Transfer Learning with Network Embeddings under Structured Missingness

Fuente: arXiv
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Auteurs principaux: Li, Mengyan, Li, Xiaoou, Mandl, Kenneth D, Cai, Tianxi
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Li, Mengyan
Li, Xiaoou
Mandl, Kenneth D
Cai, Tianxi
author_facet Li, Mengyan
Li, Xiaoou
Mandl, Kenneth D
Cai, Tianxi
contents Modern data-driven applications increasingly rely on large, heterogeneous datasets collected across multiple sites. Differences in data availability, feature representation, and underlying populations often induce structured missingness, complicating efforts to transfer information from data-rich settings to those with limited data. Many transfer learning methods overlook this structure, limiting their ability to capture meaningful relationships across sites. We propose TransNEST (Transfer learning with Network Embeddings under STructured missingness), a framework that integrates graphical data from source and target sites with prior group structure to construct and refine network embeddings. TransNEST accommodates site-specific features, captures within-group heterogeneity and between-site differences adaptively, and improves embedding estimation under partial feature overlap. We establish the convergence rate for the TransNEST estimator and demonstrate strong finite-sample performance in simulations. We apply TransNEST to a multi-site electronic health record study, transferring feature embeddings from a general hospital system to a pediatric hospital system. Using a hierarchical ontology structure, TransNEST improves pediatric embeddings and supports more accurate pediatric knowledge extraction, achieving the best accuracy for identifying pediatric-specific relational feature pairs compared with benchmark methods.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_19922
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Transfer Learning with Network Embeddings under Structured Missingness
Li, Mengyan
Li, Xiaoou
Mandl, Kenneth D
Cai, Tianxi
Methodology
Modern data-driven applications increasingly rely on large, heterogeneous datasets collected across multiple sites. Differences in data availability, feature representation, and underlying populations often induce structured missingness, complicating efforts to transfer information from data-rich settings to those with limited data. Many transfer learning methods overlook this structure, limiting their ability to capture meaningful relationships across sites. We propose TransNEST (Transfer learning with Network Embeddings under STructured missingness), a framework that integrates graphical data from source and target sites with prior group structure to construct and refine network embeddings. TransNEST accommodates site-specific features, captures within-group heterogeneity and between-site differences adaptively, and improves embedding estimation under partial feature overlap. We establish the convergence rate for the TransNEST estimator and demonstrate strong finite-sample performance in simulations. We apply TransNEST to a multi-site electronic health record study, transferring feature embeddings from a general hospital system to a pediatric hospital system. Using a hierarchical ontology structure, TransNEST improves pediatric embeddings and supports more accurate pediatric knowledge extraction, achieving the best accuracy for identifying pediatric-specific relational feature pairs compared with benchmark methods.
title Transfer Learning with Network Embeddings under Structured Missingness
topic Methodology
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.19922