In this paper we present a novel approach to learn directed acyclic graphs (DAG) and factor models within the same framework while also allowing for model comparison between them. For this purpose, we exploit the connection between factor models and DAGs to propose Bayesian hierarchies based on spike and slab priors to promote sparsity, heavy-tailed priors to ensure identifiability and predictive densities to perform the model comparison. We require identifiability to be able to produce variable orderings leading to valid DAGs and sparsity to learn the structures. The effectiveness of our approach is demonstrated through extensive experiments on artificial and biological data showing that our approach outperform a number of state of the art methods.

We show that convex KL-regularized objective functions are obtained from a PAC-Bayes risk bound when using convex loss functions for the stochastic Gibbs classifier that upper-bound the standard zero-one loss used for the weighted majority vote. By restricting ourselves to a class of posteriors, that we call quasi uniform, we propose a simple coordinate descent learning algorithm to minimize the proposed KL-regularized cost function. We show that standard ell_p-regularized objective functions currently used, such as ridge regression and ell_p-regularized boosting, are obtained from a relaxation of the KL divergence between the quasi uniform posterior and the uniform prior. We present numerical experiments where the proposed learning algorithm generally outperforms ridge regression and AdaBoost.

Multiple object class learning and detection is a challenging problem due to the large number of object classes and their high visual variability. Specialized detectors usually excel in performance, while joint representations optimize sharing and reduce inference time --- but are complex to train. Conveniently, sequential learning of categories cuts down training time by transferring existing knowledge to novel classes, but cannot fully exploit the richness of shareability and might depend on ordering in learning. In hierarchical frameworks these issues have been little explored. In this paper, we show how different types of multi-class learning can be done within one generative hierarchical framework and provide a rigorous experimental analysis of various object class learning strategies as the number of classes grows. Specifically, we propose, evaluate and compare three important types of multi-class learning: 1.) independent training of individual categories, 2.) joint training of classes, 3.) sequential learning of classes. We explore and compare their computational behavior (space and time) and detection performance as a function of the number of learned classes on several recognition data sets.

Schizophrenia is a complex psychiatric disorder that has eluded a characterization in terms of local abnormalities of brain activity, and is hypothesized to affect the collective, ``emergent working of the brain. We propose a novel data-driven approach to capture emergent features using functional brain networks [Eguiluzet al] extracted from fMRI data, and demonstrate its advantage over traditional region-of-interest (ROI) and local, task-specific linear activation analyzes. Our results suggest that schizophrenia is indeed associated with disruption of global, emergent brain properties related to its functioning as a network, which cannot be explained by alteration of local activation patterns. Moreover, further exploitation of interactions by sparse Markov Random Field classifiers shows clear gain over linear methods, such as Gaussian Naive Bayes and SVM, allowing to reach 86% accuracy (over 50% baseline - random guess), which is quite remarkable given that it is based on a single fMRI experiment using a simple auditory task.

This paper tackles the problem of selecting among several linear estimators in non-parametric regression; this includes model selection for linear regression, the choice of a regularization parameter in kernel ridge regression or spline smoothing, and the choice of a kernel in multiple kernel learning. We propose a new algorithm which first estimates consistently the variance of the noise, based upon the concept of minimal penalty which was previously introduced in the context of model selection. Then, plugging our variance estimate in Mallows $C_L$ penalty is proved to lead to an algorithm satisfying an oracle inequality. Simulation experiments with kernel ridge regression and multiple kernel learning show that the proposed algorithm often improves significantly existing calibration procedures such as 10-fold cross-validation or generalized cross-validation.

We present an approach to identifying concurrent patterns of behavior in in-sample temporal factor training data that precede Events of Interest (EoIs). We also present how to use discovered patterns to forecast EoIs in out-of-sample test data. The forecasting methodology is based on matching entities' observed behaviors to patterns discovered in retrospective data. This pattern concept is a generalization of previous pattern definitions. The new pattern concept, based around patterns observed in trends of factor data is based on a finite-state model where observed, sustained trends in a factor map to pattern states. Discovered patterns can be used as a diagnostic tool to better understand the dynamic conditions leading up to specific Event of Interest occurrences and hint at underlying causal structures leading to onsets and terminations of socio-political violence. We present a computationally efficient data-mining method to discover trend patterns. We give an example of using our pattern forecasting methodology to correctly forecast the advent and cessation of ethnic-religious violence in nation states with a low false-alarm rate.

After building a classifier with modern tools of machine learning we typically have a black box at hand that is able to predict well for unseen data. Thus, we get an answer to the question what is the most likely label of a given unseen data point. However, most methods will provide no answer why the model predicted the particular label for a single instance and what features were most influential for that particular instance. The only method that is currently able to provide such explanations are decision trees. This paper proposes a procedure which (based on a set of assumptions) allows to explain the decisions of any classification method.

This article considers the task of automatically inducing role-semantic annotations in the FrameNet paradigm for new languages. We propose a general framework that is based on annotation projection, phrased as a graph optimization problem. It is relatively inexpensive and has the potential to reduce the human effort involved in creating role-semantic resources. Within this framework, we present projection models that exploit lexical and syntactic information. We provide an experimental evaluation on an English-German parallel corpus which demonstrates the feasibility of inducing high-precision German semantic role annotation both for manually and automatically annotated English data.

Ensemble methods, such as stacking, are designed to boost predictive accuracy by blending the predictions of multiple machine learning models. Recent work has shown that the use of meta-features, additional inputs describing each example in a dataset, can boost the performance of ensemble methods, but the greatest reported gains have come from nonlinear procedures requiring significant tuning and training time. Here, we present a linear technique, Feature-Weighted Linear Stacking (FWLS), that incorporates meta-features for improved accuracy while retaining the well-known virtues of linear regression regarding speed, stability, and interpretability. FWLS combines model predictions linearly using coefficients that are themselves linear functions of meta-features. This technique was a key facet of the solution of the second place team in the recently concluded Netflix Prize competition. Significant increases in accuracy over standard linear stacking are demonstrated on the Netflix Prize collaborative filtering dataset.

Medical Informatics and the application of modern signal processing in the assistance of the diagnostic process in medical imaging is one of the more recent and active research areas today. This thesis addresses a variety of issues related to the general problem of medical image analysis, specifically in mammography, and presents a series of algorithms and design approaches for all the intermediate levels of a modern system for computer-aided diagnosis (CAD). The diagnostic problem is analyzed with a systematic approach, first defining the imaging characteristics and features that are relevant to probable pathology in mammo-grams. Next, these features are quantified and fused into new, integrated radio-logical systems that exhibit embedded digital signal processing, in order to improve the final result and minimize the radiological dose for the patient. In a higher level, special algorithms are designed for detecting and encoding these clinically interest-ing imaging features, in order to be used as input to advanced pattern classifiers and machine learning models. Finally, these approaches are extended in multi-classifier models under the scope of Game Theory and optimum collective deci-sion, in order to produce efficient solutions for combining classifiers with minimum computational costs for advanced diagnostic systems. The material covered in this thesis is related to a total of 18 published papers, 6 in scientific journals and 12 in international conferences.