scholarly journals Investigation of Loss Functions for Improving Deep Segmentation of Abdominal Organs from MRI

Author(s):  
Pedro Furtado

Segmentation of Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI) of abdominal organs is useful for analysis prior to surgical procedures and for further processing. Deep Learning (DL) has become the standard, researchers have proposed improvements that include multiple views, ensembles and voting. Loss function alternatives, while being crucial to guide automated learning, have not been compared in detail. In this work we analyze limitations of popular metrics and their use as loss, study alternative loss variations based on those and other modifications and search for the best approach. An experimental setup was necessary to assess the alternatives. Results for the top scoring network and top scoring loss show improvements between 2 and 11 percentage points (pp) in Jaccard Index (JI), depending on organ and patient (sequence), for a total of 22 pp over 4 organs, all this being obtained just by choosing the best performing loss function instead of cross-entropy or dice. Our results apply directly to MRI of abdominal organs, with important practical implications for other architectures, as they can be applied easily to any of them. They also show the worth of variants of loss function and loss tuning, with future work needed to generalize and test in other contexts.

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 16
Author(s):  
Pedro Furtado

Image structures are segmented automatically using deep learning (DL) for analysis and processing. The three most popular base loss functions are cross entropy (crossE), intersect-over-the-union (IoU), and dice. Which should be used, is it useful to consider simple variations, such as modifying formula coefficients? How do characteristics of different image structures influence scores? Taking three different medical image segmentation problems (segmentation of organs in magnetic resonance images (MRI), liver in computer tomography images (CT) and diabetic retinopathy lesions in eye fundus images (EFI)), we quantify loss functions and variations, as well as segmentation scores of different targets. We first describe the limitations of metrics, since loss is a metric, then we describe and test alternatives. Experimentally, we observed that DeeplabV3 outperforms UNet and fully convolutional network (FCN) in all datasets. Dice scored 1 to 6 percentage points (pp) higher than cross entropy over all datasets, IoU improved 0 to 3 pp. Varying formula coefficients improved scores, but the best choices depend on the dataset: compared to crossE, different false positive vs. false negative weights improved MRI by 12 pp, and assigning zero weight to background improved EFI by 6 pp. Multiclass segmentation scored higher than n-uniclass segmentation in MRI by 8 pp. EFI lesions score low compared to more constant structures (e.g., optic disk or even organs), but loss modifications improve those scores significantly 6 to 9 pp. Our conclusions are that dice is best, it is worth assigning 0 weight to class background and to test different weights on false positives and false negatives.


Author(s):  
Zhenzhen Yang ◽  
Pengfei Xu ◽  
Yongpeng Yang ◽  
Bing-Kun Bao

The U-Net has become the most popular structure in medical image segmentation in recent years. Although its performance for medical image segmentation is outstanding, a large number of experiments demonstrate that the classical U-Net network architecture seems to be insufficient when the size of segmentation targets changes and the imbalance happens between target and background in different forms of segmentation. To improve the U-Net network architecture, we develop a new architecture named densely connected U-Net (DenseUNet) network in this article. The proposed DenseUNet network adopts a dense block to improve the feature extraction capability and employs a multi-feature fuse block fusing feature maps of different levels to increase the accuracy of feature extraction. In addition, in view of the advantages of the cross entropy and the dice loss functions, a new loss function for the DenseUNet network is proposed to deal with the imbalance between target and background. Finally, we test the proposed DenseUNet network and compared it with the multi-resolutional U-Net (MultiResUNet) and the classic U-Net networks on three different datasets. The experimental results show that the DenseUNet network has significantly performances compared with the MultiResUNet and the classic U-Net networks.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Chenrui Wen ◽  
Xinhao Yang ◽  
Ke Zhang ◽  
Jiahui Zhang

An improved loss function free of sampling procedures is proposed to improve the ill-performed classification by sample shortage. Adjustable parameters are used to expand the loss scope, minimize the weight of easily classified samples, and further substitute the sampling function, which are added to the cross-entropy loss and the SoftMax loss. Experiment results indicate that improvements in all classification performance of our loss function are shown in various network architectures and on different datasets. To summarize, compared with traditional loss functions, our improved version not only elevates classification performance but also lowers the difficulty of network training.


Author(s):  
A. Howie ◽  
D.W. McComb

The bulk loss function Im(-l/ε (ω)), a well established tool for the interpretation of valence loss spectra, is being progressively adapted to the wide variety of inhomogeneous samples of interest to the electron microscopist. Proportionality between n, the local valence electron density, and ε-1 (Sellmeyer's equation) has sometimes been assumed but may not be valid even in homogeneous samples. Figs. 1 and 2 show the experimentally measured bulk loss functions for three pure silicates of different specific gravity ρ - quartz (ρ = 2.66), coesite (ρ = 2.93) and a zeolite (ρ = 1.79). Clearly, despite the substantial differences in density, the shift of the prominent loss peak is very small and far less than that predicted by scaling e for quartz with Sellmeyer's equation or even the somewhat smaller shift given by the Clausius-Mossotti (CM) relation which assumes proportionality between n (or ρ in this case) and (ε - 1)/(ε + 2). Both theories overestimate the rise in the peak height for coesite and underestimate the increase at high energies.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 10-14
Author(s):  
Ryan Scott ◽  
Malcolm Le Lievre

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore insights methodology and technology by using behavioral to create a mind-set change in the way people work, especially in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Design/methodology/approach The approach is to examine how AI is driving workplace change, introduce the idea that most organizations have untapped analytics, add the idea of what we know future work will look like and look at how greater, data-driven human behavioral insights will help prepare future human-to-human work and inform people’s work with and alongside AI. Findings Human (behavioral) intelligence will be an increasingly crucial part of behaviorally smart organizations, from hiring to placement to adaptation to team building, compliance and more. These human capability insights will, among other things, better prepare people and organizations for changing work roles, including working with and alongside AI and similar tech innovation. Research limitations/implications No doubt researchers across the private, public and nonprofit sectors will want to further study the nexus of human capability, behavioral insights technology and AI, but it is clear that such work is already underway and can prove even more valuable if adopted on a broader, deeper level. Practical implications Much “people data” inside organizations is currently not being harvested. Validated, scalable processes exist to mine that data and leverage it to help organizations of all types and sizes be ready for the future, particularly in regard to the marriage of human capability and AI. Social implications In terms of human capability and AI, individuals, teams, organizations, customers and other stakeholders will all benefit. The investment of time and other resources is minimal, but must include C-suite buy in. Originality/value Much exists on the softer aspects of the marriage of human capability and AI and other workplace advancements. What has been lacking – until now – is a 1) practical, 2) validated and 3) scalable behavioral insights tech form that quantifiably informs how people and AI will work in the future, especially side by side.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 1779
Author(s):  
Xiaoyan Yin ◽  
Zhiqun Hu ◽  
Jiafeng Zheng ◽  
Boyong Li ◽  
Yuanyuan Zuo

Radar beam blockage is an important error source that affects the quality of weather radar data. An echo-filling network (EFnet) is proposed based on a deep learning algorithm to correct the echo intensity under the occlusion area in the Nanjing S-band new-generation weather radar (CINRAD/SA). The training dataset is constructed by the labels, which are the echo intensity at the 0.5° elevation in the unblocked area, and by the input features, which are the intensity in the cube including multiple elevations and gates corresponding to the location of bottom labels. Two loss functions are applied to compile the network: one is the common mean square error (MSE), and the other is a self-defined loss function that increases the weight of strong echoes. Considering that the radar beam broadens with distance and height, the 0.5° elevation scan is divided into six range bands every 25 km to train different models. The models are evaluated by three indicators: explained variance (EVar), mean absolute error (MAE), and correlation coefficient (CC). Two cases are demonstrated to compare the effect of the echo-filling model by different loss functions. The results suggest that EFnet can effectively correct the echo reflectivity and improve the data quality in the occlusion area, and there are better results for strong echoes when the self-defined loss function is used.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Yanhong Chen

ABSTRACT In this paper, we study the optimal reinsurance contracts that minimize the convex combination of the Conditional Value-at-Risk (CVaR) of the insurer’s loss and the reinsurer’s loss over the class of ceded loss functions such that the retained loss function is increasing and the ceded loss function satisfies Vajda condition. Among a general class of reinsurance premium principles that satisfy the properties of risk loading and convex order preserving, the optimal solutions are obtained. Our results show that the optimal ceded loss functions are in the form of five interconnected segments for general reinsurance premium principles, and they can be further simplified to four interconnected segments if more properties are added to reinsurance premium principles. Finally, we derive optimal parameters for the expected value premium principle and give a numerical study to analyze the impact of the weighting factor on the optimal reinsurance.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (15) ◽  
pp. 7046
Author(s):  
Jorge Francisco Ciprián-Sánchez ◽  
Gilberto Ochoa-Ruiz ◽  
Lucile Rossi ◽  
Frédéric Morandini

Wildfires stand as one of the most relevant natural disasters worldwide, particularly more so due to the effect of climate change and its impact on various societal and environmental levels. In this regard, a significant amount of research has been done in order to address this issue, deploying a wide variety of technologies and following a multi-disciplinary approach. Notably, computer vision has played a fundamental role in this regard. It can be used to extract and combine information from several imaging modalities in regard to fire detection, characterization and wildfire spread forecasting. In recent years, there has been work pertaining to Deep Learning (DL)-based fire segmentation, showing very promising results. However, it is currently unclear whether the architecture of a model, its loss function, or the image type employed (visible, infrared, or fused) has the most impact on the fire segmentation results. In the present work, we evaluate different combinations of state-of-the-art (SOTA) DL architectures, loss functions, and types of images to identify the parameters most relevant to improve the segmentation results. We benchmark them to identify the top-performing ones and compare them to traditional fire segmentation techniques. Finally, we evaluate if the addition of attention modules on the best performing architecture can further improve the segmentation results. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that evaluates the impact of the architecture, loss function, and image type in the performance of DL-based wildfire segmentation models.


2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Asbjørn Følstad ◽  
Cameron Taylor

AbstractThe uptake of chatbots for customer service depends on the user experience. For such chatbots, user experience in particular concerns whether the user is provided relevant answers to their queries and the chatbot interaction brings them closer to resolving their problem. Dialogue data from interactions between users and chatbots represents a potentially valuable source of insight into user experience. However, there is a need for knowledge of how to make use of these data. Motivated by this, we present a framework for qualitative analysis of chatbot dialogues in the customer service domain. The framework has been developed across several studies involving two chatbots for customer service, in collaboration with the chatbot hosts. We present the framework and illustrate its application with insights from three case examples. Through the case findings, we show how the framework may provide insight into key drivers of user experience, including response relevance and dialogue helpfulness (Case 1), insight to drive chatbot improvement in practice (Case 2), and insight of theoretical and practical relevance for understanding chatbot user types and interaction patterns (Case 3). On the basis of the findings, we discuss the strengths and limitations of the framework, its theoretical and practical implications, and directions for future work.


Author(s):  
Andrew Cropper ◽  
Sebastijan Dumančic

A major challenge in inductive logic programming (ILP) is learning large programs. We argue that a key limitation of existing systems is that they use entailment to guide the hypothesis search. This approach is limited because entailment is a binary decision: a hypothesis either entails an example or does not, and there is no intermediate position. To address this limitation, we go beyond entailment and use 'example-dependent' loss functions to guide the search, where a hypothesis can partially cover an example. We implement our idea in Brute, a new ILP system which uses best-first search, guided by an example-dependent loss function, to incrementally build programs. Our experiments on three diverse program synthesis domains (robot planning, string transformations, and ASCII art), show that Brute can substantially outperform existing ILP systems, both in terms of predictive accuracies and learning times, and can learn programs 20 times larger than state-of-the-art systems.


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