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Selecting the most suitable algorithm and determining its hyperparameters for a given optimization problem is a challenging task. Accurately predicting how well a certain algorithm could solve the problem is hence desirable. Recent studies…

Post-Training Quantization (PTQ) is essential for deploying Large Language Models (LLMs) on memory-constrained devices, yet it renders models static and difficult to fine-tune. Standard fine-tuning paradigms, including Reinforcement…

Recently, optimization has become an emerging tool for neuroscientists to study neural code. In the visual system, neurons respond to images with graded and noisy responses. Image patterns eliciting highest responses are diagnostic of the…

In fine-tuning large language models (LLMs), conserving computational resources while maintaining effectiveness and improving outcomes within the same computational constraints is crucial. The Low-Rank Adaptation (LoRA) strategy balances…

Bayesian optimization (BO) is a model-based approach to sequentially optimize expensive black-box functions, such as the validation error of a deep neural network with respect to its hyperparameters. In many real-world scenarios, the…

Evolutionary algorithms (EAs) are general-purpose problem solvers that usually perform an unbiased search. This is reasonable and desirable in a black-box scenario. For combinatorial optimization problems, often more knowledge about the…

We propose Multi-Strategy Coevolving Aging Particles (MS-CAP), a novel population-based algorithm for black-box optimization. In a memetic fashion, MS-CAP combines two components with complementary algorithm logics. In the first stage, each…

The majorization-minimization (MM) principle is an extremely general framework for deriving optimization algorithms. It includes the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm, proximal gradient algorithm, concave-convex procedure, quadratic…

The application of standard sufficient dimension reduction methods for reducing the dimension space of predictors without losing regression information requires inverting the covariance matrix of the predictors. This has posed a number of…

Large pre-trained models, such as large language models (LLMs), present significant resource challenges for fine-tuning due to their extensive parameter sizes, especially for applications in mobile systems. To address this, Low-Rank…

Evolutionary multi-agent systems (EMASs) are very good at dealing with difficult, multi-dimensional problems, their efficacy was proven theoretically based on analysis of the relevant Markov-Chain based model. Now the research continues on…

This paper introduces an approach that integrates self-adaptive Evolution Strategies (ES) with Large Language Models (LLMs) to enhance the explainability of complex optimization processes. By employing a self-adaptive ES equipped with a…

In recent years, model-agnostic meta-learning (MAML) has become a popular research area. However, the stochastic optimization of MAML is still underdeveloped. Existing MAML algorithms rely on the ``episode'' idea by sampling a few tasks and…

Robust matrix factorization (RMF), which uses the $\ell_1$-loss, often outperforms standard matrix factorization using the $\ell_2$-loss, particularly when outliers are present. The state-of-the-art RMF solver is the RMF-MM algorithm,…

Neural network-based optimization and control methods, often referred to as black-box approaches, are increasingly gaining attention in energy and manufacturing systems, particularly in situations where first-principles models are either…

Sequential decision-making in high-dimensional continuous action spaces, particularly in stochastic environments, faces significant computational challenges. We explore this challenge in the traditional offline RL setting, where an agent…

Black-box discrete optimization (BB-DO) problems arise in many real-world applications, such as neural architecture search and mathematical model estimation. A key challenge in BB-DO is epistasis among parameters where multiple variables…

Low-rank adaptation is a popular parameter-efficient fine-tuning method for large language models. In this paper, we analyze the impact of low-rank updating, as implemented in LoRA. Our findings suggest that the low-rank updating mechanism…

With the advent of large language models (LLMs), there has been a great deal of interest in applying them to solve difficult programming tasks. Recent work has demonstrated their potential at program optimization, a key challenge in…

Expectation-Maximization (EM) algorithm is a widely used iterative algorithm for computing maximum likelihood estimate when dealing with Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM). When the sample size is smaller than the data dimension, this could lead…