Abstract

Multi-Output Dependence (MOD) learning is a generalization of standard classification problems that allows for multiple outputs that are dependent on each other. A primary issue that arises in the context of MOD learning is that for any given input pattern there can be multiple correct output patterns. This changes the learning task from function approximation to relation approximation. Previous algorithms do not consider this problem, and thus cannot be readily applied to MOD problems. To perform MOD learning, we introduce the Hierarchical Multi-Output Nearest Neighbor model (HMONN) that employs a basic learning model for each output and a modified nearest neighbor approach to refine the initial results. This paper focuses on tasks with nominal features, although HMONN has the initial capacity for solving MOD problems with real-valued features. Results obtained using UCI repository, synthetic, and business application data sets show improved accuracy over a baseline that treats each output as independent of all the others, with HMONN showing improvement that is statistically significant in the majority of cases.

Degree

College and Department

Physical and Mathematical Sciences; Computer Science

Rights

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