Automatic melanoma detection from dermoscopic skin samples is a very challenging task. However, using a deep learning approach as a machine vision tool can overcome some challenges. This research proposes an automated melanoma classifier based on a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) to accurately classify malignant vs. benign melanoma. The structure of the DCNN is carefully designed by organizing many layers that are responsible for extracting low to high-level features of the skin images in a unique fashion. Other vital criteria in the design of DCNN are the selection of multiple filters and their sizes, employing proper deep learning layers, choosing the depth of the network, and optimizing hyperparameters. The primary objective is to propose a lightweight and less complex DCNN than other state-of-the-art methods to classify melanoma skin cancer with high efficiency. For this study, dermoscopic images containing different cancer samples were obtained from the International Skin Imaging Collaboration datastores (ISIC 2016, ISIC2017, and ISIC 2020). We evaluated the model based on accuracy, precision, recall, specificity, and F1-score. The proposed DCNN classifier achieved accuracies of 81.41%, 88.23%, and 90.42% on the ISIC 2016, 2017, and 2020 datasets, respectively, demonstrating high performance compared with the other state-of-the-art networks. Therefore, this proposed approach could provide a less complex and advanced framework for automating the melanoma diagnostic process and expediting the identification process to save a life.

Background: Melanoma is the most dangerous and aggressive form among skin cancers, exhibiting a high mortality rate worldwide. Biopsy and histopathological analysis are standard procedures for skin cancer detection and prevention in clinical settings. A significant step in the diagnosis process is the deep understanding of the patterns, size, color, and structure of lesions based on images obtained through dermatoscopes for the infected area. However, the manual segmentation of the lesion region is time-consuming because the lesion evolves and changes its shape over time, making its prediction challenging. Moreover, it is challenging to predict melanoma at the initial stage as it closely resembles other skin cancer types that are not malignant as melanoma; thus, automatic segmentation techniques are required to design a computer-aided system for accurate and timely detection. Methods: As deep learning approaches have gained significant attention in recent years due to their remarkable performance, therefore, in this work, we proposed a novel design of a convolutional neural network (CNN) framework based on atrous convolutions for automatic lesion segmentation. This architecture is built based on the concept of atrous/dilated convolutions which are effective for semantic segmentation. A deep neural network is designed from scratch employing several building blocks consisting of convolutional, batch normalization, leakyReLU layer, and fine-tuned hyperparameters contributing altogether towards higher performance. Conclusion: The network was tested on three benchmark datasets provided by International Skin Imaging Collaboration (ISIC), i.e., ISIC 2016, ISIC 2017, and ISIC 2018. The experimental results showed that the proposed network achieved an average Jaccard index of 90.4% on ISIC 2016, 81.8% on ISIC 2017, and 89.1% on ISIC 2018 datasets, respectively which is recorded as higher than the top three winners of the ISIC challenge and other state-of-the-art methods. Also, the model successfully extracts lesions from the whole image in one pass in less time, requiring no pre-processing step. The conclusions yielded that network is accurate in performing lesion segmentation on adopted datasets.

This study investigates existing input privacy-preserving data mining (PPDM) methods and privacy-preserving data stream mining methods (PPDSM), including their strengths and weaknesses. A further analysis was carried out to determine to what extent existing PPDM/PPDSM methods address the trade-off between data mining accuracy and data privacy which is a significant concern in the area. The systematic literature review was conducted using data extracted from 104 primary studies from 5 reputed databases. The scope of the study was defined using three research questions and adequate inclusion and exclusion criteria. According to the results of our study, we divided existing PPDM methods into four categories: perturbation, non-perturbation, secure multi-party computation, and combinations of PPDM methods. These methods have different strengths and weaknesses concerning the accuracy, privacy, time consumption, and more. Data stream mining must face additional challenges such as high volume, high speed, and computational complexity. The techniques proposed for PPDSM are less in number than the PPDM. We categorized PPDSM techniques into three categories (perturbation, non-perturbation, and other). Most PPDM methods can be applied to classification, followed by clustering and association rule mining. It was observed that numerous studies have identified and discussed the accuracy-privacy trade-off. However, there is a lack of studies providing solutions to the issue, especially in PPDSM.

Industrial automation systems need to be highly dependable; they should not merely function as expected but also do so in a reliable, safe and secure manner. Formal methods are mathematical techniques used to describe computer systems, both hardware, and software. Formal methods can greatly aid in developing dependable systems and can be used across all phases of the system development lifecycle, right from customer requirement gathering through design and implementation, verification and validation (testing), maintenance and even documentation. This state-of-the-art survey reports existing formal approaches for creating more dependable industrial automation systems, focussing on static or offline, as opposed to runtime or online, formal methods. This article categorises existing works as per the requirements engineering, design and implementation, and testing phases of the system development life cycle, allowing us to identify gaps in current research and promising future directions for each of these phases.

The IEC 61499 standard enables the model-based design of complex industrial automation systems, in which a model of the controlled physical processes called a plant, is codeveloped with the controller. However, the existing design flow does not address functional safety issues, which include limiting risk to acceptable levels. Standards like IEC 61508 provide safety guidelines for measuring and managing risk to acceptable ranges using quantitative or probabilistic methods for hardware, and qualitative or systematic analysis techniques for software. Such analyses are inadequate in situations where safety depends on both hardware and software. This paper proposes a unifying model-based approach for the quantitative and qualitative analysis of IEC 61499 designs. The approach combines Markov analysis and model checking to estimate quantified risk and is more expressive than traditional analyses like reliability block diagrams. At design level, unified safety requirements are captured using safety blocks, which is an extension of the IEC 61499 basic blocks. The PRISM model checker is used to analyze the system, based on a sound conversion of IEC 61499 designs into PRISM models. A tool-chain enabling the proposed approach shows encouraging benchmarking results confirming the feasibility of unified analysis.