Related papers: Stochastic Approximation with Delayed Updates: Fin…
This work is motivated by the challenges of applying the sample average approximation (SAA) method to multistage stochastic programming with an unknown continuous-state Markov process. While SAA is widely used in static and two-stage…
Stochastic gradient descent is a canonical tool for addressing stochastic optimization problems, and forms the bedrock of modern machine learning and statistics. In this work, we seek to balance the fact that attenuating step-size is…
We consider the dynamics of a linear stochastic approximation algorithm driven by Markovian noise, and derive finite-time bounds on the moments of the error, i.e., deviation of the output of the algorithm from the equilibrium point of an…
The optimal zero delay coding of a finite state Markov source is considered. The existence and structure of optimal codes are studied using a stochastic control formulation. Prior results in the literature established the optimality of…
Two-time-scale stochastic approximation algorithms are iterative methods used in applications such as optimization, reinforcement learning, and control. Finite-time analysis of these algorithms has primarily focused on fixed point…
The performance of standard stochastic approximation implementations can vary significantly based on the choice of the steplength sequence, and in general, little guidance is provided about good choices. Motivated by this gap, in the first…
This paper investigates optimal control problems for delayed systems governed by Infinitely Anticipated Backward Stochastic Differential Equations (IABSDEs). Unlike existing frameworks limited to bounded delays, we introduce a generalized…
This paper studies the exponential stability of random matrix products driven by a general (possibly unbounded) state space Markov chain. It is a cornerstone in the analysis of stochastic algorithms in machine learning (e.g. for parameter…
Temporal difference learning (TD) is a simple iterative algorithm used to estimate the value function corresponding to a given policy in a Markov decision process. Although TD is one of the most widely used algorithms in reinforcement…
We consider parametric version of fixed-delay continuous-time Markov chains (or equivalently deterministic and stochastic Petri nets, DSPN) where fixed-delay transitions are specified by parameters, rather than concrete values. Our goal is…
A novel sequential change detection problem is proposed, in which the goal is to not only detect but also accelerate the change. Specifically, it is assumed that the sequentially collected observations are responses to treatments selected…
Max weighted queue (MWQ) control policy is a widely used cross-layer control policy that achieves queue stability and a reasonable delay performance. In most of the existing literature, it is assumed that optimal MWQ policy can be obtained…
In performative prediction, the choice of a model influences the distribution of future data, typically through actions taken based on the model's predictions. We initiate the study of stochastic optimization for performative prediction.…
This paper concerns quasi-stochastic approximation (QSA) to solve root finding problems commonly found in applications to optimization and reinforcement learning. The general constant gain algorithm may be expressed as the…
Slice sampling is a well-established Markov chain Monte Carlo method for (approximate) sampling of target distributions which are only known up to a normalizing constant. The method is based on choosing a new state on a slice, i.e., a…
We study the impact of competing time delays in coupled stochastic synchronization and coordination problems. We consider two types of delays: transmission delays between interacting elements and processing, cognitive, or execution delays…
Action delays degrade the performance of reinforcement learning in many real-world systems. This paper proposes a formal definition of delay-aware Markov Decision Process and proves it can be transformed into standard MDP with augmented…
We consider a nonlinear discrete stochastic control system, and our goal is to design a feedback control policy in order to lead the system to a prespecified state. We adopt a stochastic approximation viewpoint of this problem. It is known…
In this paper we study stochastic control problems with delayed information, that is, the control at time $t$ can depend only on the information observed before time $t-H$ for some delay parameter $H$. Such delay occurs frequently in…
The aim of this paper is to study the dynamical behavior of non-autonomous stochastic hybrid systems with delays. By general Krylov-Bogolyubov's method, we first obtain the sufficient conditions for the existence of an evolution system of…