Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Online Spatio-Temporal Matching In Stochastic And Dynamic Domains, Meghna Lowalekar, Pradeep Varakantham, Patrick Jaillet

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Spatio-temporal matching of services to customers online is a problem that arises on a large scale in many domains associated with shared transportation (ex: taxis, ride sharing, super shuttles, etc.) and delivery services (ex: food, equipment, clothing, home fuel, etc.). A key characteristic of these problems is that matching of services to customers in one round has a direct impact on the matching of services to customers in the next round. For instance, in the case of taxis, in the second round taxis can only pick up customers closer to the drop off point of the customer from the first …

Modeling, Learning And Reasoning About Preference Trees Over Combinatorial Domains, Xudong Liu

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

In my Ph.D. dissertation, I have studied problems arising in various aspects of preferences: preference modeling, preference learning, and preference reasoning, when preferences concern outcomes ranging over combinatorial domains. Preferences is a major research component in artificial intelligence (AI) and decision theory, and is closely related to the social choice theory considered by economists and political scientists. In my dissertation, I have exploited emerging connections between preferences in AI and social choice theory. Most of my research is on qualitative preference representations that extend and combine existing formalisms such as conditional preference nets, lexicographic preference trees, answer-set optimization programs, possibilistic …

Pure Fuzzy Hall Effect Sensors For Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor, İbrahi̇m Alişkan, Rüstem Yilmazel

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

An investigation about Hall effect sensors' efficiency is confirmed in permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) drive systems. A fuzzy control algorithm is used as an artificial intelligence controller. Large scale and low slopes are used for creating membership functions and a sensitive controller is obtained. Speed is wanted to be taken under control and a minimum error value is aimed. PMSM drive systems are established using MATLAB-Simulink/SimPower. Simulations are realized with real-time parameters in discrete mode. A fuzzy logic controller is designed by using the MATLAB/Fuzzy Logic Toolbox. A normalization technique and high resolution output of the fuzzy logic controller …

Cp-Nets: From Theory To Practice, Thomas E. Allen

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

Conditional preference networks (CP-nets) exploit the power of ceteris paribus rules to represent preferences over combinatorial decision domains compactly. CP-nets have much appeal. However, their study has not yet advanced sufficiently for their widespread use in real-world applications. Known algorithms for deciding dominance---whether one outcome is better than another with respect to a CP-net---require exponential time. Data for CP-nets are difficult to obtain: human subjects data over combinatorial domains are not readily available, and earlier work on random generation is also problematic. Also, much of the research on CP-nets makes strong, often unrealistic assumptions, such as that decision variables must …

Automated Conjecturing Approach For Benzenoids, David Muncy

Theses and Dissertations

Benzenoids are graphs representing the carbon structure of molecules, defined by a closed path in the hexagonal lattice. These compounds are of interest to chemists studying existing and potential carbon structures. The goal of this study is to conjecture and prove relations between graph theoretic properties among benzenoids. First, we generate conjectures on upper bounds for the domination number in benzenoids using invariant-defined functions. This work is an extension of the ideas to be presented in a forthcoming paper. Next, we generate conjectures using property-defined functions. As the title indicates, the conjectures we prove are not thought of on our …

Using Topic Modelling Algorithms For Hierarchical Activity Discovery, Eoin Rogers, John D. Kelleher, Robert J. Ross

Conference papers

Activity discovery is the unsupervised process of discovering patterns in data produced from sensor networks that are monitoring the behaviour of human subjects. Improvements in activity discovery may simplify the training of activity recognition models by enabling the automated annotation of datasets and also the construction of systems that can detect and highlight deviations from normal behaviour. With this in mind, we propose an approach to activity discovery based on topic modelling techniques, and evaluate it on a dataset that mimics complex, interleaved sensor data in the real world. We also propose a means for discovering hierarchies of aggregated activities …

Online Arima Algorithms For Time Series Prediction, Chenghao Liu, Hoi, Steven C. H., Peilin Zhao, Jianling Sun

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) is one of the most popular linear models for time series forecasting due to its nice statistical properties and great flexibility. However, its parameters are estimated in a batch manner and its noise terms are often assumed to be strictly bounded, which restricts its applications and makes it inefficient for handling large-scale real data. In this paper, we propose online learning algorithms for estimating ARIMA models under relaxed assumptions on the noise terms, which is suitable to a wider range of applications and enjoys high computational efficiency. The idea of our ARIMA method is to …

Rapture Of The Geeks, Derek Schuurman

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

"If we are more than machines, what is it that defines our humanity? Is it our intelligence, creativity, or emotion?"

Posting about ­­­­­­­­the distinction between humans and artificial creatures from In All Things - an online hub committed to the claim that the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ has implications for the entire world.

http://inallthings.org/the-rapture-of-the-geeks/

The Effectiveness Of Using A Modified “Beat Frequent Pick” Algorithm In The First International Roshambo Tournament, Proceso L. Fernandez Jr, Sony E. Valdez, Generino P. Siddayao

Department of Information Systems & Computer Science Faculty Publications

In this study, a bot is developed to compete in the first International RoShamBo Tournament test suite. The basic “Beat Frequent Pick (BFP)” algorithm was taken from the supplied test suite and was improved by adding a random choice tailored fit against the opponent's distribution of picks. A training program was also developed that finds the best performing bot variant by changing the bot's behavior in terms of the timing of the recomputation of the pick distribution. Simulation results demonstrate the significantly improved performance of the proposed variant over the original BFP. This indicates the potential of using the core …

On Supervised And Unsupervised Methodologies For Mining Of Text Data., Tanmay Basu Dr.

Doctoral Theses

The supervised and unsupervised methodologies of text mining using the plain text data of English language have been discussed. Some new supervised and unsupervised methodologies have been developed for effective mining of the text data after successfully overcoming some limitations of the existing techniques.The problems of unsupervised techniques of text mining, i.e., document clustering methods are addressed. A new similarity measure between documents has been designed to improve the accuracy of measuring the content similarity between documents. Further, a hierarchical document clustering technique is designed using this similarity measure. The main significance of the clustering algorithm is that the number …

Message Passing For Collective Graphical Models, Tao Sun, Daniel Sheldon, Akshat Kumar

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Collective graphical models (CGMs) are a formalism for inference and learning about a population of independent and identically distributed individuals when only noisy aggregate data are available. We highlight a close connection between approximate MAP inference in CGMs and marginal inference in standard graphical models. The connection leads us to derive a novel Belief Propagation (BP) style algorithm for collective graphical models. Mathematically, the algorithm is a strict generalization of BP—it can be viewed as an extension to minimize the Bethe free energy plus additional energy terms that are non-linear functions of the marginals. For CGMs, the algorithm is much …

Probabilistic Inference Based Message-Passing For Resource Constrained Dcops, Supriyo Ghosh, Akshat Kumar, Pradeep Varakantham

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Distributed constraint optimization (DCOP) is an important framework for coordinated multiagent decision making. We address a practically useful variant of DCOP, called resource-constrained DCOP (RC-DCOP), which takes into account agents’ consumption of shared limited resources. We present a promising new class of algorithm for RC-DCOPs by translating the underlying co- ordination problem to probabilistic inference. Using inference techniques such as expectation- maximization and convex optimization machinery, we develop a novel convergent message-passing algorithm for RC-DCOPs. Experiments on standard benchmarks show that our approach provides better quality than previous best DCOP algorithms and has much lower failure rate. Comparisons against an …

Continuous Monitoring Of Enterprise Risks: A Delphi Feasibility Study, Robert Baksa

Dissertations

A constantly evolving regulatory environment, increasing market pressure to improve operations, and rapidly changing business conditions are creating the need for ongoing assurance that organizational risks are continually and adequately mitigated. Enterprises are perpetually exposed to fraud, poor decision making and/or other inefficiencies that can lead to significant financial loss and/or increased levels of operating risk. Increasingly, Information Systems are being harnessed to reinvent the risk management process. One promising technology is Continuous Auditing, which seeks to transform the audit process from periodic reviews of a few transactions to a continuous review of all transactions. However, the highly integrated, rapidly …

Estimating The Accuracy Of Automated Classification Systems Using Only Expert Ratings That Are Less Accurate Than The System, Paul E. Lehner

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

A method is presented to estimate the accuracy of an automated classification system based only on expert ratings on test cases, where the system may be substantially more accurate than the raters. In this method an estimate of overall rater accuracy is derived from the level of inter-rater agreement, Bayesian updating based on estimated rater accuracy is applied to estimate a ground truth probability for each classification on each test case, and then overall system accuracy is estimated by comparing the relative frequency that the system agrees with the most probable classification at different probability levels. A simulation analysis provides …

Unified Behavior Framework For Discrete Event Simulation Systems, Alexander J. Kamrud

Theses and Dissertations

Intelligent agents provide simulations a means to add lifelike behavior in place of manned entities. Generally when developed, a single intelligent agent model is chosen, such as rule based, behavior trees, etc. This choice introduces restrictions into what behaviors agents can manifest, and can require significant testing in edge cases. This thesis presents the use of the UBF in the AFSIM environment. The UBF provides the flexibility to implement any and all intelligent agent models, allowing the developer to choose the model he/she feels best fits the experiment at hand. Furthermore, the UBF demonstrates several key software engineering principles through …

Autonomous Quadcopter Videographer, Quiquia Rey Coaguila

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, the interest in quadcopters as a robotics platform for autonomous photography has increased. This is due to their small size and mobility, which allow them to reach places that are difficult or even impossible for humans. This thesis focuses on the design of an autonomous quadcopter videographer, i.e. a quadcopter capable of capturing good footage of a specific subject. In order to obtain this footage, the system needs to choose appropriate vantage points and control the quadcopter. Skilled human videographers can easily spot good filming locations where the subject and its actions can be seen clearly in …

Modeling User Transportation Patterns Using Mobile Devices, Erfan Davami

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Participatory sensing frameworks use humans and their computing devices as a large mobile sensing network. Dramatic accessibility and affordability have turned mobile devices (smartphone and tablet computers) into the most popular computational machines in the world, exceeding laptops. By the end of 2013, more than 1.5 billion people on earth will have a smartphone. Increased coverage and higher speeds of cellular networks have given these devices the power to constantly stream large amounts of data. Most mobile devices are equipped with advanced sensors such as GPS, cameras, and microphones. This expansion of smartphone numbers and power has created a sensing …

Sparse Coding Based Dense Feature Representation Model For Hyperspectral Image Classification, Ender Oguslu, Guoqing Zhou, Zezhong Zheng, Khan Iftekharuddin, Jiang Li

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

We present a sparse coding based dense feature representation model (a preliminary version of the paper was presented at the SPIE Remote Sensing Conference, Dresden, Germany, 2013) for hyperspectral image (HSI) classification. The proposed method learns a new representation for each pixel in HSI through the following four steps: sub-band construction, dictionary learning, encoding, and feature selection. The new representation usually has a very high dimensionality requiring a large amount of computational resources. We applied the l₁/l_q regularized multiclass logistic regression technique to reduce the size of the new representation. We integrated the method with a linear …

A Theory Of Name Resolution, Pierre Néron, Andrew Tolmach, Eelco Visser, Guido Wachsmuth

Computer Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

We describe a language-independent theory for name binding and resolution, suitable for programming languages with complex scoping rules including both lexical scoping and modules. We formulate name resolution as a two-stage problem. First a language-independent scope graph is constructed using language-specific rules from an abstract syntax tree. Then references in the scope graph are resolved to corresponding declarations using a language-independent resolution process. We introduce a resolution calculus as a concise, declarative, and language- independent specification of name resolution. We develop a resolution algorithm that is sound and complete with respect to the calculus. Based on the resolution calculus we …

Designing A Portfolio Of Parameter Configurations For Online Algorithm Selection, Aldy Gunawan, Hoong Chuin Lau, Mustafa Misir

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Algorithm portfolios seek to determine an effective set of algorithms that can be used within an algorithm selection framework to solve problems. A limited number of these portfolio studies focus on generating different versions of a target algorithm using different parameter configurations. In this paper, we employ a Design of Experiments (DOE) approach to determine a promising range of values for each parameter of an algorithm. These ranges are further processed to determine a portfolio of parameter configurations, which would be used within two online Algorithm Selection approaches for solving different instances of a given combinatorial optimization problem effectively. We …

Semi-Universal Portfolios With Transaction Costs, Dingjiang Huang, Yan Zhu, Bin Li, Shuigeng Zhou, Steven C. H. Hoi

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Online portfolio selection (PS) has been extensively studied in artificial intelligence and machine learning communities in recent years. An important practical issue of online PS is transaction cost, which is unavoidable and nontrivial in real financial trading markets. Most existing strategies, such as universal portfolio (UP) based strategies, often rebalance their target portfolio vectors at every investment period, and thus the total transaction cost increases rapidly and the final cumulative wealth degrades severely. To overcome the limitation, in this paper we investigate new investment strategies that rebalances its portfolio only at some selected instants. Specifically, we design a novel on-line …

An Automatic Dialog System For Student Advising, Brian Mcmahan

Journal of Undergraduate Research at Minnesota State University, Mankato

Automatic dialog systems are an implementation of natural language processing theory with the goal of allowing the use of natural sentences to communicate with a computer system. The general purpose of this project was to design and implement an automatic dialog system for augmenting university student advising. Student advising is a relatively narrow domain of possible questions and responses. The automatic dialog system focused on prescriptive advising rather than developmental advising to further narrow the domain to scheduling and registration matters. A student advisor was interviewed and recorded during a mock advising session in order to model the interaction between …

Collaborative Online Multitask Learning, Guangxia Li, Steven C. H. Hoi, Kuiyu Chang, Wenting Liu, Ramesh Jain

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

We study the problem of online multitask learning for solving multiple related classification tasks in parallel, aiming at classifying every sequence of data received by each task accurately and efficiently. One practical example of online multitask learning is the micro-blog sentiment detection on a group of users, which classifies micro-blog posts generated by each user into emotional or non-emotional categories. This particular online learning task is challenging for a number of reasons. First of all, to meet the critical requirements of online applications, a highly efficient and scalable classification solution that can make immediate predictions with low learning cost is …

Convergence Of A Reinforcement Learning Algorithm In Continuous Domains, Stephen Carden

All Dissertations

In the field of Reinforcement Learning, Markov Decision Processes with a finite number of states and actions have been well studied, and there exist algorithms capable of producing a sequence of policies which converge to an optimal policy with probability one. Convergence guarantees for problems with continuous states also exist. Until recently, no online algorithm for continuous states and continuous actions has been proven to produce optimal policies. This Dissertation contains the results of research into reinforcement learning algorithms for problems in which both the state and action spaces are continuous. The problems to be solved are introduced formally as …

A Continuous Learning Strategy For Self-Organizing Maps Based On Convergence Windows, Gregory T. Breard

Senior Honors Projects

A self-organizing map (SOM) is a type of artificial neural network that has applications in a variety of fields and disciplines. The SOM algorithm uses unsupervised learning to produce a low-dimensional representation of high- dimensional data. This is done by 'fitting' a grid of nodes to a data set over a fixed number of iterations. With each iteration, the nodes of the map are adjusted so that they appear more like the data points. The low-dimensionality of the resulting map means that it can be presented graphically and be more intuitively interpreted by humans. However, it is still essential to …

Evolutionary Algorithm Based Approach For Modeling Autonomously Trading Agents, Anil Yaman, Stephen Lucci, Izidor Gertner

Publications and Research

The autonomously trading agents described in this paper produce a decision to act such as: buy, sell or hold, based on the input data. In this work, we have simulated autonomously trading agents using the Echo State Network (ESNs) model. We generate a collection of trading agents that use different trading strategies using Evolutionary Programming (EP). The agents are tested on EUR/ USD real market data. The main goal of this study is to test the overall performance of this collection of agents when they are active simultaneously. Simulation results show that using different agents concurrently outperform a single agent …

Adapting In-Game Agent Behavior By Observation Of Players Using Learning Behavior Trees, Emmett Tomai, Roberto Flores

Computer Science Faculty Publications

In this paper we describe Learning Behavior Trees, an extension of the popular game AI scripting technique. Behavior Trees provide an effective way for expert designers to describe complex, in-game agent behaviors. Scripted AI captures human intuition about the structure of behavioral decisions, but suffers from brittleness and lack of the natural variation seen in human players. Learning Behavior Trees are designed by a human designer, but then are trained by observation of players performing the same role, to introduce human-like variation to the decision structure. We show that, using this model, a single hand-designed Behavior Tree can cover a …

Intelligent Sensing Based On Low Cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Uav) For Bridge Condition Assessment, Theodore Teates, Austin Boyd, Chung-Hao Chen

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

The eventual completion of this project envisions the use of an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) to inspect bridge infrastructure. This project may also be expanded to encompass general object detection and inspection in order to unburden this technology so that it may reach its fullest potential. The project requires research and development in three distinct areas of image processing, control structures, and integration of systems. Initial undergraduate research sets the base knowledge for the overall project, explores the areas of concentration that are desired to expand upon in the future project, and provides a base UAV model that new researchers …

Fuzzy Search Strategy Generation For Adversarial Systems Using Fuzzy Process Particle Swarm Optimization, Fuzzy Patterns, And A Hunch Factor, Stephany Coffman-Wolph

Dissertations

Adversarial game-playing situations have been studied in both game theory and artificial intelligence since the 1950s. However, developing strategies for game playing is challenging due to the large search tree size as the environment size increases. The research presented develops a centralized fuzzy search strategy to find winning strategies for adversarial situations using fuzzy logic. The aforementioned fuzzy algorithm, Fuzzy Strategy Finder (FSF), can be used to find valid strategies for any problem that can be written as a Reti-like or zero-sum game. Using several chess endgames, the FSF will be shown to have a faster runtime without a significant …

Reasoning Across Language And Vision In Machines And Humans, Andrei Barbu

Open Access Dissertations

Humans not only outperform AI and computer-vision systems, but use an unknown computational mechanism to perform tasks for which no suitable approaches exist. I present work investigating both novel tasks and how humans approach them in the context of computer vision and linguistics. I demonstrate a system which, like children, acquires high-level linguistic knowledge about the world. Robots learn to play physically-instantiated board games and use that knowledge to engage in physical play. To further integrate language and vision I develop an approach which produces rich sentential descriptions of events depicted in videos. I then show how to simultaneously detect …