For solving a broad class of nonconvex programming problems on an unbounded constraint set, we provide a self-adaptive step-size strategy that does not include line-search techniques and establishes the convergence of a generic approach under mild assumptions. Specifically, the objective function may not satisfy the convexity condition. Unlike descent line-search algorithms, it does not need a known Lipschitz constant to figure out how big the first step should be. The crucial feature of this process is the steady reduction of the step size until a certain condition is fulfilled. In particular, it can provide a new gradient projection approach to optimization problems with an unbounded constrained set. The correctness of the proposed method is verified by preliminary results from some computational examples. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique for large-scale problems, we apply it to some experiments on machine learning, such as supervised feature selection, multi-variable logistic regressions and neural networks for classification.
In this paper, we present improved learning-augmented algorithms for the multi-option ski rental problem. Learning-augmented algorithms take ML predictions as an added part of the input and incorporates these predictions in solving the given problem. Due to their unique strength that combines the power of ML predictions with rigorous performance guarantees, they have been extensively studied in the context of online optimization problems. Even though ski rental problems are one of the canonical problems in the field of online optimization, only deterministic algorithms were previously known for multi-option ski rental, with or without learning augmentation. We present the first randomized learning-augmented algorithm for this problem, surpassing previous performance guarantees given by deterministic algorithms. Our learning-augmented algorithm is based on a new, provably best-possible randomized competitive algorithm for the problem. Our results are further complemented by lower bounds for deterministic and randomized algorithms, and computational experiments evaluating our algorithms' performance improvements.
The twin support vector machine and its extensions have made great achievements in dealing with binary classification problems. However, it suffers from difficulties in effective solution of multi-classification and fast model selection. This work devotes to the fast regularization parameter tuning algorithm for the twin multi-class support vector machine. Specifically, a novel sample data set partition strategy is first adopted, which is the basis for the model construction. Then, combining the linear equations and block matrix theory, the Lagrangian multipliers are proved to be piecewise linear w.r.t. the regularization parameters, so that the regularization parameters are continuously updated by only solving the break points. Next, Lagrangian multipliers are proved to be 1 as the regularization parameter approaches infinity, thus, a simple yet effective initialization algorithm is devised. Finally, eight kinds of events are defined to seek for the starting event for the next iteration. Extensive experimental results on nine UCI data sets show that the proposed method can achieve comparable classification performance without solving any quadratic programming problem.
This work considers the problem of finding a first-order stationary point of a non-convex function with potentially unbounded smoothness constant using a stochastic gradient oracle. We focus on the class of $(L_0,L_1)$-smooth functions proposed by Zhang et al. (ICLR'20). Empirical evidence suggests that these functions more closely captures practical machine learning problems as compared to the pervasive $L_0$-smoothness. This class is rich enough to include highly non-smooth functions, such as $\exp(L_1 x)$ which is $(0,\mathcal{O}(L_1))$-smooth. Despite the richness, an emerging line of works achieves the $\widetilde{\mathcal{O}}(\frac{1}{\sqrt{T}})$ rate of convergence when the noise of the stochastic gradients is deterministically and uniformly bounded. This noise restriction is not required in the $L_0$-smooth setting, and in many practical settings is either not satisfied, or results in weaker convergence rates with respect to the noise scaling of the convergence rate. We develop a technique that allows us to prove $\mathcal{O}(\frac{\mathrm{poly}\log(T)}{\sqrt{T}})$ convergence rates for $(L_0,L_1)$-smooth functions without assuming uniform bounds on the noise support. The key innovation behind our results is a carefully constructed stopping time $\tau$ which is simultaneously "large" on average, yet also allows us to treat the adaptive step sizes before $\tau$ as (roughly) independent of the gradients. For general $(L_0,L_1)$-smooth functions, our analysis requires the mild restriction that the multiplicative noise parameter $\sigma_1 < 1$. For a broad subclass of $(L_0,L_1)$-smooth functions, our convergence rate continues to hold when $\sigma_1 \geq 1$. By contrast, we prove that many algorithms analyzed by prior works on $(L_0,L_1)$-smooth optimization diverge with constant probability even for smooth and strongly-convex functions when $\sigma_1 > 1$.
A candidate explanation of the good empirical performance of deep neural networks is the implicit regularization effect of first order optimization methods. Inspired by this, we prove a convergence theorem for nonconvex composite optimization, and apply it to a general learning problem covering many machine learning applications, including supervised learning. We then present a deep multilayer perceptron model and prove that, when sufficiently wide, it $(i)$ leads to the convergence of gradient descent to a global optimum with a linear rate, $(ii)$ benefits from the implicit regularization effect of gradient descent, $(iii)$ is subject to novel bounds on the generalization error, $(iv)$ exhibits the lazy training phenomenon and $(v)$ enjoys learning rate transfer across different widths. The corresponding coefficients, such as the convergence rate, improve as width is further increased, and depend on the even order moments of the data generating distribution up to an order depending on the number of layers. The only non-mild assumption we make is the concentration of the smallest eigenvalue of the neural tangent kernel at initialization away from zero, which has been shown to hold for a number of less general models in contemporary works. We present empirical evidence supporting this assumption as well as our theoretical claims.
We prove a convergence theorem for U-statistics of degree two, where the data dimension $d$ is allowed to scale with sample size $n$. We find that the limiting distribution of a U-statistic undergoes a phase transition from the non-degenerate Gaussian limit to the degenerate limit, regardless of its degeneracy and depending only on a moment ratio. A surprising consequence is that a non-degenerate U-statistic in high dimensions can have a non-Gaussian limit with a larger variance and asymmetric distribution. Our bounds are valid for any finite $n$ and $d$, independent of individual eigenvalues of the underlying function, and dimension-independent under a mild assumption. As an application, we apply our theory to two popular kernel-based distribution tests, MMD and KSD, whose high-dimensional performance has been challenging to study. In a simple empirical setting, our results correctly predict how the test power at a fixed threshold scales with $d$ and the bandwidth.
We consider the best-k-arm identification problem for multi-armed bandits, where the objective is to select the exact set of k arms with the highest mean rewards by sequentially allocating measurement effort. We characterize the necessary and sufficient conditions for the optimal allocation using dual variables. Remarkably these optimality conditions lead to the extension of top-two algorithm design principle (Russo, 2020), initially proposed for best-arm identification. Furthermore, our optimality conditions induce a simple and effective selection rule dubbed information-directed selection (IDS) that selects one of the top-two candidates based on a measure of information gain. As a theoretical guarantee, we prove that integrated with IDS, top-two Thompson sampling is (asymptotically) optimal for Gaussian best-arm identification, solving a glaring open problem in the pure exploration literature (Russo, 2020). As a by-product, we show that for k > 1, top-two algorithms cannot achieve optimality even with an oracle tuning parameter. Numerical experiments show the superior performance of the proposed top-two algorithms with IDS and considerable improvement compared with algorithms without adaptive selection.
In this paper, we study fast first-order algorithms that approximately solve linear programs (LPs). More specifically, we apply algorithms from online linear programming to offline LPs and derive algorithms that are free of any matrix multiplication. To further improve the applicability of the proposed methods, we propose a variable-duplication technique that achieves $\mathcal{O}(\sqrt{mn/K})$ optimality gap by copying each variable $K$ times. Moreover, we identify that online algorithms can be efficiently incorporated into a column generation framework for large-scale LPs. Finally, numerical experiments show that our proposed methods can be applied either as an approximate direct solver or as an initialization subroutine in frameworks of exact LP solving.
This manuscript portrays optimization as a process. In many practical applications the environment is so complex that it is infeasible to lay out a comprehensive theoretical model and use classical algorithmic theory and mathematical optimization. It is necessary as well as beneficial to take a robust approach, by applying an optimization method that learns as one goes along, learning from experience as more aspects of the problem are observed. This view of optimization as a process has become prominent in varied fields and has led to some spectacular success in modeling and systems that are now part of our daily lives.
In this monograph, I introduce the basic concepts of Online Learning through a modern view of Online Convex Optimization. Here, online learning refers to the framework of regret minimization under worst-case assumptions. I present first-order and second-order algorithms for online learning with convex losses, in Euclidean and non-Euclidean settings. All the algorithms are clearly presented as instantiation of Online Mirror Descent or Follow-The-Regularized-Leader and their variants. Particular attention is given to the issue of tuning the parameters of the algorithms and learning in unbounded domains, through adaptive and parameter-free online learning algorithms. Non-convex losses are dealt through convex surrogate losses and through randomization. The bandit setting is also briefly discussed, touching on the problem of adversarial and stochastic multi-armed bandits. These notes do not require prior knowledge of convex analysis and all the required mathematical tools are rigorously explained. Moreover, all the proofs have been carefully chosen to be as simple and as short as possible.
The demand for artificial intelligence has grown significantly over the last decade and this growth has been fueled by advances in machine learning techniques and the ability to leverage hardware acceleration. However, in order to increase the quality of predictions and render machine learning solutions feasible for more complex applications, a substantial amount of training data is required. Although small machine learning models can be trained with modest amounts of data, the input for training larger models such as neural networks grows exponentially with the number of parameters. Since the demand for processing training data has outpaced the increase in computation power of computing machinery, there is a need for distributing the machine learning workload across multiple machines, and turning the centralized into a distributed system. These distributed systems present new challenges, first and foremost the efficient parallelization of the training process and the creation of a coherent model. This article provides an extensive overview of the current state-of-the-art in the field by outlining the challenges and opportunities of distributed machine learning over conventional (centralized) machine learning, discussing the techniques used for distributed machine learning, and providing an overview of the systems that are available.