Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) is a blood clot most commonly found in the leg, which can lead to fatal pulmonary embolism (PE). Compression ultrasound of the legs is the diagnostic gold standard, leading to a definitive diagnosis. However, many patients with possible symptoms are not found to have a DVT, resulting in long referral waiting times for patients and a large clinical burden for specialists. Thus, diagnosis at the point of care by non-specialists is desired. We collect images in a pre-clinical study and investigate a deep learning approach for the automatic interpretation of compression ultrasound images. Our method provides guidance for free-hand ultrasound and aids non-specialists in detecting DVT. We train a deep learning algorithm on ultrasound videos from 255 volunteers and evaluate on a sample size of 53 prospectively enrolled patients from an NHS DVT diagnostic clinic and 30 prospectively enrolled patients from a German DVT clinic. Algorithmic DVT diagnosis performance results in a sensitivity within a 95% CI range of (0.82, 0.94), specificity of (0.70, 0.82), a positive predictive value of (0.65, 0.89), and a negative predictive value of (0.99, 1.00) when compared to the clinical gold standard. To assess the potential benefits of this technology in healthcare we evaluate the entire clinical DVT decision algorithm and provide cost analysis when integrating our approach into diagnostic pathways for DVT. Our approach is estimated to generate a positive net monetary benefit at costs up to £72 to £175 per software-supported examination, assuming a willingness to pay of £20,000/QALY.

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Non-invasive diagnosis of deep vein thrombosis from ultrasound imaging with machine learning.

The fingerprinting technique is a popular approach to reveal location of persons, instruments or devices in an indoor environment. Typically based on signal strength measurement, a power level map is created first in the learning phase to align with measured values in the inference. Second, the location is determined by taking the point for which the recorded received power level is closest to the power level actually measured. The biggest limit of this technique is the reliability of power measurements, which may lack accuracy in many wireless systems. To this end, this work extends the power level measurement by using multiple anchors and multiple radio channels and, consequently, considers different approaches to aligning the actual measurements with the recorded values. The dataset is available online. This article focuses on the very popular radio technology Bluetooth Low Energy to explore the possible improvement of the system accuracy through different machine learning approaches. It shows how the accuracy–complexity trade-off influences the possible candidate algorithms on an example of three-channel Bluetooth received signal strength based fingerprinting in a one dimensional environment with four static anchors and in a two dimensional environment with the same set of anchors. We provide a literature survey to identify the machine learning algorithms applied in the literature to show that the studies available can not be compared directly. Then, we implement and analyze the performance of four most popular supervised learning techniques, namely k Nearest Neighbors, Support Vector Machines, Random Forest, and Artificial Neural Network. In our scenario, the most promising machine learning technique being the Random Forest with classification accuracy over 99%.

Received Signal Strength Fingerprinting-Based Indoor Location Estimation Employing Machine Learning

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental life condition characterized by problems with social interaction, low verbal and non-verbal communication skills, and repetitive and restricted behavior. People with ASD usually have variable attention levels because they have hypersensitivity and large amounts of environmental information are a problem for them. Attention is a process that occurs at the cognitive level and allows us to orient ourselves towards relevant stimuli, ignoring those that are not, and act accordingly. This paper presents a methodology based on electroencephalographic (EEG) signals for attention measurement in a 13-year-old boy diagnosed with ASD. The EEG signals are acquired with an Epoc+ Brain–Computer Interface (BCI) via the Emotiv Pro platform while developing several learning activities and using Matlab 2019a for signal processing. For this article, we propose to use electrodes F3, F4, P7, and P8. Then, we calculate the band power spectrum density to detect the Theta Relative Power (TRP), Alpha Relative Power (ARP), Beta Relative Power (BRP), Theta–Beta Ratio (TBR), Theta–Alpha Ratio (TAR), and Theta/(Alpha+Beta), which are features related to attention detection and neurofeedback. We train and evaluate several machine learning (ML) models with these features. In this study, the multi-layer perceptron neural network model (MLP-NN) has the best performance, with an AUC of 0.9299, Cohen’s Kappa coefficient of 0.8597, Matthews correlation coefficient of 0.8602, and Hamming loss of 0.0701. These findings make it possible to develop better learning scenarios according to the person’s needs with ASD. Moreover, it makes it possible to obtain quantifiable information on their progress to reinforce the perception of the teacher or therapist.

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Attention Measurement of an Autism Spectrum Disorder User Using EEG Signals: A Case Study

Deep venous thrombosis (DVT) is a disease that must be diagnosed quickly, as it can trigger the death of patients. Nowadays, one can find different ways to determine it, including clinical scoring, D-dimer, ultrasonography, etc. Recently, scientists have focused efforts on using machine learning (ML) and neural networks for disease diagnosis, progressively increasing the accuracy and efficacy. Patients with suspected DVT have no apparent symptoms. Using pattern recognition techniques, aiding good timely diagnosis, as well as well-trained ML models help to make good decisions and validation. The aim of this paper is to propose several ML models for a more efficient and reliable DVT diagnosis through its implementation on an edge device for the development of instruments that are smart, portable, reliable, and cost-effective. The dataset was obtained from a state-of-the-art article. It is divided into 85% for training and cross-validation and 15% for testing. The input data in this study are the Wells criteria, the patient’s age, and the patient’s gender. The output data correspond to the patient’s diagnosis. This study includes the evaluation of several classifiers such as Decision Trees (DT), Extra Trees (ET), K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN), Multi-Layer Perceptron Neural Network (MLP-NN), Random Forest (RF), and Support Vector Machine (SVM). Finally, the implementation of these ML models on a high-performance embedded system is proposed to develop an intelligent system for early DVT diagnosis. It is reliable, portable, open source, and low cost. The performance of different ML algorithms was evaluated, where KNN achieved the highest accuracy of 90.4% and specificity of 80.66% implemented on personal computer (PC) and Raspberry Pi 4 (RPi4). The accuracy of all trained models on PC and Raspberry Pi 4 is greater than 85%, while the area under the curve (AUC) values are between 0.81 and 0.86. In conclusion, as compared to traditional methods, the best ML classifiers are effective at predicting DVT in an early and efficient manner.

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Evaluation of Machine Learning Algorithms for Early Diagnosis of Deep Venous Thrombosis

In brain–computer interfaces (BCIs), it is crucial to process brain signals to improve the accuracy of the classification of motor movements. Machine learning (ML) algorithms such as artificial neural networks (ANNs), linear discriminant analysis (LDA), decision tree (D.T.), K-nearest neighbor (KNN), naive Bayes (N.B.), and support vector machine (SVM) have made significant progress in classification issues. This paper aims to present a signal processing analysis of electroencephalographic (EEG) signals among different feature extraction techniques to train selected classification algorithms to classify signals related to motor movements. The motor movements considered are related to the left hand, right hand, both fists, feet, and relaxation, making this a multiclass problem. In this study, nine ML algorithms were trained with a dataset created by the feature extraction of EEG signals.The EEG signals of 30 Physionet subjects were used to create a dataset related to movement. We used electrodes C3, C1, CZ, C2, and C4 according to the standard 10-10 placement. Then, we extracted the epochs of the EEG signals and applied tone, amplitude levels, and statistical techniques to obtain the set of features. LabVIEW™2015 version custom applications were used for reading the EEG signals; for channel selection, noise filtering, band selection, and feature extraction operations; and for creating the dataset. MATLAB 2021a was used for training, testing, and evaluating the performance metrics of the ML algorithms. In this study, the model of Medium-ANN achieved the best performance, with an AUC average of 0.9998, Cohen’s Kappa coefficient of 0.9552, a Matthews correlation coefficient of 0.9819, and a loss of 0.0147. These findings suggest the applicability of our approach to different scenarios, such as implementing robotic prostheses, where the use of superficial features is an acceptable option when resources are limited, as in embedded systems or edge computing devices.

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Evaluation of Machine Learning Algorithms for Classification of EEG Signals

The use of a back-propagation artificial neural network (ANN) to systematize the reliability of a Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT) diagnostic by using Wells’ criteria is introduced herein. In this paper, a new ANN model is proposed to improve the Accuracy when dealing with a highly unbalanced dataset. To create the training dataset, a new data augmentation algorithm based on statistical data known as the prevalence of DVT of real cases reported in literature and from the public hospital is proposed. The above is used to generate one dataset of 10,000 synthetic cases. Each synthetic case has nine risk factors according to Wells’ criteria and also the use of two additional factors, such as gender and age, is proposed. According to interviews with medical specialists, a training scheme was established. In addition, a new algorithm is presented to improve the Accuracy and Sensitivity/Recall. According to the proposed algorithm, two thresholds of decision were found, the first one is 0.484, which is to improve Accuracy. The other one is 0.138 to improve Sensitivity/Recall. The Accuracy achieved is 90.99%, which is greater than that obtained with other related machine learning methods. The proposed ANN model was validated performing the k-fold cross validation technique using a dataset with 10,000 synthetic cases. The test was performed by using 59 real cases obtained from a regional hospital, achieving an Accuracy of 98.30%.

https://www.mdpi.com/2079-9292/9/11/1810/pdf

An Artificial Neural Network Approach and a Data Augmentation Algorithm to Systematize the Diagnosis of Deep-Vein Thrombosis by Using Wells’ Criteria

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems to generate images from natural language are a game changer in graphic design. However, in visual persuasive communication, the image is not just a drawing, but is the message itself. It arises from the need for understanding how AI systems could be adopted in the design of visual communication. Thus, this article presents a model that describes the theoretical–methodological factors present in the design of persuasive visual discourses, which arises from a qualitative study with an analysis of grounded theory from the opinion of experts in the essential areas for visual communication. Thus, we propose a model to guide the design process of persuasive messages throughout seven stages. Additionally, an analysis for contributing to the orderly and informed incorporation of technologies, techniques, and methods relevant to each stage is presented.

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David Abdel Mejía-Medina

Papers

An Artificial Neural Network Approach and a Data Augmentation Algorithm to Systematize the Diagnosis of Deep-Vein Thrombosis by Using Wells’ Criteria

Addressing the Use of Artificial Intelligence Tools in the Design of Visual Persuasive Discourses