Learning parities in the mistake-bound model

We study the problem of learning parity functions that depend on at most k variables (k-parities) attribute-efficiently in the mistake-bound model. We design a simple, deterministic, polynomial-time algorithm for learning k-parities with mistake bound . This is the first polynomial-time algorithm to learn ω(1)-parities in the mistake-bound model with mistake bound o(n).Using the standard conversion techniques from the mistake-bound model to the PAC model, our algorithm can also be used for learning k-parities in the PAC model. In particular, this implies a slight improvement over the results of Klivans and Servedio (2004) [1] for learning k-parities in the PAC model.We also show that the time algorithm from Klivans and Servedio (2004) [1] that PAC-learns k-parities with sample complexity can be extended to the mistake-bound model.     

Learning in the combinatorial neural model

The combinatorial neural model (CNM) is a type of fuzzy neural network for classification problems. Learning in CNM is a complex task spanning the learning of input-neuron membership functions, the network topology and connection weights. We deal with these various aspects of learning in CNM, most notably with the learning of connection weights, whose complexity comes from the existence of nondifferentiable, nonconvex error functions associated with the learning process. We introduce several algorithms for weight learning. All the algorithms are based on "local" rules, and are therefore amenable to distributed/parallel implementations. Experimental results are provided on the large-scale problem of monitoring the deforestation of the Amazon region on satellite images. These results show that a hybrid CNM system outperforms previous results obtained with variations of error backpropagation techniques. In addition, this hybrid system has demonstrated robustness in the context under consideration.     

Learning convergence in the cerebellar model articulationcontroller

A new way to look at the learning algorithm in the cerebellar model articulation controller (CMAC) proposed by J.S. Albus (1975) is presented. A proof that the CMAC learning always converges with arbitrary accuracy on any set of training data is obtained. An alternative way to implement CMAC based on the insights obtained in the process is proposed. The scheme is tested with a computer simulation for learning the inverse dynamics of a two-link robot arm.     

Learning the behavior model of a robot

Complex artifacts are designed today from well specified and well modeled components. But most often, the models of these components cannot be composed into a global functional model of the artifact. A significant observation, modeling and identification effort is required to get such a global model, which is needed in order to better understand, control and improve the designed artifact.     

Learning presence as a moderator in the community of inquiry model

This study of over 2000 US college students examines the Community of Inquiry framework (CoI) in its capacity to describe and explain differences in learning outcomes in hybrid and fully online learning environments. We hypothesize that the CoI model's theoretical constructs of presence reflect educational effectiveness in a variety of environments, and that online learner self-regulation, a construct that we label “learning presence” moderates relationships of the other components within the CoI model. Consistent with previous research (e.g., Means, Toyama, Murphy, Bakia, & Jones, 2009; Shea & Bidjerano, 2011) we found evidence that students in online and blended courses rank the modalities differently with regard to quality of teaching, social, and cognitive presence. Differences in help seeking behavior, an important component of self-regulated learning, were found as well. In addition, results suggest teaching presence and social presence have a differential effect on cognitive presence, depending upon learner's online self-regulatory cognitions and behaviors, i.e. their learning presence. These results also suggest a compensation effect in which greater self-regulation is required to attain cognitive presence in the absence of sufficient teaching and social presence. Recommendations for future research and practice are included.     

Learning a factor model via regularized PCA

We consider the problem of learning a linear factor model. We propose a regularized form of principal component analysis (PCA) and demonstrate through experiments with synthetic and real data the superiority of resulting estimates to those produced by pre-existing factor analysis approaches. We also establish theoretical results that explain how our algorithm corrects the biases induced by conventional approaches. An important feature of our algorithm is that its computational requirements are similar to those of PCA, which enjoys wide use in large part due to its efficiency.     

Learning model trees from evolving data streams

The problem of real-time extraction of meaningful patterns from time-changing data streams is of increasing importance for the machine learning and data mining communities. Regression in time-changing data streams is a relatively unexplored topic, despite the apparent applications. This paper proposes an efficient and incremental stream mining algorithm which is able to learn regression and model trees from possibly unbounded, high-speed and time-changing data streams. The algorithm is evaluated extensively in a variety of settings involving artificial and real data. To the best of our knowledge there is no other general purpose algorithm for incremental learning regression/model trees able to perform explicit change detection and informed adaptation. The algorithm performs online and in real-time, observes each example only once at the speed of arrival, and maintains at any-time a ready-to-use model tree. The tree leaves contain linear models induced online from the examples assigned to them, a process with low complexity. The algorithm has mechanisms for drift detection and model adaptation, which enable it to maintain accurate and updated regression models at any time. The drift detection mechanism exploits the structure of the tree in the process of local change detection. As a response to local drift, the algorithm is able to update the tree structure only locally. This approach improves the any-time performance and greatly reduces the costs of adaptation.     

Learning model for coupled neural oscillators.

Neurophysiological experiments have shown that many motor commands in living systems are generated by coupled neural oscillators. To coordinate the oscillators and achieve a desired phase relation with desired frequency, the intrinsic frequencies of component oscillators and coupling strengths between them must be chosen appropriately. In this paper we propose learning models for coupled neural oscillators to acquire the desired intrinsic frequencies and coupling weights based on the instruction of the desired phase pattern or an evaluation function. The abilities of the learning rules were examined by computer simulations including adaptive control of the hopping height of a hopping robot. The proposed learning rule takes a simple form like a Hebbian rule. Studies on such learning models for neural oscillators will aid in the understanding of the learning mechanism of motor commands in living bodies.     

部分观测环境下的时态动作模型学习方法

已有的动作模型学习方法针对确定的或不确定的瞬时动作,而未考虑动作模型中的时态关系。提出了在部分观测环境下自动学习时态动作模型的方法。设计了学习动作持续时间表达式一般形式的两阶段线性回归方法。通过分析命题时间戳设计了动作前提、效果与动作之间时态关系算子的构建算法。在“国际智能规划竞赛”的规划问题集上进行了实验,结果表明了该方法的有效性。     

Learning Hough transform: a neural network model

A single-layered Hough transform network is proposed that accepts image coordinates of each object pixel as input and produces a set of outputs that indicate the belongingness of the pixel to a particular structure (e.g., a straight line). The network is able to learn adaptively the parametric forms of the linear segments present in the image. It is designed for learning and identification not only of linear segments in two-dimensional images but also the planes and hyperplanes in the higher-dimensional spaces. It provides an efficient representation of visual information embedded in the connection weights. The network not only reduces the large space requirement, as in the case of classical Hough transform, but also represents the parameters with high precision.     

基于非联合型学习机制的学习神经元模型

针对生物神经细胞所具有的非联合型学习机制,设计了具有非联合型学习机制的新型神经元模型——学习神经元。首先,研究了非联合型学习机制中习惯化学习机制和去习惯化学习机制的简化描述;其次,建立了习惯化和去习惯化学习机制的数学模型;最后,基于经典的M-P（McCulloch-Pitts）神经元模型,提出了具有习惯化和去习惯化学习能力的新型神经元模型——学习神经元。经仿真实验验证,学习神经元具有典型的习惯化和去习惯化学习能力,为构建新型神经网络提供良好的基础。     

Learning the optimal parameter of the Hamacher t-norm applied for fuzzy-rule-based model extraction

Mamdani-type inference systems with trapezoidal-shaped fuzzy membership functions play a crucial role in a wide variety of engineering systems, including real-time control, transportation and logistics, network management, etc. The automatic identification or construction of such fuzzy systems input output data is one of the key problems in modeling. In the past years, the authors have investigated several different fuzzy t-norms, among others, algebraic and trigonometric ones, and the Hamacher product by substituting the standard “min” t-norm operation, in order to achieve better model fitting. In the present paper, the focus is on examining the general parametric Hamacher t-norm, where the free parameter quite essentially influences the quality of modeling and the learning capability of the model identification system. Based on a wide scope of simulation experiments, a quasi-optimal interval for the value of the Hamacher operator is proposed.     

Learning art with computers — a LISREL model

Abstract This paper surveys the attitudes on the use of computers for aesthetic communication. In spite of the proliferation of computer art software and the popularity of art galleries on the world-wide web, many artists still find it difficult to accept computer art as a form of art. Many of them find only commercial values in computer art. To understand the latent attitudes constituting this rejection, a survey was conducted among high school students and the data was analysed with LISREL structural equation modelling techniques. Results indicate that aesthetic concerns, conservatism, and stereotypes are the major factors accounting for the negative attitude. Implications for system design to overcome the negative attitudes are discussed.     

Learning local objective functions for robust face model fitting

Model-based techniques have proven to be successful in interpreting the large amount of information contained in images. Associated fitting algorithms search for the global optimum of an objective function, which should correspond to the best model fit in a given image. Although fitting algorithms have been the subject of intensive research and evaluation, the objective function is usually designed ad hoc, based on implicit and domain-dependent knowledge. In this article, we address the root of the problem by learning more robust objective functions. First, we formulate a set of desirable properties for objective functions and give a concrete example function that has these properties. Then, we propose a novel approach that learns an objective function from training data generated by manual image annotations and this ideal objective function. In this approach, critical decisions such as feature selection are automated, and the remaining manual steps hardly require domain-dependent knowledge. Furthermore, an extensive empirical evaluation demonstrates that the obtained objective functions yield more robustness. Learned objective functions enable fitting algorithms to determine the best model fit more accurately than with designed objective functions.     

学习兴趣与主动学习的研究

现在高等学校的学生具有很强的社会的特点,现实性强,在具有众多学生的高等学校内要学生对学习有兴趣,这是一件难事。了解学生,让学生主动学习,靠教育工作者在办公室里是想不出好办法的,让学生参与教学活动,参与教学过程设计,这是提高学习兴趣,主动学习的唯一方法。     

Learning general model for activity recognition with limited labelled data

Activity recognition has been a hot topic for decades, from the scientific research to the development of off-the-shelf commercial products. Since people perform the activities differently, to avoid overfitting, building a general model with activity data of various users is required before the deployment for personal use. However, annotating a large amount of activity data is expensive and time-consuming. In this paper, we build a general model for activity recognition with a limited amount of labelled data. We combine Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) and AdaBoost to jointly train a general activity model with partially labelled data. After that, when AdaBoost is used for online prediction, we combine it with graphical models (such as HMM and CRF) to exploit the temporal information in human activities to smooth out the accidental misclassifications. Experiments with publicly available datasets show that we are able to obtain the accuracy of more than 90% with 1% labelled data.     

基于知识规则的构造性优先排序神经网络算法

从高维空间样本点覆盖的角度,讨论了基于知识规则的构造性优先排序神经网络(PONN)算法的原理,提出了网络构造过程的一般算法以及基于随机取样规则和重心点规则的两个实例算法。实例算法对螺旋线识别和语种识别进行了仿真。实验结果证明了算法的有效性。语种识别实验结果也表明基于重心规则的PONN算法在一定条件下优于SVM。     

Learning parametric specular reflectance model by radial basis function network

For the shape from shading problem, it is known that most real images usually contain specular components and are affected by unknown reflectivity. In the paper, these limitations are addressed and a neural-based specular reflectance model is proposed. The idea of this method is to optimize a proper specular model by learning the parameters of a radial basis function network and to recover the object shape by the variational approach with this resulting model. The obtained results are very encouraging and the performance is demonstrated by using the synthetic and real images in the case of different specular effects and noisy environments.