1,720,984 research outputs found
Mutual Information Theory for Adaptive Mixture Models
No full textMany pattern recognition systems need to estimate an underlying probability density function (pdf). Mixture models are commonly used for this purpose in which an underlying pdf is estimated by a finite mixing of distributions. The basic computational element of a density mixture model is a component with a nonlinear mapping function, which takes part in mixing. Selecting an optimal set of components for mixture models is important to ensure an efficient and accurate estimate of an underlying pdf. Previous work has commonly estimated an underlying pdf based on the information contained in patterns. In this paper, mutual information theory is employed to measure whether two components are statistically dependent. If a component has small mutual information, it is statistically independent of the other components. Hence, that component makes a significant contribution to the system pdf and should not be removed. However, if a particular component has large mutual information, it is unlikely to be statistically independent of the other components and may be removed without significant damage to the estimated pdf. Continuing to remove components with large and positive mutual information will give a density mixture model with an optimal structure, which is very close to the true pdf
Evolutionary Computing for Operating Point Analysis of Nonlinear Circuits
No full textThe DC operating point of an electronic circuit is conventionally found using the Newton-Raphson method. This method is not globally convergent and can only find one solution of the circuit at a time. In this paper, evolutionary computing methods, including Genetic Algorithms, Evolutionary Programming, Evolutionary Strategies and Differential Evolution are explored as possible alternatives to Newton-Raphson. These techniques have been implemented in a trial simulator. Results are presented showing that Evolutionary Computing methods are globally convergent and can find multiple solutions to circuits. The CPU time for these new methods is poor compared with Newton-Raphson, but better implementations and the use of hybrid methods suggest that further work in this area would prove fruitful
Robust maximum likelihood training of heteroscedastic probabilistic neural networks
No full textWe consider the probabilistic neural network (PNN) that is a mixture of Gaussian basis functions having different variances. Such a Gaussian heteroscedastic PNN is more economic, in terms of the number of kernel functions required, than the Gaussian mixture PNN of a common variance. The expectation-maximisation (EM) algorithm, although a powerful technique for constructing maximum likelihood (ML) homoscedastic PNNs, often encounters numerical difficulties when training heteroscedastic PNNs. We combine a robust statistical technique known as the Jack-knife with the EM algorithm to provide a robust ML training algorithm. An artificial-data case, the two-dimensional XOR problem, and a real-data case, success or failure prediction of UK private construction companies, are used to evaluate the performance of this robust learning algorithm
Bootstrap, an alternative to Monte Carlo simulation
No full textThe Monte Carlo simulation is a commonly used technique for circuit analysis, but is computationally expensive. The bootstrap method can save simulation time and retain the desired accuracy
Applying Mutual Information Theory to Behavioural Analogue Fault Modelling
No full textTo assess the effectiveness of a testing strategy for an integrated circuit, the potential structural faults in a circuit must be modelled. Analogue fault simulation is conventionally done at the transistor level. Behavioural fault models are desirable to speed up the simulations. Behavioural fault modelling needs faults to be grouped. However, it is not easy to group faults using a Euclidean measurement of the distance between faults, if the populations of the circuit faults have distributions with differing variances. Mutual information theory is suggested here as a robust method for clustering circuit faults. The bootstrap technique is proposed to speed up the process of generating statistical data. Statistical data on the performance of circuits under fault conditions is generated using HSPICE. A software program has been written to implement clustering of responses using mutual information theory and to generate statistical data using bootstrap. The technique is shown to generate a suitable set of parameters for a regression function. The simulation results for the behavioural models are close to those of the full circuit model. Mutual information theory is a useful technique for clustering responses of circuits under fault conditions
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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