13 research outputs found
On Privileged and Convergent Bases in Neural Network Representations
In this study, we investigate whether the representations learned by neural
networks possess a privileged and convergent basis. Specifically, we examine
the significance of feature directions represented by individual neurons.
First, we establish that arbitrary rotations of neural representations cannot
be inverted (unlike linear networks), indicating that they do not exhibit
complete rotational invariance. Subsequently, we explore the possibility of
multiple bases achieving identical performance. To do this, we compare the
bases of networks trained with the same parameters but with varying random
initializations. Our study reveals two findings: (1) Even in wide networks such
as WideResNets, neural networks do not converge to a unique basis; (2) Basis
correlation increases significantly when a few early layers of the network are
frozen identically.
Furthermore, we analyze Linear Mode Connectivity, which has been studied as a
measure of basis correlation. Our findings give evidence that while Linear Mode
Connectivity improves with increased network width, this improvement is not due
to an increase in basis correlation.Comment: In the Workshop on High-dimensional Learning Dynamics at ICML 202
Minnorm training: an algorithm for training over-parameterized deep neural networks
In this work, we propose a new training method for finding minimum weight
norm solutions in over-parameterized neural networks (NNs). This method seeks
to improve training speed and generalization performance by framing NN training
as a constrained optimization problem wherein the sum of the norm of the
weights in each layer of the network is minimized, under the constraint of
exactly fitting training data. It draws inspiration from support vector
machines (SVMs), which are able to generalize well, despite often having an
infinite number of free parameters in their primal form, and from recent
theoretical generalization bounds on NNs which suggest that lower norm
solutions generalize better. To solve this constrained optimization problem,
our method employs Lagrange multipliers that act as integrators of error over
training and identify `support vector'-like examples. The method can be
implemented as a wrapper around gradient based methods and uses standard
back-propagation of gradients from the NN for both regression and
classification versions of the algorithm. We provide theoretical justifications
for the effectiveness of this algorithm in comparison to early stopping and
-regularization using simple, analytically tractable settings. In
particular, we show faster convergence to the max-margin hyperplane in a
shallow network (compared to vanilla gradient descent); faster convergence to
the minimum-norm solution in a linear chain (compared to -regularization);
and initialization-independent generalization performance in a deep linear
network. Finally, using the MNIST dataset, we demonstrate that this algorithm
can boost test accuracy and identify difficult examples in real-world datasets
Comparative study of hysteroscopy with ultrasonography and its correlation with histopathology in cases of abnormal uterine bleeding in perimenipausal women
Background: The aim was to compare the diagnostic efficacy of ultrasonography (USG) and hysteroscopy in detecting uterine abnormalities in abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB) by correlating the results with histopathological examination.Methods: This prospective study was conducted among women attending gynecological OPD of Subharti medical college, Meerut over a period of two years from October 2019 to August 2021. A total of 100 perimenopasual women with AUB attending obstetrics and gynaecology OPD were included in this study. All patients underwent transvaginal scan to note down the endometrial thickness and to rule out uterine and adnexal pathology. All the patients underwent diagnostic hysteroscopy, followed by a biopsy of the endometrium using a curette. The endometrium was sent to the pathologist. Findings of these diagnostic modalities then correlated.Results: Out of 100 women, USG detected that 54 patients (54%) had no pathology and 46 patients (46%) had abnormal findings, out of which maximum patients, 29 patients (63.04%) had endometrial hyperplasia. According to hysteroscopy, 46 patients (46%) had normal hysteroscopic findings while 54 patients (54%) had abnormal findings of which maximum were 18 patients (33.33%) who had endometrial hyperplasia. Histopathology findings revealed that 47 patients (47%) had normal findings and 53 patients (53%) had abnormal findings out of which maximum patients 20 (37.7%) had endometrial hyperplasia. In our study of 100 women with AUB, on USG only 1 patient had endometrial malignancy and the same was reported by hysteroscopy and histopathology.Conclusions: In our study hysteroscopy proved to be highly sensitive and specific considering histopathology as gold standard. Ultrasonography has good sensitivity and specificity but less as compared to hysteroscopy
Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries
Abstract
Background
Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres.
Methods
This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries.
Results
In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia.
Conclusion
This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries
Altered cerebellar lobular volumes correlate with clinical deficits in siblings and children with ASD: evidence from toddlers
Abstract Background Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social and communication skills, narrow interests, and repetitive behavior. It is known that the cerebellum plays a vital role in controlling movement and gait posture. However, recently, researchers have reported that the cerebellum may also be responsible for other functions, such as social cognition, reward, anxiety, language, and executive functions. Methods In this study, we ascertained volumetric differences from cerebellar lobular analysis from children with ASD, ASD siblings, and typically developing healthy controls. In this cross-sectional study, a total of 30 children were recruited, including children with ASD (N = 15; mean age = 27.67 ± 5.1 months), ASD siblings (N = 6; mean age = 17.5 ± 3.79 months), and typically developing children (N = 9; mean age = 17.67 ± 3.21 months). All the MRI data was acquired under natural sleep without using any sedative medication. We performed a correlation analysis with volumetric data and developmental and behavioral measures obtained from these children. Two-way ANOVA and Pearson correlation was performed for statistical data analysis. Results We observed intriguing findings from this study, including significantly increased gray matter lobular volumes in multiple cerebellar regions including; vermis, left and right lobule I–V, right CrusII, and right VIIb and VIIIb, respectively, in children with ASD, compared to typically developing healthy controls and ASD siblings. Multiple cerebellar lobular volumes were also significantly correlated with social quotient, cognition, language, and motor scores with children with ASD, ASD siblings, and healthy controls, respectively. Conclusions This research finding helps us understand the neurobiology of ASD and ASD-siblings, and critically advances current knowledge about the cerebellar role in ASD. However, results need to be replicated for a larger cohort from longitudinal research study in future