An incremental approach to genetic algorithms based classification

Incremental learning has been widely addressed in the machine learning literature to cope with learning tasks where the learning environment is ever changing or training samples become available over time. However, most research work explores incremental learning with statistical algorithms or neural networks, rather than evolutionary algorithms. The work in this paper employs genetic algorithms (GAs) as basic learning algorithms for incremental learning within one or more classifier agents in a multi-agent environment. Four new approaches with different initialization schemes are proposed. They keep the old solutions and use an “integration” operation to integrate them with new elements to accommodate new attributes, while biased mutation and crossover operations are adopted to further evolve a reinforced solution. The simulation results on benchmark classification data sets show that the proposed approaches can deal with the arrival of new input attributes and integrate them with the original input space. It is also shown that the proposed approaches can be successfully used for incremental learning and improve classification rates as compared to the retraining GA. Possible applications for continuous incremental training and feature selection are also discussed

Incremental multiple objective genetic algorithms

This paper presents a new genetic algorithm approach to multi-objective optimization problemsIncremental Multiple Objective Genetic Algorithms (IMOGA). Different from conventional MOGA methods, it takes each objective into consideration incrementally. The whole evolution is divided into as many phases as the number of objectives, and one more objective is considered in each phase. Each phase is composed of two stages: first, an independent population is evolved to optimize one specific objective; second, the better-performing individuals from the evolved single-objective population and the multi-objective population evolved in the last phase are joined together by the operation of integration. The resulting population then becomes an initial multi-objective population, to which a multi-objective evolution based on the incremented objective set is applied. The experiment results show that, in most problems, the performance of IMOGA is better than that of three other MOGAs, NSGA-II, SPEA and PAES. IMOGA can find more solutions during the same time span, and the quality of solutions is better

Batch and median neural gas

Neural Gas (NG) constitutes a very robust clustering algorithm given euclidian data which does not suffer from the problem of local minima like simple vector quantization, or topological restrictions like the self-organizing map. Based on the cost function of NG, we introduce a batch variant of NG which shows much faster convergence and which can be interpreted as an optimization of the cost function by the Newton method. This formulation has the additional benefit that, based on the notion of the generalized median in analogy to Median SOM, a variant for non-vectorial proximity data can be introduced. We prove convergence of batch and median versions of NG, SOM, and k-means in a unified formulation, and we investigate the behavior of the algorithms in several experiments.Comment: In Special Issue after WSOM 05 Conference, 5-8 september, 2005, Pari

Medical imaging analysis with artificial neural networks

Given that neural networks have been widely reported in the research community of medical imaging, we provide a focused literature survey on recent neural network developments in computer-aided diagnosis, medical image segmentation and edge detection towards visual content analysis, and medical image registration for its pre-processing and post-processing, with the aims of increasing awareness of how neural networks can be applied to these areas and to provide a foundation for further research and practical development. Representative techniques and algorithms are explained in detail to provide inspiring examples illustrating: (i) how a known neural network with fixed structure and training procedure could be applied to resolve a medical imaging problem; (ii) how medical images could be analysed, processed, and characterised by neural networks; and (iii) how neural networks could be expanded further to resolve problems relevant to medical imaging. In the concluding section, a highlight of comparisons among many neural network applications is included to provide a global view on computational intelligence with neural networks in medical imaging

CBR and MBR techniques: review for an application in the emergencies domain

The purpose of this document is to provide an in-depth analysis of current reasoning engine practice and the integration strategies of Case Based Reasoning and Model Based Reasoning that will be used in the design and development of the RIMSAT system. RIMSAT (Remote Intelligent Management Support and Training) is a European Commission funded project designed to: a.. Provide an innovative, 'intelligent', knowledge based solution aimed at improving the quality of critical decisions b.. Enhance the competencies and responsiveness of individuals and organisations involved in highly complex, safety critical incidents - irrespective of their location. In other words, RIMSAT aims to design and implement a decision support system that using Case Base Reasoning as well as Model Base Reasoning technology is applied in the management of emergency situations. This document is part of a deliverable for RIMSAT project, and although it has been done in close contact with the requirements of the project, it provides an overview wide enough for providing a state of the art in integration strategies between CBR and MBR technologies.Postprint (published version

Machine learning and its applications in reliability analysis systems

In this thesis, we are interested in exploring some aspects of Machine Learning (ML) and its application in the Reliability Analysis systems (RAs). We begin by investigating some ML paradigms and their- techniques, go on to discuss the possible applications of ML in improving RAs performance, and lastly give guidelines of the architecture of learning RAs. Our survey of ML covers both levels of Neural Network learning and Symbolic learning. In symbolic process learning, five types of learning and their applications are discussed: rote learning, learning from instruction, learning from analogy, learning from examples, and learning from observation and discovery. The Reliability Analysis systems (RAs) presented in this thesis are mainly designed for maintaining plant safety supported by two functions: risk analysis function, i.e., failure mode effect analysis (FMEA) ; and diagnosis function, i.e., real-time fault location (RTFL). Three approaches have been discussed in creating the RAs. According to the result of our survey, we suggest currently the best design of RAs is to embed model-based RAs, i.e., MORA (as software) in a neural network based computer system (as hardware). However, there are still some improvement which can be made through the applications of Machine Learning. By implanting the 'learning element', the MORA will become learning MORA (La MORA) system, a learning Reliability Analysis system with the power of automatic knowledge acquisition and inconsistency checking, and more. To conclude our thesis, we propose an architecture of La MORA

Integration of Auxiliary Data Knowledge in Prototype Based Vector Quantization and Classification Models

This thesis deals with the integration of auxiliary data knowledge into machine learning methods especially prototype based classification models. The problem of classification is diverse and evaluation of the result by using only the accuracy is not adequate in many applications. Therefore, the classification tasks are analyzed more deeply. Possibilities to extend prototype based methods to integrate extra knowledge about the data or the classification goal is presented to obtain problem adequate models. One of the proposed extensions is Generalized Learning Vector Quantization for direct optimization of statistical measurements besides the classification accuracy. But also modifying the metric adaptation of the Generalized Learning Vector Quantization for functional data, i. e. data with lateral dependencies in the features, is considered.:Symbols and Abbreviations 1 Introduction 1.1 Motivation and Problem Description . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1.2 Utilized Data Sets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2 Prototype Based Methods 19 2.1 Unsupervised Vector Quantization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 2.1.1 C-means . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 2.1.2 Self-Organizing Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 2.1.3 Neural Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 2.1.4 Common Generalizations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 2.2 Supervised Vector Quantization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 2.2.1 The Family of Learning Vector Quantizers - LVQ . . . . . . 36 2.2.2 Generalized Learning Vector Quantization . . . . . . . . . 38 2.3 Semi-Supervised Vector Quantization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 2.3.1 Learning Associations by Self-Organization . . . . . . . . . 42 2.3.2 Fuzzy Labeled Self-Organizing Map . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 2.3.3 Fuzzy Labeled Neural Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 2.4 Dissimilarity Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 2.4.1 Differentiable Kernels in Generalized LVQ . . . . . . . . . 52 2.4.2 Dissimilarity Adaptation for Performance Improvement . 56 3 Deeper Insights into Classification Problems - From the Perspective of Generalized LVQ- 81 3.1 Classification Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 3.2 The Classification Task . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 3.3 Evaluation of Classification Results . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 3.4 The Classification Task as an Ill-Posed Problem . . . . . . . . . . . 92 4 Auxiliary Structure Information and Appropriate Dissimilarity Adaptation in Prototype Based Methods 93 4.1 Supervised Vector Quantization for Functional Data . . . . . . . . 93 4.1.1 Functional Relevance/Matrix LVQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 4.1.2 Enhancement Generalized Relevance/Matrix LVQ . . . . 109 4.2 Fuzzy Information About the Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 4.2.1 Fuzzy Semi-Supervised Self-Organizing Maps . . . . . . . 122 4.2.2 Fuzzy Semi-Supervised Neural Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123 5 Variants of Classification Costs and Class Sensitive Learning 137 5.1 Border Sensitive Learning in Generalized LVQ . . . . . . . . . . . 137 5.1.1 Border Sensitivity by Additive Penalty Function . . . . . . 138 5.1.2 Border Sensitivity by Parameterized Transfer Function . . 139 5.2 Optimizing Different Validation Measures by the Generalized LVQ 147 5.2.1 Attention Based Learning Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148 5.2.2 Optimizing Statistical Validation Measurements for Binary Class Problems in the GLVQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 5.3 Integration of Structural Knowledge about the Labeling in Fuzzy Supervised Neural Gas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160 6 Conclusion and Future Work 165 My Publications 168 A Appendix 173 A.1 Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 A.2 Support Vector Machine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 A.3 Fuzzy Supervised Neural Gas Algorithm Solved by SGD . . . . . 179 Bibliography 182 Acknowledgements 20

The 1990 progress report and future plans

This document describes the progress and plans of the Artificial Intelligence Research Branch (RIA) at ARC in 1990. Activities span a range from basic scientific research to engineering development and to fielded NASA applications, particularly those applications that are enabled by basic research carried out at RIA. Work is conducted in-house and through collaborative partners in academia and industry. Our major focus is on a limited number of research themes with a dual commitment to technical excellence and proven applicability to NASA short, medium, and long-term problems. RIA acts as the Agency's lead organization for research aspects of artificial intelligence, working closely with a second research laboratory at JPL and AI applications groups at all NASA centers