scholarly journals Machine Learning and Financial Literacy: An Exploration of Factors Influencing Financial Knowledge in Italy

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 120
Author(s):  
Susanna Levantesi ◽  
Giulia Zacchia

In recent years, machine learning techniques have assumed an increasingly central role in many areas of research, from computer science to medicine, including finance. In the current study, we applied it to financial literacy to test its accuracy, compared to a standard parametric model, in the estimation of the main determinants of financial knowledge. Using recent data on financial literacy and inclusion among Italian adults, we empirically tested how tree-based machine learning methods, such as decision trees, random, forest and gradient boosting techniques, can be a valuable complement to standard models (generalized linear models) for the identification of the groups in the population in most need of improving their financial knowledge.

Materials ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 1089
Author(s):  
Sung-Hee Kim ◽  
Chanyoung Jeong

This study aims to demonstrate the feasibility of applying eight machine learning algorithms to predict the classification of the surface characteristics of titanium oxide (TiO2) nanostructures with different anodization processes. We produced a total of 100 samples, and we assessed changes in TiO2 nanostructures’ thicknesses by performing anodization. We successfully grew TiO2 films with different thicknesses by one-step anodization in ethylene glycol containing NH4F and H2O at applied voltage differences ranging from 10 V to 100 V at various anodization durations. We found that the thicknesses of TiO2 nanostructures are dependent on anodization voltages under time differences. Therefore, we tested the feasibility of applying machine learning algorithms to predict the deformation of TiO2. As the characteristics of TiO2 changed based on the different experimental conditions, we classified its surface pore structure into two categories and four groups. For the classification based on granularity, we assessed layer creation, roughness, pore creation, and pore height. We applied eight machine learning techniques to predict classification for binary and multiclass classification. For binary classification, random forest and gradient boosting algorithm had relatively high performance. However, all eight algorithms had scores higher than 0.93, which signifies high prediction on estimating the presence of pore. In contrast, decision tree and three ensemble methods had a relatively higher performance for multiclass classification, with an accuracy rate greater than 0.79. The weakest algorithm used was k-nearest neighbors for both binary and multiclass classifications. We believe that these results show that we can apply machine learning techniques to predict surface quality improvement, leading to smart manufacturing technology to better control color appearance, super-hydrophobicity, super-hydrophilicity or batter efficiency.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tahani Daghistani ◽  
Huda AlGhamdi ◽  
Riyad Alshammari ◽  
Raed H. AlHazme

AbstractOutpatients who fail to attend their appointments have a negative impact on the healthcare outcome. Thus, healthcare organizations facing new opportunities, one of them is to improve the quality of healthcare. The main challenges is predictive analysis using techniques capable of handle the huge data generated. We propose a big data framework for identifying subject outpatients’ no-show via feature engineering and machine learning (MLlib) in the Spark platform. This study evaluates the performance of five machine learning techniques, using the (2,011,813‬) outpatients’ visits data. Conducting several experiments and using different validation methods, the Gradient Boosting (GB) performed best, resulting in an increase of accuracy and ROC to 79% and 81%, respectively. In addition, we showed that exploring and evaluating the performance of the machine learning models using various evaluation methods is critical as the accuracy of prediction can significantly differ. The aim of this paper is exploring factors that affect no-show rate and can be used to formulate predictions using big data machine learning techniques.


Webology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (Special Issue 01) ◽  
pp. 183-195
Author(s):  
Thingbaijam Lenin ◽  
N. Chandrasekaran

Student’s academic performance is one of the most important parameters for evaluating the standard of any institute. It has become a paramount importance for any institute to identify the student at risk of underperforming or failing or even drop out from the course. Machine Learning techniques may be used to develop a model for predicting student’s performance as early as at the time of admission. The task however is challenging as the educational data required to explore for modelling are usually imbalanced. We explore ensemble machine learning techniques namely bagging algorithm like random forest (rf) and boosting algorithms like adaptive boosting (adaboost), stochastic gradient boosting (gbm), extreme gradient boosting (xgbTree) in an attempt to develop a model for predicting the student’s performance of a private university at Meghalaya using three categories of data namely demographic, prior academic record, personality. The collected data are found to be highly imbalanced and also consists of missing values. We employ k-nearest neighbor (knn) data imputation technique to tackle the missing values. The models are developed on the imputed data with 10 fold cross validation technique and are evaluated using precision, specificity, recall, kappa metrics. As the data are imbalanced, we avoid using accuracy as the metrics of evaluating the model and instead use balanced accuracy and F-score. We compare the ensemble technique with single classifier C4.5. The best result is provided by random forest and adaboost with F-score of 66.67%, balanced accuracy of 75%, and accuracy of 96.94%.


Author(s):  
Juan Gómez-Sanchis ◽  
Emilio Soria-Olivas ◽  
Marcelino Martinez-Sober ◽  
Jose Blasco ◽  
Juan Guerrero ◽  
...  

This work presents a new approach for one of the main problems in the analysis of atmospheric phenomena, the prediction of atmospheric concentrations of different elements. The proposed methodology is more efficient than other classical approaches and is used in this work to predict tropospheric ozone concentration. The relevance of this problem stems from the fact that excessive ozone concentrations may cause several problems related to public health. Previous research by the authors of this work has shown that the classical approach to this problem (linear models) does not achieve satisfactory results in tropospheric ozone concentration prediction. The authors’ approach is based on Machine Learning (ML) techniques, which include algorithms related to neural networks, fuzzy systems and advanced statistical techniques for data processing. In this work, the authors focus on one of the main ML techniques, namely, neural networks. These models demonstrate their suitability for this problem both in terms of prediction accuracy and information extraction.


Author(s):  
Vidyullatha P ◽  
D. Rajeswara Rao

<p>Curve fitting is one of the procedures in data analysis and is helpful for prediction analysis showing graphically how the data points are related to one another whether it is in linear or non-linear model. Usually, the curve fit will find the concentrates along the curve or it will just use to smooth the data and upgrade the presence of the plot. Curve fitting checks the relationship between independent variables and dependent variables with the objective of characterizing a good fit model. Curve fitting finds mathematical equation that best fits given information. In this paper, 150 unorganized data points of environmental variables are used to develop Linear and non-linear data modelling which are evaluated by utilizing 3 dimensional ‘Sftool’ and ‘Labfit’ machine learning techniques. In Linear model, the best estimations of the coefficients are realized by the estimation of R- square turns in to one and in Non-Linear models with least Chi-square are the criteria. </p>


2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 235-250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yixuan Ma ◽  
Zhenji Zhang ◽  
Alexander Ihler ◽  
Baoxiang Pan

Boosted by the growing logistics industry and digital transformation, the sharing warehouse market is undergoing a rapid development. Both supply and demand sides in the warehouse rental business are faced with market perturbations brought by unprecedented peer competitions and information transparency. A key question faced by the participants is how to price warehouses in the open market. To understand the pricing mechanism, we built a real world warehouse dataset using data collected from the classified advertisements websites. Based on the dataset, we applied machine learning techniques to relate warehouse price with its relevant features, such as warehouse size, location and nearby real estate price. Four candidate models are used here: Linear Regression, Regression Tree, Random Forest Regression and Gradient Boosting Regression Trees. The case study in the Beijing area shows that warehouse rent is closely related to its location and land price. Models considering multiple factors have better skill in estimating warehouse rent, compared to singlefactor estimation. Additionally, tree models have better performance than the linear model, with the best model (Random Forest) achieving correlation coefficient of 0.57 in the test set. Deeper investigation of feature importance illustrates that distance from the city center plays the most important role in determining warehouse price in Beijing, followed by nearby real estate price and warehouse size.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ari S. Benjamin ◽  
Hugo L. Fernandes ◽  
Tucker Tomlinson ◽  
Pavan Ramkumar ◽  
Chris VerSteeg ◽  
...  

AbstractNeuroscience has long focused on finding encoding models that effectively ask “what predicts neural spiking?” and generalized linear models (GLMs) are a typical approach. It is often unknown how much of explainable neural activity is captured, or missed, when fitting a GLM. Here we compared the predictive performance of GLMs to three leading machine learning methods: feedforward neural networks, gradient boosted trees (using XGBoost), and stacked ensembles that combine the predictions of several methods. We predicted spike counts in macaque motor (M1) and somatosensory (S1) cortices from standard representations of reaching kinematics, and in rat hippocampal cells from open field location and orientation. In general, the modern methods (particularly XGBoost and the ensemble) produced more accurate spike predictions and were less sensitive to the preprocessing of features. This discrepancy in performance suggests that standard feature sets may often relate to neural activity in a nonlinear manner not captured by GLMs. Encoding models built with machine learning techniques, which can be largely automated, more accurately predict spikes and can offer meaningful benchmarks for simpler models.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chalachew Muluken Liyew ◽  
Haileyesus Amsaya Melese

AbstractPredicting the amount of daily rainfall improves agricultural productivity and secures food and water supply to keep citizens healthy. To predict rainfall, several types of research have been conducted using data mining and machine learning techniques of different countries’ environmental datasets. An erratic rainfall distribution in the country affects the agriculture on which the economy of the country depends on. Wise use of rainfall water should be planned and practiced in the country to minimize the problem of the drought and flood occurred in the country. The main objective of this study is to identify the relevant atmospheric features that cause rainfall and predict the intensity of daily rainfall using machine learning techniques. The Pearson correlation technique was used to select relevant environmental variables which were used as an input for the machine learning model. The dataset was collected from the local meteorological office at Bahir Dar City, Ethiopia to measure the performance of three machine learning techniques (Multivariate Linear Regression, Random Forest, and Extreme Gradient Boost). Root mean squared error and Mean absolute Error methods were used to measure the performance of the machine learning model. The result of the study revealed that the Extreme Gradient Boosting machine learning algorithm performed better than others.


2015 ◽  
Vol 9s3 ◽  
pp. BBI.S29469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas J. Adams ◽  
Ghalib Bello ◽  
Gerard G. Dumancas

The problem of selecting important variables for predictive modeling of a specific outcome of interest using questionnaire data has rarely been addressed in clinical settings. In this study, we implemented a genetic algorithm (GA) technique to select optimal variables from questionnaire data for predicting a five-year mortality. We examined 123 questions (variables) answered by 5,444 individuals in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The GA iterations selected the top 24 variables, including questions related to stroke, emphysema, and general health problems requiring the use of special equipment, for use in predictive modeling by various parametric and nonparametric machine learning techniques. Using these top 24 variables, gradient boosting yielded the nominally highest performance (area under curve [AUC] = 0.7654), although there were other techniques with lower but not significantly different AUC. This study shows how GA in conjunction with various machine learning techniques could be used to examine questionnaire data to predict a binary outcome.


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