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Abstract:
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Dependencies in multivariate observations are a unique gateway to uncovering relationships among processes. An approach that has proved particularly successful in modeling and visualizing such dependence structures is the use of graphical models. However, whereas graphical models have been formulated for finite count data and Gaussian-type data, many other data types prevalent in the sciences have not been accounted for. For example, it is believed that insights into microbial interactions in human habitats, such as the gut or the oral cavity, can be deduced from analyzing the dependencies in microbial abundance data, a data type that is not amenable to standard classes of graphical models. We present a novel framework that unifies existing classes of graphical models and provides other classes that extend the concept of graphical models to a broad variety of discrete and continuous data, both in low- and high-dimensional settings. Moreover, we present a corresponding set of statistical methods and theoretical guarantees that allows for efficient estimation and inference in the framework.
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