This paper presents two new formulations of multiple-instance learning as a maximum margin problem. The proposed extensions of the Support Vector Machine (SVM) learning approach lead to mixed integer quadratic programs that can be solved heuristically. Our generalization of SVMs makes a state-of-the-art classification technique, including non-linear classification via kernels, available to an area that up to now has been largely dominated by special purpose methods. We present experimental results on a pharmaceutical data set and on applications in automated image indexing and document categorization. 1

Abstract—Support Vector Tracking (SVT) integrates the Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier into an optic-flow-based tracker. Instead of minimizing an intensity difference function between successive frames, SVT maximizes the SVM classification score. To account for large motions between successive frames, we build pyramids from the support vectors and use a coarse-to-fine approach in the classification stage. We show results of using SVT for vehicle tracking in image sequences. Index Terms—Support vector machines, optic-flow, visual tracking. 1

We believe that the cluster assumption is key to successful semi-supervised learning. Based on this, we propose three semi-supervised algorithms: 1. deriving graph-based distances that emphazise low density regions between clusters, followed by training a standard SVM; 2. optimizing the Transductive SVM objective function, which places the decision boundary in low density regions, by gradient descent; 3. combining the first two to make maximum use of the cluster assumption. We compare with state of the art algorithms and demonstrate superior accuracy for the latter two methods.

We state and analyze the first active learning algorithm which works in the presence of arbitrary forms of noise. The algorithm, A2 (for Agnostic Active), relies only upon the assumption that the samples are drawn i.i.d. from a fixed distribution. We show that A2 achieves an exponential improvement (i.e., requires only O � ln 1 ɛ samples to find an ɛ-optimal classifier) over the usual sample complexity of supervised learning, for several settings considered before in the realizable case. These include learning threshold classifiers and learning homogeneous linear separators with respect to an input distribution which is uniform over the unit sphere. 1.

Abstract. We consider the problem of labeling a partially labeled graph. This setting may arise in a number of situations from survey sampling to information retrieval to pattern recognition in manifold settings. It is also of potential practical importance, when the data is abundant, but labeling is expensive or requires human assistance. Our approach develops a framework for regularization on such graphs. The algorithms are very simple and involve solving a single, usually sparse, system of linear equations. Using the notion of algorithmic stability, we derive bounds on the generalization error and relate it to structural invariants of the graph. Some experimental results testing the performance of the regularization algorithm and the usefulness of the generalization bound are presented. 1

We propose a content-based soft annotation (CBSA) procedure for providing images with semantical labels. The annotation procedure starts with labeling a small set of training images, each with one single semantical label (e.g., forest, animal, or sky). An ensemble of binary classifiers is then trained for predicting label membership for images. The trained ensemble is applied to each individual image to give the image multiple soft labels, and each label is associated with a label membership factor. To select a base binary-classifier for CBSA, we experiment with two learning methods, Support Vector Machines (SVMs) and Bayes Point Machines (BPMs, and compare their class-prediction accuracy. Our empirical study on a 116-category 25K-image set shows that the BPM-based ensemble provides better annotation quality than the SVM-based ensemble for supporting multimodal image retrievals. Keywords: Bayes Point Machines, Support Vector Machines, image annotation, multimodal image retrieval.

Semi-supervised clustering uses a small amount of supervised data to aid unsupervised learning. One typical approach specifies a limited number of must-link and cannotlink constraints between pairs of examples. This paper presents a pairwise constrained clustering framework and a new method for actively selecting informative pairwise constraints to get improved clustering performance. The clustering and active learning methods are both easily scalable to large datasets, and can handle very high dimensional data. Experimental and theoretical results confirm that this active querying of pairwise constraints significantly improves the accuracy of clustering when given a relatively small amount of supervision. 1

A major assumption in many machine learning and data mining algorithms is that the training and future data must be in the same feature space and have the same distribution. However, in many real-world applications, this assumption may not hold. For example, we sometimes have a classification task in one domain of interest, but we only have sufficient training data in another domain of interest, where the latter data may be in a different feature space or follow a different data distribution. In such cases, knowledge transfer, if done successfully, would greatly improve the performance of learning by avoiding much expensive data labeling efforts. In recent years, transfer learning has emerged as a new learning framework to address this problem. This survey focuses on categorizing and reviewing the current progress on transfer learning for classification, regression and clustering problems. In this survey, we discuss the relationship between transfer learning and other related machine learning techniques such as domain adaptation, multitask learning and sample selection bias, as well as co-variate shift. We also explore some potential future issues in transfer learning research.

Kernel conditional random fields (KCRFs) are introduced as a framework for discriminative modeling of graph-structured data. A representer theorem for conditional graphical models is given which shows how kernel conditional random fields arise from risk minimization procedures defined using Mercer kernels on labeled graphs. A procedure for greedily selecting cliques in the dual representation is then proposed, which allows sparse representations. By incorporating kernels and implicit feature spaces into conditional graphical models, the framework enables semi-supervised learning algorithms for structured data through the use of graph kernels.

The recently introduced Information Bottleneck method [21] provides an information theoretic framework, for extracting features of one variable, that are relevant for the values of another variable. Several previous works already suggested applying this method for document clustering, gene expression data analysis, spectral analysis and more. In this work we present a novel implementation of this method for supervised text classification. Specifically, we apply the information bottleneck method to find word-clusters that preserve the information about document categories and use these clusters as features for classification. Previous work [1] used a similar clustering procedure to show that word-clusters can significantly reduce the feature space dimensionality, with only a minor change in classification accuracy. In this work we present similar results and go further to show that when the training sample is small word clusters can yield significant improvement in classification accuracy (up to  ¢¡¤£) over the performance using the words directly. 1