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Autoconj: Recognizing and Exploiting Conjugacy Without a Domain-Specific Language

Neural Information Processing Systems

Deriving conditional and marginal distributions using conjugacy relationships can be time consuming and error prone. In this paper, we propose a strategy for automating such derivations. Unlike previous systems which focus on relationships between pairs of random variables, our system (which we call Autoconj) operates directly on Python functions that compute log-joint distribution functions. Autoconj provides support for conjugacy-exploiting algorithms in any Python-embedded PPL. This paves the way for accelerating development of novel inference algorithms and structure-exploiting modeling strategies.




A Lyapunov-based Approach to Safe Reinforcement Learning

Neural Information Processing Systems

In many real-world reinforcement learning (RL) problems, besides optimizing the main objective function, an agent must concurrently avoid violating a number of constraints. In particular, besides optimizing performance, it is crucial to guarantee the safety of an agent during training as well as deployment (e.g., a robot should avoid taking actions - exploratory or not - which irrevocably harm its hardware). To incorporate safety in RL, we derive algorithms under the framework of constrained Markov decision processes (CMDPs), an extension of the standard Markov decision processes (MDPs) augmented with constraints on expected cumulative costs.



Bayesian Alignments of Warped Multi-Output Gaussian Processes

Neural Information Processing Systems

The proposed model allows for both arbitrary alignments of the inputs and non-parametric output warpings to transform the observations. This gives rise to multiple deep Gaussian process models connected via latent generating processes.


Are induction stoves better? These chefs think so.

Popular Science

Induction stoves use electromagnetism to heat food more efficiently than any other kind of stovetop. Breakthroughs, discoveries, and DIY tips sent every weekday. Ask someone in the United States about "electric cooking" and they'll probably describe one of those awful coil stoves, the ones that take forever to heat up and then burn your dinner to a crisp the moment you take your eyes off it. This unfortunate association is perhaps one reason why induction cooking hasn't quite taken off in the U.S. the way it has elsewhere in the world--in Europe, for example, where induction stoves are commonplace. How do induction stoves differ from electric stoves?