Data Mining and Machine Learning in Astronomy

We review the current state of data mining and machine learning in astronomy. 'Data Mining' can have a somewhat mixed connotation from the point of view of a researcher in this field. If used correctly, it can be a powerful approach, holding the potential to fully exploit the exponentially increasing amount of available data, promising great scientific advance. However, if misused, it can be little more than the black-box application of complex computing algorithms that may give little physical insight, and provide questionable results. Here, we give an overview of the entire data mining process, from data collection through to the interpretation of results. We cover common machine learning algorithms, such as artificial neural networks and support vector machines, applications from a broad range of astronomy, emphasizing those where data mining techniques directly resulted in improved science, and important current and future directions, including probability density functions, parallel algorithms, petascale computing, and the time domain. We conclude that, so long as one carefully selects an appropriate algorithm, and is guided by the astronomical problem at hand, data mining can be very much the powerful tool, and not the questionable black box.Comment: Published in IJMPD. 61 pages, uses ws-ijmpd.cls. Several extra figures, some minor additions to the tex

Inductive queries for a drug designing robot scientist

It is increasingly clear that machine learning algorithms need to be integrated in an iterative scientific discovery loop, in which data is queried repeatedly by means of inductive queries and where the computer provides guidance to the experiments that are being performed. In this chapter, we summarise several key challenges in achieving this integration of machine learning and data mining algorithms in methods for the discovery of Quantitative Structure Activity Relationships (QSARs). We introduce the concept of a robot scientist, in which all steps of the discovery process are automated; we discuss the representation of molecular data such that knowledge discovery tools can analyse it, and we discuss the adaptation of machine learning and data mining algorithms to guide QSAR experiments

Data mining in bioinformatics using Weka

The Weka machine learning workbench provides a general purpose environment for automatic classification, regression, clustering and feature selection-common data mining problems in bioinformatics research. It contains an extensive collection of machine learning algorithms and data exploration and the experimental comparison of different machine learning techniques on the same problem. Weka can process data given in the form of a single relational table. Its main objectives are to (a) assist users in extracting useful information from data and (b) enable them to easily identify a suitable algorithm for generating an accurate predictive model from it

CASP-DM: Context Aware Standard Process for Data Mining

We propose an extension of the Cross Industry Standard Process for Data Mining (CRISPDM) which addresses specific challenges of machine learning and data mining for context and model reuse handling. This new general context-aware process model is mapped with CRISP-DM reference model proposing some new or enhanced outputs

Ontology-based explanation of classifiers

The rise of data mining and machine learning use in many applications has brought new challenges related to classification. Here, we deal with the following challenge: how to interpret and understand the reason behind a classifier's prediction. Indeed, understanding the behaviour of a classifier is widely recognized as a very important task for wide and safe adoption of machine learning and data mining technologies, especially in high-risk domains, and in dealing with bias.We present a preliminary work on a proposal of using the Ontology-Based Data Management paradigm for explaining the behavior of a classifier in terms of the concepts and the relations that are meaningful in the domain that is relevant for the classifier