Publications | Empirical Inference - Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems

34 results (View BibTeX file of all listed publications)

2017

Elements of Causal Inference - Foundations and Learning Algorithms

Adaptive Computation and Machine Learning Series, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, 2017 (book)

2017

Peters, J., Janzing, D., Schölkopf, B. Elements of Causal Inference - Foundations and Learning Algorithms Adaptive Computation and Machine Learning Series, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, 2017 (book)

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Nonparametric Disturbance Correction and Nonlinear Dual Control

Klenske, E. D.

(24098), ETH Zurich, 2017 (phdthesis)

DOI [BibTex]

Klenske, E. D. Nonparametric Disturbance Correction and Nonlinear Dual Control (24098), ETH Zurich, 2017 (phdthesis)

DOI [BibTex]

New Directions for Learning with Kernels and Gaussian Processes (Dagstuhl Seminar 16481)

Gretton, A., Hennig, P., Rasmussen, C., Schölkopf, B.

Dagstuhl Reports, 6(11):142-167, 2017 (book)

DOI [BibTex]

Gretton, A., Hennig, P., Rasmussen, C., Schölkopf, B. New Directions for Learning with Kernels and Gaussian Processes (Dagstuhl Seminar 16481) Dagstuhl Reports, 6(11):142-167, 2017 (book)

DOI [BibTex]

Development and Evaluation of a Portable BCI System for Remote Data Acquisition

Emde, T.

Graduate School of Neural Information Processing, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany, 2017 (mastersthesis)

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Emde, T. Development and Evaluation of a Portable BCI System for Remote Data Acquisition Graduate School of Neural Information Processing, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany, 2017 (mastersthesis)

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Brain-Computer Interfaces for patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Fomina, T.

Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany, 2017 (phdthesis)

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Fomina, T. Brain-Computer Interfaces for patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany, 2017 (phdthesis)

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Causal models for decision making via integrative inference

Geiger, P.

University of Stuttgart, Germany, 2017 (phdthesis)

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Geiger, P. Causal models for decision making via integrative inference University of Stuttgart, Germany, 2017 (phdthesis)

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Learning Optimal Configurations for Modeling Frowning by Transcranial Electrical Stimulation

Sücker, K.

Graduate School of Neural Information Processing, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany, 2017 (mastersthesis)

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Sücker, K. Learning Optimal Configurations for Modeling Frowning by Transcranial Electrical Stimulation Graduate School of Neural Information Processing, Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Germany, 2017 (mastersthesis)

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2007

Some Theoretical Aspects of Human Categorization Behavior: Similarity and Generalization

Jäkel, F.

Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, November 2007, passed with "ausgezeichnet", summa cum laude, published online (phdthesis)

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2007

Jäkel, F. Some Theoretical Aspects of Human Categorization Behavior: Similarity and Generalization Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, November 2007, passed with "ausgezeichnet", summa cum laude, published online (phdthesis)

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Statistical Learning Theory Approaches to Clustering

Jegelka, S.

Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, November 2007 (diplomathesis)

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Jegelka, S. Statistical Learning Theory Approaches to Clustering Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, November 2007 (diplomathesis)

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Predicting Structured Data

Bakir, G., Hofmann, T., Schölkopf, B., Smola, A., Taskar, B., Vishwanathan, S.

pages: 360, Advances in neural information processing systems, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2007 (book)

Abstract

Machine learning develops intelligent computer systems that are able to generalize from previously seen examples. A new domain of machine learning, in which the prediction must satisfy the additional constraints found in structured data, poses one of machine learnings greatest challenges: learning functional dependencies between arbitrary input and output domains. This volume presents and analyzes the state of the art in machine learning algorithms and theory in this novel field. The contributors discuss applications as diverse as machine translation, document markup, computational biology, and information extraction, among others, providing a timely overview of an exciting field.

Web [BibTex]

Bakir, G., Hofmann, T., Schölkopf, B., Smola, A., Taskar, B., Vishwanathan, S. Predicting Structured Data pages: 360, Advances in neural information processing systems, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2007 (book)

Web [BibTex]

Large-Scale Kernel Machines

Bottou, L., Chapelle, O., DeCoste, D., Weston, J.

pages: 416, Neural Information Processing Series, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2007 (book)

Abstract

Pervasive and networked computers have dramatically reduced the cost of collecting and distributing large datasets. In this context, machine learning algorithms that scale poorly could simply become irrelevant. We need learning algorithms that scale linearly with the volume of the data while maintaining enough statistical efficiency to outperform algorithms that simply process a random subset of the data. This volume offers researchers and engineers practical solutions for learning from large scale datasets, with detailed descriptions of algorithms and experiments carried out on realistically large datasets. At the same time it offers researchers information that can address the relative lack of theoretical grounding for many useful algorithms. After a detailed description of state-of-the-art support vector machine technology, an introduction of the essential concepts discussed in the volume, and a comparison of primal and dual optimization techniques, the book progresses from well-understood techniques to more novel and controversial approaches. Many contributors have made their code and data available online for further experimentation. Topics covered include fast implementations of known algorithms, approximations that are amenable to theoretical guarantees, and algorithms that perform well in practice but are difficult to analyze theoretically.

Web [BibTex]

Bottou, L., Chapelle, O., DeCoste, D., Weston, J. Large-Scale Kernel Machines pages: 416, Neural Information Processing Series, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2007 (book)

Web [BibTex]

Error Correcting Codes for the P300 Visual Speller

Biessmann, F.

Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, July 2007 (diplomathesis)

Abstract

The aim of brain-computer interface (BCI) research is to establish a communication system based on intentional modulation of brain activity. This is accomplished by classifying patterns of brain ac- tivity, volitionally induced by the user. The BCI presented in this study is based on a classical paradigm as proposed by (Farwell and Donchin, 1988), the P300 visual speller. Recording electroencephalo- grams (EEG) from the scalp while presenting letters successively to the user, the speller can infer from the brain signal which letter the user was focussing on. Since EEG recordings are noisy, usually many repetitions are needed to detect the correct letter. The focus of this study was to improve the accuracy of the visual speller applying some basic principles from information theory: Stimulus sequences of the speller have been modi&amp;amp;#64257;ed into error-correcting codes. Additionally a language model was incorporated into the probabilistic letter de- coder. Classi&amp;amp;#64257;cation of single EEG epochs was less accurate using error correcting codes. However, the novel code could compensate for that such that overall, letter accuracies were as high as or even higher than for classical stimulus codes. In particular at high noise levels, error-correcting decoding achieved higher letter accuracies.

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Biessmann, F. Error Correcting Codes for the P300 Visual Speller Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, July 2007 (diplomathesis)

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Data-driven goodness-of-fit tests

Langovoy, MA.

Biologische Kybernetik, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany, July 2007 (phdthesis)

Web [BibTex]

Langovoy, MA. Data-driven goodness-of-fit tests Biologische Kybernetik, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany, July 2007 (phdthesis)

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Nonparametric Bayesian Discrete Latent Variable Models for Unsupervised Learning

Görür, D.

Biologische Kybernetik, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany, April 2007, published online (phdthesis)

PDF PDF [BibTex]

Görür, D. Nonparametric Bayesian Discrete Latent Variable Models for Unsupervised Learning Biologische Kybernetik, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany, April 2007, published online (phdthesis)

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Applications of Kernel Machines to Structured Data

Eichhorn, J.

Biologische Kybernetik, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany, March 2007, passed with "sehr gut", published online (phdthesis)

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Eichhorn, J. Applications of Kernel Machines to Structured Data Biologische Kybernetik, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany, March 2007, passed with "sehr gut", published online (phdthesis)

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A priori Knowledge from Non-Examples

Sinz, FH.

Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, March 2007 (diplomathesis)

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Sinz, FH. A priori Knowledge from Non-Examples Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, March 2007 (diplomathesis)

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Machine Learning for Mass Production and Industrial Engineering

Pfingsten, T.

Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, February 2007 (phdthesis)

PDF [BibTex]

Pfingsten, T. Machine Learning for Mass Production and Industrial Engineering Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany, February 2007 (phdthesis)

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Development of a Brain-Computer Interface Approach Based on Covert Attention to Tactile Stimuli

Raths, C.

University of Tübingen, Germany, University of Tübingen, Germany, January 2007 (diplomathesis)

[BibTex]

Raths, C. Development of a Brain-Computer Interface Approach Based on Covert Attention to Tactile Stimuli University of Tübingen, Germany, University of Tübingen, Germany, January 2007 (diplomathesis)

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A Machine Learning Approach for Estimating the Attenuation Map for a Combined PET/MR Scanner

Hofmann, M.

Biologische Kybernetik, Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, 2007 (diplomathesis)

[BibTex]

Hofmann, M. A Machine Learning Approach for Estimating the Attenuation Map for a Combined PET/MR Scanner Biologische Kybernetik, Max-Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany, 2007 (diplomathesis)

[BibTex]

Machine Learning of Motor Skills for Robotics

Peters, J.

University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 2007, clmc (phdthesis)

Abstract

Autonomous robots that can assist humans in situations of daily life have been a long standing vision of robotics, artificial intelligence, and cognitive sciences. A first step towards this goal is to create robots that can accomplish a multitude of different tasks, triggered by environmental context or higher level instruction. Early approaches to this goal during the heydays of artificial intelligence research in the late 1980s, however, made it clear that an approach purely based on reasoning and human insights would not be able to model all the perceptuomotor tasks that a robot should fulfill. Instead, new hope was put in the growing wake of machine learning that promised fully adaptive control algorithms which learn both by observation and trial-and-error. However, to date, learning techniques have yet to fulfill this promise as only few methods manage to scale into the high-dimensional domains of manipulator robotics, or even the new upcoming trend of humanoid robotics, and usually scaling was only achieved in precisely pre-structured domains. In this thesis, we investigate the ingredients for a general approach to motor skill learning in order to get one step closer towards human-like performance. For doing so, we study two major components for such an approach, i.e., firstly, a theoretically well-founded general approach to representing the required control structures for task representation and execution and, secondly, appropriate learning algorithms which can be applied in this setting. As a theoretical foundation, we first study a general framework to generate control laws for real robots with a particular focus on skills represented as dynamical systems in differential constraint form. We present a point-wise optimal control framework resulting from a generalization of Gauss' principle and show how various well-known robot control laws can be derived by modifying the metric of the employed cost function. The framework has been successfully applied to task space tracking control for holonomic systems for several different metrics on the anthropomorphic SARCOS Master Arm. In order to overcome the limiting requirement of accurate robot models, we first employ learning methods to find learning controllers for task space control. However, when learning to execute a redundant control problem, we face the general problem of the non-convexity of the solution space which can force the robot to steer into physically impossible configurations if supervised learning methods are employed without further consideration. This problem can be resolved using two major insights, i.e., the learning problem can be treated as locally convex and the cost function of the analytical framework can be used to ensure global consistency. Thus, we derive an immediate reinforcement learning algorithm from the expectation-maximization point of view which leads to a reward-weighted regression technique. This method can be used both for operational space control as well as general immediate reward reinforcement learning problems. We demonstrate the feasibility of the resulting framework on the problem of redundant end-effector tracking for both a simulated 3 degrees of freedom robot arm as well as for a simulated anthropomorphic SARCOS Master Arm. While learning to execute tasks in task space is an essential component to a general framework to motor skill learning, learning the actual task is of even higher importance, particularly as this issue is more frequently beyond the abilities of analytical approaches than execution. We focus on the learning of elemental tasks which can serve as the "building blocks of movement generation", called motor primitives. Motor primitives are parameterized task representations based on splines or nonlinear differential equations with desired attractor properties. While imitation learning of parameterized motor primitives is a relatively well-understood problem, the self-improvement by interaction of the system with the environment remains a challenging problem, tackled in the fourth chapter of this thesis. For pursuing this goal, we highlight the difficulties with current reinforcement learning methods, and outline both established and novel algorithms for the gradient-based improvement of parameterized policies. We compare these algorithms in the context of motor primitive learning, and show that our most modern algorithm, the Episodic Natural Actor-Critic outperforms previous algorithms by at least an order of magnitude. We demonstrate the efficiency of this reinforcement learning method in the application of learning to hit a baseball with an anthropomorphic robot arm. In conclusion, in this thesis, we have contributed a general framework for analytically computing robot control laws which can be used for deriving various previous control approaches and serves as foundation as well as inspiration for our learning algorithms. We have introduced two classes of novel reinforcement learning methods, i.e., the Natural Actor-Critic and the Reward-Weighted Regression algorithm. These algorithms have been used in order to replace the analytical components of the theoretical framework by learned representations. Evaluations have been performed on both simulated and real robot arms.

[BibTex]

Peters, J. Machine Learning of Motor Skills for Robotics University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 2007, clmc (phdthesis)

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2006

Extraction of visual features from natural video data using Slow Feature Analysis

Nickisch, H.

Biologische Kybernetik, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany, September 2006 (diplomathesis)

Abstract

Das Forschungsprojekt NeuRoBot hat das un{\"u}berwachte Erlernen einer neuronal inspirierten Steuerungsarchitektur zum Ziel, und zwar unter den Randbedingungen biologischer Plausibilit{\"a}t und der Benutzung einer Kamera als einzigen Sensor. Visuelle Merkmale, die ein angemessenes Abbild der Umgebung liefern, sind unerl{\"a}sslich, um das Ziel kollisionsfreier Navigation zu erreichen. Zeitliche Koh{\"a}renz ist ein neues Lernprinzip, das in der Lage ist, Erkenntnisse aus der Biologie des Sehens zu reproduzieren. Es wird durch die Beobachtung motiviert, dass die Sensoren der Retina auf deutlich k{\"u}rzeren Zeitskalen variieren als eine abstrakte Beschreibung. Zeitliche Langsamkeitsanalyse l{\"o}st das Problem, indem sie zeitlich langsam ver{\"a}nderliche Signale aus schnell ver{\"a}nderlichen Eingabesignalen extrahiert. Eine Verallgemeinerung auf Signale, die nichtlinear von den Eingaben abh{\"a}ngen, ist durch die Anwendung des Kernel-Tricks m{\"o}glich. Das einzig benutzte Vorwissen ist die zeitliche Glattheit der gewonnenen Signale. In der vorliegenden Diplomarbeit wird Langsamkeitsanalyse auf Bildausschnitte von Videos einer Roboterkamera und einer Simulationsumgebung angewendet. Zuallererst werden mittels Parameterexploration und Kreuzvalidierung die langsamst m{\"o}glichen Funktionen bestimmt. Anschließend werden die Merkmalsfunktionen analysiert und einige Ansatzpunkte f{\"u}r ihre Interpretation angegeben. Aufgrund der sehr großen Datens{\"a}tze und der umfangreichen Berechnungen behandelt ein Großteil dieser Arbeit auch Aufwandsbetrachtungen und Fragen der effizienten Berechnung. Kantendetektoren in verschiedenen Phasen und mit haupts{\"a}chlich horizontaler Orientierung stellen die wichtigsten aus der Analyse hervorgehenden Funktionen dar. Eine Anwendung auf konkrete Navigationsaufgaben des Roboters konnte bisher nicht erreicht werden. Eine visuelle Interpretation der erlernten Merkmale ist jedoch durchaus gegeben.

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2006

Nickisch, H. Extraction of visual features from natural video data using Slow Feature Analysis Biologische Kybernetik, Technische Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany, September 2006 (diplomathesis)

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Semi-Supervised Learning

Chapelle, O., Schölkopf, B., Zien, A.

pages: 508, Adaptive computation and machine learning, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2006 (book)

Abstract

In the field of machine learning, semi-supervised learning (SSL) occupies the middle ground, between supervised learning (in which all training examples are labeled) and unsupervised learning (in which no label data are given). Interest in SSL has increased in recent years, particularly because of application domains in which unlabeled data are plentiful, such as images, text, and bioinformatics. This first comprehensive overview of SSL presents state-of-the-art algorithms, a taxonomy of the field, selected applications, benchmark experiments, and perspectives on ongoing and future research. Semi-Supervised Learning first presents the key assumptions and ideas underlying the field: smoothness, cluster or low-density separation, manifold structure, and transduction. The core of the book is the presentation of SSL methods, organized according to algorithmic strategies. After an examination of generative models, the book describes algorithms that implement the low-density separation assumption, graph-based methods, and algorithms that perform two-step learning. The book then discusses SSL applications and offers guidelines for SSL practitioners by analyzing the results of extensive benchmark experiments. Finally, the book looks at interesting directions for SSL research. The book closes with a discussion of the relationship between semi-supervised learning and transduction.

Web [BibTex]

Chapelle, O., Schölkopf, B., Zien, A. Semi-Supervised Learning pages: 508, Adaptive computation and machine learning, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, September 2006 (book)

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An Online-Computation Approach to Optimal Finite-Horizon State-Feedback Control of Nonlinear Stochastic Systems

Deisenroth, MP.

Biologische Kybernetik, Universität Karlsruhe (TH), Karlsruhe, Germany, August 2006 (diplomathesis)

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Deisenroth, MP. An Online-Computation Approach to Optimal Finite-Horizon State-Feedback Control of Nonlinear Stochastic Systems Biologische Kybernetik, Universität Karlsruhe (TH), Karlsruhe, Germany, August 2006 (diplomathesis)

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Object Classification using Local Image Features

Nowozin, S.

Biologische Kybernetik, Technical University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany, May 2006 (diplomathesis)

Abstract

Object classification in digital images remains one of the most challenging tasks in computer vision. Advances in the last decade have produced methods to repeatably extract and describe characteristic local features in natural images. In order to apply machine learning techniques in computer vision systems, a representation based on these features is needed. A set of local features is the most popular representation and often used in conjunction with Support Vector Machines for classification problems. In this work, we examine current approaches based on set representations and identify their shortcomings. To overcome these shortcomings, we argue for extending the set representation into a graph representation, encoding more relevant information. Attributes associated with the edges of the graph encode the geometric relationships between individual features by making use of the meta data of each feature, such as the position, scale, orientation and shape of the feature region. At the same time all invariances provided by the original feature extraction method are retained. To validate the novel approach, we use a standard subset of the ETH-80 classification benchmark.

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Nowozin, S. Object Classification using Local Image Features Biologische Kybernetik, Technical University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany, May 2006 (diplomathesis)

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Kernel PCA for Image Compression

Huhle, B.

Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard-Karls-Universität, Tübingen, Germany, April 2006 (diplomathesis)

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Huhle, B. Kernel PCA for Image Compression Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard-Karls-Universität, Tübingen, Germany, April 2006 (diplomathesis)

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Gaussian Process Models for Robust Regression, Classification, and Reinforcement Learning

Kuss, M.

Biologische Kybernetik, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany, March 2006, passed with distinction, published online (phdthesis)

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Kuss, M. Gaussian Process Models for Robust Regression, Classification, and Reinforcement Learning Biologische Kybernetik, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany, March 2006, passed with distinction, published online (phdthesis)

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Gaussian Processes for Machine Learning

Rasmussen, CE., Williams, CKI.

pages: 248, Adaptive Computation and Machine Learning, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, January 2006 (book)

Abstract

Gaussian processes (GPs) provide a principled, practical, probabilistic approach to learning in kernel machines. GPs have received increased attention in the machine-learning community over the past decade, and this book provides a long-needed systematic and unified treatment of theoretical and practical aspects of GPs in machine learning. The treatment is comprehensive and self-contained, targeted at researchers and students in machine learning and applied statistics. The book deals with the supervised-learning problem for both regression and classification, and includes detailed algorithms. A wide variety of covariance (kernel) functions are presented and their properties discussed. Model selection is discussed both from a Bayesian and a classical perspective. Many connections to other well-known techniques from machine learning and statistics are discussed, including support-vector machines, neural networks, splines, regularization networks, relevance vector machines and others. Theoretical issues including learning curves and the PAC-Bayesian framework are treated, and several approximation methods for learning with large datasets are discussed. The book contains illustrative examples and exercises, and code and datasets are available on the Web. Appendixes provide mathematical background and a discussion of Gaussian Markov processes.

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Rasmussen, CE., Williams, CKI. Gaussian Processes for Machine Learning pages: 248, Adaptive Computation and Machine Learning, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, January 2006 (book)

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Semigroups applied to transport and queueing processes

Radl, A.

Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard Karls Universität, Tübingen, 2006 (phdthesis)

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Radl, A. Semigroups applied to transport and queueing processes Biologische Kybernetik, Eberhard Karls Universität, Tübingen, 2006 (phdthesis)

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Local Alignment Kernels for Protein Homology Detection

Saigo, H.

Biologische Kybernetik, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, 2006 (phdthesis)

[BibTex]

Saigo, H. Local Alignment Kernels for Protein Homology Detection Biologische Kybernetik, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan, 2006 (phdthesis)

[BibTex]

2002

Learning with Kernels: Support Vector Machines, Regularization, Optimization, and Beyond

Schölkopf, B., Smola, A.

pages: 644, Adaptive Computation and Machine Learning, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, December 2002, Parts of this book, including an introduction to kernel methods, can be downloaded here. (book)

Abstract

In the 1990s, a new type of learning algorithm was developed, based on results from statistical learning theory: the Support Vector Machine (SVM). This gave rise to a new class of theoretically elegant learning machines that use a central concept of SVMs-kernelsfor a number of learning tasks. Kernel machines provide a modular framework that can be adapted to different tasks and domains by the choice of the kernel function and the base algorithm. They are replacing neural networks in a variety of fields, including engineering, information retrieval, and bioinformatics. Learning with Kernels provides an introduction to SVMs and related kernel methods. Although the book begins with the basics, it also includes the latest research. It provides all of the concepts necessary to enable a reader equipped with some basic mathematical knowledge to enter the world of machine learning using theoretically well-founded yet easy-to-use kernel algorithms and to understand and apply the powerful algorithms that have been developed over the last few years.

Web [BibTex]

2002

Schölkopf, B., Smola, A. Learning with Kernels: Support Vector Machines, Regularization, Optimization, and Beyond pages: 644, Adaptive Computation and Machine Learning, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, USA, December 2002, Parts of this book, including an introduction to kernel methods, can be downloaded here. (book)

Web [BibTex]

Nonlinear Multivariate Analysis with Geodesic Kernels

Kuss, M.

Biologische Kybernetik, Technische Universität Berlin, February 2002 (diplomathesis)

GZIP [BibTex]

Kuss, M. Nonlinear Multivariate Analysis with Geodesic Kernels Biologische Kybernetik, Technische Universität Berlin, February 2002 (diplomathesis)

GZIP [BibTex]

Concentration Inequalities and Empirical Processes Theory Applied to the Analysis of Learning Algorithms

Bousquet, O.

Biologische Kybernetik, Ecole Polytechnique, 2002 (phdthesis) Accepted

Abstract

New classification algorithms based on the notion of 'margin' (e.g. Support Vector Machines, Boosting) have recently been developed. The goal of this thesis is to better understand how they work, via a study of their theoretical performance. In order to do this, a general framework for real-valued classification is proposed. In this framework, it appears that the natural tools to use are Concentration Inequalities and Empirical Processes Theory. Thanks to an adaptation of these tools, a new measure of the size of a class of functions is introduced, which can be computed from the data. This allows, on the one hand, to better understand the role of eigenvalues of the kernel matrix in Support Vector Machines, and on the other hand, to obtain empirical model selection criteria.

PostScript [BibTex]

Bousquet, O. Concentration Inequalities and Empirical Processes Theory Applied to the Analysis of Learning Algorithms Biologische Kybernetik, Ecole Polytechnique, 2002 (phdthesis) Accepted

PostScript [BibTex]

Support Vector Machines: Induction Principle, Adaptive Tuning and Prior Knowledge

Chapelle, O.

Biologische Kybernetik, 2002 (phdthesis)

Abstract

This thesis presents a theoretical and practical study of Support Vector Machines (SVM) and related learning algorithms. In a first part, we introduce a new induction principle from which SVMs can be derived, but some new algorithms are also presented in this framework. In a second part, after studying how to estimate the generalization error of an SVM, we suggest to choose the kernel parameters of an SVM by minimizing this estimate. Several applications such as feature selection are presented. Finally the third part deals with the incoporation of prior knowledge in a learning algorithm and more specifically, we studied the case of known invariant transormations and the use of unlabeled data.

GZIP [BibTex]