Imbalanced learning constitutes one of the most formidable challenges within data mining and machine learning. Despite continuous research advancement over the past decades, learning from data with an imbalanced class distribution remains a compelling research area. Imbalanced class distributions commonly constrain the practical utility of machine learning and even deep learning models in tangible applications. Numerous recent studies have made substantial progress in the field of imbalanced learning, deepening our understanding of its nature while concurrently unearthing new challenges. Given the field’s rapid evolution, this paper aims to encapsulate the recent breakthroughs in imbalanced learning by providing an in-depth review of extant strategies to confront this issue. Unlike most surveys that primarily address classification tasks in machine learning, we also delve into techniques addressing regression tasks and facets of deep long-tail learning. Furthermore, we explore real-world applications of imbalanced learning, devising a broad spectrum of research applications from management science to engineering, and lastly, discuss newly-emerging issues and challenges necessitating further exploration in the realm of imbalanced learning.
18 December 2019 in IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems
Large-scale data clustering is an essential key for big data problem. However, no current existing approach is ``optimal'' for big data due to high complexity, which remains it a great challenge. In this article, a simple but fast approximate DBSCAN, namely, KNN-BLOCK DBSCAN, is proposed based on two findings: 1) the problem of identifying whether a point is a core point or not is, in fact, a kNN problem and 2) a point has a similar density distribution to its neighbors, and neighbor points are highly possible to be the same type (core point, border point, or noise). KNN-BLOCK DBSCAN uses a fast approximate kNN algorithm, namely, FLANN, to detect core-blocks (CBs), noncore-blocks, and noise-blocks within which all points have the same type, then a fast algorithm for merging CBs and assigning noncore points to proper clusters is also invented to speedup the clustering process. The experimental results show that KNN-BLOCK DBSCAN is an effective approximate DBSCAN algorithm with high accuracy, and outperforms other current variants of DBSCAN, including ρ-approximate DBSCAN and AnyDBC.
7 May 2024 in IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering
Feature selection is a highly regarded research area in the field of data mining, as it significantly enhances the efficiency and performance of high-dimensional data analysis by eliminating redundant and irrelevant features. Despite the ease of data acquisition, labeling data remains a laborious and expensive task. To leverage the abundance of unlabeled data, researchers have proposed various feature selection methods that operate with limited labels, including semi-supervised feature selection and unsupervised feature selection. However, a comprehensive review encompassing a thorough overview of feature selection algorithms with limited labels is lacking. To bridge this gap, this paper conducts a comprehensive exploration of feature selection methods specifically tailored to limited-label scenarios. These methods are systematically classified into two primary categories: semi-supervised and unsupervised feature selection. Additionally, by introducing a novel taxonomy and discussing future challenges, this survey aims to provide researchers with a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of feature selection in limited-label scenarios. Moreover, it aims to offer valuable insights that can guide further research and development in this domain.
28 June 2019 in IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems
The class imbalance problem has become a leading challenge. Although conventional imbalance learning methods are proposed to tackle this problem, they have some limitations: 1) undersampling methods suffer from losing important information and 2) cost-sensitive methods are sensitive to outliers and noise. To address these issues, we propose a hybrid optimal ensemble classifier framework that combines density-based undersampling and cost-effective methods through exploring state-of-the-art solutions using multi-objective optimization algorithm. Specifically, we first develop a density-based undersampling method to select informative samples from the original training data with probability-based data transformation, which enables to obtain multiple subsets following a balanced distribution across classes. Second, we exploit the cost-sensitive classification method to address the incompleteness of information problem via modifying weights of misclassified minority samples rather than the majority ones. Finally, we introduce a multi-objective optimization procedure and utilize connections between samples to self-modify the classification result using an ensemble classifier framework. Extensive comparative experiments conducted on real-world data sets demonstrate that our method outperforms the majority of imbalance and ensemble classification approaches.
Multi-view learning is an emerging field that aims to enhance learning performance by leveraging multiple views or sources of data across various domains. By integrating information from diverse perspectives, multi-view learning methods effectively enhance accuracy, robustness, and generalization capabilities. The existing research on multi-view learning can be broadly categorized into four groups in the survey based on the tasks it encompasses, namely multi-view classification approaches, multi-view semi-supervised classification approaches, multi-view clustering approaches, and multi-view semi-supervised clustering approaches. Despite its potential advantages, multi-view learning poses several challenges, including view inconsistency, view complementarity, optimal view fusion, the curse of dimensionality, scalability, limited labels, and generalization across domains. Nevertheless, these challenges have not discouraged researchers from exploring the potential of multiview learning. It continues to be an active and promising research area, capable of effectively addressing complex real-world problems.