23,547 research outputs found
Adaptation and learning over networks for nonlinear system modeling
In this chapter, we analyze nonlinear filtering problems in distributed
environments, e.g., sensor networks or peer-to-peer protocols. In these
scenarios, the agents in the environment receive measurements in a streaming
fashion, and they are required to estimate a common (nonlinear) model by
alternating local computations and communications with their neighbors. We
focus on the important distinction between single-task problems, where the
underlying model is common to all agents, and multitask problems, where each
agent might converge to a different model due to, e.g., spatial dependencies or
other factors. Currently, most of the literature on distributed learning in the
nonlinear case has focused on the single-task case, which may be a strong
limitation in real-world scenarios. After introducing the problem and reviewing
the existing approaches, we describe a simple kernel-based algorithm tailored
for the multitask case. We evaluate the proposal on a simulated benchmark task,
and we conclude by detailing currently open problems and lines of research.Comment: To be published as a chapter in `Adaptive Learning Methods for
Nonlinear System Modeling', Elsevier Publishing, Eds. D. Comminiello and J.C.
Principe (2018
Fixed-Form Variational Posterior Approximation through Stochastic Linear Regression
We propose a general algorithm for approximating nonstandard Bayesian
posterior distributions. The algorithm minimizes the Kullback-Leibler
divergence of an approximating distribution to the intractable posterior
distribution. Our method can be used to approximate any posterior distribution,
provided that it is given in closed form up to the proportionality constant.
The approximation can be any distribution in the exponential family or any
mixture of such distributions, which means that it can be made arbitrarily
precise. Several examples illustrate the speed and accuracy of our
approximation method in practice
Sequential Gaussian Processes for Online Learning of Nonstationary Functions
Many machine learning problems can be framed in the context of estimating
functions, and often these are time-dependent functions that are estimated in
real-time as observations arrive. Gaussian processes (GPs) are an attractive
choice for modeling real-valued nonlinear functions due to their flexibility
and uncertainty quantification. However, the typical GP regression model
suffers from several drawbacks: i) Conventional GP inference scales
with respect to the number of observations; ii) updating a GP model
sequentially is not trivial; and iii) covariance kernels often enforce
stationarity constraints on the function, while GPs with non-stationary
covariance kernels are often intractable to use in practice. To overcome these
issues, we propose an online sequential Monte Carlo algorithm to fit mixtures
of GPs that capture non-stationary behavior while allowing for fast,
distributed inference. By formulating hyperparameter optimization as a
multi-armed bandit problem, we accelerate mixing for real time inference. Our
approach empirically improves performance over state-of-the-art methods for
online GP estimation in the context of prediction for simulated non-stationary
data and hospital time series data
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