Search results for "Bayes estimator"

2018

The retrieval of ancient DNA from osteological material provides direct evidence of human genetic diversity in the past. Ancient DNA samples are often used to investigate whether there was population continuity in the settlement history of an area. Methods based on the serial coalescent algorithm have been developed to test whether the population continuity hypothesis can be statistically rejected by analysing DNA samples from the same region but of different ages. Rejection of this hypothesis is indicative of a large genetic shift, possibly due to immigration occurring between two sampling times. However, this approach is only able to reject a model of full continuity model (a total absenc…

MODELLING USER UNCERTAINTY FOR DISCLOSURE RISK AND DATA UTILITY

2002

In this paper we show how a simple model that captures user uncertainty can be used to define suitable measures of disclosure risk and data utility. The model generalizes previous results of Duncan and Lambert.1 We present several examples to illustrate how the new measures can be used to implement existing optimality criteria for the choice of the best form of data release.

Practical Issues on Energy-Growth Nexus Data and Variable Selection With Bayesian Analysis

2018

Abstract Given that the energy-growth nexus (EGN) is short of a complete theoretical base, the production function used therein is typically complemented with numerous variables that characterize an economy. Researchers are often puzzled not only with the selection of variables per se, but also with the variable sources and the various data handlings which become apparent and available only after years of experience in this research field. Thus, this chapter is divided into two distinctive parts: The first part contains an overview of the available data sources for the EGN as well as a succinct selection of advice on data handlings, transformations, and interpretations that could come handy…

On incorporating the paradigms of discretization and Bayesian estimation to create a new family of pursuit learning automata

2013

Published version of an article in the journal: Applied Intelligence. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10489-013-0424-x There are currently two fundamental paradigms that have been used to enhance the convergence speed of Learning Automata (LA). The first involves the concept of utilizing the estimates of the reward probabilities, while the second involves discretizing the probability space in which the LA operates. This paper demonstrates how both of these can be simultaneously utilized, and in particular, by using the family of Bayesian estimates that have been proven to have distinct advantages over their maximum likelihood counterparts. The success of LA-…

Bayesian estimation of edge orientations in junctions

1999

Abstract Junctions, defined as those points of an image where two or more edges meet, play a significant role in many computer vision applications. Junction detection is a widely treated problem, and some detectors can provide even the directions of the edges that meet in a junction. The main objective of this paper is the precise estimation of such directions. It is supposed that the junction point has been previously found by some detector. Also, it is assumed that samples, possibly noisy, of orientations of the edges found in a circular window surrounding the point are available. A mixture of von Mises distributions is assumed for these data, and then a Bayesian methodology is applied to…

Simulated Annealing in Bayesian Decision Theory

1992

Since the seminal paper by Kirkpatrick, Gelatt and Vechhi (1983), a number of papers in the scientific literature refer to simulated annealing as a powerful random optimization method which promises to deliver, within reasonable computing times, optimal or nearly optimal solutions to complex decision problems hitherto forbidding. The algorithm, which uses the physical process of annealing as a metaphor, is special in that, at each iteration, one may move with positive probability to solutions with higher values of the function to minimize, rather than directly jumping to the point with the smallest value within the neighborhood, thus drastically reducing the chances of getting trapped in lo…

Occlusion-based estimation of independent multinomial random variables using occurrence and sequential information

2017

Abstract This paper deals with the relatively new field of sequence-based estimation in which the goal is to estimate the parameters of a distribution by utilizing both the information in the observations and in their sequence of appearance. Traditionally, the Maximum Likelihood (ML) and Bayesian estimation paradigms work within the model that the data, from which the parameters are to be estimated, is known, and that it is treated as a set rather than as a sequence. The position that we take is that these methods ignore, and thus discard, valuable sequence -based information, and our intention is to obtain ML estimates by “extracting” the information contained in the observations when perc…

Asymptotic optimality of myopic information-based strategies for Bayesian adaptive estimation

2016

This paper presents a general asymptotic theory of sequential Bayesian estimation giving results for the strongest, almost sure convergence. We show that under certain smoothness conditions on the probability model, the greedy information gain maximization algorithm for adaptive Bayesian estimation is asymptotically optimal in the sense that the determinant of the posterior covariance in a certain neighborhood of the true parameter value is asymptotically minimal. Using this result, we also obtain an asymptotic expression for the posterior entropy based on a novel definition of almost sure convergence on "most trials" (meaning that the convergence holds on a fraction of trials that converge…

Conditionally heteroscedastic intensity-dependent marking of log Gaussian Cox processes

2009

Spatial marked point processes are models for systems of points which are randomly distributed in space and provided with measured quantities called marks. This study deals with marking, that is methods of constructing marked point processes from unmarked ones. The focus is density-dependent marking where the local point intensity affects the mark distribution. This study develops new markings for log Gaussian Cox processes. In these markings, both the mean and variance of the mark distribution depend on the local intensity. The mean, variance and mark correlation properties are presented for the new markings, and a Bayesian estimation procedure is suggested for statistical inference. The p…

Poisson Regression with Change-Point Prior in the Modelling of Disease Risk around a Point Source

2003

Bayesian estimation of the risk of a disease around a known point source of exposure is considered. The minimal requirements for data are that cases and populations at risk are known for a fixed set of concentric annuli around the point source, and each annulus has a uniquely defined distance from the source. The conventional Poisson likelihood is assumed for the counts of disease cases in each annular zone with zone-specific relative risk and parameters and, conditional on the risks, the counts are considered to be independent. The prior for the relative risk parameters is assumed to be piecewise constant at the distance having a known number of components. This prior is the well-known cha…