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Interpreting gradient methods as fixed-point iterations, we provide a detailed analysis of those methods for minimizing convex objective functions. Due to their conceptual and algorithmic simplicity, gradient methods are widely used in…
Even for the gradient descent (GD) method applied to neural network training, understanding its optimization dynamics, including convergence rate, iterate trajectories, function value oscillations, and especially its implicit acceleration,…
Bayesian optimization is a highly efficient approach to optimizing objective functions which are expensive to query. These objectives are typically represented by Gaussian process (GP) surrogate models which are easy to optimize and support…
We developed a statistical inference method applicable to a broad range of generalized linear models (GLMs) in high-dimensional settings, where the number of unknown coefficients scales proportionally with the sample size. Although a…
Stochastic gradient descent (SGD) has been widely studied in the literature from different angles, and is commonly employed for solving many big data machine learning problems. However, the averaging technique, which combines all iterative…
We develop a novel gradient-based algorithm for optimizing nonsmooth nonconvex functions where nonsmoothness arises from explicit nonsmooth operators in the objective's analytical form. Our key innovation involves encoding active smooth…
In this paper, we present a unified and general framework for analyzing the batch updating approach to nonlinear, high-dimensional optimization. The framework encompasses all the currently used batch updating approaches, and is applicable…
We present a non-convex optimization algorithm metaheuristic, based on the training of a deep generative network, which enables effective searching within continuous, ultra-high dimensional landscapes. During network training, populations…
Stochastic gradient descent (SGD) method is popular for solving non-convex optimization problems in machine learning. This work investigates SGD from a viewpoint of graduated optimization, which is a widely applied approach for non-convex…
Gradient-based iterative optimization methods are the workhorse of modern machine learning. They crucially rely on careful tuning of parameters like learning rate and momentum. However, one typically sets them using heuristic approaches…
In this paper, we study distributed big-data nonconvex optimization in multi-agent networks. We consider the (constrained) minimization of the sum of a smooth (possibly) nonconvex function, i.e., the agents' sum-utility, plus a convex…
This paper provides the relevant literature with a complete toolkit for conducting robust estimation and inference about the parameters of interest involved in a high-dimensional panel data framework. Specifically, (1) we allow for…
This paper investigates distributed zeroth-order optimization for smooth nonconvex problems, targeting the trade-off between convergence rate and sampling cost per zeroth-order gradient estimation in current algorithms that use either the…
We present a stochastic descent algorithm for unconstrained optimization that is particularly efficient when the objective function is slow to evaluate and gradients are not easily obtained, as in some PDE-constrained optimization and…
This paper studies distributed nonconvex optimization problems with stochastic gradients for a multi-agent system, in which each agent aims to minimize the sum of all agents' cost functions by using local compressed information exchange. We…
It is known that adaptive optimization algorithms represent the key pillar behind the rise of the Machine Learning field. In the Optimization literature numerous studies have been devoted to accelerated gradient methods but only recently…
In this paper, we present algorithms that perform gradient ascent of the average reward in a partially observable Markov decision process (POMDP). These algorithms are based on GPOMDP, an algorithm introduced in a companion paper (Baxter…
Gradient boosting is a state-of-the-art prediction technique that sequentially produces a model in the form of linear combinations of simple predictors---typically decision trees---by solving an infinite-dimensional convex optimization…
The incremental aggregated gradient algorithm is popular in network optimization and machine learning research. However, the current convergence results require the objective function to be strongly convex. And the existing convergence…
Zeroth-order optimization is the process of minimizing an objective $f(x)$, given oracle access to evaluations at adaptively chosen inputs $x$. In this paper, we present two simple yet powerful GradientLess Descent (GLD) algorithms that do…