Accurate ensemble pruning with PL-bagging

Ensemble pruning deals with the selection of base learners prior to combination in order to improve prediction accuracy and efficiency. In the ensemble literature, it has been pointed out that in order for an ensemble classifier to achieve higher prediction accuracy, it is critical for the ensemble classifier to consist of accurate classifiers which at the same time diverse as much as possible. In this paper, a novel ensemble pruning method, called PL-bagging, is proposed. In order to attain the balance between diversity and accuracy of base learners, PL-bagging employs positive Lasso to assign weights to base learners in the combination step. Simulation studies and theoretical investigation showed that PL-bagging filters out redundant base learners while it assigns higher weights to more accurate base learners. Such improved weighting scheme of PL-bagging further results in higher classification accuracy and the improvement becomes even more significant as the ensemble size increases. The performance of PL-bagging was compared with state-of-the-art ensemble pruning methods for aggregation of bootstrapped base learners using 22 real and 4 synthetic datasets. The results indicate that PL-bagging significantly outperforms state-of-the-art ensemble pruning methods such as Boosting-based pruning and Trimmed bagging.     

Extending boosting for large scale spoken language understanding

We propose three methods for extending the Boosting family of classifiers motivated by the real-life problems we have encountered. First, we propose a semisupervised learning method for exploiting the unlabeled data in Boosting. We then present a novel classification model adaptation method. The goal of adaptation is optimizing an existing model for a new target application, which is similar to the previous one but may have different classes or class distributions. Finally, we present an efficient and effective cost-sensitive classification method that extends Boosting to allow for weighted classes. We evaluated these methods for call classification in the AT&;T VoiceTone^® spoken language understanding system. Our results indicate that it is possible to obtain the same classification performance by using 30% less labeled data when the unlabeled data is utilized through semisupervised learning. Using model adaptation we can achieve the same classification accuracy using less than half of the labeled data from the new application. Finally, we present significant improvements in the “important” (i.e., higher weighted) classes without a significant loss in overall performance using the proposed cost-sensitive classification method.     

Face detection based on skin color likelihood

We propose a face detection method based on skin color likelihood via a boosting algorithm which emphasizes skin color information while deemphasizing non-skin color information. A stochastic model is adapted to compute the similarity between a color region and the skin color. Both Haar-like features and Local Binary Pattern (LBP) features are utilized to build a cascaded classifier. The boosted classifier is implemented based on skin color emphasis to localize the face region from a color image. Based on our experiments, the proposed method shows good tolerance to face pose variation and complex background with significant improvements over classical boosting-based classifiers in terms of total error rate performance.     

基于万有引力的自适应近邻传播聚类算法

针对近邻传播（AP）聚类算法对参数偏向参数（Preference）敏感、不适用于稀疏数据、聚类结果中会出现错误聚类的样本点的问题,提出基于万有引力的自适应近邻传播聚类（GA-AP）算法。首先,在传统AP算法的基础上采用引力搜索机制对样本进行全局寻优;其次,在全局寻优的基础上利用信息熵和自适应增强（AdaBoost）算法找到每个簇内正确聚类和错误聚类的样本点,并计算出这些样本点的权值,用计算出的权值更新对应的样本点,从而更新相似度、Preference取值、吸引度和隶属度,并进行重新聚类。不断操作以上步骤直到达到最大的迭代次数。通过在9个数据集上的仿真实验得出,相比于基于自适应属性加权的近邻传播聚类（AFW_AP）算法、AP算法、K均值聚类（K-means）算法和模糊C均值（FCM）算法,所提算法的纯度（Purity）、F值（F-measure）和准确率（ACC）的平均值分别最高提升了0.69、71.74%和98.5%。实验结果表明,所提算法降低了对偏向参数的依赖,提高了聚类效果,特别是对于稀疏数据集的聚类结果的准确率。     

优化三元组损失的深度距离度量学习方法

针对基于三元组损失的单一深度距离度量在多样化数据集环境下适应性差,且容易造成过拟合的问题,提出了一种优化三元组损失的深度距离度量学习方法。首先,对经过神经网络映射的三元组训练样本的相对距离进行阈值化处理,并使用线性分段函数作为相对距离的评价函数;然后,将评价函数作为一个弱分类器加入到Boosting算法中生成一个强分类器;最后,采用交替优化的方法来学习弱分类器和神经网络的参数。通过在图像检索任务中对各种深度距离度量学习方法进行评估,可以看到所提方法在CUB-200-2011、Cars-196和SOP数据集上的Recall@1值比之前最好的成绩分别提高了4.2、3.2和0.6。实验结果表明,所提方法的性能优于对比方法,同时在一定程度上避免了过拟合。     

利用贝叶斯结构模型的复杂形状建筑物提取

现有的建筑物轮廓提取方法在处理非矩形的复杂形状建筑物时存在局限性,为克服这一缺点,提出一种航拍图像复杂形状建筑物轮廓的提取方法.针对复杂形状建筑物结构不规则的特点,提出一种贝叶斯结构模型.该模型以概率的形式表示建筑物边缘之间的连接关系;并引入Boosting决策树方法,综合考虑建筑物边缘周围的颜色和纹理等多种图像信息,增强了模型的鲁棒性.另外,设计了一种长度归一化的能量函数来描述建筑物轮廓,并运用图优化算法全局寻优,实现对建筑物轮廓的提取.实验结果表明,该方法能有效地提取多种复杂形状建筑物的轮廓.     

Efficient Learning of Relational Object Class Models

We present an efficient method for learning part-based object class models from unsegmented images represented as sets of salient features. A model includes parts’ appearance, as well as location and scale relations between parts. The object class is generatively modeled using a simple Bayesian network with a central hidden node containing location and scale information, and nodes describing object parts. The model’s parameters, however, are optimized to reduce a loss function of the training error, as in discriminative methods. We show how boosting techniques can be extended to optimize the relational model proposed, with complexity linear in the number of parts and the number of features per image. This efficiency allows our method to learn relational models with many parts and features. The method has an advantage over purely generative and purely discriminative approaches for learning from sets of salient features, since generative method often use a small number of parts and features, while discriminative methods tend to ignore geometrical relations between parts. Experimental results are described, using some bench-mark data sets and three sets of newly collected data, showing the relative merits of our method in recognition and localization tasks.     

基于Boosting算法集成遗传模糊分类器的文本分类

提出一种新颖的基于Boosting模糊分类的文本分类方法。首先采用潜在语义索引(LSI)对文本特征进行选择;然后提出Boosting算法集成模糊分类器学习,在每轮迭代训练过程中,算法通过调整训练样本的分布,利用遗传算法产生分类规则。减少分类规则能够正确分类样本的权值,使得新产生的分类规则重点考虑难于分类的样本。实验结果表明,该文本分类算法具有良好分类的性能。     

Combining appearance and motion for face and gender recognition from videos

While many works consider moving faces only as collections of frames and apply still image-based methods, recent developments indicate that excellent results can be obtained using texture-based spatiotemporal representations for describing and analyzing faces in videos. Inspired by the psychophysical findings which state that facial movements can provide valuable information to face analysis, and also by our recent success in using LBP (local binary patterns) for combining appearance and motion for dynamic texture analysis, this paper investigates the combination of facial appearance (the shape of the face) and motion (the way a person is talking and moving his/her facial features) for face analysis in videos. We propose and study an approach for spatiotemporal face and gender recognition from videos using an extended set of volume LBP features and a boosting scheme. We experiment with several publicly available video face databases and consider different benchmark methods for comparison. Our extensive experimental analysis clearly assesses the promising performance of the LBP-based spatiotemporal representations for describing and analyzing faces in videos.     

Learning Fast Emulators of Binary Decision Processes

Computation time is an important performance characteristic of computer vision algorithms. The paper shows how existing (slow) binary decision algorithms can be approximated by a (fast) trained WaldBoost classifier. WaldBoost learning minimises the decision time of the classifier while guaranteeing predefined precision. We show that the WaldBoost algorithm together with bootstrapping is able to efficiently handle an effectively unlimited number of training examples provided by the implementation of the approximated algorithm. Two interest point detectors, the Hessian-Laplace and the Kadir-Brady saliency detectors, are emulated to demonstrate the approach. Experiments show that while the repeatability and matching scores are similar for the original and emulated algorithms, a 9-fold speed-up for the Hessian-Laplace detector and a 142-fold speed-up for the Kadir-Brady detector is achieved. For the Hessian-Laplace detector, the achieved speed is similar to SURF, a popular and very fast handcrafted modification of Hessian-Laplace; the WaldBoost emulator approximates the output of the Hessian-Laplace detector more precisely.