TF-MoDISco finds transcription factor motifs from genomic data.
problem Identifying transcription factor motifs from genomic sequence data.
method Algorithm for motif discovery from basepair-level importance scores.
result Improved version v0.5.6.5 of TF-MoDISco.
This research proposes a variable importance cloud to assess variable importance across multiple good models.
problem Current variable importance measures are tied to a single model, limiting understanding of variable importance across different models.
method Introduces a variable importance cloud that maps every variable to its importance for every good predictive model.
result Shows how variable importance can vary significantly across different good models.
Proposes a simple solution to Gini importance bias in random forests.
problem Gini importance measure in random forests is biased and unreliable.
method Computes loss reduction on out-of-bag samples instead of in-bag.
result Solves the misleading/untrustworthy Gini importance issue.
DEDACT breaks down feature importance into direct and associative components.
problem Lack of clear distinction between direct and associative feature importance.
method DEDACT framework to decompose direct and associative importance measures.
result Provides insight into sources of prediction-relevant information and feature pathways.
New framework quantifies variable importance across all good models and is stable across data distribution.
problem Conflicting variable importance conclusions from different models trained on the same data.
method Proposes a new variable importance framework that considers all good models and is stable across data distribution.
result Framework accurately estimates true variable importance and recovers rankings for complex setups.
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.
Survey on importance weighting in machine learning applications.
problem Distribution shift in supervised learning.
method Weighting objective function or probability distribution based on instance importance.
result Importance weighting can guarantee desirable statistical properties in distribution shift scenarios.
A framework for quantifying uncertainty in feature importance values.
problem Stable interpretation of feature importance values in machine learning models.
method A novel method based on pairwise comparisons of feature importance values to produce confidence intervals for feature ranks.
result The method produces simultaneous confidence intervals for feature ranks, enabling selection of top-k important features.
BIF assesses feature importance using Dirichlet distribution and Bayesian inference.
problem Quantitative feature importance assessment in statistical models.
method Utilizes Dirichlet distribution for probabilistic feature importance assessment via approximate Bayesian inference.
result Learned importance provides relative significance and confidence quantification of features.
Combining feature importance estimates improves reliability of machine learning predictions.
problem Lack of consensus on feature importance quantification makes explanations unreliable.
method Proposes a feature importance fusion framework combining multiple quantifiers.
result Feature importance ensembles reduce prediction error by 15%.
In recent years, a large amount of model-agnostic methods to improve the transparency, trustability and interpretability of machine learning models have been developed. We introduce local feature importance as a local version of a recent model-agnostic global feature importance method. Based on local feature importance…
A framework infers feature importance with uncertainties for high-dimensional data.
problem Estimating feature importance in high-dimensional data with uncertainty.
method Shapley value based framework, sub-SAGE, bootstrapping.
result Uncertainties in feature importance can be estimated from bootstrapping.
Random Forest variable importance is improved by class balancing techniques.
problem Class imbalance problem in machine learning.
method Proposed a variable selection algorithm using RF variable importance and its confidence interval.
result Our algorithm efficiently selects an optimal feature set, leading to improved prediction performance.
New methods reduce extrapolation errors in feature importance.
problem Flawed feature importance methods using unrestricted permutations lead to extrapolation errors.
method Three new approaches: conditional model reliance, Knockoffs with Gaussian transformation, and restricted ALE plot designs.
result Theoretical and numerical results show our strategies reduce/eliminate extrapolation.
Importance sampling is often used in machine learning when training and testing data come from different distributions. In this paper we propose a new variant of importance sampling that can reduce the variance of importance sampling-based estimates by orders of magnitude when the supports of the training and testing d…
Importance sampling is widely used in machine learning and statistics, but its power is limited by the restriction of using simple proposals for which the importance weights can be tractably calculated. We address this problem by studying black-box importance sampling methods that calculate importance weights for sampl…
A new method uses nearest neighbors for importance weighting.
problem Data covariate shift problems in machine learning.
method Nearest neighbor classification scheme for determining importance weights.
result Demonstrated effectiveness through comparative experiments on various classification tasks.
New method improves Bayesian cross-validation.
problem Finding good proposal distributions for importance sampling.
method Implicitly adaptive importance sampling that iteratively matches moments.
result Better than many existing parametric adaptive importance sampling methods.
A new method ranks and selects features without model fitting.
problem Feature importance measures algorithm-specific and need improvement.
method Integrates global sensitivity analysis with forward selection and backward elimination.
result Demonstrates clear advantage over state-of-the-art methods.
Random Forest permutation importance measure is asymptotically unbiased in sparse regression models.
problem Challenges in selecting informative variables in high-dimensional regression problems.
method Theoretical guarantees and asymptotic unbiasedness of permutation importance measure under specific assumptions.
result Permutation importance measure in Random Forest is asymptotically unbiased.
Paper defines feature impact and importance from data, not models.
problem Misinterpretation of feature importance as impact leads to flawed insights.
method Mathematical definitions of feature impact and importance derived from partial dependence curves.
result Feature rankings by these definitions are competitive with existing techniques.
Importance weighting is a general way to adjust Monte Carlo integration to account for draws from the wrong distribution, but the resulting estimate can be highly variable when the importance ratios have a heavy right tail. This routinely occurs when there are aspects of the target distribution that are not well captur…
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.
New methods ensure feature importance rankings are correct with high probability.
problem Stability issues in feature importance scores due to random sampling.
method Hypothesis testing-based techniques to assess and verify the stability of top-ranked features.
result Ensures the most important features are correct with high-probability guarantees.
Paper proposes a method to estimate variance reduction in DNN training using importance sampling.
problem Challenges in assessing variance reduction during DNN training using importance sampling.
method Proposes a method for estimating variance reduction using minibatches sampled under importance sampling.
result Demonstrates consistent reduction in variance, improved training efficiency, and enhanced model accuracy.
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.
Paper defines hyperparameter importance for efficient tuning.
problem Computational inefficiency in tuning all hyperparameters.
method Defines hyperparameter importance via subsampling procedures.
result Proposed importance consistent with full data under weak conditions.
RAMPART ranks top-k features more accurately than existing methods.
problem Accurate ranking of important features in machine learning.
method Adaptive sequential halving strategy combined with ensembling techniques.
result RAMPART achieves the correct top-k ranking with high probability.
A new imputation method considers feature importance for missing value completion.
problem Missing values in datasets reduce accuracy and increase processing difficulty.
method Iterative matrix completion with feature importance learning.
result The method outperforms existing imputation algorithms on various datasets.
Develops ACE to automatically identify meaningful concepts from neural network predictions.
problem Challenges in interpreting feature importance scores for machine learning models.
method Proposes concept-based explanation principles and develops ACE algorithm to extract visual concepts.
result Demonstrates ACE discovers human-meaningful, coherent concepts for neural network predictions.
Corrects bias in feature importance measures of tree-based methods.
problem Bias in feature importance measures of tree-based methods.
method Corrects bias by incorporating out-of-sample split-improvement.
result Better summaries and screening tools of feature importance.
CPI overcomes limitations of permutation importance by providing accurate variable selection.
problem Misidentification of unimportant variables in complex models due to covariate correlations.
method Developed a model agnostic and computationally lean Conditional Permutation Importance (CPI) approach.
result CPI provides accurate type-I error control and more parsimonious variable selection.
New loss function restores importance weighting in overparameterized models.
problem Restoring importance weighting in overparameterized neural networks.
method Introduced polynomially-tailed losses to restore effects of importance weighting.
result Polynomially-tailed losses improve performance in correcting distribution shift.
Proposes a framework to assess feature importance without algorithm constraints.
problem Lack of a general framework for assessing feature importance across different algorithms.
method Develops a nonparametric framework for algorithm-agnostic variable importance assessment.
result Valid confidence intervals and testing strategies for variable importance.
Paper compares fairness measures and feature importance measures using SHAP.
problem Comparing fairness measures and feature importance measures.
method Focus on SHAP, a game-theoretic measure of feature importance.
result Results for unfairness-prone datasets.
New MCMC method corrects bias without extra cost.
problem Correcting bias in MCMC algorithms without additional computational cost.
method Generalized Markov Chain Importance Sampling methods.
result Proposed methods are more efficient than Metropolis-Hastings versions.
New adaptive importance samplers improve stability and accuracy.
problem Improving the stability and accuracy of importance sampling estimators.
method Introducing AdaOAIS, a new adaptive importance sampler using adaptive optimisers to address the instability of OAIS.
result AdaOAIS leads to stable importance sampling estimators in practice.
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.
GENI estimates node importance in KGs using GNNs.
problem Estimating node importance in KGs.
method GENI uses graph neural networks with a predicate-aware attention mechanism and flexible centrality adjustment.
result GENI achieves 5-17% higher NDCG@100 than state-of-the-art methods.
TRIP detects unreliable feature importance scores in random forests.
problem Unreliable feature importance scores in random forests due to model extrapolation.
method Develops TRIP (Test for Reliable Interpretation via Permutation) to detect unreliable permutation feature importance scores.
result TRIP reliably detects unreliable permutation feature importance scores in high-dimensional settings.
New local MDI variable importances derived from global scores match Shapley values.
problem Local feature relevance in tree-based models.
method Deriving local MDI importance measure from global scores and linking it to Shapley values.
result Local MDI importances have a natural connection with Shapley values.
Proposes CLIQUE for improved local variable importance in multi-class classification.
problem Lack of methods to characterize local structure in model loss space.
method CLIQUE (Conditional Local Importance by Quantile Expectations)
result CLIQUE emphasizes locally dependent information and captures interaction behavior.
Improved neural spike inference from calcium imaging data.
problem Neural spike inference from calcium imaging data.
method Importance weighted adversarial variational autoencoders (IWAE) with adversarial training.
result Adversarial IWAE methods outperform VAEs in inferring neural spikes.
The paper improves importance sampling and MCMC methods for complex distributions.
problem Improving sampling efficiency for distributions with atoms or heavy tails.
method Develops minimax optimal trial distributions and importance-tempered MCMC.
result Importance-tempered MCMC can be uniformly ergodic for certain distributions.
This work explores the importance of model weights and Hessian bias in pruning.
problem Understanding the relative importance of model weights for efficient pruning.
method A principled exploration of pruning, focusing on linear models and neural networks.
result Asymptotic formulas reveal the performance of different pruning methods.
Unified framework for analyzing pessimism in off-policy learning with regularized importance sampling.
problem High variance in importance weighting for off-policy learning.
method Unified PAC-Bayesian study of pessimism with regularized importance sampling.
result Derivation of a tractable PAC-Bayesian generalization bound for common importance weight regularizations.
Unified feature importance for machine learning models tackles sufficiency and necessity limitations.
problem Insufficient and incomplete explanations of machine learning models.
method Formalized sufficiency and necessity notions, proposing a unified importance measure.
result Unified importance measure detects features missed by sufficiency and necessity alone.
This study compares feature importance and explainability in quantum vs classical ML models.
problem Lack of transparency in ML models, especially in sensitive fields.
method Comparison of classical ML (SVM, Random Forest) and hybrid quantum ML (VQC, QSVC) models using feature importance and explainability methods.
result Quantum ML models provide insights similar to classical models but with unique quantum features.