Dimensional Probability Distributions Research Articles

Generating Parametric BRDFs from Natural Language Descriptions

AbstractArtistic authoring of 3D environments is a laborious enterprise that also requires skilled content creators. There have been impressive improvements in using machine learning to address different aspects of generating 3D content, such as generating meshes, arranging geometry, synthesizing textures, etc. In this paper we develop a model to generate Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Functions (BRDFs) from descriptive textual prompts. BRDFs are four dimensional probability distributions that characterize the interaction of light with surface materials. They are either represented parametrically, or by tabulating the probability density associated with every pair of incident and outgoing angles. The former lends itself to artistic editing while the latter is used when measuring the appearance of real materials. Numerous works have focused on hypothesizing BRDF models from images of materials. We learn a mapping from textual descriptions of materials to parametric BRDFs. Our model is first trained using a semi‐supervised approach before being tuned via an unsupervised scheme. Although our model is general, in this paper we specifically generate parameters for MDL materials, conditioned on natural language descriptions, within NVIDIA's Omniverse platform. This enables use cases such as real‐time text prompts to change materials of objects in 3D environments such as “dull plastic” or “shiny iron”. Since the output of our model is a parametric BRDF, rather than an image of the material, it may be used to render materials using any shape under arbitrarily specified viewing and lighting conditions.

Testing the boundaries: Normalizing Flows for higher dimensional data sets

Normalizing Flows (NFs) are emerging as a powerful class of generative models, as they not only allow for efficient sampling, but also deliver, by construction, density estimation. They are of great potential usage in High Energy Physics (HEP), where complex high dimensional data and probability distributions are everyday’s meal. However, in order to fully leverage the potential of NFs it is crucial to explore their robustness as data dimensionality increases. Thus, in this contribution, we discuss the performances of some of the most popular types of NFs on the market, on some toy data sets with increasing number of dimensions.

Generalized gamma distribution based on the Bayesian approach with application to investment modelling

The Generalized Gamma Distribution (GGD) is one of the most popular distributions in analyzing real lifetime datasets. Estimating the parameters of a high dimensional probability distribution is challenging due to the complexities associated with the resulting objectives function. When traditional estimation techniques fail due to complexity in the model objectives function, other powerful computational approaches are employed. In this study, a Bayesian approach to Generalized Gamma Distribution (GGD) based on Markov Chain Monte-Carlo (MCMC) has been employed to estimate model parameters. This study considers the Bayesian approach to GGD parameters using the Adaptive Rejection Metropolis Sampling (ARMS) technique of random variable generation within the Gibbs sampler. The MCMC approach has been used for estimating the multi-dimensional objectives function distribution. The results of the ARMS were compared to the existing Simulated annealing (SA) algorithm and Method of Moment (MM) based on modified internal rate of return data (MIRR). The performances of various derived estimators were recorded using the Markov chain Monte Carlo simulation technique for different sample sizes. The study reveals that ARMS's performance is marginally better than the existing SA and MA approaches. The efficiency of ARMS does not require a larger sample size as the SA does, in the case of simulated data. The performances of ARMS and SA are similar comparing them to the MM as an initial assumption in the case of real MIRR data. However, ARMS gives an acceptable estimated parameter for the different sample sizes due to its ability to evaluate the conditional distributions easily and sample from them exactly.

Variational Monte Carlo approach to partial differential equations with neural networks

The accurate numerical solution of partial differential equations (PDEs) is a central task in numerical analysis allowing to model a wide range of natural phenomena by employing specialized solvers depending on the scenario of application. Here, we develop a variational approach for solving PDEs governing the evolution of high dimensional probability distributions. Our approach naturally works on the unbounded continuous domain and encodes the full probability density function through its variational parameters, which are adapted dynamically during the evolution to optimally reflect the dynamics of the density. In contrast to previous works, this dynamical adaptation of the parameters is carried out using an explicit prescription avoiding iterative gradient descent. For the considered benchmark cases we observe excellent agreement with numerical solutions as well as analytical solutions for tasks that are challenging for traditional computational approaches.

Bayesian inference of axisymmetric plasma equilibrium

We present a Bayesian method for inferring axisymmetric plasma equilibria from the magnetic field and plasma pressure measurements. The method calculates all possible solutions for plasma current and pressure distributions consistent with the measurements and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) force balance. Toroidal plasma current and magnetic field coils are modelled as a set of axisymmetric current-carrying solid beams. The other parameters such as plasma pressure and poloidal current flux are given as a function of poloidal magnetic flux, which is determined given a 2D current distribution. Plasma pressure and poloidal current flux profiles are modelled as Gaussian processes whose smoothness is optimally chosen based on the principle of Occam’s razor. To find equilibrium solutions, we introduce an MHD force balance constraint at every plasma current beam as a part of the prior knowledge. Given all these physical quantities, predictions calculated by the predictive (forward) models for diagnostics are compared to the observations. The high dimensional complex posterior probability distribution is explored by a new algorithm based on the Gibbs sampling scheme.

A high dimensional dissimilarity measure

A new dissimilarity measure for high-dimensional, low sample size settings to compare high dimensional probability distributions is proposed. The asymptotic behavior of the new dissimilarity index is studied theoretically. Numerical experiments from high dimensional distributions exhibit the usefulness of the method. The eigenvalues of the matrix of dissimilarities for comparing two high dimensional samples are determined and shown to be related to the asymptotic value of the dissimilarity index. A dissimilarity visualization plot that is useful for detection of outliers and change points is proposed and utilized to find the change points in S&P500 stock return data.

Mean force based temperature accelerated sliced sampling: Efficient reconstruction of high dimensional free energy landscapes.

Temperature accelerated sliced sampling (TASS) is an efficient method to compute high dimensional free energy landscapes. The original TASS method employs the weighted histogram analysis method (WHAM) which is an iterative post-processing to reweight and stitch high dimensional probability distributions in sliced windows that are obtained in the presence of restraining biases. The WHAM necessitates that TASS windows lie close to each other for proper overlap of distributions and span the collective variable space of interest. On the other hand, increase in number of TASS windows implies more number of simulations, and thus it affects the efficiency of the method. To overcome this problem, we propose herein a new mean-force (MF) based reweighting scheme called TASS-MF, which enables accurate computation with a fewer number of windows devoid of the WHAM post-processing. Application of the technique is demonstrated for alanine di- and tripeptides in vacuo to compute their two- and four-dimensional free energy landscapes, the latter of which is formidable in conventional umbrella sampling and metadynamics. The landscapes are computed within a kcal mol-1 accuracy, ensuring a safe usage for broad applications in computational chemistry.

Geometric Variational Inference.

Efficiently accessing the information contained in non-linear and high dimensional probability distributions remains a core challenge in modern statistics. Traditionally, estimators that go beyond point estimates are either categorized as Variational Inference (VI) or Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo (MCMC) techniques. While MCMC methods that utilize the geometric properties of continuous probability distributions to increase their efficiency have been proposed, VI methods rarely use the geometry. This work aims to fill this gap and proposes geometric Variational Inference (geoVI), a method based on Riemannian geometry and the Fisher information metric. It is used to construct a coordinate transformation that relates the Riemannian manifold associated with the metric to Euclidean space. The distribution, expressed in the coordinate system induced by the transformation, takes a particularly simple form that allows for an accurate variational approximation by a normal distribution. Furthermore, the algorithmic structure allows for an efficient implementation of geoVI which is demonstrated on multiple examples, ranging from low-dimensional illustrative ones to non-linear, hierarchical Bayesian inverse problems in thousands of dimensions.

Optimal dual quantizers of [formula omitted][formula omitted]-concave distributions: Uniqueness and Lloyd like algorithm

We establish for dual quantization the counterpart of Kieffer’s uniqueness result for compactly supported one dimensional probability distributions having a log-concave density (also called strongly unimodal): for such distributions, Lr-optimal dual quantizers are unique at each level N, the optimal grid being the unique critical point of the quantization error. An example of non-strongly unimodal distribution for which uniqueness of critical points fails is exhibited. In the quadratic r=2 case, we propose an algorithm to compute the unique optimal dual quantizer. It provides a counterpart of Lloyd’s method I algorithm in a Voronoi framework (see [14] and [15]). Finally semi-closed forms of Lr-optimal dual quantizers are established for power distributions on compacts intervals and truncated exponential distributions.

Power series expansions for the probability distribution, mean value and variance functions of a geometric process with gamma interarrival times

The geometric process is used widely as a stochastic monotone model in many areas since its introduction. In this study, this process is considered when the distribution of the first interarrival time follows a gamma distribution. One dimensional probability distribution of the process is obtained by expanding the convolution of gamma distributions into a power series. Further, its mean value, second moment and variance functions are derived as a power series expansion with the help of the integral equations given for mean value and second moment functions. The illustrative examples are also given. Finally, a real-world data set is considered to see the applicability of the results.

Neural networks of different species, brain areas and states can be characterized by the probability polling state.

Cortical networks are complex systems of a great many interconnected neurons that operate from collective dynamical states. To understand how cortical neural networks function, it is important to identify their common dynamical operating states from the probabilistic viewpoint. Probabilistic characteristics of these operating states often underlie network functions. Here, using multi-electrode data from three separate experiments, we identify and characterize a cortical operating state (the "probability polling" or "p-polling" state), common across mouse and monkey with different behaviors. If the interaction among neurons is weak, the p-polling state provides a quantitative understanding of how the high dimensional probability distribution of firing patterns can be obtained by the low-order maximum entropy formulation, effectively utilizing a low dimensional stimulus-coding structure. These results show evidence for generality of the p-polling state and in certain situations its advantage of providing a mathematical validation for the low-order maximum entropy principle as a coding strategy.

Thermodynamic inference of data manifolds

The Gibbs-Boltzmann distribution offers a physically interpretable way to massively reduce the dimensionality of high dimensional probability distributions where the extensive variables are `features' and the intensive variables are `descriptors'. However, not all probability distributions can be modeled using the Gibbs-Boltzmann form. Here, we present TMI: TMI, {\bf T}hermodynamic {\bf M}anifold {\bf I}nference; a thermodynamic approach to approximate a collection of arbitrary distributions. TMI simultaneously learns from data intensive and extensive variables and achieves dimensionality reduction through a multiplicative, positive valued, and interpretable decomposition of the data. Importantly, the reduced dimensional space of intensive parameters is not homogeneous. The Gibbs-Boltzmann distribution defines an analytically tractable Riemannian metric on the space of intensive variables allowing us to calculate geodesics and volume elements. We discuss the applications of TMI with multiple real and artificial data sets. Possible extensions are discussed as well.

Solving Bayesian inverse problems from the perspective of deep generative networks

Deep generative networks have achieved great success in high dimensional density approximation, especially for applications in natural images and language. In this paper, we investigate their approximation capability in capturing the posterior distribution in Bayesian inverse problems by learning a transport map. Because only the unnormalized density of the posterior is available, training methods that learn from posterior samples, such as variational autoencoders and generative adversarial networks, are not applicable in our setting. We propose a class of network training methods that can be combined with sample-based Bayesian inference algorithms, such as various MCMC algorithms, ensemble Kalman filter and Stein variational gradient descent. Our experiment results show the pros and cons of deep generative networks in Bayesian inverse problems. They also reveal the potential of our proposed methodology in capturing high dimensional probability distributions.

Assessment of Climate Change Impacts on Extreme High and Low Flows: An Improved Bottom-Up Approach

A quantitative assessment of the likelihood of all possible future states is lacking in both the traditional top-down and the alternative bottom-up approaches to the assessment of climate change impacts. The issue is tackled herein by generating a large number of representative climate projections using weather generators calibrated with the outputs of regional climate models. A case study was performed on the South Nation River Watershed located in Eastern Ontario, Canada, using climate projections generated by four climate models and forced with medium- to high-emission scenarios (RCP4.5 and RCP8.5) for the future 30-year period (2071–2100). These raw projections were corrected using two downscaling techniques. Large ensembles of future series were created by perturbing downscaled data with a stochastic weather generator, then used as inputs to a hydrological model that was calibrated using observed data. Risk indices calculated with the simulated streamflow data were converted into probability distributions using Kernel Density Estimations. The results are dimensional joint probability distributions of risk-relevant indices that provide estimates of the likelihood of unwanted events under a given watershed configuration and management policy. The proposed approach offers a more complete vision of the impacts of climate change and opens the door to a more objective assessment of adaptation strategies.

Scalable Importance Tempering and Bayesian Variable Selection

SummaryWe propose a Monte Carlo algorithm to sample from high dimensional probability distributions that combines Markov chain Monte Carlo and importance sampling. We provide a careful theoretical analysis, including guarantees on robustness to high dimensionality, explicit comparison with standard Markov chain Monte Carlo methods and illustrations of the potential improvements in efficiency. Simple and concrete intuition is provided for when the novel scheme is expected to outperform standard schemes. When applied to Bayesian variable-selection problems, the novel algorithm is orders of magnitude more efficient than available alternative sampling schemes and enables fast and reliable fully Bayesian inferences with tens of thousand regressors.

A Study on Real-time Hand Pose Recognition and its Classification

Hand gesture recognition is a problem. Many computer and human computing have had an interactive community for years, add-on components or existing solutions to users, causing additional computational time requirements. These limitations are mainly human hands due to the camera’s high performance and limited field of view. This work uses a novel method to identify hand-folding metric shape descriptors to generate a 3D cylindrical map of hand-folding with depth information and size and rotation-invariant hand kinematics, and we achieved robust pose recognition in real time. In this paper, new hand force geometry features are proposed for hand pose recognition using the approach. A skeleton arm there was a model built transmits and analyze abduction Finger movements and these variables were added to transform the dimensional probability distribution. A skeleton model was concretized and these parameters were updated to change the dimensional probability distribution. The proposed algorithm very Strong irregular arm division and lateral movement Test results of fingers Show that the proposed method optimal human computing related applications interaction Virtual reality, autonomous driving systems, human machine hand gesture recognition augmented robotics, interfaces and other new, emerging technologies have become an interesting research topic in recent years. Although there are many approaches to a strong authentication System, gesture recognition is based on visual perception, sensors or devices like electronic gloves have many advantages. 10 Visualization to Recognize Hand Positions in an Embedded Computer This article describes a basic recognition implementation. Hand detection is a light curve achieved using a tracking algorithm and neural network. The results show Low power consumption and real-time response accuracy. From this, the proposed system can use to greater extent.

Inferring time-varying brain connectivity graph based on a new method for link estimation

ABSTRACTCausal interaction estimation among neuronal groups plays an important role in the assessment of brain functions. These directional relations can be best illustrated by means of graphical modeling which is a mathematical representation of a network. Here, we propose an efficient framework to derive a graphical model for the statistical analysis of multivariate processes from observed time series in a data-driven pipeline to explore the interregional brain interactions. A major part of this analysis is devoted to the graph link estimation, which is a measure capable of dealing with the multivariate analysis obstacles. In this paper, we use the Transfer Entropy (TE) measure and focus on its calculation that requires efficient estimation of high dimensional conditional probability distributions. Our method is based on the simplification of high dimensional parts of the conventional TE definition and especially devoted to the reduction of estimation dimension through searching for the most informative contents of the high dimensional parts. To this end, we exploit the causal Markov properties for time series graphs and prove that only a specified subset of involved variables plays an important role in multivariate TE estimation. We demonstrate the performance of our method for stationary processes using some numerical simulated examples as well as real neurophysiological data.

The joint statistics of mildly non-linear cosmological densities and slopes in count in cells

Abstract In the context of count-in-cells statistics, the joint probability distribution of the density in two concentric spherical shells is predicted from first principle for sigmas of the order of 1. The agreement with simulation is found to be excellent. This statistics allows us to deduce the conditional one dimensional probability distribution function of the slope within under dense (resp. overdense) regions, or of the density for positive or negative slopes. The former conditional distribution is likely to be more robust in constraining the cosmological parameters as the underlying dynamics is less evolved in such regions. A fiducial dark energy experiment is implemented on such counts derived from Λ cold dark matter simulations.

On the exact distribution and mean value function of a geometric process with exponential interarrival times

The geometric process is considered when the distribution of the first interarrival time is assumed to be exponential. An analytical expression for the one dimensional probability distribution of this process is obtained as a solution to a system of recursive differential equations. A power series expansion is derived for the geometric renewal function by using an integral equation and evaluated in a computational perspective. Further, an extension is provided for the power series expansion of the geometric renewal function in the case of the Weibull distribution.

Lexicographic Strategic Games' Nonstandard Analysis

A new concept of a mixed strategy is given for m -dimensional lexicographic noncooperative ) ,..., , ( 1 1 0       m game when on a set of pure strategies m -dimensional probability distributions are given. In this case each k  ) 1 ,..., 1 , 0 (   m k criteria of  game corresponds to its probability distributions on sets of pure strategies. Besides, a lexicographic m -dimensional order relation is given on set of m -dimensional probability distribution. The given construction is made by the methodology of nonstandard analysis Therefore, the given mixed strategy is called a nonstandard mixed strategy, and a lexicographic game in such strategies is called a nonstandard mixed extension. An equilibrium situation in mixed strategies is defined in  game. A nonstandard mixed extension of lexicographic matrix games is studied thoroughly. In such games, necessary and sufficient conditions of the existence of a saddle point are proved. The analyzed examples show that if in a lexicographic matrix game doesn’t exist a saddle point in standard mixed strategies then a saddle point maybe doesn’t exist in nonstandard mixed strategies. If in a lexicographic matrix game doesn’t exist a saddle point in standard mixed strategies then there can be existed a saddle point in nonstandard mixed strategies. Thus, lexicographic games’ nonstandard mixed distribution is a generalization of a standard mixed extension.