Related papers: Scaling, Proximity, and Optimization of Integrally…
For a matrix $W \in \mathbb{Z}^{m \times n}$, $m \leq n$, and a convex function $g: \mathbb{R}^m \rightarrow \mathbb{R}$, we are interested in minimizing $f(x) = g(Wx)$ over the set $\{0,1\}^n$. We will study separable convex functions and…
In general, approximating classes of functions defined over high-dimensional input spaces by linear combinations of a fixed set of basis functions or ``features'' is known to be hard. Typically, the worst-case error of the best basis set…
This note deals with certain properties of convex functions. We provide results on the convexity of the set of minima of these functions, the behaviour of their subgradient set under restriction, and optimization of these functions over an…
Motivated by the centering of biological objects in large cells, we study the generic properties of centering forces inside a ball (or a volume of spherical topology) in $n$ dimensions. We consider two scenarios : autonomous centering (in…
We develop and analyze a set of new sequential simulation-optimization algorithms for large-scale multi-dimensional discrete optimization via simulation problems with a convexity structure. The "large-scale" notion refers to that the…
Convergence of a projected stochastic gradient algorithm is demonstrated for convex objective functionals with convex constraint sets in Hilbert spaces. In the convex case, the sequence of iterates ${u_n}$ converges weakly to a point in the…
Convergence of the gradient descent algorithm has been attracting renewed interest due to its utility in deep learning applications. Even as multiple variants of gradient descent were proposed, the assumption that the gradient of the…
We present new large-scale algorithms for fitting a subgradient regularized multivariate convex regression function to $n$ samples in $d$ dimensions -- a key problem in shape constrained nonparametric regression with applications in…
Under the usual nonparametric regression model with Gaussian errors, Least Squares Estimators (LSEs) over natural subclasses of convex functions are shown to be suboptimal for estimating a $d$-dimensional convex function in squared error…
Let $U\subseteq\mathbb{R}^d$ be open and convex. We prove that every (not necessarily Lipschitz or strongly) convex function $f:U\to\mathbb{R}$ can be approximated by real analytic convex functions, uniformly on all of $U$. We also show…
We revisit the classical dual ascent algorithm for minimization of convex functionals in the presence of linear constraints, and give convergence results which apply even for non-convex functionals. We describe limit points in terms of the…
When computing bounds, spatial branch-and-bound algorithms often linearly outer approximate convex relaxations for non-convex expressions in order to capitalize on the efficiency and robustness of linear programming solvers. Considering…
In this paper, we study classes of discrete convex functions: submodular functions on modular semilattices and L-convex functions on oriented modular graphs. They were introduced by the author in complexity classification of minimum…
Submodularity is a discrete domain functional property that can be interpreted as mimicking the role of the well-known convexity/concavity properties in the continuous domain. Submodular functions exhibit strong structure that lead to…
Estimation of convex functions finds broad applications in engineering and science, while convex shape constraint gives rise to numerous challenges in asymptotic performance analysis. This paper is devoted to minimax optimal estimation of…
This paper studies minimax optimization problems $\min_x \max_y f(x,y)$, where $f(x,y)$ is $m_x$-strongly convex with respect to $x$, $m_y$-strongly concave with respect to $y$ and $(L_x,L_{xy},L_y)$-smooth. Zhang et al. provided the…
Majorization-minimization algorithms consist of successively minimizing a sequence of upper bounds of the objective function. These upper bounds are tight at the current estimate, and each iteration monotonically drives the objective…
In this paper we address the convergence of stochastic approximation when the functions to be minimized are not convex and nonsmooth. We show that the "mean-limit" approach to the convergence which leads, for smooth problems, to the ODE…
The problem of finding the minimizer of a sum of convex functions is central to the field of distributed optimization. Thus, it is of interest to understand how that minimizer is related to the properties of the individual functions in the…
We address the problem of minimizing a convex function over the space of large matrices with low rank. While this optimization problem is hard in general, we propose an efficient greedy algorithm and derive its formal approximation…