Sparse coding—that is, modelling data vectors as sparse linear combinations of basis elements—is widely used in machine learning, neuroscience, signal processing, and statistics. This paper focuses on the large-scale matrix factorization problem that consists of learning the basis set, adapting it to specific data. Variations of this problem include dictionary learning in signal processing, non-negative matrix factorization and sparse principal component analysis. In this paper, we propose to address these tasks with a new online optimization algorithm, based on stochastic approximations, which scales up gracefully to large datasets with millions of training samples, and extends naturally to various matrix factorization formulations, making it suitable for a wide range of learning problems. A proof of convergence is presented, along with experiments with natural images and genomic data demonstrating that it leads to state-of-the-art performance in terms of speed and optimization for both small and large datasets.

We consider the problem of learning a sparse multi-task regression, where the structure in the outputs can be represented as a tree with leaf nodes as outputs and internal nodes as clusters of the outputs at multiple granularity. Our goal is to recover the common set of relevant inputs for each output cluster. Assuming that the tree structure is available as prior knowledge, we formulate this problem as a new multi-task regularized regression called tree-guided group lasso. Our structured regularization is based on a grouplasso penalty, where groups are defined with respect to the tree structure. We describe a systematic weighting scheme for the groups in the penalty such that each output variable is penalized in a balanced manner even if the groups overlap. We present an efficient optimization method that can handle a largescale problem. Using simulated and yeast datasets, we demonstrate that our method shows a superior performance in terms of both prediction errors and recovery of true sparsity patterns compared to other methods for multi-task learning. 1.

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We present an extension of sparse PCA, or sparse dictionary learning, where the sparsity patterns of all dictionary elements are structured and constrained to belong to a prespecified set of shapes. This structured sparse PCA is based on a structured regularization recently introduced by [1]. While classical sparse priors only deal with cardinality, the regularization we use encodes higher-order information about the data. We propose an efficient and simple optimization procedure to solve this problem. Experiments with two practical tasks, face recognition and the study of the dynamics of a protein complex, demonstrate the benefits of the proposed structured approach over unstructured approaches. 1

Sparse methods for supervised learning aim at finding good linear predictors from as few variables as possible, i.e., with small cardinality of their supports. This combinatorial selection problem is often turnedinto a convex optimization problem byreplacing the cardinality function by its convex envelope (tightest convex lower bound), in this case the ℓ1-norm. In this paper, we investigate more general set-functions than the cardinality, that may incorporate prior knowledge or structural constraints which are common in many applications: namely, we show that for nonincreasing submodular set-functions, the corresponding convex envelope can be obtained from its Lovász extension, a common tool in submodular analysis. This defines a family of polyhedral norms, for which we provide generic algorithmic tools (subgradients and proximal operators) and theoretical results (conditions for support recovery or high-dimensional inference). By selecting specific submodular functions, we can give a new interpretation to known norms, such as those based on rank-statistics or grouped norms with potentially overlapping groups; we also define new norms, in particular ones that can be used as non-factorial priors for supervised learning.

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We consider the tree structured group Lasso where the structure over the features can be represented as a tree with leaf nodes as features and internal nodes as clusters of the features. The structured regularization with a pre-defined tree structure is based on a group-Lasso penalty, where one group is defined for each node in the tree. Such a regularization can help uncover the structured sparsity, which is desirable for applications with some meaningful tree structures on the features. However, the tree structured group Lasso is challenging to solve due to the complex regularization. In this paper, we develop an efficient algorithm for the tree structured group Lasso. One of the key steps in the proposed algorithm is to solve the Moreau-Yosida regularization associated with the grouped tree structure. The main technical contributions of this paper include (1) we show that the associated Moreau-Yosida regularization admits an analytical solution, and (2) we develop an efficient algorithm for determining the effective interval for the regularization parameter. Our experimental results on the AR and JAFFE face data sets demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. 1

Previous work has examined structure learning in log-linear models with `1regularization, largely focusing on the case of pairwise potentials. In this work we consider the case of models with potentials of arbitrary order, but that satisfy a hierarchical constraint. We enforce the hierarchical constraint using group `1-regularization with overlapping groups. An active set method that enforces hierarchical inclusion allows us to tractably consider the exponential number of higher-order potentials. We use a spectral projected gradient method as a subroutine for solving the overlapping group `1regularization problem, and make use of a sparse version of Dykstra's algorithm to compute the projection. Our experiments indicate that this model gives equal or better test set likelihood compared to previous models. 1

We propose a class of sparse coding models that utilizes a Laplacian Scale Mixture (LSM) prior to model dependencies among coefficients. Each coefficient is modeled as a Laplacian distribution with a variable scale parameter, with a Gamma distribution prior over the scale parameter. We show that, due to the conjugacy of the Gamma prior, it is possible to derive efficient inference procedures for both the coefficients and the scale parameter. When the scale parameters of a group of coefficients are combined into a single variable, it is possible to describe the dependencies that occur due to common amplitude fluctuations among coefficients, which have been shown to constitute a large fraction of the redundancy in natural images [1]. We show that, as a consequence of this group sparse coding, the resulting inference of the coefficients follows a divisive normalization rule, and that this may be efficiently implemented in a network architecture similar to that which has been proposed to occur in primary visual cortex. We also demonstrate improvements in image coding and compressive sensing recovery using the LSM model. 1