Nonparametric Bayesian Mixed-effect Model: a Sparse Gaussian Process Approach

Multi-task learning models using Gaussian processes (GP) have been developed and successfully applied in various applications. The main difficulty with this approach is the computational cost of inference using the union of examples from all tasks. Therefore sparse solutions, that avoid using the entire data directly and instead use a set of informative "representatives" are desirable. The paper investigates this problem for the grouped mixed-effect GP model where each individual response is given by a fixed-effect, taken from one of a set of unknown groups, plus a random individual effect function that captures variations among individuals. Such models have been widely used in previous work but no sparse solutions have been developed. The paper presents the first sparse solution for such problems, showing how the sparse approximation can be obtained by maximizing a variational lower bound on the marginal likelihood, generalizing ideas from single-task Gaussian processes to handle the mixed-effect model as well as grouping. Experiments using artificial and real data validate the approach showing that it can recover the performance of inference with the full sample, that it outperforms baseline methods, and that it outperforms state of the art sparse solutions for other multi-task GP formulations.Comment: Preliminary version appeared in ECML201

A note on the Gauge Symmetries of Unimodular Gravity

The symmetries of Unimodular Gravity are clarified somewhat.Comment: 4 pages, v2: acknowledgments correcte

Combining interactive GIS tools and expert knowledge in validation of tree species models

Poster presented at XIII Congreso Forestal Mundial. FAO, Buenos Aires (Argentina). 18-25 Oct 200

Quantum Corrections to Unimodular Gravity

The problem of the cosmological constant appears in a new light in Unimodular Gravity. In particular, the zero momentum piece of the potential (that is, the constant piece independent of the matter fields) does not automatically produce a cosmological constant proportional to it. The aim of this paper is to give some details on a calculation showing that quantum corrections do not renormalize the classical value of this observable.Comment: 34 page

Effect of deformation on two-neutrino double beta decay matrix elements

We study the effect of deformation on the two-neutrino double beta decay for ground state to ground state transitions in all the nuclei whose half-lives have been measured. Our theoretical framework is a deformed QRPA based in Woods-Saxon or Hartree-Fock mean fields. We are able to reproduce at the same time the main characteristics of the two single beta branches, as well as the double beta matrix elements. We find a suppression of the double beta matrix element with respect to the spherical case when the parent and daughter nuclei have different deformations