Spatially inhomogeneous functions, which may be smooth in some regions and rough in other regions, are modelled naturally in a Bayesian manner using so-called Besov priors which are given by random wavelet expansions with Laplace-distributed coefficients. This paper studies theoretical guarantees for such prior measures - specifically, we examine their frequentist posterior contraction rates in the setting of non-linear inverse problems with Gaussian white noise. Our results are first derived under a general local Lipschitz assumption on the forward map. We then verify the assumption for two non-linear inverse problems arising from elliptic partial differential equations, the Darcy flow model from geophysics as well as a model for the Schr\"odinger equation appearing in tomography. In the course of the proofs, we also obtain novel concentration inequalities for penalized least squares estimators with $\ell^1$ wavelet penalty, which have a natural interpretation as maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimators. The true parameter is assumed to belong to some spatially inhomogeneous Besov class $B^{\alpha}_{11}$, $\alpha>0$. In a setting with direct observations, we complement these upper bounds with a lower bound on the rate of contraction for arbitrary Gaussian priors. An immediate consequence of our results is that while Laplace priors can achieve minimax-optimal rates over $B^{\alpha}_{11}$-classes, Gaussian priors are limited to a (by a polynomial factor) slower contraction rate. This gives information-theoretical justification for the intuition that Laplace priors are more compatible with $\ell^1$ regularity structure in the underlying parameter.
The lack of standardization is a prominent issue in magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. This often causes undesired contrast variations due to differences in hardware and acquisition parameters. In recent years, MR harmonization using image synthesis with disentanglement has been proposed to compensate for the undesired contrast variations. Despite the success of existing methods, we argue that three major improvements can be made. First, most existing methods are built upon the assumption that multi-contrast MR images of the same subject share the same anatomy. This assumption is questionable since different MR contrasts are specialized to highlight different anatomical features. Second, these methods often require a fixed set of MR contrasts for training (e.g., both Tw-weighted and T2-weighted images must be available), which limits their applicability. Third, existing methods generally are sensitive to imaging artifacts. In this paper, we present a novel approach, Harmonization with Attention-based Contrast, Anatomy, and Artifact Awareness (HACA3), to address these three issues. We first propose an anatomy fusion module that enables HACA3 to respect the anatomical differences between MR contrasts. HACA3 is also robust to imaging artifacts and can be trained and applied to any set of MR contrasts. Experiments show that HACA3 achieves state-of-the-art performance under multiple image quality metrics. We also demonstrate the applicability of HACA3 on downstream tasks with diverse MR datasets acquired from 21 sites with different field strengths, scanner platforms, and acquisition protocols.
The complete elliptic integral of the first kind (CEI-1) plays in a significant role in mathematics, physics and engineering. There is no simple formulae for its computation, thus numerical algorithms and solution are essential in practical problems. However, we find that the numerical solutions obtained via both MATLAB and Mathematica are not acceptable and should be treated seriously. For the purpose of obtaining correct and alternative numerical algorithms for the CEI-1, the infinite series method, arithmetic-geometric mean (AGM) method, Gauss-Chebyshev method and Gauss-Legendre methods are discussed in details with a top-down strategy. The four key algorithms for computing CEI-1 are designed, verified, validated and tested, which can be utilized in R & D and be reused properly. In the sense of STEM education, system engineering and computational thinking, the Verification-Validation-Testing (VVT) stage is crucial for applications and teaching college students in order to avoid unnecessary losses.
We propose to use L\'evy {\alpha}-stable distributions for constructing priors for Bayesian inverse problems. The construction is based on Markov fields with stable-distributed increments. Special cases include the Cauchy and Gaussian distributions, with stability indices {\alpha} = 1, and {\alpha} = 2, respectively. Our target is to show that these priors provide a rich class of priors for modelling rough features. The main technical issue is that the {\alpha}-stable probability density functions do not have closed-form expressions in general, and this limits their applicability. For practical purposes, we need to approximate probability density functions through numerical integration or series expansions. Current available approximation methods are either too time-consuming or do not function within the range of stability and radius arguments needed in Bayesian inversion. To address the issue, we propose a new hybrid approximation method for symmetric univariate and bivariate {\alpha}-stable distributions, which is both fast to evaluate, and accurate enough from a practical viewpoint. Then we use approximation method in the numerical implementation of {\alpha}-stable random field priors. We demonstrate the applicability of the constructed priors on selected Bayesian inverse problems which include the deconvolution problem, and the inversion of a function governed by an elliptic partial differential equation. We also demonstrate hierarchical {\alpha}-stable priors in the one-dimensional deconvolution problem. We employ maximum-a-posterior-based estimation at all the numerical examples. To that end, we exploit the limited-memory BFGS and its bounded variant for the estimator.
We study the sparse high-dimensional Gaussian mixture model when the number of clusters is allowed to grow with the sample size. A minimax lower bound for parameter estimation is established, and we show that a constrained maximum likelihood estimator achieves the minimax lower bound. However, this optimization-based estimator is computationally intractable because the objective function is highly nonconvex and the feasible set involves discrete structures. To address the computational challenge, we propose a Bayesian approach to estimate high-dimensional Gaussian mixtures whose cluster centers exhibit sparsity using a continuous spike-and-slab prior. Posterior inference can be efficiently computed using an easy-to-implement Gibbs sampler. We further prove that the posterior contraction rate of the proposed Bayesian method is minimax optimal. The mis-clustering rate is obtained as a by-product using tools from matrix perturbation theory. The proposed Bayesian sparse Gaussian mixture model does not require pre-specifying the number of clusters, which can be adaptively estimated via the Gibbs sampler. The validity and usefulness of the proposed method is demonstrated through simulation studies and the analysis of a real-world single-cell RNA sequencing dataset.
We study the partial search order problem (PSOP) proposed recently by Scheffler [WG 2022]. Given a graph $G$ together with a partial order over the vertices of $G$, this problem determines if there is an $\mathcal{S}$-ordering that is consistent with the given partial order, where $\mathcal{S}$ is a graph search paradigm like BFS, DFS, etc. This problem naturally generalizes the end-vertex problem which has received much attention over the past few years. It also generalizes the so-called ${\mathcal{F}}$-tree recognition problem which has just been studied in the literature recently. Our main contribution is a polynomial-time dynamic programming algorithm for the PSOP on chordal graphs with respect to the maximum cardinality search (MCS). This resolves one of the most intriguing open questions left in the work of Sheffler [WG 2022]. To obtain our result, we propose the notion of layer structure and study numerous related structural properties which might be of independent interest.
This paper is concerned with a direct sampling method for imaging the support of a frequency-dependent source term embedded in a homogeneous and isotropic medium. The source term is given by the Fourier transform of a time-dependent source whose radiating period in the time domain is known. The time-dependent source is supposed to be stationary in the sense that its compact support does not vary along the time variable. Via a multi-frequency direct sampling method, we show that the smallest strip containing the source support and perpendicular to the observation direction can be recovered from far-field patterns at a fixed observation angle. With multiple but sparse observation directions, the shape of the convex hull of the source support can be recovered. The frequency-domain analysis performed here can be used to handle inverse time-dependent source problems. Our algorithm has low computational overhead and is robust against noise. Numerical experiments in both two and three dimensions have proved our theoretical findings.
We study geometric variations of the discriminating code problem. In the \emph{discrete version} of the problem, a finite set of points $P$ and a finite set of objects $S$ are given in $\mathbb{R}^d$. The objective is to choose a subset $S^* \subseteq S$ of minimum cardinality such that for each point $p_i \in P$, the subset $S_i^* \subseteq S^*$ covering $p_i$ satisfies $S_i^*\neq \emptyset$, and each pair $p_i,p_j \in P$, $i \neq j$, we have $S_i^* \neq S_j^*$. In the \emph{continuous version} of the problem, the solution set $S^*$ can be chosen freely among a (potentially infinite) class of allowed geometric objects. In the 1-dimensional case ($d=1$), the points in $P$ are placed on a horizontal line $L$, and the objects in $S$ are finite-length line segments aligned with $L$ (called intervals). We show that the discrete version of this problem is NP-complete. This is somewhat surprising as the continuous version is known to be polynomial-time solvable. Still, for the 1-dimensional discrete version, we design a polynomial-time $2$-approximation algorithm. We also design a PTAS for both discrete and continuous versions in one dimension, for the restriction where the intervals are all required to have the same length. We then study the 2-dimensional case ($d=2$) for axis-parallel unit square objects. We show that both continuous and discrete versions are NP-complete, and design polynomial-time approximation algorithms that produce $(16\cdot OPT+1)$-approximate and $(64\cdot OPT+1)$-approximate solutions respectively, using rounding of suitably defined integer linear programming problems. We show that the identifying code problem for axis-parallel unit square intersection graphs (in $d=2$) can be solved in the same manner as for the discrete version of the discriminating code problem for unit square objects.
We describe a practical algorithm for computing normal forms for semigroups and monoids with finite presentations satisfying so-called small overlap conditions. Small overlap conditions are natural conditions on the relations in a presentation, which were introduced by J. H. Remmers and subsequently studied extensively by M. Kambites. Presentations satisfying these conditions are ubiquitous; Kambites showed that a randomly chosen finite presentation satisfies the $C(4)$ condition with probability tending to 1 as the sum of the lengths of relation words tends to infinity. Kambites also showed that several key problems for finitely presented semigroups and monoids are tractable in $C(4)$ monoids: the word problem is solvable in $O(\min\{|u|, |v|\})$ time in the size of the input words $u$ and $v$; the uniform word problem for $\langle A|R\rangle$ is solvable in $O(N ^ 2 \min\{|u|, |v|\})$ where $N$ is the sum of the lengths of the words in $R$; and a normal form for any given word $u$ can be found in $O(|u|)$ time. Although Kambites' algorithm for solving the word problem in $C(4)$ monoids is highly practical, it appears that the coefficients in the linear time algorithm for computing normal forms are too large in practice. In this paper, we present an algorithm for computing normal forms in $C(4)$ monoids that has time complexity $O(|u| ^ 2)$ for input word $u$, but where the coefficients are sufficiently small to allow for practical computation. Additionally, we show that the uniform word problem for small overlap monoids can be solved in $O(N \min\{|u|, |v|\})$ time.
A model-based approach is developed for clustering categorical data with no natural ordering. The proposed method exploits the Hamming distance to define a family of probability mass functions to model the data. The elements of this family are then considered as kernels of a finite mixture model with unknown number of components. Conjugate Bayesian inference has been derived for the parameters of the Hamming distribution model. The mixture is framed in a Bayesian nonparametric setting and a transdimensional blocked Gibbs sampler is developed to provide full Bayesian inference on the number of clusters, their structure and the group-specific parameters, facilitating the computation with respect to customary reversible jump algorithms. The proposed model encompasses a parsimonious latent class model as a special case, when the number of components is fixed. Model performances are assessed via a simulation study and reference datasets, showing improvements in clustering recovery over existing approaches.
When is heterogeneity in the composition of an autonomous robotic team beneficial and when is it detrimental? We investigate and answer this question in the context of a minimally viable model that examines the role of heterogeneous speeds in perimeter defense problems, where defenders share a total allocated speed budget. We consider two distinct problem settings and develop strategies based on dynamic programming and on local interaction rules. We present a theoretical analysis of both approaches and our results are extensively validated using simulations. Interestingly, our results demonstrate that the viability of heterogeneous teams depends on the amount of information available to the defenders. Moreover, our results suggest a universality property: across a wide range of problem parameters the optimal ratio of the speeds of the defenders remains nearly constant.