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In this paper, a general method for the numerical solution of maximum-likelihood estimation (MLE) problems is presented; it adopts the deterministic learning (DL) approach to find close approximations to ML estimator functions for the unknown parameters of any given density. The method relies on the choice of a proper neural network and on the deterministic generation of samples of observations of the likelihood function, thus avoiding the problem of generating samples with the unknown density. Under mild assumptions, consistency and convergence with favorable rates to the true ML estimator function can be proved. Simulation results are provided to show the good behavior of the algorithm compared to the corresponding exact solutions. Index Terms--Deterministic learning (DL), discrepancy, maximum-likelihood estimation (MLE), variation.

A methodology to design state estimators for a class of nonlinear continuous-time dynamic systems that is based on neural networks and nonlinear programming is proposed. The estimator has the structure of a Luenberger observer with a linear gain and a parameterized (in general, nonlinear) function, whose argument is an innovation term representing the difference between the current measurement and its prediction. The problem of the estimator design consists in finding the values of the gain and of the parameters that guarantee the asymptotic stability of the estimation error. Toward this end, if a neural network is used to take on this function, the parameters (i.e., the neural weights) are chosen, together with the gain, by constraining the derivative of a quadratic Lyapunov function for the estimation error to be negative definite on a given compact set. It is proved that it is sufficient to impose the negative definiteness of such a derivative only on a suitably dense grid of sampling points. The gain is determined by solving a Lyapunov equation. The neural weights are searched for via nonlinear programming by minimizing a cost penalizing grid-point constraints that are not satisfied. Techniques based on low-discrepancy sequences are applied to deal with a small number of sampling points, and, hence, to reduce the computational burden required to optimize the parameters. Numerical results are reported and comparisons with those obtained by the extended Kalman filter are made. Index Terms--Feedforward neural networks, Lyapunov function, offline optimization, penalty function, quasi-random sequences, state observer.

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejor.2005.01.022 Byline: Cristiano Cervellera (a), Victoria C.P. Chen (b), Aihong Wen (b) Keywords: Dynamic programming; Large-scale optimization; Applied probability; Neural networks; Natural resources Abstract: A numerical solution to a 30-dimensional water reservoir network optimization problem, based on stochastic dynamic programming, is presented. In such problems the amount of water to be released from each reservoir is chosen to minimize a nonlinear cost (or maximize benefit) function while satisfying proper constraints. Experimental results show how dimensionality issues, given by the large number of basins and realistic modeling of the stochastic inflows, can be mitigated by employing neural approximators for the value functions, and efficient discretizations of the state space, such as orthogonal arrays, Latin hypercube designs and low-discrepancy sequences. Author Affiliation: (a) Institute of Intelligent Systems for Automation, ISSIA-CNR National Research Council of Italy, Genova Branch, Via De Marini 6, Genova 16149, Italy (b) Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering, The University of Texas at Arlington, Campus Box 19017, Arlington, TX 76019-0017, United States

In this brief, the use of lattice point sets (LPSs) is investigated in the context of general learning problems (including function estimation and dynamic optimization), in the case where the classic empirical risk minimization (ERM) principle is considered and there is freedom to choose the sampling points of the input space. Here it is proved that convergence of the ERM principle is guaranteed when LPSs are employed as training sets for the learning procedure, yielding up to a superlinear convergence rate under some regularity hypotheses on the involved functions. Preliminary simulation results are also provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The general problem of reconstructing an unknown function from a finite collection of samples is considered, in case the position of each input vector in the training set is not flied beforehand but is part of the learning process. In particular, the consistency of the empirical risk minimization (ERM) principle is analyzed, when the points in the input space are generated by employing a purely deterministic algorithm (deterministic learning). When the output generation is not subject to noise, classical number-theoretic results, involving discrepancy and variation, enable the establishment of a sufficient condition for the consistency of the ERM principle. In addition, the adoption of low-discrepancy sequences enables the achievement of a learning rate of O(1/L), with L being the size of the training set. An extension to the noisy case is provided, which Shows that the good properties of deterministic learning are preserved, if the level of noise at the output is not high. Simulation results confirm the validity of the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we address the problem of generating efficient state sample points for the solution of continuous-state finite-horizon Markovian decision problems through approximate dynamic programming. It is known that the selection of sampling points at which the value function is observed is a key factor when such function is approximated by a model based on a finite number of evaluations. A standard approach consists in generating these points through a random or deterministic procedure, aiming at a balanced covering of the state space. Yet, this solution may not be efficient if the state trajectories are not uniformly distributed. Here, we propose to exploit F -discrepancy, a quantity that measures how closely a set of random points represents a probability distribution, and introduce an example of an algorithm based on such concept to automatically select point sets that are efficient with respect to the underlying Markovian process. An error analysis of the approximate solution is provided, showing how the proposed algorithm enables convergence under suitable regularity hypotheses. Then, simulation results are provided concerning an inventory forecasting test problem. The tests confirm in general the important role of F -discrepancy, and show how the proposed algorithm is able to yield better results than uniform sampling, using sets even 50 times smaller.