Predicting Solar Irradiance Using Machine Learning Techniques

Cyber-security threats are a growing concern in networked environments. The development of Intrusion Detection Systems (IDSs) is fundamental in order to provide extra level of security. We have developed an unsupervised anomaly-based IDS that uses statistical techniques to conduct the detection process. Despite providing many advantages, anomaly-based IDSs tend to generate a high number of false alarms. Machine Learning (ML) techniques have gained wide interest in tasks of intrusion detection. In this work, Support Vector Machine (SVM) is deemed as an ML technique that could complement the performance of our IDS, providing a second line of detection to reduce the number of false alarms, or as an alternative detection technique. We assess the performance of our IDS against one-class and two-class SVMs, using linear and non- linear forms. The results that we present show that linear two-class SVM generates highly accurate results, and the accuracy of the linear one-class SVM is very comparable, and it does not need training datasets associated with malicious data. Similarly, the results evidence that our IDS could benefit from the use of ML techniques to increase its accuracy when analysing datasets comprising of non- homogeneous features.

ABSTRACTThis paper reviews the activity-travel behaviour literature that employs Machine Learning (ML) techniques for empirical analysis and modelling. Machine Learning algorithms, which attempt to build intelligence utilizing the availability of large amounts of data, have emerged as powerful tools in the fields of pattern recognition and big data analysis. These techniques have been applied in activity-travel behaviour studies since the early ’90s when Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) were employed to model mode choice decisions. AMOS, an activity-based modelling system developed in the mid-’90s, has ANN at its core to model and predict individual responses to travel demand management measures. In the dawn of 2000, ALBATROSS, a comprehensive activity-based travel demand modelling system, was proposed by Arentze and Timmermans using Decision Trees. Since then researchers have been exploring ML techniques like Support Vector Machines (SVM), Decision Trees (DT), Neural Networks (NN), Bayes Classifiers, and more recently, Ensemble Learners to model and predict activity-travel behaviour. A large number of publications over the years and an upward trend in the number of published articles over time indicate that Machine Learning is a promising tool for activity-travel behaviour analysis and prediction. This article, first of its kind in the literature, reviews these studies and explores the trends in activity-travel behaviour research that apply ML techniques. The review finds that mode choice decisions have received wide attention in the literature on ML applications. It was observed that most of the studies identify the lack of interpretability as a serious shortcoming in ML techniques. However, very few studies have attempted to improve the interpretability of the models. Further, some studies report the importance of feature engineering in ML-based studies, but very few studies adopt feature engineering before model development. Spatiotemporal transferability of models is another issue that has received minimal attention in the literature. In the end, the paper discusses possible directions for future research in the area of activity-travel behaviour modelling using ML techniques.

Recent advances in machine learning techniques have significantly influenced the development of early diabetes detection systems. In this paper, different machine learning (ML) algorithms are employed for diabetes detection based on hand movement. The spatial and temporal information for horizontal and vertical hand movement deviations for both diabetic and non-diabetic subjects are obtained using a data acquisition system. A dataset is constructed based on the obtained hand movement information along with other related attributes such as age, gender, weight and vision health. Binary classification of diabetic and non-diabetic subjects is achieved using several machine learning algorithms. These algorithms include Naïve Bayes (NB), Logistic Regression (LR), Linear Discriminate Analysis (LDA), Classification and Regression Tree (CART), k-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Multi-layer Perceptron (MLP). The considered ML algorithms are evaluated and ranked according to a set of key performance metrics that include accuracy, precision, recall and F-1 score. Algorithm ranking results demonstrate that LR, CART, KNN and MLP algorithms have achieved higher ranking positions as compared to other algorithms. The best ranked ML algorithms are then validated and thoroughly investigated to prove their ability to discriminate between diabetic and non-diabetic subjects. Validation results show that the best-ranked ML algorithms have achieved high classification accuracy, precision, recall and F-1 scores. Therefore, the considered machine learning algorithms can serve as efficient tools for diabetes detection based on the constructed dataset.

Machine Learning (ML) techniques are pervasive tools in various emerging commercial applications, but have to be accommodated by powerful computer systems to process very large data. Although general-purpose CPUs and GPUs have provided straightforward solutions, their energy-efficiencies are limited due to their excessive supports for flexibility. Hardware accelerators may achieve better energy-efficiencies, but each accelerator often accommodates only a single ML technique (family). According to the famous No-Free-Lunch theorem in the ML domain, however, an ML technique performs well on a dataset may perform poorly on another dataset, which implies that such accelerator may sometimes lead to poor learning accuracy. Even if regardless of the learning accuracy, such accelerator can still become inapplicable simply because the concrete ML task is altered, or the user chooses another ML technique.In this study, we present an ML accelerator called PuDianNao, which accommodates seven representative ML techniques, including k-means, k-nearest neighbors, naive bayes, support vector machine, linear regression, classification tree, and deep neural network. Benefited from our thorough analysis on computational primitives and locality properties of different ML techniques, PuDianNao can perform up to 1056 GOP/s (e.g., additions and multiplications) in an area of 3.51 mm^2, and consumes 596 mW only. Compared with the NVIDIA K20M GPU (28nm process), PuDianNao (65nm process) is 1.20x faster, and can reduce the energy by 128.41x.

Breast cancer is a frequent cancer that develops when normal cells in the breast transform into malignant cells. Breast cancer can arise from glandular tissue, muscular tissue, or fatty tissue in the breast. Many variables contribute to the risk of breast cancer, including genetics, environmental exposure, food, and lifestyle. Breast cancer should be detected early through breast self-examination, regular clinical evaluation, and mammography to identify any abnormal changes, In recent years, early detection of breast cancer in women has emerged as a beacon of hope and a pivotal point in the treatment of this dangerous disease, and its timely identification has become paramount. Modern advancements in technology, especially artificial intelligence algorithms, have played a vital role in developing systems that facilitate automated disease detection, diagnosis, rapid response, and a reduced risk of fatalities. This paper delves into a comparative study of various machine learning (ML) techniques, namely logistic regression (LR), support vector machines (SVM), linear SVM, Gaussian Naive Bayes (GNB), and artificial neural networks (ANNs). The evaluation metrics used in this study are accuracy and elapsed time. The results show that Gaussian Naive Bayes achieved the highest accuracy of 94.07% in just 0.005495 seconds, outperforming SVM (91.85%), linear SVM (90.19%), logistic regression (87.04%), and ANN (37.04%). These findings highlight the potential of Gaussian Naive Bayes in aiding the early detection of breast cancer, leading to more effective and timely interventions, ultimately improving patient outcomes. Keywords: Breast Cancer, Machine learning (ML), Logistic Regression (LR), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Linear SVM, Gaussian Naive Bayes (GNB) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs).

Landslide disaster risk reduction necessitates the investigation of different geotechnical causal factors for slope failures. Machine learning (ML) techniques have been proposed to study causal factors across many application areas. However, the development of ensemble ML techniques for identifying the geotechnical causal factors for slope failures and their subsequent prediction has lacked in literature. The primary goal of this research is to develop and evaluate novel feature selection methods for identifying causal factors for slope failures and assess the potential of ensemble and individual ML techniques for slope failure prediction. Twenty-one geotechnical causal factors were obtained from 60 sites (both landslide and non-landslide) spread across a landslide-prone area in Mandi, India. Relevant causal factors were evaluated by developing a novel ensemble feature selection method that involved an average of different individual feature selection methods like correlation, information-gain, gain-ratio, OneR, and F-ratio. Furthermore, different ensemble ML techniques (Random Forest (RF), AdaBoost (AB), Bagging, Stacking, and Voting) and individual ML techniques (Bayesian network (BN), decision tree (DT), multilayer perceptron (MLP), and support vector machine (SVM)) were calibrated to 70% of the locations and tested on 30% of the sites. The ensemble feature selection method yielded six major contributing parameters to slope failures: relative compaction, porosity, saturated permeability, slope angle, angle of the internal friction, and in-situ moisture content. Furthermore, the ensemble RF and AB techniques performed the best compared to other ensemble and individual ML techniques on test data. The present study discusses the implications of different causal factors for slope failure prediction.

Smart cities are centres of economic opulence and hope for standardized living. Understanding the shades of urban resilience and livability in smart city models is of paramount importance. This study presents a novel two-stage data-driven framework combining a multivariate metric-distance analysis with machine learning (ML) techniques for resilience and livability assessment of smart cities. A longitudinal dataset for 35 top-ranked European smart cities from 2015 till 2020 applied as the case study under the proposed framework. Initially, a metric distance-based weighting approach is used to weight the indicators and quantify the scores across each aspect under city resilience and urban livability. The key aspects under city resilience include social, economic, infrastructure and built environment and, institutional resilience, while under urban livability, the aspects include accessibility, community well-being, and economic vibrancy. Fuzzy c-means clustering as an unsupervised machine learning technique is used to sort smart cities based on the degree of performance. In addition, an intelligent approach is presented for the prediction of the degree of livability, resilience, and aggregate performance of smart cities based on various supervised ML techniques. Classification models such as Naïve Bayes, k-nearest neighbors (kNN), support vector machine (SVM), Classification and Regression Tree (CART) and, ensemble models including Random Forest (RF) and Gradient Boosting machine (GBM) were used. Three coefficients (accuracy, Cohen's Kappa (κ) and average area under the precision-recall curve (AUC-PR)) along with confusion matrix were used to appraise the performance of the classifier ML models. The results revealed GBM as the best classification and predictive model for the resilience, livability, and aggregate performance assessment. The study also revealed Copenhagen, Geneva, Stockholm, Munich, Helsinki, Vienna, London, Oslo, Zurich, and Amsterdam as the smart cities that co-create resilience and livability in their development model with superior performance.

Photovoltaic (PV) module is the key component in the solar energy system. Fault classification for photovoltaic module is necessary for safety, efficiency and reliability of photovoltaic systems. When faults of PV module occurred, the current-voltage characteristics (I-V curves) of PV module are changed leads to the shift in voltage and current of the maximum power point (MPP). In this paper, fault classification for photovoltaic module based on MPP and machine learning techniques is proposed. Through analysing the location of the MPP in I-V parameters plane, faults of PV module during performance of could be identified and classified. The parameters of voltage and current of PV module in the faults (line-to-line fault, shading, open circuit in one array, open circuit, short circuit during different irradiation levels) are collected by simulations in Simulink/MATLAB software. Then, these parameters would be processed and built into a dataset. This dataset would be fed into fault classification model for PV module using machine learning algorithms included Support Vector Machine (SVM) and k-means. The desired results of machine learning models would be accurately classified faults using parameters of voltage and current of the MPP and survey the fault diagnosis through the borderline of each classification group of the models. The result shows that the fault classification capability and accuracy of the machine learning model using SVM algorithm (98,9%) are better than the k-means algorithm (61,1%).

Machine learning (ML) techniques learn a system by observing it. Events and occurrences in the network define what is expected of the network’s operation. It is for this reason that ML techniques are used in the computer network security field to detect unauthorized intervention. In the event of suspicious activity, the result of the ML analysis deviates from the definition of expected normal network activity and the suspicious activity becomes apparent. Support vector machines (SVM) are ML techniques that have been used to profile normal network activity and classify it as normal or abnormal. They are trained to configure an optimal hyperplane that classifies unknown input vectors’ values based on their positioning on the plane. We propose to use SVM models to detect malicious behavior within low-power, low-rate and short range networks, such as those used in the Internet of Things (IoT). We evaluated two SVM approaches, the C-SVM and the OC-SVM, where the former requires two classes of vector values (one for the normal and one for the abnormal activity) and the latter observes only normal behavior activity. Both approaches were used as part of an intrusion detection system (IDS) that monitors and detects abnormal activity within the smart node device. Actual network traffic with specific network-layer attacks implemented by us was used to create and evaluate the SVM detection models. It is shown that the C-SVM achieves up to 100% classification accuracy when evaluated with unknown data taken from the same network topology it was trained with and 81% accuracy when operating in an unknown topology. The OC-SVM that is created using benign activity achieves at most 58% accuracy.

Diabetes is a major chronic syndrome caused by a series of metabolic abnormalities in which blood glucose levels are abnormally high for an indeterminate amount of time. It influences various organs in the human body, resulting in a variety of complex diseases such as stroke, renal disease, pulmonary embolism, eyesight, and so on. Diabetes Disorders (DD) are presently one of the healthcare top causes of mortality. Predictive analytics in the health care system is a huge obstacle, but if accurate early prediction is achieved, the potential risk and degree of diabetes may be significantly decreased. Machine learning (ML) techniques are now used to analyze medical datasets at an earlier stage of life in keeping people safe. In this research, we utilized several ML approaches notably Logistic Regression, Decision Tree (DT), XGBoost, Support Vector Machine (SVM), K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN), and Random Forest (RF) on PIMA Indian Diabetes Dataset in order to monitor and evaluate their performances in diabetes prediction. The performance of the various ML algorithms employed in this research suggests which algorithm is most suitable in diabetes prediction. It is observed that among all the models XGBoost had outperformed the other ML techniques with an accuracy of 80.73% while SVM was the second-best performing model with a classification accuracy of 80.21%. Thus, employing ML techniques, this study aims to assist doctors as well as clinicians in the early detection of diabetes.

In order to accurately predict soil properties, various machine learning (ML) approaches and hybrid models constructed by integrating ML into regression kriging framework were used to predict and map arable land topsoil pH in Henan province, central China. Random forest (RF), cubist (Cu), support vector machine, artificial neural network, multiple linear regression, classification and regression trees (CART) and their hybrid models were compared for pH accuracy prediction. Among all standalone ML models, RF had the best predictive performance, in terms of the metrics employed in this study, followed by Cu, and CART was the worst. Compared with their ML counterparts, hybrid models could improve the accuracy of topsoil pH prediction to various extents. The accuracy improvement of the hybrid models constructed based on the simple ML was much greater than that based on the complex ensemble ML. Except for artificial neural network kriging , there was no significant difference between different hybrid models in the predicted results of topsoil pH. The outputs from the best predictive models showed that weak acidic soils and weak alkaline soils were the dominant arable soils in the study region, accounting for more than 30% and more than 50% of the total arable land area respectively, the topsoil pH of arable land in the north of the study area is generally higher than that in the south. Boruta variable selection revealed that altitude, climatic covariates closely related to soil moisture availability and some soil properties were the most critical factors affecting and controlling the topsoil pH of arable land.

Particulate matter (PM) emissions, including soot, pose a significant environmental concern. Traditional emission control approaches, such as engine calibration, often struggle to maintain consistent performance across varying driving conditions, engine speeds, and loads. This inconsistency leads to variations in pollutant output, making it challenging for internal combustion engines to comply with stringent emission standards under real-world driving conditions. Physics-based soot models, grounded in complex mathematical equations, have been developed to capture the mechanisms of soot formation. However, these models often face accuracy limitations and require substantial computational resources, rendering them impractical for real-time emission control. In contrast, Machine Learning (ML) techniques offer a more versatile and efficient approach to soot prediction. This paper introduces a machine learning methodology for predicting Soot Particle Numbers (PN). The approach integrates both physics-based and black-box strategies to create a grey-box model for predicting soot emissions from a 1600 cc Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI) engine across diverse load and speed conditions. The physical model is based on a validated 1D engine model in GT-SUITE, while the black-box model is formulated using multiple ML approaches exclusively on measured data. Ultimately, the grey-box model is developed through ML techniques based on measured data and combustion-related parameters obtained from the 1D engine physical model in GT-SUITE. The grey-box model’s results are compared with those of the black-box model. The ML techniques employed in this study include Gaussian Process Regression (GPR), Support Vector Machine (SVM), Artificial Neural Network (ANN), and an Ensemble of Regression Trees (ERT). The Minimum Redundancy Maximum Relevance (MRMR) and RreliefF feature selection methods are used to identify the most crucial features in soot PN prediction. The results indicate that the grey-box GPR exhibits superior performance for both single and multi-pulse injection strategies, achieving a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.99.

ObjectiveEnhanced technology in computer and internet has driven scale and quality of data to be improved in various areas including healthcare sectors. Machine Learning (ML) has played a pivotal role in efficiently analyzing those big data, but a general misunderstanding of ML algorithms still exists in applying them (e.g., ML techniques can settle a problem of small sample size, or deep learning is the ML algorithm). This paper reviewed the research of diagnosing mental illness using ML algorithm and suggests how ML techniques can be employed and worked in practice.MethodsResearches about mental illness diagnostic using ML techniques were carefully reviewed. Five traditional ML algorithms-Support Vector Machines (SVM), Gradient Boosting Machine (GBM), Random Forest, Naïve Bayes, and K-Nearest Neighborhood (KNN)-frequently used for mental health area researches were systematically organized and summarized.ResultsBased on literature review, it turned out that Support Vector Machines (SVM), Gradient Boosting Machine (GBM), Random Forest, Naïve Bayes, and K-Nearest Neighborhood (KNN) were frequently employed in mental health area, but many researchers did not clarify the reason for using their ML algorithm though every ML algorithm has its own advantages. In addition, there were several studies to apply ML algorithms without fully understanding the data characteristics.ConclusionResearchers using ML algorithms should be aware of the properties of their ML algorithms and the limitation of the results they obtained under restricted data conditions. This paper provides useful information of the properties and limitation of each ML algorithm in the practice of mental health.

Savannah grazing lawns are a key food resource for large herbivores such as blue wildebeest (Connochaetes taurinus), hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) and white rhino (Ceratotherium simum), and impact herbivore densities, movement and recruitment rates. They also exert a strong influence on fire behaviour including frequency, intensity and spread. Thus, variation in grazing lawn cover can have a profound impact on broader savannah ecosystem dynamics. However, knowledge of their present cover and distribution is limited. Importantly, we lack a robust, broad-scale approach for detecting and monitoring grazing lawns, which is critical to enhancing understanding of the ecology of these vital grassland systems. We selected two sites in the Lower Sabie and Satara regions of Kruger National Park, South Africa with mesic and semiarid conditions, respectively. Using spectral and texture features derived from WorldView-3 imagery, we (i) parameterised and assessed the quality of Random Forest (RF), Support Vector Machines (SVM), Classification and Regression Trees (CART) and Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) models for general discrimination of plant functional types (PFTs) within a sub-area of the Lower Sabie landscape, and (ii) compared model performance for probabilistic mapping of grazing lawns in the broader Lower Sabie and Satara landscapes. Further, we used spatial metrics to analyse spatial patterns in grazing lawn distribution in both landscapes along a gradient of distance from waterbodies. All machine learning models achieved high F-scores (F1) and overall accuracy (OA) scores in general savannah PFTs classification, with RF (F1 = 95.73±0.004%, OA = 94.16±0.004%), SVM (F1 = 95.64±0.002%, OA = 94.02±0.002%) and MLP (F1 = 95.71±0.003%, OA = 94.27±0.003%) forming a cluster of the better performing models and marginally outperforming CART (F1 = 92.74±0.006%, OA = 90.93±0.003%). Grazing lawn detection accuracy followed a similar trend within the Lower Sabie landscape, with RF, SVM, MLP and CART achieving F-scores of 0.89, 0.93, 0.94 and 0.81, respectively. Transferring models to the Satara landscape however resulted in relatively lower but high grazing lawn detection accuracies across models (RF = 0.87, SVM = 0.88, MLP = 0.85 and CART = 0.75). Results from spatial pattern analysis revealed a relatively higher proportion of grazing lawn cover under semiarid savannah conditions (Satara) compared to the mesic savannah landscape (Lower Sabie). Additionally, the results show strong negative correlation between grazing lawn spatial structure (fractional cover, patch size and connectivity) and distance from waterbodies, with larger and contiguous grazing lawn patches occurring in close proximity to waterbodies in both landscapes. The proposed machine learning approach provides a novel and robust workflow for accurate and consistent landscape-scale monitoring of grazing lawns, while our findings and research outputs provide timely information critical for understanding habitat heterogeneity in southern African savannahs.

Chapter Six - Renewable energy sources forecasting and integration using machine learning