Related papers: Finite-Horizon Single-Pull Restless Bandits: An Ef…
We introduce a new class of reinforcement learning methods referred to as {\em episodic multi-armed bandits} (eMAB). In eMAB the learner proceeds in {\em episodes}, each composed of several {\em steps}, in which it chooses an action and…
We propose minimum empirical divergence (MED) policy for the multiarmed bandit problem. We prove asymptotic optimality of the proposed policy for the case of finite support models. In our setting, Burnetas and Katehakis has already proposed…
We study exploration in stochastic multi-armed bandits when we have access to a divisible resource that can be allocated in varying amounts to arm pulls. We focus in particular on the allocation of distributed computing resources, where we…
The restless multi-armed bandit problem is a paradigmatic modeling framework for optimal dynamic priority allocation in stochastic models of wide-ranging applications that has been widely investigated and applied since its inception in a…
We study the Lagrangian Index Policy (LIP) for restless multi-armed bandits with long-run average reward. In particular, we compare the performance of LIP with the performance of the Whittle Index Policy (WIP), both heuristic policies known…
Many real-world problems like Social Influence Maximization face the dilemma of choosing the best $K$ out of $N$ options at a given time instant. This setup can be modeled as a combinatorial bandit which chooses $K$ out of $N$ arms at each…
Inspired by the Reward-Biased Maximum Likelihood Estimate method of adaptive control, we propose RBMLE -- a novel family of learning algorithms for stochastic multi-armed bandits (SMABs). For a broad range of SMABs including both the…
This paper considers the multi-armed bandit problem with multiple simultaneous arm pulls. We develop a new `irrevocable' heuristic for this problem. In particular, we do not allow recourse to arms that were pulled at some point in the past…
Fast changing states or volatile environments pose a significant challenge to online optimization, which needs to perform rapid adaptation under limited observation. In this paper, we give query and regret optimal bandit algorithms under…
This paper considers a multi-armed bandit (MAB) problem in which multiple mobile agents receive rewards by sampling from a collection of spatially dispersed stochastic processes, called bandits. The goal is to formulate a decentralized…
Motivated by distributed selection problems, we formulate a new variant of multi-player multi-armed bandit (MAB) model, which captures stochastic arrival of requests to each arm, as well as the policy of allocating requests to players. The…
There has been a recent surge of interest in nonparametric bandit algorithms based on subsampling. One drawback however of these approaches is the additional complexity required by random subsampling and the storage of the full history of…
In this paper, we consider several finite-horizon Bayesian multi-armed bandit problems with side constraints which are computationally intractable (NP-Hard) and for which no optimal (or near optimal) algorithms are known to exist with…
Recently proposed reward-conditioned policies (RCPs) offer an appealing alternative in reinforcement learning. Compared with policy gradient methods, policy learning in RCPs is simpler since it is based on supervised learning, and unlike…
Many sequential decision-making tasks require choosing at each decision step the right action out of the vast set of possibilities by extracting actionable intelligence from high-dimensional data streams. Most of the times, the…
We consider the channel access problem under imperfect sensing of channel state in a multi-channel opportunistic communication system, where the state of each channel evolves as an independent and identically distributed Markov process. The…
Decision trees, without appropriate constraints, can easily become overly complex and prone to overfit, capturing noise rather than generalizable patterns. To resolve this problem,pruning operation is a crucial part in optimizing decision…
In this paper, we consider a novel variant of the multi-armed bandit (MAB) problem, MAB with cost subsidy, which models many real-life applications where the learning agent has to pay to select an arm and is concerned about optimizing…
Restless multi-armed bandits (RMAB) has been widely used to model constrained sequential decision making problems, where the state of each restless arm evolves according to a Markov chain and each state transition generates a scalar reward.…
Multi armed bandit (MAB) algorithms have been increasingly used to complement or integrate with A/B tests and randomized clinical trials in e-commerce, healthcare, and policymaking. Recent developments incorporate possible delayed feedback.…