Evolutionary Learning of Dynamic Naive Bayesian Classifiers

• Published in: Journal of automated reasoning 2010-06, Vol.45 (1), p.21-37
• Main Authors: Palacios-Alonso, Miguel A., Brizuela, Carlos A., Sucar, L. Enrique
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accuracy; Artificial Intelligence; Bayesian analysis; Classifiers; Computer Science; Dynamics; Encoding; Evolutionary; Mathematical Logic and Formal Languages; Mathematical Logic and Foundations; Mathematical models; Networks; Symbolic and Algebraic Manipulation
• ISSN: 0168-7433; 1573-0670
• DOI: 10.1007/s10817-009-9130-0

Many problems such as voice recognition, speech recognition and many other tasks have been tackled with Hidden Markov Models (HMMs). These problems can also be dealt with an extension of the Naive Bayesian Classifier (NBC) known as Dynamic NBC (DNBC). From a dynamic Bayesian network (DBN) perspective, in a DNBC at each time there is a NBC. NBCs work well in data sets with independent attributes. However, they perform poorly when the attributes are dependent or when there are one or more irrelevant attributes which are dependent of some relevant ones. Therefore, to increase this classifier accuracy, we need a method to design network structures that can capture the dependencies and get rid of irrelevant attributes. Furthermore, when we deal with dynamical processes there are temporal relations that should be considered in the network design. In order to learn automatically these models from data and increase the classifier accuracy we propose an evolutionary optimization algorithm to solve this design problem. We introduce a new encoding scheme and new genetic operators which are natural extensions of previously proposed encoding and operators for grouping problems. The design methodology is applied to solve the recognition problem for nine hand gestures. Experimental results show that the evolved network has higher average classification accuracy than the basic DNBC and a HMM.