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Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
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    Improving Accuracy and Temporal Resolution of Learning Curve Estimation for within- and across-Session Analysis
    (San Francisco, California, US : PLOS, 2016) Deliano, Matthias; Tabelow, Karsten; König, Reinhard; Polzehl, Jörg
    Estimation of learning curves is ubiquitously based on proportions of correct responses within moving trial windows. Thereby, it is tacitly assumed that learning performance is constant within the moving windows, which, however, is often not the case. In the present study we demonstrate that violations of this assumption lead to systematic errors in the analysis of learning curves, and we explored the dependency of these errors on window size, different statistical models, and learning phase. To reduce these errors in the analysis of single-subject data as well as on the population level, we propose adequate statistical methods for the estimation of learning curves and the construction of confidence intervals, trial by trial. Applied to data from an avoidance learning experiment with rodents, these methods revealed performance changes occurring at multiple time scales within and across training sessions which were otherwise obscured in the conventional analysis. Our work shows that the proper assessment of the behavioral dynamics of learning at high temporal resolution can shed new light on specific learning processes, and, thus, allows to refine existing learning concepts. It further disambiguates the interpretation of neurophysiological signal changes recorded during training in relation to learning.
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    Evolutionary design of explainable algorithms for biomedical image segmentation
    ([London] : Nature Publishing Group UK, 2023) Cortacero, Kévin; McKenzie, Brienne; Müller, Sabina; Khazen, Roxana; Lafouresse, Fanny; Corsaut, Gaëlle; Van Acker, Nathalie; Frenois, François-Xavier; Lamant, Laurence; Meyer, Nicolas; Vergier, Béatrice; Wilson, Dennis G.; Luga, Hervé; Staufer, Oskar; Dustin, Michael L.; Valitutti, Salvatore; Cussat-Blanc, Sylvain
    An unresolved issue in contemporary biomedicine is the overwhelming number and diversity of complex images that require annotation, analysis and interpretation. Recent advances in Deep Learning have revolutionized the field of computer vision, creating algorithms that compete with human experts in image segmentation tasks. However, these frameworks require large human-annotated datasets for training and the resulting “black box” models are difficult to interpret. In this study, we introduce Kartezio, a modular Cartesian Genetic Programming-based computational strategy that generates fully transparent and easily interpretable image processing pipelines by iteratively assembling and parameterizing computer vision functions. The pipelines thus generated exhibit comparable precision to state-of-the-art Deep Learning approaches on instance segmentation tasks, while requiring drastically smaller training datasets. This Few-Shot Learning method confers tremendous flexibility, speed, and functionality to this approach. We then deploy Kartezio to solve a series of semantic and instance segmentation problems, and demonstrate its utility across diverse images ranging from multiplexed tissue histopathology images to high resolution microscopy images. While the flexibility, robustness and practical utility of Kartezio make this fully explicable evolutionary designer a potential game-changer in the field of biomedical image processing, Kartezio remains complementary and potentially auxiliary to mainstream Deep Learning approaches.
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    Topological data analysis of contagion maps for examining spreading processes on networks
    ([London] : Nature Publishing Group UK, 2015) Taylor, Dane; Klimm, Florian; Harrington, Heather A.; Kramár, Miroslav; Mischaikow, Konstantin; Porter, Mason A.; Mucha, Peter J.
    Social and biological contagions are influenced by the spatial embeddedness of networks. Historically, many epidemics spread as a wave across part of the Earth’s surface; however, in modern contagions long-range edges—for example, due to airline transportation or communication media—allow clusters of a contagion to appear in distant locations. Here we study the spread of contagions on networks through a methodology grounded in topological data analysis and nonlinear dimension reduction. We construct ‘contagion maps’ that use multiple contagions on a network to map the nodes as a point cloud. By analysing the topology, geometry and dimensionality of manifold structure in such point clouds, we reveal insights to aid in the modelling, forecast and control of spreading processes. Our approach highlights contagion maps also as a viable tool for inferring low-dimensional structure in networks.
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    Computational design and optimization of electro-physiological sensors
    ([London] : Nature Publishing Group UK, 2021) Nittala, Aditya Shekhar; Karrenbauer, Andreas; Khan, Arshad; Kraus, Tobias; Steimle, Jürgen
    Electro-physiological sensing devices are becoming increasingly common in diverse applications. However, designing such sensors in compact form factors and for high-quality signal acquisition is a challenging task even for experts, is typically done using heuristics, and requires extensive training. Our work proposes a computational approach for designing multi-modal electro-physiological sensors. By employing an optimization-based approach alongside an integrated predictive model for multiple modalities, compact sensors can be created which offer an optimal trade-off between high signal quality and small device size. The task is assisted by a graphical tool that allows to easily specify design preferences and to visually analyze the generated designs in real-time, enabling designer-in-the-loop optimization. Experimental results show high quantitative agreement between the prediction of the optimizer and experimentally collected physiological data. They demonstrate that generated designs can achieve an optimal balance between the size of the sensor and its signal acquisition capability, outperforming expert generated solutions.
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    Imaging and writing magnetic domains in the non-collinear antiferromagnet Mn3Sn
    ([London] : Nature Publishing Group UK, 2019) Reichlova, Helena; Janda, Tomas; Godinho, Joao; Markou, Anastasios; Kriegner, Dominik; Schlitz, Richard; Zelezny, Jakub; Soban, Zbynek; Bejarano, Mauricio; Schultheiss, Helmut; Nemec, Petr; Jungwirth, Tomas; Felser, Claudia; Wunderlich, Joerg; Goennenwein, Sebastian T. B.
    Non-collinear antiferromagnets are revealing many unexpected phenomena and they became crucial for the field of antiferromagnetic spintronics. To visualize and prepare a well-defined domain structure is of key importance. The spatial magnetic contrast, however, remains extraordinarily difficult to be observed experimentally. Here, we demonstrate a magnetic imaging technique based on a laser induced local thermal gradient combined with detection of the anomalous Nernst effect. We employ this method in one the most actively studied representatives of this class of materials—Mn3Sn. We demonstrate that the observed contrast is of magnetic origin. We further show an algorithm to prepare a well-defined domain pattern at room temperature based on heat assisted recording principle. Our study opens up a prospect to study spintronics phenomena in non-collinear antiferromagnets with spatial resolution.
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    More Specific Signal Detection in Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging by False Discovery Rate Control for Hierarchically Structured Systems of Hypotheses
    (San Francisco, California, US : PLOS, 2016) Schildknecht, Konstantin; Tabelow, Karsten; Dickhaus, Thorsten
    Signal detection in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) inherently involves the problem of testing a large number of hypotheses. A popular strategy to address this multiplicity is the control of the false discovery rate (FDR). In this work we consider the case where prior knowledge is available to partition the set of all hypotheses into disjoint subsets or families, e. g., by a-priori knowledge on the functionality of certain regions of interest. If the proportion of true null hypotheses differs between families, this structural information can be used to increase statistical power. We propose a two-stage multiple test procedure which first excludes those families from the analysis for which there is no strong evidence for containing true alternatives. We show control of the family-wise error rate at this first stage of testing. Then, at the second stage, we proceed to test the hypotheses within each non-excluded family and obtain asymptotic control of the FDR within each family at this second stage. Our main mathematical result is that this two-stage strategy implies asymptotic control of the FDR with respect to all hypotheses. In simulations we demonstrate the increased power of this new procedure in comparison with established procedures in situations with highly unbalanced families. Finally, we apply the proposed method to simulated and to real fMRI data.
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    Association between population distribution and urban GDP scaling
    (San Francisco, California, US : PLOS, 2021) Ribeiro, Haroldo V.; Oehlers, Milena; Moreno-Monroy, Ana I; Kropp, Jürgen P.; Rybski, Diego
    Urban scaling and Zipf’s law are two fundamental paradigms for the science of cities. These laws have mostly been investigated independently and are often perceived as disassociated matters. Here we present a large scale investigation about the connection between these two laws using population and GDP data from almost five thousand consistently-defined cities in 96 countries. We empirically demonstrate that both laws are tied to each other and derive an expression relating the urban scaling and Zipf exponents. This expression captures the average tendency of the empirical relation between both exponents, and simulations yield very similar results to the real data after accounting for random variations. We find that while the vast majority of countries exhibit increasing returns to scale of urban GDP, this effect is less pronounced in countries with fewer small cities and more metropolises (small Zipf exponent) than in countries with a more uneven number of small and large cities (large Zipf exponent). Our research puts forward the idea that urban scaling does not solely emerge from intra-city processes, as population distribution and scaling of urban GDP are correlated to each other.
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    Climate change and specialty coffee potential in Ethiopia
    ([London] : Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature, 2021) Chemura, Abel; Mudereri, Bester Tawona; Yalew, Amsalu Woldie; Gornott, Christoph
    Current climate change impact studies on coffee have not considered impact on coffee typicities that depend on local microclimatic, topographic and soil characteristics. Thus, this study aims to provide a quantitative risk assessment of the impact of climate change on suitability of five premium specialty coffees in Ethiopia. We implement an ensemble model of three machine learning algorithms to predict current and future (2030s, 2050s, 2070s, and 2090s) suitability for each specialty coffee under four Shared Socio-economic Pathways (SSPs). Results show that the importance of variables determining coffee suitability in the combined model is different from those for specialty coffees despite the climatic factors remaining more important in determining suitability than topographic and soil variables. Our model predicts that 27% of the country is generally suitable for coffee, and of this area, only up to 30% is suitable for specialty coffees. The impact modelling showed that the combined model projects a net gain in coffee production suitability under climate change in general but losses in five out of the six modelled specialty coffee growing areas. We conclude that depending on drivers of suitability and projected impacts, climate change will significantly affect the Ethiopian speciality coffee sector and area-specific adaptation measures are required to build resilience.