Improving clustering by imposing network information

Sci Adv. 2015 Aug 7;1(7):e1500163. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.1500163. eCollection 2015 Aug.

Abstract

Cluster analysis is one of the most popular data analysis tools in a wide range of applied disciplines. We propose and justify a computationally efficient and straightforward-to-implement way of imposing the available information from networks/graphs (a priori available in many application areas) on a broad family of clustering methods. The introduced approach is illustrated on the problem of a noninvasive unsupervised brain signal classification. This task is faced with several challenging difficulties such as nonstationary noisy signals and a small sample size, combined with a high-dimensional feature space and huge noise-to-signal ratios. Applying this approach results in an exact unsupervised classification of very short signals, opening new possibilities for clustering methods in the area of a noninvasive brain-computer interface.

Keywords: EEG; Network; Neuroscience; clustering; finite element method; graph; regularization; time series analysis; unsupervised classification.