Quadrature-Inspired Generalized Choquet Integral in an Application to Classification Problems

Correct classification remains a challenge for researchers and practitioners developing algorithms. Even a minor enhancement in classification quality, for instance, can significantly boost the effectiveness of detecting conditions or anomalies in safety data. One solution to this challenge involves aggregating classification results. This process can be executed effectively as long as the aggregation function is appropriately chosen. One of the most efficient aggregation operators is the Choquet integral. Furthermore, there exist numerous generalizations and extensions of the Choquet integral in the existing literature. In this study, we conduct a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of a novel approach for deriving an aggregate classification. The aggregation process applied to various classifiers is based on enhancements to the Choquet integral. These novel expressions draw inspiration from Newton-Cotes quadratures and other well-known formulae from numerical analysis. In contrast to previous approaches that exploit the generalization of the Choquet integral, our approach requires the utilization of two or three adjacent values associated with the membership of a specific element in different classes. This enables the use of more efficient enhancements in terms of accuracy measurement. Specifically, the t-norm following the integral symbol can be effectively replaced by mathematical expressions used in executing numerical integration formulae. This leads to more precise results and aligns with the concept of numerical integration. Furthermore, in a series of experiments, we thoroughly assess the performance of the proposed approach in terms of classification accuracy. We analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the new approach and establish the experimental settings that can be applied to similar tasks. In the series of experiments, we have demonstrated that the proposed Quadrature-Inspired Generalized Choquet Integral (QIGCI) can either outperform previous enhancements of the Choquet integral or at least achieve a similar level of accuracy measurement. However, we also highlight scenarios where previous approaches can still be a suitable choice. The number of QIGCI-based aggregation models that outperform others is convincing, indicating that this approach is worthy of consideration.