A self-organizing map for transactional data and the related categorical domain

After projecting high dimensional data into a two-dimension map via the SOM, users can easily view the inner structure of the data on the 2-D map. In the early stage of data mining, it is useful for any kind of data to inspect their inner structure. However, few studies apply the SOM to transactional data and the related categorical domain, which are usually accompanied with concept hierarchies. Concept hierarchies contain information about the data but are almost ignored in such researches. This may cause mistakes in mapping. In this paper, we propose an extended SOM model, the SOMCD, which can map the varied kinds of data in the categorical domain into a 2-D map and visualize the inner structure on the map. By using tree structures to represent the different kinds of data objects and the neurons’ prototypes, a new devised distance measure which takes information embedded in concept hierarchies into consideration can properly find the similarity between the data objects and the neurons. Besides the distance measure, we base the SOMCD on a tree-growing adaptation method and integrate the U-Matrix for visualization. Users can hierarchically separate the trained neurons on the SOMCD's map into different groups and cluster the data objects eventually. From the experiments in synthetic and real datasets, the SOMCD performs better than other SOM variants and clustering algorithms in visualization, mapping and clustering.     

自组织多模型逼近性能分析与改进

针对基于自组织映射神经网络的非线性函数逼近,研究其方法和原理,指出它与一般前向神经网络在逼近原理上的不同．在此基础上,进一步研究该方法的逼近性能,分析其两个不足之处,进而提出一种提高逼近性能的改进神经网络训练策略．最后通过仿真实例验证了所得结论,表明了改进方法的有效性．     

Similarity-based image organization and browsing using multi-resolution self-organizing map

An algorithm is presented in this paper to facilitate the exploration of large image collections based on visual similarities. Starting with an unordered and unannotated set of images, the algorithm first extracts the salient details into feature vectors using both color and gradient information. The feature vectors are then used to train a self-organizing map which maps high-dimensional feature vectors onto a 2D canvas so that images with similar feature vectors are grouped together. When users browse the image collection, an image collage is generated that selects and displays the most pertinent set of images based on which portion of the 2D canvas is currently in view. Flowing from an overview to details is a seamless operation controlled simply by pan and zoom, with representative images selected in a consistent and predictable way. To make organizing larger image collections practical in interactive time, the organization algorithm is designed to run in parallel on graphics processing units. Overall this paper presents an end-to-end solution that facilitates the surfing of image collections in a fresh way.     

Intravascular ultrasound-based tissue characterization using modular network self-organizing map

The intravascular ultrasound-based tissue characterization of coronary plaque is important for the early diagnosis of acute coronary syndromes. The conventional tissue characterization techniques however cannot obtain sufficient identification accuracy for various tissue properties, because the feature employed for characterization are static features, which lack dynamical information about backscattered radio-frequency (RF) signals.In this work, we propose a new intravascular ultrasound-based tissue characterization method that uses a modular network self-organizing map (mnSOM) in which each module is composed of an autoregressive model for representing the dynamics of the RF signals.The proposed method can create a map of various dynamical features from the RF signal. This map enables generalized tissue characterizations. The proposed method is verified by comparing its tissue characterization performance with that of the conventional method using real intravascular ultrasound signals.     

The memetic self-organizing map approach to the vehicle routing problem

The paper presents an extension of the self- organizing map (SOM) by embedding it into an evolutionary algorithm to solve the Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP). We call it the memetic SOM. The approach is based on the standard SOM algorithm used as a main operator in a population based search. This operator is combined with other derived operators specifically dedicated for greedy insertion moves, a fitness evaluation and a selection operator. The main operators have a similar structure based on the closest point findings and local moves performed in the plane. They can be interpreted as performing parallels and massive insertions, simulating the behavior of agents which interact continuously, having localized and limited abilities. This self-organizing process is intended to allow adaptation to noisy data as well as to confer robustness according to demand fluctuation. Selection is intended to guide the population based search toward useful solution compromises. We show that the approach performs better, with respect to solution quality and/or computation time, than other neural network applications to the VRP presented in the literature. As well, it substantially reduces the gap to classical Operations Research heuristics, specifically on the large VRP instances with time duration constraint.     

A flexible multi-layer self-organizing map for generic processing of tree-structured data

A new multi-layer self-organizing map (MLSOM) is proposed for unsupervised processing tree-structured data. The MLSOM is an improved self-organizing map for handling structured data. By introducing multiple SOM layers, the MLSOM can overcome the computational speed and visualization problems of SOM for structured data (SOM-SD). Node data in different levels of a tree are processed in different layers of the MLSOM. Root nodes are dedicatedly processed on the top SOM layer enabling the MLSOM a better utilization of SOM map compared with the SOM-SD. Thus, the MLSOM exhibits better data organization, clustering, visualization, and classification results of tree-structured data. Experimental results on three different data sets demonstrate that the proposed MLSOM approach can be more efficient and effective than the SOM-SD.     

An application of the self-organizing map in the non-Euclidean Traveling Salesman Problem

An application of the self-organizing map (SOM) to the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) has been reported by many researchers, however these approaches are mainly focused on the Euclidean TSP variant. We consider the TSP as a problem formulation for the multi-goal path planning problem in which paths among obstacles have to be found. We apply a simple approximation of the shortest path that seems to be suitable for the SOM adaptation procedure. The approximation is based on a geometrical interpretation of SOM, where weights of neurons represent nodes that are placed in the polygonal domain. The approximation is verified in a set of real problems and experimental results show feasibility of the proposed approach for the SOM based solution of the non-Euclidean TSP.     

Spatial data mining and visualization based on self-organizing map

Based on the traditional spatial data analysis, a novel mode of spatial data mining and visualization is proposed which integrates the self-organizing map for the actual problem. Simulations for IRIS data show that this method （computational and visual） can collaboratively discover complex pattems in large spatial datasets, in an effective and efficient way.     

Efficient music note recognition based on a self-organizing map tree and linear vector quantization

Using classical signal processing and filtering techniques for music note recognition faces various kinds of difficulties. This paper proposes a new scheme based on neural networks for music note recognition. The proposed scheme uses three types of neural networks: time delay neural networks, self-organizing maps, and linear vector quantization. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed scheme achieves 100% recognition rate in moderate noise environments. The basic design of two potential applications of the proposed scheme is briefly demonstrated.     

Apply extended self-organizing map to cluster and classify mixed-type data

Mixed numeric and categorical data are commonly seen nowadays in corporate databases in which precious patterns may be hidden. Analyzing mixed-type data to extract the hidden patterns valuable to decision-making is therefore beneficial and critical for corporations to remain competitive. In addition, visualization facilitates exploration in the early stage of data analysis. In the paper, we present a visualized approach to analyzing multivariate mixed-type data. The proposed framework based on an extended self-organizing map allows visualized data cluster analysis as well as classification. We demonstrate the feasibility of the approach by analyzing two real-world datasets and compare with other existing models to show its advantages.     

Comparison of visualization of optimal clustering using self-organizing map and growing hierarchical self-organizing map in cellular manufacturing system

The present research deals with the cell formation problem (CFP) of cellular manufacturing system which is a NP-hard problem thus, the development of optimum machine-part cell formation algorithms has always been the primary attraction in the design of cellular manufacturing system. In this proposed work, the self-organizing map (SOM) approach has been used which is able to project data from a high-dimensional space to a low-dimensional space so it is considered a visualized approach for explaining a complicated CFP data set. However, for a large data set with a high dimensionality, a traditional flat SOM seems difficult to further explain the concepts inside the clusters. We propose one such possible solution for a large CFP data set by using the SOM in a hierarchical manner known as growing hierarchical self-organizing map (GHSOM). In the present work, the two novel contributions using GHSOM are: the choice of optimum architecture through the minimum pattern units extracted at layer 1 for the respective threshold values and selection. Furthermore, the experimental results clearly indicated that the machine-part visual clustering using GHSOM can be successfully applied in identifying a cohesive set of part family that is processed by a machine group. Computational experience specifically with the proposed GHSOM algorithm, on a set of 15 CFP problems from the literature, has shown that it performs remarkably well. The GHSOM algorithm obtained solutions that are at least as good as the ones found the literature. For 75% of the cell formation problems, the GHSOM algorithm improved the goodness of cell formation through GTE performance measure using SOM as well as best one from the literature, in some cases by as much as more than 12.81% (GTE). Thus, comparing the results of the experiment in this paper with the SOM and GHSOM using the paired t-test it has been revealed that the GHSOM approach performed better than the SOM approach so far the group technology efficiency (GTE) measures of performance of the goodness of cell formation is concerned.     

A two-stage architecture for stock price forecasting by integrating self-organizing map and support vector regression

Stock price prediction has attracted much attention from both practitioners and researchers. However, most studies in this area ignored the non-stationary nature of stock price series. That is, stock price series do not exhibit identical statistical properties at each point of time. As a result, the relationships between stock price series and their predictors are quite dynamic. It is challenging for any single artificial technique to effectively address this problematic characteristics in stock price series. One potential solution is to hybridize different artificial techniques. Towards this end, this study employs a two-stage architecture for better stock price prediction. Specifically, the self-organizing map (SOM) is first used to decompose the whole input space into regions where data points with similar statistical distributions are grouped together, so as to contain and capture the non-stationary property of financial series. After decomposing heterogeneous data points into several homogenous regions, support vector regression (SVR) is applied to forecast financial indices. The proposed technique is empirically tested using stock price series from seven major financial markets. The results show that the performance of stock price prediction can be significantly enhanced by using the two-stage architecture in comparison with a single SVR model.     

Self-organizing map approaches for the haplotype assembly problem

Haplotype assembly is to reconstruct a pair of haplotypes from SNP values observed in a set of individual DNA fragments. In this paper, we focus on studying minimum error correction (MEC) model for the haplotype assembly problem and explore self-organizing map (SOM) methods for this problem. Specifically, haplotype assembly by MEC is formulated into an integer linear programming model. Since the MEC problem is NP-hard and thus cannot be solved exactly within acceptable running time for large-scale instances, we investigate the ability of classical SOMs to solve the haplotype assembly problem with MEC model. Then, aiming to overcome the limits of classical SOMs, a novel SOM approach is proposed for the problem. Extensive computational experiments on both synthesized and real datasets show that the new SOM-based algorithm can efficiently reconstruct haplotype pairs in a very high accuracy under realistic parameter settings. Comparison with previous methods also confirms the superior performance of the new SOM approach.     

Visualization of randomly ordered numeric data sets using spherical self-organizing feature maps

Scientific data visualization requires a variety of mathematical techniques to transform multivariate data sets into simple graphical objects, or glyphs, that provide scientists and engineers with a clearer understanding of the underlying system behaviour. The spherical self-organizing feature map (SOFM) described in this paper exploits an unsupervised clustering algorithm to map randomly organized N-dimensional data into a lower three-dimensional (3D) space for visual pattern analysis. Each node on the spherical lattice corresponds to a cluster of input vectors that lie in close spatial proximity within the original feature space, and neighbouring nodes on the lattice represent cluster centres with a high degree of vector similarity. Simple metrics are used to extract associations between the cluster units and the input vectors assigned to them. These are then graphically displayed on the spherical SOFM as either surface elevations or colourized facets. The resulting colourized graphical objects are displayed and manipulated within 3D immersive virtual reality (IVR) environments for interactive data analysis. The ability of the proposed algorithm to transform arbitrarily arranged numeric strings into unique, reproducible shapes is illustrated using chaotic data generated by the Lozi, Hénon, Rössler, and Lorenz attractor functions under varying initial conditions. Implementation of the basic data visualization technique is further demonstrated using the more common Wisconsin breast cancer data and multi-spectral satellite data.     

Content-based image retrieval by using tree-structured features and multi-layer self-organizing map

A new approach for content-based image retrieval (CBIR) is described. In this study, a tree-structured image representation together with a multi-layer self-organizing map (MLSOM) is proposed for efficient image retrieval. In the proposed tree-structured image representation, a root node contains the global features, while child nodes contain the local region-based features. This approach hierarchically integrates more information of image contents to achieve better retrieval accuracy compared with global and region features individually. MLSOM in the proposed method provides effective compression and organization of tree-structured image data. This enables the retrieval system to operate at a much faster rate than that of directly comparing query images with all images in databases. The proposed method also adopts a relevance feedback scheme to improve the retrieval accuracy by a respectable level. Our obtained results indicate that the proposed image retrieval system is robust against different types of image alterations. Comparative results corroborate that the proposed CBIR system is promising in terms of accuracy, speed and robustness.     

Modeling and simulation of the open-end equity mutual fund market in Taiwan by using self-organizing map

This research applies artificial intelligence (AI) of unsupervised learning self-organizing map neural network (SOM-NN) to establish a model to select the superior funds. This research period is from year 2000 to 2010 and picks 100 domestic equity mutual funds as study object. This research used 30 days prior to the beginning of each month’s prior 30 days, 60 days, 90 days on fund’s net asset value and the Taiwan Weighted Stock Index (TAIEX) return as the fund’s relative performance evaluation indicators classified by month. Finally, based on the superior rate or the average return rate, this research select the superior funds and simulate investment transactions according to this model.The empirical results show that using the mutual fund’s net asset value and the TAIEX’s relative return as SOM-NN input variables not only finds out the superior fund but also has a good predictive ability. Applying this model to simulate investment transactions will be better than the random trading model and market. The experiments also found that the investment simulation of a three-month interval has the highest profitability. The model operation suggests that it is more suitable for short-term and medium-term investment. This research can assist investors in making the right investment decisions while facing rapid financial environment changes.     

A neural network approach for data masking

In this letter we present a neural network based data masking solution, in which the database information remains internally consistent yet is not inadvertently exposed in an interpretable state. The system differs from the classic data masking in the sense that it can understand the semantics of the original data and mask it using a neural network which is a priori trained by some rules. Our adaptive data masking (ADM) concentrates on data masking techniques such as shuffling, substitution, masking and number variance in an intelligent fashion with the help of adaptive neural network. The very nature of being adaptive makes data masking easier and content agnostic, and thus finds place in various vertical domains and systems.     

Clustering of the self-organizing map using a clustering validity index based on inter-cluster and intra-cluster density

The self-organizing map (SOM) has been widely used in many industrial applications. Classical clustering methods based on the SOM often fail to deliver satisfactory results, specially when clusters have arbitrary shapes. In this paper, through some preprocessing techniques for filtering out noises and outliers, we propose a new two-level SOM-based clustering algorithm using a clustering validity index based on inter-cluster and intra-cluster density. Experimental results on synthetic and real data sets demonstrate that the proposed clustering algorithm is able to cluster data better than the classical clustering algorithms based on the SOM, and find an optimal number of clusters.     

Predicting corporate bankruptcy using a self-organizing map: An empirical study to improve the forecasting horizon of a financial failure model

The aim of this study is to show how a Kohonen map can be used to increase the forecasting horizon of a financial failure model. Indeed, most prediction models fail to forecast accurately the occurrence of failure beyond 1 year, and their accuracy tends to fall as the prediction horizon recedes. So we propose a new way of using a Kohonen map to improve model reliability. Our results demonstrate that the generalization error achieved with a Kohonen map remains stable over the period studied, unlike that of other methods, such as discriminant analysis, logistic regression, neural networks and survival analysis, traditionally used for this kind of task.