A convolutional neural network ‐based comparative study for pepper seed classification: Analysis of selected deep features with support vector machine

Application of artificial neural networks to classify Avena fatua and Avena sterilis based on seed traits: insights from European Avena populations primarily from the Balkan Region

BACKGROUND

Avena fatua and A. sterilis are challenging to distinguish due to their strong similarities. However, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) can effectively extract patterns and identify these species. We measured seed traits of Avena species from 122 locations across the Balkans and from some populations from southern, western, and central Europe (total over 22 000 seeds). The inputs for the ANN model included seed mass, size, color, hairiness, and placement of the awn attachment on the lemma.

RESULTS

The ANN model achieved high classification accuracy for A. fatua and A. sterilis (R2 > 0.99, RASE < 0.0003) with no misclassification. Incorporating geographic coordinates as inputs also resulted in successful classification (R2 > 0.99, RASE < 0.000001) with no misclassification. This highlights the significant influence of geographic coordinates on the occurrence of Avena species. The models revealed hidden relationships between morphological traits that are not easily detectable through traditional statistical methods. For example, seed color can be partially predicted by other seed traits combined with geographic coordinates. When comparing the two species, A. fatua predominantly had the lemma attachment point in the upper half, while A. sterilis had it in the lower half. A. sterilis exhibited slightly longer seeds and hairs than A. fatua, while seed hairiness and mass were similar in both species. A. fatua populations primarily had brown, light brown, and black colors, while A. sterilis populations had black, brown, and yellow colors.

CONCLUSIONS

Distinguishing A. fatua from A. sterilis based solely on individual characteristics is challenging due to their shared traits and considerable variability of traits within each species. However, it is possible to classify these species by combining multiple seed traits. This approach also has significant potential for exploring relationships among different traits that are typically difficult to assess using conventional methods.

Exploration of Convective and Infrared Drying Effect on Image Texture Parameters of 'Mejhoul' and 'Boufeggous' Date Palm Fruit Using Machine Learning Models

Date palm (Phoenix dactylifera L.) fruit samples belonging to the 'Mejhoul' and 'Boufeggous' cultivars were harvested at the Tamar stage and used in our experiments. Before scanning, date samples were dried using convective drying at 60 °C and infrared drying at 60 °C with a frequency of 50 Hz, and then they were scanned. The scanning trials were performed for two hundred date palm fruit in fresh, convective-dried, and infrared-dried forms of each cultivar using a flatbed scanner. The image-texture parameters of date fruit were extracted from images converted to individual color channels in RGB, Lab, XYZ, and UVS color models. The models to classify fresh and dried samples were developed based on selected image textures using machine learning algorithms belonging to the groups of Bayes, Trees, Lazy, Functions, and Meta. For both the 'Mejhoul' and 'Boufeggous' cultivars, models built using Random Forest from the group of Trees turned out to be accurate and successful. The average classification accuracy for fresh, convective-dried, and infrared-dried 'Mejhoul' reached 99.33%, whereas fresh, convective-dried, and infrared-dried samples of 'Boufeggous' were distinguished with an average accuracy of 94.33%. In the case of both cultivars and each model, the higher correctness of discrimination was between fresh and infrared-dried samples, whereas the highest number of misclassified cases occurred between fresh and convective-dried fruit. Thus, the developed procedure may be considered an innovative approach to the non-destructive assessment of drying impact on the external quality characteristics of date palm fruit.

EfficientRMT-Net-An Efficient ResNet-50 and Vision Transformers Approach for Classifying Potato Plant Leaf Diseases

The primary objective of this study is to develop an advanced, automated system for the early detection and classification of leaf diseases in potato plants, which are among the most cultivated vegetable crops worldwide. These diseases, notably early and late blight caused by Alternaria solani and Phytophthora infestans, significantly impact the quantity and quality of global potato production. We hypothesize that the integration of Vision Transformer (ViT) and ResNet-50 architectures in a new model, named EfficientRMT-Net, can effectively and accurately identify various potato leaf diseases. This approach aims to overcome the limitations of traditional methods, which are often labor-intensive, time-consuming, and prone to inaccuracies due to the unpredictability of disease presentation. EfficientRMT-Net leverages the CNN model for distinct feature extraction and employs depth-wise convolution (DWC) to reduce computational demands. A stage block structure is also incorporated to improve scalability and sensitive area detection, enhancing transferability across different datasets. The classification tasks are performed using a global average pooling layer and a fully connected layer. The model was trained, validated, and tested on custom datasets specifically curated for potato leaf disease detection. EfficientRMT-Net's performance was compared with other deep learning and transfer learning techniques to establish its efficacy. Preliminary results show that EfficientRMT-Net achieves an accuracy of 97.65% on a general image dataset and 99.12% on a specialized Potato leaf image dataset, outperforming existing methods. The model demonstrates a high level of proficiency in correctly classifying and identifying potato leaf diseases, even in cases of distorted samples. The EfficientRMT-Net model provides an efficient and accurate solution for classifying potato plant leaf diseases, potentially enabling farmers to enhance crop yield while optimizing resource utilization. This study confirms our hypothesis, showcasing the effectiveness of combining ViT and ResNet-50 architectures in addressing complex agricultural challenges.

Integrated transcriptomic meta-analysis and comparative artificial intelligence models in maize under biotic stress

Biotic stress imposed by pathogens, including fungal, bacterial, and viral, can cause heavy damage leading to yield reduction in maize. Therefore, the identification of resistant genes paves the way to the development of disease-resistant cultivars and is essential for reliable production in maize. Identifying different gene expression patterns can deepen our perception of maize resistance to disease. This study includes machine learning and deep learning-based application for classifying genes expressed under normal and biotic stress in maize. Machine learning algorithms used are Naive Bayes (NB), K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN), Ensemble, Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Decision Tree (DT). A Bidirectional Long Short Term Memory (BiLSTM) based network with Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) architecture is proposed for gene classification with deep learning. To increase the performance of these algorithms, feature selection is made from the raw gene features through the Relief feature selection algorithm. The obtained finding indicated the efficacy of BiLSTM over other machine learning algorithms. Some top genes ((S)-beta-macrocarpene synthase, zealexin A1 synthase, polyphenol oxidase I, chloroplastic, pathogenesis-related protein 10, CHY1, chitinase chem 5, barwin, and uncharacterized LOC100273479 were proved to be differentially upregulated under biotic stress condition.

A method for detecting the quality of cotton seeds based on an improved ResNet50 model

The accurate and rapid detection of cotton seed quality is crucial for safeguarding cotton cultivation. To increase the accuracy and efficiency of cotton seed detection, a deep learning model, which was called the improved ResNet50 (Impro-ResNet50), was used to detect cotton seed quality. First, the convolutional block attention module (CBAM) was embedded into the ResNet50 model to allow the model to learn both the vital channel information and spatial location information of the image, thereby enhancing the model's feature extraction capability and robustness. The model's fully connected layer was then modified to accommodate the cotton seed quality detection task. An improved LRelu-Softplus activation function was implemented to facilitate the rapid and straightforward quantification of the model training procedure. Transfer learning and the Adam optimization algorithm were used to train the model to reduce the number of parameters and accelerate the model's convergence. Finally, 4419 images of cotton seeds were collected for training models under controlled conditions. Experimental results demonstrated that the Impro-ResNet50 model could achieve an average detection accuracy of 97.23% and process a single image in 0.11s. Compared with Squeeze-and-Excitation Networks (SE) and Coordination Attention (CA), the model's feature extraction capability was superior. At the same time, compared with classical models such as AlexNet, VGG16, GoogLeNet, EfficientNet, and ResNet18, this model had superior detection accuracy and complexity balances. The results indicate that the Impro-ResNet50 model has a high detection accuracy and a short recognition time, which meet the requirements for accurate and rapid detection of cotton seed quality.

The Changes in Bell Pepper Flesh as a Result of Lacto-Fermentation Evaluated Using Image Features and Machine Learning

Food processing allows for maintaining the quality of perishable products and extending their shelf life. Nondestructive procedures combining image analysis and machine learning can be used to control the quality of processed foods. This study was aimed at developing an innovative approach to distinguishing fresh and lacto-fermented red bell pepper samples involving selected image textures and machine learning algorithms. Before processing, the pieces of fresh pepper and samples subjected to spontaneous lacto-fermentation were imaged using a digital camera. The texture parameters were extracted from images converted to different color channels L, a, b, R, G, B, X, Y, and Z. The textures after selection were used to build models for the classification of fresh and lacto-fermented samples using algorithms from the groups of Lazy, Functions, Trees, Bayes, Meta, and Rules. The highest average accuracy of classification reached 99% for the models developed based on sets of selected textures for color space Lab using the IBk (instance-based K-nearest learner) algorithm from the group of Lazy, color space RGB using SMO (sequential minimal optimization) from Functions, and color space XYZ and color channel X using IBk (Lazy) and SMO (Functions). The results confirmed the differences in image features of fresh and lacto-fermented red bell pepper and revealed the effectiveness of models built based on textures using machine learning algorithms for the evaluation of the changes in the pepper flesh structure caused by processing.

An Efficient Deep Learning-Based Skin Cancer Classifier for an Imbalanced Dataset

Efficient skin cancer detection using images is a challenging task in the healthcare domain. In today’s medical practices, skin cancer detection is a time-consuming procedure that may lead to a patient’s death in later stages. The diagnosis of skin cancer at an earlier stage is crucial for the success rate of complete cure. The efficient detection of skin cancer is a challenging task. Therefore, the numbers of skilful dermatologists around the globe are not enough to deal with today’s healthcare. The huge difference between data from various healthcare sector classes leads to data imbalance problems. Due to data imbalance issues, deep learning models are often trained on one class more than others. This study proposes a novel deep learning-based skin cancer detector using an imbalanced dataset. Data augmentation was used to balance various skin cancer classes to overcome the data imbalance. The Skin Cancer MNIST: HAM10000 dataset was employed, which consists of seven classes of skin lesions. Deep learning models are widely used in disease diagnosis through images. Deep learning-based models (AlexNet, InceptionV3, and RegNetY-320) were employed to classify skin cancer. The proposed framework was also tuned with various combinations of hyperparameters. The results show that RegNetY-320 outperformed InceptionV3 and AlexNet in terms of the accuracy, F1-score, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve both on the imbalanced and balanced datasets. The performance of the proposed framework was better than that of conventional methods. The accuracy, F1-score, and ROC curve value obtained with the proposed framework were 91%, 88.1%, and 0.95, which were significantly better than those of the state-of-the-art method, which achieved 85%, 69.3%, and 0.90, respectively. Our proposed framework may assist in disease identification, which could save lives, reduce unnecessary biopsies, and reduce costs for patients, dermatologists, and healthcare professionals.

A New Approach to COVID-19 Detection: An ANN Proposal Optimized through Tree-Seed Algorithm

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), which affects the whole world, continues to spread. This disease has infected and killed millions of people worldwide. To limit the rate of spread of the disease, early detection should be provided and then the infected person should be quarantined. This paper proposes a Deep Learning-based application for early and accurate diagnosis of COVID-19. Compared to other studies, this application’s biggest difference and contribution are that it uses Tree Seed Algorithm (TSA)-optimized Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) to classify deep architectural features. Previous studies generally use fully connected layers for end-to-end learning classification. However, this study proves that even relatively simple AlexNet features can be classified more accurately with the TSA-ANN structure. The proposed hybrid model provides diagnosis with 98.54% accuracy for COVID-19 disease, which shows asymmetric distribution on Computed Tomography (CT) images. As a result, it is shown that using the proposed classification strategy, the features of end-to-end architectures can be classified more accurately.

An MRI Scans-Based Alzheimer's Disease Detection via Convolutional Neural Network and Transfer Learning

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common type (>60%) of dementia and can wreak havoc on the psychological and physiological development of sufferers and their carers, as well as the economic and social development. Attributed to the shortage of medical staff, automatic diagnosis of AD has become more important to relieve the workload of medical staff and increase the accuracy of medical diagnoses. Using the common MRI scans as inputs, an AD detection model has been designed using convolutional neural network (CNN). To enhance the fine-tuning of hyperparameters and, thus, the detection accuracy, transfer learning (TL) is introduced, which brings the domain knowledge from heterogeneous datasets. Generative adversarial network (GAN) is applied to generate additional training data in the minority classes of the benchmark datasets. Performance evaluation and analysis using three benchmark (OASIS-series) datasets revealed the effectiveness of the proposed method, which increases the accuracy of the detection model by 2.85−3.88%, 2.43−2.66%, and 1.8−40.1% in the ablation study of GAN and TL, as well as the comparison with existing works, respectively.

A Novel Approach to the Authentication of Apricot Seed Cultivars Using Innovative Models Based on Image Texture Parameters

The different cultivars of apricot seeds may differ in their properties. To ensure economical and efficient seed processing, knowledge of the cultivars’ composition and physical properties may be necessary. Therefore, the correct identification of the cultivar of the apricot seeds may be very important. The objective of this study was to develop models based on selected textures of apricot seed images to distinguish different cultivars. The images of four cultivars of apricot seeds were acquired using a flatbed scanner. For each seed, approximately 1600 textures from the image, converted to the different color channels R, G, B, L, a, b, X, Y, and Z, were calculated. The models were built separately for the individual color channels; the color spaces Lab, RGB, XYZ; and all color channels combined based on selected texture parameters using different classifiers. The average accuracy of the classification of apricot seeds reached 99% (with an accuracy of 100% for the seeds of the cultivars ‘Early Orange’, ‘Bella’, and ‘Harcot’, and 96% for ‘Taja’) in the case of the set of textures selected from the color space Lab for the model built using the Multilayer Perceptron classifier. The same classifier produced high average accuracies for the color spaces RGB (90%) and XYZ (86%). For the set of textures selected from all color channels, i.e., R, G, B, L, a, b, X, Y, and Z, the average accuracy reached 96% (Multilayer Perceptron and Random Forest classifiers). In the case of individual color channels, the highest average accuracy was up to 91% for the models built based on a set of textures selected from color channel b (Multilayer Perceptron). The results proved the possibility of distinguishing apricot seed cultivars with a high probability using a non-destructive, inexpensive, and objective procedure involving image analysis.