4,992 research outputs found
Optimal designs for statistical analysis with Zernike polynomials
n.a. --Optimal design,Zernike polynomials,image analysis,D-optimality,E-optimality
Quantum learning: optimal classification of qubit states
Pattern recognition is a central topic in Learning Theory with numerous
applications such as voice and text recognition, image analysis, computer
diagnosis. The statistical set-up in classification is the following: we are
given an i.i.d. training set where
represents a feature and is a label attached to that
feature. The underlying joint distribution of is unknown, but we can
learn about it from the training set and we aim at devising low error
classifiers used to predict the label of new incoming features.
Here we solve a quantum analogue of this problem, namely the classification
of two arbitrary unknown qubit states. Given a number of `training' copies from
each of the states, we would like to `learn' about them by performing a
measurement on the training set. The outcome is then used to design mesurements
for the classification of future systems with unknown labels. We find the
asymptotically optimal classification strategy and show that typically, it
performs strictly better than a plug-in strategy based on state estimation.
The figure of merit is the excess risk which is the difference between the
probability of error and the probability of error of the optimal measurement
when the states are known, that is the Helstrom measurement. We show that the
excess risk has rate and compute the exact constant of the rate.Comment: 24 pages, 4 figure
Semi-supervised Learning based on Distributionally Robust Optimization
We propose a novel method for semi-supervised learning (SSL) based on
data-driven distributionally robust optimization (DRO) using optimal transport
metrics. Our proposed method enhances generalization error by using the
unlabeled data to restrict the support of the worst case distribution in our
DRO formulation. We enable the implementation of our DRO formulation by
proposing a stochastic gradient descent algorithm which allows to easily
implement the training procedure. We demonstrate that our Semi-supervised DRO
method is able to improve the generalization error over natural supervised
procedures and state-of-the-art SSL estimators. Finally, we include a
discussion on the large sample behavior of the optimal uncertainty region in
the DRO formulation. Our discussion exposes important aspects such as the role
of dimension reduction in SSL
The importance of better models in stochastic optimization
Standard stochastic optimization methods are brittle, sensitive to stepsize
choices and other algorithmic parameters, and they exhibit instability outside
of well-behaved families of objectives. To address these challenges, we
investigate models for stochastic minimization and learning problems that
exhibit better robustness to problem families and algorithmic parameters. With
appropriately accurate models---which we call the aProx family---stochastic
methods can be made stable, provably convergent and asymptotically optimal;
even modeling that the objective is nonnegative is sufficient for this
stability. We extend these results beyond convexity to weakly convex
objectives, which include compositions of convex losses with smooth functions
common in modern machine learning applications. We highlight the importance of
robustness and accurate modeling with a careful experimental evaluation of
convergence time and algorithm sensitivity
SOCP relaxation bounds for the optimal subset selection problem applied to robust linear regression
This paper deals with the problem of finding the globally optimal subset of h
elements from a larger set of n elements in d space dimensions so as to
minimize a quadratic criterion, with an special emphasis on applications to
computing the Least Trimmed Squares Estimator (LTSE) for robust regression. The
computation of the LTSE is a challenging subset selection problem involving a
nonlinear program with continuous and binary variables, linked in a highly
nonlinear fashion. The selection of a globally optimal subset using the branch
and bound (BB) algorithm is limited to problems in very low dimension,
tipically d<5, as the complexity of the problem increases exponentially with d.
We introduce a bold pruning strategy in the BB algorithm that results in a
significant reduction in computing time, at the price of a negligeable accuracy
lost. The novelty of our algorithm is that the bounds at nodes of the BB tree
come from pseudo-convexifications derived using a linearization technique with
approximate bounds for the nonlinear terms. The approximate bounds are computed
solving an auxiliary semidefinite optimization problem. We show through a
computational study that our algorithm performs well in a wide set of the most
difficult instances of the LTSE problem.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, 2 table
Adaptive Reduced Rank Regression
We study the low rank regression problem , where and are and dimensional
vectors respectively. We consider the extreme high-dimensional setting where
the number of observations is less than . Existing algorithms
are designed for settings where is typically as large as
. This work provides an efficient algorithm which
only involves two SVD, and establishes statistical guarantees on its
performance. The algorithm decouples the problem by first estimating the
precision matrix of the features, and then solving the matrix denoising
problem. To complement the upper bound, we introduce new techniques for
establishing lower bounds on the performance of any algorithm for this problem.
Our preliminary experiments confirm that our algorithm often out-performs
existing baselines, and is always at least competitive.Comment: 40 page
Exponential Screening and optimal rates of sparse estimation
In high-dimensional linear regression, the goal pursued here is to estimate
an unknown regression function using linear combinations of a suitable set of
covariates. One of the key assumptions for the success of any statistical
procedure in this setup is to assume that the linear combination is sparse in
some sense, for example, that it involves only few covariates. We consider a
general, non necessarily linear, regression with Gaussian noise and study a
related question that is to find a linear combination of approximating
functions, which is at the same time sparse and has small mean squared error
(MSE). We introduce a new estimation procedure, called Exponential Screening
that shows remarkable adaptation properties. It adapts to the linear
combination that optimally balances MSE and sparsity, whether the latter is
measured in terms of the number of non-zero entries in the combination
( norm) or in terms of the global weight of the combination (
norm). The power of this adaptation result is illustrated by showing that
Exponential Screening solves optimally and simultaneously all the problems of
aggregation in Gaussian regression that have been discussed in the literature.
Moreover, we show that the performance of the Exponential Screening estimator
cannot be improved in a minimax sense, even if the optimal sparsity is known in
advance. The theoretical and numerical superiority of Exponential Screening
compared to state-of-the-art sparse procedures is also discussed
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