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Abstract Pakistan falls significantly below the recommended forest coverage level of 20 to 30 percent of total area, with less than 6 percent of its land under forest cover. This deficiency is primarily attributed to illicit deforestation for wood and charcoal, coupled with a failure to embrace advanced techniques for forest estimation, monitoring, and supervision. Remote sensing techniques leveraging Sentinel-2 satellite images were employed. Both single-layer stacked images and temporal layer stacked images from various dates were utilized for forest classification. The application of an artificial neural network (ANN) supervised classification algorithm yielded notable results. Using a single-layer stacked image from Sentinel-2, an impressive 91.37% training overall accuracy and 0.865 kappa coefficient were achieved, along with 93.77% testing overall accuracy and a 0.902 kappa coefficient. Furthermore, the temporal layer stacked image approach demonstrated even better results. This method yielded 98.07% overall training accuracy, 97.75% overall testing accuracy, and kappa coefficients of 0.970 and 0.965, respectively. The random forest (RF) algorithm, when applied, achieved 99.12% overall training accuracy, 92.90% testing accuracy, and kappa coefficients of 0.986 and 0.882. Notably, with the temporal layer stacked image of the Sentinel-2 satellite, the RF algorithm reached exceptional performance with 99.79% training accuracy, 96.98% validation accuracy, and kappa coefficients of 0.996 and 0.954. In terms of forest cover estimation, the ANN algorithm identified 31.07% total forest coverage in the District Abbottabad region. In comparison, the RF algorithm recorded a slightly higher 31.17% of the total forested area. This research highlights the potential of advanced remote sensing techniques and machine learning algorithms in improving forest cover assessment and monitoring strategies.

Automatic identification of visual learning style in real time using raw electroencephalogram (EEG) is challenging. In this work, inspired by the powerful abilities of deep learning techniques, deep learning-based models are proposed to learn high-level feature representation for EEG visual learning identification. Existing computer-aided systems that use electroencephalograms and machine learning can reasonably assess learning styles. Despite their potential, offline processing is often necessary to eliminate artifacts and extract features, making these methods unsuitable for real-time applications. The dataset was chosen with 34 healthy subjects to measure their EEG signals during resting states (eyes open and eyes closed) and while performing learning tasks. The subjects displayed no prior knowledge of the animated educational content presented in video format. The paper presents an analysis of EEG signals measured during a resting state with closed eyes using three deep learning techniques: Long-term, short-term memory (LSTM), Long-term, short-term memory–convolutional neural network (LSTM-CNN), and Long-term, short-term memory–Fully convolutional neural network (LSTM-FCNN). The chosen techniques were based on their suitability for real-time applications with varying data lengths and the need for less computational time. The optimization of hypertuning parameters has enabled the identification of visual learners through the implementation of three techniques. LSTM-CNN technique has the highest average accuracy of 94%, a sensitivity of 80%, a specificity of 92%, and an F1 score of 94% when identifying the visual learning style of the student out of all three techniques. This research has shown that the most effective method is the deep learning-based LSTM-CNN technique, which accurately identifies a student’s visual learning style.

IoT-based remote health monitoring is a promising technology to support patients who are unable to travel to medical facilities. Due to the sensitivity of health data, it is important to secure it against all possible threats. While a great deal of work has been done to secure IoT device-cloud communication and health records on the cloud, insider attacks remain a significant challenge. Malicious insiders may tamper, steal or change patients’ health data, which results in a loss of patient trust in these systems. Audit logs in the cloud, which may point to illegal data access, may also be erased or forged by malicious insiders as they tend to have technical knowledge and privileged access to the system. Thus, in this work, we propose a Cloud Access Security Broker (CASB) model that (a) logs every action performed on user data and (b) secures those logs by placing them in a private blockchain that is viewable by the data owners (i.e., patients). Patients can query the blockchain, track their data’s movement, and be alerted if their data has been accessed by an administrator or moved outside the cloud storage. In this work, we practically implement a web application that receives health data from patients, a CASB that securely stores the records in the cloud, and integrate a private blockchain that immediately logs all actions happening in the backend of the web application and CASB. We evaluate the system’s security and performance under varying numbers of patients and actions.

Abstract Background Presentation of visual stimuli can induce changes in EEG signals that are typically detectable by averaging together data from multiple trials for individual participant analysis as well as for groups or conditions analysis of multiple participants. This study proposes a new method based on the discrete wavelet transform with Huffman coding and machine learning for single-trial analysis of evenal (ERPs) and classification of different visual events in the visual object detection task. Methods EEG single trials are decomposed with discrete wavelet transform (DWT) up to the $$4{th}$$ 4 th level of decomposition using a biorthogonal B-spline wavelet. The coefficients of DWT in each trial are thresholded to discard sparse wavelet coefficients, while the quality of the signal is well maintained. The remaining optimum coefficients in each trial are encoded into bitstreams using Huffman coding, and the codewords are represented as a feature of the ERP signal. The performance of this method is tested with real visual ERPs of sixty-eight subjects. Results The proposed method significantly discards the spontaneous EEG activity, extracts the single-trial visual ERPs, represents the ERP waveform into a compact bitstream as a feature, and achieves promising results in classifying the visual objects with classification performance metrics: accuracies 93.60 $$\pm {6.5}$$ ± 6.5 , sensitivities 93.55 $$\pm {4.5}$$ ± 4.5 , specificities 94.85 $$\pm {4.2}$$ ± 4.2 , precisions 92.50 $$\pm {5.5}$$ ± 5.5 , and area under the curve (AUC) 0.93 $$\pm {0.3}$$ ± 0.3 using SVM and k-NN machine learning classifiers. Conclusion The proposed method suggests that the joint use of discrete wavelet transform (DWT) with Huffman coding has the potential to efficiently extract ERPs from background EEG for studying evoked responses in single-trial ERPs and classifying visual stimuli. The proposed approach has O(N) time complexity and could be implemented in real-time systems, such as the brain-computer interface (BCI), where fast detection of mental events is desired to smoothly operate a machine with minds.

Abstract Our emotions and sentiments are influenced by naturalistic stimuli such as the movies we watch and the songs we listen to, accompanied by changes in our brain activation. Comprehension of these brain-activation dynamics can assist in identification of any associated neurological condition such as stress and depression, leading towards making informed decision about suitable stimuli. A large number of open-access functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) datasets collected under naturalistic conditions can be used for classification/prediction studies. However, these datasets do not provide emotion/sentiment labels, which limits their use in supervised learning studies. Manual labeling by subjects can generate these labels, however, this method is subjective and biased. In this study, we are proposing another approach of generating automatic labels from the naturalistic stimulus itself. We are using sentiment analyzers (VADER, TextBlob, and Flair) from natural language processing to generate labels using movie subtitles. Subtitles generated labels are used as the class labels for positive, negative, and neutral sentiments for classification of brain fMRI images. Support vector machine, random forest, decision tree, and deep neural network classifiers are used. We are getting reasonably good classification accuracy (42–84%) for imbalanced data, which is increased (55–99%) for balanced data.

Amyloid proteins (AMYs) are usually an aggregate of insoluble fibrous that have major pathogenic effects on various tissues. However, its abnormal deposition may lead to several diseases i.e., Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and type 2 diabetes. In addition, AMYs form amyloid aggregates when they are in a misfolded state. Therefore, it is crucial to accurately predict AMYs and their pathogenic characteristics. Various computational predictors have been presented for the accurate prediction of AMYs. Although, the effectiveness of these predictors is unsatisfactory due to their low generalization abilities and high training cost. In this attempt, we proposed an intelligent computational predictor for the accurate prediction of AMYs. The novel embedded evolutionary features are gathered using K-separated bigrams, and the Filter method into the evolutionary descriptors. Moreover, DDE-based enhanced frequency coupling information are gathered from the Amyloid sequences. Additionally, a multi-model vector is obtained by combining the features of the applied formulation techniques. To reduce the computational cost of the proposed model, the eXtreme Gradient Boosting-Recursive Feature Elimination (XGB-RFE) based high-ranked features are selected from the heterogeneous vector. In the next part, the optimal features are evaluated via several learners, i.e., XGBoost (XGB), Light Gradient Boosted Machine (LGBM), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Adaboost (ada), and Extra Trees classifier (ETC),. The proposed model reported an improved predictive prediction accuracy of 93.10% using training sequences and 89.67% using independent sequences, respectively. Which is $\sim 4$ % higher training accuracy than existing predictors. It is anticipated that our predictive approach will be useful for scientists and might play a key role in drug development and academic research.

Neuropeptides (NPs) are a kind of neuromodulator/ neurotransmitter that works as signaling molecules in the central nervous system, and perform major roles in physiological and hormone regulation activities. Recently, machine learning-based therapeutic agents have gained the attention of researchers due to their high and reliable prediction results. However, the unsatisfactory performance of the existing predictors is due to their high execution cost and minimum predictive results. Therefore, the development of a reliable prediction is highly indispensable for scientists to effectively predict NPs. In this study, we presented an automatic and computationally effective model for identifying of NPs. The evolutionary information is formulated using a bigram position-specific scoring matrix (Bi-PSSM) and K-spaced bigram (KSB). Moreover, for noise reduction, a discrete wavelet transform (DWT) is utilized to form Bi-PSSM_DWT and KSB_DWT based high discriminative vectors. In addition, one-hot encoding is also employed to collect sequential features from peptide samples. Finally, a multi-perspective feature set of sequential and embedded evolutionary information is formed. The optimum features are chosen from the extracted features via Shapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) by evaluating the contribution of the extracted features. The optimal features are trained via six classification models i.e., XGB, ETC, SVM, ADA, FKNN, and LGBM. The predicted labels of these learners are then provided to a genetic algorithm to form an ensemble classification approach. Hence, our model achieved a higher predictive accuracy of 94.47% and 92.55% using training sequences and independent sequences, respectively. Which is $\sim $ 3% highest predictive accuracy than present methods. It is suggested that our presented tool will be beneficial and may execute a substantial role in drug development and research academia. The source code and all datasets are publicly available at https://github.com/shahidawkum/Target-ensC_NP.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a highly perilous pathogen in humans, serves as the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB), affecting nearly 33% of the global population. With the increasing prevalence of multidrug-resistant TB, there is a need for novel and efficacious alternative therapies. Peptide therapies have emerged as a favorable alternative due to their remarkable specificity in targeting cells without affecting healthy cells. However, the experimental identification methods of anti-tubercular peptides (AtbPs) are labor-intensive and costly. Therefore, accurate prediction of AtbPs has become challenging due to the large number of peptide samples. In this paper, we propose an ensemble learning model to enhance the prediction outcomes by addressing the limitations of individual learning models. We formulate the training samples by utilizing four distinct representation methods: AAindex, Composition/Transition/Distribution, Dipeptide Deviation from Expected Mean, and Enhanced Grouped Amino Acid Composition to numerically encode peptide samples. The feature vectors extracted from these methods are fused to develop a compact vector. We evaluate the prediction rates using three different classification models, employing both individual and heterogeneous vectors. Furthermore, we enhance the prediction and training capabilities of the proposed model by using the predicted labels of the individual classifiers for implementing an ensemble deep model via a genetic algorithm. Through evaluation of both the training datasets and independent datasets, our proposed ensemble learner achieves impressive accuracies of 97.80%, 95.13%, 93.91%, and 94.17%, using RD training, MD training, RD independent, and MD independent datasets, respectively. Our findings demonstrate that the proposed pAtbP-EnC model outperforms existing predictors by reporting approximately 11% higher training accuracy. We conclude that the pAtbP-EnC predictor will be a considerable tool in the field of pharmaceutical design and research academia. The used datasets and the source code are publicly available at https://github.com/Intelligent-models/pAtbP-EnC2023.

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are enzymes that remove acetyl groups from ɛ-amino of histone, and their involvement in the development and progression of cancer disorders makes them an interesting therapeutic target. This study seeks to discover new inhibitors that selectively inhibit HDAC enzymes which are linked to deadly disorders like T-cell lymphoma, childhood neuroblastoma, and colon cancer. MOE was used to dock libraries of ZINC database molecules within the catalytic active pocket of target HDACs. The top three hits were submitted to MD simulations ranked on binding affinities and well-occupied interaction mechanisms determined from molecular docking studies. Inside the catalytic active site of HDACs, the two stable inhibitors LIG1 and LIG2 affect the protein flexibility, as evidenced by RMSD, RMSF, Rg, and PCA. MD simulations of HDACs complexes revealed an alteration from extended to bent motional changes within loop regions. The structural deviation following superimposition shows flexibility via a visual inspection of movable loops at different timeframes. According to PCA, the activity of HDACs inhibitors induces structural dynamics that might potentially be utilized to define the nature of protein inhibition. The findings suggest that this study offers solid proof to investigate LIG1 and LIG2 as potential HDAC inhibitors.

Theoretical analysis of physical characteristics of unsteady, squeezing nanofluid flow is studied. The flow of nanofluid between two plates that placed parallel in a rotating system by keeping the variable physical properties: viscosity and thermal conductivity. It is analyzed by using Navier Stokes Equation, Energy Equation and Concentration equation. The prominent equations are transformed by virtue of suitable similarity transformation. Nanofluid model includes the important effects of Thermophoresis and Brownian motion. For analysis graphical results are drawn for verity parameters of our interest i.e., Injection parameter, Squeezing number, Prandtle number and Schmidt number are investigated for the Velocity field, Temperature variation and Concentration profile numerically. The findings underline that the parameter of skin friction increases when the Squeezing Reynolds number, Injection parameter and Prandtle number increases. However, it shows inverse relationship with Schmidt number and Rotation parameter. Furthermore, direct relationship of Nusselt number with injection parameter and Reynolds number is observed while its relation with Schmidt number, Rotation parameter, Brownian parameter and Thermophoretic parameter shows an opposite trend. The results are thus obtained through Parametric Continuation Method (PCM) which is further validated through BVP4c. Moreover, the results are tabulated and set forth for comparison of findings through PCM and BVP4c which shows that the obtained results correspond to each other.

Quantitative and/or qualitative differences in ABO phenotypes give rise to ABO discrepancies causing difficulties in establishing the accurate phenotype. These discrepant serological reactions result in significant delays in blood bank. The correct typing of the blood group is imperative to prevent ABO incompatibility issues. However, the discrepant results encountered in routine settings are a challenge to immunohematologists. The variants of the ABO occur very rarely particularly true for B subgroups. Here, we present a case study of a healthy blood donor, discrepant results in forward and reverse blood grouping led us to perform adsorption-elution test. The presence of anti-B in the eluate confirmed the presence of weaker variant of B antigen on the surface of red blood cells. Correct identification of blood group is mutually important for donor and recipient to prevent the occurrence of any transfusion reaction. The serologically determined weak B phenotypes, however, require further confirmation through genomic analysis.

The rapid advancements in technology have paved the way for innovative solutions in the healthcare domain, aiming to improve scalability and security while enhancing patient care. This abstract introduces a cutting-edge approach, leveraging blockchain technology and hybrid deep learning techniques to revolutionize healthcare systems. Blockchain technology provides a decentralized and transparent framework, enabling secure data storage, sharing, and access control. By integrating blockchain into healthcare systems, data integrity, privacy, and interoperability can be ensured while eliminating the reliance on centralized authorities. In conjunction with blockchain, hybrid deep learning techniques offer powerful capabilities for data analysis and decision making in healthcare. Combining the strengths of deep learning algorithms with traditional machine learning approaches, hybrid deep learning enables accurate and efficient processing of complex healthcare data, including medical records, images, and sensor data. This research proposes a permissions-based blockchain framework for scalable and secure healthcare systems, integrating hybrid deep learning models. The framework ensures that only authorized entities can access and modify sensitive health information, preserving patient privacy while facilitating seamless data sharing and collaboration among healthcare providers. Additionally, the hybrid deep learning models enable real-time analysis of large-scale healthcare data, facilitating timely diagnosis, treatment recommendations, and disease prediction. The integration of blockchain and hybrid deep learning presents numerous benefits, including enhanced scalability, improved security, interoperability, and informed decision making in healthcare systems. However, challenges such as computational complexity, regulatory compliance, and ethical considerations need to be addressed for successful implementation. By harnessing the potential of blockchain and hybrid deep learning, healthcare systems can overcome traditional limitations, promoting efficient and secure data management, personalized patient care, and advancements in medical research. The proposed framework lays the foundation for a future healthcare ecosystem that prioritizes scalability, security, and improved patient outcomes.

Overexpression of polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) has been found in many different types of cancers. With its essential role in cell proliferation, PLK1 has been determined to be a broad-spectrum anti-cancer target. In this study, 3D-QSAR, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations were applied on a series of novel pteridinone derivatives as PLK1 inhibitors to discover anti-cancer drug candidates. In this work, three models—CoMFA (Q² = 0.67, R² = 0.992), CoMSIA/SHE (Q² = 0.69, R² = 0.974), and CoMSIA/SEAH (Q² = 0.66, R² = 0.975)—of pteridinone derivatives were established. The three models that were established gave Rpred2 = 0.683, Rpred 2= 0.758, and Rpred 2= 0.767, respectively. Thus, the predictive abilities of the three proposed models were successfully evaluated. The relations between the different champs and activities were well-demonstrated by the contour chart of the CoMFA and CoMSIA/SEAH models. The results of molecular docking indicated that residues R136, R57, Y133, L69, L82, and Y139 were the active sites of the PLK1 protein (PDB code: 2RKU), in which the more active ligands can inhibit the enzyme of PLK1. The results of the molecular dynamic MD simulation diagram were obtained to reinforce the previous molecular docking results, which showed that both inhibitors remained stable in the active sites of the PLK1 protein (PDB code: 2RKU) for 50 ns. Finally, a check of the ADME-Tox properties of the two most active molecules showed that molecular N° 28 could represent a good drug candidate for the therapy of prostate cancer diseases.

This case is based on the entrepreneurial venture of MBA students from Mehran University of Engineering and Technology, named Ali Gohar (CEO) and Mubashsar Qureshi (CTO). Both studied at Cadet College and remembered the struggle they faced when they were looking for pretest preparations for the university admissions. That’s when they partnered to build the Unipedia, an easy way for struggling students to find quality aptitude test preparation at the low prices in comparison to coaching centres. This case is a brief about the online aptitude test preparation services in Pakistan. It will be a quick understanding of the industry dynamics and as to how the customer functions in this industry.

The selection of stimulus contents for neurofeedback has direct implications on the efficacy of neurofeedback therapy. In particular, a suitable selection of stimulus contents facilitates the achievement of sustainability during neurofeedback sessions, which has been considered challenging during clinical practice. To further elaborate this point, this research investigates the efficacy of different neurofeedback stimulus contents (audio, video, and games) for stress mitigation. The effectiveness of the contents was measured by statistically comparing quantitative electroencephalogram (QEEG) features, such as alpha power and alpha asymmetry before and after neurofeedback sessions. In addition, the topographic maps of activities were constructed for a visual description. In this study, 29 study participants were recruited, and the EEG data were recorded during multiple neurofeedback sessions. ANOVA and post hoc testing verified the statistical significance of the results of the various stimulus contents, whereas a t-test verified the significance of stress mitigation because of neurofeedback. The results indicate that games exhibit higher effectiveness than audio and video contents for stress mitigation. In addition, the topographic analysis demonstrates the efficacy of neurofeedback training for stress mitigation. In conclusion, the effects of neurofeedback therapy could be enhanced while selecting suitable stimulus contents for neurofeedback protocols.

In this paper, we investigated the relationships between EEG and semantic long-term memory retrieval using spectral analysis and functional connectivity. We employed an EEG data set from a previous study, which was recorded from 34 healthy participants during a memory retrieval process. The data set consists of EEG collected during two tasks, a learning task, in which participants studied animated learning material, and a memory recall task, in which they recalled the learned information. We analyzed both EEG signals and behavioral responses. We conducted spectral analyses for the absolute power and relative power of EEG frequency bands, EEG coherence, absolute phase delay, and EEG amplitude asymmetry features. The delta-band EEG and theta-band absolute power were negatively correlated with task performance at frontal regions, while the alpha-band activity was positively correlated in frontal regions and negatively correlated in parietal and temporal sites. High-beta in the frontal lobe was positively correlated with memory recall score. EEG coherence was negatively correlated in the delta band at the fronto-parietal and fronto-central sites, and positively correlated in the gamma band at widespread regions, including all lobes. EEG phase delay showed the highest degree of connectivity in the delta and alpha bands at frontal sites, and was negatively correlated with memory recall score. The negative correlation in phase delay demonstrated the synchronization and positive correlation reflected the de-synchronization of electrode pairs during memory recollection in the delta and alpha frequencies. We concluded that neuronal networks producing low EEG frequencies at frontal regions and those producing high frequencies in widespread regions are active during the memory recollection process. Thus, semantic memory storage involves widespread neuronal networks across the brain.

Electroencephalography-based sleepiness detection system (ESDS) is a brain-computer interface that evaluates a driver's sleepiness level directly from cerebral activity. The goals of ESDS research are to estimate and produce a timely warning to prevent declines in performance efficiency and to inhibit sleepiness-related accidents. We first, review different types of measures used in sleepiness detection systems (SDSs) and presents their advantages and drawbacks. Second, the review includes several techniques proposed in ESDSs to optimize the number of EEG electrodes, increasing the sleepiness level resolution and incorporation of circadian information. Finally, the review discusses future direction that can be considered in the development of ESDS.

Color is a perceptual stimulus that has a significant impact on improving human emotion and memory. Studies have revealed that colored multimedia learning materials (MLMs) have a positive effect on learner’s emotion and learning where it was assessed by subjective/objective measurements. This study aimed to quantitatively assess the influence of colored MLMs on emotion, cognitive processes during learning, and long-term memory (LTM) retention using electroencephalography (EEG). The dataset consisted of 45 healthy participants, and MLMs were designed in colored or achromatic illustrations to elicit emotion and that to assess its impact on LTM retention after 30-min and 1-month delay. The EEG signal analysis was first started to estimate the effective connectivity network (ECN) using the phase slope index and expand it to characterize the ECN pattern using graph theoretical analysis. EEG results showed that colored MLMs had influences on theta and alpha networks, including (1) an increased frontal-parietal connectivity (top–down processing), (2) a larger number of brain hubs, (3) a lower clustering coefficient, and (4) a higher local efficiency, indicating that color influences information processing in the brain, as reflected by ECN, together with a significant improvement in learner’s emotion and memory performance. This is evidenced by a more positive emotional valence and higher recall accuracy for groups who learned with colored MLMs than that of achromatic MLMs. In conclusion, this paper demonstrated how the EEG ECN parameters could help quantify the influences of colored MLMs on emotion and cognitive processes during learning.

This study analyzes the learning styles of subjects based on their electroencephalo-graphy (EEG) signals. The goal is to identify how the EEG features of a visual learner differ from those of a non-visual learner. The idea is to measure the students’ EEGs during the resting states (eyes open and eyes closed conditions) and when performing learning tasks. For this purpose, 34 healthy subjects are recruited. The subjects have no background knowledge of the animated learning content. The subjects are shown the animated learning content in a video format. The experiment consists of two sessions and each session comprises two parts: (1) Learning task: the subjects are shown the animated learning content for an 8–10 min duration. (2) Memory retrieval task The EEG signals are measured during the leaning task and memory retrieval task in two sessions. The retention time for the first session was 30 min, and 2 months for the second session. The analysis is performed for the EEG measured during the memory retrieval tasks. The study characterizes and differentiates the visual learners from the non-visual learners considering the extracted EEG features, such as the power spectral density (PSD), power spectral entropy (PSE), and discrete wavelet transform (DWT). The PSD and DWT features are analyzed. The EEG PSD and DWT features are computed for the recorded EEG in the alpha and gamma frequency bands over 128 scalp sites. The alpha and gamma frequency band for frontal, occipital, and parietal regions are analyzed as these regions are activated during learning. The extracted PSD and DWT features are then reduced to 8 and 15 optimum features using principal component analysis (PCA). The optimum features are then used as an input to the k-nearest neighbor (k-NN) classifier using the Mahalanobis distance metric, with 10-fold cross validation and support vector machine (SVM) classifier using linear kernel, with 10-fold cross validation. The classification results showed 97% and 94% accuracies rate for the first session and 96% and 93% accuracies for the second session in the alpha and gamma bands for the visual learners and non-visual learners, respectively, for k-NN classifier for PSD features and 68% and 100% accuracies rate for first session and 100% accuracies rate for second session for DWT features using k-NN classifier for the second session in the alpha and gamma band. For PSD features 97% and 96% accuracies rate for the first session, 100% and 95% accuracies rate for second session using SVM classifier and 79% and 82% accuracy for first session and 56% and 74% accuracy for second session for DWT features using SVM classifier. The results showed that the PSDs in the alpha and gamma bands represent distinct and stable EEG signatures for visual learners and non-visual learners during the retrieval of the learned contents.

Mental stress has become a social issue and could become a cause of functional disability during routine work. In addition, chronic stress could implicate several psychophysiological disorders. For example, stress increases the likelihood of depression, stroke, heart attack, and cardiac arrest. The latest neuroscience reveals that the human brain is the primary target of mental stress, because the perception of the human brain determines a situation that is threatening and stressful. In this context, an objective measure for identifying the levels of stress while considering the human brain could considerably improve the associated harmful effects. Therefore, in this paper, a machine learning (ML) framework involving electroencephalogram (EEG) signal analysis of stressed participants is proposed. In the experimental setting, stress was induced by adopting a well-known experimental paradigm based on the montreal imaging stress task. The induction of stress was validated by the task performance and subjective feedback. The proposed ML framework involved EEG feature extraction, feature selection (receiver operating characteristic curve, t-test and the Bhattacharya distance), classification (logistic regression, support vector machine and naïve Bayes classifiers) and tenfold cross validation. The results showed that the proposed framework produced 94.6% accuracy for two-level identification of stress and 83.4% accuracy for multiple level identification. In conclusion, the proposed EEG-based ML framework has the potential to quantify stress objectively into multiple levels. The proposed method could help in developing a computer-aided diagnostic tool for stress detection.

Assessing cognitive load during a learning phase is important, as it assists to understand the complexity of the learning task. It can help in balancing the cognitive load of postlearning and during the actual task. Here, we used electroencephalography (EEG) to assess cognitive load in multimedia learning task. EEG data were collected from 34 human participants at baseline and a multimedia learning state. The analysis was based on feature extraction and partial directed coherence (PDC). Results revealed that the EEG frequency bands and activated brain regions that contribute to cognitive load differed depending on the learning state. We concluded that cognitive load during multimedia learning can be assessed using feature extraction and measures of effective connectivity (PDC).

Human brain has a complex structure with the billions of neurons, so it is a difficult and challenging task to predict the behavior of human brain. Different methods and classifiers are used to measure and classify the brain activities with higher accuracy and reliability. In this paper, instead of using mostly used classifier (support vector machine), prediction of the brain activity is done by estimating the match score densities. This method is based on likelihood ratio test which helps in finding the optimal combination of match scores. The distributions of match scores are modeled for different classes based on density score fusion in which the densities of different classes are estimated from the training data set and match scores are found by fusing the estimated densities with the testing data. The fusion is done with the data extracted from distributed activation patterns using multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) against a visual task. MVPA is an intense strategy which helps in better understanding of the human brain. The match score-based technique is used in different biometric systems but never been used for the prediction of brain activity. In order to test the performance of proposed method, prediction accuracy is compared with the support vector machine using two data sets of different modalities, one is electroencephalography (EEG) and the other is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The results show that the proposed method predicts the novel data with improved accuracy of 66.1% and 69.3% compared with support vector machine which have 64.15% and 65.7% for fMRI and EEG data sets, respectively.

Driving distraction is a topic of great interest in the transport safety-research community, because it is now a primary cause of road accidents. A recent report has revealed that distraction is more alarming than previously thought, and a suitable measurement to effectively detect distraction is required. Most agree that driving distraction actually comprises the simultaneous interaction of two or more types of distraction. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to determine the promising method for measuring visual cognitive distraction. We discuss the five common measurement methods for visual and cognitive driving distraction, which include driving performance, driver physical measures, driver biological measures, subjective reports, and hybrid measures. Hybrid measurement of driver's physical measures (e.g., eye movement) and driver's biological measures (e.g., electroencephalogram) is better than other methods at detecting types of visual cognitive distraction. This new perspective on measurement methods will help the field of transport safety to determine the best means of detecting and measuring the effect of visual cognitive distraction.

Human behavior analysis has become a critical area of research in computer vision and artificial intelligence research community. In recent years, video surveillance systems of crowd scenes have witnessed an increased demand in different applications, such as safety, security, entertainment, and personal mental health. Although many methods have been proposed, certain limitations exist, and many unresolved issues remain open. In this paper, we proposed a novel spatio-temporal sparse coding representation, based on sparse coded features with k-means singular value decomposition for robust classification of crowd behaviors. Extensive experiments have shown that dictionary learning method with sparsely coded features captured vital structures of video scenes and yielded discriminant descriptors for classifications than conventional bag-of-visual-features. Relying on the measurable features of crowd scenes and motion characteristics, we can represent different attributes of the crowd scenes. Experiments on hundreds of video scenes were carried out on publicly available datasets. Quantitative evaluation indicates that the proposed model display superior accuracy, precision, and recall in classifying human behaviors with linear support vector machine when compared with the state-of-the-art methods. The proposed method is conceptually simple and easy to train: thereby achieving an accuracy of 93.50%, a precision of 93.40%, and a recall of 95.96%.

The hemispherical encoding retrieval asymmetry (HERA) model, established in 1991, suggests that the involvement of the right prefrontal cortex (PFC) in the encoding process is less than that of the left PFC. The HERA model was previously validated for episodic memory in subjects with brain traumas or injuries. In this study, a revised HERA model is used to investigate long-term memory retrieval from newly learned video-based content for healthy individuals using electroencephalography. The model was tested for long-term memory retrieval in two retrieval sessions: (1) recent long-term memory (recorded 30 min after learning) and (2) remote long-term memory (recorded two months after learning). The results show that long-term memory retrieval in healthy individuals for the frontal region (theta and delta band) satisfies the revised HERA asymmetry model.

Feature extraction is an important step in the process of electroencephalogram (EEG) signal classification. The authors propose a “pattern recognition” approach that discriminates EEG signals recorded during different cognitive conditions. Wavelet based feature extraction such as, multi-resolution decompositions into detailed and approximate coefficients as well as relative wavelet energy were computed. Extracted relative wavelet energy features were normalized to zero mean and unit variance and then optimized using Fisher's discriminant ratio (FDR) and principal component analysis (PCA). A high density EEG dataset validated the proposed method (128-channels) by identifying two classifications: (1) EEG signals recorded during complex cognitive tasks using Raven's Advance Progressive Metric (RAPM) test; (2) EEG signals recorded during a baseline task (eyes open). Classifiers such as, K-nearest neighbors (KNN), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Multi-layer Perceptron (MLP), and Naïve Bayes (NB) were then employed. Outcomes yielded 99.11% accuracy via SVM classifier for coefficient approximations (A5) of low frequencies ranging from 0 to 3.90 Hz. Accuracy rates for detailed coefficients were 98.57 and 98.39% for SVM and KNN, respectively; and for detailed coefficients (D5) deriving from the sub-band range (3.90–7.81 Hz). Accuracy rates for MLP and NB classifiers were comparable at 97.11–89.63% and 91.60–81.07% for A5 and D5 coefficients, respectively. In addition, the proposed approach was also applied on public dataset for classification of two cognitive tasks and achieved comparable classification results, i.e., 93.33% accuracy with KNN. The proposed scheme yielded significantly higher classification performances using machine learning classifiers compared to extant quantitative feature extraction. These results suggest the proposed feature extraction method reliably classifies EEG signals recorded during cognitive tasks with a higher degree of accuracy.

Underwater robotics and imaging have emerged as an attractive field due to complications for human divers in a deepwater environment. Inspection of various installations in an underwater environment is carried out by underwater vehicles. The equipment that is used at present requires high computational cost and dedicated only to single task. This results in an expensive hardware and application-oriented technology, hence restricting the versatility of the underwater vehicle. This article proposes a visual feedback–based heading control and tracking method for the autonomous underwater vehicle to provide a versatile solution. The proposed method is used for subsea pipeline corrosion inspection subjected to hydrodynamic disturbances. There are two parts of this study: the first part includes the heading control of the underwater vehicle using visual feedback to follow the pipeline, whereas the second part involves underwater image enhancement and dehazing using wavelet-based fusion for corrosion estimation. The visual feedback and corrosion estimation rely on the same image data during the inspection of the pipeline, hence, reducing the complexity of the overall algorithm. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated on image dataset acquired in an underwater environment where the camera is mounted on the underwater vehicle.

Treatment management for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) has been challenging. However, electroencephalogram (EEG)-based predictions of antidepressant's treatment outcome may help during antidepressant's selection and ultimately improve the quality of life for MDD patients. In this study, a machine learning (ML) method involving pretreatment EEG data was proposed to perform such predictions for Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRIs). For this purpose, the acquisition of experimental data involved 34 MDD patients and 30 healthy controls. Consequently, a feature matrix was constructed involving time-frequency decomposition of EEG data based on wavelet transform (WT) analysis, termed as EEG data matrix. However, the resultant EEG data matrix had high dimensionality. Therefore, dimension reduction was performed based on a rank-based feature selection method according to a criterion, i.e., receiver operating characteristic (ROC). As a result, the most significant features were identified and further be utilized during the training and testing of a classification model, i.e., the logistic regression (LR) classifier. Finally, the LR model was validated with 100 iterations of 10-fold cross-validation (10-CV). The classification results were compared with short-time Fourier transform (STFT) analysis, and empirical mode decompositions (EMD). The wavelet features extracted from frontal and temporal EEG data were found statistically significant. In comparison with other time-frequency approaches such as the STFT and EMD, the WT analysis has shown highest classification accuracy, i.e., accuracy = 87.5%, sensitivity = 95%, and specificity = 80%. In conclusion, significant wavelet coefficients extracted from frontal and temporal pre-treatment EEG data involving delta and theta frequency bands may predict antidepressant's treatment outcome for the MDD patients.

Electroencephalogram (EEG)-based decoding human brain activity is challenging, owing to the low spatial resolution of EEG. However, EEG is an important technique, especially for brain-computer interface applications. In this study, a novel algorithm is proposed to decode brain activity associated with different types of images. In this hybrid algorithm, convolutional neural network is modified for the extraction of features, a t-test is used for the selection of significant features and likelihood ratio-based score fusion is used for the prediction of brain activity. The proposed algorithm takes input data from multichannel EEG time-series, which is also known as multivariate pattern analysis. Comprehensive analysis was conducted using data from 30 participants. The results from the proposed method are compared with current recognized feature extraction and classification/prediction techniques. The wavelet transform-support vector machine method is the most popular currently used feature extraction and prediction method. This method showed an accuracy of 65.7%. However, the proposed method predicts the novel data with improved accuracy of 79.9%. In conclusion, the proposed algorithm outperformed the current feature extraction and prediction method.

Wireless capsule endoscopy (WCE) is a technology developed to inspect the whole gastrointestinal tract (especially the small bowel area that is unreachable using the traditional endoscopy procedure) for various abnormalities in a non-invasive manner. However, visualization of a massive number of images is a very time-consuming and tedious task for physicians (prone to human error). Thus, an automatic scheme for lesion detection in WCE videos is a potential solution to alleviate this problem. In this work, a novel statistical approach was chosen for differentiating ulcer and non-ulcer pixels using various color spaces (or more specifically using relevant color bands). The chosen feature vector was used to compute the performance metrics using SVM with grid search method for maximum efficiency. The experimental results and analysis showed that the proposed algorithm was robust in detecting ulcers. The performance in terms of accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity are 97.89%, 96.22%, and 95.09%, respectively, which is promising.