Performance and optimization of support vector machines in high-energy physics classification problems

In this paper we promote the use of Support Vector Machines (SVM) as a machine learning tool for searches in high-energy physics. As an example for a new- physics search we discuss the popular case of Supersymmetry at the Large Hadron Collider. We demonstrate that the SVM is a valuable tool and show that an automated discovery- significance based optimization of the SVM hyper-parameters is a highly efficient way to prepare an SVM for such applications. A new C++ LIBSVM interface called SVM-HINT is developed and available on Github.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figure

Learning midlevel image features for natural scene and texture classification

This paper deals with coding of natural scenes in order to extract semantic information. We present a new scheme to project natural scenes onto a basis in which each dimension encodes statistically independent information. Basis extraction is performed by independent component analysis (ICA) applied to image patches culled from natural scenes. The study of the resulting coding units (coding filters) extracted from well-chosen categories of images shows that they adapt and respond selectively to discriminant features in natural scenes. Given this basis, we define global and local image signatures relying on the maximal activity of filters on the input image. Locally, the construction of the signature takes into account the spatial distribution of the maximal responses within the image. We propose a criterion to reduce the size of the space of representation for faster computation. The proposed approach is tested in the context of texture classification (111 classes), as well as natural scenes classification (11 categories, 2037 images). Using a common protocol, the other commonly used descriptors have at most 47.7% accuracy on average while our method obtains performances of up to 63.8%. We show that this advantage does not depend on the size of the signature and demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed criterion to select ICA filters and reduce the dimensio

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThe contributions in the area of kernelized learning techniques have expanded beyond a few basic kernel functions to general kernel functions that could be learned along with the rest of a statistical learning model. This dissertation aims to explore various directions in \emph{kernel learning}, a setting where we can learn not only a model, but also glean information about the geometry of the data from which we learn, by learning a positive definite (p.d.) kernel. Throughout, we can exploit several properties of kernels that relate to their \emph{geometry} -- a facet that is often overlooked. We revisit some of the necessary mathematical background required to understand kernel learning in context, such as reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces (RKHSs), the reproducing property, the representer theorem, etc. We then cover kernelized learning with support vector machines (SVMs), multiple kernel learning (MKL), and localized kernel learning (LKL). We move on to Bochner's theorem, a tool vital to one of the kernel learning areas we explore. The main portion of the thesis is divided into two parts: (1) kernel learning with SVMs, a.k.a. MKL, and (2) learning based on Bochner's theorem. In the first part, we present efficient, accurate, and scalable algorithms based on the SVM, one that exploits multiplicative weight updates (MWU), and another that exploits local geometry. In the second part, we use Bochner's theorem to incorporate a kernel into a neural network and discover that kernel learning in this fashion, continuous kernel learning (CKL), is superior even to MKL

Review of constraints on vision-based gesture recognition for human–computer interaction

The ability of computers to recognise hand gestures visually is essential for progress in human-computer interaction. Gesture recognition has applications ranging from sign language to medical assistance to virtual reality. However, gesture recognition is extremely challenging not only because of its diverse contexts, multiple interpretations, and spatio-temporal variations but also because of the complex non-rigid properties of the hand. This study surveys major constraints on vision-based gesture recognition occurring in detection and pre-processing, representation and feature extraction, and recognition. Current challenges are explored in detail

A Construction Kit for Efficient Low Power Neural Network Accelerator Designs

Implementing embedded neural network processing at the edge requires efficient hardware acceleration that couples high computational performance with low power consumption. Driven by the rapid evolution of network architectures and their algorithmic features, accelerator designs are constantly updated and improved. To evaluate and compare hardware design choices, designers can refer to a myriad of accelerator implementations in the literature. Surveys provide an overview of these works but are often limited to system-level and benchmark-specific performance metrics, making it difficult to quantitatively compare the individual effect of each utilized optimization technique. This complicates the evaluation of optimizations for new accelerator designs, slowing-down the research progress. This work provides a survey of neural network accelerator optimization approaches that have been used in recent works and reports their individual effects on edge processing performance. It presents the list of optimizations and their quantitative effects as a construction kit, allowing to assess the design choices for each building block separately. Reported optimizations range from up to 10'000x memory savings to 33x energy reductions, providing chip designers an overview of design choices for implementing efficient low power neural network accelerators