Multilayer neural networks trained with the back-propagation algorithm constitute the best example of a successful gradient based learning technique. Given an appropriate network architecture, gradient-based learning algorithms can be used to synthesize a complex decision surface that can classify high-dimensional patterns, such as handwritten characters, with minimal preprocessing. This paper reviews various methods applied to handwritten character recognition and compares them on a standard handwritten digit recognition task. Convolutional neural networks, which are specifically designed to deal with the variability of 2D shapes, are shown to outperform all other techniques. Real-life document recognition systems are composed of multiple modules including field extraction, segmentation recognition, and language modeling. A new learning paradigm, called graph transformer networks (GTN), allows such multimodule systems to be trained globally using gradient-based methods so as to minimize an overall performance measure. Two systems for online handwriting recognition are described. Experiments demonstrate the advantage of global training, and the flexibility of graph transformer networks. A graph transformer network for reading a bank cheque is also described. It uses convolutional neural network character recognizers combined with global training techniques to provide record accuracy on business and personal cheques. It is deployed commercially and reads several million cheques per day.

Gradient-based learning applied to document recognition

The increasing volume of data in modern business and science calls for more complex and sophisticated tools. Although advances in data mining technology have made extensive data collection much easier, it's still always evolving and there is a constant need for new techniques and tools that can help us transform this data into useful information and knowledge. Since the previous edition's publication, great advances have been made in the field of data mining. Not only does the third of edition of Data Mining: Concepts and Techniques continue the tradition of equipping you with an understanding and application of the theory and practice of discovering patterns hidden in large data sets, it also focuses on new, important topics in the field: data warehouses and data cube technology, mining stream, mining social networks, and mining spatial, multimedia and other complex data. Each chapter is a stand-alone guide to a critical topic, presenting proven algorithms and sound implementations ready to be used directly or with strategic modification against live data. This is the resource you need if you want to apply today's most powerful data mining techniques to meet real business challenges. * Presents dozens of algorithms and implementation examples, all in pseudo-code and suitable for use in real-world, large-scale data mining projects. * Addresses advanced topics such as mining object-relational databases, spatial databases, multimedia databases, time-series databases, text databases, the World Wide Web, and applications in several fields. *Provides a comprehensive, practical look at the concepts and techniques you need to get the most out of real business data

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Data Mining: Concepts and Techniques

Data Mining: Practical Machine Learning Tools and Techniques offers a thorough grounding in machine learning concepts as well as practical advice on applying machine learning tools and techniques in real-world data mining situations. This highly anticipated third edition of the most acclaimed work on data mining and machine learning will teach you everything you need to know about preparing inputs, interpreting outputs, evaluating results, and the algorithmic methods at the heart of successful data mining. Thorough updates reflect the technical changes and modernizations that have taken place in the field since the last edition, including new material on Data Transformations, Ensemble Learning, Massive Data Sets, Multi-instance Learning, plus a new version of the popular Weka machine learning software developed by the authors. Witten, Frank, and Hall include both tried-and-true techniques of today as well as methods at the leading edge of contemporary research. *Provides a thorough grounding in machine learning concepts as well as practical advice on applying the tools and techniques to your data mining projects *Offers concrete tips and techniques for performance improvement that work by transforming the input or output in machine learning methods *Includes downloadable Weka software toolkit, a collection of machine learning algorithms for data mining tasks-in an updated, interactive interface. Algorithms in toolkit cover: data pre-processing, classification, regression, clustering, association rules, visualization

Data Mining: Practical Machine Learning Tools and Techniques

In the first part of the paper we consider the problem of dynamically apportioning resources among a set of options in a worst-case on-line framework. The model we study can be interpreted as a broad, abstract extension of the well-studied on-line prediction model to a general decision-theoretic setting. We show that the multiplicative weight-update Littlestone?Warmuth rule can be adapted to this model, yielding bounds that are slightly weaker in some cases, but applicable to a considerably more general class of learning problems. We show how the resulting learning algorithm can be applied to a variety of problems, including gambling, multiple-outcome prediction, repeated games, and prediction of points in Rn. In the second part of the paper we apply the multiplicative weight-update technique to derive a new boosting algorithm. This boosting algorithm does not require any prior knowledge about the performance of the weak learning algorithm. We also study generalizations of the new boosting algorithm to the problem of learning functions whose range, rather than being binary, is an arbitrary finite set or a bounded segment of the real line.

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A Decision-Theoretic Generalization of On-Line Learning and an Application to Boosting

Probability Distributions.- Linear Models for Regression.- Linear Models for Classification.- Neural Networks.- Kernel Methods.- Sparse Kernel Machines.- Graphical Models.- Mixture Models and EM.- Approximate Inference.- Sampling Methods.- Continuous Latent Variables.- Sequential Data.- Combining Models.

Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning

Multiclass learning problems involve finding a definition for an unknown function f(x) whose range is a discrete set containing k > 2 values (i.e., k "classes"). The definition is acquired by studying collections of training examples of the form (xi, f(xi)). Existing approaches to multiclass learning problems include direct application of multiclass algorithms such as the decision-tree algorithms C4.5 and CART, application of binary concept learning algorithms to learn individual binary functions for each of the k classes, and application of binary concept learning algorithms with distributed output representations. This paper compares these three approaches to a new technique in which error-correcting codes are employed as a distributed output representation. We show that these output representations improve the generalization performance of both C4.5 and backpropagation on a wide range of multiclass learning tasks. We also demonstrate that this approach is robust with respect to changes in the size of the training sample, the assignment of distributed representations to particular classes, and the application of overfitting avoidance techniques such as decision-tree pruning. Finally, we show that--like the other methods--the error-correcting code technique can provide reliable class probability estimates. Taken together, these results demonstrate that error-correcting output codes provide a general-purpose method for improving the performance of inductive learning programs on multiclass problems.

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Solving multiclass learning problems via error-correcting output codes

Multiclass learning problems involve finding a definition for an unknown function f(x) whose range is a discrete set containing k &gt 2 values (i.e., k ``classes''). The definition is acquired by studying collections of training examples of the form [x_i, f (x_i)]. Existing approaches to multiclass learning problems include direct application of multiclass algorithms such as the decision-tree algorithms C4.5 and CART, application of binary concept learning algorithms to learn individual binary functions for each of the k classes, and application of binary concept learning algorithms with distributed output representations. This paper compares these three approaches to a new technique in which error-correcting codes are employed as a distributed output representation. We show that these output representations improve the generalization performance of both C4.5 and backpropagation on a wide range of multiclass learning tasks. We also demonstrate that this approach is robust with respect to changes in the size of the training sample, the assignment of distributed representations to particular classes, and the application of overfitting avoidance techniques such as decision-tree pruning. Finally, we show that---like the other methods---the error-correcting code technique can provide reliable class probability estimates. Taken together, these results demonstrate that error-correcting output codes provide a general-purpose method for improving the performance of inductive learning programs on multiclass problems.

Solving Multiclass Learning Problems via Error-Correcting Output Codes

Multiclass learning problems involve finding a definition for an unknown function f(x) whose range is a discrete set containing k < 2 values (i.e., k "classes"). The definition is acquired by studying large collections of training examples of the form [xi, f(xi)]. Existing approaches to this problem include (a) direct application of multiclass algorithms such as the decision-tree algorithms ID3 and CART, (b) application of binary concept learning algorithms to learn individual binary functions for each of the k classes, and (c) application of binary concept learning algorithms with distributed output codes such as those employed by Sejnowski and Rosenberg in the NETtalk system. This paper compares these three approaches to a new technique in which BCH error-correcting codes are employed as a distributed output representation. We show that these output representations improve the performance of ID3 on the NETtalk task and of back propagation on an isolated-letter speech-recognition task. These results demonstrate that error-correcting output codes provide a general-purpose method for improving the performance of inductive learning programs on multiclass problems.

Error-Correcting Output Codes: A General Method for Improving

Multiclass learning problems involve finding a definition for an unknown function f(x) whose range is a discrete set containing k > 2 values (i.e., k "classes"). The definition is acquired by studying large collections of training examples of the form 〈Xi, f(Xi)〉. Existing approaches to this problem include (a) direct application of multiclass algorithms such as the decision-tree algorithms ID3 and CART, (b) application of binary concept learning algorithms to learn individual binary functions for each of the k classes, and (c) application of binary concept learning algorithms with distributed output codes such as those employed by Sejnowski and Rosenberg in the NETtalk system. This paper compares these three approaches to a new technique in which BCH error-correcting codes are employed as a distributed output representation. We show that these output representations improve the performance of ID3 on the NETtalk task and of backpropagation on an isolated-letter speech-recognition task. These results demonstrate that error-correcting output codes provide a general-purpose method for improving the performance of inductive learning programs on multiclass problems.

Error-correcting output codes: a general method for improving multiclass inductive learning programs

The performance of the error backpropagation (BP) and ID3 learning algorithms was compared on the task of mapping English text to phonemes and stresses. Under the distributed output code developed by Sejnowski and Rosenberg, it is shown that BP consistently out-performs ID3 on this task by several percentage points. Three hypotheses explaining this difference were explored: (a) ID3 is overfitting the training data, (b) BP is able to share hidden units across several output units and hence can learn the output units better, and (c) BP captures statistical information that ID3 does not. We conclude that only hypothesis (c) is correct. By augmenting ID3 with a simple statistical learning procedure, the performance of BP can be approached but not matched. More complex statistical procedures can improve the performance of both BP and ID3 substantially. A study of the residual errors suggests that there is still substantial room for improvement in learning methods for text-to-speech mapping.

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Ghulum Bakiri

Papers

Solving multiclass learning problems via error-correcting output codes

Solving Multiclass Learning Problems via Error-Correcting Output Codes

Error-Correcting Output Codes: A General Method for Improving

Error-correcting output codes: a general method for improving multiclass inductive learning programs

A comparative study of ID3 and backpropagation for English text-to-speech mapping