Feature selection for chemical sensor arrays using mutual information

We address the problem of feature selection for classifying a diverse set of chemicals using an array of metal oxide sensors. Our aim is to evaluate a filter approach to feature selection with reference to previous work, which used a wrapper approach on the same data set, and established best features and upper bounds on classification performance. We selected feature sets that exhibit the maximal mutual information with the identity of the chemicals. The selected features closely match those found to perform well in the previous study using a wrapper approach to conduct an exhaustive search of all permitted feature combinations. By comparing the classification performance of support vector machines (using features selected by mutual information) with the performance observed in the previous study, we found that while our approach does not always give the maximum possible classification performance, it always selects features that achieve classification performance approaching the optimum obtained by exhaustive search. We performed further classification using the selected feature set with some common classifiers and found that, for the selected features, Bayesian Networks gave the best performance. Finally, we compared the observed classification performances with the performance of classifiers using randomly selected features. We found that the selected features consistently outperformed randomly selected features for all tested classifiers. The mutual information filter approach is therefore a computationally efficient method for selecting near optimal features for chemical sensor arrays

A trend filtering approach for change point detection in MOX gas sensors

Detecting changes in the response of metal oxide (MOX) gas sensors deployed in an open sampling system is a hard problem. It is relevant for applications such as gas leak detection in coal mines [1], [2] or large scale pollution monitoring [3],[4] where it is unpractical to continuously store or transfer sensor readings and reliable calibration is hard to achieve. Under these circumstances it is desirable to detect points in the signal where a change indicates a significant event, e.g. the presence of gas or a sudden change of concentration. The key idea behind the proposed change detection approach is that a change in the emission modality of a gas source appears locally as an exponential function in the response of MOX sensors due to their long response and recovery times. The proposed method interprets the sensor response by fitting piecewise exponential functions with different time constants for the response and recovery phase. The number of exponentials is determined automatically using an approximate method based on the L1-norm. This asymmetric exponential trend filtering problem is formulated as a convex optimization problem, which is particularly advantageous from the computational point of view. The algorithm is evaluated with an experimental setup where a gas source changes in intensity, compound, and mixture ratio, and it is compared against the previously proposed Generalized Likelihood Ratio (GLR) based algorithm [6]. ALGORITHM The proposed algorithm is inspired by the piecewise linear trend filtering proposed in [5]: 2 minimize x − y + λ DD

ICT solutions supporting collaborative information acquisition, situation assessment and decision making in contemporary environmental management problems : the DIADEM approach

This paper presents a framework of ICT solutions developed in the EU research project DIADEM that supports environmental management with an enhanced capacity to assess population exposure and health risks, to alert relevant groups and to organize efficient response. The emphasis is on advanced solutions which are economically feasible and maximally exploit the existing communication, computing and sensing resources. This approach enables efficient situation assessment in complex environmental management problems by exploiting relevant information obtained from citizens via the standard communication infrastructure as well as heterogeneous data acquired through dedicated sensing systems. This is achieved through a combination of (i) advanced approaches to gas detection and gas distribution modelling, (ii) a novel service-oriented approach supporting seamless integration of human-based and automated reasoning processes in large-scale collaborative sense making processes and (iii) solutions combining Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis, Scenario-Based Reasoning and advanced human-machine interfaces. This paper presents the basic principles of the DIADEM solutions, explains how different techniques are combined to a coherent decision support system and briefly discusses evaluation principles and activities in the DIADEM project.DMCR: the joint environmental protection agency of the province of South Holland and 16 municipalities</p

Interpretable and Reliable Rule Classification Based on Conformal Prediction

This paper deals with the challenging problem of simultaneously integrating interpretablility and reliability into prediction models in machine learning. It proposes to combine the interpretable models of decision rules with the reliable models based on conformal prediction. The result is a new technique of conformal decision rules. Given a test instance, the technique is capable of providing a point prediction, an explanation, and a confidence value for that prediction plus a prediction set. The experiments show when and how conformal decision rules can be used for interpretable and reliable machine learning