Related papers: Continuous DR-submodular Maximization: Structure a…

Maximizing a DR-submodular function subject to a general convex set is an NP-hard problem arising from many applications in combinatorial optimization and machine learning. While it is highly desirable to design efficient approximation…

The objective of a two-stage submodular maximization problem is to reduce the ground set using provided training functions that are submodular, with the aim of ensuring that optimizing new objective functions over the reduced ground set…

In this paper, we consider the unconstrained submodular maximization problem. We propose the first algorithm for this problem that achieves a tight $(1/2-\varepsilon)$-approximation guarantee using $\tilde{O}(\varepsilon^{-1})$ adaptive…

Submodular maximization generalizes many fundamental problems in discrete optimization, including Max-Cut in directed/undirected graphs, maximum coverage, maximum facility location and marketing over social networks. In this paper we…

Optimization problems with set submodular objective functions have many real-world applications. In discrete scenarios, where the same item can be selected more than once, the domain is generalized from a 2-element set to a bounded integer…

Submodular set-functions have many applications in combinatorial optimization, as they can be minimized and approximately maximized in polynomial time. A key element in many of the algorithms and analyses is the possibility of extending the…

Submodular function minimization is well studied, and existing algorithms solve it exactly or up to arbitrary accuracy. However, in many applications, such as structured sparse learning or batch Bayesian optimization, the objective function…

In this work, we give a new parallel algorithm for the problem of maximizing a non-monotone diminishing returns submodular function subject to a cardinality constraint. For any desired accuracy $\epsilon$, our algorithm achieves a $1/e -…

In monotone submodular function maximization, approximation guarantees based on the curvature of the objective function have been extensively studied in the literature. However, the notion of curvature is often pessimistic, and we rarely…

In machine learning and big data, the optimization objectives based on set-cover, entropy, diversity, influence, feature selection, etc. are commonly modeled as submodular functions. Submodular (function) maximization is generally NP-hard,…

This work studies the non-monotone DR-submodular Maximization over a ground set of $n$ subject to a size constraint $k$. We propose two approximation algorithms for solving this problem named FastDrSub and FastDrSub++. FastDrSub offers an…

Mean field inference in probabilistic models is generally a highly nonconvex problem. Existing optimization methods, e.g., coordinate ascent algorithms, can only generate local optima. In this work we propose provable mean filed methods for…

Submodular maximization is a general optimization problem with a wide range of applications in machine learning (e.g., active learning, clustering, and feature selection). In large-scale optimization, the parallel running time of an…

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…

This paper introduces the notion of upper-linearizable/quadratizable functions, a class that extends concavity and DR-submodularity in various settings, including monotone and non-monotone cases over different convex sets. A general…

Submodular function maximization is a central problem in combinatorial optimization, generalizing many important problems including Max Cut in directed/undirected graphs and in hypergraphs, certain constraint satisfaction problems, maximum…

We consider the problem of maximizing a monotone nondecreasing set function under multiple constraints, where the constraints are also characterized by monotone nondecreasing set functions. We propose two greedy algorithms to solve the…

This paper presents a polynomial-time $1/2$-approximation algorithm for maximizing nonnegative $k$-submodular functions. This improves upon the previous $\max\{1/3, 1/(1+a)\}$-approximation by Ward and \v{Z}ivn\'y~(SODA'14), where…

In contrast to the many continuous global optimization methods that assume the objective function and constraints are factorable, we study how to find globally maximal solutions to problems that are not factorable, focusing on a particular…

We consider the problem of maximizing a non-negative submodular set function $f:2^N \rightarrow \mathbb{R}_+$ over a ground set $N$ subject to a variety of packing type constraints including (multiple) matroid constraints, knapsack…