Related papers: Online Combinatorial Optimization with Graphical D…
This paper considers the use of Yao's Minimax Theorem in robust algorithm design, e.g., for online algorithms, where the algorithm designer aims to minimize the ratio of the algorithm's performance to the optimal performance. When applying…
Offline reinforcement learning (RL) refers to the problem of learning policies entirely from a large batch of previously collected data. This problem setting offers the promise of utilizing such datasets to acquire policies without any…
This work studies online episodic tabular Markov decision processes (MDPs) with known transitions and develops best-of-both-worlds algorithms that achieve refined data-dependent regret bounds in the adversarial regime and variance-dependent…
Recently, much work has been done on extending the scope of online learning and incremental stochastic optimization algorithms. In this paper we contribute to this effort in two ways: First, based on a new regret decomposition and a…
Combinatorial optimization problems like the Traveling Salesman Problem are critical in industry yet NP-hard. Neural Combinatorial Optimization has shown promise, but its reliance on online reinforcement learning (RL) hampers deployment and…
This article reviews the recent advances on the statistical foundation of reinforcement learning (RL) in the offline and low-adaptive settings. We will start by arguing why offline RL is the appropriate model for almost any real-life ML…
The online optimization of gasoline blending benefits refinery economies. However, the nonlinear blending mechanism, the oil property fluctuations, and the blending model mismatch bring difficulties to the optimization. To solve the above…
This paper studies distributed online convex optimization with time-varying coupled constraints, motivated by distributed online control in network systems. Most prior work assumes a separability condition: the global objective and coupled…
An introduction to the application of combinatorial optimization methods to ground state calculations of frustrated, disordered systems is given. We discuss the interface problem in the random bond Ising ferromagnet, the random field Ising…
Markov decision processes (MDPs) are used to model a wide variety of applications ranging from game playing over robotics to finance. Their optimal policy typically maximizes the expected sum of rewards given at each step of the decision…
In this paper, we consider two paradigms that are developed to account for uncertainty in optimization models: robust optimization (RO) and joint estimation-optimization (JEO). We examine recent developments on efficient and scalable…
We consider optimization problems with uncertain constraints that need to be satisfied probabilistically. When data are available, a common method to obtain feasible solutions for such problems is to impose sampled constraints, following…
This paper aims at distributed multi-agent convex optimization where the communications network among the agents are presented by a random sequence of possibly state-dependent weighted graphs. This is the first work to consider both random…
Robust optimization is concerned with constructing solutions that remain feasible also when a limited number of resources is removed from the solution. Most studies of robust combinatorial optimization to date made the assumption that every…
This paper considers online convex optimization (OCO) with stochastic constraints, which generalizes Zinkevich's OCO over a known simple fixed set by introducing multiple stochastic functional constraints that are i.i.d. generated at each…
Mixed linear regression (MLR) is a powerful model for characterizing nonlinear relationships by utilizing a mixture of linear regression sub-models. The identification of MLR is a fundamental problem, where most of the existing results…
In this work, we initiate a thorough study of parameterized graph optimization problems in the distributed setting. In a parameterized problem, an algorithm decides whether a solution of size bounded by a \emph{parameter} $k$ exists and if…
Markov reward processes (MRPs) are used to model stochastic phenomena arising in operations research, control engineering, robotics, and artificial intelligence, as well as communication and transportation networks. In many of these cases,…
Recommendation systems when employed in markets play a dual role: they assist users in selecting their most desired items from a large pool and they help in allocating a limited number of items to the users who desire them the most. Despite…
Distributed optimization is fundamental to modern machine learning applications like federated learning, but existing methods often struggle with ill-conditioned problems and face stability-versus-speed tradeoffs. We introduce fractional…