Graphical lasso may fail to fit models when data points are insufficient.
arXiv research
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New NMF algorithms improve topic model fits.
The coefficient of determination, known as , is commonly used as a goodness-of-fit criterion for fitting linear models. is somewhat controversial when fitting nonlinear models, although it may be generalised on a case-by-case basis to deal with specific models such as the logistic model. Assume we are fittin…
Operational risk models commonly employ maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to fit loss data to heavy-tailed distributions. Yet several desirable properties of MLE (e.g. asymptotic normality) are generally valid only for large sample-sizes, a situation rarely encountered in operational risk. In this paper, we study how…
Maximum likelihood estimation and a test of fit based on the Anderson-Darling statistic is presented for the case of the power law distribution when the parameters are estimated from a left-censored sample. Expressions for the maximum likelihood estimators and tables of asymptotic percentage points for the A^2 statisti…
A boosting method improves nonparametric density estimation without smoothing assumptions.
We consider a particular instance of a common problem in recommender systems: using a database of book reviews to inform user-targeted recommendations. In our dataset, books are categorized into genres and sub-genres. To exploit this nested taxonomy, we use a hierarchical model that enables information pooling across a…
The balance property is crucial for insurance pricing, ensuring total actuarial price equals loss. Maximum likelihood GLMs fulfill it, but Lindholm-Wüthrich suggests three methods, with constrained GLM being superior.
Mixture of Experts (MoE) are successful models for modeling heterogeneous data in many statistical learning problems including regression, clustering and classification. Generally fitted by maximum likelihood estimation via the well-known EM algorithm, their application to high-dimensional problems is still therefore c…
Unbiased gradient estimation improves VAE performance.
Graphical models with bi-directed edges (<->) represent marginal independence: the absence of an edge between two vertices indicates that the corresponding variables are marginally independent. In this paper, we consider maximum likelihood estimation in the case of continuous variables with a Gaussian joint distributio…
Improved convergence rates for MLE in mixture models using penalized log-likelihood.
The paper fits a seven-parameter GTS distribution to financial data.
New method for efficient maximum likelihood estimation of -generalized probit regression.
Paper solves issues with negative weights in sPlot technique for machine learning.
We present asymptotic and finite-sample results on the use of stochastic blockmodels for the analysis of network data. We show that the fraction of misclassified network nodes converges in probability to zero under maximum likelihood fitting when the number of classes is allowed to grow as the root of the network size …
T-Rex uses EM to fit robust factor models in noisy data.
We show that univariate and symmetric multivariate Hawkes processes are only weakly causal: the true log-likelihoods of real and reversed event time vectors are almost equal, thus parameter estimation via maximum likelihood only weakly depends on the direction of the arrow of time. In ideal (synthetic) conditions, test…
Score matching offers efficient estimation for certain distributions.
Score matching efficiency tied to distribution isoperimetric properties.
New method improves neural spike train models by minimizing divergence directly, leading to better performance.
The kernel exponential family is a rich class of distributions, which can be fit efficiently and with statistical guarantees by score matching. Being required to choose a priori a simple kernel such as the Gaussian, however, limits its practical applicability. We provide a scheme for learning a kernel parameterized by …
Develops a goodness-of-fit test for self-exciting processes.
GCMM improves clustering and fits un-synchronized data.
New algorithm for fitting Gaussian mixtures using Wasserstein-Fisher-Rao geometry.
With an eye towards human-centered automation, we contribute to the development of a systematic means to infer features of human decision-making from behavioral data. Motivated by the common use of softmax selection in models of human decision-making, we study the maximum likelihood parameter estimation problem for sof…
New insights into using IPF for inferring dynamic networks from marginals.
Typically, operational risk losses are reported above a threshold. Fitting data reported above a constant threshold is a well known and studied problem. However, in practice, the losses are scaled for business and other factors before the fitting and thus the threshold is varying across the scaled data sample. A report…
Non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) is a technique for finding latent representations of data. The method has been applied to corpora to construct topic models. However, NMF has likelihood assumptions which are often violated by real document corpora. We present a double parametric bootstrap test for evaluating the…
IBS efficiently estimates log-likelihood without bias.
Iterative methods for fitting a Gaussian Random Field (GRF) model via maximum likelihood (ML) estimation requires solving a nonconvex optimization problem. The problem is aggravated for anisotropic GRFs where the number of covariance function parameters increases with the dimension. Even evaluation of the likelihood fu…
Novel algorithm reduces computational burden in IRL with finite-time guarantees.
Paper extends LME models to allow sign constraints on coefficients with SDTN random effects.
We discuss two parameterizations of models for marginal independencies for discrete distributions which are representable by bi-directed graph models, under the global Markov property. Such models are useful data analytic tools especially if used in combination with other graphical models. The first parameterization, i…
The Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm is a fundamental tool in unsupervised machine learning. It is often used as an efficient way to solve Maximum Likelihood (ML) estimation problems, especially for models with latent variables. It is also the algorithm of choice to fit mixture models: generative models that rep…
We study the Nonparametric Maximum Likelihood Estimator (NPMLE) for estimating Gaussian location mixture densities in -dimensions from independent observations. Unlike usual likelihood-based methods for fitting mixtures, NPMLEs are based on convex optimization. We prove finite sample results on the Hellinger accurac…
PyBADS optimizes complex functions quickly and reliably.
This paper explores adversarial robustness of flow-based generative models.
In this paper we examine the claims reserving problem using Tweedie's compound Poisson model. We develop the maximum likelihood and Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation approaches to fit the model and then compare the estimated models under different scenarios. The key point we demonstrate relates to the compar…
The weak variance-alpha-gamma process is a multivariate Lévy process constructed by weakly subordinating Brownian motion, possibly with correlated components with an alpha-gamma subordinator. It generalises the variance-alpha-gamma process of Semeraro constructed by traditional subordination. We compare three calibrati…
Training deep generative models with maximum likelihood remains a challenge. The typical workaround is to use variational inference (VI) and maximize a lower bound to the log marginal likelihood of the data. Variational auto-encoders (VAEs) adopt this approach. They further amortize the cost of inference by using a rec…
In this paper, we empirically study models for pricing Italian sovereign bonds under a reduced form framework, by assuming different dynamics for the short-rate process. We analyze classical Cox-Ingersoll-Ross and Vasicek multi-factor models, with a focus on optimization algorithms applied in the calibration exercise. …
Maximum likelihood estimation fails to be well-posed in Gaussian process regression.
An active learner is given a class of models, a large set of unlabeled examples, and the ability to interactively query labels of a subset of these examples; the goal of the learner is to learn a model in the class that fits the data well. Previous theoretical work has rigorously characterized label complexity of activ…
Normalizing flows improve density estimation from noisy data.
Adversarial learning of probabilistic models has recently emerged as a promising alternative to maximum likelihood. Implicit models such as generative adversarial networks (GAN) often generate better samples compared to explicit models trained by maximum likelihood. Yet, GANs sidestep the characterization of an explici…
Unified framework for network model assessment using maximum entropy.
Maximum likelihood training improves the performance of score-based diffusion models.