Search, Search, and Research. On this exploration Odyssey, silence is golden. Learning comes from errors.

Research interests

My most recent interests are focusing on mathematics for data sciences, in particular topological and geometric methods for high dimensional data analysis and statistical machine learning, with applications in computational biology and information technology.

Monograph

A Dynamic Theory of Learning. PhD Dissertation, University of Calfornia at Berkeley. Supervisor: Steve Smale. December, 2006.
Published as A Dynamic Theory of Learning -- Online Learning and Stochastic Algorithms in Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces, Verlag Dr. Muller, ISBN: 978-3-639-09390-2. 2008.

A Mathematical Introduction to Data Analysis. preprint.

Recent Papers and Preprint

• Analysis of Crowdsourced Sampling Strategies for HodgeRank with Sparse Random Graphs
  Braxton Osting, Jiechao Xiong, Qianqian Xu, and Yuan Yao
  [ arXiv:1503.00164 ] [Matlab codes to reproduce our results]

• Discerning Tactical Patterns for Professional Soccer Teams: An Enhanced Topic Model with Applications
  Qing Wang, Hengshu Zhu, Wei Hu, Zhiyong Shen, and Yuan Yao
  ACM SIGKDD, Sydney, Australia, August 10-13, 2015.
  [ pdf ] [ Demo @Baidu-BDL]

• Robust Subjective Visual Property Prediction from Crowdsourced Pairwise Labels
  Yanwei Fu, Timothy M. Hospedales, Tao Xiang, Jiechao Xiong, Shaogang Gong, Yizhou Wang, and Yuan Yao
  IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (PAMI), to appear.
  [ arXiv:1501.06202 ]

• Robust Statistical Ranking: Theory and Algorithms
  Qianqian Xu, Jiechao Xiong, Qingming Huang and Yuan Yao
  [pdf] [ arXiv:1408.3467 ]

• Fast Adaptive Least Trimmed Squares for Robust Evaluation of Quality of Experience.
  Qianqian Xu, Ming Yan, and Yuan Yao
  [ arXiv:1407.7636 ] [Matlab in Google code]

• Geometric Tight Frame based Stylometry for Art Authentication of van Gogh Paintings
  Haixia Liu, Raymond H. Chan, and Yuan Yao
  [pdf] [arXiv:1407.0439]

• Sparse Recovery via Differential Inclusions
  Stanley Osher, Feng Ruan, Jiechao Xiong, Yuan Yao and Wotao Yin
  [pdf] [ arXiv:1406.7728 ] [ R package: Libra ]

• Interestingness Prediction by Robust Learning to Rank.
  Yanwei Fu, Timothy M. Hospedales, Tao Xiang, Shaogang Gong, and Yuan Yao
  13th European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV), Zurich, Switzerland, Sep 8-12, 2014.
  [pdf]

• Online Learning as Stochastic Approximations of Regularization Paths: Optimality and Almost-sure Convergence.
  Pierre Tarres and Yuan Yao.
  IEEE Transactions on Information Theory , 60(9):5716-5735, 2014.
  short report appeared in Mathematisches Forschungsinstitut Oberwolfach, Report 30/2008, Learning Theory and Approximation.
  [pdf] [Oberwolfach Report][arXiv.org:1103.5538]

• Online HodgeRank on Random Graphs for Crowdsourceable QoE Evaluation.
  Qianqian Xu, Jiechao Xiong, Qingming Huang, and Yuan Yao
  IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, 16(2):373-386, Feb. 2014.
  [pdf]

• Robust Evaluation for Quality of Experience in Crowdsourcing.
  Qianqian Xu, Jiechao Xiong, Qingming Huang, and Yuan Yao
  ACM Multimedia 2013.
  [pdf]

• Hierarchical Nystrom Methods for Constructing Markov State Models for Conformational Dynamics.
  Yuan Yao, Raymond Z. Cui, Gregory R. Bowman, Daniel Silva, Jian Sun, Xuhui Huang
  The Journal of chemical physics 2013 May 7, 138 (17):174106. arXiv:1301.0974, 2013

• The Landscape of Complex Networks: Critical Nodes and A Hierarchical Decomposition.
  Weinan E, Jianfeng Lu, and Yuan Yao.
  Methods and Applications of Analysis, special issue in honor of Professor Stanley Osher on his 70th birthday, 20(4):383-404, 2013.
  [ pdf ] [arXiv:1204.6376]

• Online Crowdsourcing Subjective Image Quality Assessment.
  Qianqian Xu, Qingming Huang, and Yuan Yao.
  ACM Multimedia 2012.
  [pdf]

• HodgeRank on Random Graphs for Subjective Video Quality Assessment.
  Qianqian Xu, Qingming Huang, Tingting Jiang, Bowei Yan, Weisi Lin, and Yuan Yao.
  IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, 14(3):844-857, 2012
  [pdf][ Matlab codes in zip ]

• Compressive Network Analysis.
  Xiaoye Jiang, Yuan Yao, Han Liu, and Leo Guibas
  IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, 59(16): preprint, 2014
  On the arXiv:1104.4605, 2011

• Detecting Network Cliques with Radon Basis Pursuit.
  Xiaoye Jiang, Yuan Yao, Han Liu, and Leo Guibas
  AISTATS 2012.
  [pdf]

• Random Partial Paired Comparison for Subjective Video Quality Assessment via HodgeRank.
  Qianqian Xu, Tingting Jiang, Yuan Yao, Qingming Huang, Bowei Yan, Weisi Lin.
  ACM Multimedia 2011.
  [pdf]

• Simulating Human Saccadic Scanpaths on Natural Images.
  Wei Wang, Cheng Chen, Yizhou Wang, Tingting Jiang, Fang Fang, Yuan Yao.
  IEEE Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) 2011.
  [pdf]

• Overcomplete Radon Bases for Target Property Management in Sensor Networks.
  Xiaoye Jiang, Mo Li, Yuan Yao, and Leonidas Guibas.
  The 10th International Conference on Information Processing in Sensor Networks, Chicago, (ACM IPSN) 2011.
  [pdf]

• Hodge Decomposition of Paired Comparison Flows in Click-through Data.
  Zhanglong Ji, Yang An, Ying Chen, Yuan Yao, Jun Xu, and Hang Li.
  Tech Report, appeared in The 6th Joint Workshop on Machine Perception and Robotics (MPR), Fukuoka, Japan, 2010.
  [pdf]

• Statistical Ranking and Combinatorial Hodge Theory.
  Xiaoye Jiang, Lek-Heng Lim, Yuan Yao and Yinyu Ye.
  Mathematical Programming, Volume 127, Number 1, Pages 203-244, 2011.
  [Abstract][pdf][ arxiv.org/abs/0811.1067][ Matlab Codes]

• On Complexity Issues of Online Learning Algorithms.
  Yuan Yao.
  IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, 56(12): 6470 - 6481, 2010.
  [pdf]

• Constructing Multi-Resolution Markov State Models (MSMS) to Elucidate RNA Hairpin Folding Mechanisms.
  Huang, X., Y. Yao, J. Sun, L. Guibas, G. Carlsson and V.S. Pande.
  Proceedings of the Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing, 15, 228-239, (2010)
  [pdf online]

• Stable Identification of Cliques with Radon Basis Pursuit.
  Xiaoye Jiang, Yuan Yao, and Leonidas Guibas.
  preprint.
  [pdf]

• A Fast Geometric Clustering Method on Conformation Space of Biomolecules.
  Jian Sun, Yuan Yao, Xuhui Huang, Vijay Pande, Gunnar Carlsson, and Leonidas Guibas.
  preprint.
  [pdf]

• Topological Methods for Exploring Low-density States in Biomolecular Folding Pathways.
  Yuan Yao, Jian Sun, Xuhui Huang, Gregory Bowman, Gurjeet Singh, Michael Lesnick, Vijay Pande, Leonidas Guibas and Gunnar Carlsson.
  J. Chem. Phys. 130, 144115 (2009).
  [pdf][Online Publication][SimTK Link: Data and Matlab Codes] [Selected by Virtual Journal of Biological Physics Research, 04/15/2009].

• Metric Learning for Phylogenetic Invariants.
  Eriksson, Nick and Yuan Yao.
  preprint.
  [arxiv.org/abs/q-bio/0703034].

• Structural insight into RNA hairpin folding intermediates.
  Bowman, Gregory R., Xuhui Huang, Yuan Yao, Jian Sun, Gunnar Carlsson, Leonidas Guibas and Vijay Pande.
  Journal of American Chemistry Society, 2008, 130 (30): 9676-9678.
  [link]

• On Early Stopping in Gradient Descent Learning.
  Yuan Yao, Lorenzo Rosasco and Andrea Caponnetto.
  Constructive Approximation, 2007, 26 (2): 289-315.
  [pdf]

• Adaptation for Regularization Operators in Learning Theory
  Andrea Caponnetto and Yuan Yao.
  CBCL Paper \#265/AI Technical Report \#063, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, September, 2006.
  Analysis and Applications vol. 08, no. 02, 2010
  [pdf][pdf Tech-Report]

• Mercer's Theorem, Feature Maps, and Smoothness
  Ha Quang Minh, Partha Niyogi and Yuan Yao.
  In Proc. of Computational Learning Theory (COLT), 2006.
  [pdf]

• Online Learning Algorithms.
  Steve Smale and Yuan Yao.
  Foundations of Computational Mathematics. 2006, 6 (2): 145-170.
  [pdf]

Papers in Computer Vision, Machine Learning and Pattern Recognition

• Combining Flat and Structured Representations for Fingerprint Classification with Recursive Neural Networks and Support Vector Machines.
  Yuan Yao, Gian Luca Marcialis, Massimiliano Pontil, Paolo Frasconi, and Fablio Roli.
  Pattern Recognition, 36(2): 397-406, 2003.
  [pdf]

• A New Machine Learning Approach to Fingerprint Classification.
  Yuan Yao, Gian Luca Marcialis, Massimiliano Pontil, Paolo Frasconi, and Fablio Roli.
  In: AI*IA 2001: Advances in Artificial Intelligence, LNCS, vol.2175: 57-63.
  [pdf]

• Fingerprint Classification with Combinations of Support Vector Machines.
  Yuan Yao, Massimiliano Pontil and Fablio Roli.
  In: Proceedings of Audio- and Video-Based Biometric Person Authentication, Third International Conference, AVBPA 2001: 253-258.
  [pdf]

• Multiscale Morphology for Color Images Implemented by Fuzzy Cellular Neural Network.
  Yuan Yao, Xiaofeng Zhang, Tianwen Zhang and Guangxiong Wang.
  In: Proceedings of IEEE Hong Kong Symposium on Robotics and Control, July 1999, Hong Kong, pp. 459-462.

• Morphological Reconstruction for Color Images Implemented by Fuzzy Cellular Neural Networks.
  Yuan Yao, Guangxiong Wang and Tianwen Zhang.
  Chinese Journal of Computers (in Chinese), 22(7): 727-732, 1999.

• Application of Fuzzy Cellular Neural Networks to Stone Inscription Reconstruction in Chinese Calligraphy.
  Yuan Yao, Guangxiong Wang and Tianwen Zhang.
  Journal of Computer Research and Development (in Chinese), 36(3): 282-286, 1999.

Papers in System and Control

• Global Optimal Robust Controller Design.
  Lianfeng Li, Guangxiong Wang and Yuan Yao.
  Journal of Control Theory and Applications (in Chinese), 18(2): 266-269, 2001.

• On the Application Problem of the Gap Metric for SISO Systems.
  Yuan Yao, Lianfeng Li and Gejun Bao.
  Journal of Harbin Institute of Technology (in Chinese), 31(6): 19-21, 1999.

• Optimal Robust Performance in Constantly Scaled H_infinity control.
  Yuan Yao, Jingbo Wang, Lianfeng Li and Guangxiong Wang.
  In: Korea-China Process System Engineering Workshop. August 1999, Korea.

• Robust Gain-scheduled H_infinity control with Constant Diagonal Scaling.
  Yuan Yao, Lianfeng Li, Guangxiong Wang and Jingbo Wang.
  In: Proceedings of IEEE Hong Kong Symposium on Robotics and Control, July 1999, Hong Kong, pp. 628-632.

• Application of Quadratic Stabilization, Constantly Scaled H_infinity control and mu-Synthesis.
  Xiaofeng Wang, Yuan Yao, Guangxiong Wang and Jingbo Wang.
  In: Proceedings of IEEE Hong Kong Symposium on Robotics and Control, July 1999, Hong Kong, pp. 633-637.

• Identifying Noise Model in Closed-Loop Using Subspace Method.
  Jingbo Wang, Jibril Jiya, Tianyou Chai, Yuan Yao, Guangxiong Wang and Shijie Xu.
  In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Vehicle Electronics Conference (IVEC '99), September 6-9, 1999, Changchun, China, pp. 349-351.

• FEM-Based Modeling in Servo Design.
  Yuan Yao and Jing Luo.
  Electric Machine and Control (in Chinese), 2(2): 108-111, 1998.

Conference Talks/Poster Presentations

• Yao, Y., J. Sun, X. Huang, V. Pande, L. Guibas and G. Carlsson (2008). Topological Methods for Exploring Biomolecular Folding Pathways, the 9th Biomedical Computation at Stanford (BCATS), spotlight poster presentation, October 26, 2008, Stanford, CA.

• Sun, J., X. Huang, Y. Yao, G. Carlsson, V. Pande and L. Guibas (2008). A Well-controlled Fast Clustering Method on Conformation Space of Biomolecules, the 9th Biomedical Computation at Stanford (BCATS), poster presentation, October 26, 2008, Stanford, CA.

• Bowman, G.~R., X. Huang, Y. Yao, J. Sun and V. Pande (2008). Adaptive Seeding: A New Method for Simulating Biologically Relevant Timescales, the 9th Biomedical Computation at Stanford (BCATS), poster presentation, Stanford, October 26, 2008.

• Combinatorial Hodge Theory and A Geometric Approach to Ranking, SIAM Annual Meeting, minisymposium: Mathematical Methods in Data Mining, San Diego, July 7-11, 2008.

• Topological Methods for Exploring Low-density States in Biomolecular Folding Pathways, Modern Massive Data Sets (MMDS), Stanford, June 25-39, 2008.

• Hodge Decomposition, Spectral Embedding, and the Netflix Dataset, Bay Area Scientific Computing Day: honoring Professors Kahan and Parlett, MSRI, Berkeley, March 29-30, 2008.

• Scheler, G. and Y. Yao (2007). Equilibria in neuroadaptive pathways. RECOMB Systems Biology, poster presentation, Dec 1-2, 2007, La Jolla, CA.

• Hodge Theory and Rank Aggregation, Computational Applications of Algebraic Topology, I, AMS sectional meeting, Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 13, 2007.

• Combinatorial Laplacians and Rank Aggregation, the 6th International Congress of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (ICIAM), minisymposium: Novel Matrix Methods for Internet Data Mining. Zurich, Switzerland, July 16-20, 2007.

• Topology Learning of High Dimensional Probability Density Functions, the 1st International Congress of IPIA, Conference on Applied Inverse Problems, minisymposium: Learning from Examples as an Inverse Problem, PIMS, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, June 25-29, 2007.

• Metric Learning for Phylogenetic Invariants, Student Algebraic Statistics Seminar, University of California at Berkeley, Feb. 5, 2007.

• Yuan Yao and Jinyun Ke (2000). Exploring Semantic Complexity by Computational Learning Theory. Evolutionary Computation and Cognitive Science (ECCS'2000) Workshop, poster presentation. January, 2000, Melbourne, Australia.

Research Students

• Qianqian Xu (PhD, CAS, with Qingming Huang)
• Chendi Huang (PhD, to-be)
• Jiechao Xiong (PhD, to-be)
• Ying CHEN (MSc)
• Yuan LV (MSc)
• Bowei YAN (MSc)

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