This paper explores the connection between adversarial and knowledge transferability.
problem Understanding the factors affecting knowledge transferability.
method Theoretical analysis and practical metrics for adversarial transferability.
result Adversarial transferability and knowledge transferability are closely related.
Study measures impact of data and neural net similarity on transferability in restaurant sales data.
problem Identify indicators for successful transferability of neural nets across different data sets.
method Empirical study on sales data from six restaurants, calculating indicators based on data and neural net similarities.
result Negative correlations between transferability and indicators, allowing better model performance and fewer transfers.
Transfer learning aims at improving the performance of target learners on target domains by transferring the knowledge contained in different but related source domains. In this way, the dependence on a large number of target domain data can be reduced for constructing target learners. Due to the wide application prosp…
Adversarially robust models transfer better than standard models in image classification.
problem Improving transfer learning performance in image classification.
method Focused on adversarially robust ImageNet classifiers, compared to standard models.
result Adversarially robust models yield improved accuracy on downstream classification tasks.
Adaptive source selection for positive transfer in linear models improves target dataset performance.
problem Limited task-specific labeled data in business settings.
method Greedily decides from which sources and how many samples to incorporate into the target dataset using an accept/reject rule based on a data-dependent estimate of the transfer gain.
result Consistent gains over classical and recent strong baselines while avoiding negative transfer.
Enhances generative model accuracy through knowledge transfer.
problem Improving generative model precision across different tasks.
method Introduces a novel framework for transfer learning using shared structures.
result Demonstrates enhanced performance in diffusion and normalizing flows models.
Simple methods improve regression transferability estimation.
problem Estimating how well regression models transfer between tasks.
method Two simple, computationally efficient approaches based on negative regularized mean squared error.
result Significantly outperform existing methods in accuracy and efficiency.
LOL-GP model improves surrogate modeling of expensive simulators.
problem Costly computer simulations for complex systems.
method Local transfer learning Gaussian process.
result Improved surrogate performance over existing methods.
New framework explains fast transfer of hyperparameters across model scales.
problem Understanding and optimizing hyperparameters for large-scale models.
method Developed a conceptual framework for HP transfer across scale, showing fast transfer is equivalent to useful transfer for compute-optimal grid search.
result Fast transfer of hyperparameters is equivalent to useful transfer for compute-optimal grid search, offering asymptotic computational advantage.
The paper explores transferability of adversarial examples between convex and 01 loss models, finding non-transferability due to different decision boundaries caused by outliers.
problem Transferability of adversarial examples between convex and 01 loss models.
method Empirical study of transferability between linear 01 loss and convex (hinge) loss models, and between neural networks with different activation functions.
result Adversarial examples are non-transferable between convex and 01 loss models due to different decision boundaries caused by outliers.
Investigates transfer learning in spatial statistics.
problem Applying transfer learning to spatial statistics.
method Simple MLP models for spatial data.
result Potential of transfer learning in spatial statistics.
Paper proposes a statistical test for transfer learning in linear regression.
problem Theoretical framework for parameter transfer in linear regression.
method Developed a statistical test to predict transfer quality.
result The test can predict if a fine-tuned model has lower prediction risk.
New analysis shows transfer learning can significantly reduce sample size for complex models.
problem Reducing sample size needed for complex models like large language models.
method Optimal transport viewpoint applied to analyze transfer learning efficiency.
result Transfer learning can achieve better sample efficiency for complex models.
Transferability captures the ability of an attack against a machine-learning model to be effective against a different, potentially unknown, model. Empirical evidence for transferability has been shown in previous work, but the underlying reasons why an attack transfers or not are not yet well understood. In this paper…
This paper introduces a new transfer learning method for regression.
problem Boosting predictive power in scenarios with scarce data.
method Affine model transfer, following expected-square loss minimization.
result The affine model transfer method encompasses various existing methods and clarifies its theoretical properties.
Headless attacks bypass classification heads to fool transfer learning models.
problem Adversarial attacks against transfer learning models without access to the classification head.
method Label-blind adversarial attacks that do not require class-label information.
result Transfer attack lowers ResNet18 accuracy on CIFAR10 by over 40%.
Unified view on GP transfer learning for Bayesian optimization.
problem Improving data efficiency in Bayesian optimization with scarce data.
method Unified hierarchical GP models for transfer learning, including a novel boosted GP transfer model.
result Unified analysis and comparison of transfer learning methods for GP models.
Designs a framework to transfer causal models between similar environments.
problem Transferability of causal models between different but similar environments.
method Object-oriented representations and continuous optimization for structure learning.
result Demonstrates advantages in gridworld settings using reinforcement learning.
Transfer learning improves model robustness against adversarial attacks.
problem Understanding how transfer learning affects model robustness against adversarial attacks.
method Extensive empirical evaluations of white-box and black-box attacks on fine-tuned transfer learning models.
result Adversarial examples are more transferable when fine-tuning is used than when networks are trained independently.
We extend graph neural networks to transfer performance across different input sizes.
problem Transferability of graph neural networks across varying input dimensions.
method Introduce a general framework for transferability across dimensions, showing it corresponds to continuity in a limit space.
result Transferability of graph neural networks is driven by data and learning task, and can be ensured with design principles.
Framework reuses pre-trained models for data-free transfer learning.
problem Challenges in retrieving source data for model training.
method Model Recycling Framework for parameter-efficient training.
result Makes multi-source data-free supervised transfer learning possible.
Transfer learning framework for fragility modeling under domain shift and class imbalance
problem Data gaps in structural fragility modeling
method Transfer learning
result Improves failure detection and predictive stability in low-data regimes
Localized transfer learning improves nonparametric regression performance.
problem Improving nonparametric regression performance on target tasks.
method Localized transfer learning framework that models heterogeneity and partition covariate space into cells.
result Sharp minimax rates show local transfer mitigates the curse of dimensionality.
A number of approaches to solving the well-known transfer pricing problem are known. However, few models satisfactorily resolve the core problem of allowing both the source and receiving divisions to earn a profit on transfers during a period in such a way that sub-optimal output levels are avoided. In 1969, Samuel pro…
Recent years, transfer learning has attracted much attention in the community of machine learning. In this paper, we mainly focus on the tasks of parameter transfer under the framework of extreme learning machine (ELM). Unlike the existing parameter transfer approaches, which incorporate the source model information in…
The paper analyzes phase transitions in transfer learning for perceptrons.
problem Understanding when transfer learning from a source task to a target task is beneficial.
method Theoretical analysis of a pair of related perceptron learning tasks.
result Reveals a phase transition from negative to positive transfer as task similarity changes.
Study improves model fit by transferring info from related datasets.
problem Improving model fit on target data using source data.
method Proposes a transfer learning algorithm for GLMs, derives error bounds, and introduces detection of informative sources.
result Theoretical and practical improvements over classical methods in high-dimensional GLM settings.
PAC-Net prunes deep models for better transfer learning.
problem Improving transfer learning with over-parameterized models.
method Prune, Allocate, Calibrate (PAC) approach.
result PAC-Net achieves state-of-the-art performance in inductive transfer learning.
Training a source model optimally for its own task is suboptimal for downstream transfer.
problem The optimality of a source model for its own task hinders downstream transfer performance.
method Analyzes L2-SP ridge regression, characterizes transfer-optimal source penalty, and identifies alignment-dependent effects.
result Transfer benefits from stronger source regularization when aligned imperfectly, and from weaker regularization when aligned perfectly.
Transfer learning aims at building robust prediction models by transferring knowledge gained from one problem to another. In the semantic Web, learning tasks are enhanced with semantic representations. We exploit their semantics to augment transfer learning by dealing with when to transfer with semantic measurements an…
DERWENT learns paths for distant transfer learning via deep random walk.
problem Transfer learning between distant domains is challenging.
method DERWENT uses deep random walk to explicitly learn paths between source and target domains.
result DERWENT achieves state-of-the-art performance on benchmark datasets.
Paper tackles robust transfer learning with unreliable source data.
problem Challenges in robust transfer learning stemming from ambiguity in Bayes classifiers and weak transferable signals.
method Introduces ambiguity level, proposes Transfer Around Boundary (TAB) model, establishes general theorem.
result Demonstrates efficiency and robustness of TAB model improving classification while avoiding negative transfer.
Adversarially-trained models transfer better in limited data scenarios.
problem Improving transfer learning performance with limited data.
method Adversarially-train deep nets, freeze early layers, fine-tune last layers, observe shape vs texture bias.
result Adversarially-trained models transfer better than non-adversarially-trained models, especially with limited data.
Deep learning algorithms have increasingly been shown to lack robustness to simple adversarial examples (AdvX). An equally troubling observation is that these adversarial examples transfer between different architectures trained on different datasets. We investigate the transferability of adversarial examples between m…
The paper investigates what enables successful transfer learning and separates feature reuse from data statistics.
problem Understanding what enables successful transfer learning and identifying the responsible parts of the network.
method Analyzes transfer learning on block-shuffled images to distinguish feature reuse from data statistics.
result Some benefit of transfer learning comes from learning low-level statistics of data, not just feature reuse.
Recently, in order to explore the mechanism behind wealth or income distribution, several models have been proposed by applying principles of statistical mechanics. These models share some characteristics, such as consisting of a group of individual agents, a pile of money and a specific trading rule. Whatever the trad…
This study investigates how much knowledge from natural images can be transferred to pathology images.
problem Quantifying how much knowledge from natural images can be transferred to pathology images.
method Proposes a framework to quantify knowledge gain by a particular layer, conducts empirical investigation in pathology image centered transfer learning.
result Early layers of deep models can transfer knowledge to pathology image classification tasks.
FRA-Attack improves adversarial transferability for closed-source MLLMs by aligning visual focus across models.
problem Improving adversarial transferability for closed-source MLLMs, especially with high accuracy.
method Unified frequency-domain regularization approach: high-pass DCT objective for feature alignment and Frequency-domain Gradient Regularization (FGR) for gradient optimization.
result FRA-Attack achieves superior cross-model transferability, especially on GPT-5.4, Claude-Opus-4.6, and Gemini-3-flash.
Fine-tuning through knowledge transfer from a pre-trained model on a large-scale dataset is a widely spread approach to effectively build models on small-scale datasets. In this work, we show that a recent adversarial attack designed for transfer learning via re-training the last linear layer can successfully deceive m…
SAM minimizes loss sharpness, improving adversarial transferability.
problem Improving adversarial transferability of deep neural networks.
method Evaluating surrogate models trained with seven minimizers, focusing on loss sharpness and flat neighborhoods.
result SAM minimizes loss sharpness, leading to better adversarial transferability.
Survey on using large models to train smaller datasets in NLP.
problem Lack of large datasets and computing resources for NLP tasks.
method Analysis of recent transfer learning approaches in NLP.
result Increased demand for transfer learning in NLP due to large models.
Text style transfer aims to modify the style of a sentence while keeping its content unchanged. Recent style transfer systems often fail to faithfully preserve the content after changing the style. This paper proposes a structured content preserving model that leverages linguistic information in the structured fine-gra…
URL benchmark evaluates uncertainty quantification in pretrained models.
problem Need for reliable uncertainty estimates in transferable pretrained models.
method Proposes URL benchmark to measure transferability of representations and uncertainty estimates.
result Transferable uncertainty quantification remains challenging but not contradictory to traditional goals.
Adaptive transfer learning model for varying mechanisms across domains.
problem Improving inference in a target domain by leveraging related source domains with varying mechanisms.
method Semi-parametric domain-varying coefficient model (DVCM) for structured transfer learning.
result Minimax rate-optimal adaptive transfer learning estimator with provable negative transfer safeguards.
Transfer learning from natural image datasets, particularly ImageNet, using standard large models and corresponding pretrained weights has become a de-facto method for deep learning applications to medical imaging. However, there are fundamental differences in data sizes, features and task specifications between natura…
Adversarial examples are maliciously perturbed inputs designed to mislead machine learning (ML) models at test-time. They often transfer: the same adversarial example fools more than one model. In this work, we propose novel methods for estimating the previously unknown dimensionality of the space of adversarial inputs…
Improved transfer learning with expert models, reducing compute and speeding up performance.
problem Improving sample efficiency and reducing computational requirements for new tasks.
method Training a diverse set of experts using existing label structures and performance proxies to select the relevant expert for each target task.
result Significant speed-up of 2-3 orders of magnitude compared to competing approaches.
Deep generative models such as Variational Autoencoders (VAEs) and Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) have recently been applied to style and domain transfer for images, and in the case of VAEs, music. GAN-based models employing several generators and some form of cycle consistency loss have been among the most suc…