378,483 research outputs found
Finding the bandit in a graph: Sequential search-and-stop
We consider the problem where an agent wants to find a hidden object that is
randomly located in some vertex of a directed acyclic graph (DAG) according to
a fixed but possibly unknown distribution. The agent can only examine vertices
whose in-neighbors have already been examined. In this paper, we address a
learning setting where we allow the agent to stop before having found the
object and restart searching on a new independent instance of the same problem.
Our goal is to maximize the total number of hidden objects found given a time
budget. The agent can thus skip an instance after realizing that it would spend
too much time on it. Our contributions are both to the search theory and
multi-armed bandits. If the distribution is known, we provide a quasi-optimal
and efficient stationary strategy. If the distribution is unknown, we
additionally show how to sequentially approximate it and, at the same time, act
near-optimally in order to collect as many hidden objects as possible.Comment: in International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Statistics
(AISTATS 2019), April 2019, Naha, Okinawa, Japa
Finding the bandit in a graph: Sequential search-and-stop
International audienceWe consider the problem where an agent wants to find a hidden object that is randomly located in some vertex of a directed acyclic graph (DAG) according to a fixed but possibly unknown distribution. The agent can only examine vertices whose in-neighbors have already been examined. In this paper, we address a learning setting where we allow the agent to stop before having found the object and restart searching on a new independent instance of the same problem. Our goal is to maximize the total number of hidden objects found given a time budget. The agent can thus skip an instance after realizing that it would spend too much time on it. Our contributions are both to the search theory and multi-armed bandits. If the distribution is known, we provide a quasi-optimal and efficient stationary strategy. If the distribution is unknown, we additionally show how to sequentially approximate it and, at the same time, act near-optimally in order to collect as many hidden objects as possible
Dreaming neural networks: forgetting spurious memories and reinforcing pure ones
The standard Hopfield model for associative neural networks accounts for
biological Hebbian learning and acts as the harmonic oscillator for pattern
recognition, however its maximal storage capacity is , far
from the theoretical bound for symmetric networks, i.e. . Inspired
by sleeping and dreaming mechanisms in mammal brains, we propose an extension
of this model displaying the standard on-line (awake) learning mechanism (that
allows the storage of external information in terms of patterns) and an
off-line (sleep) unlearningconsolidating mechanism (that allows
spurious-pattern removal and pure-pattern reinforcement): this obtained daily
prescription is able to saturate the theoretical bound , remaining
also extremely robust against thermal noise. Both neural and synaptic features
are analyzed both analytically and numerically. In particular, beyond obtaining
a phase diagram for neural dynamics, we focus on synaptic plasticity and we
give explicit prescriptions on the temporal evolution of the synaptic matrix.
We analytically prove that our algorithm makes the Hebbian kernel converge with
high probability to the projection matrix built over the pure stored patterns.
Furthermore, we obtain a sharp and explicit estimate for the "sleep rate" in
order to ensure such a convergence. Finally, we run extensive numerical
simulations (mainly Monte Carlo sampling) to check the approximations
underlying the analytical investigations (e.g., we developed the whole theory
at the so called replica-symmetric level, as standard in the
Amit-Gutfreund-Sompolinsky reference framework) and possible finite-size
effects, finding overall full agreement with the theory.Comment: 31 pages, 12 figure
The Limitations of Optimization from Samples
In this paper we consider the following question: can we optimize objective
functions from the training data we use to learn them? We formalize this
question through a novel framework we call optimization from samples (OPS). In
OPS, we are given sampled values of a function drawn from some distribution and
the objective is to optimize the function under some constraint.
While there are interesting classes of functions that can be optimized from
samples, our main result is an impossibility. We show that there are classes of
functions which are statistically learnable and optimizable, but for which no
reasonable approximation for optimization from samples is achievable. In
particular, our main result shows that there is no constant factor
approximation for maximizing coverage functions under a cardinality constraint
using polynomially-many samples drawn from any distribution.
We also show tight approximation guarantees for maximization under a
cardinality constraint of several interesting classes of functions including
unit-demand, additive, and general monotone submodular functions, as well as a
constant factor approximation for monotone submodular functions with bounded
curvature
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