Non-conjugate variational Bayes for pseudo-likelihood mixed effect models

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Castiglione, Cristian, Bernardi, Mauro
Format: Preprint
Published: 2022
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author Castiglione, Cristian
Bernardi, Mauro
author_facet Castiglione, Cristian
Bernardi, Mauro
contents We propose a unified, yet simple to code, non-conjugate variational Bayes algorithm for posterior approximation of generic Bayesian generalized mixed effect models. Specifically, we consider regression models identified by a linear predictor, eventually transformed using a bijective link, where the prediction misfit is measured using, possibly non-differentiable, loss functions. Examples include generalized linear models, quasi-likelihood models, and robust regression. To address the limitations of non-conjugate settings, we employ an efficient message passing optimization strategy under a Gaussian variational approximation of the posterior. The resulting algorithms automatically account for non-conjugate priors and non-smooth losses, without requiring model-specific data-augmented representations. Besides the general formulation, we provide closed-form updates for popular model specifications, including quantile regression and support vector machines. Overall, theoretical and empirical results highlight the effectiveness of the proposed method, demonstrating its computational efficiency and approximation accuracy as an alternative to existing Bayesian techniques.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2206_09444
institution arXiv
publishDate 2022
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Non-conjugate variational Bayes for pseudo-likelihood mixed effect models
Castiglione, Cristian
Bernardi, Mauro
Methodology
Computation
62-08 (Primary), 62J05 (Secondary)
G.3
We propose a unified, yet simple to code, non-conjugate variational Bayes algorithm for posterior approximation of generic Bayesian generalized mixed effect models. Specifically, we consider regression models identified by a linear predictor, eventually transformed using a bijective link, where the prediction misfit is measured using, possibly non-differentiable, loss functions. Examples include generalized linear models, quasi-likelihood models, and robust regression. To address the limitations of non-conjugate settings, we employ an efficient message passing optimization strategy under a Gaussian variational approximation of the posterior. The resulting algorithms automatically account for non-conjugate priors and non-smooth losses, without requiring model-specific data-augmented representations. Besides the general formulation, we provide closed-form updates for popular model specifications, including quantile regression and support vector machines. Overall, theoretical and empirical results highlight the effectiveness of the proposed method, demonstrating its computational efficiency and approximation accuracy as an alternative to existing Bayesian techniques.
title Non-conjugate variational Bayes for pseudo-likelihood mixed effect models
topic Methodology
Computation
62-08 (Primary), 62J05 (Secondary)
G.3
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.09444