Development of a co-operative distributed process mining system for quality assurance

In this paper, a co-operative distributed process mining system (CDPMS) is developed to streamline the workflow along the supply chain in order to offer shorter delivery times, more flexibility and higher customer satisfaction with learning ability. The proposed system is equipped with the ‘distributed process mining’ feature which is used to discover the hidden relationships among each working decision in distributed manner. This method incorporates the concept of data mining and knowledge refinement into decision making process for ensuring ‘doing the right things’ within the workflow. An example of implementation is given, based on the case of slider manufacturer.

Visual data mining: integrating machine learning with information visualization

Today, the data available to tackle many scientific challenges is vast in quantity and diverse in nature. The exploration of heterogeneous information spaces requires suitable mining algorithms as well as effective visual interfaces. Most existing systems concentrate either on mining algorithms or on visualization techniques. Though visual methods developed in information visualization have been helpful, for improved understanding of a complex large high-dimensional dataset, there is a need for an effective projection of such a dataset onto a lower-dimension (2D or 3D) manifold. This paper introduces a flexible visual data mining framework which combines advanced projection algorithms developed in the machine learning domain and visual techniques developed in the information visualization domain. The framework follows Shneiderman’s mantra to provide an effective user interface. The advantage of such an interface is that the user is directly involved in the data mining process. We integrate principled projection methods, such as Generative Topographic Mapping (GTM) and Hierarchical GTM (HGTM), with powerful visual techniques, such as magnification factors, directional curvatures, parallel coordinates, billboarding, and user interaction facilities, to provide an integrated visual data mining framework. Results on a real life high-dimensional dataset from the chemoinformatics domain are also reported and discussed. Projection results of GTM are analytically compared with the projection results from other traditional projection methods, and it is also shown that the HGTM algorithm provides additional value for large datasets. The computational complexity of these algorithms is discussed to demonstrate their suitability for the visual data mining framework.

Safety and health in mines: the rise of bureaucracy in the coal mining industry and its results as evidenced by the public enquiry into an accident at Houghton Main Colliery

This thesis is concerned with certain aspects of the Public Inquiry into the accident at Houghton Main Colliery in June 1975. It examines whether prior to the accident there existed at the Colliery a situation in which too much reliance was being placed upon state regulation and too Iittle upon personal responsibility. I study the phenomenon of state regulation. This is done (a) by analysis of selected writings on state regulation/intervention/interference/bureaucracy (the words are used synonymously) over the last two hundred years, specifically those of Marx on the 1866 Committee on Mines, and (b) by studying Chadwick and Tremenheere, leading and contrasting "bureaucrats" of the mid-nineteenth century. The bureaucratisation of the mining industry over the period 1835-1954 is described, and it is demonstrated that the industry obtained and now possesses those characteristics outlined by Max Weber in his model of bureaucracy. I analyse criticisms of the model and find them to be relevant, in that they facilitate understanding both of the circumstances of the accident and of the Inquiry . Further understanding of the circumstances and causes of the accident was gained by attendance at the lnquiry and by interviewing many of those involved in the Inquiry. I analyse many aspects of the Inquiry - its objectives. structure, procedure and conflicting interests - and find that, although the Inquiry had many of the symbols of bureaucracy, it suffered not from " too much" outside interference. but rather from the coal mining industry's shared belief in its ability to solve its own problems. I found nothing to suggest that, prior to the accident, colliery personnel relied. or were encouraged to rely, "too much" upon state regulation.

Settlement of fill with particular reference to opencast coal mining sites

A study of information available on the settlement characteristics of backfill in restored opencast coal mining sites and other similar earthworks projects has been undertaken. In addition, the methods of opencast mining, compaction controls, monitoring and test methods have been reviewed. To consider and develop the methods of predicting the settlement of fill, three sites in the West Midlands have been examined; at each, the backfill had been placed in a controlled manner. In addition, use has been made of a finite element computer program to compare a simple two-dimensional linear elastic analysis with field observations of surface settlements in the vicinity of buried highwalls. On controlled backfill sites, settlement predictions have been accurately made, based on a linear relationship between settlement (expressed as a percentage of fill height) against logarithm of time. This `creep' settlement was found to be effectively complete within 18 months of restoration. A decrease of this percentage settlement was observed with increasing fill thickness; this is believed to be related to the speed with which the backfill is placed. A rising water table within the backfill is indicated to cause additional gradual settlement. A prediction method, based on settlement monitoring, has been developed and used to determine the pattern of settlement across highwalls and buried highwalls. The zone of appreciable differential settlement was found to be mainly limited to the highwall area, the magnitude was dictated by the highwall inclination. With a backfill cover of about 15 metres over a buried highwall the magnitude of differential settlement was negligible. Use has been made of the proposed settlement prediction method and monitoring to control the re-development of restored opencase sites. The specifications, tests and monitoring techniques developed in recent years have been used to aid this. Such techniques have been valuable in restoring land previously derelict due to past underground mining.

A legal perspective of integrated surface mining, solid waste landfill reclamation and land conservation

In the area of international environmental law this thesis proposes the formulation of one-step planning and permitting regulation for the integrated utilisation of new surface mines as depositories for municipal solid waste. Additionally, the utilisation of abandoned and currently operated surface mines is proposed as solid waste landfills as an integral step in their reclamation. Existing laws, litigation and issues in the United Kingdom, the U.S. and Canada are discussed because of their common legal system, language and heritage. The critical shortage of approved space for disposal of solid waste has caused an urgent and growing problem for both the waste disposal industry and society. Surface mining can serve three important environmental and societal functions inuring to the health and welfare of the public: (1) providing basic minerals for goods and construction; (20 sequentially, to provide critically needed, safe burial sites for society's wastes, and (3) to conserve land by dual purpose use and to restore derelict land to beneficial surface use. Currently, the first two functions are treated environmentally, and in regulation, as two different siting problems, yet they both are earth-disturbing and excavating industries requiring surface restoration. The processes are largely duplicative and should be combined for better efficiency, less earth disturbance, conservation of land, and for fuller and better reclamation of completed surface mines returning the surfaces to greater utility than present mined land reclamation procedures. While both industries are viewed by a developed society and its communities as "bad neighbours", they remain essential and critical for mankind's existence and welfare. The study offers successful examples of the integrated process in each country. The study argues that most non-fuel surface mine openings, if not already safe, can economically, through present containment technology, be made environmentally safe for use as solid waste landfills. Simultaneously, the procedure safeguards and monitors protection of ground and surface waters from landfill contamination.

From biomedical literature to knowledge:mining protein-protein interactions

To date, more than 16 million citations of published articles in biomedical domain are available in the MEDLINE database. These articles describe the new discoveries which accompany a tremendous development in biomedicine during the last decade. It is crucial for biomedical researchers to retrieve and mine some specific knowledge from the huge quantity of published articles with high efficiency. Researchers have been engaged in the development of text mining tools to find knowledge such as protein-protein interactions, which are most relevant and useful for specific analysis tasks. This chapter provides a road map to the various information extraction methods in biomedical domain, such as protein name recognition and discovery of protein-protein interactions. Disciplines involved in analyzing and processing unstructured-text are summarized. Current work in biomedical information extracting is categorized. Challenges in the field are also presented and possible solutions are discussed.

Mining web data for competency management

We present CORDER (COmmunity Relation Discovery by named Entity Recognition) an un-supervised machine learning algorithm that exploits named entity recognition and co-occurrence data to associate individuals in an organization with their expertise and associates. We discuss the problems associated with evaluating unsupervised learners and report our initial evaluation experiments.

Visual data mining using principled projection algorithms and information visualization techniques

We introduce a flexible visual data mining framework which combines advanced projection algorithms from the machine learning domain and visual techniques developed in the information visualization domain. The advantage of such an interface is that the user is directly involved in the data mining process. We integrate principled projection algorithms, such as generative topographic mapping (GTM) and hierarchical GTM (HGTM), with powerful visual techniques, such as magnification factors, directional curvatures, parallel coordinates and billboarding, to provide a visual data mining framework. Results on a real-life chemoinformatics dataset using GTM are promising and have been analytically compared with the results from the traditional projection methods. It is also shown that the HGTM algorithm provides additional value for large datasets. The computational complexity of these algorithms is discussed to demonstrate their suitability for the visual data mining framework. Copyright 2006 ACM.