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Learning Complex Conditional Probabilities from Data

Naive Bayes is efficient, has clear theoretical foundations and strong classification performance.  Our powerful and computationally efficient Bayesian Network Classifiers improve naive Bayes by addressing limitations of its attribute independence assumption.

The AnDE algorithms achieve this without resorting to model selection or search, by averaging over all of a class of models that directly map lower-dimensional probabilities to the desired high-dimensional probability. Averaged One Dependence Estimators (AODE) is the best known of the AnDE algorithms. It provides particularly high prediction accuracy with relatively modest computational overheads. The AnDE algorithms learn in a single pass through the data, thus supporting both incremental learning and learning from data that is too large to fit in memory. They have complexity that is linear with respect to data quantity. These properties, together with their capacity to accurately model high-dimensional probability distributions, make them an extremely attractive option for large data.

An alternative approach is provided by Lazy Bayesian Rules (LBR), which does perform model selection.  It provides very high prediction accuracy for large training sets, and is computationally efficient when few objects are to be classified for each training set.

Selective AnDE refines AnDE models, requiring only a single additional pass through the data.

Selective KDB learns highly accurate models from large quantities of data in just three passes through the data.

AnDE, Selective AnDE and Selective KDB can all operate out-of-core, and thus support learning from very large data.

WANBIA and its variants WANBIA-C and ALR add discriminately learned weights to generatively learned linear models, greatly improving accuracy relative to pure generative learning and learning time relative to pure disciminative learning.

There have been many scientific applications of AODE.

Software

An AnDE package for Weka is available here.

An AnDE package for R is available here.

The following are standard components in Weka:

  • AODE, which is AnDE with n=1.
  • AODEsr, which is AODE with subsumption resolution.
  • LBR, Lazy Bayesian Rules.

An open source C++ implementation of Selective KDB can be downloaded here. A refinement that uses Hierarchical Dirichlet Processes to obtain exceptional predictive accuracy can be downloaded here.

An open source C++ implementation of Sample-base Selective Attribute ANDE can be downloaded here.

Publications

Zhang, Huan; Jiang, Liangxiao; Webb, Geoffrey I.

Rigorous non-disjoint discretization for naive Bayes

Pattern Recognition, vol. 140, 2023, ISSN: 0031-3203.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Chen, Shenglei; Webb, Geoffrey I.; Liu, Linyuan; Ma, Xin

A novel selective naive Bayes algorithm

Knowledge-Based Systems, vol. 192, 2020.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Petitjean, Francois; Buntine, Wray; Webb, Geoffrey I.; Zaidi, Nayyar

Accurate parameter estimation for Bayesian network classifiers using hierarchical Dirichlet processes

Machine Learning, vol. 107, no. 8-10, pp. 1303-1331, 2018, ISSN: 1573-0565.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Zaidi, Nayyar A.; Petitjean, Francois; Webb, Geoffrey I.

Efficient and Effective Accelerated Hierarchical Higher-Order Logistic Regression for Large Data Quantities

Proceedings of the 2018 SIAM International Conference on Data Mining, pp. 459-467, 2018.

Links | BibTeX

Chen, S.; Martinez, A.; Webb, G.; Wang, L.

Sample-based Attribute Selective AnDE for Large Data

IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 172-185, 2017, ISSN: 1041-4347.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Chen, Shenglei; Martinez, Ana M.; Webb, Geoffrey I.; Wang, Limin

Selective AnDE for large data learning: a low-bias memory constrained approach

Knowledge and Information Systems, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 475-503, 2017, ISSN: 0219-3116.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Zaidi, Nayyar A.; Webb, Geoffrey I.

A Fast Trust-Region Newton Method for Softmax Logistic Regression

Proceedings of the 2017 SIAM International Conference on Data Mining, pp. 705-713, SIAM 2017.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Zaidi, N.; Webb, Geoffrey I.; Carman, M.; Petitjean, F.; Buntine, W.; Hynes, H.; Sterck, H. De

Efficient Parameter Learning of Bayesian Network Classifiers

Machine Learning, vol. 106, no. 9-10, pp. 1289-1329, 2017.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Martinez, Ana M.; Webb, Geoffrey I.; Chen, Shenglei; Zaidi, Nayyar A.

Scalable Learning of Bayesian Network Classifiers

Journal of Machine Learning Research, vol. 17, no. 44, pp. 1-35, 2016.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Zaidi, Nayyar A.; Petitjean, Francois; Webb, Geoffrey I.

Preconditioning an Artificial Neural Network Using Naive Bayes

Bailey, James; Khan, Latifur; Washio, Takashi; Dobbie, Gill; Huang, Zhexue Joshua; Wang, Ruili (Ed.): Proceedings of the 20th Pacific-Asia Conference on Advances in Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, PAKDD 2016, pp. 341-353, Springer International Publishing, 2016, ISBN: 978-3-319-31753-3.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Zaidi, Nayyar A.; Webb, Geoffrey I.; Carman, Mark J.; Petitjean, Francois; Cerquides, Jesus

ALRn: Accelerated higher-order logistic regression

Machine Learning, vol. 104, no. 2, pp. 151-194, 2016, ISSN: 1573-0565.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Chen, S.; Martinez, A.; Webb, G. I.

Highly Scalable Attribute Selection for AODE

Proceedings of the 18th Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, pp. 86-97, 2014.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Zaidi, N.; Carman, M.; Cerquides, J.; Webb, G. I.

Naive-Bayes Inspired Effective Pre-Conditioner for Speeding-up Logistic Regression

Proceedings of the 14th IEEE International Conference on Data Mining, pp. 1097-1102, 2014.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Zaidi, Nayyar A.; Cerquides, Jesus; Carman, Mark J.; Webb, Geoffrey I.

Alleviating Naive Bayes Attribute Independence Assumption by Attribute Weighting

Journal of Machine Learning Research, vol. 14, pp. 1947-1988, 2013.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Zaidi, N.; Webb, G. I.

Fast and Effective Single Pass Bayesian Learning

Proceedings of the 17th Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, pp. 149-160, 2013.

Links | BibTeX

Martinez, A.; Webb, G. I.; Flores, M.; Gamez, J.

Non-Disjoint Discretization for Aggregating One-Dependence Estimator Classifiers

Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Hybrid Artificial Intelligent Systems, pp. 151-162, Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg, 2012, ISBN: 978-3-642-28930-9.

BibTeX

Salem, H.; Suraweera, P.; Webb, G. I.; Boughton, J. R.

Techniques for Efficient Learning without Search

Proceedings of the 16th Pacific-Asia Conference, PAKDD 2012, pp. 50-61, Springer, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2012.

Links | BibTeX

Webb, G. I.; Boughton, J.; Zheng, F.; Ting, K. M.; Salem, H.

Learning by extrapolation from marginal to full-multivariate probability distributions: Decreasingly naive Bayesian classification

Machine Learning, vol. 86, no. 2, pp. 233-272, 2012, ISSN: 0885-6125.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Zheng, F.; Webb, G. I.; Suraweera, P.; Zhu, L.

Subsumption Resolution: An Efficient and Effective Technique for Semi-Naive Bayesian Learning

Machine Learning, vol. 87, no. 1, pp. 93-125, 2012, ISSN: 0885-6125.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Hui, B.; Yang, Y.; Webb, G. I.

Anytime Classification for a Pool of Instances

Machine Learning, vol. 77, no. 1, pp. 61-102, 2009.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Liu, B.; Yang, Y.; Webb, G. I.; Boughton, J.

A Comparative Study of Bandwidth Choice in Kernel Density Estimation for Naive Bayesian Classification

Proceedings of the 13th Pacific-Asia Conference, PAKDD 2009, pp. 302-313, Springer, Bangkok, Thailand, 2009.

Links | BibTeX

Yang, Y.; Webb, G. I.

Discretization for Naive-Bayes Learning: Managing Discretization Bias and Variance

Machine Learning, vol. 74, no. 1, pp. 39-74, 2009.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Yang, Y.; Webb, G. I.; Cerquides, J.; Korb, K.; Boughton, J.; Ting, K-M.

To Select or To Weigh: A Comparative Study of Linear Combination Schemes for SuperParent-One-Dependence Estimators

IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, vol. 19, no. 12, pp. 1652-1665, 2007.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Yang, Y.; Webb, G. I.; Korb, K.; Ting, K-M.

Classifying under Computational Resource Constraints: Anytime Classification Using Probabilistic Estimators

Machine Learning, vol. 69, no. 1, pp. 35-53, 2007.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Zheng, F.; Webb, G. I.

Finding the Right Family: Parent and Child Selection for Averaged One-Dependence Estimators

Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence 4710: Proceedings of the 18th European Conference on Machine Learning (ECML'07), pp. 490-501, Springer-Verlag, Warsaw, Poland, 2007.

Abstract | BibTeX

Lu, J.; Yang, Y.; Webb, G. I.

Incremental Discretization for Naive-Bayes Classifier

Li, Xue; Zaiane, Osmar R.; Li, Zhanhuai (Ed.): Lecture Notes in Computer Science 4093: Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Advanced Data Mining and Applications (ADMA 2006), pp. 223-238, Springer, Xian, China, 2006.

Abstract | BibTeX

Yang, Y.; Webb, G. I.; Cerquides, J.; Korb, K.; Boughton, J.; Ting, K-M.

To Select or To Weigh: A Comparative Study of Model Selection and Model Weighing for SPODE Ensembles

Furkranz, J.; Scheffer, T.; Spiliopoulou, M. (Ed.): Lecture Notes in Computer Science 4212: Proceedings of the 17th European Conference on Machine Learning (ECML'06), pp. 533-544, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Germany, 2006.

Abstract | BibTeX

Zheng, F.; Webb, G. I.

Efficient Lazy Elimination for Averaged One-Dependence Estimators

Cohen, W.; Moore, A. (Ed.): ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, Vol. 148: The Proceedings of the Twenty-third International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML'06), pp. 1113-1120, ACM Press, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2006.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Webb, G. I.; Boughton, J.; Wang, Z.

Not So Naive Bayes: Aggregating One-Dependence Estimators

Machine Learning, vol. 58, no. 1, pp. 5-24, 2005.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Zheng, F.; I., Webb. G.

A Comparative Study of Semi-naive Bayes Methods in Classification Learning

Simoff, S. J.; Williams, G. J.; Galloway, J.; Kolyshkina, I. (Ed.): Proceedings of the Fourth Australasian Data Mining Conference (AusDM05), pp. 141-156, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia, 2005.

Abstract | BibTeX

Yang, Y.; Korb, K.; Ting, K-M.; Webb, G. I.

Ensemble Selection for SuperParent-One-Dependence Estimators

Zhang, S.; Jarvis, R. (Ed.): Lecture Notes in Computer Science 3809: Advances in Artificial Intelligence, Proceedings of the 18th Australian Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AI 2005), pp. 102-111, Springer, Sydney, Australia, 2005.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Wang, Z.; Webb, G. I.; Zheng, F.

Selective Augmented Bayesian Network Classifiers Based on Rough Set Theory

Dai, H.; Srikant, R.; Zhang, C. (Ed.): Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol. 3056: Proceedings of the Eighth Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (PAKDD 04), pp. 319-328, Springer, Sydney, Australia, 2004.

Abstract | BibTeX

Shi, H.; Wang, Z.; Webb, G. I.; Huang, H.

A New Restricted Bayesian Network Classifier

Whang, K-Y.; Jeon, J.; Shim, K.; Srivastava, J. (Ed.): Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence Vol. 2637: Proceedings of the Seventh Pacific-Asia Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (PAKDD'03), pp. 265-270, Springer-Verlag, Seoul, Korea, 2003.

Abstract | BibTeX

Wang, Z.; Webb, G. I.; Zheng, F.

Adjusting Dependence Relations for Semi-Lazy TAN Classifiers

Gedeon, T. D.; Fung, L. C. C. (Ed.): Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence Vol. 2903: Proceedings of the 16th Australian Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AI 03), pp. 453-465, Springer, Perth, Australia, 2003.

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Wang, Z.; Webb, G. I.

A Heuristic Lazy Bayesian Rules Algorithm

Simoff, S. J; Williams, G. J; Hegland, M. (Ed.): Proceedings of the First Australasian Data Mining Workshop (AusDM02), pp. 57-63, University of Technology, Canberra, Australia, 2002.

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Wang, Z.; Webb, G. I.

Comparison of Lazy Bayesian Rule Learning and Tree-Augmented Bayesian Learning

Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Data Mining (ICDM-2002), pp. 775-778, IEEE Computer Society, Maebashi City, Japan, 2002.

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Webb, G. I.; Boughton, J.; Wang, Z.

Averaged One-Dependence Estimators: Preliminary Results

Simoff, S. J.; Williams, G. J.; Hegland, M. (Ed.): Proceedings of the First Australasian Data Mining Workshop (AusDM02), pp. 65-73, University of Technology, Canberra, Australia, 2002.

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Wang, Z.; Webb, G. I.; Dai, H.

Implementation of Lazy Bayesian Rules in the Weka System

Software Technology Catering for 21st Century: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Future Software Technology (ISFST2001), pp. 204-208, Software Engineers Association, Zheng Zhou, China, 2001.

Abstract | BibTeX

Webb, G. I.

Candidate Elimination Criteria for Lazy Bayesian Rules

Stumptner, M.; Corbett, D.; Brooks, M. J. (Ed.): Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol. 2256: Proceedings of the 14th Australian Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AI'01), pp. 545-556, Springer, Adelaide, Australia, 2001.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Zheng, Z.; Webb, G. I.

Lazy Learning of Bayesian Rules

Machine Learning, vol. 41, no. 1, pp. 53-84, 2000.

Abstract | Links | BibTeX

Ting, K. M.; Zheng, Z.; Webb, G. I.

Learning Lazy Rules to Improve the Performance of Classifiers

Coenen, F.; Macintosh, A. (Ed.): Proceedings of the Nineteenth SGES International Conference on Knowledge Based Systems and Applied Artificial Intelligence (ES'99), pp. 122-131, Springer, Peterhouse College, Cambridge, UK, 1999.

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Zheng, Z.; Webb, G. I.; Ting, K. M.

Lazy Bayesian Rules: A Lazy Semi-Naive Bayesian Learning Technique Competitive to Boosting Decision Trees

Bratko, I.; Dzeroski, S. (Ed.): Proceedings of the Sixteenth International Conference on Machine Learning (ICML-99), pp. 493-502, Morgan Kaufmann, Bled, Slovenia, 1999.

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Webb, G. I.; Pazzani, M.

Adjusted Probability Naive Bayesian Induction

Antoniou, G.; Slaney, J. K. (Ed.): Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol. 1502: Advanced Topics in Artificial Intelligence, Selected Papers from the Eleventh Australian Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AI '98), pp. 285-295, Springer-Verlag, Brisbane, Australia, 1998.

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