Related papers: When can $l_p$-norm objective functions be minimiz…
In this paper, we investigate a class of submodular problems which in general are very hard. These include minimizing a submodular cost function under combinatorial constraints, which include cuts, matchings, paths, etc., optimizing a…
A new algorithm for one-dimensional minimization is described in detail and the results of some tests on practical cases are reported and illustrated. The method requires only punctual computation of the function, and is suitable to be…
We consider the global minimization of a particular type of minimum structured optimization problems wherein the variables must belong to some basic set, the feasible domain is described by the intersection of a large number of functional…
We state a combinatorial optimization problem whose feasible solutions define both a decomposition and a node labeling of a given graph. This problem offers a common mathematical abstraction of seemingly unrelated computer vision tasks,…
In this paper, we consider a finite-dimensional optimization problem minimizing a continuous objective on a compact domain subject to a multi-dimensional constraint function. For the latter, we assume the availability of a global Lipschitz…
Minimization of boundary curvature is a classic regularization technique for image segmentation in the presence of noisy image data. Techniques for minimizing curvature have historically been derived from descent methods which could be…
Submodular functions are discrete functions that model laws of diminishing returns and enjoy numerous algorithmic applications. They have been used in many areas, including combinatorial optimization, machine learning, and economics. In…
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…
We extend the work of Narasimhan and Bilmes [30] for minimizing set functions representable as a difference between submodular functions. Similar to [30], our new algorithms are guaranteed to monotonically reduce the objective function at…
We study minimax lower bounds for function estimation problems on large graph when the target function is smoothly varying over the graph. We derive minimax rates in the context of regression and classification problems on graphs that…
Sparse methods for supervised learning aim at finding good linear predictors from as few variables as possible, i.e., with small cardinality of their supports. This combinatorial selection problem is often turned into a convex optimization…
We consider the problem of finding a subgraph of a given graph minimizing the sum of given functions at vertices evaluated at their subgraph degrees. While the problem is NP-hard already for bipartite graphs when the functions are convex on…
In this paper, vector optimization is considered in the framework of decision making and optimization in general spaces. Interdependencies between domination structures in decision making and domination sets in vector optimization are…
Submodular functions and their optimization have found applications in diverse settings ranging from machine learning and data mining to game theory and economics. In this work, we consider the constrained maximization of a submodular…
Optimization problems often involve vector norms, which has led to extensive research on developing algorithms that can handle objectives beyond the $\ell_p$ norms. Our work introduces the concept of submodular norms, which are a versatile…
Many combinatorial problems arising in machine learning can be reduced to the problem of minimizing a submodular function. Submodular functions are a natural discrete analog of convex functions, and can be minimized in strongly polynomial…
Submodular functions -- functions exhibiting diminishing returns -- are central to machine learning. When the objective is monotone and non-negative, the greedy algorithm achieves a tight $63\%$ approximation. But many practical objectives…
In this paper, we propose a general class of algorithms for optimizing an extensive variety of nonsmoothly penalized objective functions that satisfy certain regularity conditions. The proposed framework utilizes the…
The submodular partitioning problem asks to minimize, over all partitions $P$ of a ground set $V$, the sum of a given submodular function $f$ over the parts of $P$. The problem has seen considerable work in approximability, as it…
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…