Machine Learning Strategies for Augmented Health Informatics

本研究计划重点关注机器学习（ML）中与健康信息学应用密切相关的三个突出挑战：(1)机器学习有效运行的假设与现实应用中实际遇到的情况之间的不匹配；(2)缺乏针对特定情况选择合适ML架构的系统指南；(3)认为机器学习是一种黑箱方法，不利于人类理解的根深蒂固的看法。为了应对这些挑战，提出了三种相应的工程策略。对于第一个挑战，将研究数据平衡和生成建模策略。特别是，机器学习方法通常取决于成功部署可用训练数据的数量和质量。这些假设在实际的健康应用中可能不被满足，从而严重损害了机器学习的适用性。然而，通过数据增强和生成对抗网络等技术，开发机器学习初始化和训练解决方案以适应实际应用中有限的数据集是可行的。对于第二个挑战，将根据资源可用性和遇到的环境，研究允许系统ML架构选择和适应的策略。为了响应操作条件的变化，自适应ML策略应该允许对系统参数进行有效的调整和优化。因此，状态监测和反馈将用于机会性地调整ML系统，使其在各种条件下具有强大的性能。对于第三个挑战，将探索统称为可解释人工智能（XAI）的策略，以将人为设计因素纳入ML系统。这些策略寻求开发ML方法，不仅提供最终的输出决策，还提供相关的解释，以便人类能够理解和解释结果。在健康信息学应用中，机器学习系统通常必须与人类进行交互，以使选定的治疗方案合理化。为此，XAI代表了一个有希望的方向，以促进机器学习系统和人类用户之间的成功交互。总之，这些新颖的策略应该允许人类有效地利用机器学习进行决策，同时保持对所做决策的认知和控制，这些特征与新兴的增强智能（AmI）范式一致。特别是在健康信息学（一个高度影响加拿大生活质量的应用领域）中，可以预期护理质量的进步：基于ML的疾病诊断和治疗不仅可以及时和准确，而且与人类相关并可解释。因此，这些研究策略应该在推进加拿大作为健康和机器学习技术领导者的声誉方面发挥重要作用。

This research program focuses on three outstanding challenges in machine learning (ML), which are notably germane to health informatics applications: (1) a mismatch between assumptions for ML to operate effectively, and situations actually encountered in real-world applications; (2) a lack of systematic guidelines for selecting the appropriate ML architecture for a particular situation; (3) an entrenched perception that ML is a black-box approach, not conducive to human understanding. In order to tackle these challenges, three corresponding engineering strategies are proposed. For the first challenge, data balancing and generative modelling strategies will be investigated. In particular, ML methods are typically contingent on both the quantity and quality of available training data for successful deployment. These assumptions may not be met in practical health applications, thus severely compromising the applicability of ML. However, with techniques such as data augmentation and generative adversarial networks, it is feasible to develop ML initialization and training solutions for accommodating limited datasets in practical applications. For the second challenge, strategies allowing for systematic ML architecture selection and adaptation, based on resource availability and encountered environment, will be studied. In response to changes in operating conditions, the adaptive ML strategies should allow for effective tuning and optimization of system parameters. Accordingly, condition monitoring and feedback will be used to opportunistically adapt the ML systems for robust performance in various conditions. For the third challenge, strategies known collectively as explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) will be explored to incorporate human design factors into ML systems. These strategies seek to develop ML methods that provide not only the final output decisions but also the associated explanations, so that humans can understand and interpret the results. In health informatics applications, ML systems typically have to interact with humans in their collaborative efforts to rationalize a selected therapeutic solution. To this end, XAI represents a promising direction to facilitate the successful interaction between ML systems and human users. Together, these novel strategies should allow humans to efficiently utilize ML for decision making, while remaining cognizant and in control of the decisions made, characteristics which are consistent with the emerging paradigm of augmented intelligence (AmI). Specifically within health informatics, an application domain that highly impacts Canadian quality of life, advances in the quality of care can be expected: diagnosis and treatment of diseases based on ML can be not only timely and accurate, but also relevant and explainable to humans. Therefore, these research strategies should play a significant role in advancing Canada's reputation as a leader in both health and ML technologies.