Related papers: Learning the Step-size Policy for the Limited-Memo…

The choice of step-size used in Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) optimization is empirically selected in most training procedures. Moreover, the use of scheduled learning techniques such as Step-Decaying, Cyclical-Learning, and Warmup to…

Recently, the impressive empirical success of policy gradient (PG) methods has catalyzed the development of their theoretical foundations. Despite the huge efforts directed at the design of efficient stochastic PG-type algorithms, the…

In this paper, we implement the Stochastic Damped LBFGS (SdLBFGS) for stochastic non-convex optimization. We make two important modifications to the original SdLBFGS algorithm. First, by initializing the Hessian at each step using an…

We propose a trust region method for policy optimization that employs Quasi-Newton approximation for the Hessian, called Quasi-Newton Trust Region Policy Optimization QNTRPO. Gradient descent is the de facto algorithm for reinforcement…

We design a self size-estimating feed-forward network (SSFN) using a joint optimization approach for estimation of number of layers, number of nodes and learning of weight matrices. The learning algorithm has a low computational complexity,…

Algorithms for solving nonconvex, nonsmooth, finite-sum optimization problems are proposed and tested. In particular, the algorithms are proposed and tested in the context of an optimization problem formulation arising in semi-supervised…

A key challenge in applying reinforcement learning (RL) to diffusion large language models (dLLMs) lies in the intractability of their likelihood functions, which are essential for the RL objective, necessitating corresponding approximation…

We present a modified limited memory BFGS (L-BFGS) method that converges globally and linearly for nonconvex objective functions. Its distinguishing feature is that it turns into L-BFGS if the iterates cluster at a point near which the…

We explore the use of policy gradient methods in reinforcement learning for quantum control via energy landscape shaping of XX-Heisenberg spin chains in a model agnostic fashion. Their performance is compared to finding controllers using…

Large-scale unconstrained optimization is a fundamental and important class of, yet not well-solved problems in numerical optimization. The main challenge in designing an algorithm is to require a few storage locations or very inexpensive…

We propose a new iterative optimization method for the {\bf Data-Fitting} (DF) problem in Machine Learning, e.g. Neural Network (NN) training. The approach relies on {\bf Graphical Model} (GM) representation of the DF problem, where…

Accumulated detailed knowledge about the neuronal activities in human brains has brought more attention to bio-inspired spiking neural networks (SNNs). In contrast to non-spiking deep neural networks (DNNs), SNNs can encode and transmit…

We consider policy optimization methods in reinforcement learning settings where the state space is arbitrarily large, or even countably infinite. The motivation arises from control problems in communication networks, matching markets, and…

In this paper, we propose an adaptive framework for the variable step size of the fractional least mean square (FLMS) algorithm. The proposed algorithm named the robust variable step size-FLMS (RVSS-FLMS), dynamically updates the step size…

Policy optimization is among the most popular and successful reinforcement learning algorithms, and there is increasing interest in understanding its theoretical guarantees. In this work, we initiate the study of policy optimization for the…

The Forward-Forward (FF) algorithm was recently proposed as a local learning method to address the limitations of backpropagation (BP), offering biological plausibility along with memory-efficient and highly parallelized computational…

We consider off-policy temporal-difference (TD) learning methods for policy evaluation in Markov decision processes with finite spaces and discounted reward criteria, and we present a collection of convergence results for several…

The popularity of bi-level optimization (BO) in deep learning has spurred a growing interest in studying gradient-based BO algorithms. However, existing algorithms involve two coupled learning rates that can be affected by approximation…

We study the solution of symmetric positive-definite linear systems by way of families of full- and limited-memory methods. Our contributions are threefold. We first derive new relationships between the conjugate-gradient method (CG) and…

Despite large language models (LLMs) have achieved impressive achievements across numerous tasks, supervised fine-tuning (SFT) remains essential for adapting these models to specialized domains. However, SFT for domain specialization can be…