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The role of reinforcement learning (RL) in enhancing the reasoning of large language models (LLMs) is becoming increasingly significant. Despite the success of RL in many scenarios, there are still many challenges in improving the reasoning…

Artificial Intelligence · Computer Science 2024-12-25 Jiacai Liu , Chaojie Wang , Chris Yuhao Liu , Liang Zeng , Rui Yan , Yiwen Sun , Yang Liu , Yahui Zhou

Central Force Optimization is a deterministic metaheuristic for an evolutionary algorithm that searches a decision space by flying probes whose trajectories are computed using a gravitational metaphor. CFO benefits substantially from the…

Other Computer Science · Computer Science 2010-05-31 Richard A. Formato

Recent alignment methods based on Direct Preference Optimization (DPO) reformulate preference learning as supervised optimization over pairwise comparisons, offering improved efficiency and stability over reinforcement learning from human…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2026-01-22 Yuhui Sun , Xiyao Wang , Zixi Li , YiTian Ding , Tianyang Ling , Jialuo Chen , Tianyi Yu , Zhenlong Yuan , Jinman Zhao

Dynamic multiobjective optimization problems (DMOPs) feature time-varying objectives, which cause the Pareto optimal solution (POS) set to drift over time and make it difficult to maintain both convergence and diversity under limited…

Neural and Evolutionary Computing · Computer Science 2026-03-31 Jian Guan , Huolong Wu , Zhenzhong Wang , Gary G. Yen , Min Jiang

Direct preference optimization (DPO) is a form of reinforcement learning from human feedback (RLHF) where the policy is learned directly from preferential feedback. Although many models of human preferences exist, the critical task of…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-03-04 Branislav Kveton , Xintong Li , Julian McAuley , Ryan Rossi , Jingbo Shang , Junda Wu , Tong Yu

We present a novel second-order trajectory optimization algorithm based on Stein Variational Newton's Method and Maximum Entropy Differential Dynamic Programming. The proposed algorithm, called Stein Variational Differential Dynamic…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-10-10 Yuichiro Aoyama , Peter Lehmamnn , Evangelos A. Theodorou

To reduce complexity and achieve scalable performance in high-dimensional black-box settings, we propose a distributed method for nonconvex derivative-free optimization of continuous variables with an additively separable objective, subject…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2025-11-03 Damilola Fasiku , Wentao Tang

Rapid growth of data center networks (DCNs) poses significant challenges for large-scale traffic engineering (TE). Existing acceleration strategies, which rely on commercial solvers or deep learning, face scalability issues and struggle…

Networking and Internet Architecture · Computer Science 2025-12-23 Yingming Mao , Qiaozhu Zhai , Ximeng Liu , Zhen Yao , Xia Zhu , Yuzhou Zhou

Recent advances in derivative-free optimization allow efficient approximation of the global-optimal solutions of sophisticated functions, such as functions with many local optima, non-differentiable and non-continuous functions. This…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-09-28 Yu-Ren Liu , Yi-Qi Hu , Hong Qian , Chao Qian , Yang Yu

In this paper, we deal with a network of agents that want to cooperatively minimize the sum of local cost functions depending on a common decision variable. We consider the challenging scenario in which objective functions are unknown and…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-11-08 Nicola Mimmo , Guido Carnevale , Andrea Testa , Giuseppe Notarstefano

This paper proposes the method 2D-MoSub (2-dimensional model-based subspace method), which is a novel derivative-free optimization (DFO) method based on the subspace method for general unconstrained optimization and especially aims to solve…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-01-03 Pengcheng Xie , Ya-xiang Yuan

This paper investigates projection-free algorithms for stochastic constrained multi-level optimization. In this context, the objective function is a nested composition of several smooth functions, and the decision set is closed and convex.…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2024-06-07 Wei Jiang , Sifan Yang , Wenhao Yang , Yibo Wang , Yuanyu Wan , Lijun Zhang

As machine learning permeates more industries and models become more expensive and time consuming to train, the need for efficient automated hyperparameter optimization (HPO) has never been more pressing. Multi-step planning based…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2022-11-18 Lucio M. Dery , Abram L. Friesen , Nando De Freitas , Marc'Aurelio Ranzato , Yutian Chen

This work considers stochastic optimization problems in which the objective function values can only be computed by a blackbox corrupted by some random noise following an unknown distribution. The proposed method is based on sequential…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2023-08-15 Charles Audet , Jean Bigeon , Romain Couderc , Michael Kokkolaras

In this study, we propose an innovative dynamic classification algorithm aimed at achieving zero missed detections and minimal false positives,acritical in safety-critical domains (e.g., medical diagnostics) where undetected cases risk…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2025-06-02 Ziyuan Zhong , Junyang Zhou

The fast-growing need for grey-box and black-box optimization methods for constrained global optimization problems in fields such as medicine, chemistry, engineering and artificial intelligence, has contributed for the design of new…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2020-01-01 Phillipe R. Sampaio

In this work, we introduce new direct search schemes for the solution of bilevel optimization (BO) problems. Our methods rely on a fixed accuracy black box oracle for the lower-level problem, and deal both with smooth and potentially…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2023-09-14 Youssef Diouane , Vyacheslav Kungurtsev , Francesco Rinaldi , Damiano Zeffiro

Dueling optimization considers optimizing an objective with access to only a comparison oracle of the objective function. It finds important applications in emerging fields such as recommendation systems and robotics. Existing works on…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2026-03-03 Yuxuan Ren , Abhishek Roy , Shiqian Ma

In this paper, we consider mixed-integer nonsmooth constrained optimization problems whose objective/constraint functions are available only as the output of a black-box zeroth-order oracle (i.e., an oracle that does not provide derivative…

Optimization and Control · Mathematics 2021-07-02 Tommaso Giovannelli , Giampaolo Liuzzi , Stefano Lucidi , Francesco Rinaldi

First Order Bayesian Optimization (FOBO) is a sample efficient sequential approach to find the global maxima of an expensive-to-evaluate black-box objective function by suitably querying for the function and its gradient evaluations. Such…

Machine Learning · Computer Science 2023-06-21 Utkarsh Prakash , Aryan Chollera , Kushagra Khatwani , Prabuchandran K. J. , Tejas Bodas