Abstract
In this paper, we present an approach to identify top relevant dates in Web snippets with respect to a given implicit temporal query. Our approach is two-fold. First, we propose a generic temporal similarity measure called GTE, which evaluates the temporal similarity between a query and a date. Second, we propose a classification model to accurately relate relevant dates to their corresponding query terms and withdraw irrelevant ones. We suggest two different solutions: a threshold-based classification strategy and a supervised classifier based on a combination of multiple similarity measures. We evaluate both strategies over a set of real-world text queries and compare the performance of our Web snippet approach with a query log approach over the same set of queries. Experiments show that determining the most relevant dates of any given implicit temporal query can be improved with GTE combined with the second order similarity measure InfoSimba, the Dice coefficient and the threshold-based strategy compared to (1) first-order similarity measures and (2) the query log based approach. © 2012 ACM.

Abstract
We report the use of Ada in the European research project Sol-Eu-Net. Ada was used in a web mining subproject, mainly for data preparation, and also for web system development. Open source Ada resources e.g. GNAT.Spitbol were used. Some such resources were modified, some created anew. XML and SQL were also used in association with Ada.

Abstract
We study a new method for improving the classification accuracy of a model composed of classification association rules (CAR). The method consists in reordering the original set of rules according to the error rates obtained on a set of training examples. This is done iteratively, starting from the original set of rules. After obtaining N models these are used as an ensemble for classifying new cases. The net effect of this approach is that the original rule model is clearly improved. This improvement is due to the ensembling of the obtained models, which are, individually, slightly better than the original one. This ensembling approach has the advantage of running a single learning process, since the models in the ensemble are obtained by self replicating the original one.

Abstract
Traditionally, recommender systems for the web deal with applications that have two dimensions, users and items. Based on access data that relate these dimensions, a recommendation model can be built and used to identify a set of N items that will be of interest to a certain user. In this paper we propose a multidimensional approach, called DaVI (Dimensions as Virtual Items), that enables the use of common two-dimensional top-N recommender algorithms for the generation of recommendations using additional dimensions (e.g., contextual or background information). We empirically evaluate our approach with two different top-N recommender algorithms, Item-based Collaborative Filtering and Association Rules based, on two real world data sets. The empirical results demonstrate that DaVI enables the application of existing two-dimensional recommendation algorithms to exploit the useful information in multidimensional data. © 2011 IEEE.

Abstract
The goal of ensemble regression is to combine several models in order to improve the prediction accuracy in learning problems with a numerical target variable. The process of ensemble learning can be divided into three phases: the generation phase, the pruning phase, and the integration phase. We discuss different approaches to each of these phases that are able to deal with the regression problem, categorizing them in terms of their relevant characteristics and linking them to contributions from different fields. Furthermore, this work makes it possible to identify interesting areas for future research.

Abstract
In this paper we are concerned with the problem of inducing recursive Horn clauses from small sets of training examples. The method of iterative bootstrap induction is presented. In the first step, the system generates simple clauses, which can be regarded as properties of the required definition. Properties represent generalizations of the positive examples, simulating the effect of having larger number of examples. Properties are used subsequently to induce the required recursive definitions. This paper describes the method together with a series of experiments. The results support the thesis that iterative bootstrap induction is indeed an effective technique that could be of general use in ILP.