Towards Automatic Motivator Selection for Autism Behavior Intervention Therapy

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) usually show little interest in academic activities and may display disruptive behavior when presented with assignments. Research indicates that incorporating motivational variables during interventions results in improvements in behavior and academic performance. However, the impact of such motivational variables varies between children. In this paper, we aim to solve the problem of selecting the right motivator for children with ASD using Reinforcement Learning by adapting to the most influential factors impacting the effectiveness of the contingent motivator used. We model the task of selecting a motivator as a Markov Decision Process problem. The states, actions and rewards design consider the factors that impact the effectiveness of a motivator based on Applied Behavior Analysis as well as learners’ individual preferences. We use a Q-Learning algorithm to solve the modelled problem. Our proposed solution is then implemented as a mobile application developed for special education plans coordination. To evaluate the motivator selection feature, we conduct a study involving a group of teachers and therapists and assess how the added feature aids the participants in their decision-making process of selecting a motivator. Preliminary results indicated that the motivator selection feature improved the usability of the mobile app. Analysis of the algorithm performance showed promising results and indicated improvement of the recommendations over time.

Performance Evaluation of Selected Encryption Algorithms

Data security is a key aspect of today’s communication trend and growth. Various mechanisms have been developed to achieve this security. One is cryptography, which represents a most effective method of enhancing security and confidentiality of data. In this work, a hybrid based 136bit key algorithm involving a sequential combination of XOR (Exclusive –Or) encryption and AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) algorithm to enhance the security strength is developed. The hybrid algorithm performance is matched with XOR encryption and AES algorithm using encryption and decryption time, throughput of encryption, space complexity and CPU process time.

Comparison of the Performance of Machine Learning Algorithms in Predicting Heart Disease

Introduction: Heart disease is often associated with conditions such as clogged arteries due to the sediment accumulation which causes chest pain and heart attack. Many people die due to the heart disease annually. Most countries have a shortage of cardiovascular specialists and thus, a significant percentage of misdiagnosis occurs. Hence, predicting this disease is a serious issue. Using machine learning models performed on multidimensional dataset, this article aims to find the most efficient and accurate machine learning models for disease prediction.Material and Methods: Several algorithms were utilized to predict heart disease among which Decision Tree, Random Forest and KNN supervised machine learning are highly mentioned. The algorithms are applied to the dataset taken from the UCI repository including 294 samples. The dataset includes heart disease features. To enhance the algorithm performance, these features are analyzed, the feature importance scores and cross validation are considered.Results: The algorithm performance is compared with each other, so that performance based on ROC curve and some criteria such as accuracy, precision, sensitivity and F1 score were evaluated for each model. As a result of evaluation, Accuracy, AUC ROC are 83% and 99% respectively for Decision Tree algorithm. Logistic Regression algorithm with accuracy and AUC ROC are 88% and 91% respectively has better performance than other algorithms. Therefore, these techniques can be useful for physicians to predict heart disease patients and prescribe them correctly.Conclusion: Machine learning technique can be used in medicine for analyzing the related data collections to a disease and its prediction. The area under the ROC curve and evaluating criteria related to a number of classifying algorithms of machine learning to evaluate heart disease and indeed, the prediction of heart disease is compared to determine the most appropriate classification. As a result of evaluation, better performance was observed in both Decision Tree and Logistic Regression models.

Using Particle Swarm Optimization as Pathfinding Strategy in a Space with Obstacles

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a search algorithm based on stochastic and population-based adaptive optimization. In this paper, a pathfinding strategy is proposed to improve the efficiency of path planning for a broad range of applications. This study aims to investigate the effect of PSO parameters (numbers of particle, weight constant, particle constant, and global constant) on algorithm performance to give solution paths. Increasing the PSO parameters makes the swarm move faster to the target point but takes a long time to converge because of too many random movements, and vice versa. From a variety of simulations with different parameters, the PSO algorithm is proven to be able to provide a solution path in a space with obstacles.

A Novel QT Interval Analysis Method Based On Continuous Wavelet Transform and Philips Algorithm

QT surveillance is the most vital appliance to detect the possibility of sudden death sourced by using pro-arrhythmic drugs treating abnormal conditions in the heart. The repolarization of ventricles makes QT interval surveillance difficult since noisy conditions and individual cardiac situations. Besides, an automated QT algorithm is crucial due to a manual QT measurement with some disadvantages such as fatigue condition in reading long records. In this study, a fully novel automated method combining Continuous Wavelet Transform and Philips method was established to perform QT interval analysis. ECG recordings were obtained from PhyisoNet database marked by manual and standard automated methods. The proposed algorithm had scores of 15.46 and 11.87 millisecond mean error with 11.85 and 9.91 millisecond standard deviation in terms of gold and silver standards, respectively. Also, the entire QT database was utilized in order to test the algorithm performance with the score of 12.89 and 9.76 millisecond mean and standard deviation errors, respectively. The present algorithm performance had scores of -0.21±7.81 at golden standard, and -4.10±18.21 millisecond error for the whole QT database tests, respectively. The proposed algorithm is attained to more stable and robust results with a higher performance than the previous comparable studies.

Comparing Methods for Measuring Walkability

Walkability analyses have gained increased attention for economic, environmental and health reasons, but the methods for assessing walkability have yet to be broadly evaluated. In this paper, five methods for calculating walkability scores are described: in-radius, circle buffers, road network node buffers, road network edge buffers and a fully integrated network approach. Unweighted and various weighted versions are analyzed to capture levels of preference for walking longer distances. The methods are evaluated via an application to train stations in central Tokyo in terms of accuracy, similarity and algorithm performance. The fully integrated network method produces the most accurate results in the shortest amount of processing time, but requires a large upfront investment of time and resources. The circle buffer method runs a bit slower, but does not require any network information and when properly weighted yields walkability scores very similar to the integrated network approach.

Evaluation of several initialization methods on arithmetic optimization algorithm performance

Arithmetic optimization algorithm (AOA) is one of the recently proposed population-based metaheuristic algorithms. The algorithmic design concept of the AOA is based on the distributive behavior of arithmetic operators, namely, multiplication (M), division (D), subtraction (S), and addition (A). Being a new metaheuristic algorithm, the need for a performance evaluation of AOA is significant to the global optimization research community and specifically to nature-inspired metaheuristic enthusiasts. This article aims to evaluate the influence of the algorithm control parameters, namely, population size and the number of iterations, on the performance of the newly proposed AOA. In addition, we also investigated and validated the influence of different initialization schemes available in the literature on the performance of the AOA. Experiments were conducted using different initialization scenarios and the first is where the population size is large and the number of iterations is low. The second scenario is when the number of iterations is high, and the population size is small. Finally, when the population size and the number of iterations are similar. The numerical results from the conducted experiments showed that AOA is sensitive to the population size and requires a large population size for optimal performance. Afterward, we initialized AOA with six initialization schemes, and their performances were tested on the classical functions and the functions defined in the CEC 2020 suite. The results were presented, and their implications were discussed. Our results showed that the performance of AOA could be influenced when the solution is initialized with schemes other than default random numbers. The Beta distribution outperformed the random number distribution in all cases for both the classical and CEC 2020 functions. The performance of uniform distribution, Rayleigh distribution, Latin hypercube sampling, and Sobol low discrepancy sequence are relatively competitive with the Random number. On the basis of our experiments’ results, we recommend that a solution size of 6,000, the number of iterations of 100, and initializing the solutions with Beta distribution will lead to AOA performing optimally for scenarios considered in our experiments.

Feasibility Research on Fish Pose Estimation Based on Rotating Box Object Detection

A video-based method to quantify animal posture movement is a powerful way to analyze animal behavior. Both humans and fish can judge the physiological state through the skeleton framework. However, it is challenging for farmers to judge the breeding state in the complex underwater environment. Therefore, images can be transmitted by the underwater camera and monitored by a computer vision model. However, it lacks datasets in artificial intelligence and is unable to train deep neural networks. The main contributions of this paper include: (1) the world’s first fish posture database is established. 10 key points of each fish are manually marked. The fish flock images were taken in the experimental tank and 1000 single fish images were separated from the fish flock. (2) A two-stage attitude estimation model is used to detect fish key points. The evaluation of the algorithm performance indicates the precision of detection reaches 90.61%, F1-score reaches 90%, and Fps also reaches 23.26. We made a preliminary exploration on the pose estimation of fish and provided a feasible idea for fish pose estimation.

Deep learning–assisted prostate cancer detection on bi-parametric MRI: minimum training data size requirements and effect of prior knowledge

Objectives To assess Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS)–trained deep learning (DL) algorithm performance and to investigate the effect of data size and prior knowledge on the detection of clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa) in biopsy-naïve men with a suspicion of PCa. Methods Multi-institution data included 2734 consecutive biopsy-naïve men with elevated PSA levels (≥ 3 ng/mL) that underwent multi-parametric MRI (mpMRI). mpMRI exams were prospectively reported using PI-RADS v2 by expert radiologists. A DL framework was designed and trained on center 1 data (n = 1952) to predict PI-RADS ≥ 4 (n = 1092) lesions from bi-parametric MRI (bpMRI). Experiments included varying the number of cases and the use of automatic zonal segmentation as a DL prior. Independent center 2 cases (n = 296) that included pathology outcome (systematic and MRI targeted biopsy) were used to compute performance for radiologists and DL. The performance of detecting PI-RADS 4–5 and Gleason > 6 lesions was assessed on 782 unseen cases (486 center 1, 296 center 2) using free-response ROC (FROC) and ROC analysis. Results The DL sensitivity for detecting PI-RADS ≥ 4 lesions was 87% (193/223, 95% CI: 82–91) at an average of 1 false positive (FP) per patient, and an AUC of 0.88 (95% CI: 0.84–0.91). The DL sensitivity for the detection of Gleason > 6 lesions was 85% (79/93, 95% CI: 77–83) @ 1 FP compared to 91% (85/93, 95% CI: 84–96) @ 0.3 FP for a consensus panel of expert radiologists. Data size and prior zonal knowledge significantly affected performance (4%, $$p<0.05$$ p < 0.05 ). Conclusion PI-RADS-trained DL can accurately detect and localize Gleason > 6 lesions. DL could reach expert performance using substantially more than 2000 training cases, and DL zonal segmentation. Key Points • AI for prostate MRI analysis depends strongly on data size and prior zonal knowledge. • AI needs substantially more than 2000 training cases to achieve expert performance.