We propose a family of learning algorithms based on a new form of regularization that allows us to exploit the geometry of the marginal distribution. We focus on a semi-supervised framework that incorporates labeled and unlabeled data in a general-purpose learner. Some transductive graph learning algorithms and standard methods including Support Vector Machines and Regularized Least Squares can be obtained as special cases. We utilize properties of Reproducing Kernel Hilbert spaces to prove new Representer theorems that provide theoretical basis for the algorithms. As a result (in contrast to purely graph-based approaches) we obtain a natural out-of-sample extension to novel examples and so are able to handle both transductive and truly semi-supervised settings. We present experimental evidence suggesting that our semi-supervised algorithms are able to use unlabeled data effectively. Finally we have a brief discussion of unsupervised and fully supervised learning within our general framework. 1.

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We consider the least-square regression problem with regularization by a block 1-norm, i.e., a sum of Euclidean norms over spaces of dimensions larger than one. This problem, referred to as the group Lasso, extends the usual regularization by the 1-norm where all spaces have dimension one, where it is commonly referred to as the Lasso. In this paper, we study the asymptotic model consistency of the group Lasso. We derive necessary and sufficient conditions for the consistency of group Lasso under practical assumptions, such as model misspecification. When the linear predictors and Euclidean norms are replaced by functions and reproducing kernel Hilbert norms, the problem is usually referred to as multiple kernel learning and is commonly used for learning from heterogeneous data sources and for non linear variable selection. Using tools from functional analysis, and in particular covariance operators, we extend the consistency results to this infinite dimensional case and also propose an adaptive scheme to obtain a consistent model estimate, even when the necessary condition required for the non adaptive scheme is not satisfied.

Draft for the Notices of the AMS Learning is key to developing systems tailored to a broad range of data analysis and information extraction tasks. We outline the mathematical foundations of learning theory and describe a key algorithm of it. 1

2 Everything Old Is New Again: A Fresh Look at Historical

We study the problem of finding an optimal kernel from a prescribed convex set of kernels K for learning a real-valued function by regularization. We establish for a wide variety of regularization functionals that this leads to a convex optimization problem and, for square loss regularization, we characterize the solution of this problem. We show that, although K may be an uncountable set, the optimal kernel is always obtained as a convex combination of at most m+2 basic kernels, where m is the number of data examples. In particular, our results apply to learning the optimal radial kernel or the optimal dot product kernel. 1.

To accelerate the training of kernel machines, we propose to map the input data to a randomized low-dimensional feature space and then apply existing fast linear methods. Our randomized features are designed so that the inner products of the transformed data are approximately equal to those in the feature space of a user specified shift-invariant kernel. We explore two sets of random features, provide convergence bounds on their ability to approximate various radial basis kernels, and show that in large-scale classification and regression tasks linear machine learning algorithms that use these features outperform state-of-the-art large-scale kernel machines. 1

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We consider the solution of binary classification problems via Tikhonov regularization in a Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Space using the square loss, and denote the resulting algorithm Regularized Least-Squares Classification (RLSC). We sketch

We introduce a new notion of algorithmic stability, which we call training stability.