Modeling approaches for early warning and monitoring of pandemic situations as well as decision support.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the lack of preparedness of many healthcare systems against pandemic situations. In response, many population-level computational modeling approaches have been proposed for predicting outbreaks, spatiotemporally forecasting disease spread, and assessing as well as predicting the effectiveness of (non-) pharmaceutical interventions. However, in several countries, these modeling efforts have only limited impact on governmental decision-making so far.

Rule Extraction From Binary Neural Networks With Convolutional Rules for Model Validation.

Classification approaches that allow to extract logical rules such as decision trees are often considered to be more interpretable than neural networks. Also, logical rules are comparatively easy to verify with any possible input. This is an important part in systems that aim to ensure correct operation of a given model.

Detection of changes in the circadian rhythm of cattle in relation to disease, stress, and reproductive events.

Disease and stress can disrupt the circadian rhythm of activity in animals. Sensor technologies can automatically detect variations in daily activity, but it remains difficult to detect exactly when the circadian rhythm disruption starts. Here we report a mathematical Fourier-Based Approximation with Thresholding (FBAT) method designed to detect changes in the circadian activity rhythm of cows whatever the cause of change (typically disease, stress, oestrus).