CardiCat generates synthetic data for high-cardinality tabular datasets.
problem Learning complexities of high-cardinality categorical features in tabular data.
method Substitutes one-hot encoding with regularized dual encoder-decoder embedding layers.
result Generates high-quality synthetic data with a smaller parameter space.
Novel GLMMNet model tackles high-cardinality categorical features in actuarial applications.
problem Inadequate encoding methods for high-cardinality categorical features in actuarial data.
method Generalised Linear Mixed Model Neural Network (GLMMNet) integrating a generalised linear mixed model in a deep learning framework.
result GLMMNet often outperforms or performs comparably with entity embedded neural networks, providing transparency.
Proposes a new DNN framework for count data with high-cardinality features.
problem Real-world data often have correlations and high-cardinality categorical features that traditional DNNs overlook.
method Introduces a hierarchical likelihood learning framework with gamma random effects for Poisson DNNs.
result Improves prediction performance by capturing nonlinear effects and subject-specific cluster effects.
Regularized target encoding beats traditional methods for high cardinality features in ML.
problem Efficiently encoding high cardinality categorical variables for ML algorithms.
method Regularized target encoding compared to traditional encodings like integer and one-hot encoding.
result Regularized target encoding consistently provided the best results in a large-scale benchmark experiment.
Statistical models usually require vector representations of categorical variables, using for instance one-hot encoding. This strategy breaks down when the number of categories grows, as it creates high-dimensional feature vectors. Additionally, for string entries, one-hot encoding does not capture information in their…
This study compares machine learning methods for high-cardinality categorical variables.
problem Machine learning struggles with high-cardinality categorical variables.
method Empirical comparison of tree-boosting, deep neural networks, and linear mixed effects models.
result Tree-boosting with random effects outperforms deep neural networks with random effects.
Structured high-cardinality data arises in many domains, and poses a major challenge for both modeling and inference. Graphical models are a popular approach to modeling structured data but they are unsuitable for high-cardinality variables. The count-min (CM) sketch is a popular approach to estimating probabilities in…
For statistical learning, categorical variables in a table are usually considered as discrete entities and encoded separately to feature vectors, e.g., with one-hot encoding. "Dirty" non-curated data gives rise to categorical variables with a very high cardinality but redundancy: several categories reflect the same ent…
Combines boosting with Gaussian process and mixed effects models.
problem Model misspecifications and independence assumptions in boosting.
method Relaxes zero or linearity assumption in Gaussian process and mixed effects models, and independence assumption in boosting.
result Increased prediction accuracy compared to existing approaches.
Improved classification model for high-cardinality categorical predictors.
problem Handling high-cardinality categorical predictors and non-linear data.
method Data-driven binning of spline functions and shrinkage estimators.
result Improved classification precision with interpretable predictors.
Method reduces categorical data to lower dimensions using density matrices.
problem Dimensionality reduction for categorical data.
method Density-matrix construction from class-conditional frequencies; spectral embedding.
result Low-dimensional spectral embeddings with controlled rank.
Applied Data Scientists throughout various industries are commonly faced with the challenging task of encoding high-cardinality categorical features into digestible inputs for machine learning algorithms. This paper describes a Bayesian encoding technique developed for WeWork's lead scoring engine which outputs the pro…
Unified comparison of gradient boosting algorithms for insurance claims.
problem Improving predictive accuracy and computational efficiency in insurance claim prediction.
method Unified notation and comprehensive numerical study comparing 12 gradient boosting algorithms on 5 datasets.
result No trade-off between model adequacy and predictive accuracy.
SYNTHONY selects tabular synthesizers based on stress profiling and user intent.
problem Non-uniform performance of tabular generative models across datasets.
method Stress profiling and intent-conditioned tabular synthesis selection.
result Meta-features predict synthesizer performance, improving selection accuracy.
Study investigates how preprocessing, feature selection, and model selection affect performance on imbalanced genetic data.
problem Challenges in using machine learning on imbalanced genetic datasets.
method Comparative analysis of data preprocessing, feature selection techniques, and machine learning models on imbalanced genetic data.
result Class-imbalanced target variables and skewed predictors have little to no impact on classification performance.
MC-GMENN improves neural networks for clustered data using Monte Carlo methods.
problem Improving neural network performance on clustered data with correlations.
method MC-GMENN employs Monte Carlo methods to train generalized mixed effects neural networks.
result MC-GMENN outperforms existing models in generalization and quantifying inter-cluster variance.
Boosting trees predict Twitch subscriptions from user activity.
problem Predicting Twitch user subscriptions from activity data.
method Used boosting trees and target-encodings for high cardinality categoricals.
result User activity can be better predicted than content alone.
HNHN learns from hypergraphs with hyperedge neurons for better classification.
problem Learning from hypergraphs with complex relationships.
method Hypergraph convolution network with hyperedge neurons and adaptive normalization.
result Improved classification accuracy and speed compared to state-of-the-art methods.
This research compares two encoding methods for categorical attributes in machine learning, affecting model fairness.
problem The impact of encoding protected categorical attributes on fairness in machine learning models.
method Comparison of one-hot encoding and target encoding methods.
result Target encoding can lead to more unfair models compared to one-hot encoding due to induced bias.
MMbeddings reduces categorical embeddings by treating them as latent effects, significantly decreasing parameters and mitigating overfitting.
problem Large cardinalities in categorical embeddings lead to high parameter counts and overfitting.
method MMbeddings treats embeddings as latent random effects in a variational autoencoder framework, reducing parameter count and mitigating overfitting.
result MMbeddings consistently outperforms traditional embeddings across various tasks, demonstrating its potential in machine learning applications.
New Krylov subspace methods speed up mixed-effects models with crossed random effects.
problem Slow computations for high-dimensional crossed random effects in mixed-effects models.
method Krylov subspace-based methods for generalized mixed-effects models with cross effects.
result Speedups by factors of up to 10,000 in computations for mixed-effects models.
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.
CoSMIC extends flow-based SVI to transdimensional problems.
problem Bayesian structure learning and model selection with multi-model parameter spaces.
method Normalizing flows with a combined stochastic variational transdimensional inference approach.
result Improved performance on high-cardinality model spaces.
Combines boosting and latent Gaussian models for better predictions.
problem Boosting's assumptions and latent Gaussian models' limitations.
method Integrates tree-boosting and latent Gaussian models.
result Increased prediction accuracy in simulations and real-world data.
This paper proposes a method to reduce complexity in GLMs with categorical predictors.
problem Wasteful, hard-to-interpret, and prone to overfitting of traditional one-hot encoding for high-cardinality categorical predictors.
method Clustering categories of categorical predictors through a numerical method that preserves or improves accuracy while reducing the number of coefficients.
result Clustering categories of categorical predictors reduces complexity substantially without harming accuracy.
Recommendation models mainly deal with categorical variables, such as user/item ID and attributes. Besides the high-cardinality issue, the interactions among such categorical variables are usually long-tailed, with the head made up of highly frequent values and a long tail of rare ones. This phenomenon results in the d…
Bayesian optimization tackles expensive discrete and mixed parameter spaces.
problem Optimizing expensive functions with discrete and mixed parameters.
method Probabilistic reparameterization to maximize expectation of AF over continuous parameters.
result Our approach provably converges to a maximizer of the AF and enjoys the same regret bounds as standard BO.
Identifies features most relevant to concept drift in data.
problem Identifying features most relevant to concept drift.
method Distinguishing between drift inducing and faithfully drifting features; deriving minimal subsets of features to characterize drift.
result Derives a detection algorithm for concept drift.
Paper predicts EEG features from acoustic features using RNN and GAN.
problem Predicting EEG features from acoustic features.
method Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) and Generative Adversarial Network (GAN).
result Lower RMSE and normalized RMSE values compared to generating acoustic features from EEG features.
Introduces RFI for assessing feature importance relative to any subset of features.
problem Lack of nuanced feature importance computation.
method Generalizes PFI and CFI to assess relative feature importance.
result Derives general interpretation rules for RFI.
A single pre-trained agent guides feature selection using knockoffs.
problem Feature selection challenges in AI-readiness of data.
method Generates knockoff features and uses reinforcement learning.
result Optimal feature subset identified with reduced dependency on target variable.
Feature networks link ML features via graph structure for enhanced learning.
problem Enhancing feature expressiveness and learning efficiency in machine learning.
method Graph representation of feature vectors, leveraging Fourier and functional analysis.
result Feature networks enable novel, complex feature dependencies.
Approach for selecting features by discarding nuisance and correlated ones.
problem Large datasets with correlated and nuisance features.
method Laplacian score criterion, autoencoder architecture, concrete layer.
result Outperforms similar approaches in clustering performance.
New stability measures for similar features improve feature selection accuracy.
problem Existing stability measures fail to distinguish similar features in highly correlated datasets.
method Introduce new adjusted stability measures that consider feature similarities.
result One new stability measure considers highly similar features as interchangeable.
Counterexamples show HSIC feature selection misses critical features.
problem Feature selection using HSIC misses important features.
method Feature selection via HSIC maximization.
result HSIC feature selection can miss critical features.
This paper shows feature importance remains valid even in low-performing models.
problem Feature importance validity in low-performing machine learning models for biomedical data.
method Experiments with synthetic and real biomedical datasets to compare feature rank stability under different data reductions.
result Feature importance can be maintained even at low performance levels if data size is adequate.
New algorithms select and rank features from MTS without feature extraction.
problem Feature extraction step for MTS classification.
method Directly computes similarity between time series and assesses cluster structure matching labels.
result Techniques match labels well without feature extraction.
Pipeline learns topological features for protein stability prediction.
problem Predicting protein stability using topological features.
method Data-driven method to learn topological features, comparing with expert features.
result Topological features achieve 92%-99% of SME-based models' performance.
In text classification, dictionaries can be used to define human-comprehensible features. We propose an improvement to dictionary features called smoothed dictionary features. These features recognize document contexts instead of n-grams. We describe a principled methodology to solicit dictionary features from a teache…
FeAT improves OOD generalization by learning richer features.
problem Improving feature learning for out-of-distribution (OOD) generalization.
method Feature Augmented Training (FeAT) iteratively augments and retains features from different subsets of training data.
result FeAT effectively learns richer features, boosting OOD performance.
The paper defines and analyzes feature complexity in DNNs, proposing metrics for feature disentanglement and evaluation.
problem Understanding and quantifying the complexity of features learned by deep neural networks.
method Proposes a definition and disentanglement of feature complexity orders, introduces metrics for reliability and over-fitting evaluation.
result Establishes a relationship between feature complexity and DNN performance, and proposes a generic mathematical tool for network compression and knowledge distillation.
Conventional mutual information (MI) based feature selection (FS) methods are unable to handle heterogeneous feature subset selection properly because of data format differences or estimation methods of MI between feature subset and class label. A way to solve this problem is feature transformation (FT). In this study,…
A new method for measuring conditional feature importance using generative models.
problem Challenges in evaluating feature importance given other feature values.
method Adversarial Random Forest (ARF) for generating on-manifold data points.
result cARFi method yields robust importance scores adaptable for various feature importance notions.
Existing feature selection methods fail to properly account for interactions between features when evaluating feature subsets. In this paper, we attempt to remedy this issue by using orthogonal variance decomposition to evaluate features. The orthogonality of the decomposition allows us to directly calculate the total …
CAN approximates explicit feature interactions for CTR prediction.
problem Learning explicit feature interactions from sparse features.
method Co-Action Network approximates explicit pairwise feature interactions without introducing too many additional parameters.
result CAN outperforms state-of-the-art CTR models and the cartesian product method.
Proposes a new feature selection method integrating feature relationships.
problem Feature selection in machine learning models.
method Integrates feature-feature and feature-target relationships via penalized mRMR.
result Correctly identifies inactive features, reducing false discoveries.
Online feature selection has been an active research area in recent years. We propose a novel diverse online feature selection method based on Determinantal Point Processes (DPP). Our model aims to provide diverse features which can be composed in either a supervised or unsupervised framework. The framework aims to pro…
New method disentangles feature importance scores in machine learning.
problem Misinterpretation of feature importance scores due to interactions and dependencies.
method Derive DIP (Disentangled Importance) decomposition of feature importance scores.
result DIP decomposition uniquely separates standalone contributions from interactions and dependencies.