3.1

The UC Irvine Machine Learning Repository6 contains a data set related to glass identification. The data consist of 214 glass samples labeled as one of seven class categories. There are nine predictors, including the refractive index and percentages of eight elements: Na, Mg, Al, Si, K, Ca, Ba, and Fe. The data can be accessed via:

library(mlbench)
data(Glass)
str(Glass)
## 'data.frame':    214 obs. of  10 variables:
##  $ RI  : num  1.52 1.52 1.52 1.52 1.52 ...
##  $ Na  : num  13.6 13.9 13.5 13.2 13.3 ...
##  $ Mg  : num  4.49 3.6 3.55 3.69 3.62 3.61 3.6 3.61 3.58 3.6 ...
##  $ Al  : num  1.1 1.36 1.54 1.29 1.24 1.62 1.14 1.05 1.37 1.36 ...
##  $ Si  : num  71.8 72.7 73 72.6 73.1 ...
##  $ K   : num  0.06 0.48 0.39 0.57 0.55 0.64 0.58 0.57 0.56 0.57 ...
##  $ Ca  : num  8.75 7.83 7.78 8.22 8.07 8.07 8.17 8.24 8.3 8.4 ...
##  $ Ba  : num  0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ...
##  $ Fe  : num  0 0 0 0 0 0.26 0 0 0 0.11 ...
##  $ Type: Factor w/ 6 levels "1","2","3","5",..: 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...
  1. Using visualizations, explore the predictor variables to understand their distributions as well as the relationships between predictors.
library(DataExplorer)
library(corrplot)
## corrplot 0.84 loaded
Glass2<-Glass[,-10]
plot_histogram(Glass2)

corrplot(cor(Glass2),method = "number")

According to the histogram, the RI, Na, Al and Si have fairly close to the normal distribution, and the RI and Ca are highly correlated (0.81)positively.

  1. Do there appear to be any outliers in the data? Are any predictors skewed?
box_plot <- Glass2
par(mfrow = c(3, 3))
for (i in 1:ncol(box_plot)) {
  boxplot(box_plot[ ,i], ylab = names(box_plot[i]), horizontal=T)
}

According to the histogram, the RI, Na, Al and Si have fairly close to the normal distribution, mg is right skewed, and Ba, Fe, K are right skewed. The boxplot tells that except for the Mg, rest of others all have weak or strong outliers.

  1. Are there any relevant transformations of one or more predictors that might improve the classification model?

In order to imporve the model, we can use trasformation, such as scaling and centering or box-cox transformation. However, it may loss the interpretation of individual variables.

3.2

The soybean data can also be found at the UC Irvine Machine Learning Repository. Data were collected to predict disease in 683 soybeans. The 35 predictors are mostly categorical and include information on the environmental conditions (e.g., temperature, precipitation) and plant conditions (e.g., left spots, mold growth). The outcome labels consist of 19 distinct classes.

library(mlbench)
data(Soybean)
str(Soybean)
## 'data.frame':    683 obs. of  36 variables:
##  $ Class          : Factor w/ 19 levels "2-4-d-injury",..: 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 11 ...
##  $ date           : Factor w/ 7 levels "0","1","2","3",..: 7 5 4 4 7 6 6 5 7 5 ...
##  $ plant.stand    : Ord.factor w/ 2 levels "0"<"1": 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...
##  $ precip         : Ord.factor w/ 3 levels "0"<"1"<"2": 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 ...
##  $ temp           : Ord.factor w/ 3 levels "0"<"1"<"2": 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 ...
##  $ hail           : Factor w/ 2 levels "0","1": 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 ...
##  $ crop.hist      : Factor w/ 4 levels "0","1","2","3": 2 3 2 2 3 4 3 2 4 3 ...
##  $ area.dam       : Factor w/ 4 levels "0","1","2","3": 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...
##  $ sever          : Factor w/ 3 levels "0","1","2": 2 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 3 ...
##  $ seed.tmt       : Factor w/ 3 levels "0","1","2": 1 2 2 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 ...
##  $ germ           : Ord.factor w/ 3 levels "0"<"1"<"2": 1 2 3 2 3 2 1 3 2 3 ...
##  $ plant.growth   : Factor w/ 2 levels "0","1": 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 ...
##  $ leaves         : Factor w/ 2 levels "0","1": 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 ...
##  $ leaf.halo      : Factor w/ 3 levels "0","1","2": 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...
##  $ leaf.marg      : Factor w/ 3 levels "0","1","2": 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 ...
##  $ leaf.size      : Ord.factor w/ 3 levels "0"<"1"<"2": 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 ...
##  $ leaf.shread    : Factor w/ 2 levels "0","1": 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...
##  $ leaf.malf      : Factor w/ 2 levels "0","1": 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...
##  $ leaf.mild      : Factor w/ 3 levels "0","1","2": 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...
##  $ stem           : Factor w/ 2 levels "0","1": 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 ...
##  $ lodging        : Factor w/ 2 levels "0","1": 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 ...
##  $ stem.cankers   : Factor w/ 4 levels "0","1","2","3": 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 ...
##  $ canker.lesion  : Factor w/ 4 levels "0","1","2","3": 2 2 1 1 2 1 2 2 2 2 ...
##  $ fruiting.bodies: Factor w/ 2 levels "0","1": 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 ...
##  $ ext.decay      : Factor w/ 3 levels "0","1","2": 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 ...
##  $ mycelium       : Factor w/ 2 levels "0","1": 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...
##  $ int.discolor   : Factor w/ 3 levels "0","1","2": 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...
##  $ sclerotia      : Factor w/ 2 levels "0","1": 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...
##  $ fruit.pods     : Factor w/ 4 levels "0","1","2","3": 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...
##  $ fruit.spots    : Factor w/ 4 levels "0","1","2","4": 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 ...
##  $ seed           : Factor w/ 2 levels "0","1": 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...
##  $ mold.growth    : Factor w/ 2 levels "0","1": 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...
##  $ seed.discolor  : Factor w/ 2 levels "0","1": 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...
##  $ seed.size      : Factor w/ 2 levels "0","1": 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...
##  $ shriveling     : Factor w/ 2 levels "0","1": 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...
##  $ roots          : Factor w/ 3 levels "0","1","2": 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ...
  1. Investigate the frequency distributions for the categorical predictors. Are any of the distributions degenerate in the ways discussed earlier in this chapter?
library(caret)
## Loading required package: lattice
## Warning: package 'lattice' was built under R version 3.6.2
## Loading required package: ggplot2
par(mfrow = c(3,3))
for(i in 2:ncol(Soybean)) {
  plot(Soybean[i], main = colnames(Soybean[i]))
}

nearZeroVar(Soybean)
## [1] 19 26 28
names(Soybean[c(nearZeroVar(Soybean))])
## [1] "leaf.mild" "mycelium"  "sclerotia"
nearZeroVar(Soybean, names = TRUE, saveMetrics=T)
##                  freqRatio percentUnique zeroVar   nzv
## Class             1.010989     2.7818448   FALSE FALSE
## date              1.137405     1.0248902   FALSE FALSE
## plant.stand       1.208191     0.2928258   FALSE FALSE
## precip            4.098214     0.4392387   FALSE FALSE
## temp              1.879397     0.4392387   FALSE FALSE
## hail              3.425197     0.2928258   FALSE FALSE
## crop.hist         1.004587     0.5856515   FALSE FALSE
## area.dam          1.213904     0.5856515   FALSE FALSE
## sever             1.651282     0.4392387   FALSE FALSE
## seed.tmt          1.373874     0.4392387   FALSE FALSE
## germ              1.103627     0.4392387   FALSE FALSE
## plant.growth      1.951327     0.2928258   FALSE FALSE
## leaves            7.870130     0.2928258   FALSE FALSE
## leaf.halo         1.547511     0.4392387   FALSE FALSE
## leaf.marg         1.615385     0.4392387   FALSE FALSE
## leaf.size         1.479638     0.4392387   FALSE FALSE
## leaf.shread       5.072917     0.2928258   FALSE FALSE
## leaf.malf        12.311111     0.2928258   FALSE FALSE
## leaf.mild        26.750000     0.4392387   FALSE  TRUE
## stem              1.253378     0.2928258   FALSE FALSE
## lodging          12.380952     0.2928258   FALSE FALSE
## stem.cankers      1.984293     0.5856515   FALSE FALSE
## canker.lesion     1.807910     0.5856515   FALSE FALSE
## fruiting.bodies   4.548077     0.2928258   FALSE FALSE
## ext.decay         3.681481     0.4392387   FALSE FALSE
## mycelium        106.500000     0.2928258   FALSE  TRUE
## int.discolor     13.204545     0.4392387   FALSE FALSE
## sclerotia        31.250000     0.2928258   FALSE  TRUE
## fruit.pods        3.130769     0.5856515   FALSE FALSE
## fruit.spots       3.450000     0.5856515   FALSE FALSE
## seed              4.139130     0.2928258   FALSE FALSE
## mold.growth       7.820896     0.2928258   FALSE FALSE
## seed.discolor     8.015625     0.2928258   FALSE FALSE
## seed.size         9.016949     0.2928258   FALSE FALSE
## shriveling       14.184211     0.2928258   FALSE FALSE
## roots             6.406977     0.4392387   FALSE FALSE

We can see that “leaf.mild” “mycelium” “sclerotia” have near zero value that needs to be degenerated.

  1. Roughly 18% of the data are missing. Are there particular predictors that are more likely to be missing? Is the pattern of missing data related to the classes?
library(Amelia)
## Loading required package: Rcpp
## ## 
## ## Amelia II: Multiple Imputation
## ## (Version 1.7.6, built: 2019-11-24)
## ## Copyright (C) 2005-2020 James Honaker, Gary King and Matthew Blackwell
## ## Refer to http://gking.harvard.edu/amelia/ for more information
## ##
library(VIM)
## Loading required package: colorspace
## Loading required package: grid
## Loading required package: data.table
## VIM is ready to use. 
##  Since version 4.0.0 the GUI is in its own package VIMGUI.
## 
##           Please use the package to use the new (and old) GUI.
## Suggestions and bug-reports can be submitted at: https://github.com/alexkowa/VIM/issues
## 
## Attaching package: 'VIM'
## The following object is masked from 'package:datasets':
## 
##     sleep
library(dplyr)
## 
## Attaching package: 'dplyr'
## The following objects are masked from 'package:data.table':
## 
##     between, first, last
## The following objects are masked from 'package:stats':
## 
##     filter, lag
## The following objects are masked from 'package:base':
## 
##     intersect, setdiff, setequal, union
plot_missing(Soybean)

missmap(Soybean, main = "Missing Values")

aggr(Soybean, prop = c(T, T), bars=T, numbers=T, sortVars=T)
## Warning in plot.aggr(res, ...): not enough horizontal space to display
## frequencies

## 
##  Variables sorted by number of missings: 
##         Variable       Count
##             hail 0.177159590
##            sever 0.177159590
##         seed.tmt 0.177159590
##          lodging 0.177159590
##             germ 0.163982430
##        leaf.mild 0.158125915
##  fruiting.bodies 0.155197657
##      fruit.spots 0.155197657
##    seed.discolor 0.155197657
##       shriveling 0.155197657
##      leaf.shread 0.146412884
##             seed 0.134699854
##      mold.growth 0.134699854
##        seed.size 0.134699854
##        leaf.halo 0.122986823
##        leaf.marg 0.122986823
##        leaf.size 0.122986823
##        leaf.malf 0.122986823
##       fruit.pods 0.122986823
##           precip 0.055636896
##     stem.cankers 0.055636896
##    canker.lesion 0.055636896
##        ext.decay 0.055636896
##         mycelium 0.055636896
##     int.discolor 0.055636896
##        sclerotia 0.055636896
##      plant.stand 0.052708638
##            roots 0.045387994
##             temp 0.043923865
##        crop.hist 0.023426061
##     plant.growth 0.023426061
##             stem 0.023426061
##             date 0.001464129
##         area.dam 0.001464129
##            Class 0.000000000
##           leaves 0.000000000
miss_class <- Soybean%>% mutate(nul=rowSums(is.na(Soybean)))%>%
                      group_by(Class)%>% summarize(miss=sum(nul)) %>%filter(miss!=0)
miss_class
## # A tibble: 5 x 2
##   Class                        miss
##   <fct>                       <dbl>
## 1 2-4-d-injury                  450
## 2 cyst-nematode                 336
## 3 diaporthe-pod-&-stem-blight   177
## 4 herbicide-injury              160
## 5 phytophthora-rot             1214

Since there is 18% of data are missing, The majority of them are in the phytophthora-rot class which has nearly 10% among the 18% of missing data. There are five variables have missing data, and the pattern of missing data is based on the classes. Mostly the phytophthora-rot class, and rest of 4 variables share about 8% of missing values.

  1. Develop a strategy for handling missing data, either by eliminating predictors or imputation.
library(mice)
## 
## Attaching package: 'mice'
## The following objects are masked from 'package:base':
## 
##     cbind, rbind
handle_miss<- mice(Soybean, method="pmm", printFlag=F, seed=200)
## Warning: Number of logged events: 1669
aggr(complete(handle_miss), prop = c(T, T), bars=T, numbers=T, sortVars=T)

## 
##  Variables sorted by number of missings: 
##         Variable Count
##            Class     0
##             date     0
##      plant.stand     0
##           precip     0
##             temp     0
##             hail     0
##        crop.hist     0
##         area.dam     0
##            sever     0
##         seed.tmt     0
##             germ     0
##     plant.growth     0
##           leaves     0
##        leaf.halo     0
##        leaf.marg     0
##        leaf.size     0
##      leaf.shread     0
##        leaf.malf     0
##        leaf.mild     0
##             stem     0
##          lodging     0
##     stem.cankers     0
##    canker.lesion     0
##  fruiting.bodies     0
##        ext.decay     0
##         mycelium     0
##     int.discolor     0
##        sclerotia     0
##       fruit.pods     0
##      fruit.spots     0
##             seed     0
##      mold.growth     0
##    seed.discolor     0
##        seed.size     0
##       shriveling     0
##            roots     0

Using mice function to handling missing data, and the plot shows there is no missing value in data.