Genetic prediction of ICU hospitalization and mortality in COVID-19 patients using artificial neural networks

There is an unmet need of models for early prediction of morbidity and mortality of Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). We aimed to a) identify complement-related genetic variants associated with the clinical outcomes of ICU hospitalization and death, b) develop an artificial neural network (ANN) predicting these outcomes and c) validate whether complement-related variants are associated with an impaired complement phenotype. We prospectively recruited consecutive adult patients of Caucasian origin, hospitalized due to COVID-19. Through targeted next-generation sequencing, we identified variants in complement factor H/CFH, CFB, CFH-related, CFD, CD55, C3, C5, CFI, CD46, thrombomodulin/THBD, and A Disintegrin and Metalloproteinase with Thrombospondin motifs (ADAMTS13). Among 381 variants in 133 patients, we identified 5 critical variants associated with severe COVID-19: rs2547438 (C3), rs2250656 (C3), rs1042580 (THBD), rs800292 (CFH) and rs414628 (CFHR1). Using age, gender and presence or absence of each variant, we developed an ANN predicting morbidity and mortality in 89.47% of the examined population. Furthermore, THBD and C3a levels were significantly increased in severe COVID-19 patients and those harbouring relevant variants. Thus, we reveal for the first time an ANN accurately predicting ICU hospitalization and death in COVID-19 patients, based on genetic variants in complement genes, age and gender. Importantly, we confirm that genetic dysregulation is associated with impaired complement phenotype

A novel TS Fuzzy-GMDH model optimized by PSO to determine the deformation values of rock material

Since determining the rock deformation directly in the laboratory is costly and time consuming, it is important to reliably determine/estimate this parameter through the use of several simple rock index tests. This study develops a new hybrid intelligent technique according to Takagi–Sugeno Fuzzy Inference System-Group Method of Data Handling optimized by the particle swarm optimization, called TS Fuzzy-GMDH-PSO for prediction of the rock deformation. The PSO role in this advanced system is to optimize the membership functions of TS Fuzzy-GMDH model for enhancing the level of prediction capacity. In this research, four rock index tests including Schmidt hammer, p-wave velocity, porosity and point load were selected and conducted in laboratory in order to establish a suitable database for prediction purposes. To demonstrate the feasibility and applicability of the advanced hybrid model, two base models of TS Fuzzy and GMDH were also modeled to forecast rock deformation. After conducting several sensitivity analyses on the mentioned models to get the highest performance capacity, their prediction levels were evaluated using some statistical indices, such as root mean square error and correlation coefficient (R). The comparative results confirmed the superiority of the TS Fuzzy-GMDH-PSO over other two models, namely TS Fuzzy and GMDH in terms of both train and test phases. It can be concluded that the TS Fuzzy-GMDH-PSO can be recommended as a powerful, capable and new model to solve the problems related to rock strength and deformation

Intelligent prediction of blasting-induced ground vibration using ANFIS optimized by GA and PSO

Ground vibration induced by rock blasting is one of the most crucial problems in surface mines and tunneling projects. Hence, accurate prediction of ground vibration is an important prerequisite in the minimization of its environmental impacts. This study proposes hybrid intelligent models to predict ground vibration using adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) optimized by particle swarm optimization (PSO) and genetic algorithms (GAs). To build prediction models using ANFIS, ANFIS–GA, and ANFIS–PSO, a database was established, consisting of 86 data samples gathered from two quarries in Iran. The input parameters of the proposed models were the burden, spacing, stemming, powder factor, maximum charge per delay (MCD), and distance from the blast points, while peak particle velocity (PPV) was considered as the output parameter. Based on the sensitivity analysis results, MCD was found as the most effective parameter of PPV. To check the applicability and efficiency of the proposed models, several traditional performance indices such as determination coefficient (R2) and root-mean-square error (RMSE) were computed. The obtained results showed that the proposed ANFIS–GA and ANFIS–PSO models were capable of statistically predicting ground vibration with excellent levels of accuracy. Compared to the ANFIS, the ANFIS–GA model showed an approximately 61% decrease in RMSE and 10% increase in R2. Also, the ANFIS–PSO model showed an approximately 53% decrease in RMSE and 9% increase in R2 compared to ANFIS. In other words, the ANFIS performance was optimized with the use of GA and PSO

A hybrid artificial bee colony algorithm-artificial neural network for forecasting the blast-produced ground vibration

Drilling and blasting is an inseparable part of the rock fragmentation process in open-pit mines. Prediction of blast-produced ground vibration is considered as an important issue in blasting works. The aim of this study is to propose a hybrid model for predicting blast-produced ground vibration in the Miduk copper mine, Iran, using combination of the artificial neural network (ANN) combined with artificial bee colony (ABC) (codename ABC-ANN). Here, ABC was used as an optimization algorithm to adjust weights and biases of the ANN. The predicted values of ground vibration by ANN and ABC-ANN models were also compared with several empirical models. In this regard, 89 blasting events were monitored and values of two influential factors on ground vibration, i.e., maximum charge weight used per delay (MC) and distance between monitoring station and blasting-point (DI) together with their peak particle velocity values (as an index of ground vibration) were carefully measured. The results of the predictive models have been compared with the data at hand using mean absolute percentage error, root mean squared error and coefficient of correlation (R2) criteria. Eventually, it was indicated that the constructed ABC-ANN model outperforms the other models in terms of the prediction accuracy and the generalization capability