Resilience-aware MLOps for AI-based medical diagnostic system.

Background: The healthcare sector demands a higher degree of responsibility, trustworthiness, and accountability when implementing Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems. Machine learning operations (MLOps) for AI-based medical diagnostic systems are primarily focused on aspects such as data quality and confidentiality, bias reduction, model deployment, performance monitoring, and continuous improvement. However, so far, MLOps techniques do not take into account the need to provide resilience to disturbances such as adversarial attacks, including fault injections, and drift, including out-of-distribution. This article is concerned with the MLOps methodology that incorporates the steps necessary to increase the resilience of an AI-based medical diagnostic system against various kinds of disruptive influences. Methods: Post-hoc resilience optimization, post-hoc predictive uncertainty calibration, uncertainty monitoring, and graceful degradation are incorporated as additional stages in MLOps. To optimize the resilience of the AI based medical diagnostic system, additional components in the form of adapters and meta-adapters are utilized. These components are fine-tuned during meta-training based on the results of adaptation to synthetic disturbances. Furthermore, an additional model is introduced for post-hoc calibration of predictive uncertainty. This model is trained using both in-distribution and out-of-distribution data to refine predictive confidence during the inference mode. Results: The structure of resilience-aware MLOps for medical diagnostic systems has been proposed. Experimentally confirmed increase of robustness and speed of adaptation for medical image recognition system during several intervals of the system's life cycle due to the use of resilience optimization and uncertainty calibration stages. The experiments were performed on the DermaMNIST dataset, BloodMNIST and PathMNIST. ResNet-18 as a representative of convolutional networks and MedViT-T as a representative of visual transformers are considered. It is worth noting that transformers exhibited lower resilience than convolutional networks, although this observation may be attributed to potential imperfections in the architecture of adapters and meta-adapters. Сonclusion: The main novelty of the suggested resilience-aware MLOps methodology and structure lie in the separating possibilities and activities on creating a basic model for normal operating conditions and ensuring its resilience and trustworthiness. This is significant for the medical applications as the developer of the basic model should devote more time to comprehending medical field and the diagnostic task at hand, rather than specializing in system resilience. Resilience optimization increases robustness to disturbances and speed of adaptation. Calibrated confidences ensure the recognition of a portion of unabsorbed disturbances to mitigate their impact, thereby enhancing trustworthiness.

Stochastic forecasting of variable small data as a basis for analyzing an early stage of a cyber epidemic.

Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) technologies play an important role in the architecture of modern cyber protection tools. One of the main scenarios for the use of SIEM is the detection of attacks on protected information infrastructure. Consorting that ISO 27001, NIST SP 800-61, and NIST SP 800-83 standards objectively do not keep up with the evolution of cyber threats, research aimed at forecasting the development of cyber epidemics is relevant. The article proposes a stochastic concept of describing variable small data on the Shannon entropy basis. The core of the concept is the description of small data by linear differential equations with stochastic characteristic parameters. The practical value of the proposed concept is embodied in the method of forecasting the development of a cyber epidemic at an early stage (in conditions of a lack of empirical information). In the context of the research object, the stochastic characteristic parameters of the model are the generation rate, the death rate, and the independent coefficient of variability of the measurement of the initial parameter of the research object. Analytical expressions for estimating the probability distribution densities of these characteristic parameters are proposed. It is assumed that these stochastic parameters of the model are imposed on the intervals, which allows for manipulation of the nature and type of the corresponding functions of the probability distribution densities. The task of finding optimal functions of the probability distribution densities of the characteristic parameters of the model with maximum entropy is formulated. The proposed method allows for generating sets of trajectories of values of characteristic parameters with optimal functions of the probability distribution densities. The example demonstrates both the flexibility and reliability of the proposed concept and method in comparison with the concepts of forecasting numerical series implemented in the base of Matlab functions.

Security-Informed Safety Analysis of Autonomous Transport Systems Considering AI-Powered Cyberattacks and Protection.

The entropy-oriented approach called security- or cybersecurity-informed safety (SIS or CSIS, respectively) is discussed and developed in order to analyse and evaluate the safety and dependability of autonomous transport systems (ATSs) such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), unmanned maritime vehicles (UMVs), and satellites. This approach allows for extending and integrating the known techniques FMECA (Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis) and IMECA (Intrusion MECA), as well as developing the new SISMECA (SIS-based Intrusion Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis) technique. The ontology model and templates for SISMECA implementation are suggested. The methodology of safety assessment is based on (i) the application and enhancement of SISMECA considering the particularities of various ATSs and roles of actors (regulators, developers, operators, customers); (ii) the development of a set of scenarios describing the operation of ATS in conditions of cyberattacks and physical influences; (iii) AI contribution to system protection for the analysed domains; (iv) scenario-based development and analysis of user stories related to different cyber-attacks, as well as ways to protect ATSs from them via AI means/platforms; (v) profiling of AI platform requirements by use of characteristics based on AI quality model, risk-based assessment of cyberattack criticality, and efficiency of countermeasures which actors can implement. Examples of the application of SISMECA assessment are presented and discussed.

Parameterization of the Stochastic Model for Evaluating Variable Small Data in the Shannon Entropy Basis.

The article analytically summarizes the idea of applying Shannon's principle of entropy maximization to sets that represent the results of observations of the "input" and "output" entities of the stochastic model for evaluating variable small data. To formalize this idea, a sequential transition from the likelihood function to the likelihood functional and the Shannon entropy functional is analytically described. Shannon's entropy characterizes the uncertainty caused not only by the probabilistic nature of the parameters of the stochastic data evaluation model but also by interferences that distort the results of the measurements of the values of these parameters. Accordingly, based on the Shannon entropy, it is possible to determine the best estimates of the values of these parameters for maximally uncertain (per entropy unit) distortions that cause measurement variability. This postulate is organically transferred to the statement that the estimates of the density of the probability distribution of the parameters of the stochastic model of small data obtained as a result of Shannon entropy maximization will also take into account the fact of the variability of the process of their measurements. In the article, this principle is developed into the information technology of the parametric and non-parametric evaluation on the basis of Shannon entropy of small data measured under the influence of interferences. The article analytically formalizes three key elements: -instances of the class of parameterized stochastic models for evaluating variable small data; -methods of estimating the probability density function of their parameters, represented by normalized or interval probabilities; -approaches to generating an ensemble of random vectors of initial parameters.

UAV and IoT-Based Systems for the Monitoring of Industrial Facilities Using Digital Twins: Methodology, Reliability Models, and Application.

This paper suggests a methodology (conception and principles) for building two-mode monitoring systems (SMs) for industrial facilities and their adjacent territories based on the application of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), Internet of Things (IoT), and digital twin (DT) technologies, and a set of SM reliability models considering the parameters of the channels and components. The concept of building a reliable and resilient SM is proposed. For this purpose, the von Neumann paradigm for the synthesis of reliable systems from unreliable components is developed. For complex SMs of industrial facilities, the concept covers the application of various types of redundancy (structural, version, time, and space) for basic components-sensors, means of communication, processing, and presentation-in the form of DTs for decision support systems. The research results include: the methodology for the building and general structures of UAV-, IoT-, and DT-based SMs in industrial facilities as multi-level systems; reliability models for SMs considering the applied technologies and operation modes (normal and emergency); and industrial cases of SMs for manufacture and nuclear power plants. The results obtained are the basis for further development of the theory and for practical applications of SMs in industrial facilities within the framework of the implementation and improvement of Industry 4.0 principles.

Quality Models for Artificial Intelligence Systems: Characteristic-Based Approach, Development and Application.

The factors complicating the specification of requirements for artificial intelligence systems (AIS) and their verification for the AIS creation and modernization are analyzed. The harmonization of definitions and building of a hierarchy of AIS characteristics for regulation of the development of techniques and tools for standardization, as well as evaluation and provision of requirements during the creation and implementation of AIS, is extremely important. The study aims to develop and demonstrate the use of quality models for artificial intelligence (AI), AI platform (AIP), and AIS based on the definition and ordering of characteristics. The principles of AI quality model development and its sequence are substantiated. Approaches to formulating definitions of AIS characteristics, methods of representation of dependencies, and hierarchies of characteristics are given. The definitions and harmonization options of hierarchical relations between 46 characteristics of AI and AIP are suggested. The quality models of AI, AIP, and AIS presented in analytical, tabular, and graph forms, are described. The so-called basic models with reduced sets of the most important characteristics are presented. Examples of AIS quality models for UAV video navigation systems and decision support systems for diagnosing diseases are described.

Digital Image Representation by Atomic Functions: The Compression and Protection of Data for Edge Computing in IoT Systems.

Digital images are used in various technological, financial, economic, and social processes. Huge datasets of high-resolution images require protected storage and low resource-intensive processing, especially when applying edge computing (EC) for designing Internet of Things (IoT) systems for industrial domains such as autonomous transport systems. For this reason, the problem of the development of image representation, which provides compression and protection features in combination with the ability to perform low complexity analysis, is relevant for EC-based systems. Security and privacy issues are important for image processing considering IoT and cloud architectures as well. To solve this problem, we propose to apply discrete atomic transform (DAT) that is based on a special class of atomic functions generalizing the well-known up-function of V.A. Rvachev. A lossless image compression algorithm based on DAT is developed, and its performance is studied for different structures of DAT. This algorithm, which combines low computational complexity, efficient lossless compression, and reliable protection features with convenient image representation, is the main contribution of the paper. It is shown that a sufficient reduction of memory expenses can be obtained. Additionally, a dependence of compression efficiency measured by compression ratio (CR) on the structure of DAT applied is investigated. It is established that the variation of DAT structure produces a minor variation of CR. A possibility to apply this feature to data protection and security assurance is grounded and discussed. In addition, a structure or file for storing the compressed and protected data is proposed, and its properties are considered. Multi-level structure for the application of atomic functions in image processing and protection for EC in IoT systems is suggested and analyzed.

The role of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth in the pathogenesis of hyperlipidemia.

OBJECTIVE: Introduction: Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth may cause the hyperlipidemia appearance by enterohepatic circulation disturbance which evolves on the background of the early bile acids deconjugation with further endotoxin production and oxidative stress in the liver with hyperproduction of cholesterol and atherogenic lipoproteins. The aim: the determination of prevalence and features of SIBO in a series of patients with hyperlipidemia and in control subjects. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: Nineteen patients with hyperlipidemia and ten control subjects were studied. Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth was assessed by a lactulose breath test. Such biochemical markers as CRP, ALT, AST, GGTP, apolipoprotein B, bilirubin, cholesterol and lipid profile were determined. Except the routine interpretation of lactulose breath test, which contains the SIBO detection, small intestinal transit time and hydrogen level evaluation with next comparison between groups of patients was realized. RESULTS: Results: Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth was present in 78.9% of patients with hyperlipidemia and 40% in control subjects. The maximal dose of H2 was particularly higher in patients with hyperlipidemia in comparison with control group (94,7±13,69 vs. 36,13±5,4). There was a strong correlation between AST level and SIBO existence in both groups (r=1). Positive connection between LDL, TG, VLDL and the dose of exhaled hydrogen on 120 minute (r=0.6, r= 0.62, r=0.7 respectively) and strong negative correlation between HDL and 120 minute dose (r=-0.74) in main group was marked. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: Patients with hyperlipidemia have a higher prevalence of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and there is a relationship between H2 rate and LDL, TG, VLDL.