Cost-sensitive Decision Tree Learning Research Articles

Multiple-scale cost sensitive decision tree learning

The previous cost-sensitive learning methods assume that the (medical) test cost is measured in the same scale with the misclassification cost while minimizing the expected total cost. This paper proposes a general target-resource framework involving multiple kinds of cost scales, which minimize one kind of cost scale (called target cost scale) through controlling the others (called resource cost scales) in given resource budgets. The proposed cost-sensitive learning model also assists in, such as healthcare data classification and bioinformatics analysis, which are practical and desired application for developing a multiple-scale cost-sensitive learning tool. We experimentally evaluated our approach using the biological and medical datasets, and demonstrated that our proposed method worked well on learning decision tree under a given budget.

Learning cost-sensitive Bayesian networks via direct and indirect methods

Cost-Sensitive learning has become an increasingly important area that recognizes that real world classification problems need to take the costs of misclassification and accuracy into account. Much work has been done on cost-sensitive decision tree learning, but very little has been done on cost-sensitive Bayesian networks. Although there has been significant research on Bayesian networks there has been relatively little research on learning cost-sensitive Bayesian networks. Hence, this paper explores whether it is possible to develop algorithms that learn cost-sensitive Bayesian networks by taking (i) an indirect approach that changes the data distribution to reflect the costs of misclassification; and (ii) a direct approach that amends an existing accuracy based algorithm for learning Bayesian networks. An empirical comparison of the new approaches is carried out with cost-sensitive decision tree learning algorithms on 33 data sets, and the results show that the new algorithms perform better in terms of misclassification cost and maintaining accuracy.

A Cost-Sensitive Decision Tree Learning Algorithm Based on a Multi-Armed Bandit Framework

This paper develops a new algorithm for inducing cost-sensitive decision trees that is inspired by the multi-armed bandit problem, in which a player in a casino has to decide which slot machine (bandit) from a selection of slot machines is likely to pay out the most. Game Theory proposes a solution to this multi-armed bandit problem by using a process of exploration and exploitation in which reward is maximized. This paper utilizes these concepts to develop a new algorithm by viewing the rewards as a reduction in costs, and utilizing the exploration and exploitation techniques so that a compromise between decisions based on accuracy and decisions based on costs can be found. The algorithm employs the notion of lever pulls in the multi-armed bandit game to select the attributes during decision tree induction, using a look-ahead methodology to explore potential attributes and exploit the attributes which maximizes the reward. The new algorithm is evaluated on fifteen datasets and compared to six well-known algorithms J48, EG2, MetaCost, AdaCostM1, ICET and ACT. The results obtained show that the new multi-armed based algorithm can produce more cost-effective trees without compromising accuracy. The paper also includes a critical appraisal of the limitations of the new algorithm and proposes avenues for further research.

A survey of cost-sensitive decision tree induction algorithms

The past decade has seen a significant interest on the problem of inducing decision trees that take account of costs of misclassification and costs of acquiring the features used for decision making. This survey identifies over 50 algorithms including approaches that are direct adaptations of accuracy-based methods, use genetic algorithms, use anytime methods and utilize boosting and bagging. The survey brings together these different studies and novel approaches to cost-sensitive decision tree learning, provides a useful taxonomy, a historical timeline of how the field has developed and should provide a useful reference point for future research in this field.

Handling over-fitting in test cost-sensitive decision tree learning by feature selection, smoothing and pruning

Cost-sensitive learning algorithms are typically designed for minimizing the total cost when multiple costs are taken into account. Like other learning algorithms, cost-sensitive learning algorithms must face a significant challenge, over-fitting, in an applied context of cost-sensitive learning. Specifically speaking, they can generate good results on training data but normally do not produce an optimal model when applied to unseen data in real world applications. It is called data over-fitting. This paper deals with the issue of data over-fitting by designing three simple and efficient strategies, feature selection, smoothing and threshold pruning, against the TCSDT (test cost-sensitive decision tree) method. The feature selection approach is used to pre-process the data set before applying the TCSDT algorithm. The smoothing and threshold pruning are used in a TCSDT algorithm before calculating the class probability estimate for each decision tree leaf. To evaluate our approaches, we conduct extensive experiments on the selected UCI data sets across different cost ratios, and on a real world data set, KDD-98 with real misclassification cost. The experimental results show that our algorithms outperform both the original TCSDT and other competing algorithms on reducing data over-fitting.

"Missing is useful": missing values in cost-sensitive decision trees

Many real-world data sets for machine learning and data mining contain missing values and much previous research regards it as a problem and attempts to impute missing values before training and testing. In this paper, we study this issue in cost-sensitive learning that considers both test costs and misclassification costs. If some attributes (tests) are too expensive in obtaining their values, it would be more cost-effective to miss out their values, similar to skipping expensive and risky tests (missing values) in patient diagnosis (classification). That is, "missing is useful" as missing values actually reduces the total cost of tests and misclassifications and, therefore, it is not meaningful to impute their values. We discuss and compare several strategies that utilize only known values and that "missing is useful" for cost reduction in cost-sensitive decision tree learning.

Inducing safer oblique trees without costs

Abstract: Decision tree induction has been widely studied and applied. In safety applications, such as determining whether a chemical process is safe or whether a person has a medical condition, the cost of misclassification in one of the classes is significantly higher than in the other class. Several authors have tackled this problem by developing cost-sensitive decision tree learning algorithms or have suggested ways of changing the distribution of training examples to bias the decision tree learning process so as to take account of costs. A prerequisite for applying such algorithms is the availability of costs of misclassification. Although this may be possible for some applications, obtaining reasonable estimates of costs of misclassification is not easy in the area of safety. This paper presents a new algorithm for applications where the cost of misclassifications cannot be quantified, although the cost of misclassification in one class is known to be significantly higher than in another class. The algorithm utilizes linear discriminant analysis to identify oblique relationships between continuous attributes and then carries out an appropriate modification to ensure that the resulting tree errs on the side of safety. The algorithm is evaluated with respect to one of the best known cost-sensitive algorithms (ICET), a well-known oblique decision tree algorithm (OC1) and an algorithm that utilizes robust linear programming.