Solving Expensive Optimization Problems in Dynamic Environments with Meta-learning

Dynamic environments pose great challenges for expensive optimization problems, as the objective functions of these problems change over time and thus require remarkable computational resources to track the optimal solutions. Although data-driven evolutionary optimization and Bayesian optimization (BO) approaches have shown promise in solving expensive optimization problems in static environments, the attempts to develop such approaches in dynamic environments remain rarely unexplored. In this paper, we propose a simple yet effective meta-learning-based optimization framework for solving expensive dynamic optimization problems. This framework is flexible, allowing any off-the-shelf continuously differentiable surrogate model to be used in a plug-in manner, either in data-driven evolutionary optimization or BO approaches. In particular, the framework consists of two unique components: 1) the meta-learning component, in which a gradient-based meta-learning approach is adopted to learn experience (effective model parameters) across different dynamics along the optimization process. 2) the adaptation component, where the learned experience (model parameters) is used as the initial parameters for fast adaptation in the dynamic environment based on few shot samples. By doing so, the optimization process is able to quickly initiate the search in a new environment within a strictly restricted computational budget. Experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm framework compared to several state-of-the-art algorithms on common benchmark test problems under different dynamic characteristics

(5-Bromo-2-hydroxy­phen­yl)(phen­yl)methanone

In the title compound, C13H9BrO2, the mol­ecular conformation is stabilized by an intra­molecular O—H⋯O hydrogen bond. In the crystal structure, weak inter­molecular C—H⋯O hydrogen-bonding inter­actions link the mol­ecules into chains along the c-axis direction

Testing the Bell Inequality at Experiments of High Energy Physics

Besides using the laser beam, it is very tempting to directly testify the Bell inequality at high energy experiments where the spin correlation is exactly what the original Bell inequality investigates. In this work, we follow the proposal raised in literature and use the successive decays $J/\psi\to\gamma\eta_c\to \Lambda\bar\Lambda\to p\pi^-\bar p\pi^+$ to testify the Bell inequality. Our goal is twofold, namely, we first make a Monte-Carlo simulation of the processes based on the quantum field theory (QFT). Since the underlying theory is QFT, it implies that we pre-admit the validity of quantum picture. Even though the QFT is true, we need to find how big the database should be, so that we can clearly show deviations of the correlation from the Bell inequality determined by the local hidden variable theory. There have been some critiques on the proposed method, so in the second part, we suggest some improvements which may help to remedy the ambiguities indicated by the critiques. It may be realized at an updated facility of high energy physics, such as BES III.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure

Induction of PtoCDKB and PtoCYCB transcription by temperature during cambium reactivation in Populus tomentosa Carr.

Cell cycle progression requires interaction between cyclin-dependent kinase B (CDKB) and cyclin B (CYCB). The seasonal expression patterns of the CDKB and CYCB homologues from Populus tomentosa Carr. were investigated, and effects of temperature and exogenous indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) on their expression were further studied in water culture experiments. Based on the differential responses of dormant cambium cells to exogenous IAA, four stages of cambium dormancy were confirmed for P. tomentosa: quiescence 1 (Q1), rest, quiescence 2-1 (Q2-1), and quiescence 2-2 (Q2-2). PtoCDKB and PtoCYCB transcripts were strongly expressed in the active phases, weakly in Q1, and almost undetectable from rest until late Q2-2. Climatic data analysis showed a correlation between daily air temperature and PtoCDKB and PtoCYCB expression patterns. Water culture experiments with temperature treatment further showed that a low temperature (4 °C) kept PtoCDKB and PtoCYCB transcripts at undetectable levels, while a warm temperature (25 °C) induced their expression in the cambium region. Meanwhile, water culture experiments with exogenous IAA treatment showed that induction of PtoCDKB and PtoCYCB transcription was independent of exogenous IAA. The results suggest that, in deciduous hardwood P. tomentosa growing in a temperate zone, the temperature in early spring is a vital environmental factor for cambium reactivation. The increasing temperature in early spring may induce CDKB and CYCB homologue transcription in the cambium region, which is necessary for cambium cell division