Related papers: A Concentration Bound for LSPE($\lambda$)
We prove a Bennett-type concentration bound for suprema of empirical processes based on sampling without replacement and a corresponding bound in the case of an arbitrary Hoeffding statistics. We improve on the previous results of such…
We derive a concentration bound for a Q-learning algorithm for average cost Markov decision processes based on an equivalent shortest path problem, and compare it numerically with the alternative scheme based on relative value iteration.
Large-scale datasets are increasingly being used to inform decision making. While this effort aims to ground policy in real-world evidence, challenges have arisen as selection bias and other forms of distribution shifts often plague…
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Large Language Models (LLMs) can achieve inflated scores on multiple-choice tasks by exploiting inherent biases in option positions or labels, rather than demonstrating genuine understanding. This study introduces SCOPE, an evaluation…
Generalizing treatment effects from a randomized trial to a target population requires the assumption that potential outcome distributions are invariant across populations after conditioning on observed covariates. This assumption fails…
We propose a stochastic approximation (SA) based method with randomization of samples for policy evaluation using the least squares temporal difference (LSTD) algorithm. Our proposed scheme is equivalent to running regular temporal…
For many applications of reinforcement learning it can be more convenient to specify both a reward function and constraints, rather than trying to design behavior through the reward function. For example, systems that physically interact…
We consider the discrete-time infinite-horizon optimal control problem formalized by Markov Decision Processes. We revisit the work of Bertsekas and Ioffe, that introduced $\lambda$ Policy Iteration, a family of algorithms parameterized by…
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Improving sample-efficiency and safety are crucial challenges when deploying reinforcement learning in high-stakes real world applications. We propose LAMBDA, a novel model-based approach for policy optimization in safety critical tasks…
This paper studies the generalization bounds for the empirical saddle point (ESP) solution to stochastic saddle point (SSP) problems. For SSP with Lipschitz continuous and strongly convex-strongly concave objective functions, we establish…
Multi-task reinforcement learning trains generalist policies that can execute multiple tasks. While recent years have seen significant progress, existing approaches rarely provide formal performance guarantees, which are indispensable when…
In this paper, we first prove a high probability bound rather than an expectation bound for stochastic optimization with smooth loss. Furthermore, the existing analysis requires the knowledge of optimal classifier for tuning the step size…
The end of LEP and SLC is a good moment to review the way to summarize search results in order to exploit at best, in future analyses and speculations, the pieces of information coming from all experiments. Some known problems with the…
We study a tight Bennett-type concentration inequality for sums of heterogeneous and independent variables, defined as a one-dimensional minimization. We show that this refinement, which outperforms the standard known bounds, remains…
One of the difficulties in calculating the capacity of certain Poisson channels is that H(lambda), the entropy of the Poisson distribution with mean lambda, is not available in a simple form. In this work we derive upper and lower bounds…
This work provides a novel convergence analysis for stochastic optimization in terms of stopping times, addressing the practical reality that algorithms are often terminated adaptively based on observed progress. Unlike prior approaches,…
In this paper, we develop the notion of evidence lower bound difference (ELBD), based on which an efficient score algorithm is presented to implement feature selection on latent variables of VAE and its variants. Further, we propose weak…
We reconsider randomized algorithms for the low-rank approximation of symmetric positive semi-definite (SPSD) matrices such as Laplacian and kernel matrices that arise in data analysis and machine learning applications. Our main results…