Dataset scaling, also known as normalization, is an essential preprocessing step in a machine learning pipeline. It is aimed at adjusting attributes scales in a way that they all vary within the same range. This transformation is known to improve the performance of classification models, but there are several scaling techniques to choose from, and this choice is not generally done carefully. In this paper, we execute a broad experiment comparing the impact of 5 scaling techniques on the performances of 20 classification algorithms among monolithic and ensemble models, applying them to 82 publicly available datasets with varying imbalance ratios. Results show that the choice of scaling technique matters for classification performance, and the performance difference between the best and the worst scaling technique is relevant and statistically significant in most cases. They also indicate that choosing an inadequate technique can be more detrimental to classification performance than not scaling the data at all. We also show how the performance variation of an ensemble model, considering different scaling techniques, tends to be dictated by that of its base model. Finally, we discuss the relationship between a model's sensitivity to the choice of scaling technique and its performance and provide insights into its applicability on different model deployment scenarios. Full results and source code for the experiments in this paper are available in a GitHub repository.\footnote{https://github.com/amorimlb/scaling\_matters}

A classy diffusion model dancing in a ballroom こんにちは！AMBL株式会社　R＆D部のエイドリアンです。 こちらの記事はADVENT CALENDARの記事です。 今回は最近話題にな...

Metanomic, a game economics and player analytics company, announced in September the launch of its player analytics platform Thunderstruck, using AI based on Bayesian inference and aiming to revolutionize game developers' use of behavioral data to improve retention and monetization. Metanomic is a software company founded in November 2021 by Theo Priestley, Bronwyn Williams and Evan Pappas. A comprehensive real-time economy-as-a-service platform for developers, it uses patented algorithms to easily deploy plug-and-play, interoperable and scalable game and creator economies ready for web3, metavers and play-and-earn games. The company has secured $2.9 million in pre-seed funding. On May 18, it announced the acquisition of Intoolab AI, a company specializing in Bayesian network-based artificial intelligence, to develop and improve data analysis in video games and on the Web3.

Conditional independence (CI) tests underlie many approaches to model testing and structure learning in causal inference. Most existing CI tests for categorical and ordinal data stratify the sample by the conditioning variables, perform simple independence tests in each stratum, and combine the results. Unfortunately, the statistical power of this approach degrades rapidly as the number of conditioning variables increases. Here we propose a simple unified CI test for ordinal and categorical data that maintains reasonable calibration and power in high dimensions. We show that our test outperforms existing baselines in model testing and structure learning for dense directed graphical models while being comparable for sparse models. Our approach could be attractive for causal model testing because it is easy to implement, can be used with non-parametric or parametric probability models, has the symmetry property, and has reasonable computational requirements.

We consider the problem of recovering the causal structure underlying observations from different experimental conditions when the targets of the interventions in each experiment are unknown. We assume a linear structural causal model with additive Gaussian noise and consider interventions that perturb their targets while maintaining the causal relationships in the system. Different models may entail the same distributions, offering competing causal explanations for the given observations. We fully characterize this equivalence class and offer identifiability results, which we use to derive a greedy algorithm called GnIES to recover the equivalence class of the data-generating model without knowledge of the intervention targets. In addition, we develop a novel procedure to generate semi-synthetic data sets with known causal ground truth but distributions closely resembling those of a real data set of choice. We leverage this procedure and evaluate the performance of GnIES on synthetic, real, and semi-synthetic data sets. Despite the strong Gaussian distributional assumption, GnIES is robust to an array of model violations and competitive in recovering the causal structure in small- to large-sample settings. We provide, in the Python packages "gnies" and "sempler", implementations of GnIES and our semi-synthetic data generation procedure.

A new form of ML knowledge representation with high generalization power is developed and implemented numerically. Initial $\mathit{IN}$ attributes and $\mathit{OUT}$ class label are transformed into the corresponding Hilbert spaces by considering localized wavefunctions. A partially unitary operator optimally converting a state from $\mathit{IN}$ Hilbert space into $\mathit{OUT}$ Hilbert space is then built from an optimization problem of transferring maximal possible probability from $\mathit{IN}$ to $\mathit{OUT}$, this leads to the formulation of a new algebraic problem. Constructed Knowledge Generalizing Operator $\mathcal{U}$ can be considered as a $\mathit{IN}$ to $\mathit{OUT}$ quantum channel; it is a partially unitary rectangular matrix of the dimension $\mathrm{dim}(\mathit{OUT}) \times \mathrm{dim}(\mathit{IN})$ transforming operators as $A^{\mathit{OUT}}=\mathcal{U} A^{\mathit{IN}} \mathcal{U}^{\dagger}$. Whereas only operator $\mathcal{U}$ projections squared are observable $\left\langle\mathit{OUT}|\mathcal{U}|\mathit{IN}\right\rangle^2$ (probabilities), the fundamental equation is formulated for the operator $\mathcal{U}$ itself. This is the reason of high generalizing power of the approach; the situation is the same as for the Schr\"{o}dinger equation: we can only measure $\psi^2$, but the equation is written for $\psi$ itself.

This thesis considers sequential decision problems, where the loss/reward incurred by selecting an action may not be inferred from observed feedback. A major part of this thesis focuses on the unsupervised sequential selection problem, where one can not infer the loss incurred for selecting an action from observed feedback. We also introduce a new setup named Censored Semi Bandits, where the loss incurred for selecting an action can be observed under certain conditions. Finally, we study the channel selection problem in the communication networks, where the reward for an action is only observed when no other player selects that action to play in the round. These problems find applications in many fields like healthcare, crowd-sourcing, security, adaptive resource allocation, among many others. This thesis aims to address the above-described sequential decision problems by exploiting specific structures these problems exhibit. We develop provably optimal algorithms for each of these setups with weak feedback and validate their empirical performance on different problem instances derived from synthetic and real datasets.

Deep generative models parametrized up to a normalizing constant (e.g. energy-based models) are difficult to train by maximizing the likelihood of the data because the likelihood and/or gradients thereof cannot be explicitly or efficiently written down. Score matching is a training method, whereby instead of fitting the likelihood $\log p(x)$ for the training data, we instead fit the score function $\nabla_x \log p(x)$ -- obviating the need to evaluate the partition function. Though this estimator is known to be consistent, its unclear whether (and when) its statistical efficiency is comparable to that of maximum likelihood -- which is known to be (asymptotically) optimal. We initiate this line of inquiry in this paper, and show a tight connection between statistical efficiency of score matching and the isoperimetric properties of the distribution being estimated -- i.e. the Poincar\'e, log-Sobolev and isoperimetric constant -- quantities which govern the mixing time of Markov processes like Langevin dynamics. Roughly, we show that the score matching estimator is statistically comparable to the maximum likelihood when the distribution has a small isoperimetric constant. Conversely, if the distribution has a large isoperimetric constant -- even for simple families of distributions like exponential families with rich enough sufficient statistics -- score matching will be substantially less efficient than maximum likelihood. We suitably formalize these results both in the finite sample regime, and in the asymptotic regime. Finally, we identify a direct parallel in the discrete setting, where we connect the statistical properties of pseudolikelihood estimation with approximate tensorization of entropy and the Glauber dynamics.

The goal of co-clustering is to jointly perform a clustering of rows and a clustering of columns of a data table. Proposed by [Good, 1965] then by [Hartigan, 1975], co-clustering is an extension of the standard clustering that extracts the underlying structure in the data in the form of clusters of row and clusters of columns. The advantage of this technique, over the standard clustering, lies in the joint (simultaneous) analysis of the rows and columns which enables extracting the maximum of information about the interdependence between the two entities. The utility of co-clustering lies in its capacity to create easily interpretable clusters and its capability to reduce a large data table into a significantly smaller matrix having the same structure as the orig-Aichetou Bouchareb, Marc Boullé and Fabrice Clérot: Orange Labs, 2 Avenue Pierre Marzin 22300 Lannion - France, e-mail: firstname.

In this article, we aim to provide a literature review of different formulations and approaches to continual reinforcement learning (RL), also known as lifelong or non-stationary RL. We begin by discussing our perspective on why RL is a natural fit for studying continual learning. We then provide a taxonomy of different continual RL formulations by mathematically characterizing two key properties of non-stationarity, namely, the scope and driver non-stationarity. This offers a unified view of various formulations. Next, we review and present a taxonomy of continual RL approaches. We go on to discuss evaluation of continual RL agents, providing an overview of benchmarks used in the literature and important metrics for understanding agent performance. Finally, we highlight open problems and challenges in bridging the gap between the current state of continual RL and findings in neuroscience. While still in its early days, the study of continual RL has the promise to develop better incremental reinforcement learners that can function in increasingly realistic applications where non-stationarity plays a vital role. These include applications such as those in the fields of healthcare, education, logistics, and robotics.