Related papers: Semismooth Newton Methods for Risk-Averse Markov D…
In this paper, we propose a uniform semismooth Newton-based algorithmic framework called SSNCVX for solving a broad class of convex composite optimization problems. By exploiting the augmented Lagrangian duality, we reformulate the original…
We introduce the Lyapunov approach to optimal control problems of average risk-sensitive Markov control processes with general risk maps. Motivated by applications in particular to behavioral economics, we consider possibly non-convex risk…
Markov decision processes (MDPs) are a popular model for performance analysis and optimization of stochastic systems. The parameters of stochastic behavior of MDPs are estimates from empirical observations of a system; their values are not…
Mean-deviation models, along with the existing theory of coherent risk measures, are well studied in the literature. In this paper, we characterize monotonic mean-deviation (risk) measures from a general mean-deviation model by applying a…
We develop recursive, data-driven, stochastic subgradient methods for optimizing a new, versatile, and application-driven class of convex risk measures, termed here as mean-semideviations, strictly generalizing the well-known and popular…
We present a generative approach to price options and extract risk-neutral densities from the market. Specifically, we model the underlying log-returns on the time-to-maturity continuum as a generative model from standard normal. Neural…
We consider finite-horizon Markov Decision Processes where parameters, such as transition probabilities, are unknown and estimated from data. The popular distributionally robust approach to addressing the parameter uncertainty can sometimes…
In this paper, we propose a new constraint, called shift-consistency, for solving matrix/tensor completion problems in the context of recommender systems. Our method provably guarantees several key mathematical properties: (1) satisfies a…
Time-series models typically assume untainted and legitimate streams of data. However, a self-interested adversary may have incentive to corrupt this data, thereby altering a decision maker's inference. Within the broader field of…
Newton method is one of the most powerful methods for finding solutions of nonlinear equations and for proving their existence. In its "pure" form it has fast convergence near the solution, but small convergence domain. On the other hand…
We introduce a new framework for analyzing (Quasi-}Newton type methods applied to non-smooth optimization problems. The source of randomness comes from the evaluation of the (approximation) of the Hessian. We derive, using a variant of…
In this paper we build on previous work which uses inferences techniques, in particular Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods, to solve parameterized control problems. We propose a number of modifications in order to make this approach…
Classical game-theoretic approaches for multi-agent systems in both the forward policy design problem and the inverse reward learning problem often make strong rationality assumptions: agents perfectly maximize expected utilities under…
Motivated by many application problems, we consider Markov decision processes (MDPs) with a general loss function and unknown parameters. To mitigate the epistemic uncertainty associated with unknown parameters, we take a Bayesian approach…
Interval Markov decision processes (IMDPs) generalise classical MDPs by having interval-valued transition probabilities. They provide a powerful modelling tool for probabilistic systems with an additional variation or uncertainty that…
We demonstrate a limitation of discounted expected utility, a standard approach for representing the preference to risk when future cost is discounted. Specifically, we provide an example of the preference of a decision maker that appears…
We provide a framework for speeding up algorithms for time-bounded reachability analysis of continuous-time Markov decision processes. The principle is to find a small, but almost equivalent subsystem of the original system and only analyse…
We provide performance guarantees for a variant of simulation-based policy iteration for controlling Markov decision processes that involves the use of stochastic approximation algorithms along with state-of-the-art techniques that are…
We propose LeAP-SSN (Levenberg--Marquardt Adaptive Proximal Semismooth Newton method), a semismooth Newton-type method with a simple, parameter-free globalisation strategy that guarantees convergence from arbitrary starting points in…
We propose a distributionally robust return-risk model for Markov decision processes (MDPs) under risk and reward ambiguity. The proposed model optimizes the weighted average of mean and percentile performances, and it covers the…