Learning to Detect Noisy Labels Using Model-Based Features

Label noise is ubiquitous in various machine learning scenarios such as self-labeling with model predictions and erroneous data annotation. Many existing approaches are based on heuristics such as sample losses, which might not be flexible enough to achieve optimal solutions. Meta learning based methods address this issue by learning a data selection function, but can be hard to optimize. In light of these pros and cons, we propose Selection-Enhanced Noisy label Training (SENT) that does not rely on meta learning while having the flexibility of being data-driven. SENT transfers the noise distribution to a clean set and trains a model to distinguish noisy labels from clean ones using model-based features. Empirically, on a wide range of tasks including text classification and speech recognition, SENT improves performance over strong baselines under the settings of self-training and label corruption

Abdominal type B vs. type C radical hysterectomy in early-stage cervical cancer: A matched single center cohort report

ObjectiveTo compare survival outcomes of type B radical hysterectomy (RH) and type C RH in patients with early-stage cervical cancer.MethodsWe retrospectively identified continuous cervical cancer patients with FIGO stage IA2-IB2 and IIA1 who underwent either type B RH (n = 278) or type C RH (n = 148) performed by the same group of surgeons between 2009 and 2018. Propensity score matching was carried out to minimize selection biases. Intraoperative photographs, immediate postoperative questionnaire and specimen measurements were used to accurately determine the extensive of surgery. We further narrowed the study population to patients with specific histological subtypes and patients with deep stromal invasion.ResultsThe median follow-up period was 42.41 ± 24.60 months. After adjusting, no differences in the 5-year overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were found between the type B group and the type C group (OS: 87.8% vs. 89.4%, P = 0.814; DFS: 84.9% vs. 85.6%, P = 0.898). In further analysis of patients with squamous-cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, adenosquamous carcinoma, similar 5-year OS and DFS rates were found between two groups (OS: 88.7% vs. 97.1%, P = 0.250; DFS: 84.7% vs. 92.3%, P = 0.541). Consistent results were found in patients with deep stromal invasion (OS: 81.8% vs. 100%, P = 0.144; DFS: 82.8% vs. 100%, P = 0.128).ConclusionsType B RH could be used to treat FIGO stage IA2-IB2 and IIA1 cervical cancer to get equivalent 5-year OS and DFS. Further randomized controlled trials are warranted

TMS-evoked potential in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to assess the severity of depression disease: a TMS-EEG study

Objective: The combined use of transcranial magnetic stimulation and electroencephalography (TMS-EEG), as a powerful technique that can non-invasively probe the state of the brain, can be used as a method to study neurophysiological markers in the field of psychiatric disorders and discover potential diagnostic predictors. This study used TMS-evoked potentials (TEPs) to study the cortical activity of patients with major depressive disorder depression (MDD) and the correlation with clinical symptoms to provide an electrophysiological basis for the clinical diagnosis.Methods: A total of 41 patients and 42 healthy controls were recruited to study. Using TMS-EEG techniques to measure the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) ‘s TEP index and evaluate the clinical symptoms of MDD patients using the Hamilton Depression Scale-24 (HAMD-24).Results: MDD subjects performing TMS-EEG on the DLPFC showed lower cortical excitability P60 index levels than healthy controls. Further analysis revealed that the degree of P60 excitability within the DLPFC of MDD patients was significantly negatively correlated with the severity of depression.Conclusion: The low levels of P60 exhibited in DLPFC reflect low excitability in MDD; the P60 component can be used as a biomarker for MDD in clinical assessment tools

Numerical Solution of the Cauchy-Type Singular Integral Equation with a Highly Oscillatory Kernel Function

This paper aims to present a Clenshaw–Curtis–Filon quadrature to approximate thesolution of various cases of Cauchy-type singular integral equations (CSIEs) of the second kind witha highly oscillatory kernel function. We adduce that the zero case oscillation (k = 0) proposed methodgives more accurate results than the scheme introduced in Dezhbord at el. (2016) and Eshkuvatovat el. (2009) for small values of N. Finally, this paper illustrates some error analyses and numericalresults for CSIEs

A Collocation Numerical Method for Highly Oscillatory Algebraic Singular Volterra Integral Equations

The highly oscillatory algebraic singular Volterra integral equations cannot be solved directly. A collocation numerical method is proposed to overcome the difficulty created by the highly oscillatory algebraic singular kernel. This paper is composed primarily of two methods—the piecewise constant collocation method and the piecewise linear collocation method—in which uniformly distributed nodes serve as collocation points. For the efficient computation of highly oscillatory and algebraic singular integrals, the steepest descent method as well as the Gauss–Laguerre and generalized Gauss–Laguerre quadrature rules are employed. Consequently, the resulting linear system is solved for the unknown function approximated by the Lagrange interpolation polynomial. Detailed theoretical analysis is carried out and numerical experiments showing high accuracy are also presented to confirm our analysis

Establishment and optimization of a hydroponic system for root morphological and nutritional analysis of citrus

The hydroponic growth system is a convenient platform for studying whole plant physiology, especially for root morphological and nutritional analysis. However, we found that most hydroponic systems described in the literature are not suitable for citrus plants. In this study, a hydroponic system for citrus was designed, comprising three principal components: power and time switch, aeration and hydroponic culture. Herein, details of the protocol were described, including equipment setup, seed pregermination and cultivation, together with preparation and transfer of nutrient solution into hydroponics. In order to demonstrate the adaptability of the trifoliate orange plant to our hydroponic system, comparative tests between soil- and hydroponically-grown plants were carried out. The results showed that the plants grew normally and there were no obvious differences between soil- and hydroponically-grown plants. In addition, nutrient deficiency and transcriptional analysis were carried out to test the efficiency, functionality and suitability of our hydroponic system for the application of physiological and molecular analysis. The results, compared with previous studies, showed that our hydroponic system delivered superior performance as regards the physiological and molecular analysis. Taken together, we established the culture system which is best suited for the growth of trifoliate oranges under hydroponic conditions. The hydroponic system described in this paper is easily constructed and controlled at a low cost. It may serve a wide gamut of experimental purposes, especially root morphological and nutritional analysis of trifoliate oranges and the system is also adaptable to other citrus plants by varying the device size

Design and Experimental Verification of a General Single-Switch N-Stage Z-Network High Gain Boost Converter

A single-switch N-stage Z-network high-gain boost converter is proposed in this study, which can be applied in the field of chip etching for bias provision. The circuit topology, operation mode, voltage gain and the control strategy are analyzed. Thereafter, the steady-state performance of the circuit is analyzed with small signal stability modeling. A simulation model is built using Simulink and compared with the traditional quadratic circuit. Combined with the control strategy, the circuit can obtain better steady-state performance by controlling the number of working N-networks and adjusting the duty ratio in the case of high voltage, wide range of voltage output and dynamic voltage output. The simulation model and hardware prototype of the single-switch four-stage Z-network high-gain boost circuit are built and tested, which have verified the effectiveness of the proposed design