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Combining Sources and Leveraging Contexts

Citation

Mazaheri, Bijan Henrik Socrates (2024) Combining Sources and Leveraging Contexts. Dissertation (Ph.D.), California Institute of Technology. doi:10.7907/7t4d-xg91. https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:06042024-004345614

Abstract

In this thesis we discuss two levels of knowledge beyond regression and classification. The first involves the identification of exchangeable scenarios or individuals from which causal relationships can be ascertained. We discuss one key difficulty of this task, the "Multi-Source Conundrum," which emerges whenever data is merged from multiple sources. This motivates the "Principle of Limited Latent Classes," an assumption which allows us to introduce new algorithms for deconfounding and causal structure learning.

The second level of knowledge involves the expansion from contextual exchangeability to contextual synthesis. We will study a paradox of nontransitivity that occurs when combining multiple contexts, as well a demonstrating robustness gains from using context-dependent counterfactuals as training features. Through these points, we present contextual synthesis as a new frontier with promise for advances in out-of-distribution robustness, fairness, and privacy.

Item Type:Thesis (Dissertation (Ph.D.))
Subject Keywords:Causal Inference, Expert Graphs, Causal Discovery, Mixture Models, Distribution Shift
Degree Grantor:California Institute of Technology
Division:Engineering and Applied Science
Major Option:Computing and Mathematical Sciences
Thesis Availability:Public (worldwide access)
Research Advisor(s):
  • Bruck, Jehoshua (co-advisor)
  • Schulman, Leonard J. (co-advisor)
Thesis Committee:
  • Eberhardt, Frederick D. (chair)
  • Janzing, Dominik
  • Rabani, Yuval
  • Bruck, Jehoshua
  • Schulman, Leonard J.
Defense Date:15 August 2023
Non-Caltech Author Email:bijanmazaheri (AT) gmail.com
Funders:
Funding AgencyGrant Number
NSF Graduate Research FellowshipDGE‐1745301
Amazon AI4Science FellowshipUNSPECIFIED
Record Number:CaltechTHESIS:06042024-004345614
Persistent URL:https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechTHESIS:06042024-004345614
DOI:10.7907/7t4d-xg91
Related URLs:
URLURL TypeDescription
https://proceedings.mlr.press/v213/gordon23a.htmlPublisherArticle adapted for Chapter 4.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.07454arXivArticle adapted for Chapter 5.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.06840arXivArticle adapted for Chapters 6 and 7.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2107.07054arXivArticle adapted for Chapter 7.
https://proceedings.mlr.press/v216/mazaheri23a.htmlPublisherArticle adapted for Chapter 8.
https://proceedings.mlr.press/v134/gordon21a/gordon21a.pdfRelated DocumentArticle mentioned in Chapter 9.
https://papers.nips.cc/paper/2020/file/24368c745de15b3d2d6279667debcba3-Paper.pdfRelated DocumentRelated Document.
https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.08101Related DocumentRelated Document.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/518878v1Related DocumentArticle material adapted for Chapter 3 motivation.
ORCID:
AuthorORCID
Mazaheri, Bijan Henrik Socrates0000-0001-9690-8686
Default Usage Policy:No commercial reproduction, distribution, display or performance rights in this work are provided.
ID Code:16496
Collection:CaltechTHESIS
Deposited By: Bijan Mazaheri
Deposited On:06 Jun 2024 21:49
Last Modified:17 Jun 2024 20:32

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