Deep Learning Based User Models for Interactive Optimization of Watershed Designs

Andrew Paul Hoblitzell, Purdue University

Abstract

This dissertation combines stakeholder and analytical intelligence for consensus decision-making via an interactive optimization process. This dissertation outlines techniques for developing user models of subjective criteria of human stakeholders for an environmental decision support system called WRESTORE. The dissertation compares several user modeling techniques and develops methods for incorporating such user models selectively for interactive optimization, combining multiple objective and subjective criteria. This dissertation describes additional functionality for our watershed planning system, called WRESTORE (Watershed REstoration Using Spatio-Temporal Optimization of REsources) (http://wrestore.iupui.edu). Techniques for performing the interactive optimization process in the presence of limited data are described. This work adds a user modeling component that develops a computational model of a stakeholder’s preferences and then integrates the user model component into the decision support system. Our system is one of many decision support systems and is dependent upon stakeholder interaction. The user modeling component within the system utilizes deep learning, which can be challenging with limited data. Our work integrates user models with limited data with application-specific techniques to address some of these challenges. The dissertation describes steps for implementing accurate virtual stakeholder models based on limited training data. Another method for dealing with limited data, based upon computing training data uncertainty, is also presented in this dissertation. Results presented show more stable convergence in fewer iterations when using an uncertainty-based incremental sampling method than when using stability based sampling or random sampling. The technique is described in additional detail. The dissertation also discusses non-stationary reinforcement-based feature selection for the interactive optimization component of our system. The presented results indicate that the proposed feature selection approach can effectively mitigate against superfluous and adversarial dimensions which if left untreated can lead to degradation in both computational performance and interactive optimization performance against analytically determined environmental fitness functions. The contribution of this dissertation lays the foundation for developing a framework for multi-stakeholder consensus decision-making in the presence of limited data.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Mukhopadhyay, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Agronomy|Aquatic sciences|Artificial intelligence|Ecology|Logic|Water Resources Management

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