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We investigate two new optimization problems -- minimizing a submodular function subject to a submodular lower bound constraint (submodular cover) and maximizing a submodular function subject to a submodular upper bound constraint…
In this paper, we demonstrate a formulation for optimizing coupled submodular maximization problems with provable sub-optimality bounds. In robotics applications, it is quite common that optimization problems are coupled with one another…
Efficient methods to provide sub-optimal solutions to non-convex optimization problems with knowledge of the solution's sub-optimality would facilitate the widespread application of nonlinear optimal control algorithms. To that end,…
In this paper, we consider the optimization problem Submodular Cover (SCP), which is to find a minimum cardinality subset of a finite universe $U$ such that the value of a submodular function $f$ is above an input threshold $\tau$. In…
Constrained quasiconvex optimization problems appear in many fields, such as economics, engineering, and management science. In particular, fractional programming, which models ratio indicators such as the profit/cost ratio as fractional…
Submodularity is a key property in discrete optimization. Submodularity has been widely used for analyzing the greedy algorithm to give performance bounds and providing insight into the construction of valid inequalities for mixed-integer…
This paper addresses the design of input signals for the purpose of discriminating among a finite set of models dynamic systems within a given finite time interval. A motivating application is fault detection and isolation. We propose…
This work studies an experimental design problem where {the values of a predictor variable, denoted by $x$}, are to be determined with the goal of estimating a function $m(x)$, which is observed with noise. A linear model is fitted to…
Standard variational lower bounds used to train latent variable models produce biased estimates of most quantities of interest. We introduce an unbiased estimator of the log marginal likelihood and its gradients for latent variable models…
This paper presents a stochastic approximation proximal subgradient (SAPS) method for stochastic convex-concave minimax optimization. By accessing unbiased and variance bounded approximate subgradients, we show that this algorithm exhibits…
Maximizing monotone submodular functions under cardinality constraints is a classic optimization task with several applications in data mining and machine learning. In this paper we study this problem in a dynamic environment with…
Policy optimization is among the most popular and successful reinforcement learning algorithms, and there is increasing interest in understanding its theoretical guarantees. In this work, we initiate the study of policy optimization for the…
We give polynomial-time algorithms for the exact computation of lowest-energy (ground) states, worst margin violators, log partition functions, and marginal edge probabilities in certain binary undirected graphical models. Our approach…
Stochastic optimization of continuous objectives is at the heart of modern machine learning. However, many important problems are of discrete nature and often involve submodular objectives. We seek to unleash the power of stochastic…
In this paper, we focus on the nonconvex-strongly-concave minimax optimization problem (MCC), where the inner maximization subproblem contains constraints that couple the primal variable of the outer minimization problem. We prove that by…
Sequentially solving similar optimization problems under strict runtime constraints is essential for many applications, such as robot control, autonomous driving, and portfolio management. The performance of local optimization methods in…
Submodular function minimization is well studied, and existing algorithms solve it exactly or up to arbitrary accuracy. However, in many applications, such as structured sparse learning or batch Bayesian optimization, the objective function…
$ $In many optimization problems, a feasible solution induces a multi-dimensional cost vector. For example, in load-balancing a schedule induces a load vector across the machines. In $k$-clustering, opening $k$ facilities induces an…
We introduce a max-plus analogue of the Petrov-Galerkin finite element method to solve finite horizon deterministic optimal control problems. The method relies on a max-plus variational formulation. We show that the error in the sup norm…
We consider the problem of jointly estimating the parameters as well as the structure of binary valued Markov Random Fields, in contrast to earlier work that focus on one of the two problems. We formulate the problem as a maximization of…