Self-Organized Maps

Se han obtenido los siguientes resultados: (1) Estudio de topologías bidimensionales alternativas: se muestra la importancia de topologías alternativas basadas en áreas ajenas como las teselaciones. (2) Estudio comparativo de topologías en una, dos y tres dimensiones: se revela la influencia de la dimensión en el funcionamiento de una SOM a escala local y global. (3) Estudio de alternativas al movimiento euclídeo: se propone y presenta la alternativa FRSOM al algoritmo SOM clásico. En FRSOM, las neuronas esquivan barreras predefinidas en su movimiento. Las conclusiones más relevantes que emanan de esta Tesis Doctoral son las siguientes: (1) La calidad del clustering y de la preservación topológica de una SOM puede ser mejorada mediante el uso de topologías alternativas y también evitando regiones prohibidas que no contribuyan significativamente al Error Cuadrático Medio (ECM). (2) La dimensióon de la SOM que obtiene mejores resultados es la propia dimensión intrínseca de los datos. Además, en general, valores bajos para la dimensión de la SOM producen mejores resultados en términos del ECM, y valores altos ocasionan mejor aprendizaje de la estructura de los datos.Los mapas auto-organizados o redes de Kohonen (SOM por sus siglas en inglés, self-organizing map) fueron introducidos por el profesor finlandés Teuvo Kalevi Kohonen en los años 80. Un mapa auto-organizado es una herramienta que analiza datos en muchas dimensiones con relaciones complejas entre ellos y los reduce o representa en, usualmente, una, dos o tres dimensiones. La propiedad más importante de una SOM es que preserva las propiedades topológicas de los datos, es decir, que datos próximos aparecen próximos en la representación. La literatura relacionada con los mapas auto-organizados y sus aplicaciones es muy diversa y numerosa. Las neuronas en un mapa auto-organizado clásico están distribuidas en una topología (o malla) bidimensional cuadrada o hexagonal y las distancias entre ellas son distancias euclídeas. Una de las disciplinas de investigación en SOM consiste en la modificación y generalización del algoritmo SOM. Esta Tesis Doctoral por compendio de publicaciones se centra en esta línea de investigación. En concreto, los objetivos desarrollados han sido el estudio de topologías bidimensionales alternativas, el estudio comparativo de topologías de una, dos y tres dimensiones y el estudio de variaciones para la distancia y movimientos euclídeos. Estos objetivos se han abordado mediante el método científico a través de las siguientes fases: aprehensión de resultados conocidos, planteamiento de hipótesis, propuesta de métodos alternativos, confrontación de métodos mediante experimentación, aceptación y rechazo de las diversas hipótesis mediante métodos estadísticos

Estimating Anthropometric Marker Locations from 3-D LADAR Point Clouds

An area of interest for improving the identification portion of the system is in extracting anthropometric markers from a Laser Detection and Ranging (LADAR) point cloud. Analyzing anthropometrics markers is a common means of studying how a human moves and has been shown to provide good results in determining certain demographic information about the subject. This research examines a marker extraction method utilizing principal component analysis (PCA), self-organizing maps (SOM), alpha hulls, and basic anthropometric knowledge. The performance of the extraction algorithm is tested by performing gender classification with the calculated markers

Data exploration process based on the self-organizing map

With the advances in computer technology, the amount of data that is obtained from various sources and stored in electronic media is growing at exponential rates. Data mining is a research area which answers to the challange of analysing this data in order to find useful information contained therein. The Self-Organizing Map (SOM) is one of the methods used in data mining. It quantizes the training data into a representative set of prototype vectors and maps them on a low-dimensional grid. The SOM is a prominent tool in the initial exploratory phase in data mining. The thesis consists of an introduction and ten publications. In the publications, the validity of SOM-based data exploration methods has been investigated and various enhancements to them have been proposed. In the introduction, these methods are presented as parts of the data mining process, and they are compared with other data exploration methods with similar aims. The work makes two primary contributions. Firstly, it has been shown that the SOM provides a versatile platform on top of which various data exploration methods can be efficiently constructed. New methods and measures for visualization of data, clustering, cluster characterization, and quantization have been proposed. The SOM algorithm and the proposed methods and measures have been implemented as a set of Matlab routines in the SOM Toolbox software library. Secondly, a framework for SOM-based data exploration of table-format data - both single tables and hierarchically organized tables - has been constructed. The framework divides exploratory data analysis into several sub-tasks, most notably the analysis of samples and the analysis of variables. The analysis methods are applied autonomously and their results are provided in a report describing the most important properties of the data manifold. In such a framework, the attention of the data miner can be directed more towards the actual data exploration task, rather than on the application of the analysis methods. Because of the highly iterative nature of the data exploration, the automation of routine analysis tasks can reduce the time needed by the data exploration process considerably.reviewe

Topological Approximations for Spatial Representations

The Centre for Evolutionary Computing in Architecture (CECA) at the University of East London has focused for the last 5 years on methods of cognitive spatial descriptions, based largely on either behavioural patterns (i.e., Miranda 2000 or Raafat 2004) or topological machines (i.e., Derix 2001, Ireland 2002 or Benoudjit 2004). The former being agent based, the latter (neural) network based. This year’s selection of student work constitutes a combination of cognitive agents + perceptive networks, and comprises three theses. All three projects are in development and promise to be explored further. Their relevance cannot be underestimated at a time when so called ‘smart’ technologies seem to have been exploited and the demand for self-regulating ‘intelligent’ media is growing. This means for architects that they will need to understand the occupants’ perception and their behaviours in more depth by using such simulation methods

Towards a Framework for DHT Distributed Computing

Distributed Hash Tables (DHTs) are protocols and frameworks used by peer-to-peer (P2P) systems. They are used as the organizational backbone for many P2P file-sharing systems due to their scalability, fault-tolerance, and load-balancing properties. These same properties are highly desirable in a distributed computing environment, especially one that wants to use heterogeneous components. We show that DHTs can be used not only as the framework to build a P2P file-sharing service, but as a P2P distributed computing platform. We propose creating a P2P distributed computing framework using distributed hash tables, based on our prototype system ChordReduce. This framework would make it simple and efficient for developers to create their own distributed computing applications. Unlike Hadoop and similar MapReduce frameworks, our framework can be used both in both the context of a datacenter or as part of a P2P computing platform. This opens up new possibilities for building platforms to distributed computing problems. One advantage our system will have is an autonomous load-balancing mechanism. Nodes will be able to independently acquire work from other nodes in the network, rather than sitting idle. More powerful nodes in the network will be able use the mechanism to acquire more work, exploiting the heterogeneity of the network. By utilizing the load-balancing algorithm, a datacenter could easily leverage additional P2P resources at runtime on an as needed basis. Our framework will allow MapReduce-like or distributed machine learning platforms to be easily deployed in a greater variety of contexts

An algorithmic framework for visualising and exploring multidimensional data

To help understand multidimensional data, information visualisation techniques are often applied to take advantage of human visual perception in exposing latent structure. A popular means of presenting such data is via two-dimensional scatterplots where the inter-point proximities reflect some notion of similarity between the entities represented. This can result in potentially interesting structure becoming almost immediately apparent. Traditional algorithms for carrying out this dimension reduction tend to have different strengths and weaknesses in terms of run times and layout quality. However, it has been found that the combination of algorithms can produce hybrid variants that exhibit significantly lower run times while maintaining accurate depictions of high-dimensional structure. The author's initial contribution in the creation of such algorithms led to the design and implementation of a software system (HIVE) for the development and investigation of new hybrid variants and the subsequent analysis of the data they transform. This development was motivated by the fact that there are potentially many hybrid algorithmic combinations to explore and therefore an environment that is conductive to their development, analysis and use is beneficial not only in exploring the data they transform but also in exploring the growing number of visualisation tools that these algorithms beget. This thesis descries three areas of the author's contribution to the field of information visualisation. Firstly, work on hybrid algorithms for dimension reduction is presented and their analysis shows their effectiveness. Secondly, the development of a framework for the creation of tailored hybrid algorithms is illustrated. Thirdly, a system embodying the framework, providing an environment conductive to the development, evaluation and use of the algorithms is described. Case studies are provided to demonstrate how the author and others have used and found value in the system across areas as diverse as environmental science, social science and investigative psychology, where multidimensional data are in abundance

Towards aperiodic tesellation: a self-organising particle spring system approach

The derivation of novel programming methods for the generation of aperiodic tiling patterns, predominantly in 2d space, has attracted considerable attention from both researchers and practicing architects. So far L-Systems and quasicrystals are the only tools which can be used for the creation of aperiodic tiling patterns. This project attempts to create a self organizing particle spring system for aperiodic tiling formation on a 2d surface. The proposed method simulates natural dynamic procedures and applies a generative particle spring system for tiling formation. The initial inspiration of the thesis is the realization of tiling patterns for non-planar geometries, by using the previously stated method. The architectural reasoning behind that would be to use a minimal number of types of prefabricated units (e.g. Penrose rhombuses) to create an irregular and complex pattern or geometry