We introduce Fisher consistency in the sense of unbiasedness as a desirable property for estimators of class prior probabilities. Lack of Fisher consistency could be used as a criterion to dismiss estimators that are unlikely to deliver precise estimates in test datasets under prior probability and more general dataset…
In many structured prediction problems, complex relationships between variables are compactly defined using graphical structures. The most prevalent graphical prediction methods---probabilistic graphical models and large margin methods---have their own distinct strengths but also possess significant drawbacks. Conditio…
Modified relative universality for unbiasedness and consistency in dimension reduction.
problem Gap in proof of unbiasedness and Fisher consistency in relative universality.
method Modified definition of relative universality using ǫ-measurability.
result Established unbiasedness and Fisher consistency rigorously.
The paper explores conditions for predicting optimization performance.
problem Lack of formal theoretical guarantees linking prediction and optimization performance.
method Exploring conditions for asymptotic convergence and exact quantification of optimization performance.
result Explicit theoretical relationship between prediction and optimization performance.
This paper simplifies OPE in large state spaces using state abstractions.
problem Accurately evaluating policies offline in large state spaces.
method Developed a backward-model-irrelevance condition and an iterative state abstraction procedure.
result Deeply-abstracted states substantially simplify OPE sample complexity.
Proposes an angle-based framework for multicategory cost-sensitive classification.
problem Cost-sensitive multicategory classification challenges.
method Angle-based cost-sensitive classification framework without sum-to-zero constraint.
result Proposed boosting algorithms yield competitive classification performances.
We consider composite loss functions for multiclass prediction comprising a proper (i.e., Fisher-consistent) loss over probability distributions and an inverse link function. We establish conditions for their (strong) convexity and explore the implications. We also show how the separation of concerns afforded by using …
Researchers analyze the relationship between ML cost functions and the C-index in survival analysis.
problem Understanding the relationship between ML cost functions and the C-index in survival analysis.
method Provided C-index Fisher-consistency results and excess risk bounds for various cost functions in survival analysis.
result Identified conditions under which ML cost functions are consistent with the C-index.
Two methods preserve tensor structure for reduced dimensionality in tensor regression.
problem Reducing dimensionality of tensor predictors for improved interpretation and accuracy.
method Developed two tensor dimension reduction methods using Tucker and CP decompositions.
result Substantial improvement in accuracy over existing methods in simulations and applications.
Study detects boundaries in unlabeled noisy images without labels.
problem Detecting boundaries in unlabeled noisy images without labels.
method Proposed a continuous hinge-type surrogate loss for boundary detection, combined with deep neural networks.
result Deep neural network achieves minimax-optimal boundary recovery rate under piecewise smooth boundary model.
Develops a novel approach for estimating optimal DTRs with multicategory treatments and censored data.
problem Estimating optimal treatment regimes for chronic diseases with censored data.
method Angle-based multicategory classification algorithm for maximizing conditional survival function.
result The proposed method outperforms existing approaches in maximizing conditional survival function.
Proposes a new method for dynamic treatment regimes that improves sample efficiency and stability.
problem Challenges in estimating optimal treatments for individuals with dynamic decision-making stages.
method Focuses on prioritizing alignment between observed and optimal treatment trajectories across decision stages.
result Improves sample efficiency and stability of IPWE-based methods by relaxing the alignment requirement.
Unified framework improves neural network robustness against label noise and adversarial attacks.
problem High sensitivity of neural networks to data contamination, including label noises and adversarial perturbations.
method Unified minimum-divergence estimation problem, rSDNet framework.
result Improves robustness to label corruption and adversarial attacks while maintaining competitive accuracy on clean data.
Consider semi-supervised learning for classification, where both labeled and unlabeled data are available for training. The goal is to exploit both datasets to achieve higher prediction accuracy than just using labeled data alone. We develop a semi-supervised logistic learning method based on exponential tilt mixture m…
Unified framework improves fair classification by selecting representative data points.
problem Improving fair classification outcomes in the presence of unintentional biases.
method Develops a unified framework to jointly optimize accuracy and fairness, recasting as mixed-integer convex programs.
result The framework can be used to enhance classification fairness by selecting more representative data points.
We propose a robust adversarial prediction framework for general multiclass classification. Our method seeks predictive distributions that robustly optimize non-convex and non-continuous multiclass loss metrics against the worst-case conditional label distributions (the adversarial distributions) that (approximately) m…
Deep models, while being extremely versatile and accurate, are vulnerable to adversarial attacks: slight perturbations that are imperceptible to humans can completely flip the prediction of deep models. Many attack and defense mechanisms have been proposed, although a satisfying solution still largely remains elusive. …
A new approach to cost-sensitive multiclass classification prioritizes certain classes over others.
problem Cost-sensitive multiclass classification where some classes are more important than others.
method Apportioned margin framework that shifts the decision boundary to prioritize certain classes.
result The method improves the error rate for important classes while reducing overall error.
Proposes methods to estimate posterior probability and propensity score functions without assuming constant propensity score.
problem Learning from biased positive-unlabeled data.
method Parametric approach to joint estimation of posterior probability and propensity score functions using maximum likelihood and alternating maximization.
result Proposed methods are comparable or better than existing methods based on Expectation-Maximisation scheme.
A scalable method for training prediction models in predict-then-optimize
problem Training prediction models in the predict-then-optimize paradigm
method Decision-focused learning pipeline
result Decision quality competitive with state-of-the-art methods while reducing training time
A novel linear classification method that possesses the merits of both the Support Vector Machine (SVM) and the Distance-weighted Discrimination (DWD) is proposed in this article. The proposed Distance-weighted Support Vector Machine method can be viewed as a hybrid of SVM and DWD that finds the classification directio…
New loss function handles uncertain constraints in CSLO problems.
problem Handling uncertain inequality constraints in CSLO with machine learning predictions.
method Introduces SPO-RC loss and SPO-RC+ surrogate, trains on truncated datasets, corrects bias.
result SPO-RC+ effectively manages constraint uncertainty and improves performance.
Proposes a framework to reconcile policy learning and profit maximization in CATE estimation.
problem Aligning CATE estimation with profit maximization for optimal customer treatment decisions.
method Optimizes a novel objective function that concentrates learning capacity near the decision boundary, ensuring consistency with the original profit function.
result Consistent CATE estimates can be recovered from existing profit-maximization pipelines, allowing firms to navigate the trade-off between accuracy and profit.
BAEN-SVM improves SVM robustness to noisy data.
problem Noise and geometric irrationalities in SVM.
method Bounded asymmetric elastic net loss combined with SVM.
result BAEN-SVM is robust to noise and geometrically well-defined.
We unify subsampling methods for network embeddings and prove their asymptotic distribution.
problem Understanding and improving the performance of network embeddings learned via subsampling.
method Unified framework for node2vec-like methods, proving asymptotic distribution under exchangeable graph assumption.
result Asymptotic distribution of learned embedding vectors decouples and provides rates of convergence.
FlowSDR learns a low-dimensional projection preserving the response's conditional distribution.
problem Learning a low-dimensional projection that captures the response's conditional distribution.
method FlowSDR uses conditional log-likelihood maximization with monotone rational-quadratic spline flows to learn the projection and conditional density.
result FlowSDR outperforms existing SDR methods in various simulation settings and a face-age prediction task.
This paper improves multi-label ranking by reweighting univariate losses, enhancing consistency and performance.
problem Improving multi-label ranking performance while maintaining consistency.
method Systematic study of consistency and generalization error bounds for learning algorithms, proposing a reweighted univariate loss.
result Inconsistent pairwise losses can lead to better performance than consistent univariate losses in practice.
PROWL uses robust reward estimates to improve ITR selection.
problem Reward uncertainty in ITR estimation leads to inflated performance.
method PAC-Bayesian framework with reward uncertainty certificates.
result PROWL achieves better robust treatment regime estimation.
A new framework for consistent segmentation evaluation reduces operating losses.
problem Inconsistent thresholding-based segmentation methods lead to suboptimal solutions.
method Developed a consistent ranking-based framework (RankDice/RankIoU) using Bayes rules and Dice-/IoU-calibration.
result The proposed framework is Dice-/IoU-calibrated and provides excess risk bounds and convergence rates.
We consider basic conceptual questions concerning the relationship between statistical estimation and causal inference. Firstly, we show how to translate causal inference problems into an abstract statistical formalism without requiring any structure beyond an arbitrarily-indexed family of probability models. The forma…