Machine learning and data mining techniques have been used extensively in order to detect credit card frauds. However, most studies consider credit card transactions as isolated events and not as a sequence of transactions. In this framework, we model a sequence of credit card transactions from three different perspectives, namely (i) The sequence contains or doesn't contain a fraud (ii) The sequence is obtained by fixing the card-holder or the payment terminal (iii) It is a sequence of spent amount or of elapsed time between the current and previous transactions. Combinations of the three binary perspectives give eight sets of sequences from the (training) set of transactions. Each one of these sequences is modelled with a Hidden Markov Model (HMM). Each HMM associates a likelihood to a transaction given its sequence of previous transactions. These likelihoods are used as additional features in a Random Forest classifier for fraud detection. Our multiple perspectives HMM-based approach offers automated feature engineering to model temporal correlations so as to improve the effectiveness of the classification task and allows for an increase in the detection of fraudulent transactions when combined with the state of the art expert based feature engineering strategy for credit card fraud detection. In extension to previous works, we show that this approach goes beyond ecommerce transactions and provides a robust feature engineering over different datasets, hyperparameters and classifiers. Moreover, we compare strategies to deal with structural missing values.

Many real-world sequential decision-making problems can be formulated as optimal control with high-dimensional observations and unknown dynamics. A promising approach is to embed the high-dimensional observations into a lower-dimensional latent representation space, estimate the latent dynamics model, then utilize this model for control in the latent space. An important open question is how to learn a representation that is amenable to existing control algorithms? In this paper, we focus on learning representations for locally-linear control algorithms, such as iterative LQR (iLQR). By formulating and analyzing the representation learning problem from an optimal control perspective, we establish three underlying principles that the learned representation should comprise: 1) accurate prediction in the observation space, 2) consistency between latent and observation space dynamics, and 3) low curvature in the latent space transitions. These principles naturally correspond to a loss function that consists of three terms: prediction, consistency, and curvature (PCC). Crucially, to make PCC tractable, we derive an amortized variational bound for the PCC loss function. Extensive experiments on benchmark domains demonstrate that the new variational-PCC learning algorithm benefits from significantly more stable and reproducible training, and leads to superior control performance. Further ablation studies give support to the importance of all three PCC components for learning a good latent space for control.

In this paper we present a novel quasi-Newton algorithm for use in stochastic optimisation. Quasi-Newton methods have had an enormous impact on deterministic optimisation problems because they afford rapid convergence and computationally attractive algorithms. In essence, this is achieved by learning the second-order (Hessian) information based on observing first-order gradients. We extend these ideas to the stochastic setting by employing a highly flexible model for the Hessian and infer its value based on observing noisy gradients. In addition, we propose a stochastic counterpart to standard line-search procedures and demonstrate the utility of this combination on maximum likelihood identification for general nonlinear state space models.

--In many state-of-the-art compression systems, signal transformation is an integral part of the encoding and decoding process, where transforms provide compact representations for the signals of interest. This paper introduces a class of transforms called graph-based transforms (GBTs) for video compression, and proposes two different techniques to design GBTs. In the first technique, we formulate an optimization problem to learn graphs from data and provide solutions for optimal separable and nonseparable GBT designs, called GL-GBTs. The optimality of the proposed GL-GBTs is also theoretically analyzed based on Gaussian-Markov random field (GMRF) models for intra and inter predicted block signals. The second technique develops edge-adaptive GBTs (EA-GBTs) in order to flexibly adapt transforms to block signals with image edges (discontinuities). The advantages of EA-GBTs are both theoretically and empirically demonstrated. Our experimental results demonstrate that the proposed transforms can significantly outperform the traditional Karhunen-Loeve transform (KL T). Index T erms --Transform coding, predictive coding, graph-based transforms, video coding, compression, optimization, statistical modeling. Predictive transform coding is a fundamental compression technique adopted in many block-based image and video compression systems, where block signals are initially predicted from a set of available (already coded) reference pixels, and then the resulting residual block signals are transformed (generally by a linear transformation) to decorrelate residual pixel values for effective compression. After prediction and transformation steps, a typical image/video compression system applies quantization and entropy coding to convert transform coefficients into a stream of bits. Figure 1 illustrates a representative encoder-decoder architecture comprising three basic components, (i) prediction, (ii) transformation, (iii) quantization and entropy coding, which are implemented in state-of-the-art compression standards such as JPEG [5], HEVC [6] and VP9 [7]. This paper focuses mainly on the transformation component of video coding and develops techniques to design orthogonal transforms, called graph-based transforms (GBTs), adapting diverse characteristics of video signals. In predictive transform coding of video, the prediction is typically carried out by choosing one among multiple intra and inter prediction modes in order to exploit spatial and temporal redundancies between block signals.

A prevailing characteristic of data scientists is deep intellectual curiosity a trait that drives them to be passionate learners, always picking up new skills on their own volition. Many of these fascinating but difficult techniques of data science are grounded in hard math and machine learning e.g. Bayesian inference, nonparametric regression, neural net classifiers, hidden markov models, evolutionary algorithms, content/collaborative filters, NLP, etc. Data science is so broad and deep that even the most seasoned experts always have something new to learn; there is simply too much collective knowledge out there. The purpose of the "Data Science Knowledge Repo" is to provide a central resource that data scientists can revisit frequently to refresh knowledge or learn new skills. If you have any recommended additions guides, technical papers, and other resources email frank@datajobs.com.

Power load forecast with Machine Learning is a fairly mature application of artificial intelligence and it is indispensable in operation, control and planning. Data selection techniqies have been hardly used in this application. However, the use of such techniques could be beneficial provided the assumption that the data is identically distributed is clearly not true in load forecasting, but it is cyclostationary. In this work we present a fully automatic methodology to determine what are the most adequate data to train a predictor which is based on a full Bayesian probabilistic model. We assess the performance of the method with experiments based on real publicly available data recorded from several years in the United States of America.

Data Science, Business Analytics or Business Intelligence all of these are birds of the same nest and they have some features in common, It is safe to say that they are same same but different. One of the common features is the algorithms and models to compare, analyse and predict stuff. Some of the most commonly used machine learning algorithms with mathematics are explained as follows. Linear regression tries to represent the relationship between two variables by fitting a linear equation. Where, One variable is illustrative, and the other is supposed to be dependent.

Link: Bayesian Machine Learning in Python: A/B Testing Udemy In this course, while we will do traditional A/B testing in order to appreciate its complexity, what we will eventually get to is the Bayesian machine learning way of doing things. First, we'll see if we can improve on traditional A/B testing with adaptive methods. These all help you solve the explore-exploit dilemma. Bestseller Created by Lazy Programmer Inc What you'll learn Use adaptive algorithms to improve A/B testing performance Understand the difference between Bayesian and frequentist statistics Apply Bayesian methods to A/B testing In this course, while we will do traditional A/B testing in order to appreciate its complexity, what we will eventually get to is the Bayesian machine learning way of doing things. First, we'll see if we can improve on traditional A/B testing with adaptive methods.

Residential homes constitute roughly one-fourth of the total energy usage worldwide. Providing appliance-level energy breakdown has been shown to induce positive behavioral changes that can reduce energy consumption by 15%. Existing approaches for energy breakdown either require hardware installation in every target home or demand a large set of energy sensor data available for model training. However, very few homes in the world have installed sub-meters (sensors measuring individual appliance energy); and the cost of retrofitting a home with extensive sub-metering eats into the funds available for energy saving retrofits. As a result, strategically deploying sensing hardware to maximize the reconstruction accuracy of sub-metered readings in non-instrumented homes while minimizing deployment costs becomes necessary and promising. In this work, we develop an active learning solution based on low-rank tensor completion for energy breakdown. We propose to actively deploy energy sensors to appliances from selected homes, with a goal to improve the prediction accuracy of the completed tensor with minimum sensor deployment cost. We empirically evaluate our approach on the largest public energy dataset collected in Austin, Texas, USA, from 2013 to 2017. The results show that our approach gives better performance with a fixed number of sensors installed when compared to the state-of-the-art, which is also proven by our theoretical analysis.

Machine learning and deep learning have provided us with an exploration of a whole new research era. As more data and better computational power become available, they have been implemented in various fields. The demand for artificial intelligence in the field of health informatics is also increasing and we can expect to see the potential benefits of artificial intelligence applications in healthcare. Deep learning can help clinicians diagnose disease, identify cancer sites, identify drug effects for each patient, understand the relationship between genotypes and phenotypes, explore new phenotypes, and predict infectious disease outbreaks with high accuracy. In contrast to traditional models, its approach does not require domain-specific data pre-process, and it is expected that it will ultimately change human life a lot in the future. Despite its notable advantages, there are some challenges on data (high dimensionality, heterogeneity, time dependency, sparsity, irregularity, lack of label) and model (reliability, interpretability, feasibility, security, scalability) for practical use. This article presents a comprehensive review of research applying deep learning in health informatics with a focus on the last five years in the fields of medical imaging, electronic health records, genomics, sensing, and online communication health, as well as challenges and promising directions for future research. We highlight ongoing popular approaches' research and identify several challenges in building deep learning models.