Automated Machine Learning: A Case Study of Genomic "Image-Based" Prediction in Maize Hybrids.

Machine learning methods such as multilayer perceptrons (MLP) and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) have emerged as promising methods for genomic prediction (GP). In this context, we assess the performance of MLP and CNN on regression and classification tasks in a case study with maize hybrids. The genomic information was provided to the MLP as a relationship matrix and to the CNN as "genomic images." In the regression task, the machine learning models were compared along with GBLUP. Under the classification task, MLP and CNN were compared. In this case, the traits (plant height and grain yield) were discretized in such a way to create balanced (moderate selection intensity) and unbalanced (extreme selection intensity) datasets for further evaluations. An automatic hyperparameter search for MLP and CNN was performed, and the best models were reported. For both task types, several metrics were calculated under a validation scheme to assess the effect of the prediction method and other variables. Overall, MLP and CNN presented competitive results to GBLUP. Also, we bring new insights on automated machine learning for genomic prediction and its implications to plant breeding.

Mood State Detection in Handwritten Tasks Using PCA-mFCBF and Automated Machine Learning.

In this research, we analyse data obtained from sensors when a user handwrites or draws on a tablet to detect whether the user is in a specific mood state. First, we calculated the features based on the temporal, kinematic, statistical, spectral and cepstral domains for the tablet pressure, the horizontal and vertical pen displacements and the azimuth of the pen's position. Next, we selected features using a principal component analysis (PCA) pipeline, followed by modified fast correlation-based filtering (mFCBF). PCA was used to calculate the orthogonal transformation of the features, and mFCBF was used to select the best PCA features. The EMOTHAW database was used for depression, anxiety and stress scale (DASS) assessment. The process involved the augmentation of the training data by first augmenting the mood states such that all the data were the same size. Then, 80% of the training data was randomly selected, and a small random Gaussian noise was added to the extracted features. Automated machine learning was employed to train and test more than ten plain and ensembled classifiers. For all three moods, we obtained 100% accuracy results when detecting two possible grades of mood severities using this architecture. The results obtained were superior to the results obtained by using state-of-the-art methods, which enabled us to define the three mood states and provide precise information to the clinical psychologist. The accuracy results obtained when detecting these three possible mood states using this architecture were 82.5%, 72.8% and 74.56% for depression, anxiety and stress, respectively.

EMONAS-Net: Efficient multiobjective neural architecture search using surrogate-assisted evolutionary algorithm for 3D medical image segmentation.

Deep learning plays a critical role in medical image segmentation. Nevertheless, manually designing a neural network for a specific segmentation problem is a very difficult and time-consuming task due to the massive hyperparameter search space, long training time and large volumetric data. Therefore, most designed networks are highly complex, task specific and over-parametrized. Recently, multiobjective neural architecture search (NAS) methods have been proposed to automate the design of accurate and efficient segmentation architectures. However, they only search for either the micro- or macro-structure of the architecture, do not use the information produced during the optimization process to increase the efficiency of the search, or do not consider the volumetric nature of medical images. In this work, we present EMONAS-Net, an Efficient MultiObjective NAS framework for 3D medical image segmentation that optimizes both the segmentation accuracy and size of the network. EMONAS-Net has two key components, a novel search space that considers the configuration of the micro- and macro-structure of the architecture and a Surrogate-assisted Multiobjective Evolutionary based Algorithm (SaMEA algorithm) that efficiently searches for the best hyperparameter values. The SaMEA algorithm uses the information collected during the initial generations of the evolutionary process to identify the most promising subproblems and select the best performing hyperparameter values during mutation to improve the convergence speed. Furthermore, a Random Forest surrogate model is incorporated to accelerate the fitness evaluation of the candidate architectures. EMONAS-Net is tested on the tasks of prostate segmentation from the MICCAI PROMISE12 challenge, hippocampus segmentation from the Medical Segmentation Decathlon challenge, and cardiac segmentation from the MICCAI ACDC challenge. In all the benchmarks, the proposed framework finds architectures that perform better or comparable with competing state-of-the-art NAS methods while being considerably smaller and reducing the architecture search time by more than 50%.