Stochastic Algorithms

This book addresses stochastic optimization procedures in a broad manner. The first part offers an overview of relevant optimization philosophies; the second deals with benchmark problems in depth, by applying a selection of optimization procedures. Written primarily with scientists and students from the physical and engineering sciences in mind, this book addresses a larger community of all who wish to learn about stochastic optimization techniques and how to use them.

Stochastic Recursive Algorithms for Optimization presents algorithms for constrained and unconstrained optimization and for reinforcement learning. Efficient perturbation approaches form a thread unifying all the algorithms considered. Simultaneous perturbation stochastic approximation and smooth fractional estimators for gradient- and Hessian-based methods are presented. These algorithms: • are easily implemented; • do not require an explicit system model; and • work with real or simulated data. Chapters on their application in service systems, vehicular traffic control and communications networks illustrate this point. The book is self-contained with necessary mathematical results placed in an appendix. The text provides easy-to-use, off-the-shelf algorithms that are given detailed mathematical treatment so the material presented will be of significant interest to practitioners, academic researchers and graduate students alike. The breadth of applications makes the book appropriate for reader from similarly diverse backgrounds: workers in relevant areas of computer science, control engineering, management science, applied mathematics, industrial engineering and operations research will find the content of value.

A central problem in computer vision is to track objects as they move and deform in a video sequence. Stochastic algorithms -- in particular, particle filters and the Condensation algorithm -- have dramatically enhanced the state of the art for such visual tracking problems in recent years. This book presents a unified framework for visual tracking using particle filters, including the new technique of partitioned sampling which can alleviate the "curse of dimensionality" suffered by standard particle filters. The book also introduces the notion of contour likelihood: a collection of models for assessing object shape, colour and motion, which are derived from the statistical properties of image features. Because of their statistical nature, contour likelihoods are ideal for use in stochastic algorithms. A unifying theme of the book is the use of statistics and probability, which enable the final output of the algorithms presented to be interpreted as the computer's "belief" about the state of the world. The book will be of use and interest to students, researchers and practitioners in computer vision, and assumes only an elementary knowledge of probability theory.

This book covers not only foundational materials but also the most recent progresses made during the past few years on the area of machine learning algorithms. In spite of the intensive research and development in this area, there does not exist a systematic treatment to introduce the fundamental concepts and recent progresses on machine learning algorithms, especially on those based on stochastic optimization methods, randomized algorithms, nonconvex optimization, distributed and online learning, and projection free methods. This book will benefit the broad audience in the area of machine learning, artificial intelligence and mathematical programming community by presenting these recent developments in a tutorial style, starting from the basic building blocks to the most carefully designed and complicated algorithms for machine learning.

Stochastic programming is the study of procedures for decision making under the presence of uncertainties and risks. Stochastic programming approaches have been successfully used in a number of areas such as energy and production planning, telecommunications, and transportation. Recently, the practical experience gained in stochastic programming has been expanded to a much larger spectrum of applications including financial modeling, risk management, and probabilistic risk analysis. Major topics in this volume include: (1) advances in theory and implementation of stochastic programming algorithms; (2) sensitivity analysis of stochastic systems; (3) stochastic programming applications and other related topics. Audience: Researchers and academies working in optimization, computer modeling, operations research and financial engineering. The book is appropriate as supplementary reading in courses on optimization and financial engineering.

Adaptive systems are widely encountered in many applications ranging through adaptive filtering and more generally adaptive signal processing, systems identification and adaptive control, to pattern recognition and machine intelligence: adaptation is now recognised as keystone of "intelligence" within computerised systems. These diverse areas echo the classes of models which conveniently describe each corresponding system. Thus although there can hardly be a "general theory of adaptive systems" encompassing both the modelling task and the design of the adaptation procedure, nevertheless, these diverse issues have a major common component: namely the use of adaptive algorithms, also known as stochastic approximations in the mathematical statistics literature, that is to say the adaptation procedure (once all modelling problems have been resolved). The juxtaposition of these two expressions in the title reflects the ambition of the authors to produce a reference work, both for engineers who use these adaptive algorithms and for probabilists or statisticians who would like to study stochastic approximations in terms of problems arising from real applications. Hence the book is organised in two parts, the first one user-oriented, and the second providing the mathematical foundations to support the practice described in the first part. The book covers the topcis of convergence, convergence rate, permanent adaptation and tracking, change detection, and is illustrated by various realistic applications originating from these areas of applications.

This book presents a thorough development of the modern theory of stochastic approximation or recursive stochastic algorithms for both constrained and unconstrained problems. This second edition is a thorough revision, although the main features and structure remain unchanged. It contains many additional applications and results as well as more detailed discussion.

This book examines optimization problems that in practice involve random model parameters. It details the computation of robust optimal solutions, i.e., optimal solutions that are insensitive with respect to random parameter variations, where appropriate deterministic substitute problems are needed. Based on the probability distribution of the random data and using decision theoretical concepts, optimization problems under stochastic uncertainty are converted into appropriate deterministic substitute problems. Due to the probabilities and expectations involved, the book also shows how to apply approximative solution techniques. Several deterministic and stochastic approximation methods are provided: Taylor expansion methods, regression and response surface methods (RSM), probability inequalities, multiple linearization of survival/failure domains, discretization methods, convex approximation/deterministic descent directions/efficient points, stochastic approximation and gradient procedures and differentiation formulas for probabilities and expectations. In the third edition, this book further develops stochastic optimization methods. In particular, it now shows how to apply stochastic optimization methods to the approximate solution of important concrete problems arising in engineering, economics and operations research.