Artificial Neural Networks for Data Mining

1. Introduction Neural networks, more accurately called Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), are computational models that consist of a number of simple processing units that communicate by sending signals to one another over a large number of weighted connections. They were originally developed from the inspiration of human brains. In human brains, a biological neuron collects signals from other neurons through a host of fine structures called dendrites. The neuron sends out spikes of electrical activity through a long, thin stand known as an axon, which splits into thousands of branches. At the end of each branch, a structure called a synapse converts the activity from the axon into electrical effects that inhibit or excite activity in the connected neurons. When a neuron receives excitatory input that is sufficiently large compared with its inhibitory input, it sends a spike of electrical activity down its axon. Learning occurs by changing the effectiveness of the synapses so that the influence of one neuron on another changes. Like human brains, neural networks also consist of processing units (artificial neurons) and connections (weights) between them. The processing units transport incoming information on their outgoing connections to other units. The "electrical" information is simulated with specific values stored in those weights that make these networks have the capacity to learn, memorize, and create relationships amongst data. A very important feature of these networks is their adaptive nature where "learning by example" replaces "programming" in solving problems. This feature makes such computational models very appealing in application domains where one has little or incomplete understanding of the problem to be solved but where training data is readily available. These networks are " neural " in the sense that they may have been inspired by neuroscience but not necessarily because they are faithful models of biological neural or cognitive phenomena. ANNs have powerful pattern classification and pattern recognition capabilities through learning and generalize from experience. ANNs are non-linear data driven self adaptive approach as opposed to the traditional model based methods. They are powerful tools for modelling, especially when the underlying data relationship is unknown. ANNs can identify and learn correlated patterns between input data sets and corresponding target values. After training, ANNs can be used to predict the outcome of new independent input data. ANNs imitate the learning process of the human brain and can process problems involving non-linear and complex data even if the data are …