The discovery of causal relationships is a fundamental problem in science and medicine. In recent years, many elegant approaches to discovering causal relationships between two variables from observational data have been proposed. However, most of these deal only with purely directed causal relationships and cannot det…
New method identifies common cause in causal insufficiency, revealing complex phase transitions.
problem Identifying common cause in causal insufficiency with observed joint probability.
method Generalized maximum likelihood method, closely related to maximum entropy principle.
result Identifies consistent common cause that aligns with the common cause principle.
Develops SCMs for latent selection to simplify causal analysis.
problem Latent selection complicates causal analysis.
method Introduces a conditioning operation for SCMs to encode latent selection.
result Conditioning operation preserves simplicity, acyclicity, and linearity of SCMs.
New method identifies causes in time series with latent variables.
problem Identifying direct and indirect causes in time series data with hidden variables.
method Proves necessary and sufficient conditions for causal feature selection using graph constraints and conditional independence tests.
result Method outperforms Granger causality in identifying causes with low false positives and false negatives.
Domain adaptation refers to the process of learning prediction models in a target domain by making use of data from a source domain. Many classic methods solve the domain adaptation problem by establishing a common latent space, which may cause the loss of many important properties across both domains. In this manuscri…
A novel circuit motif uses sister cells for inference with correlated priors.
problem Structured priors in neural systems pose architectural challenges.
method Proposes a novel circuit motif using sister cells to implement correlated priors without direct interactions.
result Demonstrates the efficacy of correlated priors for inference in noisy environments.
Jointly models cause-of-death mortality rates across multiple countries and genders.
problem Modeling cause-of-death mortality rates in a multinational setting.
method Multi-Output Gaussian Processes (MOGP) with Kronecker-structured kernels and latent factors.
result Efficiently captures heterogeneity and dependence across different factor inputs.
CLOUD method detects causal relationships in various data types without latent variable assumptions.
problem Detecting causal relationships in the presence of unobserved common causes.
method CLOUD method using Normalized Maximum Likelihood (NML) Code for various data types (discrete, mixed, continuous).
result CLOUD method is more effective than existing methods in inferring causal relationships.
NestedVAE isolates common factors from paired images without additional supervision.
problem Reduction of data-driven biases in machine learning models.
method Combines deep latent variable models with information bottleneck theory.
result NestedVAE significantly outperforms alternative methods in various tasks.
Proposes a new condition to estimate latent variable causal graphs from observed data.
problem Estimating causal structures when observed variables are not the underlying causal variables.
method Introduces Generalized Independent Noise (GIN) condition and a recursive learning algorithm.
result Shows that GIN helps locate latent variables and identify their causal structure.
Extract common latent factors from graphs for better representation learning.
problem Graph-level representation learning challenges due to limited labeled data and poor negative sample selection.
method Graph-wise Common Latent Factor Extraction (GCFX) using deepGCFX model.
result Improved graph-level and node-level tasks performance compared to state-of-the-art methods.
Observed associations in a database may be due in whole or part to variations in unrecorded (latent) variables. Identifying such variables and their causal relationships with one another is a principal goal in many scientific and practical domains. Previous work shows that, given a partition of observed variables such …
Recently we developed a new framework in Hirz et al (2015) to model stochastic mortality using extended CreditRisk+ methodology which is very different from traditional time series methods used for mortality modelling previously. In this framework, deaths are driven by common latent stochastic risk factors which may…
We investigate the properties of multidimensional probability distributions in the context of latent space prior distributions of implicit generative models. Our work revolves around the phenomena arising while decoding linear interpolations between two random latent vectors -- regions of latent space in close proximit…
Quantum theory challenges traditional cause-effect relations, showing causal influences even without Bell inequality violations.
problem Challenging traditional concepts of cause-effect relations in quantum mechanics.
method Introducing a general framework to estimate causal influences without interventions or classical/quantum assumptions.
result Every pure bipartite entangled state violates classical bounds on causal influence, negating the idea that Bell inequalities are the only signature of incompatibility.
In nonlinear latent variable models or dynamic models, if we consider the latent variables as confounders (common causes), the noise dependencies imply further relations between the observed variables. Such models are then closely related to causal discovery in the presence of nonlinear confounders, which is a challeng…
New method identifies root causes in presence of latent confounding.
problem Identifying root causes in the presence of latent variables.
method Extract Errors with Latents (EEL) procedure for inferring root causes.
result Superior accuracy and robustness compared to previous methods.
Paper distinguishes causal structures under latent confounding and selection bias.
problem Distinguishing causal relationships when latent variables and selection bias are present.
method Formulated selected-marginalized directed graphs (smDGs) to distinguish causal structures.
result Two causal structures are indistinguishable if they have the same selected-marginalized directed graph.
Paper extends FOFC algorithm to work with mixed data types.
problem Designing causal discovery algorithms for mixed data types.
method Proves tetrad constraint can be entailed for mixed data types and applies FOFC algorithm.
result FOFC algorithm can work on mixed data types.
Proposes D-CDLF for multi-view data decomposition.
problem Uncorrelatedness between common and distinctive latent factors.
method Decomposes data into common, distinctive, and noise components.
result Effective uncorrelatedness between distinctive latent factors from different views.
Method prevents model divergence in rapidly changing ad markets.
problem Model divergence due to rapid ad turnover and discontinuity.
method Dual ascent optimization with latent vector constraints.
result Significant reduction in diverging instances and improved user experience/revenue.
CDPA identifies common and distinctive patterns in high-dimensional datasets.
problem Existing methods fail to capture the common pattern between coefficient matrices of shared latent factors.
method Proposes CDPA, an unsupervised learning method that incorporates both common and distinctive patterns of coefficient matrices.
result CDPA provides better characterization of common and distinctive patterns in high-dimensional datasets.
Estimates peer influence effects using embeddings for social networks.
problem Estimating peer contagion effects in social networks with unobserved confounders.
method Nonparametrically adjusts for homophily using node embeddings.
result Formalizes causal effect of peer influence in social networks.
LaCIM avoids spurious correlation by modeling latent causal factors.
problem Avoiding spurious correlation in supervised learning.
method Introducing latent variables for causal prediction and optimizing over latent space.
result Improved interpretability, robustness, and prediction power on OOD scenarios.
We propose a method for inferring the existence of a latent common cause ('confounder') of two observed random variables. The method assumes that the two effects of the confounder are (possibly nonlinear) functions of the confounder plus independent, additive noise. We discuss under which conditions the model is identi…
Paper simplifies calculating causation probabilities and ranks root causes.
problem Computational challenges in assessing causal relationships.
method Algorithmic simplifications and novel methodological framework for Root Cause Analysis.
result Significantly reduces computational complexity for calculating causation probabilities.
Deep learning methods have shown state of the art performance in a range of tasks from computer vision to natural language processing. However, it is well known that such systems are vulnerable to attackers who craft inputs in order to cause misclassification. The level of perturbation an attacker needs to introduce in…
NMF and PCC linked, improving data denoising and feature stability.
problem Improving NMF's rank estimation and feature stability.
method Combining NMF and PCC for robust rank estimation and feature stability.
result NMF features are stable against noise and optimization seeds.
The paper explores indeterminacy in latent factor projections and its implications for data representation.
problem Indeterminacy in latent factor projections and its implications for data representation.
method Analyzes the fundamental problem of indeterminacy in latent factor projections and discusses its implications for data representation.
result Latent factor determinacy across all facets is achieved when the feature-dimension grows to infinity.
Given data over variables (X1,...,Xm,Y) we consider the problem of finding out whether X jointly causes Y or whether they are all confounded by an unobserved latent variable Z. To do so, we take an information-theoretic approach based on Kolmogorov complexity. In a nutshell, we follow the postulate that firs…
Bayesian inference for topics in documents with many potential causes.
problem Estimating topic distributions in documents with many potential causes and few observations.
method Exact Bayesian inference using a linear-time algorithm with a simple formula.
result Exact Bayesian inference can be computed in linear time for a given upper bound on observations.
We study the problem of discovering the simplest latent variable that can make two observed discrete variables conditionally independent. The minimum entropy required for such a latent is known as common entropy in information theory. We extend this notion to Renyi common entropy by minimizing the Renyi entropy of the …
The analysis of data sets arising from multiple sensors has drawn significant research attention over the years. Traditional methods, including kernel-based methods, are typically incapable of capturing nonlinear geometric structures. We introduce a latent common manifold model underlying multiple sensor observations f…
A method estimates causal parameters using a latent variable recovery.
problem Estimating causal parameters in contexts with multiple causes and unobserved confounding.
method Substitute adjustment via recovery of latent variables.
result Substitute adjustment estimates adjusted regression parameters under certain conditions.
FoundCause: Causal Discovery with Latent Confounders from Observational Data
problem Causal discovery from observational data
method FoundCause, an amortized causal discovery model trained on synthetic data
result FoundCause outperforms classical and amortized methods on real-world datasets
Transfer learning aims to faciliate learning tasks in a label-scarce target domain by leveraging knowledge from a related source domain with plenty of labeled data. Often times we may have multiple domains with little or no labeled data as targets waiting to be solved. Most existing efforts tackle target domains separa…
VSCOUT detects anomalies in high-dimensional data using a hybrid VAE approach.
problem Challenges in classical SPC for high-dimensional, non-Gaussian data.
method Hybrid VAE architecture with ARD prior, ensemble filtering, and changepoint detection.
result VSCOUT achieves superior sensitivity to special-cause structure and controlled false alarms.
The causes underlying unfair decision making are complex, being internalised in different ways by decision makers, other actors dealing with data and models, and ultimately by the individuals being affected by these decisions. One frequent manifestation of all these latent causes arises in the form of missing values: p…
We describe a method for removing the effect of confounders in order to reconstruct a latent quantity of interest. The method, referred to as half-sibling regression, is inspired by recent work in causal inference using additive noise models. We provide a theoretical justification and illustrate the potential of the me…
This paper corrects climate model biases using a factor model approach.
problem Systematic biases in GCM outputs due to unobserved confounders.
method Factor model approach to learn latent confounders from historical data and apply them to enhance bias correction.
result Significant improvements in the accuracy of precipitation outputs.
D-GCCA improves multi-view data analysis by separating common and distinctive components.
problem Analyzing multi-view high-dimensional data with latent factors.
method Decomposes each view's data matrix into common and distinctive sources with orthogonality constraints.
result Consistent estimators with good performance and efficient computation.
Proposes joint LCA for multiview data to identify shared and view-specific components.
problem Extracting shared components sequentially from multiview data.
method Formulates a matrix decomposition model with joint and individual structures, proposes a penalty term objective function, and employs a refitting procedure.
result Achieves simultaneous estimation and rank selection for cross covariance.
Learning multiple tasks across heterogeneous domains is a challenging problem since the feature space may not be the same for different tasks. We assume the data in multiple tasks are generated from a latent common domain via sparse domain transforms and propose a latent probit model (LPM) to jointly learn the domain t…
Geometrically transforms word embeddings into a common space for better comparison.
problem Comparing embeddings from different sources is challenging.
method Applies orthogonal rotations and Mahalanobis scaling to transform embeddings into a shared latent space.
result The method improves word similarity and analogy tasks.
We consider linear models where d potential causes X1,...,Xd are correlated with one target quantity Y and propose a method to infer whether the association is causal or whether it is an artifact caused by overfitting or hidden common causes. We employ the idea that in the former case the vector of regression c…
Sparse GFA identifies disease factors in FTD subgroups.
problem Heterogeneity in neurological disorders hinders understanding and treatment.
method Sparse Group Factor Analysis (GFA) with regularised horseshoe priors.
result Identified latent disease factors differentially expressed in FTD subgroups.
Spectral learning extends matrix methods to tensors for better latent variable modeling.
problem Limitations of matrix-based spectral methods in capturing non-Gaussian data.
method Extend spectral decomposition to tensor-based methods for higher-order moments.
result Tensor decomposition can identify latent effects missed by matrix methods.
Modeling continuous movement of entities in latent space for interaction timing.
problem Analyzing timing and frequency of instantaneous interactions.
method Latent position model with continuous trajectories.
result Individual trajectories estimated from interaction data.