Related papers: Learning to Solve the Constrained Most Probable Ex…
We consider the problem of maximizing submodular functions; while this problem is known to be NP-hard, several numerically efficient local search techniques with approximation guarantees are available. In this paper, we propose a novel…
This paper addresses the estimation of parameters of a Bayesian network from incomplete data. The task is usually tackled by running the Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm several times in order to obtain a high log-likelihood…
Sequential incentive marketing is an important approach for online businesses to acquire customers, increase loyalty and boost sales. How to effectively allocate the incentives so as to maximize the return (e.g., business objectives) under…
Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms have shown tremendous success in simulation environments, but their application to real-world problems faces significant challenges, with safety being a major concern. In particular, enforcing…
Partial-differential-equation (PDE)-constrained optimization is a well-worn technique for acquiring optimal parameters of systems governed by PDEs. However, this approach is limited to providing a single set of optimal parameters per…
This article introduces an imitation learning method for learning maximum entropy policies that comply with constraints demonstrated by expert trajectories executing a task. The formulation of the method takes advantage of results…
Meta-Reinforcement Learning (Meta-RL) learns optimal policies across a series of related tasks. A central challenge in Meta-RL is rapidly identifying which previously learned task is most similar to a new one, in order to adapt to it…
In this paper, we study the optimal convergence rate for distributed convex optimization problems in networks. We model the communication restrictions imposed by the network as a set of affine constraints and provide optimal complexity…
In this paper, we study representation learning in partially observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDPs), where the agent learns a decoder function that maps a series of high-dimensional raw observations to a compact representation and…
Multi-person pose estimation (MPPE) in natural images is key to the meaningful use of visual data in many fields including movement science, security, and rehabilitation. In this paper we tackle MPPE with a bottom-up approach, starting with…
This work considers Maximum Likelihood Estimation (MLE) of a Toeplitz structured covariance matrix. In this regard, an equivalent reformulation of the MLE problem is introduced and two iterative algorithms are proposed for the optimization…
We propose an efficient algorithm for approximate computation of the profile maximum likelihood (PML), a variant of maximum likelihood maximizing the probability of observing a sufficient statistic rather than the empirical sample. The PML…
Graphical models trained using maximum likelihood are a common tool for probabilistic inference of marginal distributions. However, this approach suffers difficulties when either the inference process or the model is approximate. In this…
We propose an importance sampling method for tractable and efficient estimation of counterfactual expressions in general settings, named Exogenous Matching. By minimizing a common upper bound of counterfactual estimators, we transform the…
Identifying statistical regularities in solutions to some tasks in multi-task reinforcement learning can accelerate the learning of new tasks. Skill learning offers one way of identifying these regularities by decomposing pre-collected…
Similar to the role of Markov decision processes in reinforcement learning, Stochastic Games (SGs) lay the foundation for the study of multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) and sequential agent interactions. In this paper, we derive…
Convex relaxations and approximations of the optimal power flow (OPF) problem have gained significant research and industrial interest for planning and operations in electric power networks. One approach for reducing their solve times is…
The Maximum Minimal Cut Problem (MMCP), a NP-hard combinatorial optimization (CO) problem, has not received much attention due to the demanding and challenging bi-connectivity constraint. Moreover, as a CO problem, it is also a daunting…
The paper evaluates the power of best-first search over AND/OR search spaces for solving the Most Probable Explanation (MPE) task in Bayesian networks. The main virtue of the AND/OR representation of the search space is its sensitivity to…
(Partial) differential equations (PDEs) are fundamental tools for describing natural phenomena, making their solution crucial in science and engineering. While traditional methods, such as the finite element method, provide reliable…