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Adaptive fuzzy transformation for abnormal breast mass detection
No full textBreast mass detection remains a significant challenge in developing effective computer-aided diagnosis (CADx) systems to assist clinicians in differentiating between benign and malignant masses. This paper introduces a ovel fuzzy rule-based CADx approach for mammographic mass classification, utilising Transformation-based Fuzzy Rule Interpolation with Mahalanobis matrices (MT-FRI). This method enables reliable and interpretable classification by transforming attributes into a new feature space and interpolating for unmatched cases, making it well-suited to limited-data scenarios. The proposed approach integrates a structured pipeline encompassing feature extraction, feature selection, fuzzy rule generation, and interpolation inference, all designed to enhance transparency in diagnostic decisions. The system implementing the approach is evaluated on four widely-used mammographic datasets-INbreast, CBIS-DDSM, BCDR-D01, and BCDR-F01. For the first time, comparative experiments demonstrate that state-of-the-art fuzzy rule interpolative methods, particularly MT-FRI, achieve superior classification performance over representative classical machine learning models and deep neural networks. Unlike deep learning models, which require extensive labelled data and function as “black boxes”, MT-FRI produces transparent, human-readable rules, supporting clinical interpretability. This work underscores the potential of MT-FRI as an adaptable and interpretable CADx solution for mammographic diagnosis, especially valuable in sparse-data environments.</p
Younger Dryas glacier advances in the tropical Andes driven by increased precipitation
No full textThere is currently a debate about the timing and drivers of former glacier behaviour and climate change in the tropical Andes. Using 10Be dating we determined the ages of 21 boulders on moraines in the Santa Cruz Valley, Peru (∼10°S, altitudes ~ 4100 to ~ 4300 m a.s.l.). Former glacier extent is marked by a suite of nested outer lateral and terminal moraines. These moraines are dated to 11.1 ka, 11.6 ka, 11.8 ka and 12.0 ka, falling within the Younger Dryas Chronozone (YDC; ∼12.9–11.6 ka). Nine 10Be samples from the Lake Arhuaycocha catchment document a period of glacier thinning and lateral contraction between 12.0 ka and 11.8 ka. Reconstructed glacier Equilibrium Line Altitudes (ELA) at 11.0 to 12.0 ka with an area–altitude balance ratio (AABR) of 1.00-2.50 are between 4675 and 4835 m a.s.l. for the Arhuaycocha glacier, between 4692 and 4832 m a.s.l. for the Taullicocha glacier and between 4800 and 4940 m a.s.l. for the Artizon glacier. These values represent a depression of 300–400 m in elevation compared to contemporary values for the ELA. We infer that the glacier advances at this time were driven by increased precipitation and that these changes were most likely a response to seasonal changes in the position of the ITCZ
Urbanization and Its Environmental Impact in Ceredigion County, Wales:A 20-Year Remote Sensing and GIS-Based Assessment (2003–2023)
No full textUrbanization is a dominant force reshaping human settlements, driving socio-economic development while also causing significant environmental challenges. With over 56% of the world’s population now residing in urban areas—a figure expected to rise to two-thirds by 2050—land use changes are accelerating rapidly. The conversion of natural landscapes into impervious surfaces such as concrete and asphalt intensifies the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, raises urban temperatures, and strains local ecosystems. This study investigates land use and landscape changes in Ceredigion County, UK, utilizing remote sensing and GIS techniques to analyze urbanization impacts over two decades (2003–2023). Results indicate significant urban expansion of approximately 122 km2, predominantly at the expense of agricultural and forested areas, leading to vegetation loss and changes in water availability. County-wide mean land surface temperature (LST) increased from 21.4 °C in 2003 to 23.65 °C in 2023, with urban areas recording higher values around 27.1 °C, reflecting a strong UHI effect. Spectral indices (NDVI, NDWI, NDBI, and NDBaI) reveal that urban sprawl adversely affects vegetation health, water resources, and land surfaces. The Urban Thermal Field Variance Index (UTFVI) further highlights areas experiencing thermal discomfort. Additionally, machine learning models, including Linear Regression and Random Forest, were employed to forecast future LST trends, projecting urban LST values to potentially reach approximately 27.4 °C by 2030. These findings underscore the urgent need for sustainable urban planning, reforestation, and climate adaptation strategies to mitigate the environmental impacts of rapid urban growth and ensure the resilience of both human and ecological systems
Dynamics of Miscanthus spp. Overwinter Leaf Litter Drop and Decomposition
Get PDFPerennial biomass crops represent a rapidly deployable technology to contribute to climate change mitigation, both reducing greenhouse gas emissions through providing alternative energy sources to fossil fuels, and direct photosynthetic removal of CO2 from the atmosphere and sequestration into biomass and soil organic carbon (SOC). The giant perennial grass, Miscanthus × giganteus is one of the leading commercial crops currently deployed at scale, with its associated overwinter leaf litter production and decomposition providing a key pathway to SOC sequestration. However, challenges in the scalability of propagative material from this sterile, naturally occurring hybrid have led to great interest from breeding programs to develop novel varieties better suited to replication and specific end‐use requirements. This study compares leaf litter production and decomposition from six Miscanthus genotypes to better understand their comparative potential contribution to carbon cycling across a range of morphologies. Our results showed that, despite genotypic differences in growing season leaf production, differences in overwinter retention rates resulted in similar absolute amounts being dropped to the ground, excepting M. × sinensis (our sinensis × sinensis hybrid) which both produced and dropped significantly greater litter material than the other genotypes, 14.9 Mg DM ha−1 compared with an average across the other genotypes of 2.8 Mg ha−1, and was associated with one of the lowest decomposition rates. Major shifts in the litter microbiome were observed during the first 6 months of decomposition with important plant material decomposers likely migrating from soil communities; these changes appeared to be statistically consistent across all genotypes. Excepting M. × sinensis, the relative consistency of litter production suggests that breeding programs may focus on yields without paying a penalty in leaf carbon cycling, though if outright leaf litter production for carbon sequestration and soil surface protection were the primary goal, M. × sinensis may represent an optimal choice
A Comprehensive Review of DDoS Detection and Mitigation in SDN Environments:Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Federated Learning Perspectives
Get PDFSoftware-defined networking (SDN) has reformed the traditional approach to managing and configuring networks by isolating the data plane from control plane. This isolation helps enable centralized control over network resources, enhanced programmability, and the ability to dynamically apply and enforce security and traffic policies. The shift in architecture offers numerous advantages such as increased flexibility, scalability, and improved network management but also introduces new and notable security challenges such as Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attacks. Such attacks focus on affecting the target with malicious traffic and even short-lived DDoS incidents can drastically impact the entire network’s stability, performance and availability. This comprehensive review paper provides a detailed investigation of SDN principles, the nature of DDoS threats in such environments and the strategies used to detect/mitigate these attacks. It provides novelty by offering an in-depth categorization of state-of-the-art detection techniques, utilizing machine learning, deep learning, and federated learning in domain-specific and general-purpose SDN scenarios. Each method is analyzed for its effectiveness. The paper further evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of these techniques, highlighting their applicability in different SDN contexts. In addition, the paper outlines the key performance metrics used in evaluating these detection mechanisms. Moreover, the novelty of the study is classifying the datasets commonly used for training and validating DDoS detection models into two major categories: legacy-compatible datasets that are adapted from traditional network environments, and SDN-contextual datasets that are specifically generated to reflect the characteristics of modern SDN systems. Finally, the paper suggests a few directions for future research. These include enhancing the robustness of detection models, integrating privacy-preserving techniques in collaborative learning, and developing more comprehensive and realistic SDN-specific datasets to improve the strength of SDN infrastructures against DDoS threats.</p
Differences between traditional and modern populations within cattle breeds:What do we not know?
Get PDFPurpose: We reviewed the genetic differences between modern and traditional cattle breeds, emphasizing the evolution of modern cattle herds, particularly the Hereford breed. With this work, we sought to enhance our comprehension of bovine genomics by analyzing the interaction between traditional and modern cattle genetics, thereby informing future breeding and conservation strategies.Sources: We reviewed the existing literature on genomic studies of cattle breeds and highlighted a dearth of information (except in a few cases) regarding the differences between traditional and modern populations within breeds.Synthesis: According to the limited studies available, traditional populations serve as significant stores of genetic variety, which can later be introgressed into modern breeds to improve production, resilience, and adaptation to changing environments. However, information about this diversity is severely lacking in many breeds for which traditional populations exist.Conclusions and Applications: We made the case for more extensive surveys of genomic differences within cattle breeds where ancestral and traditionally managed populations exist. These surveys could have substantial implications for sustainable livestock management and the enhancement of cattle breeds in response to ever-changing environmental and agricultural requirements. In particular, understanding the genetic changes involved in the development of modern breeds can assist in identifying adaptive loci present in traditional populations that are at risk of being lost through selective breeding
Molecular Networks Underlying Wheat Resistance and Susceptibility to Pyrenophora tritici-repentis
Get PDFPyrenophora tritici-repentis (Ptr), the causal agent of tan spot, is a necrotrophic fungus that represents a significant threat to wheat production worldwide. The development of resistant cultivars is limited by an incomplete understanding of wheat defence responses against Ptr. Here, weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) was applied to RNA-seq data from resistant (Robigus) and susceptible (Hereward) wheat lines before and after Ptr infection to identify coordinated host responses. Eight co-expression modules were identified, three of which were linked to either resistance, susceptibility, or Ptr infection. The resistance-associated module was enriched with chloroplast ribosomal machinery genes (e.g., 50S ribosome-binding GTPase, L28, L6), and transcriptional regulators. This suggested that maintaining chloroplast function, coupled with large-scale transcriptional reprogramming, was important for resistance. The susceptibility-associated module indicated the high expression of post-transcriptional modifiers, including SGS3, RBX1, and SENPs. The Ptr-responsive module showed common responses in both genotypes and included several defence-related genes (nucleotide-binding domain leucine-rich repeat R-genes [NLRs], chitinases, beta-1,3-glucanases) and metabolic pathways, such as phenylpropanoid biosynthesis and nitrogen metabolism (phenylpropanoid ammonia lyase [PAL], cytochrome P450s, glutamine synthase, and ammonium transporters). These results define distinct and shared molecular networks that are linked to resistance and susceptibility, providing valuable candidate genes for functional validation that could ultimately be exploited to enhance wheat resilience against necrotrophic fungal pathogens.</p
The Calicophoron daubneyi genome provides new insight into mechanisms of feeding, eggshell synthesis and parasite-microbe interactions
Get PDFBackgroundThe rumen fluke, Calicophoron daubneyi, is the major paramphistome species infecting ruminants within Europe. Adult flukes reside within the rumen where they are in direct contact with a unique collection of microorganisms. Here, we report a 1.76-Gb draft genome for C. daubneyi, the first for any paramphistome species.ResultsSeveral gene families have undergone specific expansion in C. daubneyi, including the peptidoglycan-recognition proteins (PGRPs) and DM9 domain-containing proteins, which function as pattern-recognition receptors, as well as the saposin-like proteins with putative antibacterial properties, and are upregulated upon arrival of the fluke in the microbe-rich rumen. We describe the first characterisation of a helminth PGRP and show that a recombinant C. daubneyi PGRP binds to the surface of bacteria, including obligate anaerobes from the rumen, via specific interaction with cell wall peptidoglycan. We reveal that C. daubneyi eggshell proteins lack L-DOPA typically required for eggshell crosslinking in trematodes and propose that C. daubneyi employs atypical eggshell crosslinking chemistry that produces eggs with greater stability. Finally, although extracellular digestion of rumen ciliates occurs within the C. daubneyi gut, unique ultrastructural and biochemical adaptations of the gastrodermal cells suggest that adult flukes also acquire nutrients via uptake of volatile fatty acids from rumen fluid.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that unique selective pressures, associated with inhabiting a host environment so rich in microbial diversity, have driven the evolution of molecular and morphological adaptations that enable C. daubneyi to defend itself against microorganisms, feed and reproduce within the rumen
EEG-Based Emotion Recognition with Combined Fuzzy Inference via Integrating Weighted Fuzzy Rule Inference and Interpolation
Get PDFEmotions play a significant role in shaping psychological activities, behaviour, and interpersonal communication. Reflecting this importance, automated emotion classification has become a vital research area in artificial intelligence. Electroencephalogram (EEG)-based emotion recognition is particularly promising due to its high temporal resolution and resistance to manipulation. This study introduces an advanced fuzzy inference algorithm for EEG data-driven emotion recognition, effectively addressing the ambiguity of emotional states. By combining adaptive fuzzy rule generation, feature evaluation, and weighted fuzzy rule interpolation, the proposed approach achieves accurate emotion classification while handling incomplete knowledge. Experimental results demonstrate that the integrated fuzzy system outperforms state-of-the-art techniques, offering improved recognition accuracy and robustness under uncertainty.</p
The Dynamics of De-Europeanisation in a Multilevel Context:Resistance and Power Politics in Scotland and Wales
Get PDFIn recent years, theoretical models which seek to capture the dynamics of European integration and Europeanisation have turned their attention to new processes of disintegration and de-Europeanisation, presenting new understandings of where politics, policy-makers and public opinion have moved to roll back integration. In this article, looking at the process of de-Europeanisation in Scotland and Wales since 2016, we take forward this scholarship by providing a nuanced assessment of the multilevel effects of these processes and their implications. We find that despite their governments' ambitions to retain agency over the speed and direction of de-Europeanisation in Scotland and Wales, their resistance to the overall UK-led direction of travel has thus far produced few results due to the continued constitutional dominance of the UK Government. We argue that this expands current understandings of de-Europeanisation in practice as we draw attention to the prevalence of ‘forced de-Europeanisation’, which has prevented these devolved governments of the UK from substantiating their particular re-engagement preferences. Consequently, the extent of differentiation in the processes of de-Europeanisation across the territories of the United Kingdom because of Brexit has been limited, contrasting sharply with the differentiated model of Europeanisation, which existed during British EU membership