Thompson sampling (TS) is a class of algorithms for sequential decision-making, which requires maintaining a posterior distribution over a model. However, calculating exact posterior distributions is intractable for all but the simplest models. Consequently, efficient computation of an approximate posterior distributio…
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48 results for “Posterior Distribution”
Efficiently updates posterior tree distributions over meta-trees.
problem Updating posterior distributions over meta-trees efficiently.
method Batch updating method for posterior tree distributions.
result More efficient batch updating method.
The main object of Bayesian statistical inference is the determination of posterior distributions. Sometimes these laws are given for quantities devoid of empirical value. This serious drawback vanishes when one confines oneself to considering a finite horizon framework. However, assuming infinite exchangeability gives…
Meta-learning reformulated as Bayesian risk minimization.
problem Learning models to quickly adapt to new tasks from small datasets.
method Formalized meta-learning as Bayesian risk minimization, using a probabilistic framework to compute predictive distributions from posterior distributions of latent variables conditioned on contextual datasets.
result A novel Gaussian approximation for the posterior distribution that converges to maximum likelihood estimates and outperforms Neural Process on benchmark datasets.
We propose a general algorithm for approximating nonstandard Bayesian posterior distributions. The algorithm minimizes the Kullback-Leibler divergence of an approximating distribution to the intractable posterior distribution. Our method can be used to approximate any posterior distribution, provided that it is given i…
Variational inference (VI) provides fast approximations of a Bayesian posterior in part because it formulates posterior approximation as an optimization problem: to find the closest distribution to the exact posterior over some family of distributions. For practical reasons, the family of distributions in VI is usually…
A new method learns posterior and predictive distributions together, reducing computational cost.
problem Sequential two-stage Bayesian inference is computationally expensive.
method Amortized variational inference targeting posterior-predictive distribution.
result Efficient online inference with more accurate predictive distributions.
The paper proposes a method to improve Bayesian inference for periodic data using data-driven priors.
problem Efficiency in approximating posterior distribution in models with periodicity.
method Construct a prior distribution from data using a Gaussian process with a periodic kernel, approximated using adaptive importance sampling.
result The proposed method improves the marginal posterior distribution of the period parameter.
Increasingly complex datasets pose a number of challenges for Bayesian inference. Conventional posterior sampling based on Markov chain Monte Carlo can be too computationally intensive, is serial in nature and mixes poorly between posterior modes. Further, all models are misspecified, which brings into question the val…
Variational Prediction simplifies Bayesian inference without test time costs.
problem Bayesian inference's computational costs and posterior predictive distribution marginalization.
method Variational Prediction learns a variational approximation to the posterior predictive distribution using a variational bound.
result Directly learns a variational approximation to the posterior predictive distribution without test time marginalization costs.
TM-VI uses flexible transformation models to approximate complex posteriors in Bayesian models.
problem Approximating complex posteriors in Bayesian models with limited flexibility.
method Transformation models for variational inference (TM-VI).
result TM-VI allows accurate approximation of complex posteriors in models with one parameter and works in a mean-field fashion for multi-parameter models.
Theoretical framework for M-posteriors connects Bayesian and frequentist statistics.
problem Connecting Bayesian and frequentist approaches in statistical inference.
method Developed a theoretical framework for M-posteriors, showing asymptotic normality and frequentist consistency.
result M-posteriors are robust and contract around M-estimators under mild conditions.
PVI seeks a posterior that makes predictions closer to true data, not approximating the Bayesian posterior.
problem Finding meaningful posterior distributions under model misspecification.
method Predictive variational inference (PVI) seeks an optimal posterior density for close predictive matching to true data.
result PVI learns a posterior that is not the same as the Bayesian posterior, but is closer to the true data generating process.
Optimized -posteriors reduce KL divergence from true posterior in parametric misspecification.
problem Reduction of KL divergence from true posterior in parametric model misspecification.
method Derivation of Bernstein-von Mises theorem and optimization of -posteriors.
result Optimized -posteriors minimize KL divergence from true posterior, especially in severe misspecification.
Divide-and-Conquer Fusionstat.ME
A new Fusion method combines multiple distributions efficiently.
problem Combining multiple distributions for big data or privacy.
method Recursive divide-and-conquer Monte Carlo approach.
result A robust Fusion method for many sub-posteriors.
LMC-TS uses MCMC for efficient posterior sampling in contextual bandits.
problem Efficiency of Thompson sampling for high-dimensional contextual bandits.
method Langevin Monte Carlo for direct posterior sampling.
result LMC-TS achieves sublinear regret bound for linear contextual bandits.
ABI bypasses likelihood intractability with nonparametric distribution matching.
problem Approximate Bayesian computation's inefficiency in high-dimensional settings and under diffuse priors.
method Adaptive Bayesian Inference (ABI) compares posterior distributions directly using nonparametric distribution matching and MSW distance.
result ABI significantly outperforms other methods in high-dimensional or dependent observation regimes.
FTIP uses normalizing flows to improve posterior inference in function space.
problem Challenges in posterior inference with implicit-process priors.
method FTIP uses normalizing flows to define a richer variational distribution over combination weights.
result FTIP captures asymmetric and multimodal posterior structure better than Gaussian coefficient approximations.
Proposes a method to sample from flat basins of posterior distributions in Bayesian deep learning.
problem Sampling from multi-modal posterior distributions leads to overfitting due to trapping in bad modes.
method Introduces an auxiliary guiding variable to bias MCMC sampling towards flat basins of the energy landscape.
result The method converges faster and outperforms existing methods in sampling from flat basins of the posterior.
A Bayesian approach termed BAyesian Least Squares Optimization with Nonnegative L1-norm constraint (BALSON) is proposed. The error distribution of data fitting is described by Gaussian likelihood. The parameter distribution is assumed to be a Dirichlet distribution. With the Bayes rule, searching for the optimal parame…
New method samples from posterior distributions efficiently.
problem Posterior sampling in score-based models is intractable.
method Annealed Langevin Monte Carlo with KL and Fisher divergence.
result Tractable sampling from distributions close to posterior and prior.
Posterior sampling estimator achieves near-optimal recovery guarantees for signals from any prior distribution.
problem Characterizing measurement complexity for signals from any prior distribution, including the entire space.
method Characterization of measurement complexity using posterior sampling estimator for Gaussian measurements and any prior distribution.
result Posterior sampling estimator achieves near-optimal recovery guarantees for signals from any prior distribution, robust to model mismatch.
Variational inference methods often focus on the problem of efficient model optimization, with little emphasis on the choice of the approximating posterior. In this paper, we review and implement the various methods that enable us to develop a rich family of approximating posteriors. We show that one particular method …
Estimates high-dimensional posterior densities by marginal distributions and neural networks.
problem High-dimensional probability density estimation for inference is difficult.
method Direct estimation of lower-dimensional marginal distributions, using Moment Networks for fast computation of moments.
result Demonstrates estimation of gravitational wave time series and applications in cosmology.
CNR uses convex optimization to estimate conditional distributions.
problem Estimating uncertainty in predictions and posterior conditional distributions.
method Convex optimization of a posterior defined via non-linear transformations on Gaussians.
result CNR can fit arbitrary conditional distributions, including multimodal and non-symmetric ones.
A new method combines scores of individual observations to efficiently approximate posterior distributions.
problem Handling posterior distributions conditioned on multiple observations with neural methods.
method Conditional score modeling to combine learned scores from individual observations.
result Sample-efficient method that can aggregate multiple observations at inference time.
We consider the problem of sequential learning from categorical observations bounded in [0,1]. We establish an ordering between the Dirichlet posterior over categorical outcomes and a Gaussian posterior under observations with N(0,1) noise. We establish that, conditioned upon identical data with at least two observatio…
Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods have not been broadly adopted in Bayesian neural networks (BNNs). This paper initially reviews the main challenges in sampling from the parameter posterior of a neural network via MCMC. Such challenges culminate to lack of convergence to the parameter posterior. Nevertheless, thi…
Posterior refinement improves sample efficiency in Bayesian neural networks.
problem Bayesian neural networks suffer from poor predictive performance due to inaccurate posterior approximations.
method Propose refining Gaussian approximate posteriors with normalizing flows to improve predictive distributions.
result Posterior refinement yields competitive predictive performance with minimal computational overhead.
Proposes MIVI for efficient posterior estimation and design of MCMC transitions.
problem Efficiently estimating posterior distributions in constrained time.
method Combines variational inference and MCMC with a variational distribution and optimized Markov chain.
result Optimized Markov chain improves variational distribution and vice versa, leading to more accurate posteriors.
Approximating Posterior Predictive Distributions by Averaging Output From Many Particle Filtersstat.ME
Paper uses averaging from many particle filters to approximate posterior predictive distributions.
problem Approximating posterior predictive distributions efficiently and accurately.
method Particle swarm filter algorithm that averages many particle filter approximations.
result Law of large numbers and central limit theorem support the method's effectiveness.
Study on optimal information acquisition in Kyle model with entropy cost.
problem Optimal information acquisition in Kyle model with entropy cost.
method Continuous signals are optimal, and any signal with a logit posterior distribution yields the same ex-ante value.
result Posterior expected payoff becomes normally distributed as information acquisition cost increases.
This paper explores Bayesian Neural Network posteriors, uncovering symmetries and their impact.
problem Understanding the complex posterior distribution of deep Bayesian Neural Networks.
method Investigates optimal approaches for approximating posteriors, analyzes modes, and explores visualizations.
result Uncovered weight-space symmetries and their impact on the posterior, particularly scaling symmetries.
A new method for sampling complex posterior distributions in DDMs.
problem Challenging posterior distributions in DDMs.
method Divide-and-Conquer Posterior Sampling (DCPS)
result Significantly reduces approximation error without retraining.
This paper distills Bayesian posterior expectations for deep neural networks.
problem Improving deep neural network performance and uncertainty quantification.
method Develops a framework for distilling expectations from Bayesian posterior distributions using Monte Carlo samples.
result The framework successfully distills posterior predictive distribution and expected entropy.
New method quantifies uncertainty in denoising models.
problem Uncertainty quantification in denoising models.
method Derives a relation between posterior moments and derivatives, uses it for efficient uncertainty quantification.
result Efficient computation of principal components and full marginal distributions of the posterior.
We study convergence rates of variational posterior distributions for nonparametric and high-dimensional inference. We formulate general conditions on prior, likelihood, and variational class that characterize the convergence rates. Under similar "prior mass and testing" conditions considered in the literature, the rat…
This paper introduces a spline-based method for nonparametric ADVI that handles complex posterior distributions.
problem Learning complex posterior distributions with skewness, multimodality, and bounded support.
method Develops a spline-based nonparametric approximation approach for ADVI.
result Establishes the asymptotic consistency of the derived lower bound for importance weighted autoencoder.
Recent advances in stochastic gradient techniques have made it possible to estimate posterior distributions from large datasets via Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). However, when the target posterior is multimodal, mixing performance is often poor. This results in inadequate exploration of the posterior distribution. A…
A novel diffusion method for Bayesian posterior sampling with theoretical guarantees.
problem Efficiently sampling from complex posterior distributions in Bayesian inversion.
method Diffusion-based posterior sampling using Langevin dynamics and PnP framework.
result The method converges even for multi-modal posterior distributions with theoretical error bounds.
Improved Thompson Sampling using fractional posteriors achieves better regret bounds.
problem Optimizing regret in stochastic multi-armed bandit problems.
method Using -posterior distributions, derived frequentist regret bounds.
result Instance-dependent and instance-independent regret bounds established.
We propose a novel approach to approximate complex high-dimensional posteriors using neural samplers.
problem Accurately capturing complex, multimodal, and correlated posteriors in high-dimensional spaces.
method Implicit variational inference with neural samplers and local linearisation bounds.
result Our method enables implicit distributions over tens of millions of latent variables, recovering correlations across layers in large Bayesian neural networks.
Develops a Bayesian framework for portfolio choice with a new posterior distribution.
problem Estimation risk in parametric portfolio policies.
method Generalized Bayesian framework with Gibbs posterior, utility maximization, and KNEEDLE algorithm.
result Optimal scaling parameter controls the balance between prior and data.
Bayesian neural networks reveal multimodal predictive distributions.
problem Uncertainty quantification and interpretability in neural networks.
method Discretized prior for inner layer weights, Gaussian mixture approximation of posterior predictive distribution.
result Distinct parameter realizations can produce the same training error but different posterior predictive distributions.
This paper makes two contributions to Bayesian machine learning algorithms. Firstly, we propose stochastic natural gradient expectation propagation (SNEP), a novel alternative to expectation propagation (EP), a popular variational inference algorithm. SNEP is a black box variational algorithm, in that it does not requi…
The paper analyzes distributed Bayesian inference and its Frequentist guarantees.
problem Analyzing large decentralized datasets with distributed Bayesian inference.
method Establishes Frequentist properties for distributed (non-)Bayesian inference.
result Distributed Bayesian inference retains parametric efficiency and enhances robustness.
New method uses fractional posteriors for semiparametric inference with improved uncertainty quantification.
problem Semiparametric inference with nonparametric priors and fractional posteriors.
method Established a general Bernstein--von Mises theorem for fractional posterior distributions, proposed shifted-and-rescaled credible sets.
result Fractional posterior credible sets provide reliable uncertainty quantification but have inflated size; shifted-and-rescaled set is an efficient confidence set.
Variational auto-encoders (VAE) are scalable and powerful generative models. However, the choice of the variational posterior determines tractability and flexibility of the VAE. Commonly, latent variables are modeled using the normal distribution with a diagonal covariance matrix. This results in computational efficien…