Reviewerly/exHarmony huggingface dataset:
DPCTN: Dual path context-aware transformer network for medical image segmentation

Accurate segmentation of lesions in medical images is a key step to assist clinicians in diagnosis and analysis. Most studies combine the Transformer model with CNN at a single scale or use the highest-level feature tensor extracted by CNN as input to Transformer without fully exploiting Transformer’s potential. In addition, for the problems of structural boundary blurring, heterogeneous textures, etc., in medical images, most existing methods pay attention to using contour information to solve this problem but simply fuse the contour information and ignore the potential relationship between the regions and the contours. We propose the DPCTN network based on the traditional encoding–decoding structure, consisting of the CNN, Transformer dual backbone networks and parallel attention mechanisms, to achieve accurate segmentation in medical image lesions. Local and global multiscale feature information is extracted by CNN and Transformer. The Transformer block of channel cross fusion can implement multiscale information fusion of the high-level local features and reduce the impact of the redundant information. The dual backbone feature fusion module effectively couples the local and global high-level feature information. The decoder refines and enriches the boundary and regional features, layer by layer, to achieve effective supervision of the boundary and region. Considering the possible dimension collapse in the attention mechanism, a novel three branch transposed self-attention module is designed to reduce the information loss caused by feature pooling. To verify the effectiveness of our proposed method, subjective and objective comparative experiments and ablation experiments were performed on four medical segmentation tasks, polyps, skin lesions, glands and breast tumors. A large number of experimental results show that our method is superior to the current state-of-the-art method, reduces the standard deviation and is more robust. Source code is released at https://github.com/sd-spf/DPCTN.
Second-Order MaxEnt Predictive Modelling Methodology. I: Deterministically Incorporated Computational Model (2nd-BERRU-PMD)

This work presents a comprehensive second-order predictive modeling (PM) methodology designated by the acronym 2 nd -BERRU-PMD.The attribute "2 nd " indicates that this methodology incorporates second-order uncertainties (means and covariances) and second-order sensitivities of computed model responses to model parameters.The acronym BERRU stands for "Best-Estimate Results with Reduced Uncertainties" and the last letter ("D") in the acronym indicates "deterministic," referring to the deterministic inclusion of the computational model responses.The 2 nd -BERRU-PMD methodology is fundamentally based on the maximum entropy (MaxEnt) principle.This principle is in contradistinction to the fundamental principle that underlies the extant data assimilation and/or adjustment procedures which minimize in a least-square sense a subjective user-defined functional which is meant to represent the discrepancies between measured and computed model responses.It is shown that the 2 nd -BERRU-PMD methodology generalizes and extends current data assimilation and/or data adjustment procedures while overcoming the fundamental limitations of these procedures.In the accompanying work (Part II), the alternative framework for developing the "secondorder MaxEnt predictive modelling methodology" is presented by incorporating probabilistically (as opposed to "deterministically") the computed model responses.
Investigating the Power of LSTM-Based Models in Solar Energy Forecasting

Solar is a significant renewable energy source. Solar energy can provide for the world’s energy needs while minimizing global warming from traditional sources. Forecasting the output of renewable energy has a considerable impact on decisions about the operation and management of power systems. It is crucial to accurately forecast the output of renewable energy sources in order to assure grid dependability and sustainability and to reduce the risk and expense of energy markets and systems. Recent advancements in long short-term memory (LSTM) have attracted researchers to the model, and its promising potential is reflected in the method’s richness and the growing number of papers about it. To facilitate further research and development in this area, this paper investigates LSTM models for forecasting solar energy by using time-series data. The paper is divided into two parts: (1) independent LSTM models and (2) hybrid models that incorporate LSTM as another type of technique. The Root mean square error (RMSE) and other error metrics are used as the representative evaluation metrics for comparing the accuracy of the selected methods. According to empirical studies, the two types of models (independent LSTM and hybrid) have distinct advantages and disadvantages depending on the scenario. For instance, LSTM outperforms the other standalone models, but hybrid models generally outperform standalone models despite their longer data training time requirement. The most notable discovery is the better suitability of LSTM as a predictive model to forecast the amount of solar radiation and photovoltaic power compared with other conventional machine learning methods.
Accelerated Arithmetic Optimization Algorithm by Cuckoo Search for Solving Engineering Design Problems

Several metaheuristic algorithms have been implemented to solve global optimization issues. Nevertheless, these approaches require more enhancement to strike a suitable harmony between exploration and exploitation. Consequently, this paper proposes improving the arithmetic optimization algorithm (AOA) to solve engineering optimization issues based on the cuckoo search algorithm called AOACS. The developed approach uses cuckoo search algorithm operators to improve the ability of the exploitation operations of AOA. AOACS enhances the convergence ratio of the presented technique to find the optimum solution. The performance of the AOACS is examined using 23 benchmark functions and CEC-2019 functions to show the ability of the proposed work to solve different numerical optimization problems. The proposed AOACS is evaluated using four engineering design problems: the welded beam, the three-bar truss, the stepped cantilever beam, and the speed reducer design. Finally, the results of the proposed approach are compared with state-of-the-art approaches to prove the performance of the proposed AOACS approach. The results illustrated an outperformance of AOACS compared to other methods of performance measurement.
Enhanced opposition-based grey wolf optimizer for global optimization and engineering design problems

A recently developed swarm-based meta-heuristic algorithm namely Grey Wolf Optimization algorithm (GWO), which is based on the hunting and leadership behaviours of the grey wolves in nature, has shown superior performance when compared with existing meta-heuristic algorithms. However, like other approaches, the GWO has the limitation of poor exploitation ability and being stuck in local optima when solving challenging optimization problems. To overcome these limitations, a novel technique, namely “Enhanced Opposition-Based Learning” (EOBL), has been proposed and is implemented with the GWO algorithm. The EOBL technique is largely inspired by Opposition-Based Learning (OBL) and Random Opposition-Based Learning (ROBL) techniques to efficiently balance exploration and exploitation. As a result, the Enhanced Opposition-Based Grey Wolf Optimizer (EOBGWO), an innovative approach, is proposed to increase the effectiveness of the conventional GWO algorithm. To test the efficiency of the proposed EOBGWO method, it has been tested on the standard IEEECEC2005, IEEECEC2017, and IEEECEC2019 test functions, along with several real-life engineering design problems. Furthermore, to evaluate the effectiveness and stability of the proposed technique, it has been evaluated on the challenging IEEECEC2008 special session on large scale global optimization problems. The experimental outcomes and statistical measures such as the t-test and Wilcoxon rank-sum test demonstrate that the proposed EOBGWO method outperforms the other state-of-the-art algorithms in both global optimization and engineering design problems.
A Secure Authentication Framework to Guarantee the Traceability of Avatars in Metaverse

Metaverse is a vast virtual environment parallel to the physical world in which users enjoy a variety of services acting as an avatar. To build a secure living habitat, it’s vital to ensure the virtual-physical traceability that tracking a malicious player in the physical world via his avatars in virtual space. In this paper, we propose a two-factor authentication framework based on biometric-based authentication and chameleon signature. First, aiming at disguise in virtual space, we design an avatar’s two-factor identity model to ensure the verifiability of avatar’s virtual identity and physical identity. Second, facing at authentication efficiency and keys holding cost, we propose a chameleon collision signature algorithm to efficiently ensure that the avatar’s virtual identity is associated with its physical identity. Finally, aiming at impersonation in the physical world, we design two decentralized authentication protocols based on the avatar’s identity model and the chameleon collision signature to achieve real-time authentication on the avatar’s identity. Security analysis indicates that the proposed authentication framework guarantees the consistency and traceability of the avatar’s identity. Simulation experiments show that the framework not only completes the decentralized authentication between avatars but also achieves virtual-physical tracking.
Beyond Predictive Learning Analytics Modelling and onto Explainable Artificial Intelligence with Prescriptive Analytics and ChatGPT

Abstract A significant body of recent research in the field of Learning Analytics has focused on leveraging machine learning approaches for predicting at-risk students in order to initiate timely interventions and thereby elevate retention and completion rates. The overarching feature of the majority of these research studies has been on the science of prediction only. The component of predictive analytics concerned with interpreting the internals of the models and explaining their predictions for individual cases to stakeholders has largely been neglected. Additionally, works that attempt to employ data-driven prescriptive analytics to automatically generate evidence-based remedial advice for at-risk learners are in their infancy. eXplainable AI is a field that has recently emerged providing cutting-edge tools which support transparent predictive analytics and techniques for generating tailored advice for at-risk students. This study proposes a novel framework that unifies both transparent machine learning as well as techniques for enabling prescriptive analytics, while integrating the latest advances in large language models for communicating the insights to learners. This work demonstrates a predictive modelling framework for identifying learners at risk of qualification non-completion based on a real-world dataset comprising $$\sim $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mo>∼</mml:mo> </mml:math> 7000 learners with their outcomes, covering 2018 - 2022. The study further demonstrates how predictive modelling can be augmented with prescriptive analytics on two case studies to generate human-readable prescriptive feedback for those who are at risk using ChatGPT.
Improved YOLOv5-Based Lightweight Object Detection Algorithm for People with Visual Impairment to Detect Buses

Object detection is crucial for individuals with visual impairment, especially when waiting for a bus. In this study, we propose a lightweight and highly accurate bus detection model based on an improved version of the YOLOv5 model. We propose integrating the GhostConv and C3Ghost Modules into the YOLOv5 network to reduce the number of parameters and floating-point operations per second (FLOPs), ensuring detection accuracy while reducing the model parameters. Following that, we added the SimSPPF module to replace the SPPF in the YOLOv5 backbone for increased computational efficiency and accurate object detection capabilities. Finally, we developed a Slim scale detection model by modifying the original YOLOv5 structure in order to make the model more efficient and faster, which is critical for real-time object detection applications. According to the experimental results, the Improved-YOLOv5 outperforms the original YOLOv5 in terms of the precision, recall, and mAP@0.5. Further analysis of the model complexity reveals that the Improved-YOLOv5 is more efficient due to fewer FLOPS, with fewer parameters, less memory usage, and faster inference time capabilities. The proposed model is smaller and more feasible to implement in resource-constrained mobile devices and a promising option for bus detection systems.
Advanced multimodal fusion method for very short-term solar irradiance forecasting using sky images and meteorological data: A gate and transformer mechanism approach

Cloud dynamics are the main factor influencing the intermittent variability of short-term solar irradiance, therefore affect the solar farm output. Sky images have been widely used for short-term solar irradiance prediction with encouraging results due to the spatial information they contain. At present, there is little discussion on the most promising deep learning methods to integrate images with quantitative measures of solar irradiation. To address this gap, we optimise the current mainstream framework using gate architecture and propose a new transformer-based framework in an attempt to achieve better prediction results. It was found that compared to the classical CNN model based on late feature-level fusion, the transformer framework model based on early feature-level prediction improves the balanced accuracy of Ramp Event by 9.43% and 3.91% on the 2-min and 6-min scales, respectively. However, based on the results, it can be concluded that for the single picture-digital bimodal model, the spatial information validity of a single picture is difficult to achieve beyond 10 min. This work has the potential to contribute to the interpretability and iterability of deep learning models based on sky images.
Postdigital Research in Education: Towards Vulnerable Method and Praxis

Postdigital times call for postdigital research methods, but the ambiguity and unpredictability of the postdigital problematises how such methods should be determined and constituted. This chapter contributes to the debate by bringing the concept of vulnerability to bear on the postdigital for the first time to suggest that in combination they offer an effective means of exploring the challenges of our times. It highlights the mess and uncertainty that are central to the postdigital context, education, and education research, and (re)conceptualises vulnerability as a means of exploring and inhabiting them. This moves vulnerability away from its neoliberal associations with demonising and stigmatising the individual towards a more open, ‘in between’ condition, both universal and individual, to be integrated into research. An initial framework for this method is proposed which emphasises its relational, multiple, and emancipatory nature and its closeness to praxis, and the framework is tested by applying it retrospectively to two relevant research studies. The conclusion calls for us to access our postdigital vulnerability as researchers and educators in order to better understand our entangled context and resist its more pernicious elements.
Adaptive Dynamic Filtering Network for Image Denoising

In image denoising networks, feature scaling is widely used to enlarge the receptive field size and reduce computational costs. This practice, however, also leads to the loss of high-frequency information and fails to consider within-scale characteristics. Recently, dynamic convolution has exhibited powerful capabilities in processing high-frequency information (e.g., edges, corners, textures), but previous works lack sufficient spatial contextual information in filter generation. To alleviate these issues, we propose to employ dynamic convolution to improve the learning of high-frequency and multi-scale features. Specifically, we design a spatially enhanced kernel generation (SEKG) module to improve dynamic convolution, enabling the learning of spatial context information with a very low computational complexity. Based on the SEKG module, we propose a dynamic convolution block (DCB) and a multi-scale dynamic convolution block (MDCB). The former enhances the high-frequency information via dynamic convolution and preserves low-frequency information via skip connections. The latter utilizes shared adaptive dynamic kernels and the idea of dilated convolution to achieve efficient multi-scale feature extraction. The proposed multi-dimension feature integration (MFI) mechanism further fuses the multi-scale features, providing precise and contextually enriched feature representations. Finally, we build an efficient denoising network with the proposed DCB and MDCB, named ADFNet. It achieves better performance with low computational complexity on real-world and synthetic Gaussian noisy datasets. The source code is available at https://github.com/it-hao/ADFNet.
Amalgamation of Blockchain with resource-constrained IoT devices for healthcare applications – State of art, challenges and future directions

Healthcare is an emerging sector with the integration of emerging technologies aiming to improve Quality of Life of an individual through various medical services. Most of the healthcare services work with sensitive information of patients either collected in real-time using body implanted sensors or through various IoT enabled medical devices during the diagnosis in a centrally controlled model. But, the traditional IoT based medical services suffer from several challenges such as data security, privacy, interoperability, single point of failure, scalability, and data integrity. However, by considering the advantages of Blockchain technology and the disadvantages of IoT systems, the amalgamation of a decentralised, distributed ledger technology with the IoT for various healthcare applications will strengthen the system by resolving the major challenges. Thus, this research article conducts a comprehensive survey on the integration of Blockchain and IoT (BCIoT) for Healthcare services, focusing mainly on existing approaches, possibilities, applications and challenges. First, we present a detailed overview of Blockchain, IoT and the motivation for BCIoT along with the survey on existing healthcare applications. Next we discuss the enabling platforms for BCIoT based healthcare services. For the better understanding, we review the role of BCIoT in Remote patient monitoring, electronic heath record management, Health asset tracing, Covid-19 infected patient contact tracking. Finally challenges and future directions are discussed to improve the Quality of Life of patients through Healthcare applications.
SignExplainer: An Explainable AI-Enabled Framework for Sign Language Recognition With Ensemble Learning

Deep learning has significantly aided current advancements in artificial intelligence. Deep learning techniques have significantly outperformed more than typical machine learning approaches, in various fields like Computer Vision, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Robotics Science, and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). Deep learning models are ineffective in outlining their fundamental mechanism. That’s the reason the deep learning model mainly consider as Black-Box. To establish confidence and responsibility, deep learning applications need to explain the model’s decision in addition to the prediction of results. The explainable AI (XAI) research has created methods that offer these interpretations for already trained neural networks. It’s highly recommended for computer vision tasks relevant to medical science, defense system, and many more. The proposed study is associated with XAI for Sign Language Recognition. The methodology uses an attention-based ensemble learning approach to create a prediction model more accurate. The proposed methodology used ResNet50 with the Self Attention model to design ensemble learning architecture. The proposed ensemble learning approach has achieved remarkable accuracy at 98.20%. In interpreting ensemble learning prediction, the author has proposed SignExplainer to explain the relevancy (in percentage) of predicted results. SignExplainer has illustrated excellent results, compared to other conventional Explainable AI models reported in state of the art.
Cognitive cloud framework for waste dumping analysis using deep learning vision computing in healthy environment

Increased population and usage of more unnatural particles create dangerous waste in society. Environmental Sustainability is ensured based on proper waste management solutions. There is a need for real-time monitoring of waste dumping in the respective area to alert the individual management team to control it. We specifically investigated a solution to the issue of preventing the illegal disposal of waste in smart cities. In this regard, we will discuss the working model of an automatic visual identification and warning system. The proposed method uses cognitive computing technologies to analyze films taken by cameras located in metropolitan areas. To locate huge trash waste where it shouldn't be and alert the municipality to the situation. Initially, the proposed method develops the application prototype. Next, the Deep learning method Single Shot MultiBox Detector (SSD) MobileNet v2 is used to detect bulky waste data. Finally, the CNN method classifies the data and triggers the alarm system. The alarm system alerts the municipality with warning sounds to remove waste dumping. The proposed method provides an intelligent waste management system and a healthy environment. The simulation outcomes demonstrate that the suggested strategy yields a superior outcome.
Quantum Error Correction with Metastable States of Trapped Ions Using Erasure Conversion

Erasures, or errors with known locations, are a more favorable type of error for quantum error-correcting codes than Pauli errors. Converting physical noise into erasures can significantly improve the performance of quantum error correction. Here we apply the idea of performing erasure conversion by encoding qubits into metastable atomic states, proposed by Wu, Kolkowitz, Puri, and Thompson [Nat. Comm. 13, 4657 (2022)], to trapped ions. We suggest an erasure-conversion scheme for metastable trapped-ion qubits and develop a detailed model of various types of errors. We then compare the logical performance of ground and metastable qubits on the surface code under various physical constraints, and conclude that metastable qubits may outperform ground qubits when the achievable laser power is higher for metastable qubits.