expandFunctions {expandFunctions}

expandFunctions: a feature matrix builder

Description

A variety of functions for conversion of vectors and matrices to other matrices to use as features. This allows one to quickly build feature structures and apply various machine learning methods to those features for exploration and pedantic purposes.

Details

The expandFunctions package contains functions that can be used to expand feature vectors and matrices into larger feature matrices. These functions include lag embedding, special function univariate exansion, quadratic expansion, and random vector projection.

The general steps for feature generation for time domain data (which subsumes multivariate data via lags) are:

• Preprocess data - remove mean, transform, etc., to a useful vector or matrix.

• If not a matrix, functionally expand vector into a matrix. This is typically done by lag embedding, but may also include STFT, wavelet transforms, etc.

• Functionally expand matrices generated.

• Combine resulting matrices into a single feature matrix.

• Dimensional reduction, feature selection, and/or feature extraction to reduce the number of features.

• Use machine learning method(s) on the resulting feature matrix.

Most of the steps above are well supported in R on CRAN, but the expansion steps tend to be scattered in a variety of packages, poorly represented, or custom built by the user. The expandFunction package is intended to collect many of these functions together in one place.

Preprocessing almost always should include centering and scaling the data. However, it may also include a variety of transformations, such as Freeman-Tukey, in order to make the vector fit more closely to a given model (say, a linear model with Gaussian noise).

If the input isn't a time domain vector, but is instead already in tabular form (for instance, Boston Housing Data), the embedding step can be skipped.

Dimension reduction is outside the scope of this package, but is normally performed to reduce the variables that need handling, reducing the memory used and speeding up the analysis.

The package functions are "magrittr-friendly", that is, built so that they can be directly pipelined since X, the data, is the first argument.

Most functions are prefixed with "e" to help distinguish them from being confused with similarly named functions.

Author(s)

Scott Miller <[e-mail]>

Examples

## Not run: 
# Sunspot counts can be somewhat Gaussianized by the
# Freeman-Tukey transform.
x <- freemanTukey(sunspot.month)
par(mfrow=c(1,1)) # just in case multiplots were left over.
plot(x,type="l")

# Embed x using eLag
# Since the base period of sunspots is 11*12 months,
# pick the lags to be fractions of this.
myLags <- seq(from=0,to=200,by=1)
X <- eTrim(eLag(x,myLags))
Y <- X[,+1,drop=FALSE]
X <- X[,-1,drop=FALSE]
# matplot(X,type="l",lty=1)

# OLS fitting on the lag feature set
lmObj <- lm(y ~ .,data = data.frame(x=X,y=Y))
coefPlot(lmObj,type="b")
summary(lmObj)
Yhat <- predict(lmObj, newdata = data.frame(x=X))
Ydiagnostics(Y,Yhat)

# LASSO fitting on the lag feature set
lassoObj <- easyLASSO(X,Y,criterion="lambda.min")
coefPlot(lassoObj,type="b")
Yhat <- predict(lassoObj,newx = X)
Ydiagnostics(Y,Yhat)

# Reduce the lag feature set using non-zero
# LASSO coefficients
useCoef <- coef(lassoObj)[-1]!=0
myLags <- seq(from=0,to=200,by=1)[c(TRUE,useCoef)]
X <- eTrim(eLag(x,myLags))
Y <- X[,+1,drop=FALSE]
X <- X[,-1,drop=FALSE]

# OLS fitting on the reduced lag feature set
lmObj <- lm(y ~ .,data = data.frame(x=X,y=Y))
summary(lmObj)
coefPlot(lmObj)
Yhat <- predict(lmObj, newdata = data.frame(x=X))
Ydiagnostics(Y,Yhat)

# 1st nonlinear feature set
# Apply a few Chebyshev functions to the columns of the
# lag matrix. Note these exclude the constant values,
# but include the linear.
chebyFUN <- polywrapper(basePoly=orthopolynom::chebyshev.t.polynomials,
                        kMax=5)
Z <- eMatrixOuter(X,1:5,chebyFUN)

# OLS fitting on the 1st nonlinear feature set
lmObj <- lm(y ~ .,data = data.frame(z=Z,y=Y))
summary(lmObj)
Yhat <- predict(lmObj, newdata = data.frame(z=Z))
Ydiagnostics(Y,Yhat)

# LASSO fitting on the 1st nonlinear feature set
lassoObj <- easyLASSO(Z,Y)
coefPlot(lassoObj)
Yhat <- predict(lassoObj,newx = Z)
Ydiagnostics(Y,Yhat)

# 2nd nonlinear feature set
# Use eQuad as an alternative expansion of the lags
Z <- eQuad(X)

# OLS fitting on the 2nd nonlinear feature set
lmObj <- lm(y ~ .,data = data.frame(z=Z,y=Y))
summary(lmObj)
Yhat <- predict(lmObj, newdata = data.frame(z=Z))
Ydiagnostics(Y,Yhat)

# LASSO fitting on the 2nd nonlinear feature set
lassoObj <- easyLASSO(Z,Y)
coefPlot(lassoObj)
Yhat <- predict(lassoObj,newx = Z)
Ydiagnostics(Y,Yhat)

## End(Not run)