Differentially private training algorithms like DP-SGD protect sensitive training data by ensuring that trained models do not reveal private information. An alternative approach, which this paper studies, is to use a sensitive dataset to generate synthetic data that is differentially private with respect to the original data, and then non-privately training a model on the synthetic data. Doing so has several advantages: synthetic data can be reused for other tasks (including for hyper parameter tuning), retained indefinitely, and shared with third parties without sacrificing privacy. However, generating private synthetic data is much harder than training a private model. To improve performance on text data, recent work has utilized public data by starting with a pre-trained generative language model and privately fine-tuning it on sensitive data. This model can be used to sample a DP synthetic dataset. While this strategy seems straightforward, executing it has proven problematic. Previous approaches either show significant performance loss, or have, as we show, critical design flaws. In this paper we demonstrate that a proper training objective along with tuning fewer parameters results in excellent DP synthetic data quality. Our approach is competitive with direct DP-training of downstream classifiers in terms of performance on downstream tasks. Further, we demonstrate that our DP synthetic data is not only useful for downstream classifier training, but also to tune those same models.
Randomized matrix algorithms have become workhorse tools in scientific computing and machine learning. To use these algorithms safely in applications, they should be coupled with posterior error estimates to assess the quality of the output. To meet this need, this paper proposes two diagnostics: a leave-one-out error estimator for randomized low-rank approximations and a jackknife resampling method to estimate the variance of the output of a randomized matrix computation. Both of these diagnostics are rapid to compute for randomized low-rank approximation algorithms such as the randomized SVD and randomized Nystr\"om approximation, and they provide useful information that can be used to assess the quality of the computed output and guide algorithmic parameter choices.
We propose a simple network of Hawkes processes as a cognitive model capable of learning to classify objects. Our learning algorithm, named HAN for Hawkes Aggregation of Neurons, is based on a local synaptic learning rule based on spiking probabilities at each output node. We were able to use local regret bounds to prove mathematically that the network is able to learn on average and even asymptotically under more restrictive assumptions.
We propose a novel algorithm for the support estimation of partially known Gaussian graphical models that incorporates prior information about the underlying graph. In contrast to classical approaches that provide a point estimate based on a maximum likelihood or a maximum a posteriori criterion using (simple) priors on the precision matrix, we consider a prior on the graph and rely on annealed Langevin diffusion to generate samples from the posterior distribution. Since the Langevin sampler requires access to the score function of the underlying graph prior, we use graph neural networks to effectively estimate the score from a graph dataset (either available beforehand or generated from a known distribution). Numerical experiments demonstrate the benefits of our approach.
Learning unknown stochastic differential equations (SDEs) from observed data is a significant and challenging task with applications in various fields. Current approaches often use neural networks to represent drift and diffusion functions, and construct likelihood-based loss by approximating the transition density to train these networks. However, these methods often rely on one-step stochastic numerical schemes, necessitating data with sufficiently high time resolution. In this paper, we introduce novel approximations to the transition density of the parameterized SDE: a Gaussian density approximation inspired by the random perturbation theory of dynamical systems, and its extension, the dynamical Gaussian mixture approximation (DynGMA). Benefiting from the robust density approximation, our method exhibits superior accuracy compared to baseline methods in learning the fully unknown drift and diffusion functions and computing the invariant distribution from trajectory data. And it is capable of handling trajectory data with low time resolution and variable, even uncontrollable, time step sizes, such as data generated from Gillespie's stochastic simulations. We then conduct several experiments across various scenarios to verify the advantages and robustness of the proposed method.
This paper delves into a nonparametric estimation approach for the interaction function within diffusion-type particle system models. We introduce two estimation methods based upon an empirical risk minimization. Our study encompasses an analysis of the stochastic and approximation errors associated with both procedures, along with an examination of certain minimax lower bounds. In particular, we show that there is a natural metric under which the corresponding minimax estimation error of the interaction function converges to zero with parametric rate. This result is rather suprising given complexity of the underlying estimation problem and rather large classes of interaction functions for which the above parametric rate holds.
The classical approach to analyzing extreme value data is the generalized Pareto distribution (GPD). When the GPD is used to explain a target variable with the large dimension of covariates, the shape and scale function of covariates included in GPD are sometimes modeled using the generalized additive models (GAM). In contrast to many results of application, there are no theoretical results on the hybrid technique of GAM and GPD, which motivates us to develop its asymptotic theory. We provide the rate of convergence of the estimator of shape and scale functions, as well as its local asymptotic normality.
Several mixed-effects models for longitudinal data have been proposed to accommodate the non-linearity of late-life cognitive trajectories and assess the putative influence of covariates on it. No prior research provides a side-by-side examination of these models to offer guidance on their proper application and interpretation. In this work, we examined five statistical approaches previously used to answer research questions related to non-linear changes in cognitive aging: the linear mixed model (LMM) with a quadratic term, LMM with splines, the functional mixed model, the piecewise linear mixed model, and the sigmoidal mixed model. We first theoretically describe the models. Next, using data from two prospective cohorts with annual cognitive testing, we compared the interpretation of the models by investigating associations of education on cognitive change before death. Lastly, we performed a simulation study to empirically evaluate the models and provide practical recommendations. Except for the LMM-quadratic, the fit of all models was generally adequate to capture non-linearity of cognitive change and models were relatively robust. Although spline-based models have no interpretable nonlinearity parameters, their convergence was easier to achieve, and they allow graphical interpretation. In contrast, piecewise and sigmoidal models, with interpretable non-linear parameters, may require more data to achieve convergence.
By computing a feedback control via the linear quadratic regulator (LQR) approach and simulating a non-linear non-autonomous closed-loop system using this feedback, we combine two numerically challenging tasks. For the first task, the computation of the feedback control, we use the non-autonomous generalized differential Riccati equation (DRE), whose solution determines the time-varying feedback gain matrix. Regarding the second task, we want to be able to simulate non-linear closed-loop systems for which it is known that the regulator is only valid for sufficiently small perturbations. Thus, one easily runs into numerical issues in the integrators when the closed-loop control varies greatly. For these systems, e.g., the A-stable implicit Euler methods fails.\newline On the one hand, we implement non-autonomous versions of splitting schemes and BDF methods for the solution of our non-autonomous DREs. These are well-established DRE solvers in the autonomous case. On the other hand, to tackle the numerical issues in the simulation of the non-linear closed-loop system, we apply a fractional-step-theta scheme with time-adaptivity tuned specifically to this kind of challenge. That is, we additionally base the time-adaptivity on the activity of the control. We compare this approach to the more classical error-based time-adaptivity.\newline We describe techniques to make these two tasks computable in a reasonable amount of time and are able to simulate closed-loop systems with strongly varying controls, while avoiding numerical issues. Our time-adaptivity approach requires fewer time steps than the error-based alternative and is more reliable.
We extend generalized functional linear models under independence to a situation in which a functional covariate is related to a scalar response variable that exhibits spatial dependence. For estimation, we apply basis expansion and truncation for dimension reduction of the covariate process followed by a composite likelihood estimating equation to handle the spatial dependency. We develop asymptotic results for the proposed model under a repeating lattice asymptotic context, allowing us to construct a confidence interval for the spatial dependence parameter and a confidence band for the parameter function. A binary conditionals model is presented as a concrete illustration and is used in simulation studies to verify the applicability of the asymptotic inferential results.
Time-series models typically assume untainted and legitimate streams of data. However, a self-interested adversary may have incentive to corrupt this data, thereby altering a decision maker's inference. Within the broader field of adversarial machine learning, this research provides a novel, probabilistic perspective toward the manipulation of hidden Markov model inferences via corrupted data. In particular, we provision a suite of corruption problems for filtering, smoothing, and decoding inferences leveraging an adversarial risk analysis approach. Multiple stochastic programming models are set forth that incorporate realistic uncertainties and varied attacker objectives. Three general solution methods are developed by alternatively viewing the problem from frequentist and Bayesian perspectives. The efficacy of each method is illustrated via extensive, empirical testing. The developed methods are characterized by their solution quality and computational effort, resulting in a stratification of techniques across varying problem-instance architectures. This research highlights the weaknesses of hidden Markov models under adversarial activity, thereby motivating the need for robustification techniques to ensure their security.