Regression
Machine Learning Algorithms For Beginners with Code Examples in Python
Check out our tutorial diving into simple linear regression with math and Python. A computer program is said to learn from experience E with respect to some class of tasks T and performance measure P, if its performance at tasks in T, as measured by P, improves with experience E. Tom M. Mitchell [1] Machine learning behaves similarly to the growth of a child. As a child grows, her experience E in performing task T increases, which results in higher performance measure (P). For instance, we give a "shape sorting block" toy to a child. In this case, our task T is to find an appropriate shape hole for a shape.
Asymptotic Theory of $\ell_1$-Regularized PDE Identification from a Single Noisy Trajectory
He, Yuchen, Suh, Namjoon, Huo, Xiaoming, Kang, Sungha, Mei, Yajun
We prove the support recovery for a general class of linear and nonlinear evolutionary partial differential equation (PDE) identification from a single noisy trajectory using $\ell_1$ regularized Pseudo-Least Squares model~($\ell_1$-PsLS). In any associative $\mathbb{R}$-algebra generated by finitely many differentiation operators that contain the unknown PDE operator, applying $\ell_1$-PsLS to a given data set yields a family of candidate models with coefficients $\mathbf{c}(\lambda)$ parameterized by the regularization weight $\lambda\geq 0$. The trace of $\{\mathbf{c}(\lambda)\}_{\lambda\geq 0}$ suffers from high variance due to data noises and finite difference approximation errors. We provide a set of sufficient conditions which guarantee that, from a single trajectory data denoised by a Local-Polynomial filter, the support of $\mathbf{c}(\lambda)$ asymptotically converges to the true signed-support associated with the underlying PDE for sufficiently many data and a certain range of $\lambda$. We also show various numerical experiments to validate our theory.
Max-Linear Regression by Scalable and Guaranteed Convex Programming
Kim, Seonho, Bahmani, Sohail, Lee, Kiryung
We consider the multivariate max-linear regression problem where the model parameters $\boldsymbol{\beta}_{1},\dotsc,\boldsymbol{\beta}_{k}\in\mathbb{R}^{p}$ need to be estimated from $n$ independent samples of the (noisy) observations $y = \max_{1\leq j \leq k} \boldsymbol{\beta}_{j}^{\mathsf{T}} \boldsymbol{x} + \mathrm{noise}$. The max-linear model vastly generalizes the conventional linear model, and it can approximate any convex function to an arbitrary accuracy when the number of linear models $k$ is large enough. However, the inherent nonlinearity of the max-linear model renders the estimation of the regression parameters computationally challenging. Particularly, no estimator based on convex programming is known in the literature. We formulate and analyze a scalable convex program as the estimator for the max-linear regression problem. Under the standard Gaussian observation setting, we present a non-asymptotic performance guarantee showing that the convex program recovers the parameters with high probability. When the $k$ linear components are equally likely to achieve the maximum, our result shows that a sufficient number of observations scales as $k^{2}p$ up to a logarithmic factor. This significantly improves on the analogous prior result based on alternating minimization (Ghosh et al., 2019). Finally, through a set of Monte Carlo simulations, we illustrate that our theoretical result is consistent with empirical behavior, and the convex estimator for max-linear regression is as competitive as the alternating minimization algorithm in practice.
Doubly robust confidence sequences for sequential causal inference
Waudby-Smith, Ian, Arbour, David, Sinha, Ritwik, Kennedy, Edward H., Ramdas, Aaditya
This paper derives time-uniform confidence sequences (CS) for causal effects in experimental and observational settings. A confidence sequence for a target parameter $\psi$ is a sequence of confidence intervals $(C_t)_{t=1}^\infty$ such that every one of these intervals simultaneously captures $\psi$ with high probability. Such CSs provide valid statistical inference for $\psi$ at arbitrary stopping times, unlike classical fixed-time confidence intervals which require the sample size to be fixed in advance. Existing methods for constructing CSs focus on the nonasymptotic regime where certain assumptions (such as known bounds on the random variables) are imposed, while doubly-robust estimators of causal effects rely on (asymptotic) semiparametric theory. We use sequential versions of central limit theorem arguments to construct large-sample CSs for causal estimands, with a particular focus on the average treatment effect (ATE) under nonparametric conditions. These CSs allow analysts to update statistical inferences about the ATE in lieu of new data, and experiments can be continuously monitored, stopped, or continued for any data-dependent reason, all while controlling the type-I error rate. Finally, we describe how these CSs readily extend to other causal estimands and estimators, providing a new framework for sequential causal inference in a wide array of problems.
Integrated Age Estimation Mechanism
Li, Fan, Li, Yongming, Wang, Pin, Xiao, Jie, Yan, Fang, Li, Xinke
Machine-learning-based age estimation has received lots of attention. Traditional age estimation mechanism focuses estimation age error, but ignores that there is a deviation between the estimated age and real age due to disease. Pathological age estimation mechanism the author proposed before introduces age deviation to solve the above problem and improves classification capability of the estimated age significantly. However,it does not consider the age estimation error of the normal control (NC) group and results in a larger error between the estimated age and real age of NC group. Therefore, an integrated age estimation mechanism based on Decision-Level fusion of error and deviation orientation model is proposed to solve the problem.Firstly, the traditional age estimation and pathological age estimation mechanisms are weighted together.Secondly, their optimal weights are obtained by minimizing mean absolute error (MAE) between the estimated age and real age of normal people. In the experimental section, several representative age-related datasets are used for verification of the proposed method. The results show that the proposed age estimation mechanism achieves a good tradeoff effect of age estimation. It not only improves the classification ability of the estimated age, but also reduces the age estimation error of the NC group. In general, the proposed age estimation mechanism is effective. Additionally, the mechanism is a framework mechanism that can be used to construct different specific age estimation algorithms, contributing to relevant research.
Machine Learning Adds Little to MI Prognostication
Machine learning (ML) algorithms developed to predict in-hospital mortality after acute MI offered more meaningful gains in model calibration than in accuracy, researchers found. Parsing through data on 29 variables from the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Chest Pain-MI Registry, extreme gradient descent boosting (XGBoost) and meta-classifier models offered no substantive improvement in discrimination compared with standard logistic regression modeling (C-statistics 0.90 for both vs 0.89), reported Harlan Krumholz, MD, SM, of Yale School of Medicine, and colleagues. However, the two ML models showed nearly perfect agreement between observed and predicted risk across the risk spectrum. Of the people deemed moderate-to-high risk in logistic regression, 27% were more accurately reclassified as low risk by the XGBoost model and 25% by the meta-classifier model -- both more consistent with the observed event rates. "These findings suggest that ML models are not associated with substantially better prediction of risk of death after acute MI but may offer greater resolution of risk, which can better clarify the individual risk for adverse outcomes," Krumholz's group reported in a paper published online in JAMA Cardiology.
Piecewise linear regression and classification
This paper proposes a method for solving multivariate regression and classification problems using piecewise linear predictors over a polyhedral partition of the feature space. The resulting algorithm that we call PARC (Piecewise Affine Regression and Classification) alternates between (i) solving ridge regression problems for numeric targets, softmax regression problems for categorical targets, and either softmax regression or cluster centroid computation for piecewise linear separation, and (ii) assigning the training points to different clusters on the basis of a criterion that balances prediction accuracy and piecewise-linear separability. We prove that PARC is a block-coordinate descent algorithm that optimizes a suitably constructed objective function, and that it converges in a finite number of steps to a local minimum of that function. The accuracy of the algorithm is extensively tested numerically on synthetic and real-world datasets, showing that the approach provides an extension of linear regression/classification that is particularly useful when the obtained predictor is used as part of an optimization model. A Python implementation of the algorithm described in this paper is available at http://cse.lab.imtlucca.it/~bemporad/parc .
Interpretable Machines: Constructing Valid Prediction Intervals with Random Forests
An important issue when using Machine Learning algorithms in recent research is the lack of interpretability. Although these algorithms provide accurate point predictions for various learning problems, uncertainty estimates connected with point predictions are rather sparse. A contribution to this gap for the Random Forest Regression Learner is presented here. Based on its Out-of-Bag procedure, several parametric and non-parametric prediction intervals are provided for Random Forest point predictions and theoretical guarantees for its correct coverage probability is delivered. In a second part, a thorough investigation through Monte-Carlo simulation is conducted evaluating the performance of the proposed methods from three aspects: (i) Analyzing the correct coverage rate of the proposed prediction intervals, (ii) Inspecting interval width and (iii) Verifying the competitiveness of the proposed intervals with existing methods. The simulation yields that the proposed prediction intervals are robust towards non-normal residual distributions and are competitive by providing correct coverage rates and comparably narrow interval lengths, even for comparably small samples.
Challenges for Reinforcement Learning in Healthcare
Riachi, Elsa, Mamdani, Muhammad, Fralick, Michael, Rudzicz, Frank
Many healthcare decisions involve navigating through a multitude of treatment options in a sequential and iterative manner to find an optimal treatment pathway with the goal of an optimal patient outcome. Such optimization problems may be amenable to reinforcement learning. A reinforcement learning agent could be trained to provide treatment recommendations for physicians, acting as a decision support tool. However, a number of difficulties arise when using RL beyond benchmark environments, such as specifying the reward function, choosing an appropriate state representation and evaluating the learned policy.
Sentiment Analysis using Logistic Regression and Naive Bayes
In supervised machine learning, you usually have an input X, which goes into your prediction function to get your Y . You can then compare your prediction with the true value Y. This gives you your cost which you use to update the parameters θ. Sentiment analysis (also known as opinion mining or emotion AI) refers to the use of natural language processing, text analysis, computational linguistics, and biometrics to systematically identify, extract, quantify, and study affective states and subjective information. So, let's start sentiment analysis using Logistic Regression We will be using the sample twitter data set for this exercise.