Abstract:Alzheimer's Disease is an incurable cognitive condition that affects thousands of people globally. While some diagnostic methods exist for Alzheimer's Disease, many of these methods cannot detect Alzheimer's in its earlier stages. Recently, researchers have explored the use of Electroencephalogram (EEG) technology for diagnosing Alzheimer's. EEG is a noninvasive method of recording the brain's electrical signals, and EEG data has shown distinct differences between patients with and without Alzheimer's. In the past, Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) have been used to predict Alzheimer's from EEG data, but these models sometimes produce false positive diagnoses. This study aims to compare losses between ANNs and Kolmogorov-Arnold Networks (KANs) across multiple types of epochs, learning rates, and nodes. The results show that across these different parameters, ANNs are more accurate in predicting Alzheimer's Disease from EEG signals.
Abstract:Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease affecting millions of individuals across the globe. As the prevalence of this disease continues to rise, early diagnosis is crucial to improve clinical outcomes. Neural networks, specifically Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), are promising tools for diagnosing individuals with Alzheimer's. However, neural networks such as ANNs and CNNs typically yield lower validation accuracies when fed lower quantities of data. Hence, Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) can be utilized to synthesize data to augment these existing MRI datasets, potentially yielding higher validation accuracies. In this study, we use this principle while examining a novel application of the SSMI metric in selecting high-quality synthetic data generated by our GAN to compare its accuracies with shuffled data generated by our GAN. We observed that incorporating GANs with an SSMI metric returned the highest accuracies when compared to a traditional dataset.
Abstract:In this study, we introduce a novel Mylar-based pouch motor design that leverages the reversible actuation capabilities of Peltier junctions to enable agonist-antagonist muscle mimicry in soft robotics. Addressing the limitations of traditional silicone-based materials, such as leakage and phase-change fluid degradation, our pouch motors filled with Novec 7000 provide a durable and leak-proof solution for geometric modeling. The integration of flexible Peltier junctions offers a significant advantage over conventional Joule heating methods by allowing active and reversible heating and cooling cycles. This innovation not only enhances the reliability and longevity of soft robotic applications but also broadens the scope of design possibilities, including the development of agonist-antagonist artificial muscles, grippers with can manipulate through flexion and extension, and an anchor-slip style simple crawler design. Our findings indicate that this approach could lead to more efficient, versatile, and durable robotic systems, marking a significant advancement in the field of soft robotics.