10,612 research outputs found
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
Discriminative conditional restricted Boltzmann machine for discrete choice and latent variable modelling
Conventional methods of estimating latent behaviour generally use attitudinal
questions which are subjective and these survey questions may not always be
available. We hypothesize that an alternative approach can be used for latent
variable estimation through an undirected graphical models. For instance,
non-parametric artificial neural networks. In this study, we explore the use of
generative non-parametric modelling methods to estimate latent variables from
prior choice distribution without the conventional use of measurement
indicators. A restricted Boltzmann machine is used to represent latent
behaviour factors by analyzing the relationship information between the
observed choices and explanatory variables. The algorithm is adapted for latent
behaviour analysis in discrete choice scenario and we use a graphical approach
to evaluate and understand the semantic meaning from estimated parameter vector
values. We illustrate our methodology on a financial instrument choice dataset
and perform statistical analysis on parameter sensitivity and stability. Our
findings show that through non-parametric statistical tests, we can extract
useful latent information on the behaviour of latent constructs through machine
learning methods and present strong and significant influence on the choice
process. Furthermore, our modelling framework shows robustness in input
variability through sampling and validation
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