This paper presents a neural network filter method based on contraction operators to address model collapse in recursive training of generative models. Unlike \cite{xu2024probabilistic}, which requires superlinear sample growth ($O(t^{1+s})$), our approach completely eliminates the dependence on increasing sample sizes within an unbiased estimation framework by designing a neural filter that learns to satisfy contraction conditions. We develop specialized neural network architectures and loss functions that enable the filter to actively learn contraction conditions satisfying Assumption 2.3 in exponential family distributions, thereby ensuring practical application of our theoretical results. Theoretical analysis demonstrates that when the learned contraction conditions are satisfied, estimation errors converge probabilistically even with constant sample sizes, i.e., $\limsup_{t\to\infty}\mathbb{P}(\|\mathbf{e}_t\|>δ)=0$ for any $δ>0$. Experimental results show that our neural network filter effectively learns contraction conditions and prevents model collapse under fixed sample size settings, providing an end-to-end solution for practical applications.

We also give a training algorithm usable for all mixed integer linear programs, vastly generalizing the applicability of the framework.

First provide a summary of the paper, and then address the following criteria: Quality, clarity, originality and significance. Paper Summary: This paper treats a general multi-armed bandit problem in which the mean reward of each arm depends on a common unknown parameter. The authors consider a simple modification of the UCB1 algorithm. They show, unsurprisingly, that the algorithm satisfies a regret bound like that of UCB1. The main improvement of this paper is to show when the optimal arm can be identified perfectly by samples of the optimal arm, algorithm's regret is bounded by a constant independent of the time horizon.

Integrating combinatorial optimization layers into neural networks has recently attracted significant research interest. However, many existing approaches lack theoretical guarantees or fail to perform adequately when relying on inexact solvers. This is a critical limitation, as many operations research problems are NP-hard, often necessitating the use of neighborhood-based local search heuristics. These heuristics iteratively generate and evaluate candidate solutions based on an acceptance rule. In this paper, we introduce a theoretically-principled approach for learning with such inexact combinatorial solvers. Inspired by the connection between simulated annealing and Metropolis-Hastings, we propose to transform problem-specific neighborhood systems used in local search heuristics into proposal distributions, implementing MCMC on the combinatorial space of feasible solutions. This allows us to construct differentiable combinatorial layers and associated loss functions. Replacing an exact solver by a local search strongly reduces the computational burden of learning on many applications. We demonstrate our approach on a large-scale dynamic vehicle routing problem with time windows.