36,641 research outputs found
Dispersion for Data-Driven Algorithm Design, Online Learning, and Private Optimization
Data-driven algorithm design, that is, choosing the best algorithm for a
specific application, is a crucial problem in modern data science.
Practitioners often optimize over a parameterized algorithm family, tuning
parameters based on problems from their domain. These procedures have
historically come with no guarantees, though a recent line of work studies
algorithm selection from a theoretical perspective. We advance the foundations
of this field in several directions: we analyze online algorithm selection,
where problems arrive one-by-one and the goal is to minimize regret, and
private algorithm selection, where the goal is to find good parameters over a
set of problems without revealing sensitive information contained therein. We
study important algorithm families, including SDP-rounding schemes for problems
formulated as integer quadratic programs, and greedy techniques for canonical
subset selection problems. In these cases, the algorithm's performance is a
volatile and piecewise Lipschitz function of its parameters, since tweaking the
parameters can completely change the algorithm's behavior. We give a sufficient
and general condition, dispersion, defining a family of piecewise Lipschitz
functions that can be optimized online and privately, which includes the
functions measuring the performance of the algorithms we study. Intuitively, a
set of piecewise Lipschitz functions is dispersed if no small region contains
many of the functions' discontinuities. We present general techniques for
online and private optimization of the sum of dispersed piecewise Lipschitz
functions. We improve over the best-known regret bounds for a variety of
problems, prove regret bounds for problems not previously studied, and give
matching lower bounds. We also give matching upper and lower bounds on the
utility loss due to privacy. Moreover, we uncover dispersion in auction design
and pricing problems
Differential Privacy and the Fat-Shattering Dimension of Linear Queries
In this paper, we consider the task of answering linear queries under the
constraint of differential privacy. This is a general and well-studied class of
queries that captures other commonly studied classes, including predicate
queries and histogram queries. We show that the accuracy to which a set of
linear queries can be answered is closely related to its fat-shattering
dimension, a property that characterizes the learnability of real-valued
functions in the agnostic-learning setting.Comment: Appears in APPROX 201
Privacy Management and Optimal Pricing in People-Centric Sensing
With the emerging sensing technologies such as mobile crowdsensing and
Internet of Things (IoT), people-centric data can be efficiently collected and
used for analytics and optimization purposes. This data is typically required
to develop and render people-centric services. In this paper, we address the
privacy implication, optimal pricing, and bundling of people-centric services.
We first define the inverse correlation between the service quality and privacy
level from data analytics perspectives. We then present the profit maximization
models of selling standalone, complementary, and substitute services.
Specifically, the closed-form solutions of the optimal privacy level and
subscription fee are derived to maximize the gross profit of service providers.
For interrelated people-centric services, we show that cooperation by service
bundling of complementary services is profitable compared to the separate sales
but detrimental for substitutes. We also show that the market value of a
service bundle is correlated with the degree of contingency between the
interrelated services. Finally, we incorporate the profit sharing models from
game theory for dividing the bundling profit among the cooperative service
providers.Comment: 16 page
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