caret::train: specify training data parameters

Question

I am designing a neural network model that predicts estimation of van genuchten water retention parameters (theta_r, thera_s, alpha, n) using limited to more extended input data like texture, bulk density, and one or two water retention. Investigating neural networks in R project I found RSNNS package and I create and train multiple multi-layer perceptrons (MLPs) with tuning on the number of hidden units and the learning rate. The general performance characterized with training and testing RMSEs for these models is really poor and random, in fact, i used log-transformed values of alpha and n parameters to avoid bias and account for their approximately lognormal distributions but this does not help much :(. I was recommended to work with nnet and caret package but I've had trouble adapting the code i don't know what I'm doing wrong, any suggestion?

#input dataset
basic <- read.table(url("https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/m8qe4k5swz1m3ij/basic.txt?dl=1&token_hash=AAH6Z3d6fWTLoQZYi04Ys72sdufdERE5gm4v7eF0cgMlkQ"), header=T, sep=" ")
#output dataset
fitted <- read.table(url("https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/s/rjx745ej80osbbu/fitted.txt?dl=1&token_hash=AAHP1zcPQyw4uSe8rw8swVm3Buqe3TP7I1j-4_SOeeUTvw"), header=T, sep=" ")

# Use log-transformed values of alpha and n output parameters
fitted$alpha <- log(fitted$alpha)
fitted$n <- log(fitted$n)


#Fit model with caret package
library(caret)
model <- train(x = basic, y = fitted, method='nnet', linout=TRUE, trace = FALSE,
               #Grid of tuning parameters to try:
               tuneGrid=expand.grid(.size=c(1,5,10),.decay=c(0,0.001,0.1)))

Is it possible train a NN with more of an output parameter using caret package? — user2806134
Are you asking of train can use more than one outcome at a time? If so, it can only use one at a time. — topepo

David David · Accepted Answer · 2013-10-28T16:00:09

caret is just a wrapper to the algorithms it is calling so you can specify any parameter in the algorith even if it is not an option in caret's tuning grid. This is accomplishing via the "..." in caret's train() function, which is basically saying that you can pass any extra parameters into the method you are calling. I'm not sure what parameters you want to adjust to your nnet call (and I'm getting errors accessing your dropbox data) so here is a trivial example passing in specific values to maxit and Hess:

> library(caret)
> m1 <- train(Species~.,data=iris, method='nnet', linout=TRUE, trace = FALSE,trControl=trainControl("cv"))
> #this time pass in values for maxint and Hess
> m2 <- train(Species~.,data=iris, method='nnet', linout=TRUE, trace = FALSE,trControl=trainControl("cv"),maxint=10,Hess=T)
> m1$finalModel$call
nnet.formula(formula = modFormula, data = data, size = tuneValue$.size, 
    decay = tuneValue$.decay, linout = TRUE, trace = FALSE)
> m2$finalModel$call
nnet.formula(formula = modFormula, data = data, size = tuneValue$.size, 
    decay = tuneValue$.decay, linout = TRUE, trace = FALSE, maxint = 10, 
    Hess = ..4)

caret::train: specify training data parameters

1 Answers