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联邦因果推断：超越元分析的多研究平均处理效应估计AI 解读

We study Federated Causal Inference, an approach to estimate treatment effects from decentralized data across centers. We compare three classes of Average Treatment Effect (ATE) estimators derived from the Plug-in G-Formula, ranging from simple meta-analysis to one-shot and multi-shot federated learning, the latter leveraging the full data to learn the outcome model (albeit requiring more communication). Focusing on Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs), we derive the…

给识别界加入协变量：究竟要回答什么问题？AI 解读

Symbolic nonparametric bounds for partial identification of causal effects now have a long history in the causal literature. Sharp bounds, bounds that use all available information to make the range of values as narrow as possible, are often the goal. For this reason, many publications have focused on deriving sharp bounds, but the concept of sharp bounds is nuanced and can be misleading. In settings with ancillary covariates, the situation becomes more complex. We provide…

局部干扰：半参数因果模型中干扰偏差的消除AI 解读

Interference bias is a major impediment to identifying causal effects in real-world settings. For example, vaccination reduces the transmission of a virus in a population such that everyone benefits -- even those who are not treated. This is a source of bias that must be accounted for if one wants to learn the true effect of a vaccine on an individual's immune system. Previous approaches addressing interference bias require strong domain knowledge in the form of a graphical…

通过序贯调整混杂与样本流失恢复因果效应并开展推断AI 解读

Confounding bias and selection bias bring two significant challenges to the validity of conclusions drawn from applied causal inference. The latter can stem from informative missingness, such as in cases of attrition. We introduce the Sequential Adjustment Criteria (SAC), which extend available graphical conditions for recovering causal effects from confounding and attrition using sequential regressions, allowing for the inclusion of post-exposure and forbidden variables in…

高维模型中个体化分位数处理效应的极小极大速率最优推断AI 解读

The quantification of treatment effects plays an important role in a wide range of applications, including policy making and bio-pharmaceutical research. In this article, we study the quantile treatment effect (QTE) while addressing two specific types of heterogeneities: (a) personalized heterogeneity, which captures the varying treatment effects for different individuals, and (b) quantile heterogeneity, which accounts for how the impact of covariates varies across different…

嵌入网络自回归：时间序列分析与因果同伴效应推断AI 解读

We propose an Embedding Network Autoregressive Model for multivariate networked longitudinal data. We assume the network is generated from a latent variable model, and these unobserved variables are included in a structural peer effect model or a time series network autoregressive model as additive effects. This approach takes a unified view of two related yet fundamentally different problems: (1) modeling and predicting multivariate networked time series data and (2) causal…

网络干扰下因果推断的局部方法AI 解读

We propose a new nonparametric modeling framework for causal inference when outcomes depend on how agents are linked in a social or economic network. Such network interference describes a large literature on treatment spillovers, social interactions, social learning, information diffusion, disease and financial contagion, social capital formation, and more. Our approach works by first characterizing how an agent is linked in the network using the configuration of other…

智能对手行动计划的因果分析AI 解读

In this paper we demonstrate a new advance in causal Bayesian graphical modelling combined with Adversarial Risk Analysis. This research aims to support strategic analyses of various defensive interventions to counter the threat arising from plots of an adversary. These plots are characterised by a sequence of preparatory phases that an adversary must necessarily pass through to achieve their hostile objective. To do this we first define a new general class of plot models.…

以因果发现与推断改进多智能体强化学习的研究路线AI 解读

Causal reasoning is increasingly used in Reinforcement Learning (RL) to improve the learning process in several dimensions: efficacy of learned policies, efficiency of convergence, generalisation capabilities, safety and interpretability of behaviour. However, applications of causal reasoning to Multi-Agent RL (MARL) are still mostly unexplored. In this paper, we take the first step in investigating the opportunities and challenges of applying causal reasoning in MARL. We…

面向因果结构的稳健预测：利用一般噪声干预AI 解读

Since distribution shifts are common in real-world applications, there is a pressing need to develop prediction models that are robust against such shifts. Existing frameworks, such as empirical risk minimization or distributionally robust optimization, either lack generalizability for unseen distributions or rely on postulated distance measures. Alternatively, causality offers a data-driven and structural perspective to robust predictions. However, the assumptions necessary…

基于得分匹配的线性、非线性与潜变量因果发现AI 解读

Causal discovery from observational data holds great promise, but existing methods rely on strong assumptions about the underlying causal structure, often requiring full observability of all relevant variables. We tackle these challenges by leveraging the score function $\nabla \log p(X)$ of observed variables for causal discovery and propose the following contributions. First, we fine-tune the existing identifiability results with the score on additive noise models, showing…

SNPL：面向安全多目标改进的同步策略学习与评估AI 解读

To design effective digital interventions, experimenters face the challenge of learning decision policies that balance multiple objectives using offline data. Often, they aim to develop policies that maximize goal outcomes, while ensuring there are no undesirable changes in guardrail outcomes. To provide credible recommendations, experimenters must not only identify policies that satisfy the desired changes in goal and guardrail outcomes, but also offer probabilistic…

随机完全区组设计的改进非参数检验与样本量程序AI 解读

The Friedman test has been extensively applied as a nonparametric alternative to the conventional F procedure for comparing treatment effects in randomized complete block designs. A chi-square distribution provides a convenient approximation to determining the critical values for the Friedman procedure in hypothesis testing. However, the chi-square approximation is generally conservative and the accuracy declines with increasing number of treatments. This paper describes an…

非参数因子分析及其拓展AI 解读

Nearly all identifiability results in unsupervised representation learning inspired by, e.g., independent component analysis, factor analysis, and causal representation learning, rely on assumptions of additive independent noise or noiseless regimes. In contrast, we study the more general case where noise can take arbitrary forms, depend on latent variables, and be non-invertibly entangled within a nonlinear function. We propose a general framework for identifying latent…

基于有限医学检测与用药数据的数据协作因果推断AI 解读

Observational studies enable causal inferences when randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are not feasible. However, integrating sensitive medical data across multiple institutions introduces significant privacy challenges. The data collaboration quasi-experiment (DC-QE) framework addresses these concerns by sharing "intermediate representations" -- dimensionality-reduced data derived from raw data -- instead of the raw data. While the DC-QE can estimate treatment effects, its…

因果目标量选择的统一框架AI 解读

Estimating the causal effect of a treatment or health policy with observational data can be challenging due to an imbalance of and a lack of overlap between treated and control covariate distributions. In the presence of limited overlap, researchers choose between 1) methods (e.g., inverse probability weighting) that imply traditional estimands but whose estimators are at risk of considerable bias and variance; and 2) methods (e.g., overlap weighting) which imply a different…

用于纵向因果推断的反馈增强非齐次隐马尔可夫模型AI 解读

Hidden Markov models are widely used for modeling sequential data but typically have limited applicability in observational causal inference due to their strong conditional independence assumptions. I introduce feedback-augmented non-homogeneous hidden Markov model (FAN-HMM), which incorporate time-varying covariates and feedback mechanisms from past observations to latent states and future responses. Integrating these models with the structural causal model framework allows…

利用结局信息加权的稳健平均处理效应估计AI 解读

Reliable causal effect estimation from observational data requires adjustment for confounding and sufficient overlap in covariate distributions between treatment groups. However, in high-dimensional settings, lack of overlap often inflates the variance and weakens the robustness of inverse propensity score weighting (IPW) based estimators. Although many approaches that rely on covariate adjustment have been proposed to mitigate these issues, we instead shift the focus to the…

利用协变量平衡程序进行因果效应的一般贝叶斯推断AI 解读

In observational studies, the propensity score plays a central role in estimating causal effects of interest. The inverse probability weighting (IPW) estimator is commonly used for this purpose. However, if the propensity score model is misspecified, the IPW estimator may produce biased estimates of causal effects. Previous studies have proposed some robust propensity score estimation procedures. However, these methods require considering parameters that dominate the…

删失与隐藏混杂下高维随机试验和真实世界数据的整合分析AI 解读

In this study, we focus on estimating the heterogeneous treatment effect (HTE) for survival outcome. The outcome is subject to censoring and the number of covariates is high-dimensional. We utilize data from both the randomized controlled trial (RCT), considered as the gold standard, and real-world data (RWD), possibly affected by hidden confounding factors. To achieve a more efficient HTE estimate, such integrative analysis requires great insight into the data generation…

存在不依从的随机实验中的稳健识别AI 解读

Instrument variable (IV) methods are widely used in empirical research to identify causal effects of a policy. In the local average treatment effect (LATE) framework, the IV estimand identifies the LATE under three main assumptions: random assignment, exclusion restriction, and monotonicity. However, these assumptions are often questionable in many applications, leading some researchers to doubt the causal interpretation of the IV estimand. This paper considers a robust…

逻辑斯蒂—正态混合模型下高维亚组分析的收缩似然比检验AI 解读

In subgroup analysis, testing the existence of a subgroup with a differential treatment effect serves as protection against spurious subgroup discovery. Despite its importance, this hypothesis testing possesses a complicated nature: parameter characterizing subgroup classification is not identified under the null hypothesis of no subgroup. Due to this irregularity, the existing methods have the following two limitations. First, the asymptotic null distribution of test…

不同因果发现情境下重抽样技术交互作用的大规模模拟研究AI 解读

Despite the accelerating presence of exploratory causal analysis in modern science and medicine, the available non-experimental methods for validating causal models are not well characterized. One of the most popular methods is to evaluate the stability of model features after resampling the data, similar to resampling methods for estimating confidence intervals in statistics. Many aspects of this approach have received little to no attention, however, such as whether the…

部分识别计量模型的线性规划方法AI 解读

Sharp bounds on partially identified parameters are often given by the values of linear programs (LPs). This paper introduces a novel estimator of the LP value. Unlike existing procedures, our estimator is root-n-consistent, pointwise in the probability measure, whenever the population LP is feasible and finite. Our estimator is valid under point-identification, over-identifying constraints, and solution multiplicity. Turning to uniformity properties, we prove that the LP…