Machine Learning-Based Algorithms to Knowledge Extraction from Time Series Data: A Review

To predict the future behavior of a system, we can exploit the information collected in the past, trying to identify recurring structures in what happened to predict what could happen, if the same structures repeat themselves in the future as well. A time series represents a time sequence of numerical values observed in the past at a measurable variable. The values are sampled at equidistant time intervals, according to an appropriate granular frequency, such as the day, week, or month, and measured according to physical units of measurement. In machine learning-based algorithms, the information underlying the knowledge is extracted from the data themselves, which are explored and analyzed in search of recurring patterns or to discover hidden causal associations or relationships. The prediction model extracts knowledge through an inductive process: the input is the data and, possibly, a first example of the expected output, the machine will then learn the algorithm to follow to obtain the same result. This paper reviews the most recent work that has used machine learning-based techniques to extract knowledge from time series data.

Electrostimulators and Muscle Fatigue: A Patent Review

Background: This work presents a review of international patents dealing with the measurement of the induced fatigue of electrical stimulators. Sometimes muscles cannot move or have limited movement because of an injury such as Spinal Cord Injury and are in need of therapy. A complement of such therapy is Electrical Stimulation. A device sends electrical pulses to the muscle in order to generate contractions. Such contractions also fatigue the muscle and can be detrimental if muscle fatigue is not considered as a measurable variable in such devices. The scientific community has made progress regarding this issue however, the literature lacks a review of international patents. Since patents are in the forefront of technological innovation, the current status of the international patents dealing with the measurement of induced muscle fatigue of these devices is addressed. Objective: Identify data related to international patents involving Electrostimulators and their use for reducing muscle fatigue. Methods: A search for international patents was conducted to evaluate Electrostimulators capable of measuring induced fatigue. Specialized databases for patents were consulted using the term “Electrostimulator” associated with “Muscle Fatigue”. Such databases are Patenscope (WIPO), USPTO, Google Patents and Espacenet. Results: A total of 245 international patents were found, of which 31 met the inclusion criteria. Out of the 31 patents, 15 were granted to a University, 13 to companies and 3 to individuals. Conclusion: Almost all the patents granted to a University have detailed information on how to reproduce them and can be used to develop new technology to address the issue with the induced muscle fatigue that electrical stimulation produces during therapy. Patents filed by companies have ambiguous details on how to reproduce them but some have information that in conjunction with the ones granted to universities, can be complemented. Patents in this area are scarce, which present an opportunity for organizations and individuals alike to further the knowledge in this area.

Regionally Distinct Post-Socialist Leaders: Evidence from Leadership Trait Analysis

Leaders are often noted to be instrumental in transitional political processes. Yet, most studies in the field bypass them, focusing instead on such factors as institutional setup, level of political culture, geopolitical location, diffusion of ideas and other factors. Even when highlighted, leaders are thought to be acting under the constraint of these arguably more defining factors and therefore relegated to a secondary role. Part of the problem is thought to be difficult to treat individuals as a measurable variable other than being shaped by aforementioned institutional-structural factors. Through a methodological borrowing this study determines that the leadership patterns across the region do vary in a substantial way. More importantly, the variation is determined independent of the overarching institutional-structural factors. The profiling of leadership patterns is followed by discussion of implications such exogenously determined leadership patterns may have on the study of transitional processes.

A ‘Suitable Amount’ of Crime and a Cultural-Civilisational Approach

The article presents the hypothesis that a normal level (e.g., optimal, reasonable, or suitable amount) of crime is an empirically measurable variable. Adequate assessment of crime in a specific civilisation is possible via comparison of crime across different civilisations. To this end, key elements for a cultural-civilisational approach, distinct from ‘cultural criminology’, are presented. In this approach, crime is an inevitable part of cultural phenomena, wherefore the definitions of crimes, punishments, and their execution manifest value specificities of individual cultures (civilisations). Three characteristics related to criminal careers – the ‘gender gap’, the ‘age–crime curve’, and a ‘dual taxonomy’, identified regularly by various studies are reviewed and interpreted anew.

Dewey’s Yardstick

Although experience and context are omnibus terms, the relationship between them provides some guidance on how each can be used to inform an understanding of the other. This article presents contextualization, or the degree to which content and context are connected through experience, as a measurable outcome of learning, education, or situated cognition. Contextualization is proposed here as a construct that (a) indicates curricular intention, cognitive process, and learning outcomes; (b) is a measurable variable that can be correlated to measures of learning; (c) is broadly applicable and thus represents a comparison variable across diverse scenarios; and (d) represents an important link between existing theory and practice. A contextualization spectrum framework is proposed to align curricular intentions for student experience to the resulting disposition of knowledge, as connected through contextualization.

China's Skewed Sex Ratio and the One-Child Policy

The media and generalist scholarly work have created a conventional wisdom that China's one-child policy is the driver of the country's skewed sex ratio and so should be relaxed in order to ameliorate the imbalance. However, we show through historical, domestic and international comparisons that son preference, which we treat as an observable and measurable variable made up of labour, ritual, inheritance and old-age security practices and policies, is crucial to explaining the imbalanced sex ratio at birth. China's sex ratio cannot fully normalize without addressing son preference.

INTERVAL CALIBRATION MODEL OF MULTISENSOR SYSTEM

Problem of multisensor system calibration is of great importance in a number of applications. Most often the problem is solving by means of statistical methods using data of calibration controlled experiment. However, in many cases uncertainty and inaccuracy of experimental data more reasonably to express not in terms of random errors but in terms of known bounded absolute errors. For this case based on the introduced definition of “interval readings” interval calibration model is suggested. Within interval paradigm all calibration subproblems are reasonably solved including sensor sensitivity test, most accurate sensors subset selection and aggregate estimation of measurable variable uncertainty interval. There are given a numerical examples.