Investigating purchasing-sequence patterns for financial services using Markov, MTD and MTDg models

In the past, several authors have found evidence for the existence of a priority pattern of acquisition for durable goods, as well as for financial services. Its usefulness lies in the fact that if the position of a particular customer in this acquisition sequence is known, one can predict what service will be acquired next by that customer. In this paper, we analyse purchase sequences of financial services to identify cross-buying patterns, which might be used to discover cross-selling opportunities as part of customer relationship management (CRM). Hereby, special attention is paid to transitions, which might encourage bank-only or insurance-only customers to become financial-services customers. We introduce the mixture transition distribution (MTD) model as a parsimonious alternative to the Markov model for use in the analysis of marketing problems. An interesting extension on the MTD model is the MTDg model, which is able to represent situations where the relationship between each lag and the current state differs. We illustrate the MTD and MTDg model on acquisition sequences of customers of a major financial-services company and compare the fit of these models with that of the corresponding Markov model. Our results are in favor of the MTD and MTDg models. Therefore, the MTD as well as the MTDg transition matrices are investigated to reveal cross-buying patterns. The results are valuable to product managers as they clarify the customer flows among product groups. In some cases, the lag-specific transition matrices of the MTDg model give better insight into the acquisition patterns than the general transition matrix of the MTD model.     

A Gaussian Mixed Model for Learning Discrete Bayesian Networks

In this paper, we address the problem of learning discrete Bayesian networks from noisy data. A graphical model based on a mixture of Gaussian distributions with categorical mixing structure coming from a discrete Bayesian network is considered. The network learning is formulated as a maximum likelihood estimation problem and performed by employing an EM algorithm. The proposed approach is relevant to a variety of statistical problems for which Bayesian network models are suitable—from simple regression analysis to learning gene/protein regulatory networks from microarray data.     

Markov Chain Monte Carlo With Mixtures of Mutually Singular Distributions

Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods for Bayesian computation are mostly used when the dominating measure is the Lebesgue measure, the counting measure, or a product of these. Many Bayesian problems give rise to distributions that are not dominated by the Lebesgue measure or the counting measure alone. In this article we introduce a simple framework for using MCMC algorithms in Bayesian computation with mixtures of mutually singular distributions. The idea is to find a common dominating measure that allows the use of traditional Metropolis-Hastings algorithms. In particular, using our formulation, the Gibbs sampler can be used whenever the full conditionals are available. We compare our formulation with the reversible jump approach and show that the two are closely related. We give results for three examples, involving testing a normal mean, variable selection in regression, and hypothesis testing for differential gene expression under multiple conditions. This allows us to compare the three methods considered: Metropolis-Hastings with mutually singular distributions, Gibbs sampler with mutually singular distributions, and reversible jump. In our examples, we found the Gibbs sampler to be more precise and to need considerably less computer time than the other methods. In addition, the full conditionals used in the Gibbs sampler can be used to further improve the estimates of the model posterior probabilities via Rao-Blackwellization, at no extra cost.     

A Flexible Model for Generalized Linear Regression with Measurement Error

This paper focuses on the question of specification of measurement error distribution and the distribution of true predictors in generalized linear models when the predictors are subject to measurement errors. The standard measurement error model typically assumes that the measurement error distribution and the distribution of covariates unobservable in the main study are normal. To make the model flexible enough we, instead, assume that the measurement error distribution is multivariate t and the distribution of true covariates is a finite mixture of normal densities. Likelihood–based method is developed to estimate the regression parameters. However, direct maximization of the marginal likelihood is numerically difficult. Thus as an alternative to it we apply the EM algorithm. This makes the computation of likelihood estimates feasible. The performance of the proposed model is investigated by simulation study.     

A Component-Wise EM Algorithm for Mixtures

Maximum likelihood estimation in finite mixture distributions is typically approached as an incomplete data problem to allow application of the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm. In its general formulation, the EM algorithm involves the notion of a complete data space, in which the observed measurements and incomplete data are embedded. An advantage is that many difficult estimation problems are facilitated when viewed in this way. One drawback is that the simultaneous update used by standard EM requires overly informative complete data spaces, which leads to slow convergence in some situations. In the incomplete data context, it has been shown that the use of less informative complete data spaces, or equivalently smaller missing data spaces, can lead to faster convergence without sacrifying simplicity. However, in the mixture case, little progress has been made in speeding up EM. In this article we propose a component-wise EM for mixtures. It uses, at each iteration, the smallest admissible missing data space by intrinsically decoupling the parameter updates. Monotonicity is maintained, although the estimated proportions may not sum to one during the course of the iteration. However, we prove that the mixing proportions will satisfy this constraint upon convergence. Our proof of convergence relies on the interpretation of our procedure as a proximal point algorithm. For performance comparison, we consider standard EM as well as two other algorithms based on missing data space reduction, namely the SAGE and AECME algorithms. We provide adaptations of these general procedures to the mixture case. We also consider the ECME algorithm, which is not a data augmentation scheme but still aims at accelerating EM. Our numerical experiments illustrate the advantages of the component-wise EM algorithm relative to these other methods.     

A Spatial Markov Model for Climate Extremes

Spatial climate data are often presented as summaries of areal regions such as grid cells, either because they are the output of numerical climate models or to facilitate comparison with numerical climate model output. Extreme value analysis can benefit greatly from spatial methods that borrow information across regions. For Gaussian outcomes, a host of methods that respect the areal nature of the data are available, including conditional and simultaneous autoregressive models. However, to our knowledge, there is no such method in the spatial extreme value analysis literature. In this article, we propose a new method for areal extremes that accounts for spatial dependence using latent clustering of neighboring regions. We show that the proposed model has desirable asymptotic dependence properties and leads to relatively simple computation. Applying the proposed method to North American climate data reveals several local and continental-scale changes in the distribution of precipitation and temperature extremes over time. Supplementary material for this article is available online.     

三状态隐马氏模型观测过程的可逆性(英文)

对于连续时间和离散时间三状态隐马氏模型,给出了观测过程直到三维的似然函数流的显式表达.作为一个应用,证明了观测过程可逆性的充分必要条件.     

A new approach for parameter estimation of finite Weibull mixture distributions for reliability modeling

The aim of this paper is to model lifetime data for systems that have failure modes by using the finite mixture of Weibull distributions. It involves estimating of the unknown parameters which is an important task in statistics, especially in life testing and reliability analysis. The proposed approach depends on different methods that will be used to develop the estimates such as MLE through the EM algorithm. In addition, Bayesian estimations will be investigated and some other extensions such as Graphic, Non-Linear Median Rank Regression and Monte Carlo simulation methods can be used to model the system under consideration. A numerical application will be used through the proposed approach. This paper also presents a comparison of the fitted probability density functions, reliability functions and hazard functions of the 3-parameter Weibull and Weibull mixture distributions using the proposed approach and other conventional methods which characterize the distribution of failure times for the system components. GOF is used to determine the best distribution for modeling lifetime data, the priority will be for the proposed approach which has more accurate parameter estimates.     

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The hybrid censoring scheme is a mixture of type-I and type-II censoring schemes. It is a popular censoring scheme in the literature of life data analysis. Mixed exponential distribution (MED) models is a class of favorable models in reliability statistics. Nevertheless, there is no much discussion to focus on parameters estimation for MED models with hybrid censored samples. We will address this problem in this paper. The EM (Expectation-Maximization) algorithm is employed to derive the closed form of the maximum likelihood estimators (MLEs). Finally, Monte Carlo simulations and a real-world data analysis are conducted to illustrate the proposed method.     

改进的带驻留时间隐Markov模型的前向-后向算法

对隐Maxkov模型(hidden Markov model:HMM)的状态驻留时间的概率进行了修订,给出了改进的带驻留时间隐Markov模型的结构,并在传统的隐Markov模型(traditional hidden Markov model:THMM)的基础上讨论了新模型的前向.后向变量,导出了新模型的前向-后向算法的迭代公式,同时也给出了新模型各个参数的重估公式.     

Adaptive Methods for Spatial Scan Analysis via Semiparametric Mixture Models

Spatial scan density (SSD) estimation via mixture models is an important problem in the field of spatial statistical analysis and has wide applications in image analysis. The “borrowed strength” density estimation (BSDE) method via mixture models enables one to estimate the local probability density function in a random field wherein potential similarities between the density functions for the subregions are exploited. This article proposes an efficient methods for SSD estimation by integrating the borrowed strength technique into the alternative EM framework which combines the statistical basis of the BSDE approach with the stability and improved convergence rate of the alternative EM methods. In addition, we propose adaptive SSD estimation methods that extend the aforementioned approach by eliminating the need to find the posterior probability of membership of the component densities afresh in each subregion. Simulation results and an application to the detection and identification of man-made regions of interest in an unmanned aerial vehicle imagery experiment show that the adaptive methods significantly outperform the BSDE method. Other applications include automatic target recognition, mammographic image analysis, and minefield detection.     

基于区间数据最大似然估计的新方法

In this paper, we study the two-parameter maximum likelihood estimation (MLE)problem for the GE distribution with consideration of interval data. In the presence of interval data, the analytical forms for the restricted MLE of the parameters of GE distribution do not exist. Since interval data is kind of incomplete data, the EM algorithm can be applied to compute the MLEs of the parameters. However the EM algorithm could be less effective.To improve effectiveness, an equivalent lifetime method is employed. The two methods are discussed via simulation studies.     

带有不完全信息随机截尾试验下混合泊松分布参数的点估计

首先,通过添加数据,得到了带有不完全信息随机截尾试验下混合泊松分布的完全数据似然函数,然后分别利用EM算法和MCMC方法,对参数进行了估计,最后进行了随机模拟试验.结果表明参数点估计的精度比较高,     

A Probabilistic Expert System for Automatic Musical Accompaniment

This article presents methodology that allows a computer to play the role of musical accompanist in a nonimprovised musical composition for soloist and accompaniment. The modeling of the accompaniment incorporates a number of distinct knowledge sources including timing information extracted in real-time from the soloist's acoustic signal, an understanding of the soloist's interpretation learned from rehearsals, and prior knowledge that guides the accompaniment toward musically plausible renditions. The solo and accompaniment parts are represented collectively as a large number of Gaussian random variables with a specified conditional independence structure—a Bayesian belief network. Within this framework a principled and computationally feasible method for generating real-time accompaniment is presented that incorporates the relevant knowledge sources. The EM algorithm is used to adapt the accompaniment to the soloist's interpretation through a series of rehearsals. A demonstration is provided from J.S. Bach's Cantata 12.     

基于删失数据的指数威布尔分布最大似然估计的新算法

本文讨论了指数威布尔分布当观测数据是删失数据情形时参数的最大似然估计问题.因为删失数据是一种不完全数据,我们利用EM算法来计算参数的近似最大似然估计.由于EM算法计算的复杂性,计算效率也不理想.为了克服牛顿-拉普森算法和EM算法的局限性,我们提出了一种新的方法.这种方法联合了指数威布尔分布到指数分布的变换和等效寿命数据的技巧,比牛顿-拉普森算法和EM算法更具有操作性.数据模拟讨论了这一方法的可行性.为了演示本文的方法,我们还提供了一个真实寿命数据分析的例子.     

自适应逐步II型混合截尾恒加寿命试验下广义指数分布的统计分析

在自适应逐步II型混合截尾恒定应力加速寿命试验下,讨论了两参数广义指数分布的统计分析。利用EM算法和最小二乘法相结合的新方法推导出未知参数与可靠度函数的点估计,通过信息缺失原则得到了观测Fisher信息阵和尺度参数的渐近无偏估计。利用估计的渐近正态性和参数bootstrap方法构造了参数的置信区间。最后运用Monte-Carlo方法分别对得到的点估计和区间估计的精度进行研究,结果表明尺度参数的渐近无偏估计优于相应的两步估计, Boot-p置信区间比相应的渐近置信区间更精确。     

A variable neighborhood search based algorithm for finite-horizon Markov Decision Processes

This paper considers the application of a variable neighborhood search (VNS) algorithm for finite-horizon (H stages) Markov Decision Processes (MDPs), for the purpose of alleviating the “curse of dimensionality” phenomenon in searching for the global optimum. The main idea behind the VNSMDP algorithm is that, based on the result of the stage just considered, the search for the optimal solution (action) of state x in stage t is conducted systematically in variable neighborhood sets of the current action. Thus, the VNSMDP algorithm is capable of searching for the optimum within some subsets of the action space, rather than over the whole action set. Analysis on complexity and convergence attributes of the VNSMDP algorithm are conducted in the paper. It is shown by theoretical and computational analysis that, the VNSMDP algorithm succeeds in searching for the global optimum in an efficient way.     

一种求解物流设施二次分配问题的混合分布估计算法

为了求解物流设施二次分配问题,提出了一种混合分布估计算法(HEDA)。首先,根据QAP的距离和物流量矩阵信息,提出了一种基于假设物流中心启发式规则的种群初始化方法,用于提高初始种群的质量和算法的搜索效率;其次,针对HEDA的概率模型,提出了一种概率矩阵初始构型生成机制和扰动操作,用于提高算法的全局探索能力;最后,在分析QAP的结构性质的基础上,设计了一种基于快速评价的局部搜索策略,用于提高算法的局部开发能力。仿真计算实验和算法比较验证了HEDA的优化性能。     

一个解非线性0-1整数规划问题基于罚函数的混合粒子群优化算法

利用罚函数思想把非线性0-1整数规划问题转化为无约束最优化问题,然后把粒子群优化和罚函数方法结合构造出一个基于罚函数的混合粒子群优化算法,数值结果表明所提出的算法是有效的.     

基于双分数阶变分光流模型的运动目标检测方法

变分光流法是常用的运动目标检测方法,应用场景中的光照变化会极大影响现存变分光流法的稳定性及准确率,提出基于分数阶的变分光流模型来提高光照变化鲁棒性.该模型将分数阶导数同时应用于经典变分光流模型的数据项及平滑项中;根据图像的数据特征,采用图像函数及光流向量函数的有限离散二重分数阶导数近似拟合求导结果计算光流向量,进而将光...