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Distributed saddle point problems (SPPs) have numerous applications in optimization, matrix games and machine learning. For example, the training of generated adversarial networks is represented as a min-max optimization problem, and training regularized linear models can be reformulated as an SPP as well. This paper studies distributed nonsmooth SPPs with Lipschitz-continuous objective functions. The objective function is represented as a sum of several components that are distributed between groups of computational nodes. The nodes, or agents, exchange information through some communication network that may be centralized or decentralized. A centralized network has a universal information aggregator (a server, or master node) that directly communicates to each of the agents and therefore can coordinate the optimization process. In a decentralized network, all the nodes are equal, the server node is not present, and each agent only communicates to its immediate neighbors.

We assume that each of the nodes locally holds its objective and can compute its value at given points, i. e. has access to zero-order oracle. Zero-order information is used when the gradient of the function is costly, not possible to compute or when the function is not differentiable. For example, in reinforcement learning one needs to generate a trajectory to evaluate the current policy. This policy evaluation process can be interpreted as the computation of the function value. We propose an approach that uses a smoothing technique, i. e., applies a first-order method to the smoothed version of the initial function. It can be shown that the stochastic gradient of the smoothed function can be viewed as a random two-point gradient approximation of the initial function. Smoothing approaches have been studied for distributed zero-order minimization, and our paper generalizes the smoothing technique on SPPs.

In the development of the previously obtained result on modeling the dynamics of vegetation cover, due to variations in the temperature background, a new scheme for the interval analysis of the dynamics of floristic images of formations is presented in the case when the parameter of the response rate of the model of the dynamics of each counting plant species is set by the interval of scatter of its possible values. The detailed description of the functional parameters of macromodels of biodiversity, desired in fundamental research, taking into account the essential reasons for the observed evolutionary processes, may turn out to be a problematic task. The use of more reliable interval estimates of the variability of functional parameters “bypasses” the problem of uncertainty in the primary assessment of the evolution of the phyto-resource potential of the developed controlled territories. The solutions obtained preserve not only a qualitative picture of the dynamics of species diversity, but also give a rigorous, within the framework of the initial assumptions, a quantitative assessment of the degree of presence of each plant species. The practical significance of two-sided estimation schemes based on the construction of equations for the upper and lower boundaries of the trajectories of the scatter of solutions depends on the conditions and measure of proportional correspondence of the intervals of scatter of the initial parameters with the intervals of scatter of solutions. For dynamic systems, the desired proportionality is not always ensured. The given examples demonstrate the acceptable accuracy of interval estimation of evolutionary processes. It is important to note that the constructions of the estimating equations generate vanishing intervals of scatter of solutions for quasi-constant temperature perturbations of the system. In other words, the trajectories of stationary temperature states of the vegetation cover are not roughened by the proposed interval estimation scheme. The rigor of the result of interval estimation of the species composition of the vegetation cover of formations can become a determining factor when choosing a method in the problems of analyzing the dynamics of species diversity and the plant potential of territorial systems of resource-ecological monitoring. The possibilities of the proposed approach are illustrated by geoinformation images of the computational analysis of the dynamics of the vegetation cover of the Yamal Peninsula and by the graphs of the retro-perspective analysis of the floristic variability of the formations of the landscapelithological group “Upper” based on the data of the summer temperature background of the Salehard weather station from 2010 to 1935. The developed indicators of floristic variability and the given graphs characterize the dynamics of species diversity, both on average and individually in the form of intervals of possible states for each species of plant.

This is a brief review of the subjects, and an impression of some talks, which were given at the Schools on modelling complex biological systems. Those Schools reflected a logical progress in this way of thinking in our country and provided a place for collective “brain-storming” inspired by prominent scientists of the last century, such as A. A. Lyapunov, N. V. Timofeeff-Ressovsky, A. M. Molchanov. At the Schools, general issues of methodology of mathematical modeling in biology and ecology were raised in the form of heated debates, the fundamental principles for how the structure of matter is organized and how complex biological systems function and evolve were discussed. The Schools served as an important sample of interdisciplinary actions by the scientists of distinct perceptions of the World, or distinct approaches and modes to reach the boundaries of the Unknown, rather than of different specializations. What was bringing together the mathematicians and biologists attending the Schools was the common understanding that the alliance should be fruitful. Reported in the issues of School proceedings, the presentations, discussions, and reflections have not yet lost their relevance so far and might serve as certain guidance for the new generation of scientists.