Preference learning (PL) is a core area of machine learning that handles datasets with ordinal relations. As the number of generated data of ordinal nature is increasing, the importance and role of the PL field becomes central within machine learning research and practice. This paper introduces an open source, scalable…
Binary feedback outperforms ordinal comparisons in ranking recovery.
problem Challenges the conventional wisdom that ordinal comparisons offer richer information.
method Proposes a parametric framework for modeling ordinal paired comparisons, binarizing ordinal data, and proving faster convergence rates for binary comparisons.
result Binarizing ordinal data significantly improves ranking recovery accuracy and exhibits a substantial performance gap.
The paper proposes a new method for learning reward models from ordinal feedback, improving upon binary feedback.
problem Learning reward models from human preferences using binary feedback discards useful samples and loses fine-grained information.
method The paper introduces a framework for learning reward models under ordinal feedback, generalizing the Bradley-Terry model.
result Ordinal feedback reduces the Rademacher complexity compared to binary feedback, leading to better reward learning.
In applications such as recommendation systems and revenue management, it is important to predict preferences on items that have not been seen by a user or predict outcomes of comparisons among those that have never been compared. A popular discrete choice model of multinomial logit model captures the structure of the …
Ordinal data is omnipresent in almost all multiuser-generated feedback - questionnaires, preferences etc. This paper investigates modelling of ordinal data with Gaussian restricted Boltzmann machines (RBMs). In particular, we present the model architecture, learning and inference procedures for both vector-variate and …
A new neural model improves collaborative filtering performance.
problem Improving recommendation systems for better user satisfaction.
method Integrates neural autoregressive distribution estimation with collaborative filtering, sharing parameters, and considering ordinal preferences.
result CF-NADE outperforms previous methods on various datasets.
A game-theoretic approach to multi-criteria ranking from ordinal data.
problem Ranking objects from ordinal data with multiple criteria.
method Generalizing von Neumann winner to multi-criteria setting using Blackwell's approachability.
result The Blackwell winner can be computed as a convex optimization problem and achieves near-optimal sample complexity.
Motivated by generating personalized recommendations using ordinal (or preference) data, we study the question of learning a mixture of MultiNomial Logit (MNL) model, a parameterized class of distributions over permutations, from partial ordinal or preference data (e.g. pair-wise comparisons). Despite its long standing…
New framework estimates treatment effects based on preferences.
problem Estimating treatment effects with flexible outcomes.
method Preference-based Conditional Treatment Effect (CPTE) framework.
result CPTE provides interpretable targets and new identifiability conditions.
A new method reduces preference distortion in LLM alignment.
problem Vulnerability of traditional LLM alignment methods to human preference heterogeneity.
method Sign Estimator: A simple, provably consistent, and efficient estimator using binary classification loss.
result Substantially reduces preference distortion over a panel of simulated personas.
Model combines user preferences and side information for better recommendation.
problem Addressing data sparsity and improving user intent representation.
method Tensor-based model that fuses user preferences with side information.
result Demonstrates effectiveness on standard benchmark datasets.
Unified Skew-Gaussian process framework for various regression and classification tasks.
problem Handling multiple types of regression and classification problems.
method Generalization of Skew-Gaussian processes to handle various types of data and likelihoods.
result Closed-form posterior distributions for multiple tasks.
Optimal rank-breaking estimator improves accuracy and complexity in rank aggregation.
problem Inconsistent estimates from naive rank-breaking approaches.
method Optimal rank-breaking estimator that treats pairwise comparisons unequally based on data topology.
result Achieves consistency and best error bound, characterizing accuracy-complexity tradeoff.
Adapts deep reinforcement learning to ordinal rewards.
problem Using numerical rewards in reinforcement learning has drawbacks; ordinal rewards offer an alternative.
method Develops a general approach to converting reinforcement learning algorithms to ordinal reward systems, including Ordinal Deep Q-Networks.
result Ordinal Deep Q-Networks perform comparably to numerical variants on engineered problems and better on simpler reward signals.
Data in the form of pairwise comparisons arises in many domains, including preference elicitation, sporting competitions, and peer grading among others. We consider parametric ordinal models for such pairwise comparison data involving a latent vector w∗∈Rd that represents the "qualities" of the d ite…
Paper proposes a new test to detect spurious seasonality in time series data.
problem Detecting spurious seasonality in time series data.
method Developed a non-parametric test based on ordinal patterns using symbolic dynamics.
result The day-of-the-week effect is partly an artifact of hidden correlation structure.
Proposes unimodal probability distributions for better ordinal classification.
problem Undesired properties of cross-entropy loss distributions for ordinal classification.
method Uses Poisson and binomial distributions to constrain discrete ordinal probability distributions to be unimodal.
result Obtains promising results on deep learning ordinal image datasets.
Proposes models to better represent ordinal data with non-unimodal distributions.
problem Real-world ordinal data often have non-unimodal conditional probability distributions.
method Develops approximately unimodal likelihood models to better represent non-unimodal CPDs.
result Proposed models can effectively represent both unimodal and nearly unimodal CPDs.
Proposes a deep learning method for robust ordinal regression under label noise.
problem Label noise in real-world data constrains ordinal regression algorithms.
method Develops a deep learning approach that is robust to label noise and rank consistent.
result Demonstrates robustness to label noise and rank consistency on real data.
Develops multi-task learning models for ordinal regression with heterogeneous data.
problem Tackling ordinal regression for heterogeneous, non-IID data.
method Sparse and deep multi-task learning approaches.
result Proposed MTOR models improve prediction performance.
A new framework estimates causal effects for ordinal variables.
problem Existing causal inference methods fail for ordinal data.
method Presumes a latent Gaussian DAG model with constrained covariance matrix.
result Closed-form function for ordinal causal effects in latent space.
New method uniquely identifies causal structure from ordinal data.
problem Challenges in causal discovery for categorical data, especially direction of relationships.
method Exploits ordinal information to uniquely identify causal structure.
result Favorable and robust performance compared to state-of-the-art methods.
A new framework for semi-supervised ordinal regression.
problem Lack of evaluation metrics and theoretical guarantees in existing semi-supervised ordinal regression.
method Empirical risk minimization principle, flexible model choices, and estimation error bound.
result Consistent risk estimator and improved performance across various metrics.
A new R package for ordinal classification and preprocessing.
problem Lack of proper methods for ordinal data in machine learning.
method Developed an R package named ocapis in Scala.
result Improves classification and preprocessing of ordinal data.
Models predict player motivation from game data.
problem Predict player motivation from gameplay data.
method Collected gameplay data and survey responses, used SVM for inference.
result Models accurately predict player motivation (92%-94%).
New methods for ordinal classification of interval-valued data and functional data.
problem Ordinal classification of interval-valued data and functional data.
method Six ordinal classifiers are proposed, including parametric, binary decomposition, logistic regression, distance-based, k-nearest-neighbor, kernel PCA, and random forest methods.
result Considering ordering and interval-valued information improves the accuracy of ordinal classification.
Proposes CORAL framework for consistent ordinal regression in neural networks.
problem Inconsistencies in ordinal regression with neural networks.
method Transforms ordinal targets into binary classification subtasks and applies CORAL framework for rank-monotonicity and consistent confidence scores.
result Reduction of prediction error in age prediction tasks.
Novel variational autoencoder for generative and classification tasks.
problem Developing a robust generative model for various tasks.
method A novel variational autoencoder with specific latent variables and ordinality enforcement.
result Comparable performance in generative and classification tasks compared to baselines.
Optimal bounds proven for ordinal embedding convergence rate.
problem Optimal bounds for ordinal embedding convergence rate in 1D.
method Utilized results from additive number theory and conducted computational experiments.
result Proved optimal bounds for convergence rate in 1D.
New algorithms estimate lens depth and k-relative neighborhood graph for ordinal data.
problem Handling ordinal distance information in machine learning and statistics.
method Estimating lens depth function and k-relative neighborhood graph.
result Solves medoid estimation, outlier identification, classification, and clustering problems.
Deep neural networks for ordinal outcomes combining image and tabular data.
problem Lack of interpretable models for ordinal outcomes in mixed data types.
method Ordinal Neural Network Transformation Models (ONTRAMs) integrating DL and classical ordinal regression.
result ONTRAMs achieve performance equivalent to standard multi-class DL models but are faster and more interpretable.
This study introduces balanced DRPS and OrderedLogitNN for better QDE of discrete-level questions.
problem Lack of ordinal regression methods and fair evaluation metrics for discrete-level QDE.
method Introduces balanced DRPS and OrderedLogitNN, fine-tunes BERT on RACE++ and ARC datasets.
result OrderedLogitNN outperforms other models on complex QDE tasks.
Ordinal embedding methods estimate perceptual scales from relative judgments.
problem Measuring subjective sensation using relative judgments.
method Ordinal embedding from machine learning applied to method of triads.
result Ordinal embedding allows estimating perceptual scales from few judgments, non-monotonous functions, and multi-dimensional scales.
Study homeomorphism groups of ordinals, proving strong distortion and normal generators.
problem Understanding algebraic and geometric properties of homeomorphism groups of ordinals.
method Analyzing successor ordinals with connections to permutation groups and manifolds.
result Proves strong distortion and normal generators for homeomorphism groups of ordinals.
Identifies feature relevance bounds for ordinal regression models.
problem Interpreting ordinal regression models is challenging due to variable dependencies.
method Identifies feature relevance bounds explicitly differentiating between strongly and weakly relevant features.
result Identification of feature relevance bounds for ordinal regression models.
Proposes a new method for rank-consistent ordinal regression without weight-sharing constraints.
problem Ordinal response variables in real-world prediction problems are often ignored by conventional classification losses.
method CORN framework using conditional training sets and the chain rule for conditional probability distributions.
result Improves performance substantially compared to the CORAL reference approach without weight-sharing restrictions.
We propose a novel GP auto-encoder for ordinal facial action unit prediction.
problem Simultaneous feature fusion and modeling of discrete ordinal outputs.
method Variational Gaussian Process Auto-Encoder (GPAE) with latent space projection and ordinal label constraints.
result Our model achieves robust feature fusion and joint ordinal prediction of facial action units.
Develops an ordinal-similarity framework for scalable and interpretable representation alignment.
problem Measuring representation similarity in large datasets.
method Triplet and Quadruplet Similarity Indices.
result Demonstrates inherent interpretability, robustness to outliers, and computational efficiency.
When eliciting judgements from humans for an unknown quantity, one often has the choice of making direct-scoring (cardinal) or comparative (ordinal) measurements. In this paper we study the relative merits of either choice, providing empirical and theoretical guidelines for the selection of a measurement scheme. We pro…
Ordinal data are often seen in real applications. Regular multicategory classification methods are not designed for this data type and a more proper treatment is needed. We consider a framework of ordinal classification which pools the results from binary classifiers together. An inherent difficulty of this framework i…
A new kernel measures brain network similarities, improving disease classification.
problem Lack of edge weight information in existing graph kernels for brain connectivity networks.
method Ordinal pattern kernel for weighted brain connectivity networks.
result The ordinal pattern kernel achieves better classification performance than state-of-the-art graph kernels.
This paper applies deep learning to ordinal regression, modeling it as a binary search.
problem Ordinal regression with deep learning models.
method Formulated ordinal regression as a binary search problem, using recurrent neural networks.
result Deep learning model shows comparable or better predictive power compared to traditional methods.
Landmark Ordinal Embedding improves scalability of ordinal embedding.
problem Learning low-dimensional Euclidean representations from ordinal constraints.
method Landmark-based strategy (LOE) that trades statistical efficiency for computational efficiency.
result LOE is significantly more efficient than conventional methods as the number of items grows.
XOFM explains attribute effects in ordinal regression using piece-wise linear functions.
problem Lack of detailed attribute contributions in existing ordinal regression models.
method XOFM uses piece-wise linear functions to approximate attribute contributions and introduces ordinal transformation.
result XOFM provides superior explainability and state-of-the-art prediction accuracy.
Paper reformulates squared error for ordinal classification.
problem Improving performance in ordinal classification tasks.
method Introducing a modified squared error loss with a softmax hidden layer.
result The modified loss outperforms existing methods on a high-resolution ordinal dataset.
Algorithm finds real line mapping from points under ordinal constraints.
problem Finding a mapping from points to real line under ordinal constraints.
method Approximation algorithm for dense case in O(n7)+(1/ε)O(1/ε1/8)n time. result Computes a solution satisfying (1−O(ε1/8))-fraction of all constraints. Lognormal distribution used for predicting team rankings in an orienteering relay race.
problem Predicting final team rankings in an orienteering relay race.
method Used lognormal distribution and Fenton-Wilkinson approximations for order statistics.
result Accurate predictions of team rankings using order statistics.
Enhances ordinal embedding with less data by focusing on margin distribution.
problem Insufficient labeled data for ordinal embedding.
method Proposes Distributional Margin based Ordinal Embedding (DMOE) to improve generalization with less data.
result Demonstrates improved generalization performance with less labeled data.