Preface to the Princeton Landmarks in Biology Edition vii Preface xi Symbols Used xiii 1. The Importance of Islands 3 2. Area and Number of Speicies 8 3. Further Explanations of the Area-Diversity Pattern 19 4. The Strategy of Colonization 68 5. Invasibility and the Variable Niche 94 6. Stepping Stones and Biotic Exchange 123 7. Evolutionary Changes Following Colonization 145 8. Prospect 181 Glossary 185 References 193 Index 201

The Theory of Island Biogeography

Machine Learning is the study of methods for programming computers to learn. Computers are applied to a wide range of tasks, and for most of these it is relatively easy for programmers to design and implement the necessary software. However, there are many tasks for which this is difficult or impossible. These can be divided into four general categories. First, there are problems for which there exist no human experts. For example, in modern automated manufacturing facilities, there is a need to predict machine failures before they occur by analyzing sensor readings. Because the machines are new, there are no human experts who can be interviewed by a programmer to provide the knowledge necessary to build a computer system. A machine learning system can study recorded data and subsequent machine failures and learn prediction rules. Second, there are problems where human experts exist, but where they are unable to explain their expertise. This is the case in many perceptual tasks, such as speech recognition, hand-writing recognition, and natural language understanding. Virtually all humans exhibit expert-level abilities on these tasks, but none of them can describe the detailed steps that they follow as they perform them. Fortunately, humans can provide machines with examples of the inputs and correct outputs for these tasks, so machine learning algorithms can learn to map the inputs to the outputs. Third, there are problems where phenomena are changing rapidly. In finance, for example, people would like to predict the future behavior of the stock market, of consumer purchases, or of exchange rates. These behaviors change frequently, so that even if a programmer could construct a good predictive computer program, it would need to be rewritten frequently. A learning program can relieve the programmer of this burden by constantly modifying and tuning a set of learned prediction rules. Fourth, there are applications that need to be customized for each computer user separately. Consider, for example, a program to filter unwanted electronic mail messages. Different users will need different filters. It is unreasonable to expect each user to program his or her own rules, and it is infeasible to provide every user with a software engineer to keep the rules up-to-date. A machine learning system can learn which mail messages the user rejects and maintain the filtering rules automatically. Machine learning addresses many of the same research questions as the fields of statistics, data mining, and psychology, but with differences of emphasis. Statistics focuses on understanding the phenomena that have generated the data, often with the goal of testing different hypotheses about those phenomena. Data mining seeks to find patterns in the data that are understandable by people. Psychological studies of human learning aspire to understand the mechanisms underlying the various learning behaviors exhibited by people (concept learning, skill acquisition, strategy change, etc.).

Machine learning

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

Today's Web-enabled deluge of electronic data calls for automated methods of data analysis. Machine learning provides these, developing methods that can automatically detect patterns in data and then use the uncovered patterns to predict future data. This textbook offers a comprehensive and self-contained introduction to the field of machine learning, based on a unified, probabilistic approach. The coverage combines breadth and depth, offering necessary background material on such topics as probability, optimization, and linear algebra as well as discussion of recent developments in the field, including conditional random fields, L1 regularization, and deep learning. The book is written in an informal, accessible style, complete with pseudo-code for the most important algorithms. All topics are copiously illustrated with color images and worked examples drawn from such application domains as biology, text processing, computer vision, and robotics. Rather than providing a cookbook of different heuristic methods, the book stresses a principled model-based approach, often using the language of graphical models to specify models in a concise and intuitive way. Almost all the models described have been implemented in a MATLAB software package--PMTK (probabilistic modeling toolkit)--that is freely available online. The book is suitable for upper-level undergraduates with an introductory-level college math background and beginning graduate students.

Machine Learning : A Probabilistic Perspective

From the Publisher: 
The accessible presentation of this book gives both a general view of the entire computer vision enterprise and also offers sufficient detail to be able to build useful applications. Users learn techniques that have proven to be useful by first-hand experience and a wide range of mathematical methods. A CD-ROM with every copy of the text contains source code for programming practice, color images, and illustrative movies. Comprehensive and up-to-date, this book includes essential topics that either reflect practical significance or are of theoretical importance. Topics are discussed in substantial and increasing depth. Application surveys describe numerous important application areas such as image based rendering and digital libraries. Many important algorithms broken down and illustrated in pseudo code. Appropriate for use by engineers as a comprehensive reference to the computer vision enterprise.

Computer vision : a modern approach = 计算机视觉 : 一种现代的方法

The left-right model is a gauge theory of electroweak interactions based on the gauge symmetry SU(2) R . The main motivations for this model are that it gives an explanation for the parity violation of weak interactions, provides a mechanism (see-saw) for generating neutrino masses, and has B-L as a gauge symmetry. The quark-lepton symmetry in weak interactions is also maintained in this theory. The model has many predictions one can directly test at a TeV-scale linear collider. We will consider here two processes (e,e→ q, q, barQ, barQ and e,e ->μ , ν , q, barQ) testing the lepton flavour violation predicted by the model. We will also discuss constraints on supersymmetric versions of the model.

Tests of the left-right electroweak model at linear collider

We study non-universal corrections to the gauge couplings due to higher dimensional operators in supersymmetric SU(5) grand unified theories. The corrections are, in general, parametrized by three components originating from {\bf 24}, {\bf 75} and {\bf 200} representations. We consider the prediction of $\alpha_3(M_Z)$ along each {\bf 24}, {\bf 75} and {\bf 200} direction, and their linear combinations. The magnitude of GUT scale and its effects on proton decay are discussed. Non-SUSY case is also examined.

Generic Gravitational Corrections to Gauge Couplings in SUSY SU(5) GUTs

Regression analysis is a standard supervised machine learning method used to model an outcome variable in terms of a set of predictor variables. In most real-world applications we do not know the true value of the outcome variable being predicted outside the training data, i.e., the ground truth is unknown. It is hence not straightforward to directly observe when the estimate from a model potentially is wrong, due to phenomena such as overfitting and concept drift. In this paper we present an efficient framework for estimating the generalization error of regression functions, applicable to any family of regression functions when the ground truth is unknown. We present a theoretical derivation of the framework and empirically evaluate its strengths and limitations. We find that it performs robustly and is useful for detecting concept drift in datasets in several real-world domains.

Estimating regression errors without ground truth values

Patterns of hypsodonty in ungulates show that neogene aridity in north america preceded that in eurasia

Sequences of events are an ubiquitous form of data. In this paper, we show that it is feasible to present an event sequence as an interval sequence. We show how sequences can be efficiently randomized, how to choose a correct null model and how to use randomizations to derive confidence intervals. Using these techniques, we gain knowledge of the temporal structure of the sequence. Time and Fourier space representations, autocorrelations and arbitrary features can be used as constraints in investigating the data. The methods presented are applied to two real-life datasets; a medical heart interbeat interval dataset and a word dataset from a book. We find that the interval sequence representation and randomization methods provide a powerful way to explore interval sequences and explain their structure.

/pdf/explaining-interval-sequences-by-randomization-1hv7bn4chj.pdf

Kai Puolamäki

Papers

Tests of the left-right electroweak model at linear collider

Generic Gravitational Corrections to Gauge Couplings in SUSY SU(5) GUTs

Estimating regression errors without ground truth values

Patterns of hypsodonty in ungulates show that neogene aridity in north america preceded that in eurasia

Explaining Interval Sequences by Randomization