10,018 research outputs found
Bayesian Recurrent Neural Network Models for Forecasting and Quantifying Uncertainty in Spatial-Temporal Data
Recurrent neural networks (RNNs) are nonlinear dynamical models commonly used
in the machine learning and dynamical systems literature to represent complex
dynamical or sequential relationships between variables. More recently, as deep
learning models have become more common, RNNs have been used to forecast
increasingly complicated systems. Dynamical spatio-temporal processes represent
a class of complex systems that can potentially benefit from these types of
models. Although the RNN literature is expansive and highly developed,
uncertainty quantification is often ignored. Even when considered, the
uncertainty is generally quantified without the use of a rigorous framework,
such as a fully Bayesian setting. Here we attempt to quantify uncertainty in a
more formal framework while maintaining the forecast accuracy that makes these
models appealing, by presenting a Bayesian RNN model for nonlinear
spatio-temporal forecasting. Additionally, we make simple modifications to the
basic RNN to help accommodate the unique nature of nonlinear spatio-temporal
data. The proposed model is applied to a Lorenz simulation and two real-world
nonlinear spatio-temporal forecasting applications
Variable Selection for Nonparametric Gaussian Process Priors: Models and Computational Strategies
This paper presents a unified treatment of Gaussian process models that
extends to data from the exponential dispersion family and to survival data.
Our specific interest is in the analysis of data sets with predictors that have
an a priori unknown form of possibly nonlinear associations to the response.
The modeling approach we describe incorporates Gaussian processes in a
generalized linear model framework to obtain a class of nonparametric
regression models where the covariance matrix depends on the predictors. We
consider, in particular, continuous, categorical and count responses. We also
look into models that account for survival outcomes. We explore alternative
covariance formulations for the Gaussian process prior and demonstrate the
flexibility of the construction. Next, we focus on the important problem of
selecting variables from the set of possible predictors and describe a general
framework that employs mixture priors. We compare alternative MCMC strategies
for posterior inference and achieve a computationally efficient and practical
approach. We demonstrate performances on simulated and benchmark data sets.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/11-STS354 the Statistical
Science (http://www.imstat.org/sts/) by the Institute of Mathematical
Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
Joining Forces of Bayesian and Frequentist Methodology: A Study for Inference in the Presence of Non-Identifiability
Increasingly complex applications involve large datasets in combination with
non-linear and high dimensional mathematical models. In this context,
statistical inference is a challenging issue that calls for pragmatic
approaches that take advantage of both Bayesian and frequentist methods. The
elegance of Bayesian methodology is founded in the propagation of information
content provided by experimental data and prior assumptions to the posterior
probability distribution of model predictions. However, for complex
applications experimental data and prior assumptions potentially constrain the
posterior probability distribution insufficiently. In these situations Bayesian
Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling can be infeasible. From a frequentist point
of view insufficient experimental data and prior assumptions can be interpreted
as non-identifiability. The profile likelihood approach offers to detect and to
resolve non-identifiability by experimental design iteratively. Therefore, it
allows one to better constrain the posterior probability distribution until
Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling can be used securely. Using an application
from cell biology we compare both methods and show that a successive
application of both methods facilitates a realistic assessment of uncertainty
in model predictions.Comment: Article to appear in Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc.
Sequential Bayesian inference for static parameters in dynamic state space models
A method for sequential Bayesian inference of the static parameters of a
dynamic state space model is proposed. The method is based on the observation
that many dynamic state space models have a relatively small number of static
parameters (or hyper-parameters), so that in principle the posterior can be
computed and stored on a discrete grid of practical size which can be tracked
dynamically. Further to this, this approach is able to use any existing
methodology which computes the filtering and prediction distributions of the
state process. Kalman filter and its extensions to non-linear/non-Gaussian
situations have been used in this paper. This is illustrated using several
applications: linear Gaussian model, Binomial model, stochastic volatility
model and the extremely non-linear univariate non-stationary growth model.
Performance has been compared to both existing on-line method and off-line
methods
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