Sparse Feature Selection Method Research Articles

Sparse feature selection identifies H2A.Z as a novel, pattern-specific biomarker for asymmetrically self-renewing distributed stem cells

There is a long-standing unmet clinical need for biomarkers with high specificity for distributed stem cells (DSCs) in tissues, or for use in diagnostic and therapeutic cell preparations (e.g., bone marrow). Although DSCs are essential for tissue maintenance and repair, accurate determination of their numbers for medical applications has been problematic. Previous searches for biomarkers expressed specifically in DSCs were hampered by difficulty obtaining pure DSCs and by the challenges in mining complex molecular expression data. To identify such useful and specific DSC biomarkers, we combined a novel sparse feature selection method with combinatorial molecular expression data focused on asymmetric self-renewal, a conspicuous property of DSCs. The analysis identified reduced expression of the histone H2A variant H2A.Z as a superior molecular discriminator for DSC asymmetric self-renewal. Subsequent molecular expression studies showed H2A.Z to be a novel “pattern-specific biomarker” for asymmetrically self-renewing cells, with sufficient specificity to count asymmetrically self-renewing DSCs in vitro and potentially in situ.

Hessian Semi-Supervised Sparse Feature Selection Based on <formula formulatype="inline"><tex Notation="TeX">${L_{2,1/2}}$</tex> </formula>-Matrix Norm

Semi-supervised sparse feature selection, which can exploit the small number labeled data and large number unlabeled data simultaneously, has become an important technique in many applications on large-scale web image owing to its high efficiency and effectiveness. Recently, graph Laplacian-based semi-supervised sparse feature selection has obtained considerable attention, but it suffers with only few labeled data because Laplacian regularization is short of extrapolating power. In this paper we propose a novel semi-supervised sparse feature selection framework based on Hessian regularization and l2,1/2- matrix norm, namely Hessian sparse feature selection based on L2,1/2- matrix norm (HFSL). Hessian regularization favors functions whose values vary linearly with respect to geodesic distance and preserves the local manifold structure well, leading to good extrapolating power to boost semi-supervised learning, and then to enhance HFSL performance. The l2,1/2-matrix norm model makes HFSL select the most discriminative sparse features with good robustness. An efficient iterative algorithm is designed to optimize the objective function. We apply our algorithm into the image annotation task and conduct extensive experiments on two web image datasets. The results demonstrate that our algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art sparse feature selection methods and is promising for large-scale web image applications.

Sparse feature selection based on L2,1/2-matrix norm for web image annotation

Web image annotation based on sparse feature selection has received an increasing amount of interest in recent years. However, existing sparse feature selection methods become less effective and efficient. This raises an urgent need to develop good sparse feature selection methods to improve web image annotation performance. In this paper we propose a novel sparse feature selection framework for web image annotation, namely Sparse Feature Selection based on L2,1/2-matrix norm (SFSL). SFSL can select more sparse and more discriminative features by exploiting the l2,1/2-matrix norm with shared subspace learning, and then improve the web image annotation performance. We proposed an efficient iterative algorithm to optimize the objective function. Extensive experiments are performed on two web image datasets. The experimental results have validated that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art algorithms and suits for large-scale web image annotation.

Sparse group LASSO based uncertain feature selection

Uncertain data management and mining is becoming a hot topic in recent years. However, little attention has been paid to uncertain feature selection so far. In this paper, we introduce the sparse group least absolution shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) technique to construct a feature selection algorithm for uncertain data. Each uncertain feature is represented with a probability density function. We take each feature as a group of values. Through analysis of the current four sparse feature selection methods, LASSO, elastic net, group LASSO and sparse group LASSO, the sparse group LASSO is introduced to select feature selection from uncertain data. The proposed algorithm can select not only the features between groups, but also the sub-features in groups. As the trained weights of feature groups are sparse, the groups of features with weight zero are removed. Experiments on nine UCI datasets show that feature selection for uncertain data can reduce the number of features and sub-features at the same time. Moreover it can produce comparable accuracy with all features.

Capturing the Crystal: Prediction of Enthalpy of Sublimation, Crystal Lattice Energy, and Melting Points of Organic Compounds

Accurate computational prediction of melting points and aqueous solubilities of organic compounds would be very useful but is notoriously difficult. Predicting the lattice energies of compounds is key to understanding and predicting their melting behavior and ultimately their solubility behavior. We report robust, predictive, quantitative structure-property relationship (QSPR) models for enthalpies of sublimation, crystal lattice energies, and melting points for a very large and structurally diverse set of small organic compounds. Sparse Bayesian feature selection and machine learning methods were employed to select the most relevant molecular descriptors for the model and to generate parsimonious quantitative models. The final enthalpy of sublimation model is a four-parameter multilinear equation that has an r(2) value of 0.96 and an average absolute error of 7.9 ± 0.3 kJ.mol(-1). The melting point model can predict this property with a standard error of 45° ± 1 K and r(2) value of 0.79. Given the size and diversity of the training data, these conceptually transparent and accurate models can be used to predict sublimation enthalpy, lattice energy, and melting points of organic compounds in general.

Robust, quantitative tools for modelling ex-vivo expansion of haematopoietic stem cells and progenitors

Despite substantial research activity on bioreactor design and experiments, there are very few reports of modelling tools that can be used to generate predictive models describing how bioreactor parameters affect performance. New developments in mathematics, such as sparse Bayesian feature selection methods and nonlinear model-free modelling regression methods, offer considerable promise for modelling diverse types of data. The utility of these mathematical tools in stem cell biology are demonstrated by analysis of a large set of bioreactor data derived from the literature. In spite of the diversity of the data sources, and the inherent difficulty in representing bioreactor variables, these modelling methods were able to develop robust, quantitative, predictive models. These models relate bioreactor operational parameters to the degree of expansion of haematopoietic stem cells or their progenitors, and also identify the bioreactor variables that are most likely to affect performance across many experiments. These methods show substantial promise in assisting the design and optimisation of stem cell bioreactors.

Sparse Multi-Task Regression and Feature Selection to Identify Brain Imaging Predictors for Memory Performance.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive impairment of memory and other cognitive functions, which makes regression analysis a suitable model to study whether neuroimaging measures can help predict memory performance and track the progression of AD. Existing memory performance prediction methods via regression, however, do not take into account either the interconnected structures within imaging data or those among memory scores, which inevitably restricts their predictive capabilities. To bridge this gap, we propose a novel Sparse Multi-tAsk Regression and feaTure selection (SMART) method to jointly analyze all the imaging and clinical data under a single regression framework and with shared underlying sparse representations. Two convex regularizations are combined and used in the model to enable sparsity as well as facilitate multi-task learning. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated by both clearly improved prediction performances in all empirical test cases and a compact set of selected RAVLT-relevant MRI predictors that accord with prior studies.