Clustering via Minimum Volume Ellipsoids

We propose minimum volume ellipsoids (MVE) clustering as an alternate clustering technique to k-means clustering for Gaussian data points and explore its value and practicality. MVE clustering allocates data points into clusters that minimizes the total volumes of each cluster’s covering ellipsoids. Motivations for this approach include its scale-invariance, its ability to handle asymmetric and … Read more

Approximating K-means-type clustering via semidefinite programming

One of the fundamental clustering problems is to assign $n$ points into $k$ clusters based on the minimal sum-of-squares(MSSC), which is known to be NP-hard. In this paper, by using matrix arguments, we first model MSSC as a so-called 0-1 semidefinite programming (SDP). We show that our 0-1 SDP model provides an unified framework for … Read more

A Tabu Search Algorithm for Partitioning

We present an original method for partitioning by automatic classi- fication, using the optimization technique of tabu search. The method uses a classical tabu search scheme based on transfers for the minimization of the within variance; it introduces in the tabu list the indicator of the object transfered. This method is compared with two stochastic … Read more

A Mixed-Integer Programming Approach to Multi-Class Data Classification Problem

This paper presents a new data classification method based on mixed-integer programming. Traditional approaches that are based on partitioning the data sets into two groups perform poorly for multi-class data classification problems. The proposed approach is based on the use of hyper-boxes for defining boundaries of the classes that include all or some of the … Read more

Optimal distance separating halfspace

One recently proposed criterion to separate two datasets in discriminant analysis, is to use a hyperplane which minimises the sum of distances to it from all the misclassified data points. Here all distances are supposed to be measured by way of some fixed norm,while misclassification means lying on the wrong side of the hyperplane, or … Read more

Optimal expected-distance separating halfspace

One recently proposed criterion to separate two datasets in discriminant analysis, is to use a hyperplane which minimises the sum of distances to it from all the misclassified data points. Here all distances are supposed to be measured by way of some fixed norm, while misclassification means lying on the wrong side of the hyperplane, … Read more

A New Computational Approach to Density Estimation with Semidefinite Programming

Density estimation is a classical and important problem in statistics. The aim of this paper is to develop a new computational approach to density estimation based on semidefinite programming (SDP), a new technology developed in optimization in the last decade. We express a density as the product of a nonnegative polynomial and a base density … Read more

Gradient Projection Methods for Quadratic Programs and Applications in Training Support Vector Machines

Gradient projection methods based on the Barzilai-Borwein spectral steplength choices are considered for quadratic programming problems with simple constraints. Well known nonmonotone spectral projected gradient methods and variable projection methods are discussed. For both approaches the behavior of different combinations of the two spectral steplengths is investigated. A nw adaptive stplength alternating rule is proposed, … Read more

The Maximum Box Problem and its Application to Data Analysis

Given two finite sets of points $X^+$ and $X^-$ in $\R^n$, the maximum box problem consists in finding an interval (“box”) $B=\{x : l \leq x \leq u\}$ such that $B\cap X^-=\emptyset$, and the cardinality of $B\cap X^+$ is maximized. A simple generalization can be obtained by instead maximizing a weighted sum of the elements … Read more

Semismooth Support Vector Machines

The linear support vector machine can be posed as a quadratic program in a variety of ways. In this paper, we look at a formulation using the two-norm for the misclassification error that leads to a positive definite quadratic program with a single equality constraint when the Wolfe dual is taken. The quadratic term is … Read more