Related papers: Sharp Analysis of Expectation-Maximization for Wea…
The Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm is routinely used for the maximum likelihood estimation in the latent class analysis. However, the EM algorithm comes with no guarantees of reaching the global optimum. We study the geometry of…
Latent Gaussian models have a rich history in statistics and machine learning, with applications ranging from factor analysis to compressed sensing to time series analysis. The classical method for maximizing the likelihood of these models…
Mixture models of Plackett-Luce (PL) -- one of the most fundamental ranking models -- are an active research area of both theoretical and practical significance. Most previously proposed parameter estimation algorithms instantiate the EM…
This paper describes an algorithm for fitting finite mixtures of unrestricted Multivariate Skew t (FM-uMST) distributions. The package EMMIX-uskew implements a closed-form expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm for computing the maximum…
Modern data-driven and distributed learning frameworks deal with diverse massive data generated by clients spread across heterogeneous environments. Indeed, data heterogeneity is a major bottleneck in scaling up many distributed learning…
In this paper, different strands of literature are combined in order to obtain algorithms for semi-parametric estimation of discrete choice models that include the modelling of unobserved heterogeneity by using mixing distributions for the…
The detection of rare variants is important for understanding the genetic heterogeneity in mixed samples. Recently, next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have enabled the identification of single nucleotide variants (SNVs) in mixed…
When a population exhibits heterogeneity, we often model it via a finite mixture: decompose it into several different but homogeneous subpopulations. Contemporary practice favors learning the mixtures by maximizing the likelihood for…
This paper tackles the problem of missing data imputation for noisy and non-Gaussian data. A classical imputation method, the Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm for Gaussian mixture models, has shown interesting properties when…
Regression mixture models are widely studied in statistics, machine learning and data analysis. Fitting regression mixtures is challenging and is usually performed by maximum likelihood by using the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm.…
The expectation--maximization (EM) algorithm combines global monotonicity, local linear convergence, and strong practical robustness, but these features are usually analyzed separately. Global descent is nonlinear, whereas local convergence…
The performance of ensemble-based data assimilation techniques that estimate the state of a dynamical system from partial observations depends crucially on the prescribed uncertainty of the model dynamics and of the observations. These are…
We consider a semiparametric mixture of two univariate density functions where one of them is known while the weight and the other function are unknown. Such mixtures have a history of application to the problem of detecting differentially…
Discriminative latent-variable models are typically learned using EM or gradient-based optimization, which suffer from local optima. In this paper, we develop a new computationally efficient and provably consistent estimator for a mixture…
Latent variable models are a fundamental modeling tool in machine learning applications, but they present significant computational and analytical challenges. The popular EM algorithm and its variants, is a much used algorithmic tool; yet…
Over the past decades, there has been a surge of interest in studying low-dimensional structures within high-dimensional data. Statistical factor models $-$ i.e., low-rank plus diagonal covariance structures $-$ offer a powerful framework…
Online variants of the Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm have recently been proposed to perform parameter inference with large data sets or data streams, in independent latent models and in hidden Markov models. Nevertheless, the…
Probit models are useful for modeling correlated discrete responses in many disciplines, including consumer choice data in economics and marketing. However, the Gaussian latent variable feature of probit models coupled with identification…
In some situations, EM algorithm shows slow convergence problems. One possible reason is that standard procedures update the parameters simultaneously. In this paper we focus on finite mixture estimation. In this framework, we propose a…
Expectation maximization (EM) is the default algorithm for fitting probabilistic models with missing or latent variables, yet we lack a full understanding of its non-asymptotic convergence properties. Previous works show results along the…