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In this paper we consider stochastic composite convex optimization problems with the objective function satisfying a stochastic bounded gradient condition, with or without a quadratic functional growth property. These models include the…
We introduce a new convex optimization problem, termed quadratic decomposable submodular function minimization. The problem is closely related to decomposable submodular function minimization and arises in many learning on graphs and…
We study fundamental limits of first-order stochastic optimization in a range of nonconvex settings, including L-smooth functions satisfying Quasar-Convexity (QC), Quadratic Growth (QG), and Restricted Secant Inequalities (RSI). While the…
Stochastic optimization algorithms with variance reduction have proven successful for minimizing large finite sums of functions. Unfortunately, these techniques are unable to deal with stochastic perturbations of input data, induced for…
This paper provides necessary and sufficient optimality conditions for abstract constrained mathematical programming problems in locally convex spaces under new qualification conditions. Our approach exploits the geometrical properties of…
The problem of convex optimization is studied. Usually in convex optimization the minimization is over a d-dimensional domain. Very often the convergence rate of an optimization algorithm depends on the dimension d. The algorithms studied…
We investigate a class of composite nonconvex functions, where the outer function is the sum of univariate extended-real-valued convex functions and the inner function is the limit of difference-of-convex functions. A notable feature of…
We address the minimization of a smooth objective function under an $\ell_0$-constraint and simple convex constraints. When the problem has no constraints except the $\ell_0$-constraint, some efficient algorithms are available; for example,…
Sparse optimization refers to an optimization problem involving the zero-norm in objective or constraints. In this paper, nonconvex approximation approaches for sparse optimization have been studied with a unifying point of view in DC…
A new directional derivative and a new subdifferential for set-valued convex functions are constructed, and a set-valued version of the so-called 'max-formula' is proven. The new concepts are used to characterize solutions of convex…
The difference-of-convex (DC) program is an important model in nonconvex optimization due to its structure, which encompasses a wide range of practical applications. In this paper, we aim to tackle a generalized class of DC programs, where…
This paper presents a model-free reinforcement learning (RL) algorithm to solve the risk-averse optimal control (RAOC) problem for discrete-time nonlinear systems. While successful RL algorithms have been presented to learn optimal control…
Novel coordinate descent (CD) methods are proposed for minimizing nonconvex functions consisting of three terms: (i) a continuously differentiable term, (ii) a simple convex term, and (iii) a concave and continuous term. First, by extending…
Prediction-correction algorithms are a highly effective class of methods for solving pseudo-convex optimization problems. The descent direction of these algorithms can be viewed as an adjustment to the gradient direction based on the…
We propose a novel approximation hierarchy for cardinality-constrained, convex quadratic programs that exploits the rank-dominating eigenvectors of the quadratic matrix. Each level of approximation admits a min-max characterization whose…
An algorithm is proposed, analyzed, and tested experimentally for solving stochastic optimization problems in which the decision variables are constrained to satisfy equations defined by deterministic, smooth, and nonlinear functions. It is…
In this work, we consider the distributed optimization of non-smooth convex functions using a network of computing units. We investigate this problem under two regularity assumptions: (1) the Lipschitz continuity of the global objective…
Continuous DR-submodular functions are a class of functions that satisfy the Diminishing Returns (DR) property, which implies that they are concave along non-negative directions. Existing works have studied monotone continuous DR-submodular…
We propose a simple proof of the worst-case iteration complexity for the Difference of Convex functions Algorithm (DCA) for unconstrained minimization, showing that the global rate of convergence of the norm of the objective function's…
The Boosted Difference of Convex functions Algorithm (BDCA) was recently proposed for minimizing smooth difference of convex (DC) functions. BDCA accelerates the convergence of the classical Difference of Convex functions Algorithm (DCA)…