Big data reduction framework for value creation in sustainable enterprises

Value creation is a major sustainability factor for enterprises, in addition to profit maximization and revenue generation. Modern enterprises collect big data from various inbound and outbound data sources. The inbound data sources handle data generated from the results of business operations, such as manufacturing, supply chain management, marketing, and human resource management, among others. Outbound data sources handle customer-generated data which are acquired directly or indirectly from customers, market analysis, surveys, product reviews, and transactional histories. However, cloud service utilization costs increase because of big data analytics and value creation activities for enterprises and customers. This article presents a novel concept of big data reduction at the customer end in which early data reduction operations are performed to achieve multiple objectives, such as a) lowering the service utilization cost, b) enhancing the trust between customers and enterprises, c) preserving privacy of customers, d) enabling secure data sharing, and e) delegating data sharing control to customers. We also propose a framework for early data reduction at customer end and present a business model for end-to-end data reduction in enterprise applications. The article further presents a business model canvas and maps the future application areas with its nine components. Finally, the article discusses the technology adoption challenges for value creation through big data reduction in enterprise applications

Emergence of switch-like behavior in a large family of simple biochemical networks

Bistability plays a central role in the gene regulatory networks (GRNs) controlling many essential biological functions, including cellular differentiation and cell cycle control. However, establishing the network topologies that can exhibit bistability remains a challenge, in part due to the exceedingly large variety of GRNs that exist for even a small number of components. We begin to address this problem by employing chemical reaction network theory in a comprehensive in silico survey to determine the capacity for bistability of more than 40,000 simple networks that can be formed by two transcription factor-coding genes and their associated proteins (assuming only the most elementary biochemical processes). We find that there exist reaction rate constants leading to bistability in ~90% of these GRN models, including several circuits that do not contain any of the TF cooperativity commonly associated with bistable systems, and the majority of which could only be identified as bistable through an original subnetwork-based analysis. A topological sorting of the two-gene family of networks based on the presence or absence of biochemical reactions reveals eleven minimal bistable networks (i.e., bistable networks that do not contain within them a smaller bistable subnetwork). The large number of previously unknown bistable network topologies suggests that the capacity for switch-like behavior in GRNs arises with relative ease and is not easily lost through network evolution. To highlight the relevance of the systematic application of CRNT to bistable network identification in real biological systems, we integrated publicly available protein-protein interaction, protein-DNA interaction, and gene expression data from Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and identified several GRNs predicted to behave in a bistable fashion.Comment: accepted to PLoS Computational Biolog

Uncertainty-Aware Prediction Validator in Deep Learning Models for Cyber-Physical System Data

The use of Deep learning in Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs) is gaining popularity due to its ability to bring intelligence to CPS behaviors. However, both CPSs and deep learning have inherent uncertainty. Such uncertainty, if not handled adequately, can lead to unsafe CPS behavior. The first step toward addressing such uncertainty in deep learning is to quantify uncertainty. Hence, we propose a novel method called NIRVANA (uNcertaInty pRediction ValidAtor iN Ai) for prediction validation based on uncertainty metrics. To this end, we first employ prediction-time Dropout-based Neural Networks to quantify uncertainty in deep learning models applied to CPS data. Second, such quantified uncertainty is taken as the input to predict wrong labels using a support vector machine, with the aim of building a highly discriminating prediction validator model with uncertainty values. In addition, we investigated the relationship between uncertainty quantification and prediction performance and conducted experiments to obtain optimal dropout ratios. We conducted all the experiments with four real-world CPS datasets. Results show that uncertainty quantification is negatively correlated to prediction performance of a deep learning model of CPS data. Also, our dropout ratio adjustment approach is effective in reducing uncertainty of correct predictions while increasing uncertainty of wrong predictions.publishedVersio

Unmasking Clever Hans Predictors and Assessing What Machines Really Learn

Current learning machines have successfully solved hard application problems, reaching high accuracy and displaying seemingly "intelligent" behavior. Here we apply recent techniques for explaining decisions of state-of-the-art learning machines and analyze various tasks from computer vision and arcade games. This showcases a spectrum of problem-solving behaviors ranging from naive and short-sighted, to well-informed and strategic. We observe that standard performance evaluation metrics can be oblivious to distinguishing these diverse problem solving behaviors. Furthermore, we propose our semi-automated Spectral Relevance Analysis that provides a practically effective way of characterizing and validating the behavior of nonlinear learning machines. This helps to assess whether a learned model indeed delivers reliably for the problem that it was conceived for. Furthermore, our work intends to add a voice of caution to the ongoing excitement about machine intelligence and pledges to evaluate and judge some of these recent successes in a more nuanced manner.Comment: Accepted for publication in Nature Communication

Combating User Misbehavior on Social Media

Social media encourages user participation and facilitates user’s self-expression like never before. While enriching user behavior in a spectrum of means, many social media platforms have become breeding grounds for user misbehavior. In this dissertation we focus on understanding and combating three specific threads of user misbehaviors that widely exist on social media — spamming, manipulation, and distortion. First, we address the challenge of detecting spam links. Rather than rely on traditional blacklist-based or content-based methods, we examine the behavioral factors of both who is posting the link and who is clicking on the link. The core intuition is that these behavioral signals may be more difficult to manipulate than traditional signals. We find that this purely behavioral approach can achieve good performance for robust behavior-based spam link detection. Next, we deal with uncovering manipulated behavior of link sharing. We propose a four-phase approach to model, identify, characterize, and classify organic and organized groups who engage in link sharing. The key motivating insight is that group-level behavioral signals can distinguish manipulated user groups. We find that levels of organized behavior vary by link type and that the proposed approach achieves good performance measured by commonly-used metrics. Finally, we investigate a particular distortion behavior: making bullshit (BS) statements on social media. We explore the factors impacting the perception of BS and what leads users to ultimately perceive and call a post BS. We begin by preparing a crowdsourced collection of real social media posts that have been called BS. We then build a classification model that can determine what posts are more likely to be called BS. Our experiments suggest our classifier has the potential of leveraging linguistic cues for detecting social media posts that are likely to be called BS. We complement these three studies with a cross-cutting investigation of learning user topical profiles, which can shed light into what subjects each user is associated with, which can benefit the understanding of the connection between user and misbehavior. Concretely, we propose a unified model for learning user topical profiles that simultaneously considers multiple footprints and we show how these footprints can be embedded in a generalized optimization framework. Through extensive experiments on millions of real social media posts, we find our proposed models can effectively combat user misbehavior on social media

Fairness Testing: A Comprehensive Survey and Analysis of Trends

Unfair behaviors of Machine Learning (ML) software have garnered increasing attention and concern among software engineers. To tackle this issue, extensive research has been dedicated to conducting fairness testing of ML software, and this paper offers a comprehensive survey of existing studies in this field. We collect 100 papers and organize them based on the testing workflow (i.e., how to test) and testing components (i.e., what to test). Furthermore, we analyze the research focus, trends, and promising directions in the realm of fairness testing. We also identify widely-adopted datasets and open-source tools for fairness testing

The Systems Thinking Learning Lens: An Exploratory Study of Executives' Mental Models

It has become progressively difficult for businesses to tackle unanticipated events and define the influencers that generate unintended business consequences. As such, uncertain and ambiguous situations are now the prescriptive norm for many companies. Executives are at the forefront of having to make sense of the uncertainty to seek the ideal decision pathway. The purpose of this exploratory research study was to seek what is known about learning how to develop a systems thinking mental model by exploring the perceptions and narratives of 12 global executives working in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) within complex adaptive systems (CAS) and their understanding of their thinking patterns that may have assisted in learning how to develop a systems thinking mental model to manage business ambiguity. Three research questions were developed to identify the types of experiences, perceptions, thinking patterns, and enablers—be they within the individual, organizational, or environmental context—that may have provided a strategic learning path. The research questions include: (a) What characterizes the mental models the executives hold (the distinct nature or features of their beliefs, behaviors, and principles)?; (b) What are the experiences that provide the scaffolding in developing a systems thinking mental model (experiences and events)?; and (c) What aspects of the individual, organizational, and environmental interactions enable individuals to learn how to develop a systems thinking capacity (relationships, systems, and elements)? The qualitative exploratory research study used three data collection methods: (a) semi-structured interviews, (b) focus group session, and (c) demographic questionnaire. The researcher concluded from the findings, analysis, interpretations, and synthesis that: (a) a systems thinking mental model is reflective of and responsive to different elements, situations, and influencers; (b) certain behaviors are an integral part of a systems thinking mental model; (c) informal learning experiences in ambiguous and uncertain situations may provide an ambiguous thinking learning pathway; and (d) learning through social, cultural, and operational systems is an under-utilized strategic intent

Logging Stress and Anxiety Using a Gamified Mobile-based EMA Application, and Emotion Recognition Using a Personalized Machine Learning Approach

According to American Psychological Association (APA) more than 9 in 10 (94 percent) adults believe that stress can contribute to the development of major health problems, such as heart disease, depression, and obesity. Due to the subjective nature of stress, and anxiety, it has been demanding to measure these psychological issues accurately by only relying on objective means. In recent years, researchers have increasingly utilized computer vision techniques and machine learning algorithms to develop scalable and accessible solutions for remote mental health monitoring via web and mobile applications. To further enhance accuracy in the field of digital health and precision diagnostics, there is a need for personalized machine-learning approaches that focus on recognizing mental states based on individual characteristics, rather than relying solely on general-purpose solutions. This thesis focuses on conducting experiments aimed at recognizing and assessing levels of stress and anxiety in participants. In the initial phase of the study, a mobile application with broad applicability (compatible with both Android and iPhone platforms) is introduced (we called it STAND). This application serves the purpose of Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA). Participants receive daily notifications through this smartphone-based app, which redirects them to a screen consisting of three components. These components include a question that prompts participants to indicate their current levels of stress and anxiety, a rating scale ranging from 1 to 10 for quantifying their response, and the ability to capture a selfie. The responses to the stress and anxiety questions, along with the corresponding selfie photographs, are then analyzed on an individual basis. This analysis focuses on exploring the relationships between self-reported stress and anxiety levels and potential facial expressions indicative of stress and anxiety, eye features such as pupil size variation and eye closure, and specific action units (AUs) observed in the frames over time. In addition to its primary functions, the mobile app also gathers sensor data, including accelerometer and gyroscope readings, on a daily basis. This data holds potential for further analysis related to stress and anxiety. Furthermore, apart from capturing selfie photographs, participants have the option to upload video recordings of themselves while engaging in two neuropsychological games. These recorded videos are then subjected to analysis in order to extract pertinent features that can be utilized for binary classification of stress and anxiety (i.e., stress and anxiety recognition). The participants that will be selected for this phase are students aged between 18 and 38, who have received recent clinical diagnoses indicating specific stress and anxiety levels. In order to enhance user engagement in the intervention, gamified elements - an emerging trend to influence user behavior and lifestyle - has been utilized. Incorporating gamified elements into non-game contexts (e.g., health-related) has gained overwhelming popularity during the last few years which has made the interventions more delightful, engaging, and motivating. In the subsequent phase of this research, we conducted an AI experiment employing a personalized machine learning approach to perform emotion recognition on an established dataset called Emognition. This experiment served as a simulation of the future analysis that will be conducted as part of a more comprehensive study focusing on stress and anxiety recognition. The outcomes of the emotion recognition experiment in this study highlight the effectiveness of personalized machine learning techniques and bear significance for the development of future diagnostic endeavors. For training purposes, we selected three models, namely KNN, Random Forest, and MLP. The preliminary performance accuracy results for the experiment were 93%, 95%, and 87% respectively for these models