SolarTformer: A Transformer Based Deep Learning Approach for Short Term Solar Power Forecasting

Accurate forecasting of solar power output is essential for efficient integration of renewable energy into the grid. In this study, an attention-based deep learning model, inspired by transformer architecture, is used for short-term solar power forecasting. Our proposed model, "SolarTformer", is designed to predict solar power output from meteorological data. Unlike traditional models, SolarTformer leverages self-attention mechanisms to effectively capture temporal dependencies and spatial variability in solar irradiance. In addition, the proposed methodology includes feeding power station-specific metadata into the model, which helps to generalize between power stations located at different locations and with different panel configurations and in different seasons. Our experiments demonstrate that SolarTformer significantly outperforms previous models on the same data set. In particular, the model exhibits strong performance on both clear and cloudy days, indicating high robustness and generalizability. These findings highlight the potential of attention-based architectures in enhancing the accuracy of solar forecasting, contributing to a more reliable management of renewable energy.

Longitudinal Volumetric Study for the Progression of Alzheimer's Disease from Structural MR Images

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is primarily an irreversible neurodegenerative disorder affecting millions of individuals today. The prognosis of the disease solely depends on treating symptoms as they arise and proper caregiving, as there are no current medical preventative treatments. For this purpose, early detection of the disease at its most premature state is of paramount importance. This work aims to survey imaging biomarkers corresponding to the progression of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). A longitudinal study of structural MR images was performed for given temporal test subjects selected randomly from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database. The pipeline implemented includes modern pre-processing techniques such as spatial image registration, skull stripping, and inhomogeneity correction. The temporal data across multiple visits spanning several years helped identify the structural change in the form of volumes of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), grey matter (GM), and white matter (WM) as the patients progressed further into the disease. Tissue classes are segmented using an unsupervised learning approach using intensity histogram information. The segmented features thus extracted provide insights such as atrophy, increase or intolerable shifting of GM, WM and CSF and should help in future research for automated analysis of Alzheimer's detection with clinical domain explainability.