Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifiers are high-performance classification models devised to comply with the structural
risk minimization principle and to properly exploit the kernel artifice of nonlinearly mapping input data into high-dimensional
feature spaces toward the automatic construction of better discriminating linear decision boundaries. Among several SVM variants,
Least-Squares SVMs (LS-SVMs) have gained increased attention recently due mainly to their computationally attractive properties
coming as the direct result of applying a modified formulation that makes use of a sum-squared-error cost function jointly
with equality, instead of inequality, constraints. In this work, we present a flexible hybrid approach aimed at augmenting
the proficiency of LS-SVM classifiers with regard to accuracy/generalization as well as to hyperparameter calibration issues.
Such approach, named as Mixtures of Weighted Least-Squares Support Vector Machine Experts, centers around the fusion of the
weighted variant of LS-SVMs with Mixtures of Experts models. After the formal characterization of the novel learning framework,
simulation results obtained with respect to both binary and multiclass pattern classification problems are reported, ratifying
the suitability of the novel hybrid approach in improving the performance issues considered.
Keywords Mixtures of experts - Least squares support vector machines - Pattern classification - Hybridization