Data analysis input-output mapping

The objective of data analysis (or feature extraction) is to transform numeric inputs in such a way as to reject irrelevant information that can confuse the information of interest and to accentuate information that supports the feature mapping. This usually is accomplished by some form of numeric-numeric transformation in which the numeric input data are transformed into a set of numeric features. The numeric-numeric transformation makes use of a process model to map between the input and the output. 

As discussed and illustrated in the introduction, data analysis can be conveniently viewed in terms of two categories of numeric-numeric manipulation, input and input-output, both of which transform numeric data into more valuable forms of numeric data. Input manipulations map from input data without knowledge of the output variables, generally to transform the input data to a more convenient representation that has unnecessary information removed while retaining the essential information. As presented in Section IV, input-output manipulations relate input variables to numeric output variables for the purpose of predictive modeling and may include an implicit or explicit input transformation step for reducing input dimensionality. When applied to data interpretation, the primary emphasis of input and input-output manipulation is on feature extraction, driving extracted features from the process data toward useful numeric information on plant behaviors. 

Input Analysis addresses input mapping approaches that transform input data without knowledge of or interest in output variables. 

Fig. 2. Flowchart of the suggested procedure for the mapping algorithm, from raw seismic data to segmented geo-body output. The output result from the marching method may directly be apphed to the different analysis steps in the rightmost block. Otherwise, it is input to the refining level set method.

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