Related papers: Assessing stochastic algorithms for large scale no…
Weighted least squares polynomial approximation uses random samples to determine projections of functions onto spaces of polynomials. It has been shown that, using an optimal distribution of sample locations, the number of samples required…
The Stochastic Approximation EM (SAEM) algorithm, a variant stochastic approximation of EM, is a versatile tool for inference in incomplete data models. In this paper, we review the fundamental EM algorithm and then focus especially on the…
In this paper, we focus on activating only a few sensors, among many available, to estimate the state of a stochastic process of interest. This problem is important in applications such as target tracking and simultaneous localization and…
We study parameter inference in simulation-based stochastic models where the analytical form of the likelihood is unknown. The main difficulty is that score evaluation as a ratio of noisy Monte Carlo estimators induces bias and instability,…
Variational inference approximates the posterior distribution of a probabilistic model with a parameterized density by maximizing a lower bound for the model evidence. Modern solutions fit a flexible approximation with stochastic gradient…
Nonlinear stochastic differential equations (NSDEs) are a pillar of mathematical modeling for scientific and engineering applications. Accurate and efficient simulation of large-scale NSDEs is prohibitive on classical computers due to the…
Autonomous robots typically incorporate complex sensors in their decision-making and control loops. These sensors, such as cameras and Lidars, have imperfections in their sensing and are influenced by environmental conditions. In this…
Stochastic collocation methods for approximating the solution of partial differential equations with random input data (e.g., coefficients and forcing terms) suffer from the curse of dimensionality whereby increases in the stochastic…
We consider a multi-step algorithm for the computation of the historical expected shortfall such as defined by the Basel Minimum Capital Requirements for Market Risk. At each step of the algorithm, we use Monte Carlo simulations to reduce…
Stochastic Galerkin methods offer unexplored potential for the numerical simulation of parabolic problems with random variables, in particular if they are combined with variational discretizations of the space and time variables. Due to the…
When looking for a solution, deterministic methods have the enormous advantage that they do find global optima. Unfortunately, they are very CPU-intensive, and are useless on untractable NP-hard problems that would require thousands of…
Randomized algorithms for very large matrix problems have received a great deal of attention in recent years. Much of this work was motivated by problems in large-scale data analysis, and this work was performed by individuals from many…
We study stochastic optimization problems with objective function given by the expectation of the maximum of two linear functions defined on the component random variables of a multivariate Gaussian distribution. We consider random…
In this paper, we study a class of approximation problems, appearing in data approximation and signal processing. The approximations are constructed as combinations of polynomial splines (piecewise polynomials), whose parameters are subject…
We propose sequential Monte Carlo based algorithms for maximum likelihood estimation of the static parameters in hidden Markov models with an intractable likelihood using ideas from approximate Bayesian computation. The static parameter…
In this paper, we introduce a new stochastic approximation (SA) type algorithm, namely the randomized stochastic gradient (RSG) method, for solving an important class of nonlinear (possibly nonconvex) stochastic programming (SP) problems.…
We introduce and analyze a parallel sequential Monte Carlo methodology for the numerical solution of optimization problems that involve the minimization of a cost function that consists of the sum of many individual components. The proposed…
In this paper we extend the well-known L-Shaped method to solve two-stage stochastic programming problems with decision-dependent uncertainty. The method is based on a novel, unifying, formulation and on distribution-specific optimality and…
The problem of optimising functions with intractable gradients frequently arise in machine learning and statistics, ranging from maximum marginal likelihood estimation procedures to fine-tuning of generative models. Stochastic approximation…
In this paper, an approach to estimating a nonlinear deterministic model is presented. We introduce a stochastic model with extremely small variances so that the deterministic and stochastic models are essentially indistinguishable from…