Applications of Monte Carlo dropout part1(Advanced Optimization)

Monodeep Mukherjee
3 min readNov 13, 2022
Photo by Renato Marques on Unsplash

How Monte Carlo Dropout works

  1. Adapting Neural Models with Sequential Monte Carlo Dropout(arXiv)

Author : Pamela Carreno-Medrano, Dana Kulić, Michael Burke

Abstract : The ability to adapt to changing environments and settings is essential for robots acting in dynamic and unstructured environments or working alongside humans with varied abilities or preferences. This work introduces an extremely simple and effective approach to adapting neural models in response to changing settings. We first train a standard network using dropout, which is analogous to learning an ensemble of predictive models or distribution over predictions. At run-time, we use a particle filter to maintain a distribution over dropout masks to adapt the neural model to changing settings in an online manner. Experimental results show improved performance in control problems requiring both online and look-ahead prediction, and showcase the interpretability of the inferred masks in a human behaviour modelling task for drone teleoperation.

2.Improving the repeatability of deep learning models with Monte Carlo dropout (arXiv)

Author : Andreanne Lemay, Katharina Hoebel, Christopher P. Bridge, Brian Befano, Silvia De Sanjosé, Diden Egemen, Ana Cecilia Rodriguez, Mark Schiffman, John Peter Campbell, Jayashree Kalpathy-Cramer

Abstract : The integration of artificial intelligence into clinical workflows requires reliable and robust models. Repeatability is a key attribute of model robustness. Repeatable models output predictions with low variation during independent tests carried out under similar conditions. During model development and evaluation, much attention is given to classification performance while model repeatability is rarely assessed, leading to the development of models that are unusable in clinical practice. In this work, we evaluate the repeatability of four model types (binary classification, multi-class classification, ordinal classification, and regression) on images that were acquired from the same patient during the same visit. We study the performance of binary, multi-class, ordinal, and regression models on four medical image classification tasks from public and private datasets: knee osteoarthritis, cervical cancer screening, breast density estimation, and retinopathy of prematurity. Repeatability is measured and compared on ResNet and DenseNet architectures. Moreover, we assess the impact of sampling Monte Carlo dropout predictions at test time on classification performance and repeatability. Leveraging Monte Carlo predictions significantly increased repeatability for all tasks on the binary, multi-class, and ordinal models leading to an average reduction of the 95\% limits of agreement by 16% points and of the disagreement rate by 7% points. The classification accuracy improved in most settings along with the repeatability. Our results suggest that beyond about 20 Monte Carlo iterations, there is no further gain in repeatability. In addition to the higher test-retest agreement, Monte Carlo predictions were better calibrated which leads to output probabilities reflecting more accurately the true likelihood of being correctly classified

3.Quantifying the uncertainty of neural networks using Monte Carlo dropout for deep learning based quantitative MRI(arXiv)

Author : Mehmet Yigit Avci, Ziyu Li, Qiuyun Fan, Susie Huang, Berkin Bilgic, Qiyuan Tian

Abstract : Dropout is conventionally used during the training phase as regularization method and for quantifying uncertainty in deep learning. We propose to use dropout during training as well as inference steps, and average multiple predictions to improve the accuracy, while reducing and quantifying the uncertainty. The results are evaluated for fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) maps which are obtained from only 3 direction scans. With our method, accuracy can be improved significantly compared to network outputs without dropout, especially when the training dataset is small. Moreover, confidence maps are generated which may aid in diagnosis of unseen pathology or artifacts

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Monodeep Mukherjee

Universe Enthusiast. Writes about Computer Science, AI, Physics, Neuroscience and Technology,Front End and Backend Development