Empirical Inference


2021


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Reinforcement Learning Algorithms: Analysis and Applications

Belousov, B., H., A., Klink, P., Parisi, S., Peters, J.

883, Studies in Computational Intelligence, Springer International Publishing, 2021 (book)

DOI [BibTex]

2021

DOI [BibTex]

2017


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Elements of Causal Inference - Foundations and Learning Algorithms

Peters, J., Janzing, D., Schölkopf, B.

Adaptive Computation and Machine Learning Series, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, 2017 (book)

PDF [BibTex]

2017

PDF [BibTex]

2014


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Learning Motor Skills: From Algorithms to Robot Experiments

Kober, J., Peters, J.

97, pages: 191, Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, Springer, 2014 (book)

DOI [BibTex]

2014

DOI [BibTex]


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Computational Diffusion MRI and Brain Connectivity

Schultz, T., Nedjati-Gilani, G., Venkataraman, A., O’Donnell, L., Panagiotaki, E.

pages: 255, Mathematics and Visualization, Springer, 2014 (book)

Web [BibTex]

Web [BibTex]


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Development of advanced methods for improving astronomical images

Schmeißer, N.

Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany, 2014 (diplomathesis)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]

2013


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Camera-specific Image Denoising

Schober, M.

Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany, October 2013 (diplomathesis)

PDF [BibTex]

2013

PDF [BibTex]

2011


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Optimization for Machine Learning

Sra, S., Nowozin, S., Wright, S.

pages: 494, Neural information processing series, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, December 2011 (book)

Abstract
The interplay between optimization and machine learning is one of the most important developments in modern computational science. Optimization formulations and methods are proving to be vital in designing algorithms to extract essential knowledge from huge volumes of data. Machine learning, however, is not simply a consumer of optimization technology but a rapidly evolving field that is itself generating new optimization ideas. This book captures the state of the art of the interaction between optimization and machine learning in a way that is accessible to researchers in both fields. Optimization approaches have enjoyed prominence in machine learning because of their wide applicability and attractive theoretical properties. The increasing complexity, size, and variety of today's machine learning models call for the reassessment of existing assumptions. This book starts the process of reassessment. It describes the resurgence in novel contexts of established frameworks such as first-order methods, stochastic approximations, convex relaxations, interior-point methods, and proximal methods. It also devotes attention to newer themes such as regularized optimization, robust optimization, gradient and subgradient methods, splitting techniques, and second-order methods. Many of these techniques draw inspiration from other fields, including operations research, theoretical computer science, and subfields of optimization. The book will enrich the ongoing cross-fertilization between the machine learning community and these other fields, and within the broader optimization community.

Web [BibTex]

2011

Web [BibTex]


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Bayesian Time Series Models

Barber, D., Cemgil, A., Chiappa, S.

pages: 432, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, August 2011 (book)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]


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Handbook of Statistical Bioinformatics

Lu, H., Schölkopf, B., Zhao, H.

pages: 627, Springer Handbooks of Computational Statistics, Springer, Berlin, Germany, 2011 (book)

Web DOI [BibTex]

Web DOI [BibTex]

2010


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Inferring High-Dimensional Causal Relations using Free Probability Theory

Zscheischler, J.

Humboldt Universität Berlin, Germany, August 2010 (diplomathesis)

PDF [BibTex]

2010

PDF [BibTex]


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Semi-supervised Subspace Learning and Application to Human Functional Magnetic Brain Resonance Imaging Data

Shelton, J.

Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard Karls Universität, Tübingen, Germany, July 2010 (diplomathesis)

PDF [BibTex]

PDF [BibTex]


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Quantitative Evaluation of MR-based Attenuation Correction for Positron Emission Tomography (PET)

Mantlik, F.

Biologische Kybernetik, Universität Mannheim, Germany, March 2010 (diplomathesis)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]


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From Motor Learning to Interaction Learning in Robots

Sigaud, O., Peters, J.

pages: 538, Studies in Computational Intelligence ; 264, (Editors: O Sigaud, J Peters), Springer, Berlin, Germany, January 2010 (book)

Abstract
From an engineering standpoint, the increasing complexity of robotic systems and the increasing demand for more autonomously learning robots, has become essential. This book is largely based on the successful workshop "From motor to interaction learning in robots" held at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robot Systems. The major aim of the book is to give students interested the topics described above a chance to get started faster and researchers a helpful compandium.

Web DOI [BibTex]

Web DOI [BibTex]


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Finding Gene-Gene Interactions using Support Vector Machines

Rakitsch, B.

Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany, 2010 (diplomathesis)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]


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Detecting the mincut in sparse random graphs

Köhler, R.

Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany, 2010 (diplomathesis)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]

2009


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Motor Control and Learning in Table Tennis

Mülling, K.

Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Gerrmany, 2009 (diplomathesis)

[BibTex]

2009

[BibTex]


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Hierarchical Clustering and Density Estimation Based on k-nearest-neighbor graphs

Drewe, P.

Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany, 2009 (diplomathesis)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]

2008


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Reinforcement Learning for Motor Primitives

Kober, J.

Biologische Kybernetik, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany, August 2008 (diplomathesis)

PDF [BibTex]

2008

PDF [BibTex]


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Asymmetries of Time Series under Inverting their Direction

Peters, J.

Biologische Kybernetik, University of Heidelberg, August 2008 (diplomathesis)

PDF [BibTex]

PDF [BibTex]


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Machine Learning for Robotics: Learning Methods for Robot Motor Skills

Peters, J.

pages: 107 , (Editors: J Peters), VDM-Verlag, Saarbrücken, Germany, May 2008 (book)

Abstract
Autonomous robots have been a vision of robotics, artificial intelligence, and cognitive sciences. An important step towards this goal is to create robots that can learn to accomplish amultitude of different tasks triggered by environmental context and higher-level instruction. Early approaches to this goal during the heydays of artificial intelligence research in the late 1980s showed that handcrafted approaches do not suffice and that machine learning is needed. However, off the shelf learning techniques often do not scale into real-time or to the high-dimensional domains of manipulator and humanoid robotics. In this book, we investigate the foundations for a general approach to motor skilllearning that employs domain-specific machine learning methods. A theoretically well-founded general approach to representing the required control structures for task representation and executionis presented along with novel learning algorithms that can be applied in this setting. The resulting framework is shown to work well both in simulation and on real robots.

Web [BibTex]

Web [BibTex]


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Pairwise Correlations and Multineuronal Firing Patterns in Primary Visual Cortex

Berens, P.

Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, April 2008 (diplomathesis)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]


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Development and Application of a Python Scripting Framework for BCI2000

Schreiner, T.

Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, January 2008 (diplomathesis)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]

2007


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Statistical Learning Theory Approaches to Clustering

Jegelka, S.

Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, November 2007 (diplomathesis)

PDF [BibTex]

2007

PDF [BibTex]


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Predicting Structured Data

Bakir, G., Hofmann, T., Schölkopf, B., Smola, A., Taskar, B., Vishwanathan, S.

pages: 360, Advances in neural information processing systems, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2007 (book)

Abstract
Machine learning develops intelligent computer systems that are able to generalize from previously seen examples. A new domain of machine learning, in which the prediction must satisfy the additional constraints found in structured data, poses one of machine learning’s greatest challenges: learning functional dependencies between arbitrary input and output domains. This volume presents and analyzes the state of the art in machine learning algorithms and theory in this novel field. The contributors discuss applications as diverse as machine translation, document markup, computational biology, and information extraction, among others, providing a timely overview of an exciting field.

Web [BibTex]

Web [BibTex]


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Large-Scale Kernel Machines

Bottou, L., Chapelle, O., DeCoste, D., Weston, J.

pages: 416, Neural Information Processing Series, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2007 (book)

Abstract
Pervasive and networked computers have dramatically reduced the cost of collecting and distributing large datasets. In this context, machine learning algorithms that scale poorly could simply become irrelevant. We need learning algorithms that scale linearly with the volume of the data while maintaining enough statistical efficiency to outperform algorithms that simply process a random subset of the data. This volume offers researchers and engineers practical solutions for learning from large scale datasets, with detailed descriptions of algorithms and experiments carried out on realistically large datasets. At the same time it offers researchers information that can address the relative lack of theoretical grounding for many useful algorithms. After a detailed description of state-of-the-art support vector machine technology, an introduction of the essential concepts discussed in the volume, and a comparison of primal and dual optimization techniques, the book progresses from well-understood techniques to more novel and controversial approaches. Many contributors have made their code and data available online for further experimentation. Topics covered include fast implementations of known algorithms, approximations that are amenable to theoretical guarantees, and algorithms that perform well in practice but are difficult to analyze theoretically.

Web [BibTex]

Web [BibTex]


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Error Correcting Codes for the P300 Visual Speller

Biessmann, F.

Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, July 2007 (diplomathesis)

Abstract
The aim of brain-computer interface (BCI) research is to establish a communication system based on intentional modulation of brain activity. This is accomplished by classifying patterns of brain ac- tivity, volitionally induced by the user. The BCI presented in this study is based on a classical paradigm as proposed by (Farwell and Donchin, 1988), the P300 visual speller. Recording electroencephalo- grams (EEG) from the scalp while presenting letters successively to the user, the speller can infer from the brain signal which letter the user was focussing on. Since EEG recordings are noisy, usually many repetitions are needed to detect the correct letter. The focus of this study was to improve the accuracy of the visual speller applying some basic principles from information theory: Stimulus sequences of the speller have been modified into error-correcting codes. Additionally a language model was incorporated into the probabilistic letter de- coder. Classification of single EEG epochs was less accurate using error correcting codes. However, the novel code could compensate for that such that overall, letter accuracies were as high as or even higher than for classical stimulus codes. In particular at high noise levels, error-correcting decoding achieved higher letter accuracies.

PDF [BibTex]

PDF [BibTex]


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A priori Knowledge from Non-Examples

Sinz, FH.

Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, March 2007 (diplomathesis)

PDF Web [BibTex]

PDF Web [BibTex]


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Development of a Brain-Computer Interface Approach Based on Covert Attention to Tactile Stimuli

Raths, C.

University of Tübingen, Germany, University of Tübingen, Germany, January 2007 (diplomathesis)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]


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A Machine Learning Approach for Estimating the Attenuation Map for a Combined PET/MR Scanner

Hofmann, M.

Biologische Kybernetik, Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, 2007 (diplomathesis)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]

2006


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Extraction of visual features from natural video data using Slow Feature Analysis

Nickisch, H.

Biologische Kybernetik, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany, September 2006 (diplomathesis)

Abstract
Das Forschungsprojekt NeuRoBot hat das un{\"u}berwachte Erlernen einer neuronal inspirierten Steuerungsarchitektur zum Ziel, und zwar unter den Randbedingungen biologischer Plausibilit{\"a}t und der Benutzung einer Kamera als einzigen Sensor. Visuelle Merkmale, die ein angemessenes Abbild der Umgebung liefern, sind unerl{\"a}sslich, um das Ziel kollisionsfreier Navigation zu erreichen. Zeitliche Koh{\"a}renz ist ein neues Lernprinzip, das in der Lage ist, Erkenntnisse aus der Biologie des Sehens zu reproduzieren. Es wird durch die Beobachtung motiviert, dass die “Sensoren” der Retina auf deutlich k{\"u}rzeren Zeitskalen variieren als eine abstrakte Beschreibung. Zeitliche Langsamkeitsanalyse l{\"o}st das Problem, indem sie zeitlich langsam ver{\"a}nderliche Signale aus schnell ver{\"a}nderlichen Eingabesignalen extrahiert. Eine Verallgemeinerung auf Signale, die nichtlinear von den Eingaben abh{\"a}ngen, ist durch die Anwendung des Kernel-Tricks m{\"o}glich. Das einzig benutzte Vorwissen ist die zeitliche Glattheit der gewonnenen Signale. In der vorliegenden Diplomarbeit wird Langsamkeitsanalyse auf Bildausschnitte von Videos einer Roboterkamera und einer Simulationsumgebung angewendet. Zuallererst werden mittels Parameterexploration und Kreuzvalidierung die langsamst m{\"o}glichen Funktionen bestimmt. Anschließend werden die Merkmalsfunktionen analysiert und einige Ansatzpunkte f{\"u}r ihre Interpretation angegeben. Aufgrund der sehr großen Datens{\"a}tze und der umfangreichen Berechnungen behandelt ein Großteil dieser Arbeit auch Aufwandsbetrachtungen und Fragen der effizienten Berechnung. Kantendetektoren in verschiedenen Phasen und mit haupts{\"a}chlich horizontaler Orientierung stellen die wichtigsten aus der Analyse hervorgehenden Funktionen dar. Eine Anwendung auf konkrete Navigationsaufgaben des Roboters konnte bisher nicht erreicht werden. Eine visuelle Interpretation der erlernten Merkmale ist jedoch durchaus gegeben.

PDF [BibTex]

2006

PDF [BibTex]


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Semi-Supervised Learning

Chapelle, O., Schölkopf, B., Zien, A.

pages: 508, Adaptive computation and machine learning, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2006 (book)

Abstract
In the field of machine learning, semi-supervised learning (SSL) occupies the middle ground, between supervised learning (in which all training examples are labeled) and unsupervised learning (in which no label data are given). Interest in SSL has increased in recent years, particularly because of application domains in which unlabeled data are plentiful, such as images, text, and bioinformatics. This first comprehensive overview of SSL presents state-of-the-art algorithms, a taxonomy of the field, selected applications, benchmark experiments, and perspectives on ongoing and future research. Semi-Supervised Learning first presents the key assumptions and ideas underlying the field: smoothness, cluster or low-density separation, manifold structure, and transduction. The core of the book is the presentation of SSL methods, organized according to algorithmic strategies. After an examination of generative models, the book describes algorithms that implement the low-density separation assumption, graph-based methods, and algorithms that perform two-step learning. The book then discusses SSL applications and offers guidelines for SSL practitioners by analyzing the results of extensive benchmark experiments. Finally, the book looks at interesting directions for SSL research. The book closes with a discussion of the relationship between semi-supervised learning and transduction.

Web [BibTex]

Web [BibTex]


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An Online-Computation Approach to Optimal Finite-Horizon State-Feedback Control of Nonlinear Stochastic Systems

Deisenroth, MP.

Biologische Kybernetik, Universität Karlsruhe (TH), Karlsruhe, Germany, August 2006 (diplomathesis)

PDF [BibTex]

PDF [BibTex]


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Object Classification using Local Image Features

Nowozin, S.

Biologische Kybernetik, Technical University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany, May 2006 (diplomathesis)

Abstract
Object classification in digital images remains one of the most challenging tasks in computer vision. Advances in the last decade have produced methods to repeatably extract and describe characteristic local features in natural images. In order to apply machine learning techniques in computer vision systems, a representation based on these features is needed. A set of local features is the most popular representation and often used in conjunction with Support Vector Machines for classification problems. In this work, we examine current approaches based on set representations and identify their shortcomings. To overcome these shortcomings, we argue for extending the set representation into a graph representation, encoding more relevant information. Attributes associated with the edges of the graph encode the geometric relationships between individual features by making use of the meta data of each feature, such as the position, scale, orientation and shape of the feature region. At the same time all invariances provided by the original feature extraction method are retained. To validate the novel approach, we use a standard subset of the ETH-80 classification benchmark.

PDF [BibTex]

PDF [BibTex]


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Kernel PCA for Image Compression

Huhle, B.

Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard-Karls-Universität, Tübingen, Germany, April 2006 (diplomathesis)

PDF [BibTex]

PDF [BibTex]


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Gaussian Processes for Machine Learning

Rasmussen, CE., Williams, CKI.

pages: 248, Adaptive Computation and Machine Learning, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, January 2006 (book)

Abstract
Gaussian processes (GPs) provide a principled, practical, probabilistic approach to learning in kernel machines. GPs have received increased attention in the machine-learning community over the past decade, and this book provides a long-needed systematic and unified treatment of theoretical and practical aspects of GPs in machine learning. The treatment is comprehensive and self-contained, targeted at researchers and students in machine learning and applied statistics. The book deals with the supervised-learning problem for both regression and classification, and includes detailed algorithms. A wide variety of covariance (kernel) functions are presented and their properties discussed. Model selection is discussed both from a Bayesian and a classical perspective. Many connections to other well-known techniques from machine learning and statistics are discussed, including support-vector machines, neural networks, splines, regularization networks, relevance vector machines and others. Theoretical issues including learning curves and the PAC-Bayesian framework are treated, and several approximation methods for learning with large datasets are discussed. The book contains illustrative examples and exercises, and code and datasets are available on the Web. Appendixes provide mathematical background and a discussion of Gaussian Markov processes.

Web [BibTex]

Web [BibTex]

2005


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Implicit Surfaces For Modelling Human Heads

Steinke, F.

Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard-Karls-Universität, Tübingen, September 2005 (diplomathesis)

[BibTex]

2005

[BibTex]


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Liver Perfusion using Level Set Methods

Nowozin, S.

Biologische Kybernetik, Shanghai JiaoTong University, Shanghai, China, July 2005 (diplomathesis)

PDF [BibTex]

PDF [BibTex]


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Efficient Adaptive Sampling of the Psychometric Function by Maximizing Information Gain

Tanner, TG.

Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard-Karls University Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, May 2005 (diplomathesis)

Abstract
A common task in psychophysics is to measure the psychometric function. A psychometric function can be described by its shape and four parameters: offset or threshold, slope or width, false alarm rate or chance level and miss or lapse rate. Depending on the parameters of interest some points on the psychometric function may be more informative than others. Adaptive methods attempt to place trials on the most informative points based on the data collected in previous trials. A new Bayesian adaptive psychometric method placing trials by minimising the expected entropy of the posterior probabilty dis- tribution over a set of possible stimuli is introduced. The method is more flexible, faster and at least as efficient as the established method (Kontsevich and Tyler, 1999). Comparably accurate (2dB) threshold and slope estimates can be obtained after about 30 and 500 trials, respectively. By using a dynamic termination criterion the efficiency can be further improved. The method can be applied to all experimental designs including yes/no designs and allows acquisition of any set of free parameters. By weighting the importance of parameters one can include nuisance parameters and adjust the relative expected errors. Use of nuisance parameters may lead to more accurate estimates than assuming a guessed fixed value. Block designs are supported and do not harm the performance if a sufficient number of trials are performed. The method was evaluated by computer simulations in which the role of parametric assumptions, its robustness, the quality of different point estimates, the effect of dynamic termination criteria and many other settings were investigated.

[BibTex]

[BibTex]


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Support Vector Classification of Images with Local Features

Blaschko, MB.

Biologische Kybernetik, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, May 2005 (diplomathesis)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]

2004


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Kernel Methods in Computational Biology

Schölkopf, B., Tsuda, K., Vert, J.

pages: 410, Computational Molecular Biology, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, August 2004 (book)

Abstract
Modern machine learning techniques are proving to be extremely valuable for the analysis of data in computational biology problems. One branch of machine learning, kernel methods, lends itself particularly well to the difficult aspects of biological data, which include high dimensionality (as in microarray measurements), representation as discrete and structured data (as in DNA or amino acid sequences), and the need to combine heterogeneous sources of information. This book provides a detailed overview of current research in kernel methods and their applications to computational biology. Following three introductory chapters—an introduction to molecular and computational biology, a short review of kernel methods that focuses on intuitive concepts rather than technical details, and a detailed survey of recent applications of kernel methods in computational biology—the book is divided into three sections that reflect three general trends in current research. The first part presents different ideas for the design of kernel functions specifically adapted to various biological data; the second part covers different approaches to learning from heterogeneous data; and the third part offers examples of successful applications of support vector machine methods.

Web [BibTex]

2004

Web [BibTex]


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Exploration of combining Echo-State Network Learning with Recurrent Neural Network Learning techniques

Erhan, D.

Biologische Kybernetik, International University Bremen, Bremen, Germany, May 2004 (diplomathesis)

PDF [BibTex]

PDF [BibTex]

2003


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Real-Time Face Detection

Kienzle, W.

Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard-Karls-Universitaet Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany, October 2003 (diplomathesis)

[BibTex]

2003

[BibTex]


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Ladungsträgerdynamik in optisch angeregten GaAs-Quantendrähten:Relaxation und Transport

Pfingsten, T.

Biologische Kybernetik, Institut für Festkörpertheorie, WWU Münster, June 2003 (diplomathesis)

PDF [BibTex]

PDF [BibTex]


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m-Alternative Forced Choice—Improving the Efficiency of the Method of Constant Stimuli

Jäkel, F.

Biologische Kybernetik, Graduate School for Neural and Behavioural Sciences, Tübingen, 2003 (diplomathesis)

[BibTex]

[BibTex]

2002


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Learning with Kernels: Support Vector Machines, Regularization, Optimization, and Beyond

Schölkopf, B., Smola, A.

pages: 644, Adaptive Computation and Machine Learning, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, December 2002, Parts of this book, including an introduction to kernel methods, can be downloaded here. (book)

Abstract
In the 1990s, a new type of learning algorithm was developed, based on results from statistical learning theory: the Support Vector Machine (SVM). This gave rise to a new class of theoretically elegant learning machines that use a central concept of SVMs-kernels—for a number of learning tasks. Kernel machines provide a modular framework that can be adapted to different tasks and domains by the choice of the kernel function and the base algorithm. They are replacing neural networks in a variety of fields, including engineering, information retrieval, and bioinformatics. Learning with Kernels provides an introduction to SVMs and related kernel methods. Although the book begins with the basics, it also includes the latest research. It provides all of the concepts necessary to enable a reader equipped with some basic mathematical knowledge to enter the world of machine learning using theoretically well-founded yet easy-to-use kernel algorithms and to understand and apply the powerful algorithms that have been developed over the last few years.

Web [BibTex]

2002

Web [BibTex]


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Nonlinear Multivariate Analysis with Geodesic Kernels

Kuss, M.

Biologische Kybernetik, Technische Universität Berlin, February 2002 (diplomathesis)

GZIP [BibTex]

GZIP [BibTex]

2001


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Variationsverfahren zur Untersuchung von Grundzustandseigenschaften des Ein-Band Hubbard-Modells

Eichhorn, J.

Biologische Kybernetik, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden/Germany, May 2001 (diplomathesis)

Abstract
Using different modifications of a new variational approach, statical groundstate properties of the one-band Hubbard model such as energy and staggered magnetisation are calculated. By taking into account additional fluctuations, the method ist gradually improved so that a very good description of the energy in one and two dimensions can be achieved. After a detailed discussion of the application in one dimension, extensions for two dimensions are introduced. By use of a modified version of the variational ansatz in particular a description of the quantum phase transition for the magnetisation should be possible.

PostScript [BibTex]

2001

PostScript [BibTex]