Search arXivSearch

arXiv · 2107.03729

The Three Ensemble Clustering (3EC) Algorithm for Pattern Discovery in Unsupervised Learning

Abstract

This paper presents a multiple learner algorithm called the 'Three Ensemble Clustering 3EC' algorithm that classifies unlabeled data into quality clusters as a part of unsupervised learning. It offers the flexibility to explore the context of new clusters formed by an ensemble of algorithms based on internal validation indices. It is worth mentioning that the input data set is considered to be a cluster of clusters. An anomaly can possibly manifest as a cluster as well. Each partitioned cluster is considered to be a new data set and is a candidate to explore the most optimal algorithm and its number of partition splits until a predefined stopping criteria is met. The algorithms independently partition the data set into clusters and the quality of the partitioning is assessed by an ensemble of internal cluster validation indices. The 3EC algorithm presents the validation index scores from a choice of algorithms and its configuration of partitions and it is called the Tau Grid. 3EC chooses the most optimal score. The 3EC algorithm owes its name to the two input ensembles of algorithms and internal validation indices and an output ensemble of final clusters. Quality plays an important role in this clustering approach and it also acts as a stopping criteria from further partitioning. Quality is determined based on the quality of the clusters provided by an algorithm and its optimal number of splits. The 3EC algorithm determines this from the score of the ensemble of validation indices. The user can configure the stopping criteria by providing quality thresholds for the score range of each of the validation indices and the optimal size of the output cluster. The users can experiment with different sets of stopping criteria and choose the most 'sensible group' of quality clusters

Explore related subjects

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

Kundu, Debasish. 2021-07-08. The Three Ensemble Clustering (3EC) Algorithm for Pattern Discovery in Unsupervised Learning. https://arxiv.org/abs/2107.03729

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

AUC Maximization from Biased Positive-unlabeled Data with Confidence

Maximizing the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) is a standard approach to imbalanced binary classification. Although positive and negative data are required for maximizing the AUC, negative data are often difficult to collect in some real-world applications due to privacy concerns or the need for specialized expertise to annotate them. Thus, AUC maximization from positive and unlabeled (PU) data has been attracting attention. Existing methods assume that labeled positive data are unbiased samples from the true positive distribution. However, this ideal assumption is often violated in practice. In this paper, we propose a method to maximize the AUC from biased PU data. To address the bias, our key idea is to exploit {\it confidence}, i.e., the probability that an instance is positive, associated with the small number of labeled positive data. We derive an estimator of the AUC risk using biased PU data with confidence, enabling AUC maximization under such bias. We further show that the rewritten AUC risk induces a Bayes-optimal AUC ranking even when the available confidence is any strictly increasing transformation of the true posterior probability. We experimentally show the effectiveness of our method on eight real-world datasets.

cs.LG

Measuring the Value of World-Model Updates: A Counterfactual Utility Protocol for Continual Adaptation

Continual world models must decide whether new data justify changing the model. Fixed replay schedules and prediction-error triggers specify when to update, but neither reveals the value of an individual update: one deployment run cannot show how the same model would have performed at that moment had it held its parameters. We introduce the fork ledger, which branches a deployment stream at pre-registered decision points into matched update and hold continuations under common random numbers. It evaluates both continuations on the same episodes and records $\Delta R = R_{\mathrm{update}} - R_{\mathrm{hold}}$. Always applying one fixed update mechanism lowers return on all three simulated control tasks: CartPole ($-144.0$; checkpoint-bootstrap $95\%$ CI $[-185.4,-116.1]$, against a converged return near $650$), Walker ($-82.8$; $[-101.1,-61.7]$) and Cheetah ($-18.6$; $[-29.0,-6.6]$). Divergence is an outcome of applying the update, so the estimand counts every attempted fork; restricted to the $693$ of $720$ that did not collapse, CartPole and Walker are unchanged in sign ($-113.4$ and $-82.1$) and Cheetah becomes unresolved ($-3.9$; $[-17.5,+13.0]$). The task is the unit of inference: each contributes $240$ attempted forks over five pretrained checkpoints crossed with two drift directions. The ledger makes counterfactual utility observable for a fixed mechanism, allowing triggers to be judged by the updates they select rather than by surprise detection alone.

cs.LG

When More Is Not Better: Component Anti-Synergy in a P300 Speller

P300 brain-computer interface (BCI) spellers can provide hands-free communication for people with severe motor impairments. Modern pipelines combine multiple individually promising components, often assuming that 'more-is-better'. We tested this assumption using a four-component full-factorial experiment varying the inclusion of Euclidean Alignment (EA), xDAWN spatial filtering, subject calibration, and language model priors on a public P300 dataset. Performance was evaluated using accuracy, repetitions, and information transfer rate (ITR) with mixed-effects models. Results show that the value of components is conditional rather than additive. Calibration was the strongest singular contributor, while EA compensated for its absence in zero-calibration settings. Adding independently useful components could also reduce performance, revealing component anti-synergy. Contrary to conventional wisdom, LM support was not universally beneficial: its effect depends strongly on the strength of the underlying EEG pipeline, while results from a larger LM showed a similar pattern. Together, these findings challenge maximal 'all-on' pipeline design and highlight the value of selecting spatial and language-support components according to the quality of available EEG evidence.

cs.LG