Unsupervised machine learning to analyze corneal tissue surfaces

Identifying/classifying damage features on soft materials, such as tissues, is much more challenging than on classical, hard materials—but nevertheless important, especially in the field of bio-tribology. For instance, cartilage samples from osteoarthritic patients exhibit surface damage even at ear...

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Main Authors: Carolin A. Rickert, Fabio Henkel, Oliver Lieleg
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: AIP Publishing LLC 2023-12-01
Series:APL Machine Learning
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0159502
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author Carolin A. Rickert
Fabio Henkel
Oliver Lieleg
author_facet Carolin A. Rickert
Fabio Henkel
Oliver Lieleg
author_sort Carolin A. Rickert
collection DOAJ
description Identifying/classifying damage features on soft materials, such as tissues, is much more challenging than on classical, hard materials—but nevertheless important, especially in the field of bio-tribology. For instance, cartilage samples from osteoarthritic patients exhibit surface damage even at early stages of tissue degeneration, and corneal tissues can be damaged by contact lenses when the ocular lubrication system fails. Here, we employ unsupervised machine learning (ML) methods to assess the surface condition of a soft tissue by detecting and classifying different wear morphologies as well as the severity of surface damage they represent. We show that different clustering methods, especially a k-means clustering algorithm, can indeed achieve a—from a material science point of view—meaningful classification of those tissue samples. Our study pinpoints the ability of unsupervised ML models to guide or even replace human decision processes for the analysis of complex surfaces and topographical datasets that—either owing to their complexity or the sample size—exceed the capability of the human brain.
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spelling doaj.art-07b74463cf5e490ebe4254a569dd50502024-01-03T19:54:29ZengAIP Publishing LLCAPL Machine Learning2770-90192023-12-0114046107046107-1210.1063/5.0159502Unsupervised machine learning to analyze corneal tissue surfacesCarolin A. Rickert0Fabio Henkel1Oliver Lieleg2School of Engineering and Design, Department of Materials Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Boltzmannstraße 15, 85748 Garching, GermanySchool of Engineering and Design, Department of Materials Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Boltzmannstraße 15, 85748 Garching, GermanySchool of Engineering and Design, Department of Materials Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Boltzmannstraße 15, 85748 Garching, GermanyIdentifying/classifying damage features on soft materials, such as tissues, is much more challenging than on classical, hard materials—but nevertheless important, especially in the field of bio-tribology. For instance, cartilage samples from osteoarthritic patients exhibit surface damage even at early stages of tissue degeneration, and corneal tissues can be damaged by contact lenses when the ocular lubrication system fails. Here, we employ unsupervised machine learning (ML) methods to assess the surface condition of a soft tissue by detecting and classifying different wear morphologies as well as the severity of surface damage they represent. We show that different clustering methods, especially a k-means clustering algorithm, can indeed achieve a—from a material science point of view—meaningful classification of those tissue samples. Our study pinpoints the ability of unsupervised ML models to guide or even replace human decision processes for the analysis of complex surfaces and topographical datasets that—either owing to their complexity or the sample size—exceed the capability of the human brain.http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0159502
spellingShingle Carolin A. Rickert
Fabio Henkel
Oliver Lieleg
Unsupervised machine learning to analyze corneal tissue surfaces
APL Machine Learning
title Unsupervised machine learning to analyze corneal tissue surfaces
title_full Unsupervised machine learning to analyze corneal tissue surfaces
title_fullStr Unsupervised machine learning to analyze corneal tissue surfaces
title_full_unstemmed Unsupervised machine learning to analyze corneal tissue surfaces
title_short Unsupervised machine learning to analyze corneal tissue surfaces
title_sort unsupervised machine learning to analyze corneal tissue surfaces
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0159502
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AT fabiohenkel unsupervisedmachinelearningtoanalyzecornealtissuesurfaces
AT oliverlieleg unsupervisedmachinelearningtoanalyzecornealtissuesurfaces