Shixin Xú

Jiaqi Luo, Yuedong Quan, Shixin Xu

Dealing with label noise in tabular classification tasks poses a persistent challenge in machine learning. While robust boosting methods have shown promise in binary classification, their effectiveness in complex, multi-class scenarios is often limited. Additionally, issues like imbalanced datasets, missing values, and computational inefficiencies further complicate their practical utility. This study introduces Robust-GBDT, a groundbreaking approach that combines the power of Gradient Boosted Decision Trees (GBDT) with the resilience of nonconvex loss functions against label noise. By leveraging local convexity within specific regions, Robust-GBDT demonstrates unprecedented robustness, challenging conventional wisdom. Through seamless integration of advanced GBDT with a novel Robust Focal Loss tailored for class imbalance, Robust-GBDT significantly enhances generalization capabilities, particularly in noisy and imbalanced datasets. Notably, its user-friendly design facilitates integration with existing open-source code, enhancing computational efficiency and scalability. Extensive experiments validate Robust-GBDT's superiority over other noise-robust methods, establishing a new standard for accurate classification amidst label noise. This research heralds a paradigm shift in machine learning, paving the way for a new era of robust and precise classification across diverse real-world applications.

Jiaqi Luo, Shixin Xu

Deep learning models have become popular in the analysis of tabular data, as they address the limitations of decision trees and enable valuable applications like semi-supervised learning, online learning, and transfer learning. However, these deep-learning approaches often encounter a trade-off. On one hand, they can be computationally expensive when dealing with large-scale or high-dimensional datasets. On the other hand, they may lack interpretability and may not be suitable for small-scale datasets. In this study, we propose a novel interpretable neural network called Neural Classification and Regression Tree (NCART) to overcome these challenges. NCART is a modified version of Residual Networks that replaces fully-connected layers with multiple differentiable oblivious decision trees. By integrating decision trees into the architecture, NCART maintains its interpretability while benefiting from the end-to-end capabilities of neural networks. The simplicity of the NCART architecture makes it well-suited for datasets of varying sizes and reduces computational costs compared to state-of-the-art deep learning models. Extensive numerical experiments demonstrate the superior performance of NCART compared to existing deep learning models, establishing it as a strong competitor to tree-based models.

Jiaqi Luo, Yahong Yang, Yuan Yuan et al.

This paper introduces Residual-based Smote (RSmote), an innovative local adaptive sampling technique tailored to improve the performance of Physics-Informed Neural Networks (PINNs) through imbalanced learning strategies. Traditional residual-based adaptive sampling methods, while effective in enhancing PINN accuracy, often struggle with efficiency and high memory consumption, particularly in high-dimensional problems. RSmote addresses these challenges by targeting regions with high residuals and employing oversampling techniques from imbalanced learning to refine the sampling process. Our approach is underpinned by a rigorous theoretical analysis that supports the effectiveness of RSmote in managing computational resources more efficiently. Through extensive evaluations, we benchmark RSmote against the state-of-the-art Residual-based Adaptive Distribution (RAD) method across a variety of dimensions and differential equations. The results demonstrate that RSmote not only achieves or exceeds the accuracy of RAD but also significantly reduces memory usage, making it particularly advantageous in high-dimensional scenarios. These contributions position RSmote as a robust and resource-efficient solution for solving complex partial differential equations, especially when computational constraints are a critical consideration.