1,368 research outputs found
The Neural Particle Filter
The robust estimation of dynamically changing features, such as the position
of prey, is one of the hallmarks of perception. On an abstract, algorithmic
level, nonlinear Bayesian filtering, i.e. the estimation of temporally changing
signals based on the history of observations, provides a mathematical framework
for dynamic perception in real time. Since the general, nonlinear filtering
problem is analytically intractable, particle filters are considered among the
most powerful approaches to approximating the solution numerically. Yet, these
algorithms prevalently rely on importance weights, and thus it remains an
unresolved question how the brain could implement such an inference strategy
with a neuronal population. Here, we propose the Neural Particle Filter (NPF),
a weight-less particle filter that can be interpreted as the neuronal dynamics
of a recurrently connected neural network that receives feed-forward input from
sensory neurons and represents the posterior probability distribution in terms
of samples. Specifically, this algorithm bridges the gap between the
computational task of online state estimation and an implementation that allows
networks of neurons in the brain to perform nonlinear Bayesian filtering. The
model captures not only the properties of temporal and multisensory integration
according to Bayesian statistics, but also allows online learning with a
maximum likelihood approach. With an example from multisensory integration, we
demonstrate that the numerical performance of the model is adequate to account
for both filtering and identification problems. Due to the weightless approach,
our algorithm alleviates the 'curse of dimensionality' and thus outperforms
conventional, weighted particle filters in higher dimensions for a limited
number of particles
Asymptotic learning curves of kernel methods: empirical data v.s. Teacher-Student paradigm
How many training data are needed to learn a supervised task? It is often
observed that the generalization error decreases as where is
the number of training examples and an exponent that depends on both
data and algorithm. In this work we measure when applying kernel
methods to real datasets. For MNIST we find and for CIFAR10
, for both regression and classification tasks, and for
Gaussian or Laplace kernels. To rationalize the existence of non-trivial
exponents that can be independent of the specific kernel used, we study the
Teacher-Student framework for kernels. In this scheme, a Teacher generates data
according to a Gaussian random field, and a Student learns them via kernel
regression. With a simplifying assumption -- namely that the data are sampled
from a regular lattice -- we derive analytically for translation
invariant kernels, using previous results from the kriging literature. Provided
that the Student is not too sensitive to high frequencies, depends only
on the smoothness and dimension of the training data. We confirm numerically
that these predictions hold when the training points are sampled at random on a
hypersphere. Overall, the test error is found to be controlled by the magnitude
of the projection of the true function on the kernel eigenvectors whose rank is
larger than . Using this idea we predict relate the exponent to an
exponent describing how the coefficients of the true function in the
eigenbasis of the kernel decay with rank. We extract from real data by
performing kernel PCA, leading to for MNIST and
for CIFAR10, in good agreement with observations. We argue
that these rather large exponents are possible due to the small effective
dimension of the data.Comment: We added (i) the prediction of the exponent for real data
using kernel PCA; (ii) the generalization of our results to non-Gaussian data
from reference [11] (Bordelon et al., "Spectrum Dependent Learning Curves in
Kernel Regression and Wide Neural Networks"
A New Perspective and Extension of the Gaussian Filter
The Gaussian Filter (GF) is one of the most widely used filtering algorithms;
instances are the Extended Kalman Filter, the Unscented Kalman Filter and the
Divided Difference Filter. GFs represent the belief of the current state by a
Gaussian with the mean being an affine function of the measurement. We show
that this representation can be too restrictive to accurately capture the
dependences in systems with nonlinear observation models, and we investigate
how the GF can be generalized to alleviate this problem. To this end, we view
the GF from a variational-inference perspective. We analyse how restrictions on
the form of the belief can be relaxed while maintaining simplicity and
efficiency. This analysis provides a basis for generalizations of the GF. We
propose one such generalization which coincides with a GF using a virtual
measurement, obtained by applying a nonlinear function to the actual
measurement. Numerical experiments show that the proposed Feature Gaussian
Filter (FGF) can have a substantial performance advantage over the standard GF
for systems with nonlinear observation models.Comment: Will appear in Robotics: Science and Systems (R:SS) 201
Multi-scale control variate methods for uncertainty quantification in kinetic equations
Kinetic equations play a major rule in modeling large systems of interacting
particles. Uncertainties may be due to various reasons, like lack of knowledge
on the microscopic interaction details or incomplete informations at the
boundaries. These uncertainties, however, contribute to the curse of
dimensionality and the development of efficient numerical methods is a
challenge. In this paper we consider the construction of novel multi-scale
methods for such problems which, thanks to a control variate approach, are
capable to reduce the variance of standard Monte Carlo techniques
Scalable Population Synthesis with Deep Generative Modeling
Population synthesis is concerned with the generation of synthetic yet
realistic representations of populations. It is a fundamental problem in the
modeling of transport where the synthetic populations of micro-agents represent
a key input to most agent-based models. In this paper, a new methodological
framework for how to 'grow' pools of micro-agents is presented. The model
framework adopts a deep generative modeling approach from machine learning
based on a Variational Autoencoder (VAE). Compared to the previous population
synthesis approaches, including Iterative Proportional Fitting (IPF), Gibbs
sampling and traditional generative models such as Bayesian Networks or Hidden
Markov Models, the proposed method allows fitting the full joint distribution
for high dimensions. The proposed methodology is compared with a conventional
Gibbs sampler and a Bayesian Network by using a large-scale Danish trip diary.
It is shown that, while these two methods outperform the VAE in the
low-dimensional case, they both suffer from scalability issues when the number
of modeled attributes increases. It is also shown that the Gibbs sampler
essentially replicates the agents from the original sample when the required
conditional distributions are estimated as frequency tables. In contrast, the
VAE allows addressing the problem of sampling zeros by generating agents that
are virtually different from those in the original data but have similar
statistical properties. The presented approach can support agent-based modeling
at all levels by enabling richer synthetic populations with smaller zones and
more detailed individual characteristics.Comment: 27 pages, 15 figures, 4 table
Data-driven model reduction and transfer operator approximation
In this review paper, we will present different data-driven dimension
reduction techniques for dynamical systems that are based on transfer operator
theory as well as methods to approximate transfer operators and their
eigenvalues, eigenfunctions, and eigenmodes. The goal is to point out
similarities and differences between methods developed independently by the
dynamical systems, fluid dynamics, and molecular dynamics communities such as
time-lagged independent component analysis (TICA), dynamic mode decomposition
(DMD), and their respective generalizations. As a result, extensions and best
practices developed for one particular method can be carried over to other
related methods
Analytical approximation to the multidimensional Fokker--Planck equation with steady state
The Fokker--Planck equation is a key ingredient of many models in physics,
and related subjects, and arises in a diverse array of settings. Analytical
solutions are limited to special cases, and resorting to numerical simulation
is often the only route available; in high dimensions, or for parametric
studies, this can become unwieldy. Using asymptotic techniques, that draw upon
the known Ornstein--Uhlenbeck (OU) case, we consider a mean-reverting system
and obtain its representation as a product of terms, representing short-term,
long-term, and medium-term behaviour. A further reduction yields a simple
explicit formula, both intuitive in terms of its physical origin and fast to
evaluate. We illustrate a breadth of cases, some of which are `far' from the OU
model, such as double-well potentials, and even then, perhaps surprisingly, the
approximation still gives very good results when compared with numerical
simulations. Both one- and two-dimensional examples are considered.Comment: Updated version as publishe
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