Multi-Objective Clustering Based on Congestion Games With Player-Specific Cost Functions

Cluster analysis, the unsupervised identification of homogeneous groups within data, has become essential in numerous domains due to its broad applicability. As a central task in unsupervised learning, clustering aims to uncover the underlying structure of data by grouping similar instances without...

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Main Authors: Dalila Kessira, Mohand-Tahar Kechadi
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IEEE 2025-01-01
Series:IEEE Access
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11050432/
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author Dalila Kessira
Mohand-Tahar Kechadi
author_facet Dalila Kessira
Mohand-Tahar Kechadi
author_sort Dalila Kessira
collection DOAJ
description Cluster analysis, the unsupervised identification of homogeneous groups within data, has become essential in numerous domains due to its broad applicability. As a central task in unsupervised learning, clustering aims to uncover the underlying structure of data by grouping similar instances without relying on predefined labels. This paper proposes a multi-objective clustering technique based on concepts from game theory. In particular, we formulate the clustering problem using Singleton Congestion Games with Player-Specific Cost Functions, a sub-class of non-cooperative simultaneous-move games, in which cluster heads act as players and data objects are treated as resources. This clustering model is solved using the Nash equilibrium as the solution concept, which can be computed in polynomial time, thereby ensuring favourable computational complexity for the proposed algorithm, MOCA-II. Experimental results on diverse synthetic and real-world datasets demonstrate that MOCA-II outperforms both mono-objective and multi-objective state-of-the-art clustering methods in terms of clustering quality and efficiency.
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spelling doaj-art-961cf37bc586451bba5fbb92a894b5e72025-08-20T02:43:32ZengIEEEIEEE Access2169-35362025-01-011311255211256710.1109/ACCESS.2025.358324011050432Multi-Objective Clustering Based on Congestion Games With Player-Specific Cost FunctionsDalila Kessira0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4022-5277Mohand-Tahar Kechadi1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0176-6281LIMED Laboratory, Faculty of Exact Sciences, University of Bejaia, Bejaia, AlgeriaInsight Centre for Data Analytics, University College of Dublin, Dublin, IrelandCluster analysis, the unsupervised identification of homogeneous groups within data, has become essential in numerous domains due to its broad applicability. As a central task in unsupervised learning, clustering aims to uncover the underlying structure of data by grouping similar instances without relying on predefined labels. This paper proposes a multi-objective clustering technique based on concepts from game theory. In particular, we formulate the clustering problem using Singleton Congestion Games with Player-Specific Cost Functions, a sub-class of non-cooperative simultaneous-move games, in which cluster heads act as players and data objects are treated as resources. This clustering model is solved using the Nash equilibrium as the solution concept, which can be computed in polynomial time, thereby ensuring favourable computational complexity for the proposed algorithm, MOCA-II. Experimental results on diverse synthetic and real-world datasets demonstrate that MOCA-II outperforms both mono-objective and multi-objective state-of-the-art clustering methods in terms of clustering quality and efficiency.https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11050432/Clusteringgame theorynon-cooperative gamescongestion games with player-specific cost functionsmulti-objectivenash equilibrium
spellingShingle Dalila Kessira
Mohand-Tahar Kechadi
Multi-Objective Clustering Based on Congestion Games With Player-Specific Cost Functions
IEEE Access
Clustering
game theory
non-cooperative games
congestion games with player-specific cost functions
multi-objective
nash equilibrium
title Multi-Objective Clustering Based on Congestion Games With Player-Specific Cost Functions
title_full Multi-Objective Clustering Based on Congestion Games With Player-Specific Cost Functions
title_fullStr Multi-Objective Clustering Based on Congestion Games With Player-Specific Cost Functions
title_full_unstemmed Multi-Objective Clustering Based on Congestion Games With Player-Specific Cost Functions
title_short Multi-Objective Clustering Based on Congestion Games With Player-Specific Cost Functions
title_sort multi objective clustering based on congestion games with player specific cost functions
topic Clustering
game theory
non-cooperative games
congestion games with player-specific cost functions
multi-objective
nash equilibrium
url https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/11050432/
work_keys_str_mv AT dalilakessira multiobjectiveclusteringbasedoncongestiongameswithplayerspecificcostfunctions
AT mohandtaharkechadi multiobjectiveclusteringbasedoncongestiongameswithplayerspecificcostfunctions