A Framework for Efficient Association Rule Mining in XML Data
In this article, we propose a framework, called XAR-Miner, for mining ARs from XML documents efficiently. In XAR-Miner, raw data in the XML document first are preprocessed to transform either to an Indexed XML Tree (IX-tree) or to Multirelational Databases (Multi-DB), depending on the size of the XML document and the memory constraint of the system, for efficient data selection and AR mining. Concepts that are relevant to the AR mining task are generalized to produce generalized metapatterns. A suitable metric is devised for measuring the degree of concept generalization in order to prevent undergeneralization or overgeneralization. Resulting generalized metapatterns are used to generate large ARs that meet the support and confidence levels. A greedy algorithm is also presented in order to integrate data selection and large itemset generation to enhance the efficiency of the AR mining process. The experiments conducted show that XAR-Miner is more efficient in performing a large number of AR mining tasks from XML documents than the state-of-the-art method of repetitively scanning through XML documents in order to perform each of the mining tasks.

title: A Color Indexing Scheme Using Two-level Clustering Processing for Effective and Efficient Image Retrieval
abstract: In this paper, we present a clustering-based color indexing scheme for effective amd efficient image retrieval, which is essentially an exploration on the application of clustering technique to image retrieval. In our approach, the color features are clustered automatically using a color clustering algorithm twice (called two-level clustering processing) and two color feature summarizations are obtained, e.g. Local Color Centriods (LCCs) and Global Color Centroids (GCCs). Based upon LCCs and GCCs, a three-level R-tree is bulit for indexing database images and performing effecitve and efficient image retrieval. The experiments show that this indexing scheme is effective and efficient in performing image retrieval.

title: XAR-miner: efficient association rules mining for XML data
abstract: In this paper, we propose a framework, called XAR-Miner, for mining ARs from XML documents efficiently. In XAR-Miner, raw data in the XML document are first preprocessed to transform to either an Indexed Content Tree (IX-tree) or Multi-relational databases (Multi-DB), depending on the size of XML document and memory constraint of the system, for efficient data selection and AR mining. Task-relevant concepts are generalized to produce generalized meta-patterns, based on which the large ARs that meet the support and confidence levels are generated.

title: Gene Specific Co-regulation Discovery: An Improved Approach
abstract: Discovering gene co-regulatory relationships is a new but important research problem in DNA microarray data analysis. The problem of gene specific co-regulation discovery is to, for a particular gene of interest, called the target gene , identify its strongly co-regulated genes and the condition subsets where such strong gene co-regulations are observed. The study on this problem can contribute to a better understanding and characterization of the target gene. The existing method, using the genetic algorithm (GA), is slow due to its expensive fitness evaluation and long individual representation. In this paper, we propose an improved method for finding gene specific co-regulations. Compared with the current method, our method features a notably improved efficiency. We employ k NN Search Table to substantially speed up fitness evaluation in the GA. We also propose a more compact representation scheme for encoding individuals in the GA, which contributes to faster crossover and mutation operations. Experimental results with a real-life gene microarray data set demonstrate the improved efficiency of our technique compared with the current method.

title: Anomaly detection in high-dimensional network data streams: A case study
abstract: In this paper, we study the problem of anomaly detection in high-dimensional network streams. We have developed a new technique, called Stream Projected Outlier deTector (SPOT), to deal with the problem of anomaly detection from high-dimensional data streams. We conduct a case study of SPOT in this paper by deploying it on 1999 KDD Intrusion Detection application. Innovative approaches for training data generation, anomaly classification and false positive reduction are proposed in this paper as well. Experimental results demonstrate that SPOT is effective in detecting anomalies from network data streams and outperforms existing anomaly detection methods.

title: PC-Filter: A Robust Filtering Technique for Duplicate Record Detection in Large Databases
abstract: In this paper, we will propose PC-Filter (PC stands for Partitio n Comparison), a robust data filter for approximately duplicate record detection in large databases. PC-Filter distinguishes itself from all of existing methods by using the notion of partition in duplicate detection. It first sorts the whole database and splits the sorted database into a number of record partitions. The Partition Comparison Graph (PCG) is then constructed by performing fast partition pruning. Finally, duplicate records are effectively detected by using internal and external partition comparison based on PCG. Four properties, used as heuristics, have been devised to achieve a remarkable efficiency of the filter based on triangle inequity of record similarity. PC-Filter is insensitive to the key used to sort the database, and can achieve a very good recall level that is comparable to that of the pair-wise record comparison method but only with a complexity of O(N 4/3). Equipping existing detection methods with PC-Filter, we are able to well solve the ”Key Selection” problem, the ”Scope Specification” problem and the ”Low Recall” problem that the existing methods suffer from.

title: Clustering in Dynamic Spatial Databases
abstract: Efficient clustering in dynamic spatial databases is currently an open problem with many potential applications. Most traditional spatial clustering algorithms are inadequate because they do not have an efficient support for incremental clustering.In this paper, we propose DClust, a novel clustering technique for dynamic spatial databases. DClust is able to provide multi-resolution view of the clusters, generate arbitrary shapes clusters in the presence of noise, generate clusters that are insensitive to ordering of input data and support incremental clustering efficiently. DClust utilizes the density criterion that captures arbitrary cluster shapes and sizes to select a number of representative points, and builds the Minimum Spanning Tree (MST) of these representative points, called R-MST. After the initial clustering, a summary of the cluster structure is built. This summary enables quick localization of the effect of data updates on the current set of clusters. Our experimental results show that DClust outperforms existing spatial clustering methods such as DBSCAN, C2P, DENCLUE, Incremental DBSCAN and BIRCH in terms of clustering time and accuracy of clusters found.

title: Approximate treatment for calculation of the rate-distortion slope in EBCOT
abstract: Some novel approaches are presented aiming at reducing computation and memory for the EBCOT algorithm in JPEG2000. In the current structure of EBCOT, the algorithm for calculating the distortion reduction is still too complex for hardware-oriented design, and the memory space needed for the storage of large amounts of rate-distortion slopes is often unaffordable. In this paper, we propose a set of simplification schemes based on some approximate treatments by means of quantization median substitution and logarithm expression. These approaches can facilitate calculation of the rate-distortion slopes and reduce the memory by 50% (only 8 bits for each slope). Experimental results show that the quality of decoded images has only slightly decreased, which is negligible for most of the applications.

title: Multi-Index Cooperative Mixed Strategy for Service Selection Problem in Service-Oriented Architecture
abstract: Under the environment of Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA), service users have to decide how to choose the proper provider from the candidates to obtain optimal service level. The existing approaches based on the optimization theories usually ignore the decision conflicts among users, which result in periodic QoS fluctuation and poor system performance. This paper treated the service selection problem as an inconstant-sum non-cooperative n-person dynamic game with incomplete information. The mechanism that generated the decision conflicts is discussed at first, and then Multi-index Cooperative Mixed Strategy (MCMS) with corresponding algorithm for finding its optimal solution is developed. Simulation shows that MCMS offers service users an optimal strategy that reduces the fluctuation of QoS and improves performance of SOA. Moreover, the stability and equilibrium of MCMS make it acceptable to most of the users, thus MCMS is able to improve predictability and controllability of SOA significantly.

title: Image Mining: Trends and Developments
abstract: Advances in image acquisition and storage technology have led to tremendous growth in very large and detailed image databases. These images, if analyzed, can reveal useful information to the human users. Image mining deals with the extraction of implicit knowledge, image data relationship, or other patterns not explicitly stored in the images. Image mining is more than just an extension of data mining to image domain. It is an interdisciplinary endeavor that draws upon expertise in computer vision, image processing, image retrieval, data mining, machine learning, database, and artificial intelligence. In this paper, we will examine the research issues in image mining, current developments in image mining, particularly, image mining frameworks, state-of-the-art techniques and systems. We will also identify some future research directions for image mining.

title: Towards Re-engineering Legacy Systems for Assured Dynamic Adaptation
abstract: Increasingly, software must adapt its behavior in response to changes in the supporting computing, communication infrastructure, and in the surrounding physical environment. Since most existing software was not designed to adapt, research on technique to make legacy software dynamically adaptive has gained increasing interest. Assurance is crucial for adaptive software to fulfill its intended purpose. Correctness is even more critical if it is to be applied in high assurance systems. This paper proposes a model-driven approach to introduce dynamic adaptation to non-adaptive legacy systems while maintaining assurance properties. An aspect-oriented technique is applied to achieve separation of concerns in the implementation.