Neural network-based multi-view enhanced multi-learner active learning: theory and experiments

ABSTRACT As applications of neural networks increase in our daily lives, their practicality and accuracy become more of a challenge as they are applied to approximate more complicated functions typically composed of different dependent or independent views. While the complexity of the functions and the number of views to be approximated or simulated increases, the task becomes more complicated and more difficult in that it may eventually jeopardise the classifier’s accuracy and make the results unreliable. This paper surveys an improved active learning method called Enhanced Multi-Learner (EML) to facilitate the approximation or simulation of complex functions via neural networks by distributing the complexities of the task under simulation among an array of learners where each network is responsible for learning a specific view. We experimented with EML realisations through neural networks to solve complex problems where traditional methods did not provide adequate results. These experimental studies were conducted in three different domains and are summarised here. Legacy solutions were also provided in each experiment, and the results were compared. The experimental results indicate the superiority of EML base neural networks in dealing with sophisticated pattern recognition problems.