Most neural network learning algorithms cannot use knowledge other than what is provided in the training data. Initialized using random weights, they cannot use prior knowledge such as knowledge stored in previously trained networks. This manuscript thesis addresses this problem.…

This thesis presents a development environment for Design Expert Systems that features a new language where the roles of knowledge and the way it is brought to bear are predefined by the solution method., The language also allows knowledge to…

Over the past few years, the amount of electronic information available from the Internet has increased dramatically. Unfortunately, the search tools currently available for retrieving and filtering such information remain inadequate in balancing relevance and comprehensiveness. This work proposes a…

Optimization of multimodal functions is hard for traditional optimization techniques. Holland's genetic algorithm combined with the concept of niche and speciation already showed success in such difficult problems. Some implementations of this concept exist, but the effective ones all lack…

This thesis addresses the problem of how to determine the optimum level of mesh discretization required to solve a magnetic device accurately and efficiently using finite elements. Currently, most finite element packages require user intervention to assure that the mesh…

With the increasing demands of transforming raw data into information and knowledge, data mining becomes an important field to the discovery of useful information and hidden patterns in huge datasets. Both machine learning and database research have made major contributions…

An 1 out of 2 Oblivious Transfer (( 21 )-OT) is a two-party computation in which a sender A owning two secret bits b0, b 1 can transfer one to them, bc, to receiver Bob who chooses c. This is…

This thesis explores the use of randomized, performance-based search strategies to improve the generalization of an automatic speech recognition system based on hidden Markov models. We apply simulated annealing and random search to several components of the system, including phoneme…

With the wide availability of huge amounts of data and the imminent demands to transform the raw data into useful information and knowledge, data mining has become an important research field both in the database area and the machine learning…

Passively accepting measurements of the world is not enough, as the data obtained is always incomplete, and the inferences made from it uncertain to a degree which is often unacceptable. Machines that operate autonomously will always be faced with this…