Evaluating deep transfer learning for whole-brain cognitive decoding

With the increasing integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in several scientific domains, there is a rising demand for advanced AI tools capable of addressing advanced research challenges. A challenge of paramount importance lies in accurately predicting the streamflow within river basins. Effective river flow prediction holds significant relevance, particularly given the substantial societal implications of river usage, encompassing areas such as transportation, agriculture, and power generation. The present study introduces a novel approach to streamflow prediction involving the development of a Deep Learning (DL) model that combines a convolutional neural network with Transfer Learning (TL) techniques to predict streamflow in river systems. With the aim of training the developed DL model, the study employed a time-series dataset containing hydrological data related to two distinct river basins, i.e., Paraíba do Sul, in Brazil, and Zambezi in the state of Mozambique. The developed DL models exhibited the capability to effectively predict the river flow with a one-day horizon, relying on the preceding three or seven days of historical data. To overcome the limited availability of training data and reduce the training time of DL models, TL was leveraged to incorporate two additional distinct time-series datasets, i.e., historical streamflow data from the São Francisco River in Brazil, and climate data from Delhi, India. The application of TL significantly reduced training time, leading only to a minimal decrease in prediction performance. Indeed, in the case DL models were trained on data collected from the Paraíba do Sul River, a substantial reduction in training time was observed - up to 27% - with a modest percentage decrease of 0.31% in test predictive performance (). Similarly, TL induced a significant reduction in training time of up to 48%, while resulting in a modest 2% reduction in test predictive performance () for the Zambezi dataset. The findings underscore the significance of TL as a strategic and viable approach to improve the efficiency of river flow prediction models in the context of basins with limited hydrological data available.

COVID-19 is highly infectious and causes acute respiratory disease. Machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) models are vital in detecting disease from computerized chest tomography (CT) scans. The DL models outperformed the ML models. For COVID-19 detection from CT scan images, DL models are used as end-to-end models. Thus, the performance of the model is evaluated for the quality of the extracted feature and classification accuracy. There are four contributions included in this work. First, this research is motivated by studying the quality of the extracted feature from the DL by feeding these extracted to an ML model. In other words, we proposed comparing the end-to-end DL model performance against the approach of using DL for feature extraction and ML for the classification of COVID-19 CT scan images. Second, we proposed studying the effect of fusing extracted features from image descriptors, e.g., Scale-Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT), with extracted features from DL models. Third, we proposed a new Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to be trained from scratch and then compared to the deep transfer learning on the same classification problem. Finally, we studied the performance gap between classic ML models against ensemble learning models. The proposed framework is evaluated using a CT dataset, where the obtained results are evaluated using five different metrics The obtained results revealed that using the proposed CNN model is better than using the well-known DL model for the purpose of feature extraction. Moreover, using a DL model for feature extraction and an ML model for the classification task achieved better results in comparison to using an end-to-end DL model for detecting COVID-19 CT scan images. Of note, the accuracy rate of the former method improved by using ensemble learning models instead of the classic ML models. The proposed method achieved the best accuracy rate of 99.39%.

PurposeTo conduct a head-to-head comparison between deep learning (DL) and radiomics models across institutions for predicting microvascular invasion (MVI) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and to investigate the model robustness and generalizability through rigorous internal and external validation.MethodsThis retrospective study included 2304 preoperative images of 576 HCC lesions from two centers, with MVI status determined by postoperative histopathology. We developed DL and radiomics models for predicting the presence of MVI using B-mode ultrasound, contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) at the arterial, portal, and delayed phases, and a combined modality (B + CEUS). For radiomics, we constructed models with enlarged vs. original regions of interest (ROIs). A cross-validation approach was performed by training models on one center’s dataset and validating the other, and vice versa. This allowed assessment of the validity of different ultrasound modalities and the cross-center robustness of the models. The optimal model combined with alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) was also validated. The head-to-head comparison was based on the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC).ResultsThirteen DL models and 25 radiomics models using different ultrasound modalities were constructed and compared. B + CEUS was the optimal modality for both DL and radiomics models. The DL model achieved AUCs of 0.802–0.818 internally and 0.667–0.688 externally across the two centers, whereas radiomics achieved AUCs of 0.749–0.869 internally and 0.646–0.697 externally. The radiomics models showed overall improvement with enlarged ROIs (P < 0.05 for both CEUS and B + CEUS modalities). The DL models showed good cross-institutional robustness (P > 0.05 for all modalities, 1.6–2.1% differences in AUC for the optimal modality), whereas the radiomics models had relatively limited robustness across the two centers (12% drop-off in AUC for the optimal modality). Adding AFP improved the DL models (P < 0.05 externally) and well maintained the robustness, but did not benefit the radiomics model (P > 0.05).ConclusionCross-institutional validation indicated that DL demonstrated better robustness than radiomics for preoperative MVI prediction in patients with HCC, representing a promising solution to non-standardized ultrasound examination procedures.

Electricity load forecasting is a crucial undertaking within all the deregulated markets globally. Among the research challenges on a global scale, the investigation of deep transfer learning (DTL) in the field of electricity load forecasting represents a fundamental effort that can inform artificial intelligence applications in general. In this paper, a comprehensive study is reported regarding day-ahead electricity load forecasting. For this purpose, three sequence-to-sequence (Seq2seq) deep learning (DL) models are used, namely the multilayer perceptron (MLP), the convolutional neural network (CNN) and the ensemble learning model (ELM), which consists of the weighted combination of the outputs of MLP and CNN models. Also, the study focuses on the development of different forecasting strategies based on DTL, emphasizing the way the datasets are trained and fine-tuned for higher forecasting accuracy. In order to implement the forecasting strategies using deep learning models, load datasets from three Greek islands, Rhodes, Lesvos, and Chios, are used. The main purpose is to apply DTL for day-ahead predictions (1–24 h) for each month of the year for the Chios dataset after training and fine-tuning the models using the datasets of the three islands in various combinations. Four DTL strategies are illustrated. In the first strategy (DTL Case 1), each of the three DL models is trained using only the Lesvos dataset, while fine-tuning is performed on the dataset of Chios island, in order to create day-ahead predictions for the Chios load. In the second strategy (DTL Case 2), data from both Lesvos and Rhodes concurrently are used for the DL model training period, and fine-tuning is performed on the data from Chios. The third DTL strategy (DTL Case 3) involves the training of the DL models using the Lesvos dataset, and the testing period is performed directly on the Chios dataset without fine-tuning. The fourth strategy is a multi-task deep learning (MTDL) approach, which has been extensively studied in recent years. In MTDL, the three DL models are trained simultaneously on all three datasets and the final predictions are made on the unknown part of the dataset of Chios. The results obtained demonstrate that DTL can be applied with high efficiency for day-ahead load forecasting. Specifically, DTL Case 1 and 2 outperformed MTDL in terms of load prediction accuracy. Regarding the DL models, all three exhibit very high prediction accuracy, especially in the two cases with fine-tuning. The ELM excels compared to the single models. More specifically, for conducting day-ahead predictions, it is concluded that the MLP model presents the best monthly forecasts with MAPE values of 6.24% and 6.01% for the first two cases, the CNN model presents the best monthly forecasts with MAPE values of 5.57% and 5.60%, respectively, and the ELM model achieves the best monthly forecasts with MAPE values of 5.29% and 5.31%, respectively, indicating the very high accuracy it can achieve.

This study aims to develop and validate an interpretable deep learning (DL) model and a nomogram based on endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) images for the prediction of pathological grading in pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs). This multicenter retrospective study included 108 patients with PNETs, who were divided into train (n = 81, internal center) and test cohorts (n = 27, external centers). Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used for screening demographic characteristics and EUS semantic features. Deep transfer learning was employed using a pre-trained ResNet18 model to extract features from EUS images. Feature selection was conducted using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO), and various machine learning algorithms were utilized to construct DL models. The optimal model was then integrated with clinical features to develop a nomogram. The performance of the model was assessed using the area under the curve (AUC), calibration curves, decision curve analysis (DCA), and clinical impact curves (CIC). The nomogram, which integrates the optimal DL model (Naive Bayes) with clinical features, achieved AUC values of 0.928 (95% CI 0.849–0.981) in the train cohort and 0.882 (95% CI 0.778–0.954) in the test cohort. Calibration curves revealed minimal discrepancies between predicted and actual probabilities, with mean absolute errors of 4.5% and 6.6% in the train and test cohorts, respectively. DCA and CIC demonstrated substantial net benefit and clinical utility. The SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) method provided insights into the contribution of each DL feature to the model’s predictions. This study developed and validated a novel interpretable DL model and nomogram using EUS images and machine learning, which holds promise for enhancing the clinical application of EUS in identifying PNETs’ pathological grading.

Prediction of wake and output power for an offshore wind turbine under various wind conditions is essential to maximize energy generation and minimize wake effects. In previous studies, deep learning (DL) models developed using high-fidelity computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation results have demonstrated high accuracy and efficiency in predicting the wake characteristics and output power of offshore wind turbines. However, these existing DL models were typically developed for specific types of wind turbines, which cannot be directly used for a new turbine type. Development of a new DL model relying solely on simulation data from a new wind turbine would waste the valuable information contained in previous datasets and existing DL models, leading to increased computational costs for data collection. To address this issue, this paper aims to leverage a previously established simulation dataset and a pre-trained DL model for a wind turbine to develop a new model for another type of wind turbine. The proposed method requires only a small number of new simulations for model development using transfer learning with fine-tuning and model-agnostic meta-learning (MAML), thereby enhancing computational efficiency. The results demonstrate that the models developed using fine-tuning and MAML achieve lower prediction errors and less model training time compared to those trained directly on new wind turbine data. Furthermore, the model trained using MAML outperforms the fine-tuning model when the dataset size is extremely small, while the fine-tuning model has lower prediction errors with relatively larger datasets.

We aimed at comparing intratumoral and peritumoral deep learning, radiomics, and fusion models in predicting KRAS mutations in rectal cancer using endorectal ultrasound imaging. This study included 304 patients with rectal cancer from Fujian Medical University Union Hospital. The patients were randomly divided into a training group (213 patients) and a test group (91 patients) at a 7:3 ratio. Radiomics and deep learning models were established using primary tumor and peritumoral images. In the optimally performing regions-of-interest, two fusion strategies, a feature-based and a decision-based model, were employed to build the fusion models. The Shapley additive explanation (SHAP) method was used to evaluate the significance of features in the optimal radiomics, deep learning, and fusion models. The performance of each model was assessed using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and decision curve analysis (DCA). In the test cohort, both the radiomics and deep learning models exhibited optimal performance with a 10-pixel patch extension, yielding AUC values of 0.824 and 0.856, respectively. The feature-based DLRexpand10_FB model attained the highest AUC (0.896) across all study sets. In addition, the DLRexpand10_FB model demonstrated excellent sensitivity, specificity, and DCA. SHAP analysis underscored the deep learning feature (DL_1) as the most significant factor in the hybrid model. The feature-based fusion model DLRexpand10_FB can be employed to predict KRAS gene mutations based on pretreatment endorectal ultrasound images of rectal cancer. The integration of peritumoral regions enhanced the predictive performance of both the radiomics and deep learning models.

Deep learning has become widely used in image analysis. Transfer learning can make use of information from other datasets for the analysis of the chosen dataset. When there is a small number of images at hand, transfer learning using pre-trained models with coefficients already estimated from other datasets is recommended. This is in contrast to deep learning, where most model parameters are re-estimated. Deep transfer learning uses pre-trained models with fixed weight parameters in the lower layers; thus, deep learning can be viewed as a two-stage approach: (1) feature extraction from a lower neural network layer and (2) estimation of a neural network using the extracted features as inputs. Since deep transfer learning is feature extraction, we can extend the two-stage approach to a more general two-stage framework: (1) feature extraction using multiple methods and (2) machine learning methods taking extracted features as inputs. We evaluate the performance of methods with different Stage 1 and Stage 2 approaches in predicting the phenotype leaf numbers based on a multi-view plant imaging dataset. This paper contains an evaluation of different two-stage machine learning methods for multi-view image data in plant image phenotyping.

We developed a multimodal ultrasound (US) deep learning (DL) fusion model to automatically classify early fibrosis in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). This prospective study included patients with CKD who underwent continuous gray-scale US, superb microvascular imaging, and strain elastography from May to November 2022. According to the pathological tubular atrophy and interstitial fibrosis score, patients were divided into minimal and mild groups (affected area ≤10% and 11 − 25% of the total cortical volume, respectively). The dataset was divided into training (70%) and test (30%) sets. A DL model combining the features of the three US modes was developed to predict early fibrosis in patients with CKD. We compared these findings with the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of the clinical model by analyzing the receiver operating characteristic curve in the test set. The AUC of single-mode DL based on gray-scale US, superb microvascular imaging, and strain elastography was 0.682, 0.745, and 0.648, respectively, while that of the multimodal US DL model was 0.86. The accuracy, specificity, and sensitivity of the multimodal US DL model were 0.779, 0.767, and 0.796, respectively, and the negative and positive predictive values were 0.842 and 0.706, respectively. The AUC of the multimodal US DL model was significantly better than that of the single-mode DL and clinical models. The DL algorithm developed using multimodal US images can effectively predict early fibrosis in patients with CKD with significantly greater accuracy than single-mode DL or clinical models.

Deep learning breast cancer risk models demonstrate improved accuracy compared with traditional risk models but have not been prospectively tested. We compared the accuracy of a deep learning risk score derived from the patient's prior mammogram to traditional risk scores to prospectively identify patients with cancer in a cohort due for screening. We collected data on 119 139 bilateral screening mammograms in 57 617 consecutive patients screened at 5 facilities between September 18, 2017, and February 1, 2021. Patient demographics were retrieved from electronic medical records, cancer outcomes determined through regional tumor registry linkage, and comparisons made across risk models using Wilcoxon and Pearson χ2 2-sided tests. Deep learning, Tyrer-Cuzick, and National Cancer Institute Breast Cancer Risk Assessment Tool (NCI BCRAT) risk models were compared with respect to performance metrics and area under the receiver operating characteristic curves. Cancers detected per thousand patients screened were higher in patients at increased risk by the deep learning model (8.6, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 7.9 to 9.4) compared with Tyrer-Cuzick (4.4, 95% CI = 3.9 to 4.9) and NCI BCRAT (3.8, 95% CI = 3.3 to 4.3) models (P &lt; .001). Area under the receiver operating characteristic curves of the deep learning model (0.68, 95% CI = 0.66 to 0.70) was higher compared with Tyrer-Cuzick (0.57, 95% CI = 0.54 to 0.60) and NCI BCRAT (0.57, 95% CI = 0.54 to 0.60) models. Simulated screening of the top 50th percentile risk by the deep learning model captured statistically significantly more patients with cancer compared with Tyrer-Cuzick and NCI BCRAT models (P &lt; .001). A deep learning model to assess breast cancer risk can support feasible and effective risk-based screening and is superior to traditional models to identify patients destined to develop cancer in large screening cohorts.

Leaves are one of the plant components that play a crucial role in plant productivity. Leaf disease in lemon plants can negatively impact both productivity and plant health. Therefore, a computer-based system for auto-matic classification was developed to efficiently and accurately identify dis-eases in lemon leaves. The automatic disease classification process in lemon leaves plays an important role for farmers, supporting timely and accurate decision-making. This study compared several deep learning and transformer models for disease classification of lemon leaves based on their images. The main objective of this study was to determine the performance of each deep learning and transformer architecture for disease classification in lemon leaves using image-based features. In evaluating various experiments, two deep learning models performed well: InceptionV3 and Xception, with accu-racies of 99.85% and 99.63%, respectively, and minimum loss values of 0.017% and 0.0018%, respectively. Then, the transformer model using the Vision Transformer architecture outperformed the two best deep learning models, achieving 99.89% accuracy and a loss of 0.0013. Overall, the experiment comparing the deep learning model and the transformer shows that the Vision Transformer outperforms the CNN. Consequently, the Vision Trans-former presents strong potential as an effective and robust approach for im-age-based leaf disease detection in lemon plants.

BackgroundArtificial intelligence–enhanced imaging techniques have demonstrated promising diagnostic potential for carotid plaques, a key cardiovascular and cerebrovascular risk factor. However, previous studies did not systematically synthesize their diagnostic accuracy.ObjectiveThis study aimed to quantitatively explore the diagnostic efficacy of deep learning (DL) and radiomics for extracranial carotid plaques and establish a standardized framework for improving plaque detection.MethodsWe searched the PubMed, Embase, Cochrane, Web of Science, and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers databases to identify studies involving the use of radiomics or DL models to diagnose extracranial carotid artery plaques from inception up to September 24, 2025. The quality of the studies was determined using Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies for Artificial Intelligence (QUADAS-AI). A meta-analysis was conducted using StataMP (version 17.0; StataCorp) with a bivariate mixed-effects model to calculate pooled sensitivity and specificity, generate summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curves, assess Cochran Q statistic and I²-based heterogeneity, and conduct subgroup analyses and regression analysis.ResultsAmong 40 studies comprising 17,246 patients, 34 integrated independent test sets or validation sets in the quantitative statistical analysis. Among them, 24 focused on DL models, 10 on machine learning models based on radiomics. The combined sensitivity, specificity, and area under the SROC curve were 0.88 (95% CI 0.85‐0.91; P<.001; I2=93.58%), 0.89 (95% CI 0.85‐0.92; P<.001; I2=91.38%), and 0.95 (95% CI 0.92‐0.96), respectively. Compared with the machine learning models based on radiomics algorithms, DL models achieved comparable improvements in specificity and area under the SROC curve. It was observed that transfer learning and a large sample size enhanced the diagnostic performance of models. Models used to identify plaque stability and presence had similar diagnostic performances, both of which were more effective in identifying symptomatic plaque models. A total of 7 studies demonstrated that the models that combined clinical features exhibited comparable diagnostic capability to pure DL and radiomics models. Additionally, 7 studies performed external validation, obtaining lower diagnostic performance than in testing groups. Limited regression analysis failed to identify significant sources of heterogeneity, and the limited number of eligible studies restricted more comprehensive subgroup analyses. The high heterogeneity in the study results may be due to different scanning parameters, model architecture, image segmentation, and algorithms.ConclusionsRadiomics algorithms and DL models can effectively diagnose extracranial carotid plaque. However, there are concerns regarding irregularities in research design and the absence of multicenter studies and external validation. Future research should aim to reduce bias risk and enhance the generalizability and clinical orientation of the models.

Skin diseases impact millions of people around the world and pose a severe risk to public health. These diseases have a wide range of effects on the skin’s structure, functionality, and appearance. Identifying and predicting skin diseases are laborious processes that require a complete physical examination, a review of the patient’s medical history, and proper laboratory diagnostic testing. Additionally, it necessitates a significant number of histological and clinical characteristics for examination and subsequent treatment. As a disease’s complexity and quantity of features grow, identifying and predicting it becomes more challenging. This research proposes a deep learning (DL) model utilizing transfer learning (TL) to quickly identify skin diseases like chickenpox, measles, and monkeypox. A pre-trained VGG16 is used for transfer learning. The VGG16 can identify and predict diseases more quickly by learning symptom patterns. Images of the skin from the four classes of chickenpox, measles, monkeypox, and normal are included in the dataset. The dataset is separated into training and testing. The experimental results performed on the dataset demonstrate that the VGG16 model can identify and predict skin diseases with 93.29% testing accuracy. However, the VGG16 model does not explain why and how the system operates because deep learning models are black boxes. Deep learning models’ opacity stands in the way of their widespread application in the healthcare sector. In order to make this a valuable system for the health sector, this article employs layer-wise relevance propagation (LRP) to determine the relevance scores of each input. The identified symptoms provide valuable insights that could support timely diagnosis and treatment decisions for skin diseases.

Brain tumors are among the most common and fatal types of cancer.Accurate and timely diagnosis of these tumors is essential for disease management and successful patient prognosis.Additionally, the precise identification of the tumor type is crucial in determining the treatment path.By recognizing the type of tumor, doctors can select the most appropriate treatment method, which may include surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, or a combination of these methods.Furthermore, the tumor type helps predict disease progression and the quality of life post-treatment.In recent years, deep learning has been a powerful tool for various image-processing tasks, including brain tumor detection.In this paper, various deep learning models such as CNN, RNN, VGG16, InceptionV3, and ResNet101 are evaluated for classifying brain tumor types from the Figshare dataset based on MRI images of glioma, meningioma, pituitary tumors, and no tumor.Finally, a suitable deep model based on ResNet101 combined with transfer learning is proposed.Based on various metrics and statistical tests, the findings indicate that deep learning models can be effectively used for brain tumor detection.Among these, the ResNet101 model achieved an accuracy of 98.37% in classifying the four tumor classes.This study demonstrates that deep learning holds significant potential for improving brain tumor detection accuracy.

The past few years have seen a surge of applying Deep Learning (DL) models for a wide array of tasks such as image classification, object detection, machine translation, etc. While DL models provide an opportunity to solve otherwise intractable tasks, their adoption relies on them being optimized to meet latency and resource requirements. Benchmarking is a key step in this process but has been hampered in part due to the lack of representative and up-to-date benchmarking suites. This is exacerbated by the fast-evolving pace of DL models. This paper proposes DLBricks, a composable benchmark generation design that reduces the effort of developing, maintaining, and running DL benchmarks on CPUs. DLBricks decomposes DL models into a set of unique runnable networks and constructs the original model's performance using the performance of the generated benchmarks. DLBricks leverages two key observations: DL layers are the performance building blocks of DL models and layers are extensively repeated within and across DL models. Since benchmarks are generated automatically and the benchmarking time is minimized, DLBricks can keep up-to-date with the latest proposed models, relieving the pressure of selecting representative DL models. Moreover, DLBricks allows users to represent proprietary models within benchmark suites. We evaluate DLBricks using $50$ MXNet models spanning $5$ DL tasks on $4$ representative CPU systems. We show that DLBricks provides an accurate performance estimate for the DL models and reduces the benchmarking time across systems (e.g. within $95\%$ accuracy and up to $4.4\times$ benchmarking time speedup on Amazon EC2 c5.xlarge).