SMS scnews item created by John Ormerod at Fri 18 Oct 2013 0953
Type: Seminar
Distribution: World
Expiry: 26 Oct 2013
Calendar1: 25 Oct 2013
CalLoc1: Carslaw 273
Auth: jormerod@pjormerod3.pc (assumed)

# Statistics Seminar: Matt Wand -- SEMIPARAMETRIC MEAN FIELD VARIATIONAL BAYES

SEMIPARAMETRIC MEAN FIELD VARIATIONAL BAYES

Professor Matt Wand
University of Technology, Sydney

A pervasive theme impacting Statistics in the mid-2010s
is the increasing prevalence of data that are big in terms
of volume and/or velocity. Mean field variational Bayes
methodology is one means of confronting this sea-change.
It delivers fast approximate Bayesian inference in real time.
Vanilla mean field variational Bayes is inherently
*nonparametric* in that the functional forms of the
approximate posterior density functions that it produces
depend only on the mean field restrictions.
However, these forms can be quite complicated when
non-conjugacies arise. A possible remedy is *semiparametric*
mean field variational Bayes, in which the complicated
functional forms are replaced by simpler forms at the outset.
This leads to new challenges. Some of these will be discussed,
solved and illustrated for certain non-standard regression models.


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