Optimal estimator for discrete distributions from faulty batches.
problem Estimating discrete distributions from batches, some of which may be unreliable.
method First polynomial-time estimator achieving optimal accuracy in number of batches.
result Optimal estimation accuracy in polynomial time.
CBN improves batch normalization for small mini-batch sizes.
problem Reduced effectiveness of Batch Normalization in small mini-batch sizes.
method CBN uses statistics from multiple recent iterations, compensating for network weight changes via Taylor polynomials.
result CBN outperforms original batch normalization and direct iteration statistics in object detection and image classification.
New method for robust learning from batches, even adversarial ones.
problem Learning from batches that may be corrupt or adversarial.
method General framework for robust learning, derived from optimal robust algorithms.
result First robust agnostic learning algorithms for various distributions.
Improved TD learning reduces batch sampling error.
problem TD learning can be inaccurate in batch settings due to action weighting.
method Introduced PSEC-TD(0) to correct action weighting using importance sampling.
result PSEC-TD(0) produces more accurate value function estimates.
Adaptive batching improves Gaussian process surrogates for noisy level set estimation.
problem Learning the level set of noisy simulator responses.
method Developed four novel adaptive batching schemes for Gaussian process metamodels.
result Adaptive batching brings significant computational speed-ups with minimal loss of modeling fidelity.
Paper develops a method to construct confidence regions for model parameters using batch means method.
problem Constructing confidence regions for model parameters in stochastic gradient descent.
method Batch means method to cancel out covariance matrix, using Polyak-Ruppert averaging.
result Established process-level functional central limit theorem for stochastic gradient descent estimators.
Batching stabilizes risk in high-dimensional linear regression models.
problem Stability and risk behavior in high-dimensional overparameterized linear regression.
method Minimum-norm overparameterized linear regression model with batch-partitioning.
result Optimal batch size is inversely proportional to noise level and overparametrization ratio, leading to stable risk behavior.
In this work, we investigate Batch Normalization technique and propose its probabilistic interpretation. We propose a probabilistic model and show that Batch Normalization maximazes the lower bound of its marginalized log-likelihood. Then, according to the new probabilistic model, we design an algorithm which acts cons…
BOE reformulates BO as a classifier for scalable batch optimisation.
problem Scalable batch optimisation of expensive functions.
method Reformulates BO as density-ratio estimation, removing need for explicit function prior.
result Theoretical guarantees and improved uncertainty estimates for batch optimisation.
Enhanced DFO using adaptive batch-based FD estimates.
problem Derivative-free optimization with imprecise gradient estimates.
method Adaptive batch-based finite difference estimation and dynamic sampling strategy.
result Algorithm achieves convergence rate similar to KW and SPSA methods.
Mini-batch stochastic gradient descent and variants thereof have become standard for large-scale empirical risk minimization like the training of neural networks. These methods are usually used with a constant batch size chosen by simple empirical inspection. The batch size significantly influences the behavior of the …
E4 algorithm optimizes batched linear bandits with minimal regret and batches.
problem Optimizing batched linear bandits for minimal regret.
method Explore-Estimate-Eliminate-Exploit framework with optimal exploration rate.
result Achieves minimax and asymptotic optimality in regret and batch complexity.
Develops methods for reliable inference on batched bandit data.
problem Need for reliable inference methods based on adaptively-collected data from bandit algorithms.
method Introduces Batched OLS (BOLS) estimator for reliable inference on bandit data.
result BOLS is asymptotically normal and robust to non-stationarity in the baseline reward.
New method for constructing confidence intervals for time series data.
problem Constructing confidence intervals for statistical functionals from time series data.
method Proposes a general purpose confidence interval procedure based on overlapping batches of time series data.
result Large overlapping batches yield confidence intervals of higher quality than generic methods.
Mini-batch stochastic gradient descent (SGD) and variants thereof approximate the objective function's gradient with a small number of training examples, aka the batch size. Small batch sizes require little computation for each model update but can yield high-variance gradient estimates, which poses some challenges for…
BaNk-UCB tackles batched nonparametric bandits with k-NN regression and UCB.
problem Sequential decision-making with limited online feedback in domains like medicine and marketing.
method Combines k-NN regression with UCB principle for fully nonparametric, adaptive, and simple implementation.
result Near-optimal regret guarantees under Lipschitz smoothness and margin assumptions, with minimax-optimal rates.
As an indispensable component, Batch Normalization (BN) has successfully improved the training of deep neural networks (DNNs) with mini-batches, by normalizing the distribution of the internal representation for each hidden layer. However, the effectiveness of BN would diminish with scenario of micro-batch (e.g., less …
Two new algorithms improve Q* approximation in batch RL with linear error propagation.
problem Improving Q* approximation in batch reinforcement learning.
method Two novel algorithms that estimate Bellman error directly, without quadratic dependence.
result Linear-in-horizon error propagation for batch RL algorithms.
The paper tackles batch policy learning in Markov Decision Processes, focusing on average reward maximization.
problem Maximizing long-term average reward in Markov Decision Processes with batch learning.
method Doubly robust estimator for average reward, optimization algorithm for optimal policy, finite-sample regret guarantee.
result The proposed method achieves semiparametric efficiency and provides a finite-sample regret guarantee.
In this paper, we propose a novel approach to automatically determine the batch size in stochastic gradient descent methods. The choice of the batch size induces a trade-off between the accuracy of the gradient estimate and the cost in terms of samples of each update. We propose to determine the batch size by optimizin…
We present a generic framework for trading off fidelity and cost in computing stochastic gradients when the costs of acquiring stochastic gradients of different quality are not known a priori. We consider a mini-batch oracle that distributes a limited query budget over a number of stochastic gradients and aggregates th…
This paper studies the inference problem in quantile regression (QR) for a large sample size n but under a limited memory constraint, where the memory can only store a small batch of data of size m. A natural method is the naïve divide-and-conquer approach, which splits data into batches of size m, computes the l…
New algorithms for batch decision-making with high-dimensional user data.
problem Maximizing treatment efficacy in groups of users.
method Teamwork LASSO Bandit algorithm, switching between teamwork and selfish stages.
result Upper bound on expected cumulative regret for the proposed algorithm.
We address the problem of estimating statistics of hidden units in a neural network using a method of analytic moment propagation. These statistics are useful for approximate whitening of the inputs in front of saturating non-linearities such as a sigmoid function. This is important for initialization of training and f…
A new algorithm is proposed which accelerates the mini-batch k-means algorithm of Sculley (2010) by using the distance bounding approach of Elkan (2003). We argue that, when incorporating distance bounds into a mini-batch algorithm, already used data should preferentially be reused. To this end we propose using nested …
New algorithms learn from untrusted batches with improved efficiency.
problem Learning from untrusted batches with adversarial responses.
method Sum-of-Squares hierarchy applied to robust mean estimation.
result Reduces sample complexity to polylogarithmic in n for most natural distributions. A new method designs batches for Bayesian optimization more efficiently.
problem Efficiently designing batches for Bayesian optimization to reduce total time.
method Minimal Terminal Variance (MTV) acquisition function, optimizing I-optimality criterion.
result MTV designs batches more efficiently than other methods, as shown by numerical experiments.
To deal with very large datasets a mini-batch version of the Monte Carlo Markov Chain Stochastic Approximation Expectation-Maximization algorithm for general latent variable models is proposed. For exponential models the algorithm is shown to be convergent under classicalconditions as the number of iterations increases…
Develops a gradient-enhanced approach for online estimation in high-dimensional generalized linear models with streaming data.
problem Online estimation for high-dimensional generalized linear models with streaming data.
method Proposes a gradient-enhanced surrogate loss for non-distributed setting and extends to distributed streaming data.
result Derives non-asymptotic error bounds under high-dimensional scaling without batch-number constraint.
New statistical properties for mini-batch Cox-NN optimization.
problem Optimizing deep Cox neural networks using mini-batches.
method Developed mini-batch maximum partial-likelihood estimator (mb-MPLE) for Cox-NN.
result mb-MPLE is consistent and achieves optimal convergence rate.
Sparse feature selection improves batch RL efficiency.
problem High-dimensional batch RL with many features.
method Sparse linear function approximation, Lasso, group Lasso, fitted Q-evaluation, fitted Q-iteration.
result Sparse feature selection makes batch RL more sample efficient.
New RL algorithm learns good actions from offline data, reducing uncertainty and divergence.
problem Limited applicability of current RL algorithms in real-world settings due to high costs of exploration.
method Proposes an algorithm for batch RL using a fixed offline dataset, with penalties for policy and value constraints.
result Compared favorably to state-of-the-art methods on 32 continuous-action benchmarks.
Estimates stationary distribution from batch transitions without access to the underlying process.
problem Estimating stationary distribution from batch transitions without access to the underlying process.
method Proposes a consistent estimator based on a correction ratio function and variational power method (VPM).
result VPM provides significantly better estimates across various problems.
Variance-reduced algorithms, although achieve great theoretical performance, can run slowly in practice due to the periodic gradient estimation with a large batch of data. Batch-size adaptation thus arises as a promising approach to accelerate such algorithms. However, existing schemes either apply prescribed batch-siz…
We study a security threat to batch reinforcement learning and control where the attacker aims to poison the learned policy. The victim is a reinforcement learner / controller which first estimates the dynamics and the rewards from a batch data set, and then solves for the optimal policy with respect to the estimates. …
Use of an autoencoder (AE) as a normal model is a state-of-the-art technique for unsupervised-anomaly detection in sounds (ADS). The AE is trained to minimize the sample mean of the anomaly score of normal sounds in a mini-batch. One problem with this approach is that the anomaly score of rare-normal sounds becomes hig…
Study dynamic batch learning in high-dimensional sparse linear bandits.
problem Dynamic batch learning in high-dimensional sparse linear contextual bandits under batch constraints.
method Characterized fundamental learning limits via regret lower bound and provided matching upper bound.
result Prescribed an optimal scheme for dynamic batch learning in high-dimensional sparse linear contextual bandits.
SGD's performance improves with critical batch size, minimizing SFO complexity.
problem Optimizing SGD's performance with batch size and learning rate.
method Analysis of SGD using constant and decaying learning rates, focusing on batch size effects.
result SGD with critical batch size minimizes SFO complexity.
Optimizes query routing to LLMs under cost and resource constraints.
problem Non-uniform or adversarial batching in per-query routing methods leads to cost inefficiency.
method Batch-level, resource-aware routing framework that jointly optimizes model assignment for each batch.
result Robust routing framework improves accuracy by 1-14% over non-robust methods.
A new batch ensemble method reduces regret in stochastic bandits.
problem Efficiently balancing exploration and exploitation in online RL.
method Proposes a batch ensemble scheme to achieve near-optimal regret.
result Proves near-optimal regret with a single parameter independent of variance.
Machine learning, especially deep neural networks, has been rapidly developed in fields including computer vision, speech recognition and reinforcement learning. Although Mini-batch SGD is one of the most popular stochastic optimization methods in training deep networks, it shows a slow convergence rate due to the larg…
Unified framework for high-dimensional online learning with non-divergent error bounds and adaptive gains.
problem Divergence of error bounds in high-dimensional online learning as data batches increase.
method Asynchronous decomposition framework with summary statistics and dynamic regularization.
result Non-divergent error bounds and adaptive gains in sparse online optimization.
We propose a new learning to rank algorithm, named Weighted Margin-Rank Batch loss (WMRB), to extend the popular Weighted Approximate-Rank Pairwise loss (WARP). WMRB uses a new rank estimator and an efficient batch training algorithm. The approach allows more accurate item rank approximation and explicit utilization of…
Stein shrinkage improves BN robustness against adversarial attacks.
problem Improving BN robustness against adversarial attacks.
method Applying Stein shrinkage to BN mean and variance estimates.
result Stein shrinkage outperforms vanilla BN in adversarial settings.
Algorithm achieves comparable performance to fully dynamic data with only a few batches.
problem High-dimensional multi-armed contextual bandits with batched feedback.
method Provable sample-efficient algorithm using batch allocation method.
result Achieves regret bounds comparable to fully sequential setting with only L = O(log T) batches.
This paper re-examines the problem of parameter estimation in Bayesian networks with missing values and hidden variables from the perspective of recent work in on-line learning [Kivinen & Warmuth, 1994]. We provide a unified framework for parameter estimation that encompasses both on-line learning, where the model is c…
In this paper, we develop a new accelerated stochastic gradient method for efficiently solving the convex regularized empirical risk minimization problem in mini-batch settings. The use of mini-batches is becoming a golden standard in the machine learning community, because mini-batch settings stabilize the gradient es…
The paper analyzes time-dependent streaming data with biased gradient estimates and proposes improved stochastic optimization methods.
problem Stochastic optimization in a streaming setting with time-dependent and biased gradient estimates.
method Analysis of several first-order methods including SGD, mini-batch SGD, and time-varying mini-batch SGD, along with their Polyak-Ruppert averages.
result Time-varying mini-batch SGD methods can break long- and short-range dependence structures, and biased SGD methods can achieve comparable performance to their unbiased counterparts.