Volume 2, Issue 1, Journal of Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Applications
Volume 2, Issue 1, 2026
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Journal of Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Applications, Volume 2, Issue 1, 2026: 12-27

Open Access | Research Article | 07 February 2026
Quantile Deviation Ensemble Based on Multi-Layer Perceptrons for Cervical Cancer Classification with Uncertainty Perception
1 College of Data Science and Information Engineering, Guizhou Minzu University, Guiyang 550025, China
* Corresponding Author: Jiewu Huang, [email protected]
ARK: ark:/57805/jmia.2026.403659
Received: 14 January 2026, Accepted: 29 January 2026, Published: 07 February 2026  
Abstract
The accurate classification of cervical cytology in Pap smear images remains a critical challenge in computer-aided diagnosis, largely due to the inherent uncertainty and subtle morphological variations among different pathological categories. To address this, we propose a novel uncertainty-aware ensemble framework that integrates statistical quantile analysis with deep learning for robust and interpretable classification. Our framework first leverages three deep convolutional neural networks DenseNet121, MobileNetV2, and ResNet-50 as base feature extractors. Instead of employing naive ensemble strategies, we introduce a quantile deviation based weighting mechanism to dynamically assess and integrate the prediction confidence of each model, explicitly quantifying performance bias across different probability quantiles. This approach not only enhances ensemble stability but also provides a statistical measure of model uncertainty. Subsequently, the weighted probabilistic outputs are fed into a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) for further non-linear optimization and decision refinement, forming a hybrid statistical deep learning pipeline. Evaluated on the publicly available SIPaKMeD dataset, our framework achieves an average accuracy of 98.10%, outperforming both individual base models and existing ensemble methods. Visualization via Grad-CAM further confirms that the framework focuses on clinically relevant cellular structures, validating its diagnostic relevance. By bridging statistical uncertainty quantification with deep ensemble learning, this work offers a principled and transparent methodology for medical image classification, with potential extensibility to other domains requiring reliable and interpretable predictions under uncertainty.

Graphical Abstract
Quantile Deviation Ensemble Based on Multi-Layer Perceptrons for Cervical Cancer Classification with Uncertainty Perception

Keywords
cervical cytology classification
uncertainty quantification
ensemble learning
quantile deviation
deep learning

Data Availability Statement
The data used to support the findings of this study are derived from the SIPaKMeD dataset, which is publicly available on Kaggle at https://www.kaggle.com/datasets/?search=sipakmed

Funding
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant 62566012.

Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

AI Use Statement
The authors declare that AI-assisted tools were used solely for language translation and proofreading purposes. DeepL Translator (v3) was employed to translate portions of the manuscript from Chinese into English, and DeepSeek-R1 was used for language editing and proofreading. No generative AI was used for content creation, data analysis, or scientific interpretation.

Ethical Approval and Consent to Participate
Not applicable. This study utilized publicly available datasets that do not involve direct interaction with human participants or collection of new identifiable data.

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APA Style
Hu, H., Huang, J., Cao, S., & Dai, A. (2026). Quantile Deviation Ensemble Based on Multi-Layer Perceptrons for Cervical Cancer Classification with Uncertainty Perception. Journal of Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Applications, 2(1), 12–27. https://doi.org/10.62762/JMIA.2026.403659
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TY  - JOUR
AU  - Hu, Hui
AU  - Huang, Jiewu
AU  - Cao, Shoumei
AU  - Dai, Anna
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/02/07
TI  - Quantile Deviation Ensemble Based on Multi-Layer Perceptrons for Cervical Cancer Classification with Uncertainty Perception
JO  - Journal of Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Applications
T2  - Journal of Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Applications
JF  - Journal of Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Applications
VL  - 2
IS  - 1
SP  - 12
EP  - 27
DO  - 10.62762/JMIA.2026.403659
UR  - https://www.icck.org/article/abs/JMIA.2026.403659
KW  - cervical cytology classification
KW  - uncertainty quantification
KW  - ensemble learning
KW  - quantile deviation
KW  - deep learning
AB  - The accurate classification of cervical cytology in Pap smear images remains a critical challenge in computer-aided diagnosis, largely due to the inherent uncertainty and subtle morphological variations among different pathological categories. To address this, we propose a novel uncertainty-aware ensemble framework that integrates statistical quantile analysis with deep learning for robust and interpretable classification. Our framework first leverages three deep convolutional neural networks DenseNet121, MobileNetV2, and ResNet-50 as base feature extractors. Instead of employing naive ensemble strategies, we introduce a quantile deviation based weighting mechanism to dynamically assess and integrate the prediction confidence of each model, explicitly quantifying performance bias across different probability quantiles. This approach not only enhances ensemble stability but also provides a statistical measure of model uncertainty. Subsequently, the weighted probabilistic outputs are fed into a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) for further non-linear optimization and decision refinement, forming a hybrid statistical deep learning pipeline. Evaluated on the publicly available SIPaKMeD dataset, our framework achieves an average accuracy of 98.10%, outperforming both individual base models and existing ensemble methods. Visualization via Grad-CAM further confirms that the framework focuses on clinically relevant cellular structures, validating its diagnostic relevance. By bridging statistical uncertainty quantification with deep ensemble learning, this work offers a principled and transparent methodology for medical image classification, with potential extensibility to other domains requiring reliable and interpretable predictions under uncertainty.
SN  - 3070-393X
PB  - Institute of Central Computation and Knowledge
LA  - English
ER  - 
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@article{Hu2026Quantile,
  author = {Hui Hu and Jiewu Huang and Shoumei Cao and Anna Dai},
  title = {Quantile Deviation Ensemble Based on Multi-Layer Perceptrons for Cervical Cancer Classification with Uncertainty Perception},
  journal = {Journal of Mathematics and Interdisciplinary Applications},
  year = {2026},
  volume = {2},
  number = {1},
  pages = {12-27},
  doi = {10.62762/JMIA.2026.403659},
  url = {https://www.icck.org/article/abs/JMIA.2026.403659},
  abstract = {The accurate classification of cervical cytology in Pap smear images remains a critical challenge in computer-aided diagnosis, largely due to the inherent uncertainty and subtle morphological variations among different pathological categories. To address this, we propose a novel uncertainty-aware ensemble framework that integrates statistical quantile analysis with deep learning for robust and interpretable classification. Our framework first leverages three deep convolutional neural networks DenseNet121, MobileNetV2, and ResNet-50 as base feature extractors. Instead of employing naive ensemble strategies, we introduce a quantile deviation based weighting mechanism to dynamically assess and integrate the prediction confidence of each model, explicitly quantifying performance bias across different probability quantiles. This approach not only enhances ensemble stability but also provides a statistical measure of model uncertainty. Subsequently, the weighted probabilistic outputs are fed into a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) for further non-linear optimization and decision refinement, forming a hybrid statistical deep learning pipeline. Evaluated on the publicly available SIPaKMeD dataset, our framework achieves an average accuracy of 98.10\%, outperforming both individual base models and existing ensemble methods. Visualization via Grad-CAM further confirms that the framework focuses on clinically relevant cellular structures, validating its diagnostic relevance. By bridging statistical uncertainty quantification with deep ensemble learning, this work offers a principled and transparent methodology for medical image classification, with potential extensibility to other domains requiring reliable and interpretable predictions under uncertainty.},
  keywords = {cervical cytology classification, uncertainty quantification, ensemble learning, quantile deviation, deep learning},
  issn = {3070-393X},
  publisher = {Institute of Central Computation and Knowledge}
}

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CC BY Copyright © 2026 by the Author(s). Published by Institute of Central Computation and Knowledge. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made.
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