The increasing availability of large but noisy data sets with a large number of heterogeneous variables leads to the increasing interest in the automation of common tasks for data analysis. The most time-consuming part of this process is the Exploratory Data Analysis, crucial for better domain understanding, data clean…
Sampling strategies significantly affect feature approximations in ELA, impacting classifier accuracy.
problem The impact of sampling strategies on feature approximations in ELA.
method Analysis of feature approximations from different sampling strategies and sample sizes.
result Feature approximations from different sampling strategies do not converge, affecting classifier accuracy.
In this paper, we build upon previous work on designing informative and efficient Exploratory Landscape Analysis features for characterizing problems' landscapes and show their effectiveness in automatically constructing algorithm selection models in continuous black-box optimization problems. Focussing on algorithm pe…
Choosing the best-performing optimizer(s) out of a portfolio of optimization algorithms is usually a difficult and complex task. It gets even worse, if the underlying functions are unknown, i.e., so-called Black-Box problems, and function evaluations are considered to be expensive. In the case of continuous single-obje…
This paper quantifies privacy loss in exploratory data analysis.
problem Privacy loss in exploratory data analysis is often overlooked in privacy budgets.
method Quantitative analysis of privacy loss for statistical functions.
result Privacy loss must be considered in calculating machine learning privacy budgets.
Study uses big data to analyze quantum invariants.
problem Investigate structural properties of Jones polynomial.
method Exploratory and topological data analysis, including coloring, rank increase, categorification.
result Contrasts behavior of Jones polynomial under various enhancements.
Study finds key investing characteristics for success in equity markets.
problem Understanding what traits lead to financial success in equity markets.
method Exploratory factor analysis and multiple linear regression on 403 respondents' data.
result Investing characteristics significantly impact individual investors' excess return.
Making sense of a dataset in an automatic and unsupervised fashion is a challenging problem in statistics and AI. Classical approaches for {exploratory data analysis} are usually not flexible enough to deal with the uncertainty inherent to real-world data: they are often restricted to fixed latent interaction models an…
We propose in this paper an exploratory analysis algorithm for functional data. The method partitions a set of functions into K clusters and represents each cluster by a simple prototype (e.g., piecewise constant). The total number of segments in the prototypes, P, is chosen by the user and optimally distributed am…
New method explains high-dimensional sphere data with latent factors.
problem Understanding intricate dependence structure in high-dimensional sphere data.
method Exploratory factor analysis of the projected normal distribution with a fast alternating expectation profile conditional maximization algorithm.
result Uniformly excellent results on various data types, including tweets, brain imaging, and cancer gene expression.
ACA identifies and explains anomalies in data.
problem Explaining anomalies in non-supervised data analysis.
method Abnormal Component Analysis (ACA) using data depth.
result ACA provides a linear explanation for anomalies.
This paper proposes a novel profile likelihood method for estimating the covariance parameters in exploratory factor analysis of high-dimensional Gaussian datasets with fewer observations than number of variables. An implicitly restarted Lanczos algorithm and a limited-memory quasi-Newton method are implemented to deve…
This study analyzes data science vocabulary changes over 13 years.
problem Understanding evolution of data science terms over time.
method Exploratory Data Analysis, Latent Semantic Analysis, Latent Dirichlet Analysis, N-grams Analysis.
result Identified new vocabulary and its incorporation into scientific literature.
Action chunking and data exploration improve behavior cloning in robotics.
problem Exponential errors in learning from demonstrations for continuous control tasks.
method Action chunking and exploratory data collection.
result Control-theoretic stability is key to improving imitation learning.
Paper introduces probabilistic methods to approximate archetypal analysis, reducing complexity.
problem Inherent computational complexity of archetypal analysis limits its practical applicability.
method Two preprocessing techniques: dimensionality reduction and representation cardinality reduction, using probabilistic geometry.
result The method effectively reduces scaling and provides near-optimal solutions for prediction errors.
Biarchetype analysis identifies extreme instances of observations and features.
problem Representing complex data structures in a more interpretable form.
method Solves biarchetype analysis through an algorithm that identifies biarchetypes as mixtures of observations and features.
result Biarchetypes enhance interpretability of data structures compared to traditional methods.
A new method clusters mixed-type data tables effectively.
problem Clustering data with mixed types (numerical and categorical).
method Two-step approach: binarize mixed data, then co-cluster.
result Shows improved clustering of mixed-type data compared to MCA.
This describes a statistical technique called "tonsuring" for exploratory data analysis in finance. Instead of rejecting "outlier" data that conflicts with the model, this strips out "inlier" data to get a clearer picture of how the market changes for larger moves.
Social media analytics allows us to extract, analyze, and establish semantic from user-generated contents in social media platforms. This study utilized a mixed method including a three-step process of data collection, topic modeling, and data annotation for recognizing exercise related patterns. Based on the findings,…
Adversarial training makes logistic regression weight loss landscapes sharper.
problem Understanding why adversarial training sharpens the weight loss landscape in logistic regression.
method Theoretical analysis of linear logistic regression model with L2 norm constraints, and experiments on ResNet18.
result Adversarial training sharpens the weight loss landscape in linear logistic regression models.
As data collections become larger, exploratory regression analysis becomes more important but more challenging. When observations are hierarchically clustered the problem is even more challenging because model selection with mixed effect models can produce misleading results when nonlinear effects are not included into…
Study speculative trading using RL with exploratory framework.
problem Sequential optimal stopping problem over entry and exit times with general utility function and price process.
method Formulated as a sequential optimal stopping problem, solved using Cox processes driven by bounded, non-randomized intensity controls. Characterized randomized control via probability measure over jump intensities and regularized objective function by Shannon's entropy. Established error estimates and convergence of RL objective to value function.
result Closed-form solutions for optimal policy and value function are derived.
Paper characterizes optimization landscape of Tucker decomposition.
problem Finding exact Tucker decomposition is a nonconvex optimization problem.
method Characterized the optimization landscape and provided a local search algorithm.
result All local minima are globally optimal if tensor has an exact Tucker decomposition.
A-DOGE embeds attributed graphs efficiently using density of states.
problem Efficiently represent node-attributed graphs with few numerical features.
method A-DOGE uses density of states to blend topology and attributes, leveraging efficient approximation algorithms.
result A-DOGE achieves competitive performance with modern supervised GNNs while being significantly faster.
Factor analysis aims to determine latent factors, or traits, which summarize a given data set. Inter-battery factor analysis extends this notion to multiple views of the data. In this paper we show how a nonlinear, nonparametric version of these models can be recovered through the Gaussian process latent variable model…
Study of entropy-regularized LQG MFGs with exploratory actions.
problem Optimizing multi-population mean field games with entropy regularization.
method Introduced exploratory actions and derived optimal action distributions.
result Optimal action distributions lead to ε-Nash equilibria in finite-population MFGs.
CEDA improves understanding of data fit to models.
problem Real-world data often deviates from theoretical models.
method Categorical Exploratory Data Analysis (CEDA) to highlight deviations.
result CEDA reveals where and how data fits or deviates from models.
The paper tackles confidence calibration for exploratory machine learning problems.
problem Difficulty in curating datasets and confusion about category validity.
method Introduces four new algorithms for category-specific confidence estimation, including kernel density ratios.
result Kernel density ratios provide a novel approach to confidence calibration, especially for exploratory problems.
The aim of this study was to approach a difficult regression task on highly unbalanced data regarding active theater of war in Afghanistan. Our focus was set on predicting the negative events number without distinguishing precise nature of the events given historical data on investment and negative events per each of p…
Experimental fractal landscape dynamics observed in emulsions.
problem Understanding anomalous motions in soft glassy materials.
method Quantitative analysis of oil droplet trajectories in dense emulsions.
result Experimental fractal geometry matches computational model of soft glassy dynamics.
Study analyzes Disney stock market performance using machine learning.
problem Forecasting stock market performance of Disney.
method Exploratory data analysis, feature engineering, model selection (linear regression).
result Linear regression model performed best.
ClusterGraph visualizes and simplifies multidimensional data clusters for better understanding.
problem Lack of global structure information in clustering results.
method Combining clustering with Topological Data Analysis to provide global structure.
result ClusterGraph provides global layout information about clusters.
The paper reveals surprising star-shaped connectivity in neural networks.
problem Understanding mode connectivity in neural network landscapes.
method Fine-grained analysis of connectivity in overparameterized and finite minima cases.
result Star-shaped connectivity exists in neural network landscapes, suggesting near convexity.
We explore the evolution of daily returns of four major US stock market indices during the technology crash of 2000, and the financial crisis of 2007-2009. Our methodology is based on topological data analysis (TDA). We use persistence homology to detect and quantify topological patterns that appear in multidimensional…
Optimizes MMD learning for generative models with theoretical guarantees.
problem Theoretical guarantees for optimizing non-convex MMD objectives.
method Analyzes MMD optimization landscape for specific distributions.
result Gradient-based methods globally minimize MMD objective for certain distributions.
Paper analyzes Transformer learning dynamics, proving benign landscape for in-context learning.
problem Understanding how Transformers learn in context with nonlinear features.
method Mean-field and two-timescale analysis of Transformer dynamics, proving nonconvex but benign landscape.
result Proves mean-field dynamics avoid saddle points, leading to improved optimization.
Exploratory data analysis is crucial for developing and understanding classification models from high-dimensional datasets. We explore the utility of a new unsupervised tree ensemble called uncharted forest for visualizing class associations, sample-sample associations, class heterogeneity, and uninformative classes fo…
The study tests inferences about neural network optimization from linear interpolation of loss landscapes.
problem Understanding the difficulty of neural network optimization problems.
method Linear interpolation of neural network loss landscapes, systematic evaluation of various factors.
result Linear interpolation does not correlate with model performance, challenging prior intuition.
Marginal maximum likelihood (MML) estimation is the preferred approach to fitting item response theory models in psychometrics due to the MML estimator's consistency, normality, and efficiency as the sample size tends to infinity. However, state-of-the-art MML estimation procedures such as the Metropolis-Hastings Robbi…
In conventional supervised learning, a training dataset is given with ground-truth labels from a known label set, and the learned model will classify unseen instances to known labels. This paper studies a new problem setting in which there are unknown classes in the training data misperceived as other labels, and thus …
Study identifies new stable climate states in climate model.
problem Understanding multistability and transitions in climate models.
method Combination of quasipotential theory and manifold learning.
result Discovery of a third stable climate state not previously known.
In this paper, we propose a new algorithm for exploratory projection pursuit. The basis of the algorithm is the insight that previous approaches used fairly narrow definitions of interestingness / non interestingness. We argue that allowing these definitions to depend on the problem / data at hand is a more natural app…
SGD vs quasi-Newton optimization in neural networks: different landscapes, different generalizability.
problem Understanding neural network optimization and generalizability.
method Comparison of stochastic gradient descent (SGD) and quasi-Newton optimization methods using computational tools.
result SGD solutions are separated by lower barriers than quasi-Newton solutions, but quasi-Newton solutions are deeper and more isolated.
New function class characterizes loss landscape of deep neural networks without over-parametrization.
problem Complex loss landscape of deep neural networks without over-parametrization.
method Proposed a novel class of functions to characterize loss landscape without over-parametrization.
result Gradient-based optimizers possess theoretical guarantees of convergence under the new function class assumption.
This work justifies neural collapse under MSE loss and analyzes the optimization landscape.
problem Understanding neural collapse in deep neural networks under MSE loss.
method Global landscape analysis of vanilla nonconvex MSE loss.
result The only global minimizers are neural collapse solutions.
Riemannian geometry improves protein dynamics analysis.
problem Efficient analysis of protein dynamics data in non-linear spaces.
method Developed a local approximation technique for geodesics and a smooth manifold of protein conformations.
result Geodesics approximate molecular dynamics trajectories and provide realistic summary statistics.
The paper analyzes phase retrieval under limited samples, ensuring a benign local landscape for convergence.
problem Ensuring a benign local landscape for phase retrieval under limited samples.
method Fine-grained analysis of local landscape properties under the regime of limited samples.
result Gradient descent can converge to an od(1)-loss solution exponentially fast under certain conditions. New method simplifies optimization landscapes by transforming saddle points.
problem Saddle points hinder non-convex optimization in machine learning.
method Variable elimination algorithms, like VarPro, are compared to reveal geometric insights.
result Variable elimination reshapes critical point structure, creating local maxima from saddle points.