Convolutional sparse coding-based deep random vector functional link network for distress classification of road structures

This paper presents a convolutional sparse coding (CSC)-based deep random vector functional link network (CSDRN) for distress classification of road structures. The main contribution of this paper is the introduction of CSC into a feature extraction scheme in the distress classification. CSC can extract visual features representing characteristics of target images because it can successfully estimate optimal convolutional dictionary filters and sparse features as visual features by training from a small number of distress images. The optimal dictionaries trained from distress images have basic components of visual characteristics such as edge and line information of distress images. Furthermore, sparse feature maps estimated on the basis of the dictionaries represent both strength of the basic components and location information of regions having their components, and these maps can represent distress images. That is, sparse feature maps can extract key components from distress images that have diverse visual characteristics. Therefore, CSC-based feature extraction is effective for training from a limited number of distress images that have diverse visual characteristics. The construction of a novel neural network, CSDRN, by the use of a combination of CSC-based feature extraction and the DRN classifier, which can also be trained from a small dataset, is shown in this paper. Accurate distress classification is realized via the CSDRN

Impact of Machine Learning Pipeline Choices in Autism Prediction from Functional Connectivity Data

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a largely prevalent neurodevelopmental condition with a big social and economical impact affecting the entire life of families. There is an intense search for biomarkers that can be assessed as early as possible in order to initiate treatment and preparation of the family to deal with the challenges imposed by the condition. Brain imaging biomarkers have special interest. Specifically, functional connectivity data extracted from resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) should allow to detect brain connectivity alterations. Machine learning pipelines encompass the estimation of the functional connectivity matrix from brain parcellations, feature extraction, and building classification models for ASD prediction. The works reported in the literature are very heterogeneous from the computational and methodological point of view. In this paper, we carry out a comprehensive computational exploration of the impact of the choices involved while building these machine learning pipelines. Specifically, we consider six brain parcellation definitions, five methods for functional connectivity matrix construction, six feature extraction/selection approaches, and nine classifier building algorithms. We report the prediction performance sensitivity to each of these choices, as well as the best results that are comparable with the state of the art.This work has been partially supported by theFEDER funds through MINECO project TIN2017-85827-P. This project has received funding from theEuropean Union’s Horizon 2020 research and inno-vation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curiegrant agreement No 77772