Journals / International Journal of 3D Printing Technologies and Digital Industry / 2026 / Cilt: 9 Sayı: 2

DIMENSIONALITY REDUCTION IN SMALLPOX HISTOPATHOLOGICAL IMAGES USING AUTOENCODER AND KERNEL PCA

Nilgün Şengöz(BURDUR MEHMET AKİF ERSOY ÜNİVERSİTESİ)0000-0001-5651-8173
Emine Vargün(BURDUR MEHMET AKİF ERSOY ÜNİVERSİTESİ)0009-0009-6913-2996
Pages
331–343
Publication Date
2025-08-30
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AI Summary & Key Takeaways

AI Insight
⚡ TL;DR(Too Long; Didn't Read)

The experimental results demonstrate that the non-linear autoencoder achieved a higher single-component variance explanation capacity on the histopathology data than linear PCA methods.

📌 3 Key Takeaways

🎯
Objective & Hypothesis:Histopathological images of smallpox-infected tissue are complex and high-dimensional, which poses challenges for analysis and diagnosis.
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Key Findings & Data:The experimental results demonstrate that the non-linear autoencoder achieved a higher single-component variance explanation capacity on the histopathology data than linear PCA methods.
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Conclusion & Impact:These findings suggest that combining both methods could improve the accuracy of smallpox diagnosis through histopathological image analysis.
🔬Design:Modeling & Simulation
📍Scope:Comprehensive Sample
⚙️Variables:Dimensionality Reduction · Autoencoder · Kernel PCA

Abstract

Histopathological images of smallpox-infected tissue are complex and high-dimensional, which poses challenges for analysis and diagnosis. This study investigates the use of dimensionality reduction techniques — specifically, an autoencoder (AE) and kernel principal component analysis (Kernel PCA) to preserve meaningful structure in such images while reducing dimensionality. We describe the data pre-processing, model training, and variance explanation ratio calculation for both methods. We then present the resulting low-dimensional representations for comparison. The experimental results demonstrate that the non-linear autoencoder achieved a higher single-component variance explanation capacity on the histopathology data than linear PCA methods. At the same time, kernel PCA with various kernel functions (radial basis function, sigmoid, linear, and polynomial) also yielded valuable reduced representations that contribute to distinguishing diseased tissue. Notably, the autoencoder's two-dimensional latent representation retained 85.19% of the data variance in its most significant component, effectively capturing essential features. Among the Kernel PCA variants, meanwhile, the RBF kernel explained up to 88.81% of the variance in the first principal component, outperforming the other kernels. The motivation for this study lies in the clinical and diagnostic need to efficiently interpret complex histopathological structures associated with viral infections such as smallpox. Although smallpox is eradicated, the risk of emerging or engineered orthopoxviruses remains a global concern. Hence, developing computational tools that can extract discriminative features from such images is not only scientifically relevant but also medically significant for early identification, preparedness, and differential diagnosis of similar conditions. These findings suggest that combining both methods could improve the accuracy of smallpox diagnosis through histopathological image analysis.

Özet

Histopathological images of smallpox-infected tissue are complex and high-dimensional, which poses challenges for analysis and diagnosis. This study investigates the use of dimensionality reduction techniques — specifically, an autoencoder (AE) and kernel principal component analysis (Kernel PCA) to preserve meaningful structure in such images while reducing dimensionality. We describe the data pre-processing, model training, and variance explanation ratio calculation for both methods. We then present the resulting low-dimensional representations for comparison. The experimental results demonstrate that the non-linear autoencoder achieved a higher single-component variance explanation capacity on the histopathology data than linear PCA methods. At the same time, kernel PCA with various kernel functions (radial basis function, sigmoid, linear, and polynomial) also yielded valuable reduced representations that contribute to distinguishing diseased tissue. Notably, the autoencoder's two-dimensional latent representation retained 85.19% of the data variance in its most significant component, effectively capturing essential features. Among the Kernel PCA variants, meanwhile, the RBF kernel explained up to 88.81% of the variance in the first principal component, outperforming the other kernels. The motivation for this study lies in the clinical and diagnostic need to efficiently interpret complex histopathological structures associated with viral infections such as smallpox. Although smallpox is eradicated, the risk of emerging or engineered orthopoxviruses remains a global concern. Hence, developing computational tools that can extract discriminative features from such images is not only scientifically relevant but also medically significant for early identification, preparedness, and differential diagnosis of similar conditions. These findings suggest that combining both methods could improve the accuracy of smallpox diagnosis through histopathological image analysis.

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Cite This Article

Şengöz, N., Vargün, E. (2025). DIMENSIONALITY REDUCTION IN SMALLPOX HISTOPATHOLOGICAL IMAGES USING AUTOENCODER AND KERNEL PCA. International Journal of 3D Printing Technologies and Digital Industry, Cilt: 9 Sayı: 2, 331–343. https://doi.org/10.46519/ij3dptdi.1708402

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