33,402 research outputs found
Generalized Bayesian Multidimensional Scaling and Model Comparison
Multidimensional scaling is widely used to reconstruct a map with the points'
coordinates in a low-dimensional space from the original high-dimensional space
while preserving the pairwise distances. In a Bayesian framework, the current
approach using Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithms has limitations in terms of
model generalization and performance comparison. To address these limitations,
a general framework that incorporates non-Gaussian errors and robustness to fit
different types of dissimilarities is developed. Then, an adaptive inference
method using annealed Sequential Monte Carlo algorithm for Bayesian
multidimensional scaling is proposed. This algorithm performs inference
sequentially in time and provides an approximate posterior distribution over
the points' coordinates in a low-dimensional space and an unbiased estimator
for the marginal likelihood. In this study, we compare the performance of
different models based on marginal likelihoods, which are produced as a
byproduct of the adaptive annealed Sequential Monte Carlo algorithm. Using
synthetic and real data, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed
algorithm. Our results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms other
benchmark algorithms under the same computational budget based on common
metrics used in the literature. The implementation of our proposed method and
applications are available at https://github.com/nunujiarui/GBMDS
Efficient Sequential Monte-Carlo Samplers for Bayesian Inference
In many problems, complex non-Gaussian and/or nonlinear models are required
to accurately describe a physical system of interest. In such cases, Monte
Carlo algorithms are remarkably flexible and extremely powerful approaches to
solve such inference problems. However, in the presence of a high-dimensional
and/or multimodal posterior distribution, it is widely documented that standard
Monte-Carlo techniques could lead to poor performance. In this paper, the study
is focused on a Sequential Monte-Carlo (SMC) sampler framework, a more robust
and efficient Monte Carlo algorithm. Although this approach presents many
advantages over traditional Monte-Carlo methods, the potential of this emergent
technique is however largely underexploited in signal processing. In this work,
we aim at proposing some novel strategies that will improve the efficiency and
facilitate practical implementation of the SMC sampler specifically for signal
processing applications. Firstly, we propose an automatic and adaptive strategy
that selects the sequence of distributions within the SMC sampler that
minimizes the asymptotic variance of the estimator of the posterior
normalization constant. This is critical for performing model selection in
modelling applications in Bayesian signal processing. The second original
contribution we present improves the global efficiency of the SMC sampler by
introducing a novel correction mechanism that allows the use of the particles
generated through all the iterations of the algorithm (instead of only
particles from the last iteration). This is a significant contribution as it
removes the need to discard a large portion of the samples obtained, as is
standard in standard SMC methods. This will improve estimation performance in
practical settings where computational budget is important to consider.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1303.3123 by other author
Stochastic methods for solving high-dimensional partial differential equations
We propose algorithms for solving high-dimensional Partial Differential
Equations (PDEs) that combine a probabilistic interpretation of PDEs, through
Feynman-Kac representation, with sparse interpolation. Monte-Carlo methods and
time-integration schemes are used to estimate pointwise evaluations of the
solution of a PDE. We use a sequential control variates algorithm, where
control variates are constructed based on successive approximations of the
solution of the PDE. Two different algorithms are proposed, combining in
different ways the sequential control variates algorithm and adaptive sparse
interpolation. Numerical examples will illustrate the behavior of these
algorithms
Generating sequential space-filling designs using genetic algorithms and Monte Carlo methods
In this paper, the authors compare a Monte Carlo method and an optimization-based approach using genetic algorithms for sequentially generating space-filling experimental designs. It is shown that Monte Carlo methods perform better than genetic algorithms for this specific problem
Group Importance Sampling for Particle Filtering and MCMC
Bayesian methods and their implementations by means of sophisticated Monte
Carlo techniques have become very popular in signal processing over the last
years. Importance Sampling (IS) is a well-known Monte Carlo technique that
approximates integrals involving a posterior distribution by means of weighted
samples. In this work, we study the assignation of a single weighted sample
which compresses the information contained in a population of weighted samples.
Part of the theory that we present as Group Importance Sampling (GIS) has been
employed implicitly in different works in the literature. The provided analysis
yields several theoretical and practical consequences. For instance, we discuss
the application of GIS into the Sequential Importance Resampling framework and
show that Independent Multiple Try Metropolis schemes can be interpreted as a
standard Metropolis-Hastings algorithm, following the GIS approach. We also
introduce two novel Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques based on GIS.
The first one, named Group Metropolis Sampling method, produces a Markov chain
of sets of weighted samples. All these sets are then employed for obtaining a
unique global estimator. The second one is the Distributed Particle
Metropolis-Hastings technique, where different parallel particle filters are
jointly used to drive an MCMC algorithm. Different resampled trajectories are
compared and then tested with a proper acceptance probability. The novel
schemes are tested in different numerical experiments such as learning the
hyperparameters of Gaussian Processes, two localization problems in a wireless
sensor network (with synthetic and real data) and the tracking of vegetation
parameters given satellite observations, where they are compared with several
benchmark Monte Carlo techniques. Three illustrative Matlab demos are also
provided.Comment: To appear in Digital Signal Processing. Related Matlab demos are
provided at https://github.com/lukafree/GIS.gi
An Adaptive Interacting Wang-Landau Algorithm for Automatic Density Exploration
While statisticians are well-accustomed to performing exploratory analysis in
the modeling stage of an analysis, the notion of conducting preliminary
general-purpose exploratory analysis in the Monte Carlo stage (or more
generally, the model-fitting stage) of an analysis is an area which we feel
deserves much further attention. Towards this aim, this paper proposes a
general-purpose algorithm for automatic density exploration. The proposed
exploration algorithm combines and expands upon components from various
adaptive Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, with the Wang-Landau algorithm at
its heart. Additionally, the algorithm is run on interacting parallel chains --
a feature which both decreases computational cost as well as stabilizes the
algorithm, improving its ability to explore the density. Performance is studied
in several applications. Through a Bayesian variable selection example, the
authors demonstrate the convergence gains obtained with interacting chains. The
ability of the algorithm's adaptive proposal to induce mode-jumping is
illustrated through a trimodal density and a Bayesian mixture modeling
application. Lastly, through a 2D Ising model, the authors demonstrate the
ability of the algorithm to overcome the high correlations encountered in
spatial models.Comment: 33 pages, 20 figures (the supplementary materials are included as
appendices
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