arXiv subjects

Alberto Japón

Publications and source records attributed to Alberto Japón.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2024

Optimal probabilistic feature shifts for reclassification in tree ensembles

In this paper we provide a novel mathematical optimization based methodology to perturb the features of a given observation to be re-classified, by a tree ensemble classification rule, to a certain desired class. The method is based on these facts: the most viable changes for an observation to reach the desired class do not always coincide with the closest distance point (in the feature space) of the target class; individuals put effort on a few number of features to reach the desired class; and each individual is endowed with a probability to change each of its features to a given value, which determines the overall probability of changing to the target class. Putting all together, we provide different methods to find the features where the individuals must exert effort to maximize the probability to reach the target class. Our method also allows us to rank the most important features in the tree-ensemble. The proposed methodology is tested on a real dataset, validating the proposal.

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arXiv2024

A Mathematical Programming Approach to Optimal Classification Forests

This paper introduces Weighted Optimal Classification Forests (WOCFs), a new family of classifiers that takes advantage of an optimal ensemble of decision trees to derive accurate and interpretable classifiers. We propose a novel mathematical optimization-based methodology which simultaneously constructs a given number of trees, each of them providing a predicted class for the observations in the feature space. The classification rule is derived by assigning to each observation its most frequently predicted class among the trees. We provide a mixed integer linear programming formulation (MIP) for the problem and several novel MIP strengthening / scaling techniques. We report the results of our computational experiments, from which we conclude that our method has equal or superior performance compared with state-of-the-art tree-based classification methods for small to medium-sized instances. We also present three real-world case studies showing that our methodology has very interesting implications in terms of interpretability. Overall, WOCFs complement existing methods such as CART, Optimal Classification Trees, Random Forests and XGBoost. In addition to its Pareto improvement on accuracy and interpretability, we also see unique properties emerging in terms of different trees focusing on different feature variables. This provides nontrivial improvement in interpretability and usability of the trained model in terms of counterfactual explanation. Thus, despite the apparent computational challenge of WOCFs that limit the size of the problems that can be efficiently solved with current MIP, this is an important research direction that can lead to qualitatively different insights for researchers and complement the toolbox of practitioners for high stakes problems.

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arXiv2021

Multiclass Optimal Classification Trees with SVM-splits

In this paper we present a novel mathematical optimization-based methodology to construct tree-shaped classification rules for multiclass instances. Our approach consists of building Classification Trees in which, except for the leaf nodes, the labels are temporarily left out and grouped into two classes by means of a SVM separating hyperplane. We provide a Mixed Integer Non Linear Programming formulation for the problem and report the results of an extended battery of computational experiments to assess the performance of our proposal with respect to other benchmarking classification methods.

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arXiv2020

Robust Optimal Classification Trees under Noisy Labels

In this paper we propose a novel methodology to construct Optimal Classification Trees that takes into account that noisy labels may occur in the training sample. Our approach rests on two main elements: (1) the splitting rules for the classification trees are designed to maximize the separation margin between classes applying the paradigm of SVM; and (2) some of the labels of the training sample are allowed to be changed during the construction of the tree trying to detect the label noise. Both features are considered and integrated together to design the resulting Optimal Classification Tree. We present a Mixed Integer Non Linear Programming formulation for the problem, suitable to be solved using any of the available off-the-shelf solvers. The model is analyzed and tested on a battery of standard datasets taken from UCI Machine Learning repository, showing the effectiveness of our approach.

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arXiv2020

A Mathematical Programming approach to Binary Supervised Classification with Label Noise

In this paper we propose novel methodologies to construct Support Vector Machine -based classifiers that takes into account that label noises occur in the training sample. We propose different alternatives based on solving Mixed Integer Linear and Non Linear models by incorporating decisions on relabeling some of the observations in the training dataset. The first method incorporates relabeling directly in the SVM model while a second family of methods combines clustering with classification at the same time, giving rise to a model that applies simultaneously similarity measures and SVM. Extensive computational experiments are reported based on a battery of standard datasets taken from UCI Machine Learning repository, showing the effectiveness of the proposed approaches.

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arXiv2020

On the multisource hyperplanes location problem to fitting set of points

In this paper we study the problem of locating a given number of hyperplanes minimizing an objective function of the closest distances from a set of points. We propose a general framework for the problem in which norm-based distances between points and hyperplanes are aggregated by means of ordered median functions. A compact Mixed Integer Linear (or Non Linear) programming formulation is presented for the problem and also an extended set partitioning formulation with an exponential number of variables is derived. We develop a column generation procedure embedded within a branch-and-price algorithm for solving the problem by adequately performing its preprocessing, pricing and branching. We also analyze geometrically the optimal solutions of the problem, deriving properties which are exploited to generate initial solutions for the proposed algorithms. Finally, the results of an extensive computational experience are reported. The issue of scalability is also addressed showing theoretical upper bounds on the errors assumed by replacing the original datasets by aggregated versions.

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arXiv2019

Optimal arrangements of hyperplanes for multiclass classification

In this paper, we present a novel approach to construct multiclass classifiers by means of arrangements of hyperplanes. We propose different mixed integer (linear and non linear) programming formulations for the problem using extensions of widely used measures for misclassifying observations where the \textit{kernel trick} can be adapted to be applicable. Some dimensionality reductions and variable fixing strategies are also developed for these models. An extensive battery of experiments has been run which reveal the powerfulness of our proposal as compared with other previously proposed methodologies.

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