Comparative analysis of inbreeding parameters and runs of homozygosity islands in 2 Italian autochthonous cattle breeds mainly raised in the Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese production region

Reggiana and Modenese are autochthonous cattle breeds, reared in the North of Italy, that can be mainly distinguished for their standard coat color (Reggiana is red, whereas Modenese is white with some pale gray shades). Almost all milk produced by these breeds is transformed into 2 mono-breed branded Parmigiano-Reggiano cheeses, from which farmers receive the economic incomes needed for the sustainable conservation of these animal genetic resources. After the setting up of their herd books in 1960s, these breeds experienced a strong reduction in the population size that was subsequently reverted starting in the 1990s (Reggiana) or more recently (Modenese) reaching at present a total of about 2,800 and 500 registered cows, respectively. Due to the small population size of these breeds, inbreeding is a very important cause of concern for their conservation programs. Inbreeding is traditionally estimated using pedigree data, which are summarized in an inbreeding coefficient calculated at the individual level (F_PED). However, incompleteness of pedigree information and registration errors can affect the effectiveness of conservation strategies. High-throughput SNP genotyping platforms allow investigation of inbreeding using genome information that can overcome the limits of pedigree data. Several approaches have been proposed to estimate genomic inbreeding, with the use of runs of homozygosity (ROH) considered to be the more appropriate. In this study, several pedigree and genomic inbreeding parameters, calculated using the whole herd book populations or considering genotyping information (GeneSeek GGP Bovine 150K) from 1,684 Reggiana cattle and 323 Modenese cattle, were compared. Average inbreeding values per year were used to calculate effective population size. Reggiana breed had generally lower genomic inbreeding values than Modenese breed. The low correlation between pedigree-based and genomic-based parameters (ranging from 0.187 to 0.195 and 0.319 to 0.323 in the Reggiana and Modenese breeds, respectively) reflected the common problems of local populations in which pedigree records are not complete. The high proportion of short ROH over the total number of ROH indicates no major recent inbreeding events in both breeds. ROH islands spread over the genome of the 2 breeds (15 in Reggiana and 14 in Modenese) identified several signatures of selection. Some of these included genes affecting milk production traits, stature, body conformation traits (with a main ROH island in both breeds on BTA6 containing the ABCG2, NCAPG, and LCORL genes) and coat color (on BTA13 in Modenese containing the ASIP gene). In conclusion, this work provides an extensive comparative analysis of pedigree and genomic inbreeding parameters and relevant genomic information that will be useful in the conservation strategies of these 2 iconic local cattle breeds.     

基于动态行为学习的空中目标识别方法

针对空中移动目标识别问题,提出了一种基于动态行为学习的识别方法。首先,从数据源中提取目标要素,经过标注形成目标数据特征集;其次,基于应用场景进行特征组合,形成特征模型要素;然后,基于深度学习算法进行模型训练,得到评估最优的模型参数;最后,利用训练后的模型进行目标识别处理。通过数值仿真验证,该方法能够有效地识别无业务规则的目标身份。     

Applying Feature-Weighted Gradient Decent K-Nearest Neighbor to Select Promising Projects for Scientific Funding

Due to its outstanding ability in processing large quantity and high-dimensional data, machine learning models have been used in many cases, such as pattern recognition, classification, spam filtering, data mining and forecasting. As an outstanding machine learning algorithm, K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) has been widely used in different situations, yet in selecting qualified applicants for winning a funding is almost new. The major problem lies in how to accurately determine the importance of attributes. In this paper, we propose a Feature-weighted Gradient Decent K-Nearest Neighbor (FGDKNN) method to classify funding applicants in to two types: approved ones or not approved ones. The FGDKNN is based on a gradient decent learning algorithm to update weight. It updatesthe weight of labels by minimizing error ratio iteratively, so that the importance of attributes can be described better. We investigate the performance of FGDKNN with Beijing Innofund. The results show that FGDKNN performs about 23%, 20%, 18%, 15% better than KNN, SVM, DT and ANN, respectively. Moreover, the FGDKNN has fast convergence time under different training scales, and has good performance under different settings.     

MOOC Learner’s Final Grade Prediction Based on an Improved Random Forests Method

Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) has become a popular way of online learning used across the world by millions of people. Meanwhile, a vast amount of information has been collected from the MOOC learners and institutions. Based on the educational data, a lot of researches have been investigated for the prediction of the MOOC learner’s final grade. However, there are still two problems in this research field. The first problem is how to select the most proper features to improve the prediction accuracy, and the second problem is how to use or modify the data mining algorithms for a better analysis of the MOOC data. In order to solve these two problems, an improved random forests method is proposed in this paper. First, a hybrid indicator is defined to measure the importance of the features, and a rule is further established for the feature selection; then, a Clustering-Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique (SMOTE) is embedded into the traditional random forests algorithm to solve the class imbalance problem. In experiment part, we verify the performance of the proposed method by using the Canvas Network Person-Course (CNPC) dataset. Furthermore, four well-known prediction methods have been applied for comparison, where the superiority of our method has been proved.     

既有居住建筑附属地下换热站降噪研究

为了降低既有建筑附属用房产生的噪声对居民生活的影响、改善居住建筑声环境,对既有居住建筑附属用房地下换热站的噪声源以及噪声传播途径进行了分析;以既有居住建筑地下换热站室内噪声实测数据为基础,对室内环境的声学特征进行分析。在综合考虑居民的健康和舒适的基础上,提出了针对该附属用房的降噪处理改造设计方案。经过改造后的空间噪声明显降低,空间声环境指标达到标准要求,有效地改善了居住建筑的声环境。文中提出的改造设计方案为制定民用建筑附属用房声学设计标准提供了技术支撑。     

Feature selection methods for root-cause analysis among top-level product attributes

Manufacturing companies not only strive to deliver flawless products but also monitor product failures in the field to identify potential quality issues. When product failures occur, quality engineers must identify the root cause to improve any affected product and process. This root-cause analysis can be supported by feature selection methods that identify relevant product attributes, such as manufacturing dates with an increased number of product failures. In this paper, we present different methods for feature selection and evaluate their ability to identify relevant product attributes in a root-cause analysis. First, we compile a list of feature selection methods. Then, we summarize the properties of product attributes in warranty case data and discuss these properties regarding the challenges they pose for machine learning algorithms. Next, we simulate datasets of warranty cases, which emulate these product properties. Finally, we compare the feature selection methods based on these simulated datasets. In the end, the univariate filter information gain is determined to be a suitable method for a wide range of applications. The comparison based on simulated data provides a more general result than other publications, which only focus on a single use case. Due to the generic nature of the simulated datasets, the results can be applied to various root-cause analysis processes in different quality management applications and provide a guideline for readers who wish to explore machine learning methods for their analysis of quality data.     

Long-term performance analysis of chemical filters in clean rooms based on a prediction model

Chemical filters are the most important devices for removing gas-phase pollutants in clean rooms. However, the testing concentration of chemical filters is too high for reflecting their performance in a real clean room environment. This study tested the adsorption performance of chemical filters in the two most commonly used shapes at different concentrations. Then, the Langmuir equation and Wheeler-Jonas kinetic equation were combined to establish an adsorption performance prediction model of chemical filters under actual conditions. The predicted values of the model were in good agreement with the experimental results, which indicated the high accuracy of the prediction model. The model does not need to test the microscopic parameters of the adsorbent and can maintain high accuracy at low concentrations. A fast method for calculating the service life of chemical filters was also presented. Based on this model, the total cost of using a chemical filter with a high carbon content in microelectronic clean rooms could be decreased by 45% due to decreasing the number of filter replacements over 3 months. So a chemical filter with a high carbon content should be preferred over a filter with low resistance in microelectronic clean rooms.     

Optimization of Sentiment Analysis Using Teaching-Learning Based Algorithm

Feature selection and sentiment analysis are two common studies that are currently being conducted; consistent with the advancements in computing and growing the use of social media. High dimensional or large feature sets is a key issue in sentiment analysis as it can decrease the accuracy of sentiment classification and make it difficult to obtain the optimal subset of the features. Furthermore, most reviews from social media carry a lot of noise and irrelevant information. Therefore, this study proposes a new text-feature selection method that uses a combination of rough set theory (RST) and teaching-learning based optimization (TLBO), which is known as RSTLBO. The framework to develop the proposed RSTLBO includes numerous stages: (1) acquiring the standard datasets (user reviews of six major U.S. airlines) which are used to validate search result feature selection methods, (2) pre-processing of the dataset using text processing methods. This involves applying text processing methods from natural language processing techniques, combined with linguistic processing techniques to produce high classification results, (3) employing the RSTLBO method, and (4) using the selected features from the previous process for sentiment classification using the Support Vector Machine (SVM) technique. Results show an improvement in sentiment analysis when combining natural language processing with linguistic processing for text processing. More importantly, the proposed RSTLBO feature selection algorithm is able to produce an improved sentiment analysis.