Learning Kernel Classifiers

An overview of the theory and application of kernel classification methods. Linear classifiers in kernel spaces have emerged as a major topic within the field of machine learning. The kernel technique takes the linear classifier—a limited, but well-established and comprehensively studied model—and extends its applicability to a wide range of nonlinear pattern-recognition tasks such as natural language processing, machine vision, and biological sequence analysis. This book provides the first comprehensive overview of both the theory and algorithms of kernel classifiers, including the most recent developments. It begins by describing the major algorithmic advances: kernel perceptron learning, kernel Fisher discriminants, support vector machines, relevance vector machines, Gaussian processes, and Bayes point machines. Then follows a detailed introduction to learning theory, including VC and PAC-Bayesian theory, data-dependent structural risk minimization, and compression bounds. Throughout, the book emphasizes the interaction between theory and algorithms: how learning algorithms work and why. The book includes many examples, complete pseudo code of the algorithms presented, and an extensive source code library.

An overview of the theory and application of kernel classification methods.

A comprehensive introduction to Support Vector Machines and related kernel methods. 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—-kernels—for 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.

This book contains select chapters on support vector algorithms from different perspectives, including mathematical background, properties of various kernel functions, and several applications. The main focus of this book is on orthogonal kernel functions, and the properties of the classical kernel functions—Chebyshev, Legendre, Gegenbauer, and Jacobi—are reviewed in some chapters. Moreover, the fractional form of these kernel functions is introduced in the same chapters, and for ease of use for these kernel functions, a tutorial on a Python package named ORSVM is presented. The book also exhibits a variety of applications for support vector algorithms, and in addition to the classification, these algorithms along with the introduced kernel functions are utilized for solving ordinary, partial, integro, and fractional differential equations. On the other hand, nowadays, the real-time and big data applications of support vector algorithms are growing. Consequently, the Compute Unified Device Architecture (CUDA) parallelizing the procedure of support vector algorithms based on orthogonal kernel functions is presented. The book sheds light on how to use support vector algorithms based on orthogonal kernel functions in different situations and gives a significant perspective to all machine learning and scientific machine learning researchers all around the world to utilize fractional orthogonal kernel functions in their pattern recognition or scientific computing problems.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Algorithmic Learning Theory, ALT 2007, held in Sendai, Japan, October 1-4, 2007, co-located with the 10th International Conference on Discovery Science, DS 2007. The 25 revised full papers presented together with the abstracts of five invited papers were carefully reviewed and selected from 50 submissions. They are dedicated to the theoretical foundations of machine learning.

Support Vectors Machines have become a well established tool within machine learning. They work well in practice and have now been used across a wide range of applications from recognizing hand-written digits, to face identification, text categorisation, bioinformatics, and database marketing. In this book we give an introductory overview of this subject. We start with a simple Support Vector Machine for performing binary classification before considering multi-class classification and learning in the presence of noise. We show that this framework can be extended to many other scenarios such as prediction with real-valued outputs, novelty detection and the handling of complex output structures such as parse trees. Finally, we give an overview of the main types of kernels which are used in practice and how to learn and make predictions from multiple types of input data. Table of Contents: Support Vector Machines for Classification / Kernel-based Models / Learning with Kernels

The book provides an overview of recent developments in large margin classifiers, examines connections with other methods (e.g., Bayesian inference), and identifies strengths and weaknesses of the method, as well as directions for future research. The concept of large margins is a unifying principle for the analysis of many different approaches to the classification of data from examples, including boosting, mathematical programming, neural networks, and support vector machines. The fact that it is the margin, or confidence level, of a classification--that is, a scale parameter--rather than a raw training error that matters has become a key tool for dealing with classifiers. This book shows how this idea applies to both the theoretical analysis and the design of algorithms. The book provides an overview of recent developments in large margin classifiers, examines connections with other methods (e.g., Bayesian inference), and identifies strengths and weaknesses of the method, as well as directions for future research. Among the contributors are Manfred Opper, Vladimir Vapnik, and Grace Wahba.

Offering a fundamental basis in kernel-based learning theory, this book covers both statistical and algebraic principles. It provides over 30 major theorems for kernel-based supervised and unsupervised learning models. The first of the theorems establishes a condition, arguably necessary and sufficient, for the kernelization of learning models. In addition, several other theorems are devoted to proving mathematical equivalence between seemingly unrelated models. With over 25 closed-form and iterative algorithms, the book provides a step-by-step guide to algorithmic procedures and analysing which factors to consider in tackling a given problem, enabling readers to improve specifically designed learning algorithms, build models for new applications and develop efficient techniques suitable for green machine learning technologies. Numerous real-world examples and over 200 problems, several of which are Matlab-based simulation exercises, make this an essential resource for graduate students and professionals in computer science, electrical and biomedical engineering. Solutions to problems are provided online for instructors.