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We present a novel direct transcription method to solve optimization problems subject to nonlinear differential and inequality constraints. We prove convergence of our numerical method under reasonably mild assumptions: boundedness and…
Flexible sparsity regularization means stably approximating sparse solutions of operator equations by using coefficient-dependent penalizations. We propose and analyse a general nonconvex approach in this respect, from both theoretical and…
In this paper, we present a novel derivative-free optimization framework for solving unconstrained stochastic optimization problems. Many problems in fields ranging from simulation optimization to reinforcement learning involve settings…
In many statistical learning problems, it is desired that the optimal solution conforms to an a priori known sparsity structure represented by a directed acyclic graph. Inducing such structures by means of convex regularizers requires…
A number of optimization approaches have been proposed for optimizing nonconvex objectives (e.g. deep learning models), such as batch gradient descent, stochastic gradient descent and stochastic variance reduced gradient descent. Theory…
Fan and Li propose a family of variable selection methods via penalized likelihood using concave penalty functions. The nonconcave penalized likelihood estimators enjoy the oracle properties, but maximizing the penalized likelihood function…
In this paper, we develop a randomized algorithm and theory for learning a sparse model from large-scale and high-dimensional data, which is usually formulated as an empirical risk minimization problem with a sparsity-inducing regularizer.…
An optimization algorithm for nonsmooth nonconvex constrained optimization problems with upper-C2 objective functions is proposed and analyzed. Upper-C2 is a weakly concave property that exists in difference of convex (DC) functions and…
Existing nonconvex statistical optimization theory and methods crucially rely on the correct specification of the underlying "true" statistical models. To address this issue, we take a first step towards taming model misspecification by…
This paper gives a comprehensive treatment of the convergence rates of penalized spline estimators for simultaneously estimating several leading principal component functions, when the functional data is sparsely observed. The penalized…
In high-dimensional statistics, variable selection recovers the latent sparse patterns from all possible covariate combinations. This paper proposes a novel optimization method to solve the exact L0-regularized regression problem, which is…
Mediation analysis has been widely used to investigate how a treatment influences an outcome through intermediate variables, known as mediators. Analyzing a mediation mechanism typically requires assessing multiple model parameters that…
This work addresses the issue of large covariance matrix estimation in high-dimensional statistical analysis. Recently, improved iterative algorithms with positive-definite guarantee have been developed. However, these algorithms cannot be…
We consider the problem of sparse estimation in a factor analysis model. A traditional estimation procedure in use is the following two-step approach: the model is estimated by maximum likelihood method and then a rotation technique is…
We consider minimization problems with structured objective function and smooth constraints, and present a flexible framework that combines the beneficial regularization effects of (exact) penalty and interior-point methods. In the fully…
The paper introduces a penalized matrix estimation procedure aiming at solutions which are sparse and low-rank at the same time. Such structures arise in the context of social networks or protein interactions where underlying graphs have…
Penalized regression estimators are a popular tool for the analysis of sparse and high-dimensional data sets. However, penalized regression estimators defined using an unbounded loss function can be very sensitive to the presence of…
This paper is devoted to studying the stationary solutions of a general constrained optimization problem through its associated unconstrained penalized problems. We aim to answer the question, "what do the stationary solutions of a…
We propose a sampling-based trajectory optimization methodology for constrained problems. We extend recent works on stochastic search to deal with box control constraints,as well as nonlinear state constraints for discrete dynamical…
Regularization is often used in high-dimensional regression settings to generate a sparse model, which can save tremendous computing resources and identify predictors that are most strongly associated with the response. When the predictors…