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Value iteration (VI) is a ubiquitous algorithm for optimal control, planning, and reinforcement learning schemes. Under the right assumptions, VI is a vital tool to generate inputs with desirable properties for the controlled system, like…
In this paper, we address the question of information preservation in ill-posed, non-linear inverse problems, assuming that the measured data is close to a low-dimensional model set. We provide necessary and sufficient conditions for the…
The proximal policy optimization (PPO) algorithm stands as one of the most prosperous methods in the field of reinforcement learning (RL). Despite its success, the theoretical understanding of PPO remains deficient. Specifically, it is…
We generalized a modified exponentialized estimator by pushing the robust-optimal (RO) index $\lambda$ to $-\infty$ for achieving robustness to outliers by optimizing a quasi-Minimin function. The robustness is realized and controlled…
A significant progress has been made in the past three decades over the study of combinatorial NP optimization problems and their associated optimization and approximate classes, such as NPO, PO, APX (or APXP), and PTAS. Unfortunately, a…
Integer octagonal constraints (a.k.a. ``Unit Two Variables Per Inequality'' or ``UTVPI integer constraints'') constitute an interesting class of constraints for the representation and solution of integer problems in the fields of constraint…
The Low Order-Value Optimization (LOVO) problem involves minimizing the minimum among a finite number of function values within a feasible set. LOVO has several practical applications such as robust parameter estimation, protein alignment,…
In this paper, we study reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms to solve real-world decision problems with the objective of maximizing the long-term reward as well as satisfying cumulative constraints. We propose a novel first-order policy…
We initiate the mathematical study of replicability as an algorithmic property in the context of reinforcement learning (RL). We focus on the fundamental setting of discounted tabular MDPs with access to a generative model. Inspired by…
Many optimization algorithms$\unicode{x2013}$including gradient descent, proximal methods, and operator splitting techniques$\unicode{x2013}$can be formulated as fixed-point iterations (FPI) of continuous operators. When these operators are…
To optimize efficiently over discrete data and with only few available target observations is a challenge in Bayesian optimization. We propose a continuous relaxation of the objective function and show that inference and optimization can be…
Lagrangian Relaxation (LR) is a powerful technique for solving large-scale Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP), particularly those with decomposable structures, such as vehicle routing or unit commitment problems. By relaxing the…
Price differentiation is a common strategy in many markets. In this paper, we study a static multiproduct price optimization problem with demand given by a discrete mixed multinomial logit model. By considering a mixed logit model that…
In high-stakes engineering applications, optimization algorithms must come with provable worst-case guarantees over a mathematically defined class of problems. Designing for the worst case, however, inevitably sacrifices performance on the…
We study episodic reinforcement learning (RL) in non-stationary linear kernel Markov decision processes (MDPs). In this setting, both the reward function and the transition kernel are linear with respect to the given feature maps and are…
Unit two-variable-per-inequality (UTVPI) constraints form one of the largest class of integer constraints which are polynomial time solvable (unless P=NP). There is considerable interest in their use for constraint solving, abstract…
We consider a variational convex relaxation of a class of optimal partitioning and multiclass labeling problems, which has recently proven quite successful and can be seen as a continuous analogue of Linear Programming (LP) relaxation…
Information-Geometric Optimization (IGO) is a unified framework of stochastic algorithms for optimization problems. Given a family of probability distributions, IGO turns the original optimization problem into a new maximization problem on…
Many real-world optimization problems are guided by complex, subjective preferences that are difficult to express as explicit closed-form objectives. In response, we introduce Language-in-the-Loop Optimization (LILO), a Bayesian…
Persistent homology is a popular method for computing topological features of (metric) data. Standard approaches based on the \v{C}ech or Rips filtration are stable under small perturbations of the data, but highly sensitive to outliers.…