Scaling up classification rule induction through parallel processing

The fast increase in the size and number of databases demands data mining approaches that are scalable to large amounts of data. This has led to the exploration of parallel computing technologies in order to perform data mining tasks concurrently using several processors. Parallelization seems to be a natural and cost-effective way to scale up data mining technologies. One of the most important of these data mining technologies is the classification of newly recorded data. This paper surveys advances in parallelization in the field of classification rule induction

Incremental algorithm for Decision Rule generation in data stream contexts

Actualmente, la ciencia de datos está ganando mucha atención en diferentes sectores. Concretamente en la industria, muchas aplicaciones pueden ser consideradas. Utilizar técnicas de ciencia de datos en el proceso de toma de decisiones es una de esas aplicaciones que pueden aportar valor a la industria. El incremento de la disponibilidad de los datos y de la aparición de flujos continuos en forma de data streams hace emerger nuevos retos a la hora de trabajar con datos cambiantes. Este trabajo presenta una propuesta innovadora, Incremental Decision Rules Algorithm (IDRA), un algoritmo que, de manera incremental, genera y modifica reglas de decisión para entornos de data stream para incorporar cambios que puedan aparecer a lo largo del tiempo. Este método busca proponer una nueva estructura de reglas que busca mejorar el proceso de toma de decisiones, planteando una base de conocimiento descriptiva y transparente que pueda ser integrada en una herramienta decisional. Esta tesis describe la lógica existente bajo la propuesta de IDRA, en todas sus versiones, y propone una variedad de experimentos para compararlas con un método clásico (CREA) y un método adaptativo (VFDR). Conjuntos de datos reales, juntamente con algunos escenarios simulados con diferentes tipos y ratios de error, se utilizan para comparar estos algoritmos. El estudio prueba que IDRA, específicamente la versión reactiva de IDRA (RIDRA), mejora la precisión de VFDR y CREA en todos los escenarios, tanto reales como simulados, a cambio de un incremento en el tiempo.Nowadays, data science is earning a lot of attention in many different sectors. Specifically in the industry, many applications might be considered. Using data science techniques in the decision-making process is a valuable approach among the mentioned applications. Along with this, the growth of data availability and the appearance of continuous data flows in the form of data stream arise other challenges when dealing with changing data. This work presents a novel proposal of an algorithm, Incremental Decision Rules Algorithm (IDRA), that incrementally generates and modify decision rules for data stream contexts to incorporate the changes that could appear over time. This method aims to propose new rule structures that improve the decision-making process by providing a descriptive and transparent base of knowledge that could be integrated in a decision tool. This work describes the logic underneath IDRA, in all its versions, and proposes a variety of experiments to compare them with a classical method (CREA) and an adaptive method (VFDR). Some real datasets, together with some simulated scenarios with different error types and rates are used to compare these algorithms. The study proved that IDRA, specifically the reactive version of IDRA (RIDRA), improves the accuracies of VFDR and CREA in all the studied scenarios, both real and simulated, in exchange of more time

Advances in Data Mining Knowledge Discovery and Applications

Advances in Data Mining Knowledge Discovery and Applications aims to help data miners, researchers, scholars, and PhD students who wish to apply data mining techniques. The primary contribution of this book is highlighting frontier fields and implementations of the knowledge discovery and data mining. It seems to be same things are repeated again. But in general, same approach and techniques may help us in different fields and expertise areas. This book presents knowledge discovery and data mining applications in two different sections. As known that, data mining covers areas of statistics, machine learning, data management and databases, pattern recognition, artificial intelligence, and other areas. In this book, most of the areas are covered with different data mining applications. The eighteen chapters have been classified in two parts: Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining Applications

Temporal Information in Data Science: An Integrated Framework and its Applications

Data science is a well-known buzzword, that is in fact composed of two distinct keywords, i.e., data and science. Data itself is of great importance: each analysis task begins from a set of examples. Based on such a consideration, the present work starts with the analysis of a real case scenario, by considering the development of a data warehouse-based decision support system for an Italian contact center company. Then, relying on the information collected in the developed system, a set of machine learning-based analysis tasks have been developed to answer specific business questions, such as employee work anomaly detection and automatic call classification. Although such initial applications rely on already available algorithms, as we shall see, some clever analysis workflows had also to be developed. Afterwards, continuously driven by real data and real world applications, we turned ourselves to the question of how to handle temporal information within classical decision tree models. Our research brought us the development of J48SS, a decision tree induction algorithm based on Quinlan's C4.5 learner, which is capable of dealing with temporal (e.g., sequential and time series) as well as atemporal (such as numerical and categorical) data during the same execution cycle. The decision tree has been applied into some real world analysis tasks, proving its worthiness. A key characteristic of J48SS is its interpretability, an aspect that we specifically addressed through the study of an evolutionary-based decision tree pruning technique. Next, since a lot of work concerning the management of temporal information has already been done in automated reasoning and formal verification fields, a natural direction in which to proceed was that of investigating how such solutions may be combined with machine learning, following two main tracks. First, we show, through the development of an enriched decision tree capable of encoding temporal information by means of interval temporal logic formulas, how a machine learning algorithm can successfully exploit temporal logic to perform data analysis. Then, we focus on the opposite direction, i.e., that of employing machine learning techniques to generate temporal logic formulas, considering a natural language processing scenario. Finally, as a conclusive development, the architecture of a system is proposed, in which formal methods and machine learning techniques are seamlessly combined to perform anomaly detection and predictive maintenance tasks. Such an integration represents an original, thrilling research direction that may open up new ways of dealing with complex, real-world problems.Data science is a well-known buzzword, that is in fact composed of two distinct keywords, i.e., data and science. Data itself is of great importance: each analysis task begins from a set of examples. Based on such a consideration, the present work starts with the analysis of a real case scenario, by considering the development of a data warehouse-based decision support system for an Italian contact center company. Then, relying on the information collected in the developed system, a set of machine learning-based analysis tasks have been developed to answer specific business questions, such as employee work anomaly detection and automatic call classification. Although such initial applications rely on already available algorithms, as we shall see, some clever analysis workflows had also to be developed. Afterwards, continuously driven by real data and real world applications, we turned ourselves to the question of how to handle temporal information within classical decision tree models. Our research brought us the development of J48SS, a decision tree induction algorithm based on Quinlan's C4.5 learner, which is capable of dealing with temporal (e.g., sequential and time series) as well as atemporal (such as numerical and categorical) data during the same execution cycle. The decision tree has been applied into some real world analysis tasks, proving its worthiness. A key characteristic of J48SS is its interpretability, an aspect that we specifically addressed through the study of an evolutionary-based decision tree pruning technique. Next, since a lot of work concerning the management of temporal information has already been done in automated reasoning and formal verification fields, a natural direction in which to proceed was that of investigating how such solutions may be combined with machine learning, following two main tracks. First, we show, through the development of an enriched decision tree capable of encoding temporal information by means of interval temporal logic formulas, how a machine learning algorithm can successfully exploit temporal logic to perform data analysis. Then, we focus on the opposite direction, i.e., that of employing machine learning techniques to generate temporal logic formulas, considering a natural language processing scenario. Finally, as a conclusive development, the architecture of a system is proposed, in which formal methods and machine learning techniques are seamlessly combined to perform anomaly detection and predictive maintenance tasks. Such an integration represents an original, thrilling research direction that may open up new ways of dealing with complex, real-world problems

A case-based reasoning approach to improve risk identification in construction projects

Risk management is an important process to enhance the understanding of the project so as to support decision making. Despite well established existing methods, the application of risk management in practice is frequently poor. The reasons for this are investigated as accuracy, complexity, time and cost involved and lack of knowledge sharing. Appropriate risk identification is fundamental for successful risk management. Well known risk identification methods require expert knowledge, hence risk identification depends on the involvement and the sophistication of experts. Subjective judgment and intuition usually from par1t of experts’ decision, and sharing and transferring this knowledge is restricted by the availability of experts. Further, psychological research has showed that people have limitations in coping with complex reasoning. In order to reduce subjectivity and enhance knowledge sharing, artificial intelligence techniques can be utilised. An intelligent system accumulates retrievable knowledge and reasoning in an impartial way so that a commonly acceptable solution can be achieved. Case-based reasoning enables learning from experience, which matches the manner that human experts catch and process information and knowledge in relation to project risks. A case-based risk identification model is developed to facilitate human experts making final decisions. This approach exploits the advantage of knowledge sharing, increasing confidence and efficiency in investment decisions, and enhancing communication among the project participants