This paper proposes a multi-spectral random forest classifier with suitable feature selection and masking for tree cover estimation in urban areas. The key feature of the proposed classifier is filtering out the built-up region using spectral indices followed by random forest classification on the remaining mask with carefully selected features. Using Sentinel-2 satellite imagery, we evaluate the performance of the proposed technique on a specified area (approximately 82 acres) of Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) and demonstrate that our method outperforms a conventional random forest classifier as well as state-of-the-art methods such as European Space Agency (ESA) WorldCover 10m 2020 product as well as a DeepLabv3 deep learning architecture.

Bias mitigation methods for binary classification decision-making systems have been widely researched due to the ever-growing importance of designing fair machine learning processes that are impartial and do not discriminate against individuals or groups based on protected personal characteristics. In this paper, we present a structured overview of the research landscape for bias mitigation methods, report on their benefits and limitations, and provide recommendations for the development of future bias mitigation methods for binary classification.

From a more practical point of view, recent studies [Pawelczyk et al., 2022] show that the prescribed counterfactual recourses are often not implemented exactly by individuals and demonstrate that most state-of-the-art CE algorithms are very likely to fail in this noisy environment. To address these issues, we propose a probabilistic framework that gives a sparse local counterfactual rule for each observation, providing rules that give a range of values capable of changing decisions with high probability. These rules serve as a summary of diverse counterfactual explanations and yield robust recourses. We further aggregate these local rules into a regional counterfactual rule, identifying shared recourses for subgroups of the data. Our local and regional rules are derived from the Random Forest algorithm, which offers statistical guarantees and fidelity to data distribution by selecting recourses in high-density regions. Moreover, our rules are sparse as we first select the smallest set of variables having a high probability of changing the decision. We have conducted experiments to validate the effectiveness of our counterfactual rules in comparison to standard CE and recent similar attempts. Our methods are available as a Python package.

We propose methods to improve the forecasts from generalized autoregressive score (GAS) models (Creal et. al, 2013; Harvey, 2013) by localizing their parameters using decision trees and random forests. These methods avoid the curse of dimensionality faced by kernel-based approaches, and allow one to draw on information from multiple state variables simultaneously. We apply the new models to four distinct empirical analyses, and in all applications the proposed new methods significantly outperform the baseline GAS model. In our applications to stock return volatility and density prediction, the optimal GAS tree model reveals a leverage effect and a variance risk premium effect. Our study of stock-bond dependence finds evidence of a flight-to-quality effect in the optimal GAS forest forecasts, while our analysis of high-frequency trade durations uncovers a volume-volatility effect.

Road accidents involving autonomous vehicles commonly occur in situations where a (pedestrian) obstacle presents itself in the path of the moving vehicle at very sudden time intervals, leaving the robot even lesser time to react to the change in scene. In order to tackle this issue, we propose a novel algorithmic implementation that classifies the intent of a single arbitrarily chosen pedestrian in a two dimensional frame into logic states in a procedural manner using quaternions generated from a MediaPipe pose estimation model. This bypasses the need to employ any relatively high latency deep-learning algorithms primarily due to the lack of necessity for depth perception as well as an implicit cap on the computational resources that most IoT edge devices present. The model was able to achieve an average testing accuracy of 83.56% with a reliable variance of 0.0042 while operating with an average latency of 48 milliseconds, demonstrating multiple notable advantages over the current standard of using spatio-temporal convolutional networks for these perceptive tasks.

Machine learning (ML) refers to computer algorithms that predict a meaningful output or categorize complex systems based on a large amount of data. ML is applied in various areas including natural science, engineering, space exploration, and even gaming development. This review focuses on the use of machine learning in the field of chemical and biological oceanography. In the prediction of global fixed nitrogen levels, partial carbon dioxide pressure, and other chemical properties, the application of ML is a promising tool. Machine learning is also utilized in the field of biological oceanography to detect planktonic forms from various images (i.e., microscopy, FlowCAM, and video recorders), spectrometers, and other signal processing techniques. Moreover, ML successfully classified the mammals using their acoustics, detecting endangered mammalian and fish species in a specific environment. Most importantly, using environmental data, the ML proved to be an effective method for predicting hypoxic conditions and harmful algal bloom events, an essential measurement in terms of environmental monitoring. Furthermore, machine learning was used to construct a number of databases for various species that will be useful to other researchers, and the creation of new algorithms will help the marine research community better comprehend the chemistry and biology of the ocean.

Many high-performing machine learning models are not interpretable. As they are increasingly used in decision scenarios that can critically affect individuals, it is necessary to develop tools to better understand their outputs. Popular explanation methods include contrastive explanations. However, they suffer several shortcomings, among others an insufficient incorporation of background knowledge, and a lack of interactivity. While (dialogue-like) interactivity is important to better communicate an explanation, background knowledge has the potential to significantly improve their quality, e.g., by adapting the explanation to the needs of the end-user. To close this gap, we present REASONX, an explanation tool based on Constraint Logic Programming (CLP). REASONX provides interactive contrastive explanations that can be augmented by background knowledge, and allows to operate under a setting of under-specified information, leading to increased flexibility in the provided explanations. REASONX computes factual and constrative decision rules, as well as closest constrative examples. It provides explanations for decision trees, which can be the ML models under analysis, or global/local surrogate models of any ML model. While the core part of REASONX is built on CLP, we also provide a program layer that allows to compute the explanations via Python, making the tool accessible to a wider audience. We illustrate the capability of REASONX on a synthetic data set, and on a a well-developed example in the credit domain. In both cases, we can show how REASONX can be flexibly used and tailored to the needs of the user.

This study explores a new methodology for machine learning classification tasks in 2-dimensional visualization space (2-D ML) using Visual knowledge Discovery in lossless General Line Coordinates. It is shown that this is a full machine learning approach that does not require processing n-dimensional data in an abstract n-dimensional space. It enables discovering n-D patterns in 2-D space without loss of n-D information using graph representations of n-D data in 2-D. Specifically, this study shows that it can be done with static and dynamic In-line Based Coordinates in different modifications, which are a category of General Line Coordinates. Based on these inline coordinates, classification and regression methods were developed. The viability of the strategy was shown by two case studies based on benchmark datasets (Wisconsin Breast Cancer and Page Block Classification datasets). The characteristics of page block classification data led to the development of an algorithm for imbalanced high-resolution data with multiple classes, which exploits the decision trees as a model design facilitator producing a model, which is more general than a decision tree. This work accelerates the ongoing consolidation of an emerging field of full 2-D machine learning and its methodology. Within this methodology the end users can discover models and justify them as self-service. Providing interpretable ML models is another benefit of this approach.

To increase the interpretability and prediction accuracy of the Machine Learning (ML) models, visualization of ML models is a key part of the ML process. Decision Trees (DTs) are essential in machine learning (ML) because they are used to understand many black box ML models including Deep Learning models. In this research, two new methods for creation and enhancement with complete visualizing Decision Trees as understandable models are suggested. These methods use two versions of General Line Coordinates (GLC): Bended Coordinates (BC) and Shifted Paired Coordinates (SPC). The Bended Coordinates are a set of line coordinates, where each coordinate is bended in a threshold point of the respective DT node. In SPC, each n-D point is visualized in a set of shifted pairs of 2-D Cartesian coordinates as a directed graph. These new methods expand and complement the capabilities of existing methods to visualize DT models more completely. These capabilities allow us to observe and analyze: (1) relations between attributes, (2) individual cases relative to the DT structure, (3) data flow in the DT, (4) sensitivity of each split threshold in the DT nodes, and (5) density of cases in parts of the n-D space. These features are critical for DT models' performance evaluation and improvement by domain experts and end users as they help to prevent overgeneralization and overfitting of the models. The advantages of this methodology are illustrated in the case studies on benchmark real-world datasets. The paper also demonstrates how to generalize them for decision tree visualizations in different General Line Coordinates.

Multivariate temporal, or time, series classification is, in a way, the temporal generalization of (numeric) classification, as every instance is described by multiple time series instead of multiple values. Symbolic classification is the machine learning strategy to extract explicit knowledge from a data set, and the problem of symbolic classification of multivariate temporal series requires the design, implementation, and test of ad-hoc machine learning algorithms, such as, for example, algorithms for the extraction of temporal versions of decision trees. One of the most well-known algorithms for decision tree extraction from categorical data is Quinlan's ID3, which was later extended to deal with numerical attributes, resulting in an algorithm known as C4.5, and implemented in many open-sources data mining libraries, including the so-called Weka, which features an implementation of C4.5 called J48. ID3 was recently generalized to deal with temporal data in form of timelines, which can be seen as discrete (categorical) versions of multivariate time series, and such a generalization, based on the interval temporal logic HS, is known as Temporal ID3. In this paper we introduce Temporal C4.5, that allows the extraction of temporal decision trees from undiscretized multivariate time series, describe its implementation, called Temporal J48, and discuss the outcome of a set of experiments with the latter on a collection of public data sets, comparing the results with those obtained by other, classical, multivariate time series classification methods.