Papers for

online platform schedulers

Papers whose findings have a practical use for this group, as judged from the abstract. Open a paper to read what it means in practice.

Stochastic optimization algorithm improves learning with limited feedback

Beyond Monotonicity: Stochastic Online Optimization under Semi-Bandit Feedback

Abstract: We study stochastic online optimization (SOO) under semi-bandit feedback: in each of $T$ rounds, a policy adaptively observes $n$ independent random variables with unknown distributions, learning only from observed values. First-order stochastic dominance (FSD) monotonicity enables general reductions for learning SOO, but can fail when observations change future feasibility, resource use, or reference points. Our algorithm runs the dynamic program for the optimal policy, replacing each expectation by its most optimistic value over a confidence set of distributions. Its regret depends on the level-set complexity $s_i$ of the computed values as functions of the $i$th variable: the number of intervals needed to describe their superlevel sets. For rewards in $[0,1]$, the regret is $\tilde{O}(\sqrt{ST})$ without this monotonicity, where $S=\sum_{i=1}^n\min\{s_i,k_i\}$ and $k_i$ is the support size of the $i$th distribution, which may be infinite when $s_i$ is finite. For constant level-set complexities, regret is $\tilde{O}(\sqrt{nT})$, even for continuous distributions. The algorithm requires no knowledge of $s_i$, $k_i$, or the supports, and it also achieves regret $\tilde{O}(\sqrt{nkT})$ for supports of size at most $k$ without any level-set condition, which improves the previous bound $\tilde{O}(n(\sqrt{kT}+k))$ for FSD-monotone problems. We also prove a lower bound of $Ω(\min\{T,\sqrt{ST}\})$ for all positive integers $s_1,\ldots,s_n$ with $k_i=2s_i+1$, which holds even under full feedback and matches the upper bound up to logarithmic factors. We obtain $\tilde{O}(\sqrt{nT})$ regret for these problems, all nonmonotone under FSD: stochastic Boolean function evaluation, the full-information secretary problem, optimal stopping with loss aversion, scheduling with deadlines and correlated stochastic knapsack with unimodal rewards, and overbooking with group reservations.

Mon 2 NovMachine Learning
The gist
This paper looks at how to make good decisions when you only get partial feedback after each choice and things can change unpredictably. The authors create a new method that learns from just parts of the outcomes and adapts by being optimistic about uncertain information. Their approach works well even when previous simplifying assumptions do not hold, and it guarantees low regret, meaning it doesn’t lose much compared to the best possible strategy over time. They also prove that their method is nearly as good as any could possibly be, even in harder situations.
Open → 2611.02739v1