Theory and application of neural and graphical models in early cancer diagnostics

With the recent availability of large training datasets and graphics processing units (GPUs), we address challenges in the application of graphical models and neural networks to prediction sensitive areas such as healthcare. We begin by presenting our work in the context of learning graphical models from biological data. Namely, we present a combinatorial perspective of Markov Equivalence Classes (MECs), which defines the size of solution spaces when attempting to learn a graphical model from data. Through our analysis, we show that the size of these MECs can be exponential with respect to features of the graph (such as average degree). We then switch contexts to address the challenge of developing interpretable complex models. Namely, we present a variational-inference-motivated neural network, PatchNet, that provides visual interpretability, and we present the application of our network to the Describable Textures Dataset (DTD), the ISIC-ISBI Melanoma Classification Challenge, and cell nucleus data.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2017

Author dc:creator

• Radhakrishnan, Adityanarayanan

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Caroline Uhler.

• Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/113538

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/113538