A modularity-based measure for cluster selection from clustering hierarchies

Francisco de Assis Rodrigues dos Anjos, Jadson Castro Gertrudes, Jörg Sander, Ricardo J.G.B. Campello*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingArticle in proceedingsResearchpeer-review

Abstract

Extracting a flat solution from a clustering hierarchy, as opposed to deriving it directly from data using a partitional clustering algorithm, is advantageous as it allows the hierarchical relationships between clusters and sub-clusters as well their stability across different hierarchical levels to be revealed before any decision on what clusters are more relevant is made. Traditionally, flat solutions are obtained by performing a global, horizontal cut through a clustering hierarchy (e.g. a dendrogram). This problem has gained special importance in the context of density-based hierarchical algorithms, because only sophisticated cutting strategies, in particular non-horizontal local cuts, are able to select clusters at different density levels. In this paper, we propose an adaptation of a variant of the Modularity Q measure, widely used in the realm of community detection in complex networks, so that it can be applied as an optimization criterion to the problem of optimal local cuts through clustering hierarchies. Our results suggest that the proposed measure is a competitive alternative, especially for high-dimensional data.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationData Mining - 16th Australasian Conference, AusDM 2018, Revised Selected Papers
EditorsYanchang Zhao, David Stirling, Yun Sing Koh, Zahidul Islam, Graco Warwick, Chang-Tsun Li, Rafiqul Islam
PublisherSpringer
Publication date2019
Pages253-265
ISBN (Print)9789811366604
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019
Externally publishedYes
Event16th Australasian Conference on Data Mining, AusDM 2018 - Bathurst, Australia
Duration: 28. Nov 201830. Nov 2018

Conference

Conference16th Australasian Conference on Data Mining, AusDM 2018
Country/TerritoryAustralia
CityBathurst
Period28/11/201830/11/2018
SeriesCommunications in Computer and Information Science
Volume996
ISSN1865-0929

Keywords

  • Cluster evaluation and selection
  • Hierarchical clustering

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