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Silvia Villa

Silvia Villa appears in the imported research catalog. Authorship, coauthor and topic links are available while profile ownership is still unclaimed.

ResearcherUnclaimed source record
math.OCMachine Learningmath.STStatistics TheoryComputer VisionInformation Theorymath.FAmath.ITmath.NAmath.PRmath.SPSystems and Control

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Published work

21 published item(s)

preprint2026arXiv

SGD for Variational Inference: Tackling Unbounded Variance via Preconditioning and Dynamic Batching

Black-Box Variational Inference (BBVI) typically relies on Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) to optimize the Evidence Lower Bound (ELBO). However, the stochastic gradients in BBVI inherently exhibit unbounded variance, violating standard assumptions and instead satisfying the weaker Blum-Gladyshev (BG) condition, where variance grows quadratically with distance from the optimum. In this paper, we bridge the gap between stochastic optimization theory and the practical instances of BBVI. Focusing on the broad elliptic location-scale family of parameterized distributions, we offer two main contributions. First, we prove the existence of an ELBO solution, a foundational property usually assumed a priori in the literature. Second, we establish comprehensive convergence guarantees spanning finite-time and asymptotic regimes for Minibatch Projected SGD (PSGD) equipped with dynamic batching and preconditioning under the BG condition. Our theoretical framework demonstrates that dynamic batching combined with preconditioning systematically enables rigorous guarantees even in complex settings. We illustrate our theoretical findings with numerical results, highlighting the efficacy of our approach for modern inference tasks.

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preprint2022arXiv

Ada-BKB: Scalable Gaussian Process Optimization on Continuous Domains by Adaptive Discretization

Gaussian process optimization is a successful class of algorithms(e.g. GP-UCB) to optimize a black-box function through sequential evaluations. However, for functions with continuous domains, Gaussian process optimization has to rely on either a fixed discretization of the space, or the solution of a non-convex optimization subproblem at each evaluation. The first approach can negatively affect performance, while the second approach requires a heavy computational burden. A third option, only recently theoretically studied, is to adaptively discretize the function domain. Even though this approach avoids the extra non-convex optimization costs, the overall computational complexity is still prohibitive. An algorithm such as GP-UCB has a runtime of $O(T^4)$, where $T$ is the number of iterations. In this paper, we introduce Ada-BKB (Adaptive Budgeted Kernelized Bandit), a no-regret Gaussian process optimization algorithm for functions on continuous domains, that provably runs in $O(T^2 d_\text{eff}^2)$, where $d_\text{eff}$ is the effective dimension of the explored space, and which is typically much smaller than $T$. We corroborate our theoretical findings with experiments on synthetic non-convex functions and on the real-world problem of hyper-parameter optimization, confirming the good practical performances of the proposed approach.

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preprint2022arXiv

Convergence rates for the Heavy-Ball continuous dynamics for non-convex optimization, under Polyak-Łojasiewicz condition

We study convergence of the trajectories of the Heavy Ball dynamical system, with constant damping coefficient, in the framework of convex and non-convex smooth optimization. By using the Polyak-Łojasiewicz condition, we derive new linear convergence rates for the associated trajectory, in terms of objective function values, without assuming uniqueness of the minimizer.

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preprint2022arXiv

Fast iterative regularization by reusing data

Discrete inverse problems correspond to solving a system of equations in a stable way with respect to noise in the data. A typical approach to enforce uniqueness and select a meaningful solution is to introduce a regularizer. While for most applications the regularizer is convex, in many cases it is not smooth nor strongly convex. In this paper, we propose and study two new iterative regularization methods, based on a primal-dual algorithm, to solve inverse problems efficiently. Our analysis, in the noise free case, provides convergence rates for the Lagrangian and the feasibility gap. In the noisy case, it provides stability bounds and early-stopping rules with theoretical guarantees. The main novelty of our work is the exploitation of some a priori knowledge about the solution set, i.e. redundant information. More precisely we show that the linear systems can be used more than once along the iteration. Despite the simplicity of the idea, we show that this procedure brings surprising advantages in the numerical applications. We discuss various approaches to take advantage of redundant information, that are at the same time consistent with our assumptions and flexible in the implementation. Finally, we illustrate our theoretical findings with numerical simulations for robust sparse recovery and image reconstruction through total variation. We confirm the efficiency of the proposed procedures, comparing the results with state-of-the-art methods.

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preprint2022arXiv

Iterative regularization for low complexity regularizers

Iterative regularization exploits the implicit bias of an optimization algorithm to regularize ill-posed problems. Constructing algorithms with such built-in regularization mechanisms is a classic challenge in inverse problems but also in modern machine learning, where it provides both a new perspective on algorithms analysis, and significant speed-ups compared to explicit regularization. In this work, we propose and study the first iterative regularization procedure able to handle biases described by non smooth and non strongly convex functionals, prominent in low-complexity regularization. Our approach is based on a primal-dual algorithm of which we analyze convergence and stability properties, even in the case where the original problem is unfeasible. The general results are illustrated considering the special case of sparse recovery with the $\ell_1$ penalty. Our theoretical results are complemented by experiments showing the computational benefits of our approach.

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preprint2016arXiv

A first-order stochastic primal-dual algorithm with correction step

We investigate the convergence properties of a stochastic primal-dual splitting algorithm for solving structured monotone inclusions involving the sum of a cocoercive operator and a composite monotone operator. The proposed method is the stochastic extension to monotone inclusions of a proximal method studied in {\em Y. Drori, S. Sabach, and M. Teboulle, A simple algorithm for a class of nonsmooth convex-concave saddle-point problems, 2015} and {\em I. Loris and C. Verhoeven, On a generalization of the iterative soft-thresholding algorithm for the case of non-separable penalty, 2011} for saddle point problems. It consists in a forward step determined by the stochastic evaluation of the cocoercive operator, a backward step in the dual variables involving the resolvent of the monotone operator, and an additional forward step using the stochastic evaluation of the cocoercive introduced in the first step. We prove weak almost sure convergence of the iterates by showing that the primal-dual sequence generated by the method is stochastic quasi Fejér-monotone with respect to the set of zeros of the considered primal and dual inclusions. Additional results on ergodic convergence in expectation are considered for the special case of saddle point models.

0 citations0 reviewsNo code linkedOpen access
preprint2016arXiv

Regularized Learning Schemes in Feature Banach Spaces

This paper proposes a unified framework for the investigation of constrained learning theory in reflexive Banach spaces of features via regularized empirical risk minimization. The focus is placed on Tikhonov-like regularization with totally convex functions. This broad class of regularizers provides a flexible model for various priors on the features, including in particular hard constraints and powers of Banach norms. In such context, the main results establish a new general form of the representer theorem and the consistency of the corresponding learning schemes under general conditions on the loss function, the geometry of the feature space, and the modulus of total convexity of the regularizer. In addition, the proposed analysis gives new insight into basic tools such as reproducing Banach spaces, feature maps, and universality. Even when specialized to Hilbert spaces, this framework yields new results that extend the state of the art.

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preprint2015arXiv

A Stochastic forward-backward splitting method for solving monotone inclusions in Hilbert spaces

We propose and analyze the convergence of a novel stochastic forward-backward splitting algorithm for solving monotone inclusions given by the sum of a maximal monotone operator and a single-valued maximal monotone cocoercive operator. This latter framework has a number of interesting special cases, including variational inequalities and convex minimization problems, while stochastic approaches are practically relevant to account for perturbations in the data. The algorithm we propose is a stochastic extension of the classical deterministic forward-backward method, and is obtained considering the composition of the resolvent of the maximal monotone operator with a forward step based on a stochastic estimate of the single-valued operator. Our study provides a non-asymptotic error analysis in expectation for the strongly monotone case, as well as almost sure convergence under weaker assumptions. The approach we consider allows to avoid averaging, a feature critical when considering methods based on sparsity, and, for minimization problems, it allows to obtain convergence rates matching those obtained by stochastic extensions of so called accelerated methods. Stochastic quasi Fejer's sequences are a key technical tool to prove almost sure convergence.

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preprint2015arXiv

A stochastic inertial forward-backward splitting algorithm for multivariate monotone inclusions

We propose an inertial forward-backward splitting algorithm to compute the zero of a sum of two monotone operators allowing for stochastic errors in the computation of the operators. More precisely, we establish almost sure convergence in real Hilbert spaces of the sequence of iterates to an optimal solution. Then, based on this analysis, we introduce two new classes of stochastic inertial primal-dual splitting methods for solving structured systems of composite monotone inclusions and prove their convergence. Our results extend to the stochastic and inertial setting various types of structured monotone inclusion problems and corresponding algorithmic solutions. Application to minimization problems is discussed.

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preprint2015arXiv

Consistent Learning by Composite Proximal Thresholding

We investigate the modeling and the numerical solution of machine learning problems with prediction functions which are linear combinations of elements of a possibly infinite-dimensional dictionary. We propose a novel flexible composite regularization model, which makes it possible to incorporate various priors on the coefficients of the prediction function, including sparsity and hard constraints. We show that the estimators obtained by minimizing the regularized empirical risk are consistent in a statistical sense, and we design an error-tolerant composite proximal thresholding algorithm for computing such estimators. New results on the asymptotic behavior of the proximal forward-backward splitting method are derived and exploited to establish the convergence properties of the proposed algorithm. In particular, our method features a $o(1/m)$ convergence rate in objective values.

0 citations0 reviewsNo code linkedOpen access
preprint2015arXiv

Learning Multiple Visual Tasks while Discovering their Structure

Multi-task learning is a natural approach for computer vision applications that require the simultaneous solution of several distinct but related problems, e.g. object detection, classification, tracking of multiple agents, or denoising, to name a few. The key idea is that exploring task relatedness (structure) can lead to improved performances. In this paper, we propose and study a novel sparse, non-parametric approach exploiting the theory of Reproducing Kernel Hilbert Spaces for vector-valued functions. We develop a suitable regularization framework which can be formulated as a convex optimization problem, and is provably solvable using an alternating minimization approach. Empirical tests show that the proposed method compares favorably to state of the art techniques and further allows to recover interpretable structures, a problem of interest in its own right.

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preprint2015arXiv

Learning with incremental iterative regularization

Within a statistical learning setting, we propose and study an iterative regularization algorithm for least squares defined by an incremental gradient method. In particular, we show that, if all other parameters are fixed a priori, the number of passes over the data (epochs) acts as a regularization parameter, and prove strong universal consistency, i.e. almost sure convergence of the risk, as well as sharp finite sample bounds for the iterates. Our results are a step towards understanding the effect of multiple epochs in stochastic gradient techniques in machine learning and rely on integrating statistical and optimization results.

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preprint2015arXiv

Modified Fejér sequences and applications

In this note, we propose and study the notion of modified Fejér sequences. Within a Hilbert space setting, we show that it provides a unifying framework to prove convergence rates for objective function values of several optimization algorithms. In particular, our results apply to forward-backward splitting algorithm, incremental subgradient proximal algorithm, and the Douglas-Rachford splitting method including and generalizing known results.

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preprint2015arXiv

Stochastic inertial primal-dual algorithms

We propose and study a novel stochastic inertial primal-dual approach to solve composite optimization problems. These latter problems arise naturally when learning with penalized regularization schemes. Our analysis provide convergence results in a general setting, that allows to analyze in a unified framework a variety of special cases of interest. Key in our analysis is considering the framework of splitting algorithm for solving a monotone inclusions in suitable product spaces and for a specific choice of preconditioning operators.

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preprint2014arXiv

Convergence of Stochastic Proximal Gradient Algorithm

We prove novel convergence results for a stochastic proximal gradient algorithm suitable for solving a large class of convex optimization problems, where a convex objective function is given by the sum of a smooth and a possibly non-smooth component. We consider the iterates convergence and derive $O(1/n)$ non asymptotic bounds in expectation in the strongly convex case, as well as almost sure convergence results under weaker assumptions. Our approach allows to avoid averaging and weaken boundedness assumptions which are often considered in theoretical studies and might not be satisfied in practice.

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preprint2012arXiv

Nonparametric sparsity and regularization

In this work we are interested in the problems of supervised learning and variable selection when the input-output dependence is described by a nonlinear function depending on a few variables. Our goal is to consider a sparse nonparametric model, hence avoiding linear or additive models. The key idea is to measure the importance of each variable in the model by making use of partial derivatives. Based on this intuition we propose a new notion of nonparametric sparsity and a corresponding least squares regularization scheme. Using concepts and results from the theory of reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces and proximal methods, we show that the proposed learning algorithm corresponds to a minimization problem which can be provably solved by an iterative procedure. The consistency properties of the obtained estimator are studied both in terms of prediction and selection performance. An extensive empirical analysis shows that the proposed method performs favorably with respect to the state-of-the-art methods.

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preprint2012arXiv

Proximal methods for the latent group lasso penalty

We consider a regularized least squares problem, with regularization by structured sparsity-inducing norms, which extend the usual $\ell_1$ and the group lasso penalty, by allowing the subsets to overlap. Such regularizations lead to nonsmooth problems that are difficult to optimize, and we propose in this paper a suitable version of an accelerated proximal method to solve them. We prove convergence of a nested procedure, obtained composing an accelerated proximal method with an inner algorithm for computing the proximity operator. By exploiting the geometrical properties of the penalty, we devise a new active set strategy, thanks to which the inner iteration is relatively fast, thus guaranteeing good computational performances of the overall algorithm. Our approach allows to deal with high dimensional problems without pre-processing for dimensionality reduction, leading to better computational and prediction performances with respect to the state-of-the art methods, as shown empirically both on toy and real data.

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preprint2011arXiv

An extension of Mercer theorem to vector-valued measurable kernels

We extend the classical Mercer theorem to reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces whose elements are functions from a measurable space $X$into $\mathbb C^n$. Given a finite measure $μ$ on $X$, we represent the reproducing kernel $K$ as convergent series in terms of the eigenfunctions of a suitable compact operator depending on $K$ and $μ$. Our result holds under the mild assumption that $K$ is measurable and the associated Hilbert space is separable. Furthermore, we show that $X$ has a natural second countable topology with respect to which the eigenfunctions are continuous and the series representing $K$ uniformly converges to $K$ on any compact subsets of $X\times X$, provided that the support of $μ$ is $X$.

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preprint2011arXiv

Convergence analysis of a proximal Gauss-Newton method

An extension of the Gauss-Newton algorithm is proposed to find local minimizers of penalized nonlinear least squares problems, under generalized Lipschitz assumptions. Convergence results of local type are obtained, as well as an estimate of the radius of the convergence ball. Some applications for solving constrained nonlinear equations are discussed and the numerical performance of the method is assessed on some significant test problems.

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preprint2010arXiv

PADDLE: Proximal Algorithm for Dual Dictionaries LEarning

Recently, considerable research efforts have been devoted to the design of methods to learn from data overcomplete dictionaries for sparse coding. However, learned dictionaries require the solution of an optimization problem for coding new data. In order to overcome this drawback, we propose an algorithm aimed at learning both a dictionary and its dual: a linear mapping directly performing the coding. By leveraging on proximal methods, our algorithm jointly minimizes the reconstruction error of the dictionary and the coding error of its dual; the sparsity of the representation is induced by an $\ell_1$-based penalty on its coefficients. The results obtained on synthetic data and real images show that the algorithm is capable of recovering the expected dictionaries. Furthermore, on a benchmark dataset, we show that the image features obtained from the dual matrix yield state-of-the-art classification performance while being much less computational intensive.

0 citations0 reviewsNo code linkedOpen access