We propose a penalized likelihood method that simultaneously fits the multinomial logistic regression model and combines subsets of the response categories. The penalty is non differentiable when pairs of columns in the optimization variable are equal. This encourages pairwise equality of these columns in the estimator, which corresponds to response category combination. We use an alternating direction method of multipliers algorithm to compute the estimator and we discuss the algorithms convergence. Prediction and model selection are also addressed.
Out of the rich family of generalized linear bandits, perhaps the most well studied ones are logisitc bandits that are used in problems with binary rewards: for instance, when the learner/agent tries to maximize the profit over a user that can select one of two possible outcomes (e.g., `click vs `no-click). Despite remarkable recent progress and improved algorithms for logistic bandits, existing works do not address practical situations where the number of outcomes that can be selected by the user is larger than two (e.g., `click, `show me later, `never show again, `no click). In this paper, we study such an extension. We use multinomial logit (MNL) to model the probability of each one of $K+1geq 2$ possible outcomes (+1 stands for the `not click outcome): we assume that for a learners action $mathbf{x}_t$, the user selects one of $K+1geq 2$ outcomes, say outcome $i$, with a multinomial logit (MNL) probabilistic model with corresponding unknown parameter $bar{boldsymboltheta}_{ast i}$. Each outcome $i$ is also associated with a revenue parameter $rho_i$ and the goal is to maximize the expected revenue. For this problem, we present MNL-UCB, an upper confidence bound (UCB)-based algorithm, that achieves regret $tilde{mathcal{O}}(dKsqrt{T})$ with small dependency on problem-dependent constants that can otherwise be arbitrarily large and lead to loose regret bounds. We present numerical simulations that corroborate our theoretical results.
We present ADMM-Softmax, an alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) for solving multinomial logistic regression (MLR) problems. Our method is geared toward supervised classification tasks with many examples and features. It decouples the nonlinear optimization problem in MLR into three steps that can be solved efficiently. In particular, each iteration of ADMM-Softmax consists of a linear least-squares problem, a set of independent small-scale smooth, convex problems, and a trivial dual variable update. Solution of the least-squares problem can be be accelerated by pre-computing a factorization or preconditioner, and the separability in the smooth, convex problem can be easily parallelized across examples. For two image classification problems, we demonstrate that ADMM-Softmax leads to improved generalization compared to a Newton-Krylov, a quasi Newton, and a stochastic gradient descent method.
For random field theory based multiple comparison corrections In brain imaging, it is often necessary to compute the distribution of the supremum of a random field. Unfortunately, computing the distribution of the supremum of the random field is not easy and requires satisfying many distributional assumptions that may not be true in real data. Thus, there is a need to come up with a different framework that does not use the traditional statistical hypothesis testing paradigm that requires to compute p-values. With this as a motivation, we can use a different approach called the logistic regression that does not require computing the p-value and still be able to localize the regions of brain network differences. Unlike other discriminant and classification techniques that tried to classify preselected feature vectors, the method here does not require any preselected feature vectors and performs the classification at each edge level.
In many situations it could be interesting to ascertain whether nonparametric regression curves can be grouped, especially when confronted with a considerable number of curves. The proposed testing procedure allows to determine groups with an automatic selection of their number. A simulation study is presented in order to investigate the finite sample properties of the proposed methods when compared to existing alternative procedures. Finally, the applicability of the procedure to study the geometry of a tunnel by analysing a set of cross-sections is demonstrated. The results obtained show the existence of some heterogeneity in the tunnel geometry.
The cost of both generalized least squares (GLS) and Gibbs sampling in a crossed random effects model can easily grow faster than $N^{3/2}$ for $N$ observations. Ghosh et al. (2020) develop a backfitting algorithm that reduces the cost to $O(N)$. Here we extend that method to a generalized linear mixed model for logistic regression. We use backfitting within an iteratively reweighted penalized least square algorithm. The specific approach is a version of penalized quasi-likelihood due to Schall (1991). A straightforward version of Schalls algorithm would also cost more than $N^{3/2}$ because it requires the trace of the inverse of a large matrix. We approximate that quantity at cost $O(N)$ and prove that this substitution makes an asymptotically negligible difference. Our backfitting algorithm also collapses the fixed effect with one random effect at a time in a way that is analogous to the collapsed Gibbs sampler of Papaspiliopoulos et al. (2020). We use a symmetric operator that facilitates efficient covariance computation. We illustrate our method on a real dataset from Stitch Fix. By properly accounting for crossed random effects we show that a naive logistic regression could underestimate sampling variances by several hundred fold.