15,775 research outputs found
Directional Multivariate Ranking
User-provided multi-aspect evaluations manifest users' detailed feedback on
the recommended items and enable fine-grained understanding of their
preferences. Extensive studies have shown that modeling such data greatly
improves the effectiveness and explainability of the recommendations. However,
as ranking is essential in recommendation, there is no principled solution yet
for collectively generating multiple item rankings over different aspects. In
this work, we propose a directional multi-aspect ranking criterion to enable a
holistic ranking of items with respect to multiple aspects. Specifically, we
view multi-aspect evaluation as an integral effort from a user that forms a
vector of his/her preferences over aspects. Our key insight is that the
direction of the difference vector between two multi-aspect preference vectors
reveals the pairwise order of comparison. Hence, it is necessary for a
multi-aspect ranking criterion to preserve the observed directions from such
pairwise comparisons. We further derive a complete solution for the
multi-aspect ranking problem based on a probabilistic multivariate tensor
factorization model. Comprehensive experimental analysis on a large TripAdvisor
multi-aspect rating dataset and a Yelp review text dataset confirms the
effectiveness of our solution.Comment: Accepted as a full research paper in KDD'2
Distance Measures for Reduced Ordering Based Vector Filters
Reduced ordering based vector filters have proved successful in removing
long-tailed noise from color images while preserving edges and fine image
details. These filters commonly utilize variants of the Minkowski distance to
order the color vectors with the aim of distinguishing between noisy and
noise-free vectors. In this paper, we review various alternative distance
measures and evaluate their performance on a large and diverse set of images
using several effectiveness and efficiency criteria. The results demonstrate
that there are in fact strong alternatives to the popular Minkowski metrics
Quantile contours and allometric modelling for risk classification of abnormal ratios with an application to asymmetric growth-restriction in preterm infants
We develop an approach to risk classification based on quantile contours and
allometric modelling of multivariate anthropometric measurements. We propose
the definition of allometric direction tangent to the directional quantile
envelope, which divides ratios of measurements into half-spaces. This in turn
provides an operational definition of directional quantile that can be used as
cutoff for risk assessment. We show the application of the proposed approach
using a large dataset from the Vermont Oxford Network containing observations
of birthweight (BW) and head circumference (HC) for more than 150,000 preterm
infants. Our analysis suggests that disproportionately growth-restricted
infants with a larger HC-to-BW ratio are at increased mortality risk as
compared to proportionately growth-restricted infants. The role of maternal
hypertension is also investigated.Comment: 31 pages, 3 figures, 8 table
FORECAST EVALUATION FOR MULTIVARIATE TIME-SERIES MODELS: THE U.S. CATTLE MARKET
A set of rigorous diagnostic techniques is used to evaluate the forecasting performance of five multivariate time-series models for the U.S. cattle sector. The root-mean-squared-error criterion along with an evaluation of the rankings of forecast errors reveals that the Bayesian vector autoregression (BVAR) and the unrestricted VAR (UVAR) models generate forecasts which are superior to both a restricted VAR (RVAR) and a vector autoregressive moving-average (VARMA) model. Two methods for calculating a test evaluating the ability to forecast directional changes are implemented. The BVAR models and the UVAR model unambiguously outperform the VARMA model in the forecasting directional changeLivestock Production/Industries,
Microfinance institutions and efficiency
Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) are special financial institutions. They have both a social nature and a for-profit nature. Their performance has been traditionally measured by means of financial ratios. The paper uses a Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach to efficiency to show that ratio analysis does not capture DEA efficiency.Special care is taken in the specification of the DEA model. We take a methodological approach based on multivariate analysis. We rank DEA efficiencies under different models and specifications; e.g., particular sets of inputs and outputs. This serves to explore what is behind a DEA score. The results show that we can explain MFIs efficiency by means of four principal components of efficiency, and this way we are able to understand differences between DEA scores. It is shown that there are country effects on efficiency; and effects that depend on Non-governmental Organization (NGO)/non-NGO status of the MFI
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