Structural Return Maximization for Reinforcement Learning

Batch Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms attempt to choose a policy from a designer-provided class of policies given a fixed set of training data. Choosing the policy which maximizes an estimate of return often leads to over-fitting when only limited data is available, due to the size of the policy class in relation to the amount of data available. In this work, we focus on learning policy classes that are appropriately sized to the amount of data available. We accomplish this by using the principle of Structural Risk Minimization, from Statistical Learning Theory, which uses Rademacher complexity to identify a policy class that maximizes a bound on the return of the best policy in the chosen policy class, given the available data. Unlike similar batch RL approaches, our bound on return requires only extremely weak assumptions on the true system

Neural Network Memory Architectures for Autonomous Robot Navigation

This paper highlights the significance of including memory structures in neural networks when the latter are used to learn perception-action loops for autonomous robot navigation. Traditional navigation approaches rely on global maps of the environment to overcome cul-de-sacs and plan feasible motions. Yet, maintaining an accurate global map may be challenging in real-world settings. A possible way to mitigate this limitation is to use learning techniques that forgo hand-engineered map representations and infer appropriate control responses directly from sensed information. An important but unexplored aspect of such approaches is the effect of memory on their performance. This work is a first thorough study of memory structures for deep-neural-network-based robot navigation, and offers novel tools to train such networks from supervision and quantify their ability to generalize to unseen scenarios. We analyze the separation and generalization abilities of feedforward, long short-term memory, and differentiable neural computer networks. We introduce a new method to evaluate the generalization ability by estimating the VC-dimension of networks with a final linear readout layer. We validate that the VC estimates are good predictors of actual test performance. The reported method can be applied to deep learning problems beyond robotics

Building Combined Classifiers

This chapter covers different approaches that may be taken when building an ensemble method, through studying specific examples of each approach from research conducted by the authors. A method called Negative Correlation Learning illustrates a decision level combination approach with individual classifiers trained co-operatively. The Model level combination paradigm is illustrated via a tree combination method. Finally, another variant of the decision level paradigm, with individuals trained independently instead of co-operatively, is discussed as applied to churn prediction in the telecommunications industry

RESEARCH ISSUES CONCERNING ALGORITHMS USED FOR OPTIMIZING THE DATA MINING PROCESS

In this paper, we depict some of the most widely used data mining algorithms that have an overwhelming utility and influence in the research community. A data mining algorithm can be regarded as a tool that creates a data mining model. After analyzing a set of data, an algorithm searches for specific trends and patterns, then defines the parameters of the mining model based on the results of this analysis. The above defined parameters play a significant role in identifying and extracting actionable patterns and detailed statistics. The most important algorithms within this research refer to topics like clustering, classification, association analysis, statistical learning, link mining. In the following, after a brief description of each algorithm, we analyze its application potential and research issues concerning the optimization of the data mining process. After the presentation of the data mining algorithms, we will depict the most important data mining algorithms included in Microsoft and Oracle software products, useful suggestions and criteria in choosing the most recommended algorithm for solving a mentioned task, advantages offered by these software products.data mining optimization, data mining algorithms, software solutions