The paper presents Aftab, a new architecture for replay‑free parallelized Q‑learning that systematically explores visual encoder designs, multiplicative feature interactions, and value‑estimation strategies. Through a three‑phase study on Atari‑57, the authors compare eight convolutional encoders, integrate Hadamax‑style interactions, and evaluate categorical‑dueling, ensemble‑dueling, and combined configurations, ultimately achieving a higher human‑normalized score than the baseline PQN. Aftab is also evaluated on Procgen Hard, showing improved terminal IQM and learning‑curve area, and the full framework is released as open source.
By Taha Shieenavaz, Shabnam Zareshahraki, Loris Nanni
The paper presents a three‑phase study of visual encoders and value‑estimation methods for replay‑free parallelized Q‑learning within the Parallelized Q‑Network framework. It compares eight convolutional encoder topologies, adds Hadamax‑style multiplicative interactions and pooling, and evaluates categorical‑dueling, ensemble‑dueling, and categorical ensemble‑dueling value‑estimation configurations. The resulting architecture, Aftab, outperforms a baseline PQN on Atari‑57 and shows improved performance on Procgen Hard, demonstrating that visual topology, multiplicative representation, and downstream value‑estimation design significantly influence replay‑free Q‑learning when considered alongside computational complexity.
By Taha Shieenavaz, Shabnam Zareshahraki, Loris Nanni
arXiv:2410.14606v3 Announce Type: replace
Abstract: Learning from a stream of experience as it arrives, also known as streaming learning, is a core part of natural learning. However, reliable streami...
By Mohamed Elsayed, Elena Sorina Lupu, Gautham Vasan, A. Rupam Mahmood
The paper introduces Deep-BQRL, a model‑free distributional reinforcement‑learning framework that extends buffered‑quantile learning to neural function approximation. It learns conditional return quantiles from sampled transitions, constructs buffered action scores, and uses ensemble disagreement for exploration, enabling risk‑sensitive decision‑making without explicit return‑law planning. Experiments on asset‑selling and slippery FrozenLake show that Deep‑BQRL achieves smaller mean cumulative point‑quantile policy gaps than PPO and TRPO, while illustrating interpretable risk‑sensitive stopping decisions.
By Mohammad Alipour-vaezi, Sajad Khodadadian
arXiv:2606. 26002v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: We present HiReLC, a hierarchical ensemble-reinforcement learning framework for automated joint quantization and structured pruning of deep neural networks.
By Kamar Hibatallah Baghdadi, Kawther Guoual Belhamidi, Sara Belhadj, Aissa Boulmerka, Nadir Farhi
arXiv:2606. 10129v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: While deep Reinforcement Learning (deep-RL) has been increasingly applied to parameter control in evolutionary algorithms, rigorous theoretical analysis of parameter control remains largely restricted to single-parameter settings, owing to the difficulty of deriving effective, interpretable multi-parameter policies amenable to formal study.
By Tai Nguyen, Phong Le, Carola Doerr, Nguyen Dang
arXiv:2607. 19397v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Deep Q-networks use target networks to stabilise bootstrapped value learning, but the standard hard copy update also introduces a tradeoff.
By Adrian Ly, Richard Dazeley, Peter Vamplew, Sunil Aryal, Francisco Cruz
arXiv:2511. 03836v2 Announce Type: replace Abstract: Deep Q-Networks (DQNs) estimate future returns by learning from transitions sampled from a replay buffer.
By Lipeng Zu, Hansong Zhou, Xiaonan Zhang
arXiv:2606. 05555v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Scaling reinforcement learning (RL) to diverse multitask settings remains a central challenge.
By Johan Obando-Ceron, Lu Li, Scott Fujimoto, Pierre-Luc Bacon, Aaron Courville, Pablo Samuel Castro
arXiv:2606. 06746v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Deep reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms often suffer from low run-to-run robustness, manifesting as significant performance variation across independent runs of identically configured agents.
By Haruto Tanaka, A. Rupam Mahmood
arXiv:2607. 15745v1 Announce Type: new Abstract: Common practice when training Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) is to use randomly shuffled mini-batches.
By Anxhelo Shehu, Enes Stastoli, Arben Cela
arXiv:2401. 11512v2 Announce Type: replace-cross Abstract: Identifying the most suitable variables to represent the state is a fundamental challenge in Reinforcement Learning (RL).
By Charles Westphal, Stephen Hailes, Mirco Musolesi