Integrating Morphological Modeling and Machine Learning for Decision Support

Integrating morphological modeling with machine learning to support structured decision-making (e.g., in management and consulting). The package enumerates a morphospace of feasible configurations and uses random forests to estimate class probabilities over that space, bridging deductive model exploration with empirical validation. It includes utilities for factorizing inputs, model training, morphospace construction, and an interactive 'shiny' app for scenario exploration.

MLmorph

MLmorph integrates morphological modeling with machine learning (random forests) to support structured decision-making. The package enumerates a morphospace—the set of feasible configurations across selected variables—and estimates class probabilities over that space. It includes:

• utilities for factorizing inputs into analysis-ready factors,
• a wrapper to train random forest classifiers and report validation performance,
• construction of morphospaces with predicted probabilities and a flag for purely simulated combinations,
• a Shiny app for interactive scenario exploration.

Installation

# install.packages("devtools")
devtools::install_github("theogrost/MLmorph")

Quick start

library(MLmorph)

set.seed(1)
n  <- 120
y  <- factor(sample(letters[1:3], n, TRUE))
x1 <- factorize_numeric_vector(runif(n, 10, 20), breaks_no = 3)
x2 <- factorize_numeric_vector(runif(n,  1,  2),  breaks_no = 4)
df <- data.frame(y, x1, x2)

# 1) Train a random forest and validate on a holdout
fit <- create_rf_model(df, dependent = "y", ntree = 100, train_validate_split = 0.75)
fit$model                       # randomForest object
head(fit$variables_importance)  # importance per predictor
fit$model_performance_on_test   # caret::confusionMatrix

Morphospace: predicted probabilities over all configurations

ms <- create_morphospace(df, fit$model)

str(ms$morphospace)
# Columns: predictors (x1, x2), '<dependent>' (class label), 'calculated' (probability),
#          'purely_simulated' (TRUE if configuration not observed in df)

# Example: top 10 configurations by predicted probability
head(ms$morphospace[order(ms$morphospace$calculated, decreasing = TRUE), ], 10)

# Probability mass per class (sums to 1 for each unique predictor combination)
aggregate(calculated ~ x1 + x2, data = ms$morphospace, sum)

Factorization helpers

# Numeric → ordered factor via equal-frequency bins (default)
z  <- runif(12)
fz <- factorize_numeric_vector(z, breaks_no = 3)

# Logical → factor with labeled levels
fb <- factorize_binary_vector(c(TRUE, FALSE, TRUE))

# Character → factor with stable, numbered labels
fc <- factorize_character_vector(c("alpha", "beta", "alpha"))

# Apply heuristics column-wise
df2 <- factorize_nicely_dataframe(data.frame(
  a = runif(20), b = c(TRUE, FALSE), c = c("x","y","x","z")
))
str(df2)

Loading data from files

# CSV
tmp_csv <- tempfile(fileext = ".csv")
utils::write.csv(data.frame(a = 1:3, b = c("x","y","z")), tmp_csv, row.names = FALSE)
dat_csv <- load_data(tmp_csv)

# JSON
tmp_json <- tempfile(fileext = ".json")
jsonlite::write_json(list(a = 1:2, b = c("u","v")), tmp_json, auto_unbox = TRUE)
dat_json <- load_data(tmp_json)

# XLSX
tmp_xlsx <- tempfile(fileext = ".xlsx")
openxlsx::write.xlsx(data.frame(a = 1:2, b = c("m","n")), tmp_xlsx)
dat_xlsx <- load_data(tmp_xlsx)

Shiny app

# Launch the interactive app from the installed package
# (opens in browser; not run during automated checks)
# MLmorph()

Reproducibility and citation

To ensure reproducibility, record:

• the variable set and factorization (binning method and parameters),
• model hyperparameters (e.g., ntree),
• the random seed and train/validate split.

If you use MLmorph in research or consulting reports, please cite the package and your model specification.

License

MIT © Oskar Kosch. See LICENSE.md for details.

Issues

Please report bugs or feature requests at this repository's Issues page.