Country corruption analysis with self organizing maps and support vector machines.

During recent years, the empirical research on corruption has grown considerably. Possible links between government corruption and terrorism have attracted an increasing interest in this research field. Most of the existing literature discusses the topic from a socio-economical perspective and only few studies tackle this research field from a data mining point of view. In this paper, we apply data mining techniques onto a cross-country database linking macro-economical variables to perceived levels of corruption. In the first part, self organizing maps are applied to study the interconnections between these variables. Afterwards, support vector machines are trained on part of the data and used to forecast corruption for other countries. Large deviations for specific countries between these models' predictions and the actual values can prove useful for further research. Finally, projection of the forecasts onto a self organizing map allows a detailed comparison between the different models' behavior.cross-country;

Learning Latent Representations of Bank Customers With The Variational Autoencoder

Learning data representations that reflect the customers' creditworthiness can improve marketing campaigns, customer relationship management, data and process management or the credit risk assessment in retail banks. In this research, we adopt the Variational Autoencoder (VAE), which has the ability to learn latent representations that contain useful information. We show that it is possible to steer the latent representations in the latent space of the VAE using the Weight of Evidence and forming a specific grouping of the data that reflects the customers' creditworthiness. Our proposed method learns a latent representation of the data, which shows a well-defied clustering structure capturing the customers' creditworthiness. These clusters are well suited for the aforementioned banks' activities. Further, our methodology generalizes to new customers, captures high-dimensional and complex financial data, and scales to large data sets.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1806.0253

Classification rules obtained from dynamic self-organizing maps

La obtención de conocimiento a partir de la información existente es un proceso no trivial que consiste en identificar patrones válidos, novedosos, potencialmente útiles y comprensibles a partir de los datos disponibles. La Minería de Datos es el área de la Informática referida a la aplicación de diferentes métodos para la obtención de patrones y modelos. Una de las soluciones más utilizadas se basa en estrategias adaptativas no supervisadas que permitan clasificar la información disponible. En esta dirección, las redes neuronales competitivas dinámicas han demostrado ser capaces de brindar buenos resultados. Sin embargo, su aplicación en el área de la Minería de Datos se encuentra limitada por su funcionamiento tipo “caja negra” donde resulta complejo justificar el conocimiento adquirido. Este artículo propone una nueva estrategia para obtener reglas de clasificación a partir de una red neuronal competitiva dinámica entrenada con el método AVGSOM. Dicho método ha sido seleccionado en base a su capacidad para preservar la topología de los datos de entrada, característica fundamental para obtener los hipercubos iniciales adecuados. La estrategia desarrollada en este trabajo combina la capacidad del aprendizaje no supervisado del AVGSOM con información disponible del problema para reducir la dimensión del antecedente de las reglas. El método propuesto ha sido aplicado a tres conjuntos de datos obtenidos del repositorio UCI con resultados muy satisfactorios. En particular, los resultados obtenidos en la clasificación de la base de datos Iris han sido comparados con otros métodos existentes mostrando la superioridad del nuevo método propuesto. Finalmente se presentan algunas conclusiones así como algunas líneas de trabajo futuras.Knowledge discovery from existing information is a non-trivial process that consists in identifying valid, new, potentially useful, and understandable patterns from available data. Data Mining is the area of Computer Sciences which refers to the application of different methods so as to obtain patterns and models. One of the mostly used solutions is based on non-supervised adaptive strategies allowing the classification of available data. Towards this direction, dynamic competitive neural networks have proved to be capable of providing good results. However, their application in the area of Data Mining is constrained due to their “black box” type functioning, in which it is hard to justify the acquired knowledge. This paper proposes a new strategy for obtaining classification rules from a dynamic competitive neural network trained with the AVGSOM method. Such method has been selected for its capacity of preserving input data topology, essential characteristic necessary to obtain the proper initial hypercubes. The strategy developed in this paper combines non-supervised learning of AVGSOM and the information available of the problem in order to reduce the dimension of rule antecedent. The proposed method has been applied to three sets of data obtained from UCI repository with really satisfactory results. In particular, the results obtained in the Iris data base classification have been compared with other existing methods showing the supremacy of the new proposed method. Finally, some of the conclusions as well as some future lines of work are presented.VII Workshop de Agentes y Sistemas Inteligentes (WASI)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Classification rules obtained from dynamic self-organizing maps

La obtención de conocimiento a partir de la información existente es un proceso no trivial que consiste en identificar patrones válidos, novedosos, potencialmente útiles y comprensibles a partir de los datos disponibles. La Minería de Datos es el área de la Informática referida a la aplicación de diferentes métodos para la obtención de patrones y modelos. Una de las soluciones más utilizadas se basa en estrategias adaptativas no supervisadas que permitan clasificar la información disponible. En esta dirección, las redes neuronales competitivas dinámicas han demostrado ser capaces de brindar buenos resultados. Sin embargo, su aplicación en el área de la Minería de Datos se encuentra limitada por su funcionamiento tipo “caja negra” donde resulta complejo justificar el conocimiento adquirido. Este artículo propone una nueva estrategia para obtener reglas de clasificación a partir de una red neuronal competitiva dinámica entrenada con el método AVGSOM. Dicho método ha sido seleccionado en base a su capacidad para preservar la topología de los datos de entrada, característica fundamental para obtener los hipercubos iniciales adecuados. La estrategia desarrollada en este trabajo combina la capacidad del aprendizaje no supervisado del AVGSOM con información disponible del problema para reducir la dimensión del antecedente de las reglas. El método propuesto ha sido aplicado a tres conjuntos de datos obtenidos del repositorio UCI con resultados muy satisfactorios. En particular, los resultados obtenidos en la clasificación de la base de datos Iris han sido comparados con otros métodos existentes mostrando la superioridad del nuevo método propuesto. Finalmente se presentan algunas conclusiones así como algunas líneas de trabajo futuras.Knowledge discovery from existing information is a non-trivial process that consists in identifying valid, new, potentially useful, and understandable patterns from available data. Data Mining is the area of Computer Sciences which refers to the application of different methods so as to obtain patterns and models. One of the mostly used solutions is based on non-supervised adaptive strategies allowing the classification of available data. Towards this direction, dynamic competitive neural networks have proved to be capable of providing good results. However, their application in the area of Data Mining is constrained due to their “black box” type functioning, in which it is hard to justify the acquired knowledge. This paper proposes a new strategy for obtaining classification rules from a dynamic competitive neural network trained with the AVGSOM method. Such method has been selected for its capacity of preserving input data topology, essential characteristic necessary to obtain the proper initial hypercubes. The strategy developed in this paper combines non-supervised learning of AVGSOM and the information available of the problem in order to reduce the dimension of rule antecedent. The proposed method has been applied to three sets of data obtained from UCI repository with really satisfactory results. In particular, the results obtained in the Iris data base classification have been compared with other existing methods showing the supremacy of the new proposed method. Finally, some of the conclusions as well as some future lines of work are presented.VII Workshop de Agentes y Sistemas Inteligentes (WASI)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Classification rules obtained from dynamic self-organizing maps

La obtención de conocimiento a partir de la información existente es un proceso no trivial que consiste en identificar patrones válidos, novedosos, potencialmente útiles y comprensibles a partir de los datos disponibles. La Minería de Datos es el área de la Informática referida a la aplicación de diferentes métodos para la obtención de patrones y modelos. Una de las soluciones más utilizadas se basa en estrategias adaptativas no supervisadas que permitan clasificar la información disponible. En esta dirección, las redes neuronales competitivas dinámicas han demostrado ser capaces de brindar buenos resultados. Sin embargo, su aplicación en el área de la Minería de Datos se encuentra limitada por su funcionamiento tipo “caja negra” donde resulta complejo justificar el conocimiento adquirido. Este artículo propone una nueva estrategia para obtener reglas de clasificación a partir de una red neuronal competitiva dinámica entrenada con el método AVGSOM. Dicho método ha sido seleccionado en base a su capacidad para preservar la topología de los datos de entrada, característica fundamental para obtener los hipercubos iniciales adecuados. La estrategia desarrollada en este trabajo combina la capacidad del aprendizaje no supervisado del AVGSOM con información disponible del problema para reducir la dimensión del antecedente de las reglas. El método propuesto ha sido aplicado a tres conjuntos de datos obtenidos del repositorio UCI con resultados muy satisfactorios. En particular, los resultados obtenidos en la clasificación de la base de datos Iris han sido comparados con otros métodos existentes mostrando la superioridad del nuevo método propuesto. Finalmente se presentan algunas conclusiones así como algunas líneas de trabajo futuras.Knowledge discovery from existing information is a non-trivial process that consists in identifying valid, new, potentially useful, and understandable patterns from available data. Data Mining is the area of Computer Sciences which refers to the application of different methods so as to obtain patterns and models. One of the mostly used solutions is based on non-supervised adaptive strategies allowing the classification of available data. Towards this direction, dynamic competitive neural networks have proved to be capable of providing good results. However, their application in the area of Data Mining is constrained due to their “black box” type functioning, in which it is hard to justify the acquired knowledge. This paper proposes a new strategy for obtaining classification rules from a dynamic competitive neural network trained with the AVGSOM method. Such method has been selected for its capacity of preserving input data topology, essential characteristic necessary to obtain the proper initial hypercubes. The strategy developed in this paper combines non-supervised learning of AVGSOM and the information available of the problem in order to reduce the dimension of rule antecedent. The proposed method has been applied to three sets of data obtained from UCI repository with really satisfactory results. In particular, the results obtained in the Iris data base classification have been compared with other existing methods showing the supremacy of the new proposed method. Finally, some of the conclusions as well as some future lines of work are presented.VII Workshop de Agentes y Sistemas Inteligentes (WASI)Red de Universidades con Carreras en Informática (RedUNCI

Extracting salient dimensions for automatic SOM labeling

10.1109/TSMCC.2004.843177IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man and Cybernetics Part C: Applications and Reviews354595-600ITCR

GPR Method for the Detection and Characterization of Fractures and Karst Features: Polarimetry, Attribute Extraction, Inverse Modeling and Data Mining Techniques

The presence of fractures, joints and karst features within rock strongly influence the hydraulic and mechanical behavior of a rock mass, and there is a strong desire to characterize these features in a noninvasive manner, such as by using ground penetrating radar (GPR). These features can alter the incident waveform and polarization of the GPR signal depending on the aperture, fill and orientation of the features. The GPR methods developed here focus on changes in waveform, polarization or texture that can improve the detection and discrimination of these features within rock bodies. These new methods are utilized to better understand the interaction of an invasive shrub, Juniperus ashei, with subsurface flow conduits at an ecohydrologic experimentation plot situated on the limestone of the Edwards Aquifer, central Texas. First, a coherency algorithm is developed for polarimetric GPR that uses the largest eigenvalue of a scattering matrix in the calculation of coherence. This coherency is sensitive to waveshape and unbiased by the polarization of the GPR antennas, and it shows improvement over scalar coherency in detection of possible conduits in the plot data. Second, a method is described for full-waveform inversion of transmission data to quantitatively determine fracture aperture and electromagnetic properties of the fill, based on a thin-layer model. This inversion method is validated on synthetic data, and the results from field data at the experimentation plot show consistency with the reflection data. Finally, growing hierarchical self-organizing maps (GHSOM) are applied to the GPR data to discover new patterns indicative of subsurface features, without representative examples. The GHSOMs are able to distinguish patterns indicating soil filled cavities within the limestone. Using these methods, locations of soil filled cavities and the dominant flow conduits were indentified. This information helps to reconcile previous hydrologic experiments conducted at the site. Additionally, the GPR and hydrologic experiments suggests that Juniperus ashei significantly impacts infiltration by redirecting flow towards its roots occupying conduits and soil bodies within the rock. This research demonstrates that GPR provides a noninvasive tool that can improve future subsurface experimentation

Recent Developments in Smart Healthcare

Medicine is undergoing a sector-wide transformation thanks to the advances in computing and networking technologies. Healthcare is changing from reactive and hospital-centered to preventive and personalized, from disease focused to well-being centered. In essence, the healthcare systems, as well as fundamental medicine research, are becoming smarter. We anticipate significant improvements in areas ranging from molecular genomics and proteomics to decision support for healthcare professionals through big data analytics, to support behavior changes through technology-enabled self-management, and social and motivational support. Furthermore, with smart technologies, healthcare delivery could also be made more efficient, higher quality, and lower cost. In this special issue, we received a total 45 submissions and accepted 19 outstanding papers that roughly span across several interesting topics on smart healthcare, including public health, health information technology (Health IT), and smart medicine

Comparison of Explicit and Implicit Keywords to Characterize Geographic Information System Procedures

The author designs and implements an approach that exploits semantically important information that is not ordinarily included in traditional information retrieval approaches to improve the handling of Geographic Information System (GIS) procedural software. In this approach, what are termed here implicit keywords, descriptors designed to recognize characteristics not explicitly recorded within the GIS procedure source code, are created and used in an automated, inductive process to organize a large set of GIS procedures to reveal meaningful groupings. The process uses the Self-Organizing Maps (SOM), a specialized artificial neural network, to create a two-dimensional representation of an input data set wherein topological properties of the input data set are preserved. Such maps are important tools for helping visualize, browse, filter, and evaluate a set of GIS procedures . Browsing, filtering, and evaluation help to improve human understanding of available GIS resources. By facilitating mechanisms for improved software sharing and exchange, the methods described here may guide future researchers in the selection of more appropriate procedures for a given task. Through experiments of this dissertation, the author demonstrates that while using GIS commands as explicit keywords can produce helpful organizations of GIS procedures, development of implicit keywords can be used to moderate, improve, and specialize the results of the explicit keyword process. The results of the different experiments not only show the impacts of applying different keyword schemes, but bear witness to the fact that GIS functionality can be organized with consistent methodological rigor in potentially very different ways to reprioritize specific types of functionality