Comprehensive Multi-view Graph Structural Representation Learning via Hierarchical Graph Coarsening

Core Concepts

A novel multi-view graph structural representation learning model that leverages graph coarsening and line graph conversion to capture high-level topological structures and relative position information for improved graph classification performance.

Abstract

The paper proposes a novel multi-view graph structural representation learning model called MSLgo, which aims to learn comprehensive structural representations for graph-level tasks such as graph classification.
The key insights are:

Treating graph structures node-like as a whole via graph coarsening can magnify high-level structural information, but may lose relative position information.
MSLgo constructs three unique views to address this:

Original graph view
Graph coarsening view: Compresses loops and cliques using a hierarchical heuristic algorithm with constraints on loop length and hierarchy depth.
Line graph conversion view: Transforms the graph into an edge-centric perspective to retain relative position information.

MSLgo trains a Graph Transformer (GT) encoder for each view and concatenates the representations as the final graph embedding.
Experiments on 6 real-world datasets show that MSLgo outperforms 14 baselines from various architectures, demonstrating the effectiveness of the multi-view structural representation learning approach.

Stats

The average number of nodes (Avg.N) and edges (Avg.E) for the 6 datasets are:
CO: 74.49, 2457.78
IB: 19.77, 96.53
IM: 13.00, 65.94
DD: 284.32, 715.66
N1: 29.87, 32.30
PTC: 14.29, 14.69

Quotes

"Some structures such as molecular fragments and functional groups contain rich semantics. Random perturbation of these structures will produce additional structural information, which has been proved to be invalid nevertheless."
"Pre-experiments tell us two enlightenments: (1) some structures contribute relatively less to distinguish graphs, which can further turn into a coarsening view to magnify the high-level structural information; (2) after treating structures node-like as a whole, some of the structural information may be traceless, calling for additional consideration for the relative position of neighborhoods."

Key Insights Distilled From

Multi-view Graph Structural Representation Learning via Graph Coarsening

by Xiaorui Qi,Q... at arxiv.org 04-19-2024

https://arxiv.org/pdf/2404.11869.pdf

Deeper Inquiries

How can the proposed multi-view approach be extended to handle dynamic graphs or heterogeneous graphs

The proposed multi-view approach can be extended to handle dynamic graphs by incorporating temporal information into the model. One way to achieve this is by adding a time dimension to the graph data, where each snapshot of the dynamic graph is treated as a separate view. By considering the evolution of the graph over time, the model can capture temporal dependencies and changes in the graph structure. Additionally, techniques such as graph attention mechanisms can be used to focus on different parts of the graph at different time steps, allowing the model to adapt to the dynamic nature of the graph.
For heterogeneous graphs, the multi-view approach can be extended by incorporating different types of views that capture the diverse types of nodes and edges in the graph. Each view can represent a specific aspect of the heterogeneous graph, such as node attributes, edge types, or relationships between different types of nodes. By combining these heterogeneous views, the model can learn a more comprehensive representation of the graph that takes into account its diverse nature.

What are the potential limitations of the graph coarsening and line graph conversion techniques, and how can they be further improved

One potential limitation of the graph coarsening technique is the loss of fine-grained structural information during the compression process. While coarsening helps to simplify the graph and capture high-level structural patterns, it may also discard important details that could be relevant for downstream tasks. To address this limitation, the coarsening process can be refined by incorporating more sophisticated clustering algorithms that preserve essential structural characteristics. Additionally, adaptive coarsening strategies that dynamically adjust the level of compression based on the specific graph properties can help mitigate information loss.
Similarly, the line graph conversion technique may face challenges in capturing complex edge relationships and positional information in the original graph. To improve this technique, more advanced methods for constructing line graphs can be explored, such as considering higher-order relationships between edges or incorporating edge attributes into the conversion process. By enhancing the fidelity of the line graph representation, the model can better capture the relative positions and interactions between nodes in the graph.

Can the insights from this work be applied to other graph-based tasks beyond graph classification, such as graph generation or graph-based recommendation systems

The insights from this work can be applied to other graph-based tasks beyond graph classification, such as graph generation or graph-based recommendation systems. For graph generation, the idea of treating graph structures as a whole and leveraging multiple views can be utilized to generate diverse and realistic graphs. By incorporating coarsening and conversion techniques into the graph generation process, the model can learn to generate graphs with specific structural properties and relationships.
In the context of graph-based recommendation systems, the multi-view approach can be beneficial for capturing different aspects of user-item interactions and preferences. By representing users and items as nodes in a graph and using multiple views to encode different types of interactions (e.g., ratings, preferences, social connections), the model can learn more informative representations for recommendation tasks. Additionally, techniques such as graph coarsening and line graph conversion can help in extracting meaningful features from the interaction graph and improving the recommendation accuracy.