41,347 research outputs found
Pareto-Path Multi-Task Multiple Kernel Learning
A traditional and intuitively appealing Multi-Task Multiple Kernel Learning
(MT-MKL) method is to optimize the sum (thus, the average) of objective
functions with (partially) shared kernel function, which allows information
sharing amongst tasks. We point out that the obtained solution corresponds to a
single point on the Pareto Front (PF) of a Multi-Objective Optimization (MOO)
problem, which considers the concurrent optimization of all task objectives
involved in the Multi-Task Learning (MTL) problem. Motivated by this last
observation and arguing that the former approach is heuristic, we propose a
novel Support Vector Machine (SVM) MT-MKL framework, that considers an
implicitly-defined set of conic combinations of task objectives. We show that
solving our framework produces solutions along a path on the aforementioned PF
and that it subsumes the optimization of the average of objective functions as
a special case. Using algorithms we derived, we demonstrate through a series of
experimental results that the framework is capable of achieving better
classification performance, when compared to other similar MTL approaches.Comment: Accepted by IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning System
Learning Multiple Visual Tasks while Discovering their Structure
Multi-task learning is a natural approach for computer vision applications
that require the simultaneous solution of several distinct but related
problems, e.g. object detection, classification, tracking of multiple agents,
or denoising, to name a few. The key idea is that exploring task relatedness
(structure) can lead to improved performances.
In this paper, we propose and study a novel sparse, non-parametric approach
exploiting the theory of Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces for vector-valued
functions. We develop a suitable regularization framework which can be
formulated as a convex optimization problem, and is provably solvable using an
alternating minimization approach. Empirical tests show that the proposed
method compares favorably to state of the art techniques and further allows to
recover interpretable structures, a problem of interest in its own right.Comment: 19 pages, 3 figures, 3 table
Learning Output Kernels for Multi-Task Problems
Simultaneously solving multiple related learning tasks is beneficial under a
variety of circumstances, but the prior knowledge necessary to correctly model
task relationships is rarely available in practice. In this paper, we develop a
novel kernel-based multi-task learning technique that automatically reveals
structural inter-task relationships. Building over the framework of output
kernel learning (OKL), we introduce a method that jointly learns multiple
functions and a low-rank multi-task kernel by solving a non-convex
regularization problem. Optimization is carried out via a block coordinate
descent strategy, where each subproblem is solved using suitable conjugate
gradient (CG) type iterative methods for linear operator equations. The
effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated on pharmacological and
collaborative filtering data
Conic Multi-Task Classification
Traditionally, Multi-task Learning (MTL) models optimize the average of
task-related objective functions, which is an intuitive approach and which we
will be referring to as Average MTL. However, a more general framework,
referred to as Conic MTL, can be formulated by considering conic combinations
of the objective functions instead; in this framework, Average MTL arises as a
special case, when all combination coefficients equal 1. Although the advantage
of Conic MTL over Average MTL has been shown experimentally in previous works,
no theoretical justification has been provided to date. In this paper, we
derive a generalization bound for the Conic MTL method, and demonstrate that
the tightest bound is not necessarily achieved, when all combination
coefficients equal 1; hence, Average MTL may not always be the optimal choice,
and it is important to consider Conic MTL. As a byproduct of the generalization
bound, it also theoretically explains the good experimental results of previous
relevant works. Finally, we propose a new Conic MTL model, whose conic
combination coefficients minimize the generalization bound, instead of choosing
them heuristically as has been done in previous methods. The rationale and
advantage of our model is demonstrated and verified via a series of experiments
by comparing with several other methods.Comment: Accepted by European Conference on Machine Learning and Principles
and Practice of Knowledge Discovery in Databases (ECMLPKDD)-201
Learning Multi-Scale Representations for Material Classification
The recent progress in sparse coding and deep learning has made unsupervised
feature learning methods a strong competitor to hand-crafted descriptors. In
computer vision, success stories of learned features have been predominantly
reported for object recognition tasks. In this paper, we investigate if and how
feature learning can be used for material recognition. We propose two
strategies to incorporate scale information into the learning procedure
resulting in a novel multi-scale coding procedure. Our results show that our
learned features for material recognition outperform hand-crafted descriptors
on the FMD and the KTH-TIPS2 material classification benchmarks
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