Symmetric Tensor Decomposition by an Iterative Eigendecomposition Algorithm

We present an iterative algorithm, called the symmetric tensor eigen-rank-one iterative decomposition (STEROID), for decomposing a symmetric tensor into a real linear combination of symmetric rank-1 unit-norm outer factors using only eigendecompositions and least-squares fitting. Originally designed for a symmetric tensor with an order being a power of two, STEROID is shown to be applicable to any order through an innovative tensor embedding technique. Numerical examples demonstrate the high efficiency and accuracy of the proposed scheme even for large scale problems. Furthermore, we show how STEROID readily solves a problem in nonlinear block-structured system identification and nonlinear state-space identification

Sparse Volterra and Polynomial Regression Models: Recoverability and Estimation

Volterra and polynomial regression models play a major role in nonlinear system identification and inference tasks. Exciting applications ranging from neuroscience to genome-wide association analysis build on these models with the additional requirement of parsimony. This requirement has high interpretative value, but unfortunately cannot be met by least-squares based or kernel regression methods. To this end, compressed sampling (CS) approaches, already successful in linear regression settings, can offer a viable alternative. The viability of CS for sparse Volterra and polynomial models is the core theme of this work. A common sparse regression task is initially posed for the two models. Building on (weighted) Lasso-based schemes, an adaptive RLS-type algorithm is developed for sparse polynomial regressions. The identifiability of polynomial models is critically challenged by dimensionality. However, following the CS principle, when these models are sparse, they could be recovered by far fewer measurements. To quantify the sufficient number of measurements for a given level of sparsity, restricted isometry properties (RIP) are investigated in commonly met polynomial regression settings, generalizing known results for their linear counterparts. The merits of the novel (weighted) adaptive CS algorithms to sparse polynomial modeling are verified through synthetic as well as real data tests for genotype-phenotype analysis.Comment: 20 pages, to appear in IEEE Trans. on Signal Processin

A unified framework for solving a general class of conditional and robust set-membership estimation problems

In this paper we present a unified framework for solving a general class of problems arising in the context of set-membership estimation/identification theory. More precisely, the paper aims at providing an original approach for the computation of optimal conditional and robust projection estimates in a nonlinear estimation setting where the operator relating the data and the parameter to be estimated is assumed to be a generic multivariate polynomial function and the uncertainties affecting the data are assumed to belong to semialgebraic sets. By noticing that the computation of both the conditional and the robust projection optimal estimators requires the solution to min-max optimization problems that share the same structure, we propose a unified two-stage approach based on semidefinite-relaxation techniques for solving such estimation problems. The key idea of the proposed procedure is to recognize that the optimal functional of the inner optimization problems can be approximated to any desired precision by a multivariate polynomial function by suitably exploiting recently proposed results in the field of parametric optimization. Two simulation examples are reported to show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.Comment: Accpeted for publication in the IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control (2014

The linearization problem of a binary quadratic problem and its applications

We provide several applications of the linearization problem of a binary quadratic problem. We propose a new lower bounding strategy, called the linearization-based scheme, that is based on a simple certificate for a quadratic function to be non-negative on the feasible set. Each linearization-based bound requires a set of linearizable matrices as an input. We prove that the Generalized Gilmore-Lawler bounding scheme for binary quadratic problems provides linearization-based bounds. Moreover, we show that the bound obtained from the first level reformulation linearization technique is also a type of linearization-based bound, which enables us to provide a comparison among mentioned bounds. However, the strongest linearization-based bound is the one that uses the full characterization of the set of linearizable matrices. Finally, we present a polynomial-time algorithm for the linearization problem of the quadratic shortest path problem on directed acyclic graphs. Our algorithm gives a complete characterization of the set of linearizable matrices for the quadratic shortest path problem