Evaluation of a Tree-based Pipeline Optimization Tool for Automating Data Science

As the field of data science continues to grow, there will be an ever-increasing demand for tools that make machine learning accessible to non-experts. In this paper, we introduce the concept of tree-based pipeline optimization for automating one of the most tedious parts of machine learning---pipeline design. We implement an open source Tree-based Pipeline Optimization Tool (TPOT) in Python and demonstrate its effectiveness on a series of simulated and real-world benchmark data sets. In particular, we show that TPOT can design machine learning pipelines that provide a significant improvement over a basic machine learning analysis while requiring little to no input nor prior knowledge from the user. We also address the tendency for TPOT to design overly complex pipelines by integrating Pareto optimization, which produces compact pipelines without sacrificing classification accuracy. As such, this work represents an important step toward fully automating machine learning pipeline design.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, preprint to appear in GECCO 2016, edits not yet made from reviewer comment

Magnetically Stabilized Nematic Order I: Three-Dimensional Bipartite Optical Lattices

We study magnetically stabilized nematic order for spin-one bosons in optical lattices. We show that the Zeeman field-driven quantum transitions between non-nematic Mott states and quantum spin nematic states in the weak hopping limit are in the universality class of the ferromagnetic XXZ (S=1/2) spin model. We further discuss these transitions as condensation of interacting magnons. The development of O(2) nematic order when external fields are applied corresponds to condensation of magnons, which breaks a U(1) symmetry. Microscopically, this results from a coherent superposition of two non-nematic states at each individual site. Nematic order and spin wave excitations around critical points are studied and critical behaviors are obtained in a dilute gas approximation. We also find that spin singlet states are unstable with respect to quadratic Zeeman effects and Ising nematic order appears in the presence of any finite quadratic Zeeman coupling. All discussions are carried out for states in three dimensional bipartite lattices.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figure

Search for b→u transitions in B±→[K∓π±π0]DK± decays

We present a study of the decays B±→DK± with D mesons reconstructed in the K+π-π0 or K-π+π0 final states, where D indicates a D0 or a D̅ 0 meson. Using a sample of 474×106 BB̅ pairs collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e+e- collider at SLAC, we measure the ratios R±≡Γ(B±→[K∓π±π0]DK±)/Γ(B±→[K±π∓π0]DK±). We obtain R+=(5-10+12(stat)-4+2(syst))×10-3 and R-=(12-10+12(stat)-5+3(syst))×10-3, from which we extract the upper limits at 90% probability: R+<23×10-3 and R-<29×10-3. Using these measurements, we obtain an upper limit for the ratio rB of the magnitudes of the b→u and b→c amplitudes rB<0.13 at 90% probability