, we propose the binarilization technique as a novel way to treat RNA sequencing data and used it to construct explainable cancer prediction models. We tested our proposed data processing technique on five different models, namely neural network, random forest, xgboost, support vector machine, and decision tree, using four cancer datasets collected from the National Cancer Institute Genomic Data Commons. Since our datasets are imbalanced, we evaluated the performance of all models using metrics designed for imbalance performance like geometric mean, Matthews correlation coefficient, F-Measure, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. Our approach showed comparative performance while relying on less features. Additionally, we demonstrated that data binarilization offers higher explainability by revealing how each feature affects the prediction. These results demonstrate the potential of data binarilization technique in improving the performance and explainability of RNA sequencing based cancer prediction models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Excitotoxicity represents the primary cause of neuronal death following spinal cord injury (SCI). While autophagy plays a critical and intricate role in SCI, the specific mechanism underlying the relationship between excitotoxicity and autophagy in SCI has been largely overlooked. In this study, we isolated primary spinal cord neurons from neonatal rats and induced excitotoxic neuronal injury by high concentrations of glutamic acid, mimicking an excitotoxic injury model. Subsequently, we performed transcriptome sequencing. Leveraging machine learning algorithms, including weighted correlation network analysis (WGCNA), random forest analysis (RF), and least absolute shrinkage and selection operator analysis (LASSO), we conducted a comprehensive investigation into key genes associated with spinal cord neuron injury. We also utilized protein-protein interaction network (PPI) analysis to identify pivotal proteins regulating key gene expression and analyzed key genes from public datasets (GSE2599, GSE20907, GSE45006, and GSE174549). Our findings revealed that six genes—Anxa2, S100a10, Ccng1, Timp1, Hspb1, and Lgals3—were significantly upregulated not only in vitro in neurons subjected to excitotoxic injury but also in rats with subacute SCI. Furthermore, Hspb1 and Lgals3 were closely linked to neuronal autophagy induced by excitotoxicity. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of excitotoxicity and autophagy, offering potential targets and a theoretical foundation for SCI diagnosis and treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Suicide Crisis Syndrome (SCS) describes a suicidal mental state marked by entrapment, affective disturbance, loss of cognitive control, hyperarousal, and social withdrawal that has predictive capacity for near-term suicidal behavior. The Suicide Crisis Inventory-2 (SCI-2), a reliable clinical tool that assesses SCS, lacks a short form for use in clinical settings which we sought to address with statistical analysis. To address this need, a community sample of 10,357 participants responded to an anonymous survey after which predictive performance for suicidal ideation (SI) and SI with preparatory behavior (SI-P) was measured using logistic regression, random forest, and gradient boosting algorithms. Four-fold cross-validation was used to split the dataset in 1,000 iterations. We compared rankings to the SCI–Short Form to inform the short form of the SCI-2. Logistic regression performed best in every analysis. The SI results were used to build the SCI-2-Short Form (SCI-2-SF) utilizing the two top ranking items from each SCS criterion. SHAP analysis of the SCI-2 resulted in meaningful rankings of its items. The SCI-2-SF, derived from these rankings, will be tested for predictive validity and utility in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To establish whether or not a natural language processing technique could identify two common inpatient neurosurgical comorbidities using only text reports of inpatient head imaging. Materials and methods: A training and testing dataset of reports of 979 CT or MRI scans of the brain for patients admitted to the neurosurgery service of a single hospital in June 2021 or to the Emergency Department between July 1–8, 2021, was identified. A variety of machine learning and deep learning algorithms utilizing natural language processing were trained on the training set (84% of the total cohort) and tested on the remaining images. A subset comparison cohort (n = 76) was then assessed to compare output of the best algorithm against real-life inpatient documentation. Results: For "brain compression", a random forest classifier outperformed other candidate algorithms with an accuracy of 0.81 and area under the curve of 0.90 in the testing dataset. For "brain edema", a random forest classifier again outperformed other candidate algorithms with an accuracy of 0.92 and AUC of 0.94 in the testing dataset. In the provider comparison dataset, for "brain compression," the random forest algorithm demonstrated better accuracy (0.76 vs 0.70) and sensitivity (0.73 vs 0.43) than provider documentation. For "brain edema," the algorithm again demonstrated better accuracy (0.92 vs 0.84) and AUC (0.45 vs 0.09) than provider documentation. Discussion: A natural language processing-based machine learning algorithm can reliably and reproducibly identify selected common neurosurgical comorbidities from radiology reports. Conclusion: This result may justify the use of machine learning-based decision support to augment provider documentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to use machine learning methods to examine the causative factors of significant crashes, focusing on accident type and driver's age. In this study, a wide-ranging data set from Jeddah city is employed to look into various factors, such as whether the driver was male or female, where the vehicle was situated, the prevailing weather conditions, and the efficiency of four machine learning algorithms, specifically XGBoost, Catboost, LightGBM and RandomForest. The results show that the XGBoost Model (accuracy of 95.4%), the CatBoost model (94% accuracy), and the LightGBM model (94.9% accuracy) were superior to the random forest model with 89.1% accuracy. It is worth noting that the LightGBM had the highest accuracy of all models. This shows various subtle changes in models, illustrating the need for more analyses while assessing vehicle accidents. Machine learning is also a transforming tool in traffic safety analysis while providing vital guidelines for developing accurate traffic safety regulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The global evolution of pre-hospital care systems faces dynamic challenges, particularly in multinational settings. Machine learning (ML) techniques enable the exploration of deeply embedded data patterns for improved patient care and resource optimisation. This study's objective was to accurately predict cases that necessitated transportation versus those that did not, using ML techniques, thereby facilitating efficient resource allocation. Methods: ML algorithms were utilised to predict patient transport decisions in a Middle Eastern national pre-hospital emergency medical care provider. A comprehensive dataset comprising 93,712 emergency calls from the 999-call centre was analysed using R programming language. Demographic and clinical variables were incorporated to enhance predictive accuracy. Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), and Adaptive Boosting (AdaBoost) algorithms were trained and validated. Results: All the trained algorithm models, particularly XGBoost (Accuracy = 83.1%), correctly predicted patients' transportation decisions. Further, they indicated statistically significant patterns that could be leveraged for targeted resource deployment. Moreover, the specificity rates were high; 97.96% in RF and 95.39% in XGBoost, minimising the incidence of incorrectly identified "Transported" cases (False Positive). Conclusion: The study identified the transformative potential of ML algorithms in enhancing the quality of pre-hospital care in Qatar. The high predictive accuracy of the employed models suggested actionable avenues for day and time-specific resource planning and patient triaging, thereby having potential to contribute to pre-hospital quality, safety, and value improvement. These findings pave the way for more nuanced, data-driven quality improvement interventions with significant implications for future operational strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-throughput phenotyping brings new opportunities for detailed genebank accessions characterization based on image-processing techniques and data analysis using machine learning algorithms. Our work proposes to improve the characterization processes of bean and peanut accessions in the CIAT genebank through the identification of phenomic descriptors comparable to classical descriptors including methodology integration into the genebank workflow. To cope with these goals morphometrics and colorimetry traits of 14 bean and 16 forage peanut accessions were determined and compared to the classical International Board for Plant Genetic Resources (IBPGR) descriptors. Descriptors discriminating most accessions were identified using a random forest algorithm. The most-valuable classification descriptors for peanuts were 100-seed weight and days to flowering, and for beans, days to flowering and primary seed color. The combination of phenomic and classical descriptors increased the accuracy of the classification of Phaseolus and Arachis accessions. Functional diversity indices are recommended to genebank curators to evaluate phenotypic variability to identify accessions with unique traits or identify accessions that represent the greatest phenotypic variation of the species (functional agrobiodiversity collections). The artificial intelligence algorithms are capable of characterizing accessions which reduces costs generated by additional phenotyping. Even though deep analysis of data requires new skills, associating genetic, morphological and ecogeographic diversity is giving us an opportunity to establish unique functional agrobiodiversity collections with new potential traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After adopting a combined approach of data-driven methods and machine learning, the prediction of material performance and the optimization of composition design can significantly reduce the development time of materials at a lower cost. In this research, we employed four machine learning algorithms, including linear regression, ridge regression, support vector regression, and backpropagation neural networks, to develop predictive models for the electrical performance data of titanium alloys. Our focus was on two key objectives: resistivity and the temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR). Subsequently, leveraging the results of feature selection, we conducted an analysis to discern the impact of alloying elements on these two electrical properties.The prediction results indicate that for the resistivity data prediction task, the radial basis function kernel-based support vector machine model performs the best, with a correlation coefficient above 0.995 and a percentage error within 2%, demonstrating high predictive capability. For the TCR data prediction task, the best-performing model is a backpropagation neural network with two hidden layers, also with a correlation coefficient above 0.995 and a percentage error within 3%, demonstrating good generalization ability. The feature selection results using random forest and Xgboost indicate that Al and Zr have a significant positive effect on resistivity, while Al, Zr, and V have a significant negative effect on TCR. The conclusion of the composition optimization design suggests that to achieve both high resistivity and TCR, it is recommended to set the Al content in the range of 1.5% to 2% and the Zr content in the range of 2.5% to 3%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many individual studies in the literature observed the superiority of tree-based machine learning (ML) algorithms. However, the current body of literature lacks statistical validation of this superiority. This study addresses this gap by employing five ML algorithms on 200 open-access datasets from a wide range of research contexts to statistically confirm the superiority of tree-based ML algorithms over their counterparts. Specifically, it examines two tree-based ML (Decision tree and Random forest) and three non-tree-based ML (Support vector machine, Logistic regression and k-nearest neighbour) algorithms. Results from paired-sample t-tests show that both tree-based ML algorithms reveal better performance than each non-tree-based ML algorithm for the four ML performance measures (accuracy, precision, recall and F1 score) considered in this study, each at p<0.001 significance level. This performance superiority is consistent across both the model development and test phases. This study also used paired-sample t-tests for the subsets of the research datasets from disease prediction (66) and university-ranking (50) research contexts for further validation. The observed superiority of the tree-based ML algorithms remains valid for these subsets. Tree-based ML algorithms significantly outperformed non-tree-based algorithms for these two research contexts for all four performance measures. We discuss the research implications of these findings in detail in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To explore the feasibility and validity of machine learning models in determining causality in medical malpractice cases and to try to increase the scientificity and reliability of identification opinions. Methods: We collected 13,245 written judgments from PKULAW.COM, a public database. 963 cases were included after the initial screening. 21 medical and ten patient factors were selected as characteristic variables by summarising previous literature and cases. Random Forest, eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) and Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM) were used to establish prediction models of causality for the two data sets, respectively. Finally, the optimal model is obtained by hyperparameter tuning of the six models. Results: We built three real data set models and three virtual data set models by three algorithms, and their confusion matrices differed. XGBoost performed best in the real data set, with a model accuracy of 66%. In the virtual data set, the performance of XGBoost and LightGBM was basically the same, and the model accuracy rate was 80%. The overall accuracy of external verification was 72.7%. Conclusions: The optimal model of this study is expected to predict the causality accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) stands as the most prevalent upper extremity entrapment neuropathy, with a multifaceted etiology encompassing various risk factors. This study aimed to investigate whether anthropometric measurements of the hand, grip strength, and pinch strength could serve as predictive indicators for CTS through machine learning techniques. Methods: Enrollment encompassed patients exhibiting CTS symptoms (n = 56) and asymptomatic healthy controls (n = 56), with confirmation via electrophysiological assessments. Anthropometric measurements of the hand were obtained using a digital caliper, grip strength was gauged via a digital handgrip dynamometer, and pinch strengths were assessed using a pinchmeter. A comprehensive analysis was conducted employing four most common and effective machine learning algorithms, integrating thorough parameter tuning and cross-validation procedures. Additionally, the outcomes of variable importance were presented. Results: Among the diverse algorithms, Random Forests (accuracy of 89.474%, F1-score of 0.905, and kappa value of 0.789) and XGBoost (accuracy of 86.842%, F1-score of 0.878, and kappa value of 0.736) emerged as the top-performing choices based on distinct classification metrics. In addition, using variable importance calculations specific to these models, the most important variables were found to be wrist circumference, hand width, hand grip strength, tip pinch, key pinch, and middle finger length. Conclusion: The findings of this study demonstrated that wrist circumference, hand width, hand grip strength, tip pinch, key pinch, and middle finger length can be utilized as reliable indicators of CTS. Also, the model developed herein, along with the identified crucial variables, could serve as an informative guide for healthcare professionals, enhancing precision and efficacy in CTS prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arid zone grassland is a crucial component of terrestrial ecosystems and plays a significant role in ecosystem protection and soil erosion prevention. However, accurately mapping grassland spatial information in arid zones presents a great challenge. The accuracy of remote sensing grassland mapping in arid zones is affected by spectral variability caused by the highly diverse landscapes. In this study, we explored the potential of a rectangular tile classification model, constructed using the random forest algorithm and integrated images from Sentinel-1A (synthetic aperture radar imagery) and Sentinel-2 (optical imagery), to enhance the accuracy of grassland mapping in the semiarid to arid regions of Ordos, China. Monthly Sentinel-1A median value images were synthesised, and four MODIS vegetation index mean value curves (NDVI, MSAVI, NDWI and NDBI) were used to determine the optimal synthesis time window for Sentinel-2 images. Seven experimental groups, including 14 experimental schemes based on the rectangular tile classification model and the traditional global classification model, were designed. By applying the rectangular tile classification model and Sentinel-integrated images, we successfully identified and extracted grasslands. The results showed the integration of vegetation index features and texture features improved the accuracy of grassland mapping. The overall accuracy of the Sentinel-integrated images from EXP7-2 was 88.23%, which was higher than the accuracy of the single sensor Sentinel-1A (53.52%) in EXP2-2 and Sentinel-2 (86.53%) in EXP5-2. In all seven experimental groups, the rectangular tile classification model was found to improve overall accuracy (OA) by 1.20% to 13.99% compared to the traditional global classification model. This paper presents novel perspectives and guidance for improving the accuracy of remote sensing mapping for land cover classification in arid zones with highly diverse landscapes. The study presents a flexible and scalable model within the Google Earth Engine framework, which can be readily customized and implemented in various geographical locations and time periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detecting epistatic drivers of human phenotypes is a considerable challenge. Traditional approaches use regression to sequentially test multiplicative interaction terms involving pairs of genetic variants. For higher-order interactions and genome-wide large-scale data, this strategy is computationally intractable. Moreover, multiplicative terms used in regression modeling may not capture the form of biological interactions. Building on the Predictability, Computability, Stability (PCS) framework, we introduce the epiTree pipeline to extract higher-order interactions from genomic data using tree-based models. The epiTree pipeline first selects a set of variants derived from tissue-specific estimates of gene expression. Next, it uses iterative random forests (iRF) to search training data for candidate Boolean interactions (pairwise and higher-order). We derive significance tests for interactions, based on a stabilized likelihood ratio test, by simulating Boolean tree-structured null (no epistasis) and alternative (epistasis) distributions on hold-out test data. Finally, our pipeline computes PCS epistasis p-values that probabilisticly quantify improvement in prediction accuracy via bootstrap sampling on the test set. We validate the epiTree pipeline in two case studies using data from the UK Biobank: predicting red hair and multiple sclerosis (MS). In the case of predicting red hair, epiTree recovers known epistatic interactions surrounding MC1R and novel interactions, representing non-linearities not captured by logistic regression models. In the case of predicting MS, a more complex phenotype than red hair, epiTree rankings prioritize novel interactions surrounding HLA-DRB1, a variant previously associated with MS in several populations. Taken together, these results highlight the potential for epiTree rankings to help reduce the design space for follow up experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Atherosclerosis (AS) is a primary contributor to cardiovascular disease, leading to significant global mortality rates. Developing effective diagnostic indicators and models for AS holds the potential to substantially reduce the fatalities and disabilities associated with cardiovascular disease. Blood sample analysis has emerged as a promising avenue for facilitating diagnosis and assessing disease prognosis. Nonetheless, it lacks an accurate model or tool for AS diagnosis. Hence, the principal objective of this study is to develop a convenient, simple, and accurate model for the early detection of AS. Methods: We downloaded the expression data of blood samples from GEO databases. By dividing the mean values of housekeeping genes (meanHGs) and applying the comBat function, we aimed to reduce the batch effect. After separating the datasets into training, evaluation, and testing sets, we applied differential expression analyses (DEA) between AS and control samples from the training dataset. Then, a gradient-boosting model was used to evaluate the importance of genes and identify the hub genes. Using different machine learning algorithms, we constructed a prediction model with the highest accuracy in the testing dataset. Finally, we make the machine learning models publicly accessible by shiny app construction. Results: Seven datasets (GSE9874, GSE12288, GSE20129, GSE23746, GSE27034, GSE90074, and GSE202625), including 403 samples with AS and 325 healthy subjects, were obtained by comprehensive searching and filtering by specific requirements. The batch effect was successfully removed by dividing the meanHGs and applying the comBat function. 331 genes were found to be related to atherosclerosis by the DEA analysis between AS and health samples. The top 6 genes with the highest importance values from the gradient boosting model were identified. Out of the seven machine learning algorithms tested, the random forest model exhibited the most impressive performance in the testing datasets, achieving an accuracy exceeding 0.8. While the batch effect reduction analysis in our study could have contributed to the increased accuracy values, our comparison results further highlight the superiority of our model over the genes provided in published studies. This underscores the effectiveness of our approach in delivering superior predictive performance. The machine-learning models were then uploaded to the Shiny app's server, making it easy for users to distinguish AS samples from normal samples. Conclusions: A prognostic Shiny application, built upon six potential atherosclerosis-associated genes, has been developed, offering an accurate diagnosis of atherosclerosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Software development effort estimation (SDEE) is recognized as vital activity for effective project management since under or over estimating can lead to unsuccessful utilization of project resources. Machine learning (ML) algorithms are largely contributing in SDEE domain, particularly ensemble effort estimation (EEE) works well in rectifying bias and subjectivity to solo ML learners. Performance of EEE significantly depends on hyperparameter composition as well as weight assignment mechanism of solo learners. However, in EEE domain, impact of optimization in terms of hyperparameter tunning as well as weight assignment is explored by few researchers. This study aims in improving SDEE performance by incorporating metaheuristic hyperparameter and weight optimization in EEE, which enables accuracy and diversity to the ensemble model. The study proposed Metaheuristic-optimized Multi-dimensional bagging scheme and Weighted Ensemble (MoMdbWE) approach. This is achieved by proposed search space division and hyperparameter optimization method named as Multi-dimensional bagging (Mdb). Metaheuristic algorithm considered for this work is Firefly algorithm (FFA), to get best hyperparameters of three base ML algorithms (Random Forest, Support vector machine and Deep Neural network) since FFA has shown promising results of fitness in terms of MAE. Further enhancement in performance is achieved by incorporating FFA-based weight optimization to construct Metaheuristic-optimized weighted ensemble (MoWE) of individual multi-dimensional bagging schemes. Proposed scheme is implemented on eight frequently utilized effort estimation datasets and results are evaluated by 5 error metrices (MAE, RMSE, MMRE, MdMRE, Pred), standard accuracy and effect size along with Wilcox statistical test. Findings confirmed that the use of FFA optimization for hyperparameter (with search space sub-division) and for ensemble weights, has significantly enhanced performance in comparison with individual base algorithms as well as other homogeneous and heterogenous EEE techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sign language recognition presents significant challenges due to the intricate nature of hand gestures and the necessity to capture fine-grained details. In response to these challenges, a novel approach is proposed—Lightweight Attentive VGG16 with Random Forest (LAVRF) model. LAVRF introduces a refined adaptation of the VGG16 model integrated with attention modules, complemented by a Random Forest classifier. By streamlining the VGG16 architecture, the Lightweight Attentive VGG16 effectively manages complexity while incorporating attention mechanisms that dynamically concentrate on pertinent regions within input images, resulting in enhanced representation learning. Leveraging the Random Forest classifier provides notable benefits, including proficient handling of high-dimensional feature representations, reduction of variance and overfitting concerns, and resilience against noisy and incomplete data. Additionally, the model performance is further optimized through hyperparameter optimization, utilizing the Optuna in conjunction with hill climbing, which efficiently explores the hyperparameter space to discover optimal configurations. The proposed LAVRF model demonstrates outstanding accuracy on three datasets, achieving remarkable results of 99.98%, 99.90%, and 100% on the American Sign Language, American Sign Language with Digits, and NUS Hand Posture datasets, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text describes improvements made to the random forest model to enhance its distinctiveness in addressing tax risks within the real estate industry, thereby tackling issues related to tax losses. Firstly, the paper introduces the potential application of the random forest model in identifying tax risks. Subsequently, the experimental analysis focuses on the selection of indicators for tax risk. Finally, the paper develops and utilizes actual taxpayer data to test a risk identification model, confirming its effectiveness. The experimental results indicate that the model's output report includes basic taxpayer information, a summary of tax compliance risks, value-added tax refund situations, directions of suspicious items, and detailed information on common indicators. This paper comprehensively presents detailed taxpayer data, providing an intuitive understanding of tax-related risks. Additionally, the paper reveals the level of enterprise risk registration assessment, risk probability, risk value, and risk assessment ranking. Further analysis shows that enterprise risk points primarily exist in operating income, selling expenses, financial expenses, and total profit. Additionally, the results indicate significant differences between the model's judgment values and declared values, especially in the high-risk probability of total operating income and profit. This implies a significant underreporting issue concerning corporate income tax for real estate enterprises. Therefore, this paper contributes to enhancing the identification of tax risks for real estate enterprises. Using the optimized random forest model makes it possible to accurately assess enterprises' tax compliance risks and identify specific risk points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Skin cancer is one of the most fatal skin lesions, capable of leading to fatality if not detected in its early stages. The characteristics of skin lesions are similar in many of the early stages of skin lesions. The AI in categorizing diverse types of skin lesions significantly contributes to and helps dermatologists to preserve patients' lives. This study introduces a novel approach that capitalizes on the strengths of hybrid systems of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) models to extract intricate features from dermoscopy images with Random Forest (Rf) and Feed Forward Neural Networks (FFNN) networks, leading to the development of hybrid systems that have superior capabilities early detection of all types of skin lesions. By integrating multiple CNN features, the proposed methods aim to improve the robustness and discriminatory capabilities of the AI system. The dermoscopy images were optimized for the ISIC2019 dataset. Then, the area of the lesions was segmented and isolated from the rest of the image by a Gradient Vector Flow (GVF) algorithm. The first strategy for dermoscopy image analysis for early diagnosis of skin lesions is by the CNN-RF and CNN-FFNN hybrid models. CNN models (DenseNet121, MobileNet, and VGG19) receive a region of interest (skin lesions) and produce highly representative feature maps for each lesion. The second strategy to analyze the area of skin lesions and diagnose their type by means of CNN-RF and CNN-FFNN hybrid models based on the features of the combined CNN models. Hybrid models based on combined CNN features have achieved promising results for diagnosing dermoscopy images of the ISIC 2019 dataset and distinguishing skin cancers from other skin lesions. The Dense-Net121-MobileNet-RF hybrid model achieved an AUC of 95.7%, an accuracy of 97.7%, a precision of 93.65%, a sensitivity of 91.93%, and a specificity of 99.49%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]