Optimization of neural network model using modified bat-inspired algorithm

The success of an artificial neural network (ANN) strongly depends on the variety of the connection weights and the network structure. Among many methods used in the literature to accurately select the network weights or structure in isolate; a few researchers have attempted to select both the weights and structure of ANN automatically by using metaheuristic algorithms. This paper proposes modified bat algorithm with a new solution representation for both optimizing the weights and structure of ANNs. The algorithm, which is based on the echolocation behaviour of bats, combines the advantages of population-based and local search algorithms. In this work, ability of the basic bat algorithm and some modified versions which are based on the consideration of the personal best solution in the velocity adjustment, the mean of personal best and global best solutions through velocity adjustment and the employment of three chaotic maps are investigated. These modifications are aimed to improve the exploration and exploitation capability of bat algorithm. Different versions of the proposed bat algorithm are incorporated to handle the selection of the structure as well as weights and biases of the ANN during the training process. We then use the Taguchi method to tune the parameters of the algorithm that demonstrates the best ability compared to the other versions. Six classifications and two time series benchmark datasets are used to test the performance of the proposed approach in terms of classification and prediction accuracy. Statistical tests demonstrate that the proposed method generates some of the best results in comparison with the latest methods in the literature. Finally, our best method is applied to a real-world problem, namely to predict the future values of rainfall data and the results show satisfactory of the method.     

Adaptive Decentralized NN Control of Nonlinear Interconnected Time‐Delay Systems with Input Saturation

In this paper, a novel decentralized adaptive neural control scheme is proposed for a class of interconnected large‐scale uncertain nonlinear time‐delay systems with input saturation. Radial basis function (RBF) neural networks (NNs) are used to tackle unknown nonlinear functions. Then, the decentralized adaptive NN tracking controller is constructed by combining Lyapunov–Krasovskii functions and the dynamic surface control (DSC) technique, along with the minimal‐learning‐parameters (MLP) algorithm. The stability analysis subject to the effect of input saturation constraints are conducted with the help of an auxiliary design system based on the Lyapunov–Krasovskii method. The proposed controller guarantees uniform ultimate boundedness (UUB) of all of the signals in the closed‐loop large‐scale system, while the tracking errors converge to a small neighborhood around the origin. An advantage of the proposed control scheme lies in the number of adaptive parameters of the whole system being reduced to one and in the solution of the three problems of “computational explosion,” “dimension curse,” and “controller singularity”. Finally, simulation results along with comparisons are presented to demonstrate the advantages, effectiveness, and performance of the proposed scheme.     

Robust Absolute Stability Analysis of Multiple Time‐Delay Lur'e Systems With Parametric Uncertainties

The problem of robust absolute stability for time‐delay Lur'e systems with parametric uncertainties is investigated in this paper. The nonlinear part of the Lur'e system is assumed to be both time‐invariant and time‐varying. The structure of uncertainty is a general case that includes norm‐bounded uncertainty. Based on the Lyapunov–Krasovskii stability theory, some delay‐dependent sufficient conditions for the robust absolute stability of the Lur'e system will be derived and expressed in the form of linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). These conditions reduce the conservativeness in computing the upper bound of the maximum allowed delay in many cases. Numerical examples are given to show that the proposed stability criteria are less conservative than those reported in the established literatures.     

Trust fraud: A crucial challenge for China’s e-commerce market

Currently, China’s e-commerce market is growing at an unprecedented pace, however, it is faced with many challenges, among which the trust fraud problem is the biggest issue. In this article, we use Taobao as an example and conduct a thorough investigation of the trust fraud phenomenon in China’s e-commerce market. We present the development history of trust fraud, summarize its unique characteristics, and explore the reasons why so many sellers commit fraud. We further propose a dynamic time decay trust model that aims to deter trust fraud by raising its cost and promote the growth of small and medium-sized sellers. The model utilizes detailed seller ratings as the data source, and incorporates a transaction amount weight, a time decay coefficient, and three trust factors in the calculation of trust. We test the model on real transaction data from Taobao, and the experimental results verify its effectiveness. Our proposed trust model yields a practical approach to online trust management not only in the Taobao market but also for other e-commerce platforms.     

舵机控制用PWM信号的研究与实现

当前生成PWM信号的方法繁多,生成的PWM信号的质量也参差不齐。针对这种现象,提出了PWM信号生成方法合理性评价四原则,实现了对各种生成PWM信号的方法具体全面的评价。然后提出了一种分时成组原理,利用这一原理,实现了一种基于C8051F040单片机的舵机控制用PWM信号生成方法。最后利用PWM信号生成方法合理性评价的四条原则,对此方法的合理性进行了评价。在实践中证明了评价结论的正确性。     

Using space windowing for a preliminary analysis of complex time data in human component system studies. Examples with eye-tracking in advertising and car/head movements in driving

Empirical studies of human systems often involve recording multidimensional signals because the system components may require physical measurements (e.g., temperature, pressure, body movements and/or movements in the environment) and physiological measurements (e.g., electromyography or electrocardiography). Analysis of such data becomes complex if both the multifactor aspect and the multivariate aspect are retained. Three examples are used to illustrate the role of fuzzy space windowing and the large number of data analysis paths. The first example is a classic simulated data set found in the literature, which we use to compare several data analysis paths generated with principal component analysis and multiple correspondence analysis with crisp and fuzzy windowing. The second example involves eye-tracking data based on advertising, with a focus on the case of one category variable, but with the possibility of several space windowing models and time entities. The third example concerns car and head movement data from a driving vigilance study, with a focus on the case involving several quantitative variables. The notions of analysis path multiplicity and information are discussed both from a general perspective and in terms of our two real examples.     

Time series clustering and classification by the autoregressive metric

The statistical properties of the autoregressive (AR) distance between ARIMA processes are investigated. In particular, the asymptotic distribution of the squared AR distance and an approximation which is computationally efficient are derived. Moreover, the problem of time series clustering and classification is discussed and the performance of the AR distance is illustrated by means of some empirical applications.     

Mining partial periodic correlations in time series

Recently, periodic pattern mining from time series data has been studied extensively. However, an interesting type of periodic pattern, called partial periodic (PP) correlation in this paper, has not been investigated. An example of PP correlation is that power consumption is high either on Monday or Tuesday but not on both days. In general, a PP correlation is a set of offsets within a particular period such that the data at these offsets are correlated with a certain user-desired strength. In the above example, the period is a week (7 days), and each day of the week is an offset of the period. PP correlations can provide insightful knowledge about the time series and can be used for predicting future values. This paper introduces an algorithm to mine time series for PP correlations based on the principal component analysis (PCA) method. Specifically, given a period, the algorithm maps the time series data to data points in a multidimensional space, where the dimensions correspond to the offsets within the period. A PP correlation is then equivalent to correlation of data when projected to a subset of the dimensions. The algorithm discovers, with one sequential scan of data, all those PP correlations (called minimum PP correlations) that are not unions of some other PP correlations. Experiments using both real and synthetic data sets show that the PCA-based algorithm is highly efficient and effective in finding the minimum PP correlations. Zhen He is a lecturer in the Department of Computer Science at La Trobe University. His main research areas are database systems optimization, time series mining, wireless sensor networks, and XML information retrieval. Prior to joining La Trobe University, he worked as a postdoctoral research associate in the University of Vermont. He holds Bachelors, Honors and Ph.D degrees in Computer Science from the Australian National University. X. Sean Wang received his Ph.D degree in Computer Science from the University of Southern California in 1992. He is currently the Dorothean Chair Professor in Computer Science at the University of Vermont. He has published widely in the general area of databases and information security, and was a recipient of the US National Science Foundation Research Initiation and CAREER awards. His research interests include database systems, information security, data mining, and sensor data processing. Byung Suk Lee is associate professor of Computer Science at the University of Vermont. His main research areas are database systems, data modeling, and information retrieval. He held positions in industry and academia: Gold Star Electric, Bell Communications Research, Datacom Global Communications, University of St. Thomas, and currently University of Vermont. He was also a visiting professor at Dartmouth College and a participating guest at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He served on international conferences as a program committee member, a publicity chair, and a special session organizer, and also on US federal funding proposal review panel. He holds a BS degree from Seoul National University, MS from Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and Ph.D from Stanford University. Alan C. H. Ling is an assistant professor at Department of Computer Science in University of Vermont. His research interests include combinatorial design theory, coding theory, sequence designs, and applications of design theory.