K-Means for Spherical Clusters with Large Variance in Sizes

Data clustering is an important data exploration technique with many applications in data mining. The k-means algorithm is well known for its efficiency in clustering large data sets. However, this algorithm is suitable for spherical shaped clusters of similar sizes and densities. The quality of the resulting clusters decreases when the data set contains spherical shaped with large variance in sizes. In this paper, we introduce a competent procedure to overcome this problem. The proposed method is based on shifting the center of the large cluster toward the small cluster, and recomputing the membership of small cluster points, the experimental results reveal that the proposed algorithm produces satisfactory results.

DCBOR: A Density Clustering Based on Outlier Removal

Data clustering is an important data exploration technique with many applications in data mining. We present an enhanced version of the well known single link clustering algorithm. We will refer to this algorithm as DCBOR. The proposed algorithm alleviates the chain effect by removing the outliers from the given dataset. So this algorithm provides outlier detection and data clustering simultaneously. This algorithm does not need to update the distance matrix, since the algorithm depends on merging the most k-nearest objects in one step and the cluster continues grow as long as possible under specified condition. So the algorithm consists of two phases; at the first phase, it removes the outliers from the input dataset. At the second phase, it performs the clustering process. This algorithm discovers clusters of different shapes, sizes, densities and requires only one input parameter; this parameter represents a threshold for outlier points. The value of the input parameter is ranging from 0 to 1. The algorithm supports the user in determining an appropriate value for it. We have tested this algorithm on different datasets contain outlier and connecting clusters by chain of density points, and the algorithm discovers the correct clusters. The results of our experiments demonstrate the effectiveness and the efficiency of DCBOR.

Density Clustering Based On Radius of Data (DCBRD)

Clustering algorithms are attractive for the task of class identification in spatial databases. However, the application to large spatial databases rises the following requirements for clustering algorithms: minimal requirements of domain knowledge to determine the input parameters, discovery of clusters with arbitrary shape and good efficiency on large databases. The well-known clustering algorithms offer no solution to the combination of these requirements. In this paper, a density based clustering algorithm (DCBRD) is presented, relying on a knowledge acquired from the data by dividing the data space into overlapped regions. The proposed algorithm discovers arbitrary shaped clusters, requires no input parameters and uses the same definitions of DBSCAN algorithm. We performed an experimental evaluation of the effectiveness and efficiency of it, and compared this results with that of DBSCAN. The results of our experiments demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is significantly efficient in discovering clusters of arbitrary shape and size.

Efficiency Evaluation of E-Commerce Websites

This study suggests a model of a new set of evaluation criteria that will be used to measure the efficiency of real-world E-commerce websites. Evaluation criteria include design, usability and performance for websites, the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique has been used to measure the websites efficiency. An efficient Web site is defined as a site that generates the most outputs, using the smallest amount of inputs. Inputs refer to measurements representing the amount of effort required to build, maintain and perform the site. Output is amount of traffic the site generates. These outputs are measured as the average number of daily hits and the average number of daily unique visitors.