64 research outputs found
On Sampling from the Gibbs Distribution with Random Maximum A-Posteriori Perturbations
In this paper we describe how MAP inference can be used to sample efficiently
from Gibbs distributions. Specifically, we provide means for drawing either
approximate or unbiased samples from Gibbs' distributions by introducing low
dimensional perturbations and solving the corresponding MAP assignments. Our
approach also leads to new ways to derive lower bounds on partition functions.
We demonstrate empirically that our method excels in the typical "high signal -
high coupling" regime. The setting results in ragged energy landscapes that are
challenging for alternative approaches to sampling and/or lower bounds
Blending Learning and Inference in Structured Prediction
In this paper we derive an efficient algorithm to learn the parameters of
structured predictors in general graphical models. This algorithm blends the
learning and inference tasks, which results in a significant speedup over
traditional approaches, such as conditional random fields and structured
support vector machines. For this purpose we utilize the structures of the
predictors to describe a low dimensional structured prediction task which
encourages local consistencies within the different structures while learning
the parameters of the model. Convexity of the learning task provides the means
to enforce the consistencies between the different parts. The
inference-learning blending algorithm that we propose is guaranteed to converge
to the optimum of the low dimensional primal and dual programs. Unlike many of
the existing approaches, the inference-learning blending allows us to learn
efficiently high-order graphical models, over regions of any size, and very
large number of parameters. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach,
while presenting state-of-the-art results in stereo estimation, semantic
segmentation, shape reconstruction, and indoor scene understanding
On Measure Concentration of Random Maximum A-Posteriori Perturbations
The maximum a-posteriori (MAP) perturbation framework has emerged as a useful
approach for inference and learning in high dimensional complex models. By
maximizing a randomly perturbed potential function, MAP perturbations generate
unbiased samples from the Gibbs distribution. Unfortunately, the computational
cost of generating so many high-dimensional random variables can be
prohibitive. More efficient algorithms use sequential sampling strategies based
on the expected value of low dimensional MAP perturbations. This paper develops
new measure concentration inequalities that bound the number of samples needed
to estimate such expected values. Applying the general result to MAP
perturbations can yield a more efficient algorithm to approximate sampling from
the Gibbs distribution. The measure concentration result is of general interest
and may be applicable to other areas involving expected estimations
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