title: Consensus clustering based on a new Probabilistic Rand Index with application to subtopic retrieval.
abstract: We introduce a probabilistic version of the well-known Rand Index (RI) for measuring the similarity between two partitions, called Probabilistic Rand Index (PRI), in which agreements and disagreements at the object-pair level are weighted according to the probability of their occurring by chance. We then cast consensus clustering as an optimization problem of the PRI value between a target partition and a set of given partitions, experimenting with a simple and very efficient stochastic optimization algorithm. Remarkable performance gains over input partitions as well as over existing related methods are demonstrated through a range of applications, including a new use of consensus clustering to improve subtopic retrieval.
authors.affiliation: Fondazione Ugo Bordoni, Viale del Policlinico 147, 00161 Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Carpineto
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Romano