Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #79809. 	[Title] MDL and MML Similarities and Differences (Introduction to Minimum Encoding Inference Part III) [Abstract] Tech Report 207 Department of Computer Science, Monash University, Clayton, Vic. 3168, Australia Abstract: This paper continues the introduction to minimum encoding inductive inference given by Oliver and Hand. This series of papers was written with the objective of providing an introduction to this area for statisticians. We describe the message length estimates used in Wallace's Minimum Message Length (MML) inference and Rissanen's Minimum Description Length (MDL) inference. The differences in the message length estimates of the two approaches are explained. The implications of these differences for applications are discussed. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #1123576. 	[Title] Density Networks and their Application to Protein Modelling [Abstract] I define a latent variable model in the form of a neural network for which only target outputs are specified; the inputs are unspecified. Although the inputs are missing, it is still possible to train this model by placing a simple probability distribution on the unknown inputs and maximizing the probability of the data given the parameters. The model can then discover for itself a description of the data in terms of an underlying latent variable space of lower dimensionality. I present preliminary results of the application of these models to protein data. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #1131267. 	[Title] Parallel Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling. [Abstract] Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) samplers have proved remarkably popular as tools for Bayesian computation. However, problems can arise in their application when the density of interest is high dimensional and strongly correlated. In these circumstances the sampler may be slow to traverse the state space and mixing is poor. In this article we offer a partial solution to this problem. The state space of the Markov chain is augmented to accommodate multiple chains in parallel. Updates to individual chains are based around a genetic style crossover operator acting on `parent' states drawn from the population of chains. This process makes efficient use of gradient information implicitly encoded within the distribution of states across the population. Empirical studies support the claim that the crossover operator acting on a parallel population of chains improves mixing. This is illustrated with an example of sampling a high dimensional posterior probability density from a complex predictive model. By adopting a latent variable approach the methodology is extended to deal with variable selection and model averaging in high dimensions. This is illustrated with an example of knot selection for a spline interpolant. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #24966. 	[Title] A Practical Bayesian Framework for Backprop Networks [Abstract] A quantitative and practical Bayesian framework is described for learning of mappings in feedforward networks. The framework makes possible: (1) objective comparisons between solutions using alternative network architectures; (2) objective stopping rules for network pruning or growing procedures; (3) objective choice of magnitude and type of weight decay terms or additive regularisers (for penalising large weights, etc.); (4) a measure of the effective number of well-determined parameters in a model; (5) quantified estimates of the error bars on network parameters and on network output; (6) objective comparisons with alternative learning and interpolation models such as splines and radial basis functions. The Bayesian `evidence' automatically embodies `Occam's razor,' penalising over-flexible and over-complex models. The Bayesian approach helps detect poor underlying assumptions in learning models. For learning models well matched to a problem, a good correlation between generalisation ability and the Bayesian evidence is obtained. This paper makes use of the Bayesian framework for regularisation and model comparison described in the companion paper `Bayesian interpolation' (MacKay, 1991a). This framework is due to Gull and Skilling (Gull, 1989a). Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #109323. 	[Title] Estimating Bayes Factors via Posterior Simulation with the Laplace-Metropolis Estimator [Abstract] The key quantity needed for Bayesian hypothesis testing and model selection is the marginal likelihood for a model, also known as the integrated likelihood, or the marginal probability of the data. In this paper we describe a way to use posterior simulation output to estimate marginal likelihoods. We describe the basic Laplace-Metropolis estimator for models without random effects. For models with random effects the compound Laplace-Metropolis estimator is introduced. This estimator is applied to data from the World Fertility Survey and shown to give accurate results. Batching of simulation output is used to assess the uncertainty involved in using the compound Laplace-Metropolis estimator. The method allows us to test for the effects of independent variables in a random effects model, and also to test for the presence of the random effects. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #137868. 	[Title] On Bayesian analysis of mixtures with an unknown number of components  Summary [Abstract] New methodology for fully Bayesian mixture analysis is developed, making use of reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, that are capable of jumping between the parameter subspaces corresponding to different numbers of components in the mixture. A sample from the full joint distribution of all unknown variables is thereby generated, and this can be used as a basis for a thorough presentation of many aspects of the posterior distribution. The methodology is applied here to the analysis of univariate normal mixtures, using a hierarchical prior model that offers an approach to dealing with weak prior information while avoiding the mathematical pitfalls of using improper priors in the mixture context. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #1131149. 	[Title] Least Absolute Shrinkage is Equivalent to Quadratic Penalization [Abstract] Adaptive ridge is a special form of ridge regression, balancing the quadratic penalization on each parameter of the model. This paper shows the equivalence between adaptive ridge and lasso (least absolute shrinkage and selection operator). This equivalence states that both procedures produce the same estimate. Least absolute shrinkage can thus be viewed as a particular quadratic penalization. From this observation, we derive an EM algorithm to compute the lasso solution. We finally present a series of applications of this type of algorithm in regres sion problems: kernel regression, additive modeling and neural net training. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #202639. 	[Title] PREDICTING SUNSPOTS AND EXCHANGE RATES WITH CONNECTIONIST NETWORKS [Abstract] We investigate the effectiveness of connectionist networks for predicting the future continuation of temporal sequences. The problem of overfitting, particularly serious for short records of noisy data, is addressed by the method of weight-elimination: a term penalizing network complexity is added to the usual cost function in back-propagation. The ultimate goal is prediction accuracy. We analyze two time series. On the benchmark sunspot series, the networks outperform traditional statistical approaches. We show that the network performance does not deteriorate when there are more input units than needed. Weight-elimination also manages to extract some part of the dynamics of the notoriously noisy currency exchange rates and makes the network solution interpretable. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #145176. 	[Title] Bayesian Non-linear Modelling for the Prediction Competition [Abstract] The 1993 energy prediction competition involved the prediction of a series of building energy loads from a series of environmental input variables. Non-linear regression using `neural networks' is a popular technique for such modeling tasks. Since it is not obvious how large a time-window of inputs is appropriate, or what preprocessing of inputs is best, this can be viewed as a regression problem in which there are many possible input variables, some of which may actually be irrelevant to the prediction of the output variable. Because a finite data set will show random correlations between the irrelevant inputs and the output, any conventional neural network (even with reg-ularisation or `weight decay') will not set the coefficients for these junk inputs to zero. Thus the irrelevant variables will hurt the model's performance. The Automatic Relevance Determination (ARD) model puts a prior over the regression parameters which embodies the concept of relevance. This is done in a simple and `soft' way by introducing multiple regularisation constants, one associated with each input. Using Bayesian methods, the regularisation constants for junk inputs are automatically inferred to be large, preventing those inputs from causing significant overfitting. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #1105433. 	[Title] Priors for Infinite Networks [Abstract] Technical Report CRG-TR-94-1 Department of Computer Science University of Toronto 10 King's College Road Toronto, Canada M5S 1A4 Abstract Bayesian inference begins with a prior distribution for model parameters that is meant to capture prior beliefs about the relationship being modeled. For multilayer perceptron networks, where the parameters are the connection weights, the prior lacks any direct meaning | what matters is the prior over functions computed by the network that is implied by this prior over weights. In this paper, I show that priors over weights can be defined in such a way that the corresponding priors over functions reach reasonable limits as the number of hidden units in the network goes to infinity. When using such priors, there is thus no need to limit the size of the network in order to avoid "overfitting". The infinite network limit also provides insight into the properties of different priors. A Gaussian prior for hidden-to-output weights results in a Gaussian process prior for functions, which can be smooth, Brownian, or fractional Brownian, depending on the hidden unit activation function and the prior for input-to-hidden weights. Quite different effects can be obtained using priors based on non-Gaussian stable distributions. In networks with more than one hidden layer, a combination of Gaussian and non-Gaussian priors appears most interesting. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #124828. 	[Title] Ensemble Training: Some Recent Experiments with Postal Zip Data [Abstract] Recent findings suggest that a classification scheme based on an ensemble of networks is an effective way to address overfitting. We study optimal methods for training an ensemble of networks. Some recent experiments on Postal Zip-code character data suggest that weight decay may not be an optimal method for controlling the variance of a classifier. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #8224. 	[Title] Mingers, 1989 J. Mingers. An empirical comparison of pruning methods for decision tree induction. Machine [Abstract] Ourston and Mooney, 1990b ] D. Ourston and R. J. Mooney. Improving shared rules in multiple category domain theories. Technical Report AI90-150, Artificial Intelligence Labora tory, University of Texas, Austin, TX, December 1990. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #92065. 	[Title] ADAPTIVE REGULARIZATION [Abstract] Regularization, e.g., in the form of weight decay, is important for training and optimization of neural network architectures. In this work we provide a tool based on asymptotic sampling theory, for iterative estimation of weight decay parameters. The basic idea is to do a gradient descent in the estimated generalization error with respect to the regularization parameters. The scheme is implemented in our Designer Net framework for network training and pruning, i.e., is based on the diagonal Hessian approximation. The scheme does not require essential computational overhead in addition to what is needed for training and pruning. The viability of the approach is demonstrated in an experiment concerning prediction of the chaotic Mackey-Glass series. We find that the optimized weight decays are relatively large for densely connected networks in the initial pruning phase, while they decrease as pruning proceeds. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #1105698. 	[Title] Covariate Selection in Hierarchical Models of Hospital Admission Counts: A Bayes Factor Approach 1 [Abstract] TECHNICAL REPORT No. 268 Department of Statistics, GN-22 University of Washington Seattle, Washington 98195 USA 1 Susan L. Rosenkranz is Pew Health Policy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Institute for Health Policy Studies, Box 0936, University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143, and Adrian E. Raftery is Professor of Statistics and Sociology, Department of Statistics, GN-22, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195. Rosenkranz's research was supported by the National Research Service Award 5T32CA 09168-17 from the National Cancer Institute. The authors are grateful to Paula Diehr and Kevin Cain for helpful discussions. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #46501. 	[Title] Decision Graphs An Extension of Decision Trees [Abstract] Technical Report No: 92/173 (C) Jonathan Oliver 1992 Shortened appeared in AI and Statistics 1993[14] Abstract: In this paper, we examine Decision Graphs, a generalization of decision trees. We present an inference scheme to construct decision graphs using the Minimum Message Length Principle. Empirical tests demonstrate that this scheme compares favourably with other decision tree inference schemes. This work provides a metric for comparing the relative merit of the decision tree and decision graph formalisms for a particular domain. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #423463. 	[Title] Model Selection for Generalized Linear Models via GLIB, with Application to Epidemiology 1 [Abstract] 1 This is the first draft of a chapter for Bayesian Biostatistics, edited by Donald A. Berry and Darlene K. Strangl. Adrian E. Raftery is Professor of Statistics and Sociology, Department of Statistics, GN-22, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. Sylvia Richardson is Directeur de Recherche, INSERM Unite 170, 16 avenue Paul Vaillant Couturier, 94807 Villejuif CEDEX, France. Raftery's research was supported by ONR contract no. N-00014-91-J-1074, by the Ministere de la Recherche et de l'Espace, Paris, by the Universite de Paris VI, and by INRIA, Rocquencourt, France. Raftery thanks the latter two institutions, Paul Deheuvels and Gilles Celeux for hearty hospitality during his Paris sabbatical in which part of this chapter was written. The authors are grateful to Christine Montfort for excellent research assistance and to Mariette Gerber, Michel Chavance and David Madigan for helpful discussions. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #560936. 	[Title] Monte Carlo Comparison of Non-hierarchical Unsupervised Classifiers [Abstract]  Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #31863. 	[Title] Unsupervised Learning Using MML [Abstract] This paper discusses the unsupervised learning problem. An important part of the unsupervised learning problem is determining the number of constituent groups (components or classes) which best describes some data. We apply the Minimum Message Length (MML) criterion to the unsupervised learning problem, modifying an earlier such MML application. We give an empirical comparison of criteria prominent in the literature for estimating the number of components in a data set. We conclude that the Minimum Message Length criterion performs better than the alternatives on the data considered here for unsupervised learning tasks. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #641976. 	[Title] A comparison of some error estimates for neural network models  Summary [Abstract] We discuss a number of methods for estimating the standard error of predicted values from a multi-layer perceptron. These methods include the delta method based on the Hessian, bootstrap estimators, and the "sandwich" estimator. The methods are described and compared in a number of examples. We find that the bootstrap methods perform best, partly because they capture variability due to the choice of starting weights. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #239800. 	[Title] Ensemble Learning and Evidence Maximization [Abstract] Ensemble learning by variational free energy minimization is a tool introduced to neural networks by Hinton and van Camp in which learning is described in terms of the optimization of an ensemble of parameter vectors. The optimized ensemble is an approximation to the posterior probability distribution of the parameters. This tool has now been applied to a variety of statistical inference problems. In this paper I study a linear regression model with both parameters and hyper-parameters. I demonstrate that the evidence approximation for the optimization of regularization constants can be derived in detail from a free energy minimization viewpoint. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #23738. 	[Title] A THEORY OF LEARNING CLASSIFICATION RULES [Abstract]  Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #65212. 	[Title] Bayesian Training of Backpropagation Networks by the Hybrid Monte Carlo Method [Abstract] It is shown that Bayesian training of backpropagation neural networks can feasibly be performed by the "Hybrid Monte Carlo" method. This approach allows the true predictive distribution for a test case given a set of training cases to be approximated arbitrarily closely, in contrast to previous approaches which approximate the posterior weight distribution by a Gaussian. In this work, the Hybrid Monte Carlo method is implemented in conjunction with simulated annealing, in order to speed relaxation to a good region of parameter space. The method has been applied to a test problem, demonstrating that it can produce good predictions, as well as an indication of the uncertainty of these predictions. Appropriate weight scaling factors are found automatically. By applying known techniques for calculation of "free energy" differences, it should also be possible to compare the merits of different network architectures. The work described here should also be applicable to a wide variety of statistical models other than neural networks. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #40124. 	[Title] Probabilistic Networks: New Models and New Methods [Abstract] In this paper I describe the implementation of a probabilistic regression model in BUGS. BUGS is a program that carries out Bayesian inference on statistical problems using a simulation technique known as Gibbs sampling. It is possible to implement surprisingly complex regression models in this environment. I demonstrate the simultaneous inference of an interpolant and an input-dependent noise level. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #91581. 	[Title] Finding Overlapping Distributions with MML [Abstract] This paper considers an aspect of mixture modelling. Significantly overlapping distributions require more data for their parameters to be accurately estimated than well separated distributions. For example, two Gaussian distributions are considered to significantly overlap when their means are within three standard deviations of each other. If insufficient data is available, only a single component distribution will be estimated, although the data originates from two component distributions. We consider how much data is required to distinguish two component distributions from one distribution in mixture modelling using the minimum message length (MML) criterion. First, we perform experiments which show the MML criterion performs well relative to other Bayesian criteria. Second, we make two improvements to the existing MML estimates, that improve its performance with overlapping distributions. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #671293. 	[Title] Selecting Input Variables Using Mutual Information and Nonparametric Density Estimation [Abstract] In learning problems where a connectionist network is trained with a finite sized training set, better generalization performance is often obtained when unneeded weights in the network are eliminated. One source of unneeded weights comes from the inclusion of input variables that provide little information about the output variables. We propose a method for identifying and eliminating these input variables. The method first determines the relationship between input and output variables using nonparametric density estimation and then measures the relevance of input variables using the information theoretic concept of mutual information. We present results from our method on a simple toy problem and a nonlinear time series. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #1105344. 	[Title] In Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 8  Gaussian Processes for Regression [Abstract] The Bayesian analysis of neural networks is difficult because a simple prior over weights implies a complex prior distribution over functions. In this paper we investigate the use of Gaussian process priors over functions, which permit the predictive Bayesian analysis for fixed values of hyperparameters to be carried out exactly using matrix operations. Two methods, using optimization and averaging (via Hybrid Monte Carlo) over hyperparameters have been tested on a number of challenging problems and have produced excellent results. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #1104449. 	[Title] Using Neural Networks for Descriptive Statistical Analysis of Educational Data [Abstract] In this paper we discuss the methodological issues of using a class of neural networks called Mixture Density Networks (MDN) for discriminant analysis. MDN models have the advantage of having a rigorous probabilistic interpretation, and they have proven to be a viable alternative as a classification procedure in discrete domains. We will address both the classification and interpretive aspects of discriminant analysis, and compare the approach to the traditional method of linear discrimin- ants as implemented in standard statistical packages. We show that the MDN approach adopted performs well in both aspects. Many of the observations made are not restricted to the particular case at hand, and are applicable to most applications of discriminant analysis in educational research. fl URL: http://www.cs.Helsinki.FI/research/cosco/ Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #1106370. 	[Title] The Effective Size of a Neural Network: A Principal Component Approach [Abstract] Often when learning from data, one attaches a penalty term to a standard error term in an attempt to prefer simple models and prevent overfitting. Current penalty terms for neural networks, however, often do not take into account weight interaction. This is a critical drawback since the effective number of parameters in a network usually differs dramatically from the total number of possible parameters. In this paper, we present a penalty term that uses Principal Component Analysis to help detect functional redundancy in a neural network. Results show that our new algorithm gives a much more accurate estimate of network complexity than do standard approaches. As a result, our new term should be able to improve techniques that make use of a penalty term, such as weight decay, weight pruning, feature selection, Bayesian, and prediction-risk tech niques. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #63549. 	[Title] A Practical Monte Carlo Implementation of Bayesian Learning [Abstract]  Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #1152194. 	[Title]  [Abstract] Draft A Brief Introduction to Neural Networks Richard D. De Veaux Lyle H. Ungar Williams College University of Pennsylvania Abstract Artificial neural networks are being used with increasing frequency for high dimensional problems of regression or classification. This article provides a tutorial overview of neural networks, focusing on back propagation networks as a method for approximating nonlinear multivariable functions. We explain, from a statistician's vantage point, why neural networks might be attractive and how they compare to other modern regression techniques. KEYWORDS: nonparametric regression; function approximation; backpropagation. 1 Introduction Networks that mimic the way the brain works; computer programs that actually LEARN patterns; forecasting without having to know statistics. These are just some of the many claims and attractions of artificial neural networks. Neural networks (we will henceforth drop the term artificial, unless we need to distinguish them from biological neural networks) seem to be everywhere these days, and at least in their advertising, are able to do all that statistics can do without all the fuss and bother of having to do anything except buy a piece of software. Neural networks have been successfully used for many different applications including robotics, chemical process control, speech recognition, optical character recognition, credit card fraud detection, interpretation of chemical spectra and vision for autonomous navigation of vehicles. (Pointers to the literature are given at the end of this article.) In this article we will attempt to explain how one particular type of neural network, feedforward networks with sigmoidal activation functions ("backpropagation networks") actually works, how it is "trained", and how it compares with some more well known statistical techniques. As an example of why someone would want to use a neural network, consider the problem of recognizing hand written ZIP codes on letters. This is a classification problem, where the 1 Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #79817. 	[Title] Bayesian and Information-Theoretic Priors for Bayesian Network Parameters [Abstract] We consider Bayesian and information-theoretic approaches for determining non-informative prior distributions in a parametric model family. The information-theoretic approaches are based on the recently modified definition of stochastic complexity by Rissanen, and on the Minimum Message Length (MML) approach by Wallace. The Bayesian alternatives include the uniform prior, and the equivalent sample size priors. In order to be able to empirically compare the different approaches in practice, the methods are instantiated for a model family of practical importance, the family of Bayesian networks. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #1131466. 	[Title] Stochastic Complexity Based Estimation of Missing Elements in Questionnaire Data [Abstract] In this paper we study a new information-theoretically justified approach to missing data estimation for multivariate categorical data. The approach discussed is a model-based imputation procedure relative to a model class (i.e., a functional form for the probability distribution of the complete data matrix), which in our case is the set of multinomial models with some independence assumptions. Based on the given model class assumption an information-theoretic criterion can be derived to select between the different complete data matrices. Intuitively this general criterion, called stochastic complexity, represents the shortest code length needed for coding the complete data matrix relative to the model class chosen. Using this information-theoretic criteria, the missing data problem is reduced to a search problem, i.e., finding the data completion with minimal stochastic complexity. In the experimental part of the paper we present empirical results of the approach using two real data sets, and compare these results to those achived by commonly used techniques such as case deletion and imputating sample averages. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #23116. 	[Title] Bayesian Methods for Adaptive Models [Abstract]  Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #197452. 	[Title] Best-First Model Merging for Dynamic Learning and Recognition [Abstract] Best-first model merging is a general technique for dynamically choosing the structure of a neural or related architecture while avoiding overfitting. It is applicable to both learning and recognition tasks and often generalizes significantly better than fixed structures. We demonstrate the approach applied to the tasks of choosing radial basis functions for function learning, choosing local affine models for curve and constraint surface modelling, and choosing the structure of a balltree or bumptree to maximize efficiency of access. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #11342. 	[Title] On Pruning and Averaging Decision Trees [Abstract] Pruning a decision tree is considered by some researchers to be the most important part of tree building in noisy domains. While, there are many approaches to pruning, an alternative approach of averaging over decision trees has not received as much attention. We perform an empirical comparison of pruning with the approach of averaging over decision trees. For this comparison we use a computa-tionally efficient method of averaging, namely averaging over the extended fanned set of a tree. Since there are a wide range of approaches to pruning, we compare tree averaging with a traditional pruning approach, along with an optimal pruning approach. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #463825. 	[Title] On the Induction of Intelligible Ensembles [Abstract] Ensembles of classifiers, e.g. decision trees, often exhibit greater predictive accuracy than single classifiers alone. Bagging and boosting are two standard ways of generating and combining multiple classifiers. Unfortunately, the increase in predictive performance is usually linked to a dramatic decrease in intelligibility: ensembles are more or less black boxes comparable to neural networks. So far attempts at pruning of ensembles have not been very successful, approximately reducing ensembles into half. This paper describes a different approach which both tries to keep ensemble-sizes small during induction already and also limits the complexity of single classifiers rigorously. Single classifiers are decision-stumps of a prespecified maximal depth. They are combined by majority voting. Ensembles are induced and pruned by a simple hill-climbing procedure. These ensembles can reasonably be transformed into equivalent decision trees. We conduct some empirical evaluation to investigate both predictive accuracies and classifier complexities. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #358866. 	[Title] BAYESIAN ESTIMATION OF THE VON MISES CONCENTRATION PARAMETER [Abstract] The von Mises distribution is a maximum entropy distribution. It corresponds to the distribution of an angle of a compass needle in a uniform magnetic field of direction, , with concentration parameter, . The concentration parameter, , is the ratio of the field strength to the temperature of thermal fluctuations. Previously, we obtained a Bayesian estimator for the von Mises distribution parameters using the information-theoretic Minimum Message Length (MML) principle. Here, we examine a variety of Bayesian estimation techniques by examining the posterior distribution in both polar and Cartesian co-ordinates. We compare the MML estimator with these fellow Bayesian techniques, and a range of Classical estimators. We find that the Bayesian estimators outperform the Classical estimators. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #1121659. 	[Title] Causal Discovery via MML [Abstract] Automating the learning of causal models from sample data is a key step toward incorporating machine learning in the automation of decision-making and reasoning under uncertainty. This paper presents a Bayesian approach to the discovery of causal models, using a Minimum Message Length (MML) method. We have developed encoding and search methods for discovering linear causal models. The initial experimental results presented in this paper show that the MML induction approach can recover causal models from generated data which are quite accurate reflections of the original models; our results compare favorably with those of the TETRAD II program of Spirtes et al. [25] even when their algorithm is supplied with prior temporal information and MML is not. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #354004. 	[Title] Formal Rules for Selecting Prior Distributions: A Review and Annotated Bibliography [Abstract] Subjectivism has become the dominant philosophical foundation for Bayesian inference. Yet, in practice, most Bayesian analyses are performed with so-called "noninfor-mative" priors, that is, priors constructed by some formal rule. We review the plethora of techniques for constructing such priors, and discuss some of the practical and philosophical issues that arise when they are used. We give special emphasis to Jeffreys's rules and discuss the evolution of his point of view about the interpretation of priors, away from unique representation of ignorance toward the notion that they should be chosen by convention. We conclude that the problems raised by the research on priors chosen by formal rules are serious and may not be dismissed lightly; when sample sizes are small (relative to the number of parameters being estimated) it is dangerous to put faith in any "default" solution; but when asymptotics take over, Jeffreys's rules and their variants remain reasonable choices. We also provide an annotated bibliography. fl Robert E. Kass is Professor and Larry Wasserman is Associate Professor, Department of Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213-2717. The work of both authors was supported by NSF grant DMS-9005858 and NIH grant R01-CA54852-01. The authors thank Nick Polson for helping with a few annotations, and Jim Berger, Teddy Seidenfeld and Arnold Zellner for useful comments and discussion. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #561364. 	[Title] Markov Chain Monte Carlo Model Determination for Hierarchical and Graphical Log-linear Models [Abstract] The Bayesian approach to comparing models involves calculating the posterior probability of each plausible model. For high-dimensional contingency tables, the set of plausible models is very large. We focus attention on reversible jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (Green, 1995) and develop strategies for calculating posterior probabilities of hierarchical, graphical or decomposable log-linear models. Even for tables of moderate size, these sets of models may be very large. The choice of suitable prior distributions for model parameters is also discussed in detail, and two examples are presented. For the first example, a 2 fi 3 fi 4 table, the model probabilities calculated using our reversible jump approach are compared with model probabilities calculated exactly or by using an alternative approximation. The second example is a 2 6 contingency table for which exact methods are infeasible, due to the large number of possible models. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #18777. 	[Title] A Tutorial on Learning With Bayesian Networks [Abstract] Technical Report MSR-TR-95-06 Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #5086. 	[Title] Approximate Bayes Factors and Accounting for Model Uncertainty in Generalized Linear Models [Abstract] Technical Report no. 255 Department of Statistics, University of Washington August 1993; Revised March 1994 Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #131042. 	[Title] Efficient Implementation of Gaussian Processes [Abstract] Neural networks and Bayesian inference provide a useful framework within which to solve regression problems. However their parameterization means that the Bayesian analysis of neural networks can be difficult. In this paper, we investigate a method for regression using Gaussian process priors which allows exact Bayesian analysis using matrix manipulations. We discuss the workings of the method in detail. We will also detail a range of mathematical and numerical techniques that are useful in applying Gaussian processes to general problems including efficient approximate matrix inversion methods developed by Skilling. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #358887. 	[Title] SINGLE FACTOR ANALYSIS BY MML ESTIMATION [Abstract] The Minimum Message Length (MML) technique is applied to the problem of estimating the parameters of a multivariate Gaussian model in which the correlation structure is modelled by a single common factor. Implicit estimator equations are derived and compared with those obtained from a Maximum Likelihood (ML) analysis. Unlike ML, the MML estimators remain consistent when used to estimate both the factor loadings and factor scores. Tests on simulated data show the MML estimates to be on av erage more accurate than the ML estimates when the former exist. If the data show little evidence for a factor, the MML estimate collapses. It is shown that the condition for the existence of an MML estimate is essentially that the log likelihood ratio in favour of the factor model exceed the value expected under the null (no-factor) hypotheses. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #95719. 	[Title] Choice of Basis for Laplace Approximation [Abstract] Maximum a posteriori optimization of parameters and the Laplace approximation for the marginal likelihood are both basis-dependent methods. This note compares two choices of basis for models parameterized by probabilities, showing that it is possible to improve on the traditional choice, the probability simplex, by transforming to the `softmax' basis. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #129896. 	[Title] Accounting for Model Uncertainty in Survival Analysis Improves Predictive Performance [Abstract] Survival analysis is concerned with finding models to predict the survival of patients or to assess the efficacy of a clinical treatment. A key part of the model-building process is the selection of the predictor variables. It is standard to use a stepwise procedure guided by a series of significance tests to select a single model, and then to make inference conditionally on the selected model. However, this ignores model uncertainty, which can be substantial. We review the standard Bayesian model averaging solution to this problem and extend it to survival analysis, introducing partial Bayes factors to do so for the Cox proportional hazards model. In two examples, taking account of model uncertainty enhances predictive performance, to an extent that could be clinically useful. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #27627. 	[Title] Information-based objective functions for active data selection [Abstract] Learning can be made more efficient if we can actively select particularly salient data points. Within a Bayesian learning framework, objective functions are discussed which measure the expected informativeness of candidate measurements. Three alternative specifications of what we want to gain information about lead to three different criteria for data selection. All these criteria depend on the assumption that the hypothesis space is correct, which may prove to be their main weakness. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #358894. 	[Title] MML mixture modelling of multi-state, Poisson, von Mises circular and Gaussian distributions [Abstract] Minimum Message Length (MML) is an invariant Bayesian point estimation technique which is also consistent and efficient. We provide a brief overview of MML inductive inference (Wallace and Boulton (1968), Wallace and Freeman (1987)), and how it has both an information-theoretic and a Bayesian interpretation. We then outline how MML is used for statistical parameter estimation, and how the MML mixture mod-elling program, Snob (Wallace and Boulton (1968), Wal-lace (1986), Wallace and Dowe(1994)) uses the message lengths from various parameter estimates to enable it to combine parameter estimation with selection of the number of components. The message length is (to within a constant) the logarithm of the posterior probability of the theory. So, the MML theory can also be regarded as the theory with the highest posterior probability. Snob currently assumes that variables are uncorrelated, and permits multi-variate data from Gaussian, discrete multi-state, Poisson and von Mises circular distributions. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #1106671. 	[Title] Bayesian Learning in Feed Forward Neural Networks [Abstract] Bayesian methods are applicable to complex modeling tasks. In this review, the principles of Bayesian inference are presented and applied to neural network models. Several approximate implementations are discussed, and their advantages over conventional fre-quentist model training and selection are outlined. It is argued that Bayesian methods are preferable to traditional approaches, although empirical evidence for this is still sparse. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #145134. 	[Title] Brief Papers Computing Second Derivatives in Feed-Forward Networks: A Review [Abstract] The calculation of second derivatives is required by recent training and analysis techniques of connectionist networks, such as the elimination of superfluous weights, and the estimation of confidence intervals both for weights and network outputs. We here review and develop exact and approximate algorithms for calculating second derivatives. For networks with jwj weights, simply writing the full matrix of second derivatives requires O(jwj 2 ) operations. For networks of radial basis units or sigmoid units, exact calculation of the necessary intermediate terms requires of the order of 2h + 2 backward/forward-propagation passes where h is the number of hidden units in the network. We also review and compare three approximations (ignoring some components of the second derivative, numerical differentiation, and scoring). Our algorithms apply to arbitrary activation functions, networks, and error functions (for instance, with connections that skip layers, or radial basis functions, or cross-entropy error and Softmax units, etc.). Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #19697. 	[Title] Keeping Neural Networks Simple by Minimizing the Description Length of the Weights [Abstract] Supervised neural networks generalize well if there is much less information in the weights than there is in the output vectors of the training cases. So during learning, it is important to keep the weights simple by penalizing the amount of information they contain. The amount of information in a weight can be controlled by adding Gaussian noise and the noise level can be adapted during learning to optimize the trade-off between the expected squared error of the network and the amount of information in the weights. We describe a method of computing the derivatives of the expected squared error and of the amount of information in the noisy weights in a network that contains a layer of non-linear hidden units. Provided the output units are linear, the exact derivatives can be computed efficiently without time-consuming Monte Carlo simulations. The idea of minimizing the amount of information that is required to communicate the weights of a neural network leads to a number of interesting schemes for encoding the weights. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #65650. 	[Title] Machine Learning 27(1):51-68, 1997. Predicting nearly as well as the best pruning of a decision tree [Abstract] Many algorithms for inferring a decision tree from data involve a two-phase process: First, a very large decision tree is grown which typically ends up "over-fitting" the data. To reduce over-fitting, in the second phase, the tree is pruned using one of a number of available methods. The final tree is then output and used for classification on test data. In this paper, we suggest an alternative approach to the pruning phase. Using a given unpruned decision tree, we present a new method of making predictions on test data, and we prove that our algorithm's performance will not be "much worse" (in a precise technical sense) than the predictions made by the best reasonably small pruning of the given decision tree. Thus, our procedure is guaranteed to be competitive (in terms of the quality of its predictions) with any pruning algorithm. We prove that our procedure is very efficient and highly robust. Our method can be viewed as a synthesis of two previously studied techniques. First, we apply Cesa-Bianchi et al.'s [4] results on predicting using "expert advice" (where we view each pruning as an "expert") to obtain an algorithm that has provably low prediction loss, but that is com-putationally infeasible. Next, we generalize and apply a method developed by Buntine [3], [2] and Willems, Shtarkov and Tjalkens [20], [21] to derive a very efficient implementation of this procedure. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #3187. 	[Title] A Reference Bayesian Test for Nested Hypotheses And its Relationship to the Schwarz Criterion [Abstract]  Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #440815. 	[Title] Change Point and Change Curve Modeling in Stochastic Processes and Spatial Statistics [Abstract] 1 This article will appear in Volume 1, no. 4 (1994) of Journal of Applied Statistical Science. Adrian E. Raftery is Professor of Statistics and Sociology, Department of Statistics, GN-22, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195. This research was supported by ONR contract no. N-00014-91-J-1074, by NIH Grant no. 5R01HD26330-02, by the Ministere de la Recherche et de l'Espace, Paris, by the Universite de Paris VI, and by INRIA, Rocquencourt, France. Raftery thanks the latter two institutions, Paul Deheuvels and Gilles Celeux for hearty hospitality during his Paris sabbatical in which this article was written. This article was prepared for presentation at the Conference on Applied Change Point Analysis, University of Maryland-Baltimore, March 17-18, 1993. Parts of this article review collaborative research with others to whom I would like to express my appreciation, namely Volkan Akman, Jeff Banfield, Nhu Le, Steven Lewis, Doug Martin, Fionn Murtagh, Ross Taplin and Simon Tavare. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #131318. 	[Title] FLAT MINIMA Neural Computation 9(1):1-42 (1997) [Abstract] We present a new algorithm for finding low complexity neural networks with high generalization capability. The algorithm searches for a "flat" minimum of the error function. A flat minimum is a large connected region in weight-space where the error remains approximately constant. An MDL-based, Bayesian argument suggests that flat minima correspond to "simple" networks and low expected overfitting. The argument is based on a Gibbs algorithm variant and a novel way of splitting generalization error into underfitting and overfitting error. Unlike many previous approaches, ours does not require Gaussian assumptions and does not depend on a "good" weight prior instead we have a prior over input/output functions, thus taking into account net architecture and training set. Although our algorithm requires the computation of second order derivatives, it has backprop's order of complexity. Automatically, it effectively prunes units, weights, and input lines. Various experiments with feedforward and recurrent nets are described. In an application to stock market prediction, flat minimum search outperforms (1) conventional backprop, (2) weight decay, (3) "optimal brain surgeon" / "optimal brain damage". We also provide pseudo code of the algorithm (omitted from the NC-version). Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #3191. 	[Title] Model Selection and Accounting for Model Uncertainty in Linear Regression Models [Abstract] 1 Adrian E. Raftery is Professor of Statistics and Sociology, David Madigan is Assistant Professor of Statistics, and Jennifer Hoeting is a Ph.D. Candidate, all at the Department of Statistics, GN-22, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195. The research of Raftery and Hoeting was supported by ONR Contract N-00014-91-J-1074. Madigan's research was partially supported by NSF grant no. DMS 92111627. The authors are grateful to Danika Lew for research assistance. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #3192. 	[Title] Bayesian Graphical Models for Discrete Data [Abstract] z York's research was supported by a NSF graduate fellowship. The authors are grateful to Julian Besag, David Bradshaw, Jeff Bradshaw, James Carlsen, David Draper, Ivar Heuch, Robert Kass, Augustine Kong, Steffen Lauritzen, Adrian Raftery, and James Zidek for helpful comments and discussions. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #137849. 	[Title] Inference in Model-Based Cluster Analysis [Abstract] Technical Report no. 285 Department of Statistics University of Washington. March 10, 1995 Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #1154042. 	[Title] 5 Bayesian estimation 5.1 Introduction [Abstract] This chapter takes a different standpoint to address the problem of learning. We will here reason only in terms of probability, and make extensive use of the chain rule known as "Bayes' rule". A fast definition of the basics in probability is provided in appendix A for quick reference. Most of this chapter is a review of the methods of Bayesian learning applied to our modelling purposes. Some original analyses and comments are also provided in section 5.8, 5.11 and 5.12. There is a latent rivalry between "Bayesian" and "Orthodox" statistics. It is by no means our intention to enter this kind of controversy. We are perfectly willing to accept orthodox as well as unorthodox methods, as long as they are scientifically sound and provide good results when applied to learning tasks. The same disclaimer applies to the two frameworks presented here. They have been the object of heated controversy in the past 3 years in the neural networks community. We will not take side, but only present both frameworks, with their strong points and their weaknesses. In the context of this work, the "Bayesian frameworks" are especially interesting as the provide some continuous update rules that can be used during regularised cost minimisation to yield an automatic selection of the regularisation level. Unlike the methods presented in chapter 3, it is not necessary to try several regularisation levels and perform as many optimisations. The Bayesian framework is the only one in which training is achieved through a one-pass optimisation procedure. Please summarise all the given information.

Above are papers related to the following paper: [Paper_ID] Paper #1153275. 	[Title]  [Abstract] Tech Report 4-94 Department of Statistics, Open University, Walton Hall, MK7 6AA, UK Tech Report 205 Department of Computer Science, Monash University, Clayton, Vic. 3168, Australia Abstract: This paper examines the minimum encoding approaches to inference, Minimum Message Length (MML) and Minimum Description Length (MDL). This paper was written with the objective of providing an introduction to this area for statisticians. We describe coding techniques for data, and examine how these techniques can be applied to perform inference and model selection. Please summarise all the given information.

Paper #79809 has the title `MDL and MML Similarities and Differences (Introduction to Minimum Encoding Inference Part III)  
` and the abstract `Tech Report 207 Department of Computer Science, Monash University, Clayton, Vic. 3168, Australia Abstract: This paper continues the introduction to minimum encoding inductive inference given by Oliver and Hand. This series of papers was written with the objective of providing an introduction to this area for statisticians. We describe the message length estimates used in Wallace's Minimum Message Length (MML) inference and Rissanen's Minimum Description Length (MDL) inference. The differences in the message length estimates of the two approaches are explained. The implications of these differences for applications are discussed. 
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Question: Which category should Paper #79809 be classified as ?
You can select one from ['Neural_Networks', 'Case_Based', 'Theory', 'Reinforcement_Learning', 'Probabilistic_Methods', 'Rule_Learning', 'Genetic_Algorithms'].


Paper #79809 has the title `MDL and MML Similarities and Differences (Introduction to Minimum Encoding Inference Part III)  
` and the abstract `Tech Report 207 Department of Computer Science, Monash University, Clayton, Vic. 3168, Australia Abstract: This paper continues the introduction to minimum encoding inductive inference given by Oliver and Hand. This series of papers was written with the objective of providing an introduction to this area for statisticians. We describe the message length estimates used in Wallace's Minimum Message Length (MML) inference and Rissanen's Minimum Description Length (MDL) inference. The differences in the message length estimates of the two approaches are explained. The implications of these differences for applications are discussed. 
`.
Question: Which category should Paper #79809 be classified as ?
You can select one from ['Neural_Networks', 'Case_Based', 'Theory', 'Reinforcement_Learning', 'Probabilistic_Methods', 'Rule_Learning', 'Genetic_Algorithms'].

This paper should be classified into: Theory