Neural data mining for credit card fraud detection

The prevention of credit card fraud is an important application for prediction techniques. One major obstacle for using neural network training techniques is the high necessary diagnostic quality: Since only one financial transaction of a thousand is invalid no prediction success less than 99.9% is acceptable. Due to these credit card transaction proportions complete new concepts had to be developed and tested on real credit card data. This paper shows how advanced data mining techniques and neural network algorithm can be combined successfully to obtain a high fraud coverage combined with a low false alarm rate

Credit card fraud detection by adaptive neural data mining

The prevention of credit card fraud is an important application for prediction techniques. One major obstacle for using neural network training techniques is the high necessary diagnostic quality: Since only one financial transaction of a thousand is invalid no prediction success less than 99.9% is acceptable. Due to these credit card transaction proportions complete new concepts had to be developed and tested on real credit card data. This paper shows how advanced data mining techniques and neural network algorithm can be combined successfully to obtain a high fraud coverage combined with a low false alarm rate

The Color of the West Coast

Art can be a portal through time and space, into the mind of an artist. James Suzuki was an artist born in Japan, who moved to the United States at the age of 19, shortly after World War II. Through the study of his 1973 oil painting, West Coast, this project investigates the ways in which Suzuki’s connections to the artistic traditions and cultures of both America and Japan are displayed. This work combines the genre of Color Field painting--recognized for its use of color as the central focus of the art--with natural imagery from the Japanese tradition. Color Field painting emerged from the hyper-American Abstract Expressionist art movement that developed during the postwar period and was used as a representation of ideal American values such as freedom, individuality, and innovation. During a time when art was seen as intrinsically political, West Coast connects two opposing narratives by using imagery from his Japanese background within the aesthetics of the Color Field genre. Through Suzuki, I explore the dynamic between the nations of the United States of America and Japan insofar as they affected the lives of Japanese Americans as expressed through art. I take note of Japan’s unique position in the global context, both broadly historically and as it changed after the war. I synthesize primary accounts with sources from across disciplines into a consideration of the role of Japanese American artists, reflecting influences from Japan, a nation which is geographically distant, and from America, which is culturally distant.https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2022/1079/thumbnail.jp

Investigation of reward-related processing improvements in dual-task situations

Evidence from single-task studies suggests that reward improves cognitive performance, yet its role in dual-tasking (DT) remains unclear. This dissertation addresses four open questions: (1) which DT processes are affected by reward, (2) whether reward effects transfer between tasks, (3) whether reward strategies can be flexibly adapted, and (4) whether reward-related improvements reflect mere preparation. Using the psychological refractory period (PRP) paradigm with reward prospect for task 1 (Study 1) or task 2 (Study 2), results showed that reward improved pre-motoric processes in task 1 and transmitted benefits to task 2. Study 3 applied trial-wise reward cues and varied the cue–target interval (CTI), showing that while longer CTIs enhanced performance, reward effects extended beyond preparation. Together, the findings suggest that reward enhances DT performance, involves inter-task transmission, and cannot be explained by preparation alone

Tracing the Cultural Influence and Linguistic Journey of 4 Mind-Related Science Fiction Words

Many commonly used words in the English language originated in science fiction or else have been popularized by use in science fiction works. This paper examines the historical, linguistic, and cultural voyage of four words: empath, hive mind, hypnopaedia, and mindlink. These four words are all related to the mind and parapsychology. Magazines, books, and materials from Google books are examined to trace the journey of these words through science fiction and out into the “real world”, if they make it there. Google Ngram is the central tool in this research. The paper examines Ngram graphs and attempts to explain how and why these four words became popular, lost popularity, or never gained a presence in the public consciousness. Science fiction staples such as Star Trek, Brave New World, and stories from popular science fiction magazines are used to trace the history of empath, hive mind, hypnopaedia, and mindlink. Other important cultural works, such as Out of Control by Kevin Kelly, Atari’s Mindlink device, and A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess are also used to trace these words linguistic journeys. When these words leave science fiction to be used in other cultural contexts, they often acquire slightly altered meanings. Each word is traced from its first use (either in science fiction or elsewhere), its use in science fiction, and possible venture into other cultural contexts. This paper finds science fiction to be a tool for generating and propelling new words into the public consciousness if the cultural context is right

On the temporal dynamics of reward utilization in dual-task situations

In dual-task (DT) situations, performance typically deteriorates compared with single-tasking situations. These decrements can be explained by the serial scheduling of response selection stages constituting a central bottleneck as with decreasing stimulus-onset asynchrony (SOA) the reaction time for the second task (Task 2; RT2) increases. Prior studies indicated that the reaction time for the first task (Task 1; RT1) and RT2 are improved in reward compared with no-reward conditions for a block-wise reward prospect, which reflects reward-related optimization in DT processing. However, it remains unclear whether participants can flexibly utilize reward information in a trial-by-trial manner to achieve reward-related improvements. Additionally, it is unclear whether a potential reward-related optimization reflects optimized task preparation only or whether the prospect of reward can evoke an additional task optimization mechanism that extends beyond preparation-related processing improvements. For Experiment 1, we combined a trial-wise reward prospect for participants' Task 1 performance, which was signaled by a cue before Task 1 onset, with block-wise presented cue–target intervals (CTI) of either 200 ms or 700 ms, resulting in precise temporal predictability of Task 1 onset by participants. First, we observed a reduced RT1 in the reward compared with the no-reward condition. Furthermore, the reward effects increased on RT2 for short compared with long SOAs, reflecting effect propagation at short SOA from Task 1 onto Task 2. Second, RTs decreased with increasing CTI, while reward effects increased with increasing CTI. Consequently, preparation-related processing improvements of DT performance were additionally improved by reward utilization. For Experiment 2, temporal predictability of Task 1 onset was reduced compared with Experiment 1 by presenting CTIs randomized within blocks, which allowed replicating the result pattern of Experiment 1. Across both experiments, the results indicate that participants can flexibly utilize reward information in a trial-by-trial manner and that reward utilization additionally improves preparation-related processing improvements for DT conditions with predictable and less predictable Task 1 onset