arXiv subjects

Paul D. McNicholas

Publications and source records attributed to Paul D. McNicholas.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Curve Band Depth: A Band-Based Data Depth for Unparameterized Planar Curves

We introduce \emph{curve band depth} (CBD), a band-based data depth for samples of \emph{unparameterized} planar curves. CBD is motivated by band depth and modified band depth for functional data, but targets trajectory data. Unlike the halfspace-based curve depth of \citet{de2021depth} and the curve stabbing depth of \citet{durocher2023csd}, CBD is defined through a geometric band region generated by two curves, and measures the arc-length proportion of a target curve lying inside such bands. We develop a CBD family consisting of an integral version (int-CBD), an infimal version (inf-CBD), and a fast-walk variant (FW-CBD). The fast-walk band is a narrower band construction contained in the global convex-combination band. We establish boundedness, vanishing at infinity, and similarity invariance for these constructions, together with a Borel-measurability result for the induced depth maps under a mild measurability assumption. A length-penalized variant is proposed for samples with heterogeneous curve lengths. We implement the methods via arc-length sampling and polygonal approximations, and evaluate them through classification of overlapping handwriting data and MNIST-derived digit curves, online-signature screening on \texttt{MOBISIG}, and an exploratory clustering task based on decomposed band contributions.

math.ST↗

arXiv2026

FastManly: An EM-Gradient Algorithm for Manly Mixture Models

A faster implementation of mixtures of Manly transformations is proposed. This method, called FastManly, uses Newton's method for optimization in an EM gradient algorithm instead of Nelder-Mead in a traditional EM. A gradient and full Hessian are derived. Simulations show improved performance with noticeable speedups.

stat.ML↗

arXiv2026

Automatic depth-based local center clustering via $β$-integrated local depth and adaptive grouping

Clustering is an unsupervised learning technique that partitions unlabeled data into groups. Most existing methods require user-specified parameters, such as the number of clusters or neighborhood size. Conversely, we propose automatic depth-based local center clustering (A-DLCC), a fully data-driven method that eliminates numerical parameter tuning. A-DLCC uses the $β$-integrated local depth to identify stable exemplars, points consistently central across multiple locality levels, termed local centers, which are ranked by their representativeness. Each local center induces a group of similar points, with group-level similarity measured by a proposed nonparametric metric called group-level local similarity. To guide merging, we incorporate the bottleneck path idea from graph theory, which forms the basis of our adaptive merging criterion. Based on this criterion, we design a single agglomeration rule in which a group is either absorbed by a neighbor it reaches better than itself or bonded to a neighbor that both sides find more reachable than their own background, every merge being additionally required to be carried by a contact stronger than a configuration-model null expects. The rule automatically estimates the number of clusters and decides when to stop merging. Experiments on synthetic and real data show that A-DLCC produces interpretable clustering results without parameter tuning.

stat.ME↗

arXiv2026

Parsimonious Ultrametric Manly Mixture Models

A family of parsimonious ultrametric mixture models with the Manly transformation is developed for clustering high-dimensional data where the clusters may be asymmetric. While advances in Gaussian mixture modeling sufficiently handle high-dimensional data, they often struggle with the common presence of cluster skewness. To address this, we incorporate the extended ultrametric covariance structure and the Manly transformation, resulting in the parsimonious ultrametric Manly mixture model family. The ultrametric covariance structure reduces the number of free parameters while identifying latent groups of variables within a nested hierarchy. This phenomenon enables the visualization of hierarchical relationships within clusters, improving cluster interpretability. Additionally, as with many classes of mixture models, model selection remains a fundamental challenge; to this end, a two-step model selection procedure is proposed herein. Through simulation studies and real data analyses, we demonstrate improved model selection via the proposed two-step method, as well as the effective clustering performance.

stat.ME↗

arXiv2026

Clustering Three-Way Data with Outliers

Matrix-variate distributions are a relatively recent addition to the model-based clustering literature, thereby making it possible to analyze data in matrix form with complex structure such as images and time series. Due to its recent appearance, there is limited literature on matrix-variate data, with even less on dealing with outliers in these models. An approach for clustering matrix-variate normal data with outliers is discussed. The approach, which uses the distribution of subset log-likelihoods, extends the OCLUST algorithm to matrix-variate normal data and uses an iterative approach to detect and trim outliers.

stat.ML↗

arXiv2026

Turtle shell clustering: A mixture approach to discriminative clustering with applications to flow cytometry and other data

Generative approaches to clustering provide information on geometric properties of clusters, whereas discriminative approaches provide boundaries between clusters. Ideas from both approaches are incorporated to present a fully unsupervised, probabilistic, and discriminative clustering method via a regularized mutual information objective function, wherein a mixture of mixtures of Gaussian and uniform distributions is used for formulation of the conditional model. Overfitting is avoided by the introduction of a regularizing term and a cluster merge step, similar to those applied in reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo methods used in Bayesian clustering. Consequently, the turtle shell method -- a fully unsupervised clustering method capable of estimating non-linear boundary lines, automatically selecting the number of components, and capturing intuitive clusters in the presence of data abnormalities such as noise and/or irregular cluster shapes -- is introduced. We test this method on various simulated and real datasets commonly explored in clustering research, and extend the analysis to datasets arising from flow cytometry experiments and image analysis.

stat.ML↗

arXiv2026

funOCLUST: Clustering Functional Data with Outliers

Functional data present unique challenges for clustering due to their infinite-dimensional nature and potential sensitivity to outliers. An extension of the OCLUST algorithm to the functional setting is proposed to address these issues. The approach leverages the OCLUST framework, creating a robust method to cluster curves and trim outliers. The methodology is evaluated on both simulated and real-world functional datasets, demonstrating strong performance in clustering and outlier identification.

stat.ML↗

arXiv2026

Classification Fields: Arbitrarily Fine Recursive Hierarchical Clustering From Few Examples

Classical clustering methods usually return either a finite partition of the observed data or a finite dendrogram over it. This finite-sample view is inadequate when the hierarchy of interest is a recursive geometric object with fine-scale refinements that continue beyond the levels directly observed. We introduce classification fields: infinite-depth hierarchical cluster structures on $\mathbb{R}^d$ generated by a local parent-to-child refinement rule. A classification field generator maps each parent centre to an ordered, bounded, and separated tuple of child residuals. Together with a root and a scale factor, this rule recursively generates cluster centres, Voronoi cells, and a metric DAG encoding the hierarchy. Given only a finite prefix of such a hierarchy, we learn a classification field predictor that approximates the generator and can be rolled out to unseen depths. We prove exponential truncation convergence in the completed cell metric and ReLU realizability with width $O(\varepsilon^{-γ})$ and depth $\widetilde O(\varepsilon^{-3γ/2})$, where $γ=\log K/(-\log s)$, up to finite-window aspect-ratio factors. The approximation holds at the level of the induced compact metric structures, measured in the completed cell-metric Hausdorff distance. Experimental validation on matched CFG-generated hierarchies, IFS fractals, and image-induced recursive clustering hierarchies shows that learned predictors preserve ordered child slots, unordered geometry, and hierarchy-level path metrics under recursive rollout. These results support the claim that finite hierarchical observations can reveal local refinement rules capable of generating substantially deeper classification fields.

stat.ML↗

arXiv2026

Depth-Based Local Center Clustering: A Framework for Handling Different Clustering Scenarios

Cluster analysis, or clustering, plays a crucial role across numerous scientific and engineering domains. Despite the wealth of clustering methods proposed over the past decades, each method is typically designed for specific scenarios and presents certain limitations in practical applications. In this paper, we propose depth-based local center clustering (DLCC). This novel method makes use of data depth, which is known to produce a center-outward ordering of sample points in a multivariate space. However, data depth typically fails to capture the multimodal characteristics of {data}, something of the utmost importance in the context of clustering. To overcome this, DLCC makes use of a local version of data depth that is based on subsets of {data}. From this, local centers can be identified as well as clusters of varying shapes. Furthermore, we propose a new internal metric based on density-based clustering to evaluate clustering performance on {non-convex clusters}. Overall, DLCC is a flexible clustering approach that seems to overcome some limitations of traditional clustering methods, thereby enhancing data analysis capabilities across a wide range of application scenarios.

stat.ME↗

arXiv2025

Keep It Light! Simplifying Image Clustering Via Text-Free Adapters

In the era of pre-trained models, effective classification can often be achieved using simple linear probing or lightweight readout layers. In contrast, many competitive clustering pipelines have a multi-modal design, leveraging large language models (LLMs) or other text encoders, and text-image pairs, which are often unavailable in real-world downstream applications. Additionally, such frameworks are generally complicated to train and require substantial computational resources, making widespread adoption challenging. In this work, we show that in deep clustering, competitive performance with more complex state-of-the-art methods can be achieved using a text-free and highly simplified training pipeline. In particular, our approach, Simple Clustering via Pre-trained models (SCP), trains only a small cluster head while leveraging pre-trained vision model feature representations and positive data pairs. Experiments on benchmark datasets, including CIFAR-10, CIFAR-20, CIFAR-100, STL-10, ImageNet-10, and ImageNet-Dogs, demonstrate that SCP achieves highly competitive performance. Furthermore, we provide a theoretical result explaining why, at least under ideal conditions, additional text-based embeddings may not be necessary to achieve strong clustering performance in vision.

cs.CV↗

arXiv2025

Model-Based Clustering with Sequential Outlier Identification using the Distribution of Mahalanobis Distances

The presence of outliers can prevent clustering algorithms from accurately determining an appropriate group structure within a data set. We present outlierMBC, a model-based approach for sequentially removing outliers and clustering the remaining observations. Our method identifies outliers one at a time while fitting a multivariate Gaussian mixture model to data. Since it can be difficult to classify observations as outliers without knowing what the correct cluster structure is a priori, and the presence of outliers interferes with the process of modelling clusters correctly, we use an iterative method to identify outliers one by one. At each iteration, outlierMBC removes the observation with the lowest density and fits a Gaussian mixture model to the remaining data. The method continues to remove potential outliers until a pre-set maximum number of outliers is reached, then retrospectively identifies the optimal number of outliers. To decide how many outliers to remove, it uses the fact that the squared sample Mahalanobis distances of Gaussian distributed observations are Beta distributed when scaled appropriately. outlierMBC chooses the number of outliers which minimises a dissimilarity between this theoretical Beta distribution and the observed distribution of the scaled squared sample Mahalanobis distances. This means that our method both clusters the data using a Gaussian mixture model and implements a model-based procedure to identify the optimal outliers to remove without requiring the number of outliers to be pre-specified. Unlike leading methods in the literature, outlierMBC does not assume that the outliers follow a known distribution or that the number of outliers can be pre-specified. Moreover, outlierMBC performs strongly compared to these algorithms when applied to a range of simulated and real data sets.

stat.ME↗

arXiv2025

$β$-integrated local depth and corresponding partitioned local depth representation

A novel local depth definition, $β$-integrated local depth ($β$-ILD), is proposed as a generalization of the local depth introduced by Paindaveine and Van Bever \cite{paindaveine2013depth}, designed to quantify the local centrality of data points. $β$-ILD inherits desirable properties from global data depth and remains robust across varying locality levels. A partitioning approach for $β$-ILD is introduced, leading to the construction of a matrix that quantifies the contribution of one point to another's local depth, providing a new interpretable measure of local centrality. These concepts are applied to classification and outlier detection tasks, demonstrating significant improvements in the performance of depth-based algorithms.

math.ST↗

arXiv2024

Hidden Markov Models for Multivariate Panel Data

While advances continue to be made in model-based clustering, challenges persist in modeling various data types such as panel data. Multivariate panel data present difficulties for clustering algorithms because they are often plagued by missing data and dropouts, presenting issues for estimation algorithms. This research presents a family of hidden Markov models that compensate for the issues that arise in panel data. A modified expectation-maximization algorithm capable of handling missing not at random data and dropout is presented and used to perform model estimation.

stat.ME↗

arXiv2024

Flexible Clustering with a Sparse Mixture of Generalized Hyperbolic Distributions

Robust clustering of high-dimensional data is an important topic because clusters in real datasets are often heavy-tailed and/or asymmetric. Traditional approaches to model-based clustering often fail for high dimensional data, e.g., due to the number of free covariance parameters. A parametrization of the component scale matrices for the mixture of generalized hyperbolic distributions is proposed. This parameterization includes a penalty term in the likelihood. An analytically feasible expectation-maximization algorithm is developed by placing a gamma-lasso penalty constraining the concentration matrix. The proposed methodology is investigated through simulation studies and illustrated using two real datasets.

stat.ME↗

arXiv2024

Finding Outliers in Gaussian Model-Based Clustering

Clustering, or unsupervised classification, is a task often plagued by outliers. Yet there is a paucity of work on handling outliers in clustering. Outlier identification algorithms tend to fall into three broad categories: outlier inclusion, outlier trimming, and post hoc outlier identification methods, with the former two often requiring pre-specification of the number of outliers. The fact that sample squared Mahalanobis distance is beta-distributed is used to derive an approximate distribution for the log-likelihoods of subset finite Gaussian mixture models. An algorithm is then proposed that removes the least plausible points according to the subset log-likelihoods, which are deemed outliers, until the subset log-likelihoods adhere to the reference distribution. This results in a trimming method, called OCLUST, that inherently estimates the number of outliers.

stat.ME↗

arXiv2024

Flexible Variable Selection for Clustering and Classification

The importance of variable selection for clustering has been recognized for some time, and mixture models are well-established as a statistical approach to clustering. Yet, the literature on variable selection in model-based clustering remains largely rooted in the assumption of Gaussian clusters. Unsurprisingly, variable selection algorithms based on this assumption tend to break down in the presence of cluster skewness. A novel variable selection algorithm is presented that utilizes the Manly transformation mixture model to select variables based on their ability to separate clusters, and is effective even when clusters depart from the Gaussian assumption. The proposed approach, which is implemented within the R package vscc, is compared to existing variable selection methods -- including an existing method that can account for cluster skewness -- using simulated and real datasets

stat.ME↗

arXiv2023

Finite Mixtures of Multivariate Poisson-Log Normal Factor Analyzers for Clustering Count Data

A mixture of multivariate Poisson-log normal factor analyzers is introduced by imposing constraints on the covariance matrix, which resulted in flexible models for clustering purposes. In particular, a class of eight parsimonious mixture models based on the mixtures of factor analyzers model are introduced. Variational Gaussian approximation is used for parameter estimation, and information criteria are used for model selection. The proposed models are explored in the context of clustering discrete data arising from RNA sequencing studies. Using real and simulated data, the models are shown to give favourable clustering performance. The GitHub R package for this work is available at https://github.com/anjalisilva/mixMPLNFA and is released under the open-source MIT license.

stat.ME↗

arXiv2023

Longitudinal Data Clustering with a Copula Kernel Mixture Model

Many common clustering methods cannot be used for clustering multivariate longitudinal data in cases where variables exhibit high autocorrelations. In this article, a copula kernel mixture model (CKMM) is proposed for clustering data of this type. The CKMM is a finite mixture model which decomposes each mixture component's joint density function into its copula and marginal distribution functions. In this decomposition, the Gaussian copula is used due to its mathematical tractability and Gaussian kernel functions are used to estimate the marginal distributions. A generalized expectation-maximization algorithm is used to estimate the model parameters. The performance of the proposed model is assessed in a simulation study and on two real datasets. The proposed model is shown to have effective performance in comparison to standard methods, such as K-means with dynamic time warping clustering and latent growth models.

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