Exploring complex diseases with intelligent systems
Borgwardt, K.
Physicians are collecting an ever increasing amount of data describing the health state of their patients. Is new knowledge about diseases hidden in this data, which could lead to better therapies? The field of Machine Learning in Biomedicine is concerned with the development of approaches which help to gain such insights from massive biomedical data.
Borgwardt, K. Exploring complex diseases with intelligent systems 2014 (mpi_year_book)
The cellular life-death decision – how mitochondrial membrane proteins can determine cell fate
García-Sáez, Ana J.
Living organisms have a very effective method for eliminating cells that are no longer needed: programmed death. Researchers in the group of Ana García Sáez work with a protein called Bax, a key regulator of apoptosis that creates pores with a flexible diameter inside the outer mitochondrial membrane. This step inevitably triggers the final death of the cell. These insights into the role of important key enzymes in setting off apoptosis could provide useful for developing drugs that can directly influence apoptosis.
García-Sáez, Ana J. The cellular life-death decision – how mitochondrial membrane proteins can determine cell fate 2014 (mpi_year_book)
Addressing of Micro-robot Teams and Non-contact Micro-manipulation
Diller, E., Ye, Z., Giltinan, J., Sitti, M.
In Small-Scale Robotics. From Nano-to-Millimeter-Sized Robotic Systems and Applications, pages: 28-38, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2014 (incollection)
pi Diller, E., Ye, Z., Giltinan, J., Sitti, M. Addressing of Micro-robot Teams and Non-contact Micro-manipulation In Small-Scale Robotics. From Nano-to-Millimeter-Sized Robotic Systems and Applications, pages: 28-38, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2014 (incollection)
Robot Learning by Guided Self-Organization
Martius, G., Der, R., Herrmann, J. M.
In Guided Self-Organization: Inception, 9, pages: 223-260, Emergence, Complexity and Computation, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2014 (incollection)
al Martius, G., Der, R., Herrmann, J. M. Robot Learning by Guided Self-Organization In Guided Self-Organization: Inception, 9, pages: 223-260, Emergence, Complexity and Computation, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2014 (incollection)
ps Gall, J. Simulated Annealing In Encyclopedia of Computer Vision, pages: 737-741, 0, (Editors: Ikeuchi, K. ), Springer Verlag, 2014, to appear (inbook)
Support Vector Machine Learning for Interdependent and Structured Output Spaces
Altun, Y., Hofmann, T., Tsochantaridis, I.
In Predicting Structured Data, pages: 85-104, Advances in neural information processing systems, (Editors: Bakir, G. H. , T. Hofmann, B. Schölkopf, A. J. Smola, B. Taskar, S. V. N. Vishwanathan), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2007 (inbook)
ei Altun, Y., Hofmann, T., Tsochantaridis, I. Support Vector Machine Learning for Interdependent and Structured Output Spaces In Predicting Structured Data, pages: 85-104, Advances in neural information processing systems, (Editors: Bakir, G. H. , T. Hofmann, B. Schölkopf, A. J. Smola, B. Taskar, S. V. N. Vishwanathan), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2007 (inbook)
Brisk Kernel ICA
Jegelka, S., Gretton, A.
In Large Scale Kernel Machines, pages: 225-250, Neural Information Processing, (Editors: Bottou, L. , O. Chapelle, D. DeCoste, J. Weston), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2007 (inbook)
Recent approaches to independent component analysis have used kernel independence measures to obtain very good performance in ICA, particularly in areas where classical methods experience difficulty (for instance, sources with near-zero kurtosis). In this chapter, we compare two efficient extensions of these methods for large-scale problems: random subsampling of entries in the Gram matrices used in defining the independence measures, and incomplete Cholesky decomposition of these matrices. We derive closed-form, efficiently computable approximations for the gradients of these measures, and compare their performance on ICA using both artificial and music data. We show that kernel ICA can scale up to much larger problems than yet attempted, and that incomplete Cholesky decomposition performs better than random sampling.
ei Jegelka, S., Gretton, A. Brisk Kernel ICA In Large Scale Kernel Machines, pages: 225-250, Neural Information Processing, (Editors: Bottou, L. , O. Chapelle, D. DeCoste, J. Weston), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2007 (inbook)
Training a Support Vector Machine in the Primal
Chapelle, O.
In Large Scale Kernel Machines, pages: 29-50, Neural Information Processing, (Editors: Bottou, L. , O. Chapelle, D. DeCoste, J. Weston), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2007, This is a slightly updated version of the Neural Computation paper (inbook)
Most literature on Support Vector Machines (SVMs) concentrate on the dual optimization problem. In this paper, we would like to point out that the primal problem can also be solved efficiently, both for linear and non-linear SVMs, and that there is no reason to ignore this possibility. On the contrary, from the primal point of view new families of algorithms for large scale SVM training can be investigated.
ei Chapelle, O. Training a Support Vector Machine in the Primal In Large Scale Kernel Machines, pages: 29-50, Neural Information Processing, (Editors: Bottou, L. , O. Chapelle, D. DeCoste, J. Weston), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2007, This is a slightly updated version of the Neural Computation paper (inbook)
Approximation Methods for Gaussian Process Regression
Quiñonero-Candela, J., Rasmussen, CE., Williams, CKI.
In Large-Scale Kernel Machines, pages: 203-223, Neural Information Processing, (Editors: Bottou, L. , O. Chapelle, D. DeCoste, J. Weston), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2007 (inbook)
A wealth of computationally efficient approximation methods for Gaussian process regression have been recently proposed. We give a unifying overview of sparse approximations, following Quiñonero-Candela and Rasmussen (2005), and a brief review of approximate matrix-vector multiplication methods.
ei Quiñonero-Candela, J., Rasmussen, CE., Williams, CKI. Approximation Methods for Gaussian Process Regression In Large-Scale Kernel Machines, pages: 203-223, Neural Information Processing, (Editors: Bottou, L. , O. Chapelle, D. DeCoste, J. Weston), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2007 (inbook)
Learning with Transformation Invariant Kernels
Walder, C., Chapelle, O.
(165), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, September 2007 (techreport)
Abstract. This paper considers kernels invariant to translation, rotation and dilation. We show that no non-trivial positive definite (p.d.) kernels exist which are radial and dilation invariant, only conditionally positive definite (c.p.d.) ones. Accordingly, we discuss the c.p.d. case and provide some novel analysis, including an elementary derivation of a c.p.d. representer theorem. On the practical side, we give a support vector machine (s.v.m.) algorithm for arbitrary c.p.d. kernels. For the thin-plate kernel this leads to a classifier with only one parameter (the amount of regularisation), which we demonstrate to be as effective as an s.v.m. with the Gaussian kernel, even though the Gaussian involves a second parameter (the length scale).
ei Walder, C., Chapelle, O. Learning with Transformation Invariant Kernels (165), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, September 2007 (techreport)
Trading Convexity for Scalability
Collobert, R., Sinz, F., Weston, J., Bottou, L.
Convex learning algorithms, such as Support Vector Machines (SVMs), are often seen as highly desirable because they offer strong practical properties and are amenable to theoretical analysis. However, in this work we show how nonconvexity can provide scalability advantages over convexity. We show how concave-convex programming can be applied to produce (i) faster SVMs where training errors are no longer support vectors, and (ii) much faster Transductive SVMs.
ei Collobert, R., Sinz, F., Weston, J., Bottou, L. Trading Convexity for Scalability In Large Scale Kernel Machines, pages: 275-300, Neural Information Processing, (Editors: Bottou, L. , O. Chapelle, D. DeCoste, J. Weston), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2007 (inbook)
Scalable Semidefinite Programming using Convex Perturbations
Kulis, B., Sra, S., Jegelka, S.
(TR-07-47), University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA, September 2007 (techreport)
Several important machine learning problems can be modeled and solved via semidefinite programs. Often, researchers invoke off-the-shelf software for the associated optimization, which can be inappropriate for many applications due to computational and storage requirements. In this paper, we introduce the use of convex perturbations for semidefinite programs (SDPs). Using a particular perturbation function, we arrive at an algorithm for SDPs that has several advantages over existing techniques: a) it is simple, requiring only a few lines of MATLAB, b) it is a first-order method which makes it scalable, c) it can easily exploit the structure of a particular SDP to gain efficiency (e.g., when the constraint matrices are low-rank). We demonstrate on several machine learning applications that the proposed algorithm is effective in finding fast approximations to large-scale SDPs.
ei Kulis, B., Sra, S., Jegelka, S. Scalable Semidefinite Programming using Convex Perturbations (TR-07-47), University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA, September 2007 (techreport)
Classifying Event-Related Desynchronization in EEG, ECoG and MEG signals
Hill, N., Lal, T., Tangermann, M., Hinterberger, T., Widman, G., Elger, C., Schölkopf, B., Birbaumer, N.
In Toward Brain-Computer Interfacing, pages: 235-260, Neural Information Processing, (Editors: G Dornhege and J del R Millán and T Hinterberger and DJ McFarland and K-R Müller), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2007 (inbook)
ei Hill, N., Lal, T., Tangermann, M., Hinterberger, T., Widman, G., Elger, C., Schölkopf, B., Birbaumer, N. Classifying Event-Related Desynchronization in EEG, ECoG and MEG signals In Toward Brain-Computer Interfacing, pages: 235-260, Neural Information Processing, (Editors: G Dornhege and J del R Millán and T Hinterberger and DJ McFarland and K-R Müller), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2007 (inbook)
Joint Kernel Maps
Weston, J., Bakir, G., Bousquet, O., Mann, T., Noble, W., Schölkopf, B.
In Predicting Structured Data, pages: 67-84, Advances in neural information processing systems, (Editors: GH Bakir and T Hofmann and B Schölkopf and AJ Smola and B Taskar and SVN Vishwanathan), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2007 (inbook)
ei Weston, J., Bakir, G., Bousquet, O., Mann, T., Noble, W., Schölkopf, B. Joint Kernel Maps In Predicting Structured Data, pages: 67-84, Advances in neural information processing systems, (Editors: GH Bakir and T Hofmann and B Schölkopf and AJ Smola and B Taskar and SVN Vishwanathan), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2007 (inbook)
Brain-Computer Interfaces for Communication in Paralysis: A Clinical Experimental Approach
Hinterberger, T., Nijboer, F., Kübler, A., Matuz, T., Furdea, A., Mochty, U., Jordan, M., Lal, T., Hill, J., Mellinger, J., Bensch, M., Tangermann, M., Widman, G., Elger, C., Rosenstiel, W., Schölkopf, B., Birbaumer, N.
In Toward Brain-Computer Interfacing, pages: 43-64, Neural Information Processing, (Editors: G. Dornhege and J del R Millán and T Hinterberger and DJ McFarland and K-R Müller), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2007 (inbook)
ei Hinterberger, T., Nijboer, F., Kübler, A., Matuz, T., Furdea, A., Mochty, U., Jordan, M., Lal, T., Hill, J., Mellinger, J., Bensch, M., Tangermann, M., Widman, G., Elger, C., Rosenstiel, W., Schölkopf, B., Birbaumer, N. Brain-Computer Interfaces for Communication in Paralysis: A Clinical Experimental Approach In Toward Brain-Computer Interfacing, pages: 43-64, Neural Information Processing, (Editors: G. Dornhege and J del R Millán and T Hinterberger and DJ McFarland and K-R Müller), MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2007 (inbook)
Sparse Multiscale Gaussian Process Regression
Walder, C., Kim, K., Schölkopf, B.
(162), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, August 2007 (techreport)
Most existing sparse Gaussian process (g.p.) models seek computational advantages by basing their computations on a set of m basis functions that are the covariance function of the g.p. with one of its two inputs fixed. We generalise this for the case of Gaussian covariance function, by basing our computations on m Gaussian basis functions with arbitrary diagonal covariance matrices (or length scales). For a fixed number of basis functions and any given criteria, this additional flexibility permits approximations no worse and typically better than was previously possible. Although we focus on g.p. regression, the central idea is applicable to all kernel based algorithms, such as the support vector machine. We perform gradient based optimisation of the marginal likelihood, which costs O(m2n) time where n is the number of data points, and compare the method to various other sparse g.p. methods. Our approach outperforms the other methods, particularly for the case of very few basis functions, i.e. a very high sparsity ratio.
ei Walder, C., Kim, K., Schölkopf, B. Sparse Multiscale Gaussian Process Regression (162), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, August 2007 (techreport)
Efficient Subwindow Search for Object Localization
Blaschko, M., Hofmann, T., Lampert, C.
Recent years have seen huge advances in object recognition from images. Recognition rates beyond 95% are the rule rather than the exception on many datasets. However, most state-of-the-art methods can only decide if an object is present or not. They are not able to provide information on the object location or extent within in the image. We report on a simple yet powerful scheme that extends many existing recognition methods to also perform localization of object bounding boxes. This is achieved by maximizing the classification score over all possible subrectangles in the image. Despite the impression that this would be computationally intractable, we show that in many situations efficient algorithms exist which solve a generalized maximum subrectangle problem. We show how our method is applicable to a variety object detection frameworks and demonstrate its performance by applying it to the popular bag of visual words model, achieving competitive results on the PASCAL VOC 2006 dataset.
ei Blaschko, M., Hofmann, T., Lampert, C. Efficient Subwindow Search for Object Localization (164), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, August 2007 (techreport)
Cluster Identification in Nearest-Neighbor Graphs
Maier, M., Hein, M., von Luxburg, U.
(163), Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, May 2007 (techreport)
Assume we are given a sample of points from some underlying distribution which contains several distinct clusters. Our goal is to construct a neighborhood graph on the sample points such that clusters are ``identified'': that is, the subgraph induced by points from the same cluster is connected, while subgraphs corresponding to different clusters are not connected to each other. We derive bounds on the probability that cluster identification is successful, and use them to predict ``optimal'' values of k for the mutual and symmetric k-nearest-neighbor graphs. We point out different properties of the mutual and symmetric nearest-neighbor graphs related to the cluster identification problem.
ei Maier, M., Hein, M., von Luxburg, U. Cluster Identification in Nearest-Neighbor Graphs (163), Max-Planck-Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, May 2007 (techreport)
Probabilistic Structure Calculation
Rieping, W., Habeck, M., Nilges, M.
In Structure and Biophysics: New Technologies for Current Challenges in Biology and Beyond, pages: 81-98, NATO Security through Science Series, (Editors: Puglisi, J. D.), Springer, Berlin, Germany, March 2007 (inbook)
ei Rieping, W., Habeck, M., Nilges, M. Probabilistic Structure Calculation In Structure and Biophysics: New Technologies for Current Challenges in Biology and Beyond, pages: 81-98, NATO Security through Science Series, (Editors: Puglisi, J. D.), Springer, Berlin, Germany, March 2007 (inbook)
Dirichlet Mixtures of Bayesian Linear Gaussian State-Space Models: a Variational Approach
Chiappa, S., Barber, D.
(161), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, March 2007 (techreport)
We describe two related models to cluster multidimensional time-series under the assumption of an underlying linear Gaussian dynamical process. In the first model, times-series are assigned to the same cluster when they show global similarity in their dynamics, while in the second model times-series are assigned to the same cluster when they show simultaneous similarity. Both models are based on Dirichlet Mixtures of Bayesian Linear Gaussian State-Space Models in order to (semi) automatically determine an appropriate number of components in the mixture, and to additionally bias the components to a parsimonious parameterization. The resulting models are formally intractable and to deal with this we describe a deterministic approximation based on a novel implementation of Variational Bayes.
ei Chiappa, S., Barber, D. Dirichlet Mixtures of Bayesian Linear Gaussian State-Space Models: a Variational Approach (161), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, March 2007 (techreport)
Automatic 3D Face Reconstruction from Single Images or Video
Breuer, P., Kim, K., Kienzle, W., Blanz, V., Schölkopf, B.
(160), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, February 2007 (techreport)
This paper presents a fully automated algorithm for reconstructing a textured 3D model of a face from a single photograph or a raw video stream. The algorithm is based on a combination of Support Vector Machines (SVMs) and a Morphable Model of 3D faces. After SVM face detection, individual facial features are detected using a novel regression-and classification-based approach, and probabilistically plausible configurations of features are selected to produce a list of candidates for several facial feature positions. In the next step, the configurations of feature points are evaluated using a novel criterion that is based on a Morphable Model and a combination of linear projections. Finally, the feature points initialize a model-fitting procedure of the Morphable Model. The result is a high-resolution 3D surface model.
ei Breuer, P., Kim, K., Kienzle, W., Blanz, V., Schölkopf, B. Automatic 3D Face Reconstruction from Single Images or Video (160), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, February 2007 (techreport)
On the Pre-Image Problem in Kernel Methods
BakIr, G., Schölkopf, B., Weston, J.
In Kernel Methods in Bioengineering, Signal and Image Processing, pages: 284-302, (Editors: G Camps-Valls and JL Rojo-Álvarez and M Martínez-Ramón), Idea Group Publishing, Hershey, PA, USA, January 2007 (inbook)
In this chapter we are concerned with the problem of reconstructing patterns from their representation in feature space, known as the pre-image problem. We review existing algorithms and propose a learning based approach. All algorithms are discussed regarding their usability and complexity and evaluated on an image denoising application.
ei BakIr, G., Schölkopf, B., Weston, J. On the Pre-Image Problem in Kernel Methods In Kernel Methods in Bioengineering, Signal and Image Processing, pages: 284-302, (Editors: G Camps-Valls and JL Rojo-Álvarez and M Martínez-Ramón), Idea Group Publishing, Hershey, PA, USA, January 2007 (inbook)
Relative Entropy Policy Search
Peters, J.
CLMC Technical Report: TR-CLMC-2007-2, Computational Learning and Motor Control Lab, Los Angeles, CA, 2007, clmc (techreport)
This technical report describes a cute idea of how to create new policy search approaches. It directly relates to the Natural Actor-Critic methods but allows the derivation of one shot solutions. Future work may include the application to interesting problems.
am ei Peters, J. Relative Entropy Policy Search CLMC Technical Report: TR-CLMC-2007-2, Computational Learning and Motor Control Lab, Los Angeles, CA, 2007, clmc (techreport)
Dynamics systems vs. optimal control ? a unifying view
Schaal, S, Mohajerian, P., Ijspeert, A.
In Progress in Brain Research, (165):425-445, 2007, clmc (inbook)
In the past, computational motor control has been approached from at least two major frameworks: the dynamic systems approach and the viewpoint of optimal control. The dynamic system approach emphasizes motor control as a process of self-organization between an animal and its environment. Nonlinear differential equations that can model entrainment and synchronization behavior are among the most favorable tools of dynamic systems modelers. In contrast, optimal control approaches view motor control as the evolutionary or development result of a nervous system that tries to optimize rather general organizational principles, e.g., energy consumption or accurate task achievement. Optimal control theory is usually employed to develop appropriate theories. Interestingly, there is rather little interaction between dynamic systems and optimal control modelers as the two approaches follow rather different philosophies and are often viewed as diametrically opposing. In this paper, we develop a computational approach to motor control that offers a unifying modeling framework for both dynamic systems and optimal control approaches. In discussions of several behavioral experiments and some theoretical and robotics studies, we demonstrate how our computational ideas allow both the representation of self-organizing processes and the optimization of movement based on reward criteria. Our modeling framework is rather simple and general, and opens opportunities to revisit many previous modeling results from this novel unifying view.
am Schaal, S, Mohajerian, P., Ijspeert, A. Dynamics systems vs. optimal control ? a unifying view In Progress in Brain Research, (165):425-445, 2007, clmc (inbook)
Bacteria integrated swimming microrobots
Behkam, B., Sitti, M.
In 50 years of artificial intelligence, pages: 154-163, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2007 (incollection)
pi Behkam, B., Sitti, M. Bacteria integrated swimming microrobots In 50 years of artificial intelligence, pages: 154-163, Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2007 (incollection)
Micromagnetism-microstructure relations and the hysteresis loop
Goll, D.
In Handbook of Magnetism and Advanced Magnetic Materials. Vol. 2: Micromagnetism, pages: 1023-1058, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Chichester, UK, 2007 (incollection)
mms Goll, D. Micromagnetism-microstructure relations and the hysteresis loop In Handbook of Magnetism and Advanced Magnetic Materials. Vol. 2: Micromagnetism, pages: 1023-1058, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Chichester, UK, 2007 (incollection)
Synchrotron radiation techniques based on X-ray magnetic circular dichroism
Schütz, G., Goering, E., Stoll, H.
In Handbook of Magnetism and Advanced Magnetic Materials. Vol. 3: Materials Novel Techniques for Characterizing and Preparing Samples, pages: 1311-1363, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Chichester, UK, 2007 (incollection)
mms Schütz, G., Goering, E., Stoll, H. Synchrotron radiation techniques based on X-ray magnetic circular dichroism In Handbook of Magnetism and Advanced Magnetic Materials. Vol. 3: Materials Novel Techniques for Characterizing and Preparing Samples, pages: 1311-1363, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Chichester, UK, 2007 (incollection)
Learning an Outlier-Robust Kalman Filter
Ting, J., Theodorou, E., Schaal, S.
CLMC Technical Report: TR-CLMC-2007-1, Los Angeles, CA, 2007, clmc (techreport)
We introduce a modified Kalman filter that performs robust, real-time outlier detection, without the need for manual parameter tuning by the user. Systems that rely on high quality sensory data (for instance, robotic systems) can be sensitive to data containing outliers. The standard Kalman filter is not robust to outliers, and other variations of the Kalman filter have been proposed to overcome this issue. However, these methods may require manual parameter tuning, use of heuristics or complicated parameter estimation procedures. Our Kalman filter uses a weighted least squares-like approach by introducing weights for each data sample. A data sample with a smaller weight has a weaker contribution when estimating the current time step?s state. Using an incremental variational Expectation-Maximization framework, we learn the weights and system dynamics. We evaluate our Kalman filter algorithm on data from a robotic dog.
am Ting, J., Theodorou, E., Schaal, S. Learning an Outlier-Robust Kalman Filter CLMC Technical Report: TR-CLMC-2007-1, Los Angeles, CA, 2007, clmc (techreport)
Dissipative magnetization dynamics close to the adiabatic regime
Fähnle, M., Steiauf, D.
In Handbook of Magnetism and Advanced Magnetic Materials. Vol. 1: Fundamental and Theory, pages: 282-302, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Chichester, UK, 2007 (incollection)
mms Fähnle, M., Steiauf, D. Dissipative magnetization dynamics close to the adiabatic regime In Handbook of Magnetism and Advanced Magnetic Materials. Vol. 1: Fundamental and Theory, pages: 282-302, John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Chichester, UK, 2007 (incollection)
Popper, Falsification and the VC-dimension
Corfield, D., Schölkopf, B., Vapnik, V.
(145), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, November 2005 (techreport)
ei Corfield, D., Schölkopf, B., Vapnik, V. Popper, Falsification and the VC-dimension (145), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, November 2005 (techreport)
A Combinatorial View of Graph Laplacians
Huang, J.
Discussions about different graph Laplacian, mainly normalized and unnormalized versions of graph Laplacian, have been ardent with respect to various methods in clustering and graph based semi-supervised learning. Previous research on graph Laplacians investigated their convergence properties to Laplacian operators on continuous manifolds. There is still no strong proof on convergence for the normalized Laplacian. In this paper, we analyze different variants of graph Laplacians directly from the ways solving the original graph partitioning problem. The graph partitioning problem is a well-known combinatorial NP hard optimization problem. The spectral solutions provide evidence that normalized Laplacian encodes more reasonable considerations for graph partitioning. We also provide some examples to show their differences.
ei Huang, J. A Combinatorial View of Graph Laplacians (144), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, August 2005 (techreport)
Beyond Pairwise Classification and Clustering Using Hypergraphs
Zhou, D., Huang, J., Schölkopf, B.
(143), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, August 2005 (techreport)
In many applications, relationships among objects of interest are more complex than pairwise. Simply approximating complex relationships as pairwise ones can lead to loss of information. An alternative for these applications is to analyze complex relationships among data directly, without the need to first represent the complex relationships into pairwise ones. A natural way to describe complex relationships is to use hypergraphs. A hypergraph is a graph in which edges can connect more than two vertices. Thus we consider learning from a hypergraph, and develop a general framework which is applicable to classification and clustering for complex relational data. We have applied our framework to real-world web classification problems and obtained encouraging results.
ei Zhou, D., Huang, J., Schölkopf, B. Beyond Pairwise Classification and Clustering Using Hypergraphs (143), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, August 2005 (techreport)
Measuring Statistical Dependence with Hilbert-Schmidt Norms
Gretton, A., Bousquet, O., Smola, A., Schölkopf, B.
(140), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, June 2005 (techreport)
We propose an independence criterion based on the eigenspectrum of covariance operators in reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces (RKHSs), consisting of an empirical estimate of the Hilbert-Schmidt norm of the cross-covariance operator (we term this a Hilbert-Schmidt Independence Criterion, or HSIC). This approach has several advantages, compared with previous kernel-based independence criteria. First, the empirical estimate is simpler than any other kernel dependence test, and requires no user-defined regularisation. Second, there is a clearly defined population quantity which the empirical estimate approaches in the large sample limit, with exponential convergence guaranteed between the two: this ensures that independence tests based on HSIC do not suffer from slow learning rates. Finally, we show in the context of independent component analysis (ICA) that the performance of HSIC is competitive with that of previously published kernel-based criteria, and of other recently published ICA methods.
ei Gretton, A., Bousquet, O., Smola, A., Schölkopf, B. Measuring Statistical Dependence with Hilbert-Schmidt Norms (140), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, June 2005 (techreport)
Approximate Inference for Robust Gaussian Process Regression
Kuss, M., Pfingsten, T., Csato, L., Rasmussen, C.
(136), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, 2005 (techreport)
Gaussian process (GP) priors have been successfully used in non-parametric Bayesian regression and classification models. Inference can be performed analytically only for the regression model with Gaussian noise. For all other likelihood models inference is intractable and various approximation techniques have been proposed. In recent years expectation-propagation (EP) has been developed as a general method for approximate inference. This article provides a general summary of how expectation-propagation can be used for approximate inference in Gaussian process models. Furthermore we present a case study describing its implementation for a new robust variant of Gaussian process regression. To gain further insights into the quality of the EP approximation we present experiments in which we compare to results obtained by Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling.
ei Kuss, M., Pfingsten, T., Csato, L., Rasmussen, C. Approximate Inference for Robust Gaussian Process Regression (136), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, 2005 (techreport)
Maximum-Margin Feature Combination for Detection and Categorization
BakIr, G., Wu, M., Eichhorn, J.
Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, 2005 (techreport)
In this paper we are concerned with the optimal combination of features of possibly different types for detection and estimation tasks in machine vision. We propose to combine features such that the resulting classifier maximizes the margin between classes. In contrast to existing approaches which are non-convex and/or generative we propose to use a discriminative model leading to convex problem formulation and complexity control. Furthermore we assert that decision functions should not compare apples and oranges by comparing features of different types directly. Instead we propose to combine different similarity measures for each different feature type. Furthermore we argue that the question: "Which feature type is more discriminative for task X?" is ill-posed and show empirically that the answer to this question might depend on the complexity of the decision function.
ei BakIr, G., Wu, M., Eichhorn, J. Maximum-Margin Feature Combination for Detection and Categorization Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, 2005 (techreport)
Towards a Statistical Theory of Clustering. Presented at the PASCAL workshop on clustering, London
von Luxburg, U., Ben-David, S.
Presented at the PASCAL workshop on clustering, London, 2005 (techreport)
The goal of this paper is to discuss statistical aspects of clustering in a framework where the data to be clustered has been sampled from some unknown probability distribution. Firstly, the clustering of the data set should reveal some structure of the underlying data rather than model artifacts due to the random sampling process. Secondly, the more sample points we have, the more reliable the clustering should be. We discuss which methods can and cannot be used to tackle those problems. In particular we argue that generalization bounds as they are used in statistical learning theory of classification are unsuitable in a general clustering framework. We suggest that the main replacements of generalization bounds should be convergence proofs and stability considerations. This paper should be considered as a road map paper which identifies important questions and potentially fruitful directions for future research about statistical clustering. We do not attempt to present a complete statistical theory of clustering.
ei von Luxburg, U., Ben-David, S. Towards a Statistical Theory of Clustering. Presented at the PASCAL workshop on clustering, London Presented at the PASCAL workshop on clustering, London, 2005 (techreport)
Approximate Bayesian Inference for Psychometric Functions using MCMC Sampling
Kuss, M., Jäkel, F., Wichmann, F.
In psychophysical studies the psychometric function is used to model the relation between the physical stimulus intensity and the observer's ability to detect or discriminate between stimuli of different intensities. In this report we propose the use of Bayesian inference to extract the information contained in experimental data estimate the parameters of psychometric functions. Since Bayesian inference cannot be performed analytically we describe how a Markov chain Monte Carlo method can be used to generate samples from the posterior distribution over parameters. These samples are used to estimate Bayesian confidence intervals and other characteristics of the posterior distribution. In addition we discuss the parameterisation of psychometric functions and the role of prior distributions in the analysis. The proposed approach is exemplified using artificially generate d data and in a case study for real experimental data. Furthermore, we compare our approach with traditional methods based on maximum-likelihood parameter estimation combined with bootstrap techniques for confidence interval estimation. The appendix provides a description of an implementation for the R environment for statistical computing and provides the code for reproducing the results discussed in the experiment section.
ei Kuss, M., Jäkel, F., Wichmann, F. Approximate Bayesian Inference for Psychometric Functions using MCMC Sampling (135), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, 2005 (techreport)
Linear and Nonlinear Estimation models applied to Hemodynamic Model
Theodorou, E.
Technical Report-2005-1, Computational Action and Vision Lab University of Minnesota, 2005, clmc (techreport)
The relation between BOLD signal and neural activity is still poorly understood. The Gaussian Linear Model known as GLM is broadly used in many fMRI data analysis for recovering the underlying neural activity. Although GLM has been proved to be a really useful tool for analyzing fMRI data it can not be used for describing the complex biophysical process of neural metabolism. In this technical report we make use of a system of Stochastic Differential Equations that is based on Buxton model [1] for describing the underlying computational principles of hemodynamic process. Based on this SDE we built a Kalman Filter estimator so as to estimate the induced neural signal as well as the blood inflow under physiologic and sensor noise. The performance of Kalman Filter estimator is investigated under different physiologic noise characteristics and measurement frequencies.
am Theodorou, E. Linear and Nonlinear Estimation models applied to Hemodynamic Model Technical Report-2005-1, Computational Action and Vision Lab University of Minnesota, 2005, clmc (techreport)
Geckobot and waalbot: Small-scale wall climbing robots
Unver, O., Murphy, M., Sitti, M.
In Infotech@ Aerospace, pages: 6940, 2005 (incollection)
pi Unver, O., Murphy, M., Sitti, M. Geckobot and waalbot: Small-scale wall climbing robots In Infotech@ Aerospace, pages: 6940, 2005 (incollection)
Image Reconstruction by Linear Programming
Tsuda, K., Rätsch, G.
(118), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, October 2003 (techreport)
ei Tsuda, K., Rätsch, G. Image Reconstruction by Linear Programming (118), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, October 2003 (techreport)
Ranking on Data Manifolds
Zhou, D., Weston, J., Gretton, A., Bousquet, O., Schölkopf, B.
(113), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany, June 2003 (techreport)
The Google search engine has had a huge success with its PageRank web page ranking algorithm, which exploits global, rather than local, hyperlink structure of the World Wide Web using random walk. This algorithm can only be used for graph data, however. Here we propose a simple universal ranking algorithm for vectorial data, based on the exploration of the intrinsic global geometric structure revealed by a huge amount of data. Experimental results from image and text to bioinformatics illustrates the validity of our algorithm.
ei Zhou, D., Weston, J., Gretton, A., Bousquet, O., Schölkopf, B. Ranking on Data Manifolds (113), Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany, June 2003 (techreport)