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One of the major difficulties in machine learning methods is categorizing datasets that are imbalanced. This problem may lead to biased models, where the training process is dominated by the majority class, resulting in inadequate representation of the minority class. Universum twin support vector machine (UTSVM) produces a biased model towards the majority class, as a result, its performance on the minority class is often poor as it might be mistakenly classified as noise. Moreover, UTSVM is not proficient in handling datasets that contain outliers and noises. Inspired by the concept of incorporating prior information about the data and employing an intuitionistic fuzzy membership scheme, we propose intuitionistic fuzzy universum twin support vector machines for imbalanced data (IFUTSVM-ID). We use an intuitionistic fuzzy membership scheme to mitigate the impact of noise and outliers. Moreover, to tackle the problem of imbalanced class distribution, data oversampling and undersampling methods are utilized. Prior knowledge about the data is provided by universum data. This leads to better generalization performance. UTSVM is susceptible to overfitting risks due to the omission of the structural risk minimization (SRM) principle in their primal formulations. However, the proposed IFUTSVM-ID model incorporates the SRM principle through the incorporation of regularization terms, effectively addressing the issue of overfitting. We conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the proposed IFUTSVM-ID model on benchmark datasets from KEEL and compare it with existing baseline models. Furthermore, to assess the effectiveness of the proposed IFUTSVM-ID model in diagnosing Alzheimer's disease (AD), we applied them to the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) dataset. Experimental results showcase the superiority of the proposed IFUTSVM-ID models compared to the baseline models.

In the domain of machine learning, least square twin support vector machine (LSTSVM) stands out as one of the state-of-the-art models. However, LSTSVM suffers from sensitivity to noise and outliers, overlooking the SRM principle and instability in resampling. Moreover, its computational complexity and reliance on matrix inversions hinder the efficient processing of large datasets. As a remedy to the aforementioned challenges, we propose the robust granular ball LSTSVM (GBLSTSVM). GBLSTSVM is trained using granular balls instead of original data points. The core of a granular ball is found at its center, where it encapsulates all the pertinent information of the data points within the ball of specified radius. To improve scalability and efficiency, we further introduce the large-scale GBLSTSVM (LS-GBLSTSVM), which incorporates the SRM principle through regularization terms. Experiments are performed on UCI, KEEL, and NDC benchmark datasets; both the proposed GBLSTSVM and LS-GBLSTSVM models consistently outperform the baseline models.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a leading neurodegenerative condition and the primary cause of dementia, characterized by progressive cognitive decline and memory loss. Its progression, marked by shrinkage in the cerebral cortex, is irreversible. Numerous machine learning algorithms have been proposed for the early diagnosis of AD. However, they often struggle with the issues of noise, outliers, and class imbalance. To tackle the aforementioned limitations, in this article, we introduce a novel, robust, and flexible membership scheme called Flexi-Fuzz. This scheme integrates a novel flexible weighting mechanism, class probability, and imbalance ratio. The proposed flexible weighting mechanism assigns the maximum weight to samples within a specific proximity to the center, with a gradual decrease in weight beyond a certain threshold. This approach ensures that samples near the class boundary still receive significant weight, maintaining their influence in the classification process. Class probability is used to mitigate the impact of noisy samples, while the imbalance ratio addresses class imbalance. Leveraging this, we incorporate the proposed Flexi-Fuzz membership scheme into the least squares support vector machines (LSSVM) framework, resulting in a robust and flexible model termed Flexi-Fuzz-LSSVM. We determine the class-center using two methods: the conventional mean approach and an innovative median approach, leading to two model variants, Flexi-Fuzz-LSSVM-I and Flexi-Fuzz-LSSVM-II. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed Flexi-Fuzz-LSSVM models, we evaluated them on benchmark UCI and KEEL datasets, both with and without label noise. Additionally, we tested the models on the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) dataset for AD diagnosis. Experimental results demonstrate the superiority of the Flexi-Fuzz-LSSVM models over baseline models.

In this paper, we propose enhanced feature based granular ball twin support vector machine (EF-GBTSVM). EF-GBTSVM employs the coarse granularity of granular balls (GBs) as input rather than individual data samples. The GBs are mapped to the feature space of the hidden layer using random projection followed by the utilization of a non-linear activation function. The concatenation of original and hidden features derived from the centers of GBs gives rise to an enhanced feature space, commonly referred to as the random vector functional link (RVFL) space. This space encapsulates nuanced feature information to GBs. Further, we employ twin support vector machine (TSVM) in the RVFL space for classification. TSVM generates the two non-parallel hyperplanes in the enhanced feature space, which improves the generalization performance of the proposed EF-GBTSVM model. Moreover, the coarser granularity of the GBs enables the proposed EF-GBTSVM model to exhibit robustness to resampling, showcasing reduced susceptibility to the impact of noise and outliers. We undertake a thorough evaluation of the proposed EF-GBTSVM model on benchmark UCI and KEEL datasets. This evaluation encompasses scenarios with and without the inclusion of label noise. Moreover, experiments using NDC datasets further emphasize the proposed model's ability to handle large datasets. Experimental results, supported by thorough statistical analyses, demonstrate that the proposed EF-GBTSVM model significantly outperforms the baseline models in terms of generalization capabilities, scalability, and robustness. The source code for the proposed EF-GBTSVM model, along with additional results and further details, can be accessed at https://github.com/mtanveer1/EF-GBTSVM.

We study extreme events in a finite-size 2D Abelian sandpile model, specifically focusing on avalanche area and size. Employing the approach of Block Maxima, the study numerically reveals that the rescaled distributions for the largest avalanche size and area converge into the Gumbel and Weibull family of Generalized Extreme Value (GEV) distributions respectively. Numerically, we propose scaling functions for extreme avalanche activities that connect the activities on different length scales. With the help of data collapse, we estimate the precise values of these scaling exponents. The scaling function provides an understanding of the intricate dynamics within the sandpile model, shedding light on the relationship between system size and extreme event characteristics. The findings presented in this paper give valuable insights into the extreme behaviour of the Abelian sandpile model and offer a framework to understand the statistical properties of extreme events in complex systems., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures

On Efficient and Scalable Computation of the Nonparametric Maximum Likelihood Estimator in Mixture ModelsTwin support vector machine (TSVM) is an emerging machine learning model with versatile applicability in classification and regression endeavors. Nevertheless, TSVM confronts noteworthy challenges: $(i)$ the imperative demand for matrix inversions presents formidable obstacles to its efficiency and applicability on large-scale datasets; $(ii)$ the omission of the structural risk minimization (SRM) principle in its primal formulation heightens the vulnerability to overfitting risks; and $(iii)$ the TSVM exhibits a high susceptibility to noise and outliers, and also demonstrates instability when subjected to resampling. In view of the aforementioned challenges, we propose the granular ball twin support vector machine (GBTSVM). GBTSVM takes granular balls, rather than individual data points, as inputs to construct a classifier. These granular balls, characterized by their coarser granularity, exhibit robustness to resampling and reduced susceptibility to the impact of noise and outliers. We further propose a novel large-scale granular ball twin support vector machine (LS-GBTSVM). LS-GBTSVM's optimization formulation ensures two critical facets: $(i)$ it eliminates the need for matrix inversions, streamlining the LS-GBTSVM's computational efficiency, and $(ii)$ it incorporates the SRM principle through the incorporation of regularization terms, effectively addressing the issue of overfitting. The proposed LS-GBTSVM exemplifies efficiency, scalability for large datasets, and robustness against noise and outliers. We conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the GBTSVM and LS-GBTSVM models on benchmark datasets from UCI, KEEL, and NDC datasets. Our experimental findings and statistical analyses affirm the superior generalization prowess of the proposed GBTSVM and LS-GBTSVM models., Comment: Manuscript submitted to IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON NEURAL NETWORKS AND LEARNING SYSTEMS: 19 September 2023; revised 13 February 2024 and 14 July 2024; accepted 05 October 2024

Ophthalmic diseases represent a significant global health issue, necessitating the use of advanced precise diagnostic tools. Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) imagery which offers high-resolution cross-sectional images of the retina has become a pivotal imaging modality in ophthalmology. Traditionally physicians have manually detected various diseases and biomarkers from such diagnostic imagery. In recent times, deep learning techniques have been extensively used for medical diagnostic tasks enabling fast and precise diagnosis. This paper presents a novel approach for ophthalmic biomarker detection using an ensemble of Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Vision Transformer. While CNNs are good for feature extraction within the local context of the image, transformers are known for their ability to extract features from the global context of the image. Using an ensemble of both techniques allows us to harness the best of both worlds. Our method has been implemented on the OLIVES dataset to detect 6 major biomarkers from the OCT images and shows significant improvement of the macro averaged F1 score on the dataset., Comment: 5 pages

The random vector functional link (RVFL) network is a prominent classification model with strong generalization ability. However, RVFL treats all samples uniformly, ignoring whether they are pure or noisy, and its scalability is limited due to the need for inverting the entire training matrix. To address these issues, we propose granular ball RVFL (GB-RVFL) model, which uses granular balls (GBs) as inputs instead of training samples. This approach enhances scalability by requiring only the inverse of the GB center matrix and improves robustness against noise and outliers through the coarse granularity of GBs. Furthermore, RVFL overlooks the dataset's geometric structure. To address this, we propose graph embedding GB-RVFL (GE-GB-RVFL) model, which fuses granular computing and graph embedding (GE) to preserve the topological structure of GBs. The proposed GB-RVFL and GE-GB-RVFL models are evaluated on KEEL, UCI, NDC and biomedical datasets, demonstrating superior performance compared to baseline models.

The classification performance of the random vector functional link (RVFL), a randomized neural network, has been widely acknowledged. However, due to its shallow learning nature, RVFL often fails to consider all the relevant information available in a dataset. Additionally, it overlooks the geometrical properties of the dataset. To address these limitations, a novel graph random vector functional link based on multi-view learning (GRVFL-MV) model is proposed. The proposed model is trained on multiple views, incorporating the concept of multiview learning (MVL), and it also incorporates the geometrical properties of all the views using the graph embedding (GE) framework. The fusion of RVFL networks, MVL, and GE framework enables our proposed model to achieve the following: i) efficient learning: by leveraging the topology of RVFL, our proposed model can efficiently capture nonlinear relationships within the multi-view data, facilitating efficient and accurate predictions; ii) comprehensive representation: fusing information from diverse perspectives enhance the proposed model's ability to capture complex patterns and relationships within the data, thereby improving the model's overall generalization performance; and iii) structural awareness: by employing the GE framework, our proposed model leverages the original data distribution of the dataset by naturally exploiting both intrinsic and penalty subspace learning criteria. The evaluation of the proposed GRVFL-MV model on various datasets, including 27 UCI and KEEL datasets, 50 datasets from Corel5k, and 45 datasets from AwA, demonstrates its superior performance compared to baseline models. These results highlight the enhanced generalization capabilities of the proposed GRVFL-MV model across a diverse range of datasets.

The identification of DNA-binding proteins (DBPs) is a critical task due to their significant impact on various biological activities. Understanding the mechanisms underlying protein-DNA interactions is essential for elucidating various life activities. In recent years, machine learning-based models have been prominently utilized for DBP prediction. In this paper, to predict DBPs, we propose a novel framework termed a multiview random vector functional link (MvRVFL) network, which fuses neural network architecture with multiview learning. The proposed MvRVFL model combines the benefits of late and early fusion, allowing for distinct regularization parameters across different views while leveraging a closed-form solution to determine unknown parameters efficiently. The primal objective function incorporates a coupling term aimed at minimizing a composite of errors stemming from all views. From each of the three protein views of the DBP datasets, we extract five features. These features are then fused together by incorporating a hidden feature during the model training process. The performance of the proposed MvRVFL model on the DBP dataset surpasses that of baseline models, demonstrating its superior effectiveness. Furthermore, we extend our assessment to the UCI, KEEL, AwA, and Corel5k datasets, to establish the practicality of the proposed models. The consistency error bound, the generalization error bound, and empirical findings, coupled with rigorous statistical analyses, confirm the superior generalization capabilities of the MvRVFL model compared to the baseline models.

Multiview learning (MvL) is an advancing domain in machine learning, leveraging multiple data perspectives to enhance model performance through view-consistency and view-discrepancy. Despite numerous successful multiview-based SVM models, existing frameworks predominantly focus on the consensus principle, often overlooking the complementarity principle. Furthermore, they exhibit limited robustness against noisy, error-prone, and view-inconsistent samples, prevalent in multiview datasets. To tackle the aforementioned limitations, this paper introduces Wave-MvSVM, a novel multiview support vector machine framework leveraging the wave loss (W-loss) function, specifically designed to harness both consensus and complementarity principles. Unlike traditional approaches that often overlook the complementary information among different views, the proposed Wave-MvSVM ensures a more comprehensive and resilient learning process by integrating both principles effectively. The W-loss function, characterized by its smoothness, asymmetry, and bounded nature, is particularly effective in mitigating the adverse effects of noisy and outlier data, thereby enhancing model stability. Theoretically, the W-loss function also exhibits a crucial classification-calibrated property, further boosting its effectiveness. Wave-MvSVM employs a between-view co-regularization term to enforce view consistency and utilizes an adaptive combination weight strategy to maximize the discriminative power of each view. The optimization problem is efficiently solved using a combination of GD and the ADMM, ensuring reliable convergence to optimal solutions. Theoretical analyses, grounded in Rademacher complexity, validate the generalization capabilities of the Wave-MvSVM model. Extensive empirical evaluations across diverse datasets demonstrate the superior performance of Wave-MvSVM in comparison to existing benchmark models.

The random vector functional link (RVFL) network is well-regarded for its strong generalization capabilities in the field of machine learning. However, its inherent dependencies on the square loss function make it susceptible to noise and outliers. Furthermore, the calculation of RVFL's unknown parameters necessitates matrix inversion of the entire training sample, which constrains its scalability. To address these challenges, we propose the Wave-RVFL, an RVFL model incorporating the wave loss function. We formulate and solve the proposed optimization problem of the Wave-RVFL using the adaptive moment estimation (Adam) algorithm in a way that successfully eliminates the requirement for matrix inversion and significantly enhances scalability. The Wave-RVFL exhibits robustness against noise and outliers by preventing over-penalization of deviations, thereby maintaining a balanced approach to managing noise and outliers. The proposed Wave-RVFL model is evaluated on multiple UCI datasets, both with and without the addition of noise and outliers, across various domains and sizes. Empirical results affirm the superior performance and robustness of the Wave-RVFL compared to baseline models, establishing it as a highly effective and scalable classification solution. The source codes and the Supplementary Material are available at https://github.com/mtanveer1/Wave-RVFL.

Multiview learning (MVL) seeks to leverage the benefits of diverse perspectives to complement each other, effectively extracting and utilizing the latent information within the dataset. Several twin support vector machine-based MVL (MvTSVM) models have been introduced and demonstrated outstanding performance in various learning tasks. However, MvTSVM-based models face significant challenges in the form of computational complexity due to four matrix inversions, the need to reformulate optimization problems in order to employ kernel-generated surfaces for handling non-linear cases, and the constraint of uniform noise assumption in the training data. Particularly in cases where the data possesses a heteroscedastic error structure, these challenges become even more pronounced. In view of the aforementioned challenges, we propose multiview twin parametric margin support vector machine (MvTPMSVM). MvTPMSVM constructs parametric margin hyperplanes corresponding to both classes, aiming to regulate and manage the impact of the heteroscedastic noise structure existing within the data. The proposed MvTPMSVM model avoids the explicit computation of matrix inversions in the dual formulation, leading to enhanced computational efficiency. We perform an extensive assessment of the MvTPMSVM model using benchmark datasets such as UCI, KEEL, synthetic, and Animals with Attributes (AwA). Our experimental results, coupled with rigorous statistical analyses, confirm the superior generalization capabilities of the proposed MvTPMSVM model compared to the baseline models. The source code of the proposed MvTPMSVM model is available at \url{https://github.com/mtanveer1/MvTPMSVM}.

Generalized eigenvalue proximal support vector machine (GEPSVM) has attracted widespread attention due to its simple architecture, rapid execution, and commendable performance. GEPSVM gives equal significance to all samples, thereby diminishing its robustness and efficacy when confronted with real-world datasets containing noise and outliers. In order to reduce the impact of noises and outliers, we propose a novel intuitionistic fuzzy generalized eigenvalue proximal support vector machine (IF-GEPSVM). The proposed IF-GEPSVM assigns the intuitionistic fuzzy score to each training sample based on its location and surroundings in the high-dimensional feature space by using a kernel function. The solution of the IF-GEPSVM optimization problem is obtained by solving a generalized eigenvalue problem. Further, we propose an intuitionistic fuzzy improved GEPSVM (IF-IGEPSVM) by solving the standard eigenvalue decomposition resulting in simpler optimization problems with less computation cost which leads to an efficient intuitionistic fuzzy-based model. We conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the proposed IF-GEPSVM and IF-IGEPSVM models on UCI and KEEL datasets. Moreover, to evaluate the robustness of the proposed IF-GEPSVM and IF-IGEPSVM models, label noise is introduced into some UCI and KEEL datasets. The experimental findings showcase the superior generalization performance of the proposed models when compared to the existing baseline models, both with and without label noise. Our experimental results, supported by rigorous statistical analyses, confirm the superior generalization abilities of the proposed IF-GEPSVM and IF-IGEPSVM models over the baseline models. Furthermore, we implement the proposed IF-GEPSVM and IF-IGEPSVM models on the USPS recognition dataset, yielding promising results that underscore the models' effectiveness in practical and real-world applications.

The development of tandem photovoltaics and photoelectrochemical solar cells requires new absorber materials with band gaps in the range of ~1.5-2.3 eV, for use in the top cell paired with a narrower-gap bottom cell. An outstanding challenge is finding materials with suitable optoelectronic and defect properties, good operational stability, and synthesis conditions that preserve underlying device layers. This study demonstrates the Zintl phosphide compound CaZn$_2$P$_2$ as a compelling candidate semiconductor for these applications. We prepare phase pure, 500 nm-thick CaZn$_2$P$_2$ thin films using a scalable reactive sputter deposition process at growth temperatures as low as 100 {\deg}C, which is desirable for device integration. UV-vis spectroscopy shows that CaZn$_2$P$_2$ films exhibit an optical absorptivity of ~10$^4$ cm$^-$$^1$ at ~1.95 eV direct band gap. Room-temperature photoluminescence (PL) measurements show near-band-edge optical emission, and time-resolved microwave conductivity (TRMC) measurements indicate a photoexcited carrier lifetime of ~30 ns. CaZn$_2$P$_2$ is highly stable in both ambient conditions and moisture, as evidenced by PL and TRMC measurements. Experimental data are supported by first-principles calculations, which indicate the absence of low-formation-energy, deep intrinsic defects. Overall, our study should motivate future work integrating this potential top cell absorber material into tandem solar cells.

Recent high-throughput computational searches have predicted many novel ternary nitride compounds providing new opportunities for materials discovery in under explored phase spaces. Nevertheless, there are hardly any predictions and/or syntheses that incorporate only transition metals into new ternary nitrides. Here, we report on the synthesis, structure, and properties of MnCoN$_2$, a new ternary nitride material comprising only transition metals and N. We find that crystalline MnCoN$_2$ can be stabilized over its competing binaries, and over a tendency of this system to become amorphous, by controlling growth temperature within a narrow window slightly above ambient condition. We find that single-phase MnCoN$_2$ thin films form in a cation-disordered rocksalt crystal structure, which is supported by ab-initio calculations. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis suggests that MnCoN$_2$ is sensitive to oxygen through various oxides and hydroxides binding to cobalt on the surface. X-ray absorption spectroscopy is used to verify that Mn$^{3+}$ and Co$^{3+}$ cations exist in an octahedrally-coordinated environment, which is distinct from a combination of CoN and MnN binaries and in agreement with the rocksalt-based crystal structure prediction. Magnetic measurements suggest that MnCoN$_2$ has a canted antiferromagnetic ground state below 10 K. We extract a Weiss temperature of $\theta$ = -49.7 K, highlighting the antiferromagnetic correlations in MnCoN$_2$.

Thin-film photovoltaics offers a path to significantly decarbonize our energy production. Unfortunately, current materials commercialized or under development as thin-film solar cell absorbers are far from optimal as they show either low power conversion efficiency or issues with earth-abundance and stability. Entirely new and disruptive materials platforms are rarely discovered as the search for new solar absorbers is traditionally slow and serendipitous. Here, we use first principles high-throughput screening to accelerate this process. We identify new solar absorbers among known inorganic compounds using considerations on band gap, carrier transport, optical absorption but also on intrinsic defects which can strongly limit the carrier lifetime and ultimately the solar cell efficiency. Screening about 40,000 materials, we discover the Zintl-phosphide BaCd$_{2}$P$_{2}$ as a potential high-efficiency solar absorber. Follow-up experimental work confirms the predicted promises of BaCd$_{2}$P$_{2}$ highlighting an optimal band gap for visible absorption, bright photoluminescence, and long carrier lifetime of up to 30 ns even for unoptimized powder samples. Importantly, BaCd$_{2}$P$_{2}$ does not contain any critical elements and is highly stable in air and water. Our work opens an avenue for a new family of stable, earth-abundant, high-performance Zintl-based solar absorbers. It also demonstrates how recent advances in first principles computation can accelerate the search of photovoltaic materials by combining high-throughput screening with experiment.

We consider a neuronal levels model that exhibits critical avalanches satisfying power-law distribution. The model has recently explained a change in the scaling exponent from 3/2 to 5/4, accounting for a change in the drive condition from no input to moderate strength, along with a relaxed separation of time-scale between drive and dissipation. To understand the robustness of the scaling features, we examine the effect of different noisy stimuli in the moderate input regime. Our tool of analysis is the scaling method. We compute scaling functions associated with the avalanche size distribution, revealing striking finite-size scaling. For a class of noisy drives, we find that the scaling exponent can take a value different from 5/4, with an explicit system size dependence of the distribution., Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures