arXiv subjects

Yuefeng Xu

Publications and source records attributed to Yuefeng Xu.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

When Does Blockwise Additivity Break? Diagnosing and Repairing the Additive Assumption in Distillation-Based Architecture Search

Blockwise distillation methods for architecture search, such as DNA, DONNA, LANA and Puzzle, score each candidate replacement block in isolation and assemble a child network by minimizing the sum of per-block scores. We test this additive assumption on DeiT-S and DeiT-B with seven replacement blocks per layer, seven block-latency budgets from 70% to 40%, three fine-tuning seeds and paired bootstrap confidence intervals. (i) At mild compression the additive integer linear program (ILP) is close to a pairwise integer quadratic program (IQP) that models block interactions, but the post-fine-tuning gap widens sharply between the 60% and 55% budgets: at 55%-40% the ILP trails the IQP by 3.3-16.6 top-1 points on ImageNet-100. (ii) We split the KL additivity error into a metric component, caused by the non-linearity of the KL in summed logit changes and computable from cached single-block logits, and a functional component, the score-level effect of non-additive logit changes. The metric component accounts for most of the error on DeiT-S (59-65%), the functional component for most of it on DeiT-B (73-76%). (iii) A hybrid search ranks moves with the logit-sum predictor and measures only the best ones. It needs no dedicated pair measurements, costs 13-27% of the IQP's pair stage, and on ImageNet-100 significantly outperforms the IQP in 7 of 14 settings, with no significant difference in 6 and a significant loss in 1. Further reducing the pre-fine-tuning KL, or scoring after a short fine-tune, gives no consistent gain. On full ImageNet-1k with 1000-class fine-tuning, the sharp widening between 60% and 55% (5.8-17.5 points at 55%-40%), the model-dependent decomposition and the hybrid's advantage (significantly better than the IQP in 13 of 14 settings, no the other) are reproduced.

cs.NI↗

arXiv2026

Searching with Sparse Histories: Cross-Task Architecture Search from Incomplete Search Logs and Zero-Cost Proxies

Neural architecture search (NAS) is expensive, but cross-task transfer can reduce costs by reusing knowledge from previous tasks. However, existing methods struggle with sparse search histories and task-specific transfer failures. We propose a method, a risk-robust strategy that combines sparse source logs with zero-cost proxies through champion-based initialization and joint pairwise-ranker pretraining. On TransNAS-Bench-101, the proposal mitigates severe worst-case failures, reducing worst-10% ranks from 290 to 43 for Micro autoencoding and from 465 to 45 for Macro room layout. Across 13 cell-space targets, it outperforms a proxy-only ranker on 10 targets in both mean and worst-case performance, while maintaining competitive average performance.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2024

Leveraging Large Language Model to Generate a Novel Metaheuristic Algorithm with CRISPE Framework

In this paper, we borrow the large language model (LLM) ChatGPT-3.5 to automatically and quickly design a new metaheuristic algorithm (MA) with only a small amount of input. The novel animal-inspired MA named zoological search optimization (ZSO) draws inspiration from the collective behaviors of animals for solving continuous optimization problems. Specifically, the basic ZSO algorithm involves two search operators: the prey-predator interaction operator and the social flocking operator to balance exploration and exploitation well. Besides, the standard prompt engineering framework CRISPE (i.e., Capacity and Role, Insight, Statement, Personality, and Experiment) is responsible for the specific prompt design. Furthermore, we designed four variants of the ZSO algorithm with slight human-interacted adjustment. In numerical experiments, we comprehensively investigate the performance of ZSO-derived algorithms on CEC2014 benchmark functions, CEC2022 benchmark functions, and six engineering optimization problems. 20 popular and state-of-the-art MAs are employed as competitors. The experimental results and statistical analysis confirm the efficiency and effectiveness of ZSO-derived algorithms. At the end of this paper, we explore the prospects for the development of the metaheuristics community under the LLM era.

cs.NE↗

arXiv2024

Efficient Multiplayer Battle Game Optimizer for Adversarial Robust Neural Architecture Search

This paper introduces a novel metaheuristic algorithm, known as the efficient multiplayer battle game optimizer (EMBGO), specifically designed for addressing complex numerical optimization tasks. The motivation behind this research stems from the need to rectify identified shortcomings in the original MBGO, particularly in search operators during the movement phase, as revealed through ablation experiments. EMBGO mitigates these limitations by integrating the movement and battle phases to simplify the original optimization framework and improve search efficiency. Besides, two efficient search operators: differential mutation and Lévy flight are introduced to increase the diversity of the population. To evaluate the performance of EMBGO comprehensively and fairly, numerical experiments are conducted on benchmark functions such as CEC2017, CEC2020, and CEC2022, as well as engineering problems. Twelve well-established MA approaches serve as competitor algorithms for comparison. Furthermore, we apply the proposed EMBGO to the complex adversarial robust neural architecture search (ARNAS) tasks and explore its robustness and scalability. The experimental results and statistical analyses confirm the efficiency and effectiveness of EMBGO across various optimization tasks. As a potential optimization technique, EMBGO holds promise for diverse applications in real-world problems and deep learning scenarios. The source code of EMBGO is made available in \url{https://github.com/RuiZhong961230/EMBGO}.

cs.NE↗

arXiv2023

Multiplayer Battle Game-Inspired Optimizer for Complex Optimization Problems

Various popular multiplayer battle royale games share a lot of common elements. Drawing from our observations, we summarized these shared characteristics and subsequently proposed a novel heuristic algorithm named multiplayer battle game-inspired optimizer (MBGO). The proposed MBGO streamlines mainstream multiplayer battle royale games into two discrete phases: movement and battle. Specifically, the movement phase incorporates the principles of commonly encountered ``safe zones'' to incentivize participants to relocate to areas with a higher survival potential. The battle phase simulates a range of strategies adopted by players in various situations to enhance the diversity of the population. To evaluate and analyze the performance of the proposed MBGO, we executed it alongside eight other algorithms, including three classics and five latest ones, across multiple diverse dimensions within the CEC2017 and CEC2020 benchmark functions. In addition, we employed several industrial design problems to evaluate the scalability and practicality of the proposed MBGO. The results of the statistical analysis reveal that the novel MBGO demonstrates significant competitiveness, excelling not only in convergence speed, but also in achieving high levels of convergence accuracy across both benchmark functions and real-world problems.

cs.NE↗