Queensland University of Technology

About: Queensland University of Technology is a education organization based out in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 14188 authors who have published 55022 publications receiving 1496237 citations. The organization is also known as: QUT.

Survey and critique of techniques for extracting rules from trained artificial neural networks

Abstract: It is becoming increasingly apparent that, without some form of explanation capability, the full potential of trained artificial neural networks (ANNs) may not be realised. This survey gives an overview of techniques developed to redress this situation. Specifically, the survey focuses on mechanisms, procedures, and algorithms designed to insert knowledge into ANNs (knowledge initialisation), extract rules from trained ANNs (rule extraction), and utilise ANNs to refine existing rule bases (rule refinement). The survey also introduces a new taxonomy for classifying the various techniques, discusses their modus operandi, and delineates criteria for evaluating their efficacy.

The burden of primary liver cancer and underlying etiologies from 1990 to 2015 at the global, regional, and national level : results from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

Abstract: Importance Liver cancer is among the leading causes of cancer deaths globally. The most common causes for liver cancer include hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection and alcohol use. Objective To report results of the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2015 study on primary liver cancer incidence, mortality, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) for 195 countries or territories from 1990 to 2015, and present global, regional, and national estimates on the burden of liver cancer attributable to HBV, HCV, alcohol, and an “other” group that encompasses residual causes. Design, Settings, and Participants Mortality was estimated using vital registration and cancer registry data in an ensemble modeling approach. Single-cause mortality estimates were adjusted for all-cause mortality. Incidence was derived from mortality estimates and the mortality-to-incidence ratio. Through a systematic literature review, data on the proportions of liver cancer due to HBV, HCV, alcohol, and other causes were identified. Years of life lost were calculated by multiplying each death by a standard life expectancy. Prevalence was estimated using mortality-to-incidence ratio as surrogate for survival. Total prevalence was divided into 4 sequelae that were multiplied by disability weights to derive years lived with disability (YLDs). DALYs were the sum of years of life lost and YLDs. Main Outcomes and Measures Liver cancer mortality, incidence, YLDs, years of life lost, DALYs by etiology, age, sex, country, and year. Results There were 854 000 incident cases of liver cancer and 810 000 deaths globally in 2015, contributing to 20 578 000 DALYs. Cases of incident liver cancer increased by 75% between 1990 and 2015, of which 47% can be explained by changing population age structures, 35% by population growth, and −8% to changing age-specific incidence rates. The male-to-female ratio for age-standardized liver cancer mortality was 2.8. Globally, HBV accounted for 265 000 liver cancer deaths (33%), alcohol for 245 000 (30%), HCV for 167 000 (21%), and other causes for 133 000 (16%) deaths, with substantial variation between countries in the underlying etiologies. Conclusions and Relevance Liver cancer is among the leading causes of cancer deaths in many countries. Causes of liver cancer differ widely among populations. Our results show that most cases of liver cancer can be prevented through vaccination, antiviral treatment, safe blood transfusion and injection practices, as well as interventions to reduce excessive alcohol use. In line with the Sustainable Development Goals, the identification and elimination of risk factors for liver cancer will be required to achieve a sustained reduction in liver cancer burden. The GBD study can be used to guide these prevention efforts.

A human identification technique using images of the iris and wavelet transform

Abstract: A new approach for recognizing the iris of the human eye is presented. Zero-crossings of the wavelet transform at various resolution levels are calculated over concentric circles on the iris, and the resulting one-dimensional (1-D) signals are compared with model features using different dissimilarity functions.

Temperature and soil organic matter decomposition rates – synthesis of current knowledge and a way forward

Abstract: The response of soil organic matter (OM) decomposition to increasing temperature is a critical aspect of ecosystem responses to global change The impacts of climate warming on decomposition dynamics have not been resolved due to apparently contradictory results from field and lab experiments, most of which has focused on labile carbon with short turnover times But the majority of total soil carbon stocks are comprised of organic carbon with turnover times of decades to centuries Understanding the response of these carbon pools to climate change is essential for forecasting longer-term changes in soil carbon storage Herein, we briefly synthesize information from recent studies that have been conducted using a wide variety of approaches In our effort to understand research to-date, we derive a new conceptual model that explicitly identifies the processes controlling soil OM availability for decomposition and allows a more explicit description of the factors regulating OM decomposition under different circumstances It explicitly defines resistance of soil OM to decomposition as being due either to its chemical conformation (quality )o r its physico-chemical protection from decomposition The former is embodied in the depolymerization process, the latter by adsorption/desorption and aggregate turnover We hypothesize a strong role for variation in temperature sensitivity as a function of reaction rates for both We conclude that important advances in understanding the temperature response of the processes that control substrate availability, depolymerization, microbial efficiency, and enzyme production will be needed to predict the fate of soil carbon stocks in a warmer world