Memory-efficient algorithm reduces variance in off-policy RL.
problem High variance in off-policy policy optimization.
method Memory-efficient, stochastically variance-reduced algorithm using off-policy samples.
result Empirically validated effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.
Gradient-based Monte Carlo sampling algorithms, like Langevin dynamics and Hamiltonian Monte Carlo, are important methods for Bayesian inference. In large-scale settings, full-gradients are not affordable and thus stochastic gradients evaluated on mini-batches are used as a replacement. In order to reduce the high vari…
New method reduces inference variance for faster optimization.
problem High variance in black-box variational inference.
method Joint control variate addressing both data subsampling and Monte Carlo noise.
result Significantly reduced gradient variance, leading to faster optimization.
New dropout technique reduces variance and overestimation in deep Q-Learning.
problem Reduction of variance and overestimation in deep Q-Learning.
method Using Dropout techniques to reduce variance and overestimation in deep Q-Learning.
result Demonstrated effectiveness in enhancing stability and reducing both variance and overestimation.
New method reduces density estimation variance for multivariate data.
problem Efficient multivariate density estimation with reduced dimensionality.
method Variance-Reduced Sketching (VRS) framework for multivariate density estimation.
result VRS framework significantly improves density estimation over existing methods.
The paper extends a variance gamma model to quadratic functions, reducing arbitrage and computational costs.
problem Creating an arbitrage-free interpolation for option pricing models.
method Generalizing the local variance gamma model to a piecewise quadratic local variance function.
result The quadratic model results in an arbitrage-free interpolation of class C3, reducing knots and computational cost.
New algorithm reduces optimization complexity in adaptive mirror descent.
problem Optimizing complex, non-smooth, non-convex functions efficiently.
method SVRAMD: Variance Reduced Adaptive Mirror Descent.
result Variance reduction accelerates convergence in adaptive mirror descent.
Several useful variance-reduced stochastic gradient algorithms, such as SVRG, SAGA, Finito, and SAG, have been proposed to minimize empirical risks with linear convergence properties to the exact minimizer. The existing convergence results assume uniform data sampling with replacement. However, it has been observed in …
Bayesian methods reduce variance in subspace identification for small data sets.
problem High variance in traditional subspace identification methods for large models or small sample sizes.
method Investigation of Bayesian estimation solutions (regularized and shrinkage estimators) for subspace identification.
result Bayesian estimators reduce estimation risk by up to 40% compared to traditional methods.
Improved TD learning reduces variance and bias errors.
problem Inefficient optimization variance in TD learning.
method Proposed a mathematically solid analysis of VRTD, showing linear convergence rate and reduced variance and bias errors.
result VRTD converges to a fixed-point solution with reduced variance and bias errors compared to vanilla TD.
Develops variance-reduced methods for solving generalized equations.
problem Solving a class of generalized equations, including minimization, minimax, and variational inequalities.
method Integrates accelerated operator splitting, fixed-point methods, and variance reduction techniques.
result Achieves both O(1/k2) and o(1/k2) convergence rates on the expected squared norm of the FBS residual. Paper proposes variance reduction for Markov chains, especially useful in MCMC.
problem Reducing variance in Markov chain additive functionals.
method Minimizes asymptotic variance of functionals over control variates.
result Significantly reduces overall finite sample variance in simulations.
New method reduces variance in reinforcement learning.
problem High variance in reinforcement learning models.
method Functional regularization of deep policies to stabilize learning.
result Significantly reduced variance and improved stability.
VIND reduces gradient variance for non-Gaussian approximations.
problem Improving Variational Inference for non-Gaussian distributions.
method Extends reparameterization trick to exponential families using numerical derivatives and tight coupling.
result Reduces gradient variance, leading to better posterior approximations.
New Q-learning method reduces variance and achieves optimal sample complexity.
problem Improving Q-learning to reduce variance and improve sample efficiency. method Introduces variance-reduced Q-learning and analyzes its sample complexity. result Achieves minimax optimal sample complexity for estimating optimal Q-function. IENs reduce neural network variance without increasing complexity.
problem Reducing variance in neural networks without increasing model complexity.
method IENs use ensemble parameters during training to reduce variance, removing them during testing.
result IENs reduce network variance by a factor of 1/mL−1, leading to significant error rate decreases. VRCQ algorithm reduces variance in Q-learning for MDPs, achieving optimal sample complexity.
problem Estimating the optimal Q-function in MDPs with synchronous sampling.
method VRCQ combines direct variance reduction and Cascade Q-learning.
result VRCQ is minimax optimal and instance optimal for single-action problems.
New scheme adapts batch size for faster variance-reduced algorithms.
problem Slowness of variance-reduced algorithms due to large batch size.
method Eliminates backtracking line search, adapts batch size via history stochastic gradients.
result Significantly reduces overall complexity for SVRG and SARAH/SPIDER.
Neural SDEs reduce variance in stochastic simulations.
problem Efficiency of Monte Carlo simulations in finance.
method Use neural SDEs with control variates parameterized by neural networks.
result Prove optimality conditions for variance reduction in SDEs with infinite activity.
Improved deep Q-learning with SVRG reduces variance and stabilizes training.
problem Excessive variance in gradient estimation hinders deep Q-learning performance.
method Utilized stochastic variance reduced gradient (SVRG) techniques.
result Significantly improved performance on 18 out of 20 Atari games compared to baseline methods.
Improved SVRG method using BB techniques for faster convergence.
problem Improving the convergence speed of stochastic variance reduction methods.
method Incorporates Barzilai-Borwein (BB) techniques as second-order information into SVRG.
result Proves linear convergence of the proposed method and its variants.
In this paper, we propose a novel reinforcement- learning algorithm consisting in a stochastic variance-reduced version of policy gradient for solving Markov Decision Processes (MDPs). Stochastic variance-reduced gradient (SVRG) methods have proven to be very successful in supervised learning. However, their adaptation…
This paper explores the non-convex composition optimization in the form including inner and outer finite-sum functions with a large number of component functions. This problem arises in some important applications such as nonlinear embedding and reinforcement learning. Although existing approaches such as stochastic gr…
Stochastic gradient algorithms estimate the gradient based on only one or a few samples and enjoy low computational cost per iteration. They have been widely used in large-scale optimization problems. However, stochastic gradient algorithms are usually slow to converge and achieve sub-linear convergence rates, due to t…
New algorithm improves convergence of AUC maximization.
problem Optimizing AUC for imbalanced classes with stochastic methods.
method Variance Reduced Stochastic Proximal Algorithm for AUC Maximization (VRSPAM).
result VRSPAM converges faster than previous methods.
A new method reduces variance in PG methods for RL, improving efficiency and convergence.
problem Improving sample efficiency and convergence of policy gradient methods in reinforcement learning.
method Proposes a gradient truncation mechanism and designs TSIVR-PG method to maximize rewards and utility.
result Shows sample complexity of TSIVR-PG to find ε-stationary policy and global ε-optimal policy.
New method reduces model bias and variance by adjusting training sample weights based on label uncertainty.
problem Tradeoff between model bias and variance in classification models.
method Estimate label uncertainty, adjust training sample weights, and fine-tune decision boundary.
result Improves model performance and reduces variance in physical activity recognition.
A new method reduces data valuation variance for more trustworthy data trading.
problem Data valuation and trustworthy data trading in algorithmic prediction.
method Variance reduced Shapley value estimation using stratified sampling.
result VRDS method reduces estimation variance and improves data marketplace development.
Improved training of large-scale neural networks with reduced variance noise.
problem Training large-scale neural networks with high variance noise.
method Stochastic variance reduced Nesterov's Accelerated Quasi-Newton method (SVR-NAQ).
result Improved performance compared to conventional methods on benchmark problems.
In the paper, we study the stochastic alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) for the nonconvex optimizations, and propose three classes of the nonconvex stochastic ADMM with variance reduction, based on different reduced variance stochastic gradients. Specifically, the first class called the nonconvex stoch…
Increasing variance of losses improves learning with noisy labels.
problem Learning with noisy labels and the need to penalize variance of losses.
method Designing regularizers based on the label noise transition matrix to increase variance of losses.
result Increasing variance of losses significantly improves generalization ability.
VRER selectively reuses past observations to reduce variance in policy optimization.
problem Lack of effective experience replay for accelerating policy optimization in complex systems.
method Variance Reduction Experience Replay (VRER) framework that selectively reuses informative samples.
result VRER reduces gradient variance and improves policy learning over state-of-the-art algorithms.
New methods solve graph sparsity optimization problems faster.
problem Complex graph sparsity optimization problems in disease outbreak monitoring and social network analysis.
method Stochastic variance-reduced gradient-based methods GraphSVRG-IHT and GraphSCSG-IHT.
result Our methods achieve linear convergence speed.
Meta-learning variance reduced via Laplace approximation for regression tasks.
problem High variance in meta-learning due to limited support data for each task.
method Laplace approximation to estimate posterior variance and reduce gradient estimate variance.
result Effective variance reduction in meta-learning, improving generalization performance.
Large batch sizes reduce gradient variance in DP-SGD, improving privacy.
problem Understanding why large batch sizes work in DP-SGD.
method Decomposed total gradient variance into subsampling and noise-induced variances, proving batch size independence in the limit.
result Large batch sizes reduce effective total gradient variance, improving privacy in DP-SGD.
New method reduces variance in stochastic optimization with high confidence.
problem Achieving high-probability guarantees in stochastic optimization with weaker noise assumptions.
method Stochastic proximal point method combining proximal subproblem solver and probability booster.
result Demonstrates convergence with low sample complexity under bounded variance assumptions.
Concept-driven OPE reduces variance in off-policy decision evaluation.
problem High variance in off-policy decision evaluation due to limited sample sizes.
method Integrating human-explainable concepts into OPE to reduce variance.
result Concept-based OPE estimators remain unbiased and reduce variance when concepts are known and predefined.
Improved SVRPG analysis for faster convergence in reinforcement learning.
problem Finding faster convergence in reinforcement learning algorithms.
method Improved convergence analysis of SVRPG method, focusing on variance reduction and epoch length/batch size parameters.
result Improved convergence to ε-approximate stationary point with reduced sample complexity.
New sparsity operator reduces variance reduction methods' computational cost.
problem Reduce computational cost of variance reduction methods.
method Introduce random-top-k operator to estimate gradient sparsity and reduce operations per update.
result Our algorithm consistently outperforms SpiderBoost in various tasks.
Hierarchical IWAE reduces sample redundancy for better inference.
problem Improving variational inference by reducing sample redundancy.
method Introduces a hierarchical structure to induce correlation among proposals.
result Maximizing the lower bound implicitly minimizes variance, improving inference performance.
New algorithms reduce variance in solving complex mathematical problems.
problem Solving convex-concave saddle point problems, variational inequalities, and inclusions.
method Stochastic variance reduction for extragradient, forward-backward-forward, and forward-reflected-backward methods.
result All proposed methods converge with complexities matching or improving deterministic counterparts.
Paper introduces VDE, a variance-reduced determinant estimator.
problem Estimating determinants with low variance and efficiency.
method Combines variational inference and spherical normalizing flows.
result VDE achieves zero variance in ideal cases, requiring only one sample.
SkMM selects data for finetuning by balancing bias and variance.
problem Balancing bias and variance in high-dimensional finetuning.
method Gradient sketching for bias reduction and moment matching for variance reduction.
result Gradient sketching selects samples efficiently and accurately.
We analyze distributed algorithms for minimizing losses with large, disjoint data.
problem Distributed implementation of stochastic variance reduced methods for large, disjoint data.
method General framework for distributing stochastic variance reduced methods in a master/slave model.
result Linear convergence of distributed algorithms for minimizing strongly convex losses.
Unified framework for variance reduction to solve monotone operator problems.
problem Large-scale monotone inclusion problems with finite sum structure.
method Developed a general framework for variance-reduced forward-backward splitting algorithms.
result Linear convergence rate under mild assumptions, with Catalyst acceleration and asynchronous implementation.
Paper proposes SCott optimizer to reduce forecasting model training variance.
problem Large variance in gradient estimation for forecasting models.
method Stratified sampling and control variate to reduce gradient variance.
result SCott optimizer converges faster on time series forecasting problems.
Random forests reduce bias and variance, especially in low SNR settings.
problem Reducing bias and variance in machine learning models, particularly in low SNR scenarios.
method Empirical study of random forests and bagging ensembles, focusing on the importance of mtry tuning. result Random forests reduce both bias and variance, outperforming bagging ensembles in high SNR settings.
A new method reduces Monte Carlo variance for financial payoffs.
problem Reducing variance in Monte Carlo estimators for financial payoffs.
method Path-dependent importance sampling using neural networks.
result Significant variance reduction (2-9 times) for various financial payoffs.