No description available.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Oregon State University, 2010. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-50). Also available on the World Wide Web.

No description available.

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2009. / Printout. Includes bibliographical references (leaf 19). Also available on the World Wide Web.

This thesis is concerned with the development of novel methods of classifying data that is not inherently clustered. The performance of these novel algorithms in finding classifications in this data will be compared with that of existing artificial intelligence methods.

Many classification algorithms are designed on the assumption that the population of interest is stationary, i.e. it does not change over time. However, there are many real-world problems where this assumption is not appropriate. In this thesis, we develop a classifier for non-stationary populations which is based on a multiple logistic model for the conditional class probabilities and incorporates a linear combination of the outputs of a number of pre-determined component classifiers. The final classifier is able to adjust to changes in the population by sequential updating of the coefficients of the linear combination, which are the parameters of the model. The model we use is motivated by the relatively good classification performance which has been achieved by classification rules based on combining classifier outputs. However, in some cases such classifiers can also perform relatively poorly, and in general the mechanisms behind such results are little understood. For the model we propose, which is a generalisation of several existing models for stationary classification problems, we show there exists a simple relationship between the component classifiers which are used, the sign of the parameters and the decision boundaries of the final classifier. This relationship can be used to guide the choice of component classifiers, and helps with understanding the conditions necessary for the classifier to perform well. We compare several "on-line" algorithms for implementing the classification model, where the classifier is updated as new labelled observations become available. The predictive approach to classification is adopted, so each algorithm is based on updating the posterior distribution of the parameters as new information is received. Specifically, we compare a method which assumes the posterior distribution is Gaussian, a more general method developed for the class of Dynamic Generalised Linear Models, and a method based on a sequential Monte Carlo approximation of the posterior. The relationship between the model used for parameter evolution, the bias of the parameter estimates and the error of the classifier is explored.

From a system developer's perspective, designing a spoken dialogue system can be a time-consuming and difficult process. A developer may spend a lot of time anticipating how a potential user might interact with the system and then deciding on the most appropriate system response. These decisions are encoded in a dialogue strategy, essentially a mapping between anticipated user inputs and appropriate system outputs. To reduce the time and effort associated with developing a dialogue strategy, recent work has concentrated on modelling the development of a dialogue strategy as a sequential decision problem. Using this model, reinforcement learning algorithms have been employed to generate dialogue strategies automatically. These algorithms learn strategies by interacting with simulated users. Some progress has been made with this method but a number of important challenges remain. For instance, relatively little success has been achieved with the large state representations that are typical of real-life systems. Another crucial issue is the time and effort associated with the creation of simulated users. In this thesis, I propose an alternative to existing reinforcement learning methods of dialogue strategy development. More specifically, I explore how XCS, an evolutionary reinforcement learning algorithm, can be used to find dialogue strategies that cover large state spaces. Furthermore, I suggest that hand-coded simulated users are sufficient for the learning of useful dialogue strategies. I argue that the use of evolutionary reinforcement learning and hand-coded simulated users is an effective approach to the rapid development of spoken dialogue strategies. Finally, I substantiate this claim by evaluating a learned strategy with real users. Both the learned strategy and a state-of-the-art hand-coded strategy were integrated into an end-to-end spoken dialogue system. The dialogue system allowed real users to make flight enquiries using a live database for an Edinburgh-based airline. The performance of the learned and hand-coded strategies were compared. The evaluation results show that the learned strategy performs as well as the hand-coded one (81% and 77% task completion respectively) but takes much less time to design (two days instead of two weeks). Moreover, the learned strategy compares favourably with previous user evaluations of learned strategies.

Classificação é, provavelmente, a tarefa mais estudada na área de Aprendizado de Máquina, possuindo aplicação em uma grande quantidade de problemas reais, como categorização de textos, diagnóstico médico, problemas de bioinformática, além de aplicações comerciais e industriais. De um modo geral, os problemas de classificação podem ser categorizados quanto ao número de rótulos de classe que podem ser associados à cada exemplo de entrada. A abordagem mais investigada pela comunidade de Aprendizado de Máquina é a de classes mutuamente exclusivas. Entretanto, existe uma grande variedade de problemas importantes em que cada exemplo de entrada pode ser associado a mais de um rótulo ou classe. Esses problemas são denominados problemas de classificação multirrótulo. Os Learning Classifier Systems(LCS) constituem uma técnica de Indução de Regras de Classificação que tem como principal mecanismo de busca um Algoritmo Genético. Essa técnica busca encontrar um conjunto de regras que tenha alta precisão de classificação, que seja compreensível e que possua regras consideradas interessantes sob o ponto de vista de classificação. Apesar de existirem na literatura diversos trabalhos sobre os LCS para problemas de classificação com classes mutuamente exclusivas, pouco se tem conhecimento sobre um LCS que seja capaz de lidar com problemas multirrótulo. Dessa maneira, o objetivo desta monografia é apresentar uma proposta de LCS para problemas multirrótulo, que pretende induzir um conjunto de regras de classificação que produza um resultado eficaz e comparável com outras técnicas de classificação. De acordo com esse objetivo, apresenta-se também uma revisão bibliográfica dos temas envolvidos na proposta, que são: Sistemas Classificadores Evolutivos e Classificação Multirrótulo / Classification is probably the most studied task in the Machine Learning area, with applications in a broad number of real problems like text categorization, medical diagnosis, bioinformatics and even comercial and industrial applications. Generally, classification problems can be categorized considering the number of class labels associated to each input instance. The most studied approach by the community of Machine Learning is the one that considers mutually exclusive classes. However, there is a large variety of important problems in which each instance can be associated to more than one class label. This problems are called multi-label classification problems. Learning Classifier Systems (LCS) are a technique for rule induction which uses a Genetic Algorithm as the primary search mechanism. This technique searchs for sets of rules that have high classification accuracy and that are also understandable and interesting on the classification point of view. Although there are several works on LCS for classification problems with mutually exclusive classes, there is no record of an LCS that can deal with the multi-label classification problem. The objective of this work is to propose an LCS for multi-label classification that builds a set of classification rules which achieves results that are efficient and comparable to other multi-label methods. In accordance with this objective this work also presents a review of the themes involved: Learning Classifier Systems and Multi-label Classification

Managing the information flow within a big organization is a challenging task. Moreover, in a distributed decision-making process conflicting objectives occur. In this paper, artificial adaptive agents are used to analyze this problem. The decision makers are implemented as Classifier Systems, and their learning process is simulated by Genetic Algorithms. To validate the outcomes we compared the results with the optimal solutions obtained by full enumeration. It turned out that the genetic algorithm indeed was able to generate useful rules that describe how the decision makers involved in new product development should react to the requests they are required to fulfill. (author's abstract) / Series: Working Papers SFB "Adaptive Information Systems and Modelling in Economics and Management Science"

A generic missile warner decision algorithm for airborne platforms with an emphasis on multiple classifier systems is proposed within the scope of this thesis. For developing the algorithm, simulation data are utilized. The simulation data are created in order to cover a wide range of real-life scenarios and for this purpose a scenario creation methodology is proposed. The scenarios are simulated by a generic missile warner simulator and tracked object data for each scenario are produced. Various feature extraction techniques are applied to the output data of the scenarios and feature sets are generated. Feature sets are examined by using various statistical methods. The performance of selected multiple classifier systems are evaluated for all feature sets and experimental results are presented.