Proposes LOD to measure latent vs observed variables dissimilarity.
problem Quantitatively assessing relationships between latent and observed variables.
method Proposes latent-observed dissimilarity (LOD) and defines four generative model types.
result LOD effectively captures differences between models and reflects higher layer learning capability.
New method for fitting graphical models with latent variables using regularized conditional likelihood.
problem Graphical modeling with latent variables and confounding dependencies.
method Regularized conditional likelihood for exponential family graphical models.
result Framework applicable to broader settings without knowing latent variables' distribution.
Paper identifies unobserved variables from observable data.
problem Missing variables in empirical studies.
method Function mapping from observables to unobservables based on joint distribution.
result Uniqueness of latent values in each observation.
Unified framework for disentangling latent variables.
problem Unidentifiability of deep latent-variable models.
method Variational autoencoders and nonlinear ICA, with a factorized prior conditioned on an observed variable.
result Identification of true joint distribution over observed and latent variables is possible up to simple transformations.
Method identifies causal relationships in data with latent variables.
problem Learning causal models from observational data with latent variables.
method Proposes a method to check causal paths and identify causal effects.
result Causal effects can be identified uniquely under certain conditions.
New algorithm for learning RBMs with sparse latent variables.
problem Learning RBMs with sparse latent variables efficiently.
method Algorithm with time complexity O(n^(2^s+1)) for sparse RBMs.
result Improves learning time for RBMs with sparse latent variables.
Study tackles causal structure learning in linear models with unobserved variables and measurement error.
problem Challenges of unobserved common causes and measurement error in causal structure learning.
method Introduces LV-SEM-ME model with four types of variables and characterizes identifiability under separability condition.
result Establishes form of identification robustness for target effect in broader LV-SEM-ME model.
Many statistical methods have been proposed to estimate causal models in classical situations with fewer variables than observations (p<n, p: the number of variables and n: the number of observations). However, modern datasets including gene expression data need high-dimensional causal modeling in challenging situation…
Active covariance estimation using random sub-sampling of variable subsets.
problem Estimating covariance matrices for partially observed random vectors.
method Unbiased covariance estimator under a model of partially observed variables and active learning framework.
result Derivation of error bounds revealing relations between sub-sampling probabilities and covariance matrix entries.
Paper discovers hidden common variables in nonlinear data.
problem Discover hidden common variables in nonlinear high-dimensional observations.
method Local CCA metric integrated with manifold learning.
result Metric discovers hidden common variables without rigid model assumptions.
New method identifies latent causal variables from observed data, overcoming indeterminacies.
problem Identifying latent causal variables from observed data, especially when latent variables are weight-variant.
method Introduces a novel identifiability condition for latent causal models, proposing SuaVE method.
result Identifies latent causal variables up to trivial permutation and scaling, demonstrating consistency and efficacy.
We consider the problem of covariance matrix estimation in the presence of latent variables. Under suitable conditions, it is possible to learn the marginal covariance matrix of the observed variables via a tractable convex program, where the concentration matrix of the observed variables is decomposed into a sparse ma…
We propose a probabilistic graphical model realizing a minimal encoding of real variables dependencies based on possibly incomplete observation and an empirical cumulative distribution function per variable. The target application is a large scale partially observed system, like e.g. a traffic network, where a small pr…
Characterizes causal structure dominance for latent variables.
problem Determining dominance relations between causal structures with latent variables.
method Complete characterization for three visible variables, partial for four; uses nontrivial inequality constraints.
result Equivalence classes with nontrivial inequality constraints become ubiquitous as the number of visible variables increases.
A new algorithm uses IVs to learn optimal policies from observational data.
problem Learning optimal policies from unobserved variable confounded data.
method IV-aided Value Iteration (IVVI) algorithm based on conditional moment restrictions.
result First provably efficient algorithm for instrument-aided offline RL.
New method identifies causal variables from partially observed data.
problem Learning from unpaired observations with instance-dependent partial observability.
method Proposes two methods enforcing sparsity in the inferred representation.
result Establishes two identifiability results for linear and piecewise linear mixing functions.
The paper proposes a method to precisely decompose confounders and estimate treatment effects.
problem Estimating treatment effects from observational data with confounder identification and balancing.
method Learning decomposed representations to identify and balance confounders and non-confounders.
result The method achieves more precise treatment effect estimation than existing methods.
Detects dependencies between high-dimensional data and outcomes.
problem Analyzing educational data with high-dimensional student skills.
method n-TARP clustering to quantify and validate dependencies.
result Valid dependencies between student skills and course grades observed.
New method identifies latent variables with causal dependencies from observed data.
problem Identify latent variables with causal relationships from observed data.
method Linear causal disentanglement via higher-order cumulants, with perfect and soft interventions.
result Recovery of parameters via coupled tensor decomposition and polynomial equations.
Paper tackles causal effect estimation in observational data with hidden variables.
problem Estimating causal effects in observational data with hidden confounders.
method Developed a theorem for local search to find superset of adjustment variables, proposing a data-driven algorithm.
result Proposed algorithm produces more accurate causal effect estimates than existing methods.
We use the score function for causal discovery, tackling challenges with hidden variables.
problem Causal discovery from observational data with hidden variables.
method Fine-tuning identifiability results, establishing conditions for inferring causal relations from the score, proposing a flexible algorithm.
result Empirical validation of the proposed algorithm for causal discovery on linear, nonlinear, and latent variable models.
Extends linear structural causal models to include deterministic relations and latent confounders for causal discovery.
problem Causal discovery in linear SCMs with deterministic relations and latent confounders.
method Extended existing results to include deterministic relations and latent confounders, derived necessary and sufficient conditions for unique identifiability, proposed an algorithm for recovery.
result First work on identifiability results for causal discovery under latent confounding and deterministic relationships.
Researchers identify latent variables and causal structures from nonlinear hierarchical models.
problem Challenging task of identifying latent variables and causal structures from observational data, especially when relationships are nonlinear.
method Investigated nonlinear latent hierarchical causal models, developed identification criterion, and constructed an estimation procedure.
result Identifiability of causal structures and latent variables achieved under mild assumptions.
Paper proposes a new method to identify causal graphs with latent variables using higher-order cumulants.
problem Estimating causal directed acyclic graphs with latent confounders.
method Uses higher-order cumulants to identify causal structures among observed and latent variables.
result Validates the proposed algorithm through simulations and real-world data.
This work presents entropic constraints from DAGs with hidden variables.
problem Characterizing causal relations in systems with hidden variables.
method Entropic inequality constraints derived from e-separation relations. result These constraints can learn about true causal models from observed data.
A primer on navigating causal analysis problems.
problem Estimating causal effects from observational data.
method Four schools of thought for causal analysis.
result Conceptual map for causal analysis.
DAG models with hidden variables present many difficulties that are not present when all nodes are observed. In particular, fully observed DAG models are identified and correspond to well-defined sets ofdistributions, whereas this is not true if nodes are unobserved. Inthis paper we characterize exactly the set of dist…
New method learns graphical models with latent variables for extreme events.
problem Learning graphical models with latent variables for multivariate extremes.
method Tractable convex program exttt{eglatent} for Hüsler-Reiss models.
result Consistently recovers conditional graph and latent variables.
Paper proves causal direction can be inferred from data with limited randomness.
problem Inferring causal direction from observational data with limited randomness.
method Entropy measurement and structural causal models.
result Causal direction is identifiable for most causal models with limited entropy.
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.
This work considers the problem of learning the structure of multivariate linear tree models, which include a variety of directed tree graphical models with continuous, discrete, and mixed latent variables such as linear-Gaussian models, hidden Markov models, Gaussian mixture models, and Markov evolutionary trees. The …
This paper explores what causal structures can be distinguished by observational and interventional probing schemes.
problem Identifying causal structures with latent variables using observational and interventional data.
method Investigates the power of different probing schemes (observation vs. intervention) to distinguish causal structures.
result Two causal structures are indistinguishable if they share the same mDAG structure.
New method disentangles latent factors for better treatment effect estimation.
problem Estimating treatment effects from observational data when confounders are not the only variables.
method Variational inference to disentangle latent factors into instrumental, confounding, and risk factors.
result The method improves treatment effect estimation accuracy on various datasets.
Study explores K-means clustering of variables and its relation to PCA.
problem Exploring the relationship between K-means clustering of variables and PCA.
method Apply PCA to original data and K-means to transposed data, quantify variable contributions to principal components.
result Identifies how variable clusters contribute to principal components identified by PCA.
Extends effect variable concept to finite states for web search evaluation.
problem Finding effect of variant variables in changes of observable variables.
method Theoretical analysis and simultaneous distribution decomposition.
result States of extreme effect variable are minimally affected by variant and highly different in observable variable.
New algorithm recovers labels from noisy categorical data.
problem Recovering latent labels from noisy observations in structured instances.
method Approximate algorithm for graphs with categorical variables.
result Logarithmic dependency of Hamming error to the number of categories.
Hierarchical parametric models consisting of observable and latent variables are widely used for unsupervised learning tasks. For example, a mixture model is a representative hierarchical model for clustering. From the statistical point of view, the models can be regular or singular due to the distribution of data. In …
The MAXENT principle helps merge datasets to infer causal effects.
problem Inferring causal effects from unobserved variables.
method Using the maximum entropy principle with causal sufficiency and faithfulness assumptions.
result Identifies causal edges among variables from merged datasets.
New model captures state-dependent variability in partially observed systems.
problem Structured stochasticity not captured by constant-variance models.
method State-coupled stochastic volatility framework with particle expectation-maximization.
result Model consistently reduces recovery bias under partial observation.
New method for causal inference with observed covariates improves learning rates.
problem Causal inference with observed covariates in nonparametric instrumental variable regression.
method Introduces novel Fourier measure for partial smoothing and adapts kernel lengthscales for anisotropic smoothness.
result Upper and lower learning rates for KIV-O show interpolation between NPIV and NPR rates.
Causal inference concerns the identification of cause-effect relationships between variables, e.g. establishing whether a stimulus affects activity in a certain brain region. The observed variables themselves often do not constitute meaningful causal variables, however, and linear combinations need to be considered. In…
New method for evaluating policies in complex decision-making models with hidden variables.
problem Evaluating policies in partially observable Markov decision processes with hidden confounders.
method Introduces novel identification methods and minimax estimation techniques for linking target policy's value and observed data distribution.
result Proposes three estimators for off-policy evaluation in POMDPs with latent confounders, demonstrating their effectiveness through nonasymptotic and asymptotic analysis.
A serious problem in learning probabilistic models is the presence of hidden variables. These variables are not observed, yet interact with several of the observed variables. Detecting hidden variables poses two problems: determining the relations to other variables in the model and determining the number of states of …
We learn latent variable graphs in Gaussian models with unobserved variables.
problem Learning the structure of dependence between observed and unobserved variables in Gaussian graphical models.
method Proposed a convex optimization formulation based on structured matrix sparsity to estimate the complete connectivity of the graph including unobserved variables.
result The complete connectivity of the graph including unobserved variables can be estimated given the number of missing variables and their level of connectivity.
Proposes a method to learn sparse and low-rank interactions in Ising models with latent variables.
problem Learning sparse interactions in Ising models with latent variables.
method Sparse + low-rank decomposition of Ising model parameters using convex regularized likelihood problem.
result Consistency properties in high-dimensional settings with growing number of variables and samples.
ASAC uses actor-critic models to optimize observation selection in medical settings.
problem Optimizing observation selection in costly sequential observation scenarios.
method ASAC framework with selector and predictor networks, using actor-critic models for training.
result ASAC significantly outperforms state-of-the-art methods in real-world medical datasets.
Hierarchical probabilistic models, such as Gaussian mixture models, are widely used for unsupervised learning tasks. These models consist of observable and latent variables, which represent the observable data and the underlying data-generation process, respectively. Unsupervised learning tasks, such as cluster analysi…
Algorithm finds causal effects from observational data using auxiliary variables.
problem Estimating causal effects from observational data with confounders.
method Gradient-based optimization using auxiliary variables.
result Algorithm outperforms alternatives in estimating true causal effect.