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We study the problem of learning policies that maximize cumulative reward while satisfying safety constraints, even when the real environment differs from a simulator or nominal model. We focus on robust constrained Markov decision…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-11-12 Sourav Ganguly , Arnob Ghosh

This article deals with stochastic processes endowed with the Markov (memoryless) property and evolving over general (uncountable) state spaces. The models further depend on a non-deterministic quantity in the form of a control input, which…

Systems and Control · Computer Science 2015-09-11 Sofie Haesaert , Robert Babuska , Alessandro Abate

We propose a numerical recipe for risk evaluation defined by a backward stochastic differential equation. Using dual representation of the risk measure, we convert the risk valuation to a stochastic control problem where the control is a…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2020-08-24 Andrzej Ruszczynski , Jianing Yao

We consider finite model approximations of discrete-time partially observed Markov decision processes (POMDPs) under the discounted cost criterion. After converting the original partially observed stochastic control problem to a fully…

Systems and Control · Computer Science 2017-10-20 Naci Saldi , Serdar Yüksel , Tamás Linder

We consider a broad class of dynamic programming (DP) problems that involve a partially linear structure and some positivity properties in their system equation and cost function. We address deterministic and stochastic problems, possibly…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-04-21 Yuchao Li , Dimitri Bertsekas

We study the multi-stage stochastic unit commitment problem in which commitment and generation decisions can be made and adjusted in each time period. We formulate this problem as a Markov decision process, which is "weakly-coupled" in the…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2018-06-25 Jagdish Ramakrishnan , James Luedtke

We consider the batch (off-line) policy learning problem in the infinite horizon Markov Decision Process. Motivated by mobile health applications, we focus on learning a policy that maximizes the long-term average reward. We propose a…

Statistics Theory · Mathematics 2022-09-20 Peng Liao , Zhengling Qi , Runzhe Wan , Predrag Klasnja , Susan Murphy

This paper investigates the two-person zero-sum stochastic games for piece-wise deterministic Markov decision processes with risk-sensitive finite-horizon cost criterion on a general state space. Here, the transition and cost/reward rates…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-05-15 Subrata Golui

This paper is concerned with the maximum principle of stochastic optimal control problems, where the coefficients of the state equation and the cost functional are uncertain, and the system is generally under Markovian regime switching.…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-04-15 Tao Hao , Jiaqiang Wen , Jie Xiong

We consider a class of optimal control problems, with finite or infinite horizon, for a continuous-time Markov chain with finite state space. In this case, the control process affects the transition rates. We suppose that the controlled…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-02-19 Fulvia Confortola , Marco Fuhrman

This paper presents a stochastic model predictive control approach for nonlinear systems subject to time-invariant probabilistic uncertainties in model parameters and initial conditions. The stochastic optimal control problem entails a cost…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2014-10-17 Stefan Streif , Matthias Karl , Ali Mesbah

Reinforcement learning, mathematically described by Markov Decision Problems, may be approached either through dynamic programming or policy search. Actor-critic algorithms combine the merits of both approaches by alternating between steps…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-01-31 Harshat Kumar , Alec Koppel , Alejandro Ribeiro

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…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-10-17 Anna Winnicki , R. Srikant

We develop a method for computing policies in Markov decision processes with risk-sensitive measures subject to temporal logic constraints. Specifically, we use a particular risk-sensitive measure from cumulative prospect theory, which has…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2020-04-21 Murat Cubuktepe , Ufuk Topcu

This paper considers a class of reinforcement-learning that belongs to the family of Learning Automata and provides a stochastic-stability analysis in strategic-form games. For this class of dynamics, convergence to pure Nash equilibria has…

Computer Science and Game Theory · Computer Science 2017-02-28 Georgios C. Chasparis

This paper is devoted to solving a time-inconsistent risk-sensitive control problem with parameter $\e$ and its limit case ($\e\rightarrow0^+$) for countable-stated Markov decision processes (MDPs for short). Since the cost functional is…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2020-10-22 Hongwei Mei

We study high-dimensional stochastic optimal control problems in which many agents cooperate to minimize a convex cost functional. We consider both the full-information problem, in which each agent observes the states of all other agents,…

Probability · Mathematics 2023-01-10 Joe Jackson , Daniel Lacker

Policy gradient methods are widely used in reinforcement learning. Yet, the nonconvexity of policy optimization poses significant challenges in understanding the global convergence of policy gradient methods. For a class of finite-horizon…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-03-10 Xin Chen , Yifan Hu , Minda Zhao

We present metrics for measuring state similarity in Markov decision processes (MDPs) with infinitely many states, including MDPs with continuous state spaces. Such metrics provide a stable quantitative analogue of the notion of…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2012-07-09 Norman Ferns , Prakash Panangaden , Doina Precup

To tackle the difficulties faced by both stochastic dynamic programming and scenario tree methods, we present some variational approach for numerical solution of stochastic optimal control problems. We consider two different interpretations…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2009-07-28 Pierre Carpentier , Guy Cohen , Anes Dallagi