Tag Archives: Stocksieker

Disentangled Deep Smoothed Bootstrap for Fair Imbalanced Regression

Our paper, Disentangled Deep Smoothed Bootstrap for Fair Imbalanced Regression, with Samuel Stocksieker and Denys Pommeret has been published in Procedia Computer Science

Imbalanced distribution learning is a common and significant challenge in predictive modeling, often reducing the performance of standard algorithms. Although various approaches address this issue, most are tailored to classification problems, with a limited focus on regression. This paper introduces a novel method to improve learning on tabular data within the Imbalanced Regression (IR) framework, which is a critical problem. We propose using Variational Autoencoders (VAEs) to model and define a latent representation of data distributions. However, VAEs can be inefficient with imbalanced data like other standard approaches. To address this, we develop an innovative data generation method that combines a disentangled VAE with a Smoothed Bootstrap applied in the latent space. We evaluate the efficiency of this method through numerical comparisons with competitors on benchmark datasets for IR.

KurtHGR: A Neural Maximal Correlation for Tabular Datasets

Our paper, KurtHGR: A Neural Maximal Correlation for Tabular Datasets, with Samuel Stocksieker and Denys Pommeret has been published in Procedia Computer Science

The study of dependencies between variables is a fundamental pillar of machine learning, influencing areas as diverse as feature selection, fairness, dimensionality reduction, and multimodal learning. Among nonlinear correlation measures, the Hirschfeld-Gebelein-Rényi (HGR) maximal correlation stands out for its universality and remarkable theoretical properties. Defined as the maximum achievable correlation between nonlinear transformations of two random variables, it provides an intrinsic quantification of statistical dependence, regardless of their marginal distributions. However, despite its theoretical potential, its practical adoption still faces several challenges. In this paper, we present a new approach called KurtHGR, dedicated to the estimation of the bivariate nonlinear correlation matrix of a set of variables. We show that this solution is effective in detecting nonlinear correlations, robust to noise, and computationally efficient, thanks to a neural architecture specifically designed for this purpose. We evaluate its performance through numerical illustrations and feature selection experiments, where we demonstrate that KurtHGR empirically outperforms state-of-the-art approaches.

Présentation à Bordeaux, Journées de Statistique

Cette semaine, Sam – Samuel Stocksieker – sera à Bordeaux, aux journées de statistiques, pour parler “smoothed bootstrap” et génération de données synthétiques pour la modélisation des extrêmes (papier co-écrit avec Denys Pommeret).

En apprentissage supervisé, il est assez fréquent de se retrouver confronté à des données présentant des distributions déséquilibrées. Cette situation entraîne souvent une difficulté d’apprentissage pour les algorithmes standards. La recherche et les solutions en matière d’apprentissage à partir de distributions déséquilibrées se sont principalement concentrées sur les tâches de classification. Malgré son importance, très peu de solutions existent pour la régression déséquilibrée (Imbalanced Regression). Dans cet article, nous proposons une procédure d’augmentation de données, nommée DENIS, basée sur des estimations à noyau de densité. Cette approche fournit une expression des densités conditionnelles des générateurs. Nous appliquons DENIS en régression déséquilibrée et proposons de le combiner à une nouveau type de générateur de type wild-boostrap pour simuler la variable cible, conditionnellement aux nouvelles données synthétiques. Nous évaluons les performances de l’algorithme DENIS dans des situations de régression déséquilibrée. Nous évaluons empiriquement et comparons notre approche et démontrons une amélioration significative par rapport aux techniques existantes.

Generalized Oversampling for Learning from Imbalanced datasets and Associated Theory

Our paper, Generalized Oversampling for Learning from Imbalanced datasets and Associated Theory, writen with Denys Pommeret and Sam Stocksieker, is now available ArXiv.

In supervised learning, it is quite frequent to be confronted with real imbalanced datasets. This situation leads to a learning difficulty for standard algorithms. Research and solutions in imbalanced learning have mainly focused on classification tasks. Despite its importance, very few solutions exist for imbalanced regression. In this paper, we propose a data augmentation procedure, the GOLIATH algorithm, based on kernel density estimates which can be used in classification and regression. This general approach encompasses two large families of synthetic oversampling: those based on perturbations, such as Gaussian Noise, and those based on interpolations, such as SMOTE. It also provides an explicit form of these machine learning algorithms and an expression of their conditional densities, in particular for SMOTE. New synthetic data generators are deduced. We apply GOLIATH in imbalanced regression combining such generator procedures with a wild-bootstrap resampling technique for the target values. We evaluate the performance of the GOLIATH algorithm in imbalanced regression situations. We empirically evaluate and compare our approach and demonstrate significant improvement over existing state-of-the-art techniques.

Data Augmentation for Imbalanced Regression

Our paper Data Augmentation for Imbalanced Regression, writen with Denys Pommeret and Sam Stocksieker, is now available on ArXiv.

In this work, we consider the problem of imbalanced data in a regression framework when the imbalanced phenomenon concerns continuous or discrete covariates. Such a situation can lead to biases in the estimates. In this case, we propose a data augmentation algorithm that combines a weighted resampling (WR) and a data augmentation (DA) procedure. In a first step, the DA procedure permits exploring a wider support than the initial one. In a second step, the WR method drives the exogenous distribution to a target one. We discuss the choice of the DA procedure through a numerical study that illustrates the advantages of this approach. Finally, an actuarial application is studied.