In this paper, we introduce a new dataset, \textbf{Kimia Path24}, for image classification and retrieval in digital pathology. We use the whole scan images of 24 different tissue textures to generate 1,325 test patches of size 1000$\times$1000 (0.5mm$\times$0.5mm). Training data can be generated according to preferences of algorithm designer and can range from approximately 27,000 to over 50,000 patches if the preset parameters are adopted. We propose a compound patch-and-scan accuracy measurement that makes achieving high accuracies quite challenging. In addition, we set the benchmarking line by applying LBP, dictionary approach and convolutional neural nets (CNNs) and report their results. The highest accuracy was 41.80\% for CNN.
Many research works have successfully extended algorithms such as evolutionary algorithms, reinforcement agents and neural networks using "opposition-based learning" (OBL). Two types of the "opposites" have been defined in the literature, namely \textit{type-I} and \textit{type-II}. The former are linear in nature and applicable to the variable space, hence easy to calculate. On the other hand, type-II opposites capture the "oppositeness" in the output space. In fact, type-I opposites are considered a special case of type-II opposites where inputs and outputs have a linear relationship. However, in many real-world problems, inputs and outputs do in fact exhibit a nonlinear relationship. Therefore, type-II opposites are expected to be better in capturing the sense of "opposition" in terms of the input-output relation. In the absence of any knowledge about the problem at hand, there seems to be no intuitive way to calculate the type-II opposites. In this paper, we introduce an approach to learn type-II opposites from the given inputs and their outputs using the artificial neural networks (ANNs). We first perform \emph{opposition mining} on the sample data, and then use the mined data to learn the relationship between input $x$ and its opposite $\breve{x}$. We have validated our algorithm using various benchmark functions to compare it against an evolving fuzzy inference approach that has been recently introduced. The results show the better performance of a neural approach to learn the opposites. This will create new possibilities for integrating oppositional schemes within existing algorithms promising a potential increase in convergence speed and/or accuracy.