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preprint2016arXiv

Tight (Lower) Bounds for the Fixed Budget Best Arm Identification Bandit Problem

We consider the problem of \textit{best arm identification} with a \textit{fixed budget $T$}, in the $K$-armed stochastic bandit setting, with arms distribution defined on $[0,1]$. We prove that any bandit strategy, for at least one bandit problem characterized by a complexity $H$, will misidentify the best arm with probability lower bounded by $$\exp\Big(-\frac{T}{\log(K)H}\Big),$$ where $H$ is the sum for all sub-optimal arms of the inverse of the squared gaps. Our result disproves formally the general belief - coming from results in the fixed confidence setting - that there must exist an algorithm for this problem whose probability of error is upper bounded by $\exp(-T/H)$. This also proves that some existing strategies based on the Successive Rejection of the arms are optimal - closing therefore the current gap between upper and lower bounds for the fixed budget best arm identification problem.

preprint2021arXiv

Avoiding Kernel Fixed Points: Computing with ELU and GELU Infinite Networks

Analysing and computing with Gaussian processes arising from infinitely wide neural networks has recently seen a resurgence in popularity. Despite this, many explicit covariance functions of networks with activation functions used in modern networks remain unknown. Furthermore, while the kernels of deep networks can be computed iteratively, theoretical understanding of deep kernels is lacking, particularly with respect to fixed-point dynamics. Firstly, we derive the covariance functions of multi-layer perceptrons (MLPs) with exponential linear units (ELU) and Gaussian error linear units (GELU) and evaluate the performance of the limiting Gaussian processes on some benchmarks. Secondly, and more generally, we analyse the fixed-point dynamics of iterated kernels corresponding to a broad range of activation functions. We find that unlike some previously studied neural network kernels, these new kernels exhibit non-trivial fixed-point dynamics which are mirrored in finite-width neural networks. The fixed point behaviour present in some networks explains a mechanism for implicit regularisation in overparameterised deep models. Our results relate to both the static iid parameter conjugate kernel and the dynamic neural tangent kernel constructions. Software at github.com/RussellTsuchida/ELU_GELU_kernels.

preprint2022arXiv

PUMA: Performance Unchanged Model Augmentation for Training Data Removal

Preserving the performance of a trained model while removing unique characteristics of marked training data points is challenging. Recent research usually suggests retraining a model from scratch with remaining training data or refining the model by reverting the model optimization on the marked data points. Unfortunately, aside from their computational inefficiency, those approaches inevitably hurt the resulting model's generalization ability since they remove not only unique characteristics but also discard shared (and possibly contributive) information. To address the performance degradation problem, this paper presents a novel approach called Performance Unchanged Model Augmentation~(PUMA). The proposed PUMA framework explicitly models the influence of each training data point on the model's generalization ability with respect to various performance criteria. It then complements the negative impact of removing marked data by reweighting the remaining data optimally. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the PUMA framework, we compared it with multiple state-of-the-art data removal techniques in the experiments, where we show the PUMA can effectively and efficiently remove the unique characteristics of marked training data without retraining the model that can 1) fool a membership attack, and 2) resist performance degradation. In addition, as PUMA estimates the data importance during its operation, we show it could serve to debug mislabelled data points more efficiently than existing approaches.

preprint2024arXiv

InRank: Incremental Low-Rank Learning

The theory of greedy low-rank learning (GLRL) aims to explain the impressive generalization capabilities of deep learning. It proves that stochastic gradient-based training implicitly regularizes neural networks towards low-rank solutions through a gradual increase of the rank during training. However, there is a gap between theory and practice since GLRL requires an infinitesimal initialization of the weights, which is not practical due to the fact that it is a saddle point. In this work, we remove the assumption of infinitesimal initialization by focusing on cumulative weight updates. We prove the cumulative weight updates follow an incremental low-rank trajectory for arbitrary orthogonal initialization of weights in a three-layer linear network. Empirically, we demonstrate that our theory holds on a broad range of neural networks (e.g., transformers) and standard training algorithms (e.g., SGD, Adam). However, existing training algorithms do not exploit the low-rank property to improve computational efficiency as the networks are not parameterized in low-rank. To remedy this, we design a new training algorithm Incremental Low-Rank Learning (InRank), which explicitly expresses cumulative weight updates as low-rank matrices while incrementally augmenting their ranks during training. We evaluate InRank on GPT-2, and our results indicate that InRank achieves comparable prediction performance as the full-rank counterpart while requiring at most 33% of the total ranks throughout training. We also propose an efficient version of InRank that achieves a reduction of 37% in total training time and 36% in model size when training GPT-medium on WikiText-103 from scratch.

preprint2022arXiv

Forecasting Solar Power Generation on the basis of Predictive and Corrective Maintenance Activities

Solar energy forecasting has seen tremendous growth in the last decade using historical time series collected from a weather station, such as weather variables wind speed and direction, solar radiance, and temperature. It helps in the overall management of solar power plants. However, the solar power plant regularly requires preventive and corrective maintenance activities that further impact energy production. This paper presents a novel work for forecasting solar power energy production based on maintenance activities, problems observed at a power plant, and weather data. The results accomplished on the datasets obtained from the 1MW solar power plant of PDEU (our university) that has generated data set with 13 columns as daily entries from 2012 to 2020. There are 12 structured columns and one unstructured column with manual text entries about different maintenance activities, problems observed, and weather conditions daily. The unstructured column is used to create a new feature column vector using Hash Map, flag words, and stop words. The final dataset comprises five important feature vector columns based on correlation and causality analysis.

preprint2014arXiv

A Permutation Approach for Selecting the Penalty Parameter in Penalized Model Selection

We describe a simple, efficient, permutation based procedure for selecting the penalty parameter in the LASSO. The procedure, which is intended for applications where variable selection is the primary focus, can be applied in a variety of structural settings, including generalized linear models. We briefly discuss connections between permutation selection and existing theory for the LASSO. In addition, we present a simulation study and an analysis of three real data sets in which permutation selection is compared with cross-validation (CV), the Bayesian information criterion (BIC), and a selection method based on recently developed testing procedures for the LASSO.

preprint2022arXiv

Systematic Training and Testing for Machine Learning Using Combinatorial Interaction Testing

This paper demonstrates the systematic use of combinatorial coverage for selecting and characterizing test and training sets for machine learning models. The presented work adapts combinatorial interaction testing, which has been successfully leveraged in identifying faults in software testing, to characterize data used in machine learning. The MNIST hand-written digits data is used to demonstrate that combinatorial coverage can be used to select test sets that stress machine learning model performance, to select training sets that lead to robust model performance, and to select data for fine-tuning models to new domains. Thus, the results posit combinatorial coverage as a holistic approach to training and testing for machine learning. In contrast to prior work which has focused on the use of coverage in regard to the internal of neural networks, this paper considers coverage over simple features derived from inputs and outputs. Thus, this paper addresses the case where the supplier of test and training sets for machine learning models does not have intellectual property rights to the models themselves. Finally, the paper addresses prior criticism of combinatorial coverage and provides a rebuttal which advocates the use of coverage metrics in machine learning applications.

preprint2021arXiv

Training Normalizing Flows with the Information Bottleneck for Competitive Generative Classification

The Information Bottleneck (IB) objective uses information theory to formulate a task-performance versus robustness trade-off. It has been successfully applied in the standard discriminative classification setting. We pose the question whether the IB can also be used to train generative likelihood models such as normalizing flows. Since normalizing flows use invertible network architectures (INNs), they are information-preserving by construction. This seems contradictory to the idea of a bottleneck. In this work, firstly, we develop the theory and methodology of IB-INNs, a class of conditional normalizing flows where INNs are trained using the IB objective: Introducing a small amount of {\em controlled} information loss allows for an asymptotically exact formulation of the IB, while keeping the INN's generative capabilities intact. Secondly, we investigate the properties of these models experimentally, specifically used as generative classifiers. This model class offers advantages such as improved uncertainty quantification and out-of-distribution detection, but traditional generative classifier solutions suffer considerably in classification accuracy. We find the trade-off parameter in the IB controls a mix of generative capabilities and accuracy close to standard classifiers. Empirically, our uncertainty estimates in this mixed regime compare favourably to conventional generative and discriminative classifiers.

preprint2020arXiv

Estimation and Validation of Ratio-based Conditional Average Treatment Effects Using Observational Data

While sample sizes in randomized clinical trials are large enough to estimate the average treatment effect well, they are often insufficient for estimation of treatment-covariate interactions critical to studying data-driven precision medicine. Observational data from real world practice may play an important role in alleviating this problem. One common approach in trials is to predict the outcome of interest with separate regression models in each treatment arm, and estimate the treatment effect based on the contrast of the predictions. Unfortunately, this simple approach may induce spurious treatment-covariate interaction in observational studies when the regression model is misspecified. Motivated by the need of modeling the number of relapses in multiple sclerosis patients, where the ratio of relapse rates is a natural choice of the treatment effect, we propose to estimate the conditional average treatment effect (CATE) as the ratio of expected potential outcomes, and derive a doubly robust estimator of this CATE in a semiparametric model of treatment-covariate interactions. We also provide a validation procedure to check the quality of the estimator on an independent sample. W

preprint2023arXiv

Personalized Federated Learning with Attention-based Client Selection

Personalized Federated Learning (PFL) relies on collective data knowledge to build customized models. However, non-IID data between clients poses significant challenges, as collaborating with clients who have diverse data distributions can harm local model performance, especially with limited training data. To address this issue, we propose FedACS, a new PFL algorithm with an Attention-based Client Selection mechanism. FedACS integrates an attention mechanism to enhance collaboration among clients with similar data distributions and mitigate the data scarcity issue. It prioritizes and allocates resources based on data similarity. We further establish the theoretical convergence behavior of FedACS. Experiments on CIFAR10 and FMNIST validate FedACS's superiority, showcasing its potential to advance personalized federated learning. By tackling non-IID data challenges and data scarcity, FedACS offers promising advances in the field of personalized federated learning.

preprint2020arXiv

Quantifying Membership Inference Vulnerability via Generalization Gap and Other Model Metrics

We demonstrate how a target model's generalization gap leads directly to an effective deterministic black box membership inference attack (MIA). This provides an upper bound on how secure a model can be to MIA based on a simple metric. Moreover, this attack is shown to be optimal in the expected sense given access to only certain likely obtainable metrics regarding the network's training and performance. Experimentally, this attack is shown to be comparable in accuracy to state-of-art MIAs in many cases.

preprint2020arXiv

Causal inference of brain connectivity from fMRI with $ψ$-Learning Incorporated Linear non-Gaussian Acyclic Model ($ψ$-LiNGAM)

Functional connectivity (FC) has become a primary means of understanding brain functions by identifying brain network interactions and, ultimately, how those interactions produce cognitions. A popular definition of FC is by statistical associations between measured brain regions. However, this could be problematic since the associations can only provide spatial connections but not causal interactions among regions of interests. Hence, it is necessary to study their causal relationship. Directed acyclic graph (DAG) models have been applied in recent FC studies but often encountered problems such as limited sample sizes and large number of variables (namely high-dimensional problems), which lead to both computational difficulty and convergence issues. As a result, the use of DAG models is problematic, where the identification of DAG models in general is nondeterministic polynomial time hard (NP-hard). To this end, we propose a $ψ$-learning incorporated linear non-Gaussian acyclic model ($ψ$-LiNGAM). We use the association model ($ψ$-learning) to facilitate causal inferences and the model works well especially for high-dimensional cases. Our simulation results demonstrate that the pro

preprint2020arXiv

Graph Prolongation Convolutional Networks: Explicitly Multiscale Machine Learning on Graphs with Applications to Modeling of Cytoskeleton

We define a novel type of ensemble Graph Convolutional Network (GCN) model. Using optimized linear projection operators to map between spatial scales of graph, this ensemble model learns to aggregate information from each scale for its final prediction. We calculate these linear projection operators as the infima of an objective function relating the structure matrices used for each GCN. Equipped with these projections, our model (a Graph Prolongation-Convolutional Network) outperforms other GCN ensemble models at predicting the potential energy of monomer subunits in a coarse-grained mechanochemical simulation of microtubule bending. We demonstrate these performance gains by measuring an estimate of the FLOPs spent to train each model, as well as wall-clock time. Because our model learns at multiple scales, it is possible to train at each scale according to a predetermined schedule of coarse vs. fine training. We examine several such schedules adapted from the Algebraic Multigrid (AMG) literature, and quantify the computational benefit of each. We also compare this model to another model which features an optimized coarsening of the input graph. Finally, we derive backpropagation

preprint2024arXiv

Integrating Secondary Structures Information into Triangular Spatial Relationships (TSR) for Advanced Protein Classification

Protein structures represent the key to deciphering biological functions. The more detailed form of similarity among these proteins is sometimes overlooked by the conventional structural comparison methods. In contrast, further advanced methods, such as Triangular Spatial Relationship (TSR), have been demonstrated to make finer differentiations. Still, the classical implementation of TSR does not provide for the integration of secondary structure information, which is important for a more detailed understanding of the folding pattern of a protein. To overcome these limitations, we developed the SSE-TSR approach. The proposed method integrates secondary structure elements (SSEs) into TSR-based protein representations. This allows an enriched representation of protein structures by considering 18 different combinations of helix, strand, and coil arrangements. Our results show that using SSEs improves the accuracy and reliability of protein classification to varying degrees. We worked with two large protein datasets of 9.2K and 7.8K samples, respectively. We applied the SSE-TSR approach and used a neural network model for classification. Interestingly, introducing SSEs improved perfor

preprint2022arXiv

On Regularizing Coordinate-MLPs

We show that typical implicit regularization assumptions for deep neural networks (for regression) do not hold for coordinate-MLPs, a family of MLPs that are now ubiquitous in computer vision for representing high-frequency signals. Lack of such implicit bias disrupts smooth interpolations between training samples, and hampers generalizing across signal regions with different spectra. We investigate this behavior through a Fourier lens and uncover that as the bandwidth of a coordinate-MLP is enhanced, lower frequencies tend to get suppressed unless a suitable prior is provided explicitly. Based on these insights, we propose a simple regularization technique that can mitigate the above problem, which can be incorporated into existing networks without any architectural modifications.

preprint2011arXiv

Estimation And Selection Via Absolute Penalized Convex Minimization And Its Multistage Adaptive Applications

The $\ell_1$-penalized method, or the Lasso, has emerged as an important tool for the analysis of large data sets. Many important results have been obtained for the Lasso in linear regression which have led to a deeper understanding of high-dimensional statistical problems. In this article, we consider a class of weighted $\ell_1$-penalized estimators for convex loss functions of a general form, including the generalized linear models. We study the estimation, prediction, selection and sparsity properties of the weighted $\ell_1$-penalized estimator in sparse, high-dimensional settings where the number of predictors $p$ can be much larger than the sample size $n$. Adaptive Lasso is considered as a special case. A multistage method is developed to apply an adaptive Lasso recursively. We provide $\ell_q$ oracle inequalities, a general selection consistency theorem, and an upper bound on the dimension of the Lasso estimator. Important models including the linear regression, logistic regression and log-linear models are used throughout to illustrate the applications of the general results.

preprint2022arXiv

EREBA: Black-box Energy Testing of Adaptive Neural Networks

Recently, various Deep Neural Network (DNN) models have been proposed for environments like embedded systems with stringent energy constraints. The fundamental problem of determining the robustness of a DNN with respect to its energy consumption (energy robustness) is relatively unexplored compared to accuracy-based robustness. This work investigates the energy robustness of Adaptive Neural Networks (AdNNs), a type of energy-saving DNNs proposed for many energy-sensitive domains and have recently gained traction. We propose EREBA, the first black-box testing method for determining the energy robustness of an AdNN. EREBA explores and infers the relationship between inputs and the energy consumption of AdNNs to generate energy surging samples. Extensive implementation and evaluation using three state-of-the-art AdNNs demonstrate that test inputs generated by EREBA could degrade the performance of the system substantially. The test inputs generated by EREBA can increase the energy consumption of AdNNs by 2,000% compared to the original inputs. Our results also show that test inputs generated via EREBA are valuable in detecting energy surging inputs.

preprint2021arXiv

Pareto-Frontier-aware Neural Architecture Generation for Diverse Budgets

Designing feasible and effective architectures under diverse computation budgets incurred by different applications/devices is essential for deploying deep models in practice. Existing methods often perform an independent architecture search for each target budget, which is very inefficient yet unnecessary. Moreover, the repeated independent search manner would inevitably ignore the common knowledge among different search processes and hamper the search performance. To address these issues, we seek to train a general architecture generator that automatically produces effective architectures for an arbitrary budget merely via model inference. To this end, we propose a Pareto-Frontier-aware Neural Architecture Generator (NAG) which takes an arbitrary budget as input and produces the Pareto optimal architecture for the target budget. We train NAG by learning the Pareto frontier (i.e., the set of Pareto optimal architectures) over model performance and computational cost (e.g., latency). Extensive experiments on three platforms (i.e., mobile, CPU, and GPU) show the superiority of the proposed method over existing NAS methods.

preprint2022arXiv

Criticality-Based Varying Step-Number Algorithm for Reinforcement Learning

In the context of reinforcement learning we introduce the concept of criticality of a state, which indicates the extent to which the choice of action in that particular state influences the expected return. That is, a state in which the choice of action is more likely to influence the final outcome is considered as more critical than a state in which it is less likely to influence the final outcome. We formulate a criticality-based varying step number algorithm (CVS) - a flexible step number algorithm that utilizes the criticality function provided by a human, or learned directly from the environment. We test it in three different domains including the Atari Pong environment, Road-Tree environment, and Shooter environment. We demonstrate that CVS is able to outperform popular learning algorithms such as Deep Q-Learning and Monte Carlo.

preprint2012arXiv

Complexity Analysis of the Lasso Regularization Path

The regularization path of the Lasso can be shown to be piecewise linear, making it possible to "follow" and explicitly compute the entire path. We analyze in this paper this popular strategy, and prove that its worst case complexity is exponential in the number of variables. We then oppose this pessimistic result to an (optimistic) approximate analysis: We show that an approximate path with at most O(1/sqrt(epsilon)) linear segments can always be obtained, where every point on the path is guaranteed to be optimal up to a relative epsilon-duality gap. We complete our theoretical analysis with a practical algorithm to compute these approximate paths.

preprint2022arXiv

Inference over radiative transfer models using variational and expectation maximization methods

Earth observation from satellites offers the possibility to monitor our planet with unprecedented accuracy. Radiative transfer models (RTMs) encode the energy transfer through the atmosphere, and are used to model and understand the Earth system, as well as to estimate the parameters that describe the status of the Earth from satellite observations by inverse modeling. However, performing inference over such simulators is a challenging problem. RTMs are nonlinear, non-differentiable and computationally costly codes, which adds a high level of difficulty in inference. In this paper, we introduce two computational techniques to infer not only point estimates of biophysical parameters but also their joint distribution. One of them is based on a variational autoencoder approach and the second one is based on a Monte Carlo Expectation Maximization (MCEM) scheme. We compare and discuss benefits and drawbacks of each approach. We also provide numerical comparisons in synthetic simulations and the real PROSAIL model, a popular RTM that combines land vegetation leaf and canopy modeling. We analyze the performance of the two approaches for modeling and inferring the distribution of three key biophysical parameters for quantifying the terrestrial biosphere.

preprint2022arXiv

STFL: A Temporal-Spatial Federated Learning Framework for Graph Neural Networks

We present a spatial-temporal federated learning framework for graph neural networks, namely STFL. The framework explores the underlying correlation of the input spatial-temporal data and transform it to both node features and adjacency matrix. The federated learning setting in the framework ensures data privacy while achieving a good model generalization. Experiments results on the sleep stage dataset, ISRUC_S3, illustrate the effectiveness of STFL on graph prediction tasks.

preprint2015arXiv

Optimization Monte Carlo: Efficient and Embarrassingly Parallel Likelihood-Free Inference

We describe an embarrassingly parallel, anytime Monte Carlo method for likelihood-free models. The algorithm starts with the view that the stochasticity of the pseudo-samples generated by the simulator can be controlled externally by a vector of random numbers u, in such a way that the outcome, knowing u, is deterministic. For each instantiation of u we run an optimization procedure to minimize the distance between summary statistics of the simulator and the data. After reweighing these samples using the prior and the Jacobian (accounting for the change of volume in transforming from the space of summary statistics to the space of parameters) we show that this weighted ensemble represents a Monte Carlo estimate of the posterior distribution. The procedure can be run embarrassingly parallel (each node handling one sample) and anytime (by allocating resources to the worst performing sample). The procedure is validated on six experiments.

preprint2020arXiv

Multi-Participant Multi-Class Vertical Federated Learning

Federated learning (FL) is a privacy-preserving paradigm for training collective machine learning models with locally stored data from multiple participants. Vertical federated learning (VFL) deals with the case where participants sharing the same sample ID space but having different feature spaces, while label information is owned by one participant. Current studies of VFL only support two participants, and mostly focus on binaryclass logistic regression problems. In this paper, we propose the Multi-participant Multi-class Vertical Federated Learning (MMVFL) framework for multi-class VFL problems involving multiple parties. Extending the idea of multi-view learning (MVL), MMVFL enables label sharing from its owner to other VFL participants in a privacypreserving manner. To demonstrate the effectiveness of MMVFL, a feature selection scheme is incorporated into MMVFL to compare its performance against supervised feature selection and MVL-based approaches. Experiment results on real-world datasets show that MMVFL can effectively share label information among multiple VFL participants and match multi-class classification performance of existing approaches.

preprint2022arXiv

RFpredInterval: An R Package for Prediction Intervals with Random Forests and Boosted Forests

Like many predictive models, random forests provide point predictions for new observations. Besides the point prediction, it is important to quantify the uncertainty in the prediction. Prediction intervals provide information about the reliability of the point predictions. We have developed a comprehensive R package, RFpredInterval, that integrates 16 methods to build prediction intervals with random forests and boosted forests. The set of methods implemented in the package includes a new method to build prediction intervals with boosted forests (PIBF) and 15 method variations to produce prediction intervals with random forests, as proposed by Roy and Larocque (2020). We perform an extensive simulation study and apply real data analyses to compare the performance of the proposed method to ten existing methods for building prediction intervals with random forests. The results show that the proposed method is very competitive and, globally, outperforms competing methods.

preprint2022arXiv

ALX: Large Scale Matrix Factorization on TPUs

We present ALX, an open-source library for distributed matrix factorization using Alternating Least Squares, written in JAX. Our design allows for efficient use of the TPU architecture and scales well to matrix factorization problems of O(B) rows/columns by scaling the number of available TPU cores. In order to spur future research on large scale matrix factorization methods and to illustrate the scalability properties of our own implementation, we also built a real world web link prediction dataset called WebGraph. This dataset can be easily modeled as a matrix factorization problem. We created several variants of this dataset based on locality and sparsity properties of sub-graphs. The largest variant of WebGraph has around 365M nodes and training a single epoch finishes in about 20 minutes with 256 TPU cores. We include speed and performance numbers of ALX on all variants of WebGraph. Both the framework code and the dataset is open-sourced.

preprint2010arXiv

Evolution with Drifting Targets

We consider the question of the stability of evolutionary algorithms to gradual changes, or drift, in the target concept. We define an algorithm to be resistant to drift if, for some inverse polynomial drift rate in the target function, it converges to accuracy 1 -- ε, with polynomial resources, and then stays within that accuracy indefinitely, except with probability ε, at any one time. We show that every evolution algorithm, in the sense of Valiant (2007; 2009), can be converted using the Correlational Query technique of Feldman (2008), into such a drift resistant algorithm. For certain evolutionary algorithms, such as for Boolean conjunctions, we give bounds on the rates of drift that they can resist. We develop some new evolution algorithms that are resistant to significant drift. In particular, we give an algorithm for evolving linear separators over the spherically symmetric distribution that is resistant to a drift rate of O(ε/n), and another algorithm over the more general product normal distributions that resists a smaller drift rate. The above translation result can be also interpreted as one on the robustness of the notion of evolvability itself under changes of definiti

preprint2023arXiv

Holistic Adversarial Robustness of Deep Learning Models

Adversarial robustness studies the worst-case performance of a machine learning model to ensure safety and reliability. With the proliferation of deep-learning-based technology, the potential risks associated with model development and deployment can be amplified and become dreadful vulnerabilities. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of research topics and foundational principles of research methods for adversarial robustness of deep learning models, including attacks, defenses, verification, and novel applications.

preprint2021arXiv

Show or Suppress? Managing Input Uncertainty in Machine Learning Model Explanations

Feature attribution is widely used in interpretable machine learning to explain how influential each measured input feature value is for an output inference. However, measurements can be uncertain, and it is unclear how the awareness of input uncertainty can affect the trust in explanations. We propose and study two approaches to help users to manage their perception of uncertainty in a model explanation: 1) transparently show uncertainty in feature attributions to allow users to reflect on, and 2) suppress attribution to features with uncertain measurements and shift attribution to other features by regularizing with an uncertainty penalty. Through simulation experiments, qualitative interviews, and quantitative user evaluations, we identified the benefits of moderately suppressing attribution uncertainty, and concerns regarding showing attribution uncertainty. This work adds to the understanding of handling and communicating uncertainty for model interpretability.

preprint2015arXiv

A Multivariate Biomarker for Parkinson's Disease

In this study, we executed a genomic analysis with the objective of selecting a set of genes (possibly small) that would help in the detection and classification of samples from patients affected by Parkinson Disease. We performed a complete data analysis and during the exploratory phase, we selected a list of differentially expressed genes. Despite their association with the diseased state, we could not use them as a biomarker tool. Therefore, our research was extended to include a multivariate analysis approach resulting in the identification and selection of a group of 20 genes that showed a clear potential in detecting and correctly classify Parkinson Disease samples even in the presence of other neurodegenerative disorders.

preprint2022arXiv

Embedding Principle of Loss Landscape of Deep Neural Networks

Understanding the structure of loss landscape of deep neural networks (DNNs)is obviously important. In this work, we prove an embedding principle that the loss landscape of a DNN "contains" all the critical points of all the narrower DNNs. More precisely, we propose a critical embedding such that any critical point, e.g., local or global minima, of a narrower DNN can be embedded to a critical point/hyperplane of the target DNN with higher degeneracy and preserving the DNN output function. The embedding structure of critical points is independent of loss function and training data, showing a stark difference from other nonconvex problems such as protein-folding. Empirically, we find that a wide DNN is often attracted by highly-degenerate critical points that are embedded from narrow DNNs. The embedding principle provides an explanation for the general easy optimization of wide DNNs and unravels a potential implicit low-complexity regularization during the training. Overall, our work provides a skeleton for the study of loss landscape of DNNs and its implication, by which a more exact and comprehensive understanding can be anticipated in the near