Search

Due to the mobile and random nature of services in cyber–physical–social systems (CPSSs), developing service composition approaches that ensure high availability, minimal energy consumption, and high quality of service (QoS) remains a complex challenge. Over the last two decades, several service composition approaches have been proposed in the literature to deal with this challenge. Nevertheless, the existing approaches have certain limitations, particularly in situations where services may move from one location to another, become unavailable due to intensive battery usage, encounter failures, or undergo a decline in quality. These limitations often arise because these approaches do not simultaneously integrate mobility, energy, and QoS constraints while defining the user's movement in a random manner. In this paper, the learning-based swarm optimization-aware service composition algorithm (LS-SCA) is proposed to overcome the aforementioned shortcoming. This approach surpasses existing ones by accounting simultaneously for the user's mobility, energy, and QoS criteria during the service composition process. First, the Small World in Motion (SWIM) mobility model is employed in this study to determine the user's mobility traces, avoiding the random generation of users' traces. Second, an energy consumption model is proposed to increase the energy efficiency by avoiding the overuse of the devices' batteries that can reduce the availability of services and lead to the composition failure. Third, the two-phase learning-based swarm optimizer (TPLSO) method is used in the composition process to find the sub-optimal composition that satisfies the global QoS constraints with the highest utility in terms of mobility, energy, and QoS. Unlike the most existing metaheuristic-based service composition approaches where the overall composition population is improved over a given number of iterations, the TPLSO method is exploited in this paper to improve only a subset of compositions, which reduces the composition time and increases the QoS utility of the composition. The simulation scenarios using two real datasets demonstrate that the LS-SCA approach outperforms six baselines in terms of energy consumption, QoS utility, and availability of composition. This notable performance makes the proposed approach more suitable for real-world applications where energy efficiency, QoS, and availability are crucial factors to consider. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Metal Additive Manufacturing (AM) lattice structure is widely used in various fields because of its lightweight and one-time forming characteristics. Nondestructive reliability evaluation still presents a challenge that requires immediate attention, especially in light of the service setting and when structural failure is used as an evaluation criterion. In this paper, the failure evaluation problem of structure is discussed based on the defects that affect yield stress, and the yield stress as the index. Firstly, a Computed Tomography (CT) scanner is used for non-destructive testing of metal AM lattice structure samples, and improved YOLO V7 is used to identify and count defects in CT scan images. The interval type 2 (IT2) fuzzy model is then enhanced using the irregular Gaussian function, and a meta-heuristic algorithm (particle swarm optimization) is added to enhance the model's predictive capabilities. Finally, simulation and experiment are used to validate the AM lattice structure's failure evaluation. The improved model's superiority in the simulation exercise is demonstrated by contrasts with IT2 and the Type 1 fuzzy model. The yield stress prediction deviation of the sample during application verification is 1.12%, which attests to the validity of the failure prediction technique suggested in this paper. • The IT2 fuzzy model is used to predict the failure of lattice structures. • An irregular Gaussian function is designed as model principal membership function. • Simulation data is used instead of actual testing to complete the yield stress prediction. • Use improved YOLO V7 model to detect internal defects in actual samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, feature selection research has quickly advanced to keep up with the age of developing expert systems. This is because the applications of these systems sometimes need massive datasets. Researchers who have an interest in creating novel feature selection methods or enhancing existing technologies have grown their interest in this topic. The current version of binary PSO (BPSO) is not developed as well as continuous PSO and does not follow the main principles of the standard PSO algorithm. Unlike the continuous version of the PSO, in BPSO, particle position is restricted to the Hamming space. Thus, there is no risk of swarm divergence, but the problem of premature convergence of the swarm arises. This paper presents an enhanced particle swarm optimization employed for feature selection to tackle the limitations of the current version of binary BPSO. Its primary quality is the application of a position update mechanism to appropriately select optimal features. The position update mechanism is designed to avoid the premature convergence issue suffered by BPSO, by determining the probability of the particles switching positions using position values rather than velocity. Two variant methods for determining the probability of changing the position of a particle element were introduced. These result in the two variants of enhanced binary particle swarm optimization (EBPSO) for feature selection, called EBPSO1 and EBPSO2. Several experiments were performed to analyze the effectiveness of the proposed method and compare it with state-of-the-art feature selection methods based on eighteen frequently used benchmark datasets. The experimental findings demonstrated that the proposed approach generated the most accurate classification in contrast to the alternative feature selection approach on most of the datasets. As a result, it can be inferred based on the outcomes obtained that this proposed approach performs significantly superior to the other state-of-the-art feature selection approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to introduce an artificial intelligence approach to enhance short-term daily streamflow forecasts through the integration of machine learning (ML) techniques with meta -heuristic (MH) algorithms. To maximize performance, a comprehensive analysis involving the autocorrelation and partial autocorrelation functions of the observed streamflow was conducted to derive ten distinct input combinations, from which the most suitable set was selected for investigation. Subsequently, six distinct ML methods, namely, decision trees, support vector regression, long short-term memory, gated recurrent unit, multi-layer perceptron, and radial basis function (as the optimal input combination), were leveraged to predict one-day-ahead streamflow. The most promising outcomes from these six explored methods were synergistically amalgamated to enhance predictive precision. This amalgamation was then optimized by utilizing parameter values hyper-tuned by four different MH algorithms. The algorithms included the shuffled frog leaping algorithm, particle swarm optimization, ant colony optimization (ACO), and gray wolf optimization (GWO). In culmination, a case study centered around the "Wick" river in the UK was conducted to rigorously evaluate the performance of the proposed method, utilizing a range of statistical evaluation indices. The results underscored the efficacy of the proposed combined method in substantially refining streamflow predictions, exhibiting an impressive level of accuracy. Additionally, the outcomes emphasized that ACO and GWO stand out as the optimal algorithms for calibrating the parameters of the amalgamated model. For instance, the R2 values attained by the combined models optimized through the ACO and GWO algorithms were 0.69422 and 0.69444, respectively. These values notably surpass those observed in the initial models, substantiating the superiority of the applied optimization approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing the accuracy of breast cancer recurrence prediction is crucial, mainly when dealing with genomics data, which presents challenges such as high dimensionality, noise, non-linearity, and limited sample sizes. This paper introduces Semi-Supervised Survival Laplacian Regression (S3LR), a novel feature selection algorithm designed to improve breast cancer recurrence prediction by effectively handling censored, event, and unlabeled data. S3LR modifies the Laplacian Score (LS) by incorporating a distance matrix to calculate the weight matrix, and it integrates heuristic and metaheuristic optimization algorithms to optimize the weighted matrix. These enhancements refine feature selection and overall performance. In our evaluations using three datasets and comparisons with state-of-the-art techniques, S3LR combined with Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) demonstrates significant improvements in C-index and mean absolute error (MAE). Average C-index values reach 68.80 %, 59.49 %, and 67.66 %, with average MAE values of 15.98, 7.87, and 8.65 months, respectively. These results showcase S3LR's effectiveness in predicting recurrence, even with censored data, for more precise and reliable outcomes. Furthermore, the framework's versatility extends beyond breast cancer and can readily be applied to address other survival and recurrence problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• HeuMetaDEP integrates DEP, ML paradigm, and HOAs to solve TSP problems. • DEP using ML paradigm improves the predictive performance of the ensemble. • Three HOAs select meta-characteristics and optimize hyper-parameters. • Seven sets of meta-characteristics are constructed for addressing the TSP problems. • A closeness degree measurement function is designed for meta-characteristics extraction. The ensemble learning paradigm demonstrates powerful advantages in solving Time Series Prediction (TSP) problems. But static ensemble methods do not always play a positive role in predictive performance. Dynamic Ensemble Pruning (DEP) methods aim to select an optimal subensemble for each test sample. By fusing the Meta-learning paradigm with the Heuristic optimization algorithm, this paper develops a hybrid Dynamic Ensemble Pruning (HeuMetaDEP) framework for TSP. The MetaDEP subalgorithm designed based on Meta-Learning (ML) trains a meta-predictor, which can judge whether each base leaner in the ensemble has enough ability to predict the query sample, to dynamically acquire the proper subensemble for each sample. Based on different aspects of the generalization ability of the base learner, seven sets of meta-characteristics are constructed for the training of the meta-predictor. And the Heuristic Optimization Algorithm (HOA) is used to filter the meta-characteristics and select the optimal parameters for a specific TSP problem. In this paper, we apply three HOAs, including the Genetic Algorithm (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm, and Artificial Fish Swarm Algorithm (AFSA) to form a set of three specific algorithms, collectively abbreviated as the HeuMetaDEP algorithms. An experimental evaluation conducted on eight benchmark time series datasets shows that the proposed HeuMetaDEP algorithms are significantly superior on more than half of the datasets, and achieve an average RMSE drop of 12.49% and an average MAE drop of 12.73% on the eight datasets, compared with the five naive algorithms. In addition, the three groups of extended experiments demonstrate that the proposed algorithms have better generalization performance compared with other advanced DEP algorithms, except under the small-sample condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, an energy efficiency study has been carried out through the moment values of a quadrotor applied in the position control with the differential evolution algorithm (DE), which is under the evolutionary algorithms among meta-heuristic algorithms particle swarm optimization (PSO) which is among swarm-based algorithms and gravity search algorithm (GSA) among physics-based algorithms and charged system search (CSS) algorithm, which are all well-known in the literature. The efficient use of energy in electrically powered flying mechanisms is important in terms of completing its task. The aim of this study is to obtain proportional–integral–derivative (PID) coefficients that minimize the energy consumption caused by quadrotor moments. First of all, 12 PID coefficients calculated with traditional Ziegler Nicholes, and trying-error methods for the control of the quadrotor have been trained with DE, PSO, GSA and CSS algorithms and their cost values have been found for this problem. In the study, optimum PID coefficients have been found separately with each algorithm and torque data giving energy efficiency have been obtained by applying them to the state equations. Although the cost minimization convergence value obtained from DE does not look good compared to other algorithms, it has been observed that the moment values of the obtained PID coefficients in the control program are lower. In the study, it has been shown that the PID coefficients obtained from DE reach the target with approximately less energy than the maximum-moment value of the PSO, which provides the closest moment value. It can be thought that this value contributes to energy consumption in each orbital movement of the quadrotor. The simulation results show that the coefficients obtained from DE provide better energy efficiency and are superior to other algorithms compared in terms of energy efficiency. • PID coefficients for quadrotor control are optimized with DE,PSO,CSS,GSA algorithms • The torque values to be applied to each motor were adjusted with these coefficients • The total force applied with DEPID in the z direction is smaller than others • DEPID consumes less energy than the other algorithms in the paper [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, an energy efficiency study has been carried out through the moment values of a quadrotor applied in the position control with the differential evolution algorithm (DE), which is under the evolutionary algorithms among meta-heuristic algorithms particle swarm optimization (PSO) which is among swarm-based algorithms and gravity search algorithm (GSA) among physics-based algorithms and charged system search (CSS) algorithm, which are all well-known in the literature. The efficient use of energy in electrically powered flying mechanisms is important in terms of completing its task. The aim of this study is to obtain proportional–integral–derivative (PID) coefficients that minimize the energy consumption caused by quadrotor moments. First of all, 12 PID coefficients calculated with traditional Ziegler Nicholes, and trying-error methods for the control of the quadrotor have been trained with DE, PSO, GSA and CSS algorithms and their cost values have been found for this problem. In the study, optimum PID coefficients have been found separately with each algorithm and torque data giving energy efficiency have been obtained by applying them to the state equations. Although the cost minimization convergence value obtained from DE does not look good compared to other algorithms, it has been observed that the moment values of the obtained PID coefficients in the control program are lower. In the study, it has been shown that the PID coefficients obtained from DE reach the target with approximately less energy than the maximum-moment value of the PSO, which provides the closest moment value. It can be thought that this value contributes to energy consumption in each orbital movement of the quadrotor. The simulation results show that the coefficients obtained from DE provide better energy efficiency and are superior to other algorithms compared in terms of energy efficiency. • PID coefficients for quadrotor control are optimized with DE,PSO,CSS,GSA algorithms • The torque values to be applied to each motor were adjusted with these coefficients • The total force applied with DEPID in the z direction is smaller than others • DEPID consumes less energy than the other algorithms in the paper [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposed a modified version of Spider Monkey Optimization (SMO) algorithm for solving global optimization problems. The traditional SMO consists of seven phases where each phase has its characteristics and tasks to be performed. However, the local leader phase (LLP), that is the second phase of the SMO has the most significant effect on the performance of the algorithm. In which if it does not has good exploration and exploitation capability then the SMO might stick at a local point. Therefore, the proposed modified version of SMO (that called SMONM) used the transformations of the Nelder–Mead (NM) method to improve the ability of LLP. The proposed SMONM algorithm contains the same number of phases of the traditional SMO except the LLP that has modified through using the reflection, expansion, and contraction transformations of the NM. These transformations of NM worked if there is no improvement in the fitness function value after the solution is updating using the original LLP. The performance of the proposed algorithm has compared with other four algorithms namely, original SMO, Artificial Bee Colony optimization, Biography Based Optimization and Particle Swarm Optimization. A set of experimental series is performed to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm using 23 standard benchmark functions, 15 composite functions, and three classical engineering problems. The preliminary results show that the modified version of SMO has excellent ability to avoid the limitations of the tradition SMO algorithm, as well as, it provides better results than the other comparative algorithms regarding performance measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flowchart diagram of the Actor-Critic RL-based control approach using GWO as the critic. [Display omitted] This paper introduces a novel reference tracking control approach implemented using a combination of the Actor-Critic Reinforcement Learning (RL) framework and the Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO) algorithm. The classical neural network (NN)-based implementation of the Critic, optimized with the Gradient Descent (GD) algorithm, is replaced with the GWO algorithm, aiming to eliminate the main drawbacks of the GD algorithm, i.e., slow convergence and the tendency to get stuck in local optimal values. The combined effort from multiple search agents and the random values involved in the search process make the GWO algorithm very efficient in exploring the solution space and finding global optimal solutions. The main objective of the proposed approach is to build a NN-based controller capable of solving an optimal reference tracking control problem on nonlinear servo system laboratory equipment. The training data needed to build the controller is collected while the actor learns how to control the servo system, using the GWO-based critic to monitor the process and step in to correct the actor when needed. A comparison study is performed across three online RL-based control approaches, namely the novel approach using GWO to implement the Critic in the Actor-Critic RL framework, the traditional approach using NNs with GD for optimization and another approach using a metaheuristic algorithm called Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). The experimental results illustrate the superiority of the proposed approach over the competing ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In joint replenishment problem with random number of imperfect items (IJRP), it is a great challenge for managers to correctly ascertain the number of imperfect items and take the right response strategy to make rectifications simultaneously. In this paper, the effectiveness of four common response strategies, i.e., scrap, all-unit quantity discount, rework & repair, and buy replacements for coping with imperfect items are investigated based on IJRP for the first time, respectively. Considering the NP -hard nature of the classical JRP and its extensions, as well as enhancing the explorable performance in crossing scale-levels of IJRP models and exploitable performance in diversifying the solution population of bare-bones differential evolutionary (BBDE), a meta-heuristic algorithm named as the adaptive BBDE (ABBDE) is designed by introducing an problem scale related adaptive recombination probability and a generalized opposition-based learning (OBL). Through numerical experiments, it has been found that (1) The adaptive improvements of ABBDE have been verified through obtaining the lower best-found total cost (TC), the lowest mean value, and the smallest standard error comparing to that of genetic evolution algorithm (GA), particle swarm optimization (PSO), differential evolution (DE), bare-bones PSO (BBPSO), BBDE. (2) Parameter sensitivity analyses indicate that the scale of yearly demand, lead-time, and significance of uncertainty have significant impacts on system cost, whilst the parameters pertinent to specific response strategy are main factors causing system cost disturbance. (3) Management insights and limitations on adoption of a right response strategy and the practical usage of ABBDE are obtained. • Four response strategy influences for coping with defective items are examined. • Both random imperfect items and stochastic demands are considered. • An adaptive mutation probability and opposition-based learning are considered. • Numerical experiments are designed and extensively performed. • Insights are obtained through experiments on different scale cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a student-learning strategy based efficient optimizer has been developed to solve optimal over current relay coordination problem in the power system. The power system is a massive, interrelated network with inherent nonlinearity. The conventional analytical methods to solve an overcurrent relay coordination issue is difficult for such systems. Therefore, the metaheuristic optimization technique can be a good choice for relay coordination problem in the power network. Class topper optimization (CTO) is a stochastic technique inspired by the student learning behavior to improve his/her performance to be the best in his/her class which is successfully applied for different optimization problems. Like the other metaheuristic algorithm, CTO faces the problem of local optima with premature convergence to deal with complex problems. In this paper, a sigmoid acceleration coefficient based chaotic search class topper optimization (SCCTO) is proposed to develop an efficient optimizer and applied to solve optimal relay coordination problem. The logistic map based chaotic search is used at initialization stage of SCCTO algorithm. In the update stage of the proposed algorithm, a slowly varying sigmoid function is used along with normal varying function. It will keep diversity in local solution to explore the optimum global solution in the search space. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm to solve an optimization problem, the optimal overcurrent relay coordination in the distribution network is tested. The optimal setting of time dial of the relay (over current) with total operating time minimization is the aim of such optimization problem considering relay coordination time gap as constraints. Three types of power distribution networks are examined optimal relay coordination problems. The simulation result shows the efficiency of the developed optimizer in relay coordination with an improvement of 26 to 35 % in total relay operating time than existing results. • An efficient optimizer is developed to solve engineering optimization problem. • Optimal coordination among overcurrent relays in power distribution system is examined. • A sigmoid acceleration coefficient chaotic class topper optimization is developed. • Different types of distribution network are verified with the developed optimizer. • The simulation results for the chosen systems with the proposed algorithm are found better than existing results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fuzzy clustering has become an important research field with many applications to real world problems. Among fuzzy clustering methods, fuzzy c-means (FCM) is one of the best known for its simplicity and efficiency, although it shows some weaknesses, particularly its tendency to fall into local minima. To tackle this shortcoming, many optimization-based fuzzy clustering methods have been proposed in the literature. Some of these methods are based solely on a metaheuristic optimization, such as particle swarm optimization (PSO) whereas others are hybrid methods that combine a metaheuristic with a traditional partitional clustering method such as FCM. It is demonstrated in the literature that methods that hybridize PSO and FCM for clustering have an improved accuracy over traditional partitional clustering approaches. On the other hand, PSO-based clustering methods have poor execution time in comparison to partitional clustering techniques. Another problem with PSO-based clustering is that the current PSO algorithms require tuning a range of parameters before they are able to find good solutions. In this paper we introduce two hybrid methods for fuzzy clustering that aim to deal with these shortcomings. The methods, referred to as FCM–IDPSO and FCM2–IDPSO, combine FCM with a recent version of PSO, the IDPSO, which adjusts PSO parameters dynamically during execution, aiming to provide better balance between exploration and exploitation, avoiding falling into local minima quickly and thereby obtaining better solutions. Experiments using two synthetic data sets and eight real-world data sets are reported and discussed. The experiments considered the proposed methods as well as some recent PSO-based fuzzy clustering methods. The results show that the methods introduced in this paper provide comparable or in many cases better solutions than the other methods considered in the comparison and were much faster than the other state of the art PSO-based methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel meta-heuristic algorithm, dynamic particle swarm optimizer with escaping prey (DPSOEP), for solving constrained non-convex and piecewise optimization problems. In DPSOEP, the particles developed from two different species are classified into three different types, consisting of preys, strong particles and weak particles, to simulate the behavior of hunting and escaping characteristics observed in nature. Compared to other variants of particle swarm optimizer (PSO), the proposed algorithm takes account of an escaping mechanism for the preys to circumvent the problem of local optimum and also develops a classification mechanism to cope with different situations in the search space so as to achieve a good balance between its global exploration and local exploitation abilities. Simulation results obtained based on thirteen benchmark functions and two practical economic dispatch problems prove the effectiveness and applicability of the DPSOEP to deal with non-convex and piecewise optimization problem, considering the integration of linear equality and inequality constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind resource is one of the most promising renewable energy, which has become a suitable replacement for fossil fuels. Optimizing the transferring wind energy from a wind turbine is essential to obtain the maximum power output as other variables are uncontrollable. This paper presents four different optimization algorithms, namely ant lion optimization (ALO), whale optimization algorithm (WOA), particle swarm optimization (PSO), and crow search optimization (CSO), considering a hybrid decision-making model to compare the performances of wind energy optimization. In the first phase, the evolutionary algorithms are defined based on several factors to meet the need for wind energy based on volumetric and time reliability, reversibility, and vulnerability as well as evaluate optimized energy to the subscriber from the Gansu region. In the second phase, the ordinal priority approach (OPA) is coupled with VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method to rank the evolutionary algorithms. Then, the results are compared with the absolute optimal response based on the nonlinear programming method obtained from GAMS software. The results demonstrate that an ALO outperforms other algorithms. The average accuracy of ALO is 92%. CSO is the least accurate with 55% of the absolute optimal response. ALO is found to be faster, more efficient, and achieved economy and reliability as compared to other optimization algorithms for solving the problem under consideration. It is shown that the applied models are robust, effective, and able to save costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper a new method for dynamic parameter adaptation in particle swarm optimization (PSO) is proposed. PSO is a metaheuristic inspired in social behaviors, which is very useful in optimization problems. In this paper we propose an improvement to the convergence and diversity of the swarm in PSO using fuzzy logic. Simulation results show that the proposed approach improves the performance of PSO. First, benchmark mathematical functions are used to illustrate the feasibility of the proposed approach. Then a set of classification problems are used to show the potential applicability of the fuzzy parameter adaptation of PSO. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Many engineering and scientific problems in the real-world boil down to optimization problems, which are difficult to solve by using traditional methods. Meta-heuristics are appealing algorithms for solving optimization problems while keeping computational costs reasonable. The marine predators algorithm (MPA) is a modern optimization meta-heuristic, inspired by widespread Lévy and Brownian foraging strategies in ocean predators as well as optimal encounter rate strategies in biological interactions between predator and prey. However, MPA is not without its shortcomings. In this paper, a quasi-opposition based learning and Q-learning based marine predators algorithm (QQLMPA) is proposed. This offers multiple improvements over standard MPA. Primely, Q-learning allows MPA to fully use the information generated by previous iterations. And also, quasi-opposition based learning serves to increase population diversity, reducing the risk of convergence to inferior local optima. Numerical experiments demonstrate better performance by QQLMPA on 32 benchmark optimization functions and three engineering problems: designs of pressure vessel, hydro-static thrust bearing, and speed reducer. • Q-learning is introduced to MPA for adaptively choosing search mode. • Quasi-opposition learning is used to enhance the exploration of MPA. • The proposed optimizer can achieve great performance for continuous optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The paper benefits from Reinforcement Learning in industrial control applications. • TD3 policy gradient is implemented to learn optimal PI controller dynamics. • The actor-network learns the optimal PI dynamics using the reward mechanism. • The performance of the optimal PI dynamics is compared with the other results. To benefit from the advantages of Reinforcement Learning (RL) in industrial control applications, RL methods can be used for optimal tuning of the classical controllers based on the simulation scenarios of operating conditions. In this study, the Twin Delay Deep Deterministic (TD3) policy gradient method, which is an effective actor-critic RL strategy, is implemented to learn optimal Proportional Integral (PI) controller dynamics from a Direct Current (DC) motor speed control simulation environment. For this purpose, the PI controller dynamics are introduced to the actor-network by using the PI-based observer states from the control simulation environment. A suitable Simulink simulation environment is adapted to perform the training process of the TD3 algorithm. The actor-network learns the optimal PI controller dynamics by using the reward mechanism that implements the minimization of the optimal control objective function. A setpoint filter is used to describe the desired setpoint response, and step disturbance signals with random amplitude are incorporated in the simulation environment to improve disturbance rejection control skills with the help of experience based learning in the designed control simulation environment. When the training task is completed, the optimal PI controller coefficients are obtained from the weight coefficients of the actor-network. The performance of the optimal PI dynamics, which were learned by using the TD3 algorithm and Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient algorithm, are compared. Moreover, control performance improvement of this RL based PI controller tuning method (RL-PI) is demonstrated relative to performances of both integer and fractional order PI controllers that were tuned by using several popular metaheuristic optimization algorithms such as Genetic Algorithm, Particle Swarm Optimization, Grey Wolf Optimization and Differential Evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The path planning and path smoothing are combined through the high-order continuous Bezier curve. • An improved QPSO that incorporates two search mechanisms from bald eagle search (BES) is proposed. • The concept of semi-randomization is infused in some of our modifications in BES-MQPSO. • Enhanced intensive exploitation is performed by incorporating BES search and swoop mechanisms. • It may be the first time to apply BES tricks to help to enhance QPSO and into the path planning field. The design of path planning algorithms to obtain a smooth path that satisfies constraints such as obstacle avoidance, minimized cost, and dynamic feasibility for mobile robots in the workspace is a hot issue in the field of intelligent robotics. The metaheuristic optimization algorithm, which aims to solve path planning problems, is more efficient compared to traditional algorithms. In the current metaheuristic approaches, avoiding local minimum traps is the core goal of the scheme. In this paper, with the benefit of a high-order continuous Bezier curve, we construct an optimization problem of smooth path planning based on the length and the requirement of collision-free safety as constraints of the robot's expected path. Then, the smooth path planning problem is transformed into an optimization problem that searches the locations of control nodes of the Bezier curve. We solve the constructed path planning problem with our modified quantum particle swarm optimization algorithm (QPSO). Specifically, to overcome the shortcomings of the current PSO and QPSO-based particle swarm algorithms like prematurity, unbalanced global search, local exploitation, and local minima, we implement an improved QPSO algorithm denoted as BES-MQPSO that incorporates the search and swoop mechanisms from bald eagle search (BES) strategies. The method consists of four improved modifications: an improved local attractor, improved feature length, BES-enhanced intensive exploitation Strategy, and random variation mechanism. Our proposed BES-MQPSO with these four modifications is tested with benchmark functions and then applied to the smooth path planning problem. Finally, the superiority of BES-MQPSO is confirmed, and the ideal smooth path of the mobile robot is successfully planned. The planned path length is reduced by 4.45% and 2.82% compared to e-QPSO and SDEQPSO respectively, while the standard deviation is reduced by 67.46% and 69.82%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing environmental concerns, governmental regulations, and significant cost savings are the primary motivations for companies to consider the reuse and recovery of products in their inventory system. The previous research ignored several realistic features of reusable items inventory systems, such as the presence of multiple products and operational constraints. For the first time, this paper presents a new multiproduct economic order quantity inventory model for an inventory system of reusable products. The goal of the model is to determine the optimal replenishment quantity and reuse quantity of each item so that the system's total cost is minimized. Several operational constraints are considered to provide a more realistic framework, such as the total available budget, warehouse space, and holding cost. Due to the nonlinearity of the presented model, differential evolution (DE) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithms are utilized as two solution approaches. However, these algorithms' performance is highly dependent on their control parameters. Therefore, for the first time, two new variants of these algorithms, called DEQL and PSOQL, are presented in this study, where the control parameters of algorithms are not pre-determined. A powerful reinforcement learning algorithm, Q-learning, adapts these values intelligently. In other words, as a research contribution, this research aims at introducing a new variant of hybrid the DE and PSO algorithms in which a machine learning algorithm controls the value of metaheuristic parameters. The other parameters of the proposed algorithms are tunned employing the Taguchi method. Extensive numerical examples are established in different sizes, and the outputs are discussed in terms of several criteria. Statistical analysis of the results is performed, demonstrating that the proposed reinforcement learning-based parameter adaption has significantly improved algorithms' performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A generalized decoupling metaheuristic RBDO framework is proposed. • A particle's memory saving strategy is developed to provide effective guidance. • A new adaptive fractional-order equilibrium optimizer algorithm is developed. • Numerical and engineering examples illustrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm. Reliability-based design optimization (RBDO) algorithm is to minimize the objective under the probabilistic factors. While gradient-based and classical evolutionary RBDO algorithms provide promising performance on simple optimization problems, they are likely to perform poorly on challenging problems, including the multimodal functions, discrete design spaces, non-differential problems, etc. This paper proposes a unified framework to improve the performance of existing RBDO algorithms for complex RBDO problems. Our framework is based on three new strategies: generalized decoupling evolutionary and metaheuristic RBDO framework, particle's memory saving strategy, and adaptive fractional-order equilibrium optimizer algorithm. The proposed algorithm is characterized by a decoupling strategy to enable the parallel operation of the inner reliability computation and outer deterministic optimization, a particle's memory saving strategy to provide effective guidance from the previous iteration, and the adaptive fractional-order equilibrium optimizer algorithm to enhance the search efficiency and global convergence capacity. To evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm, a wide range of experiments are conducted on different types of use cases. The experimental results demonstrate that our algorithm provides superior performance over other comparative algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new meta-heuristic algorithm is proposed. • Giving the Wolf the ability to fly like an Aquila. • A new nonlinear reduction strategy is proposed. • Compared with other well-known algorithms. • The superiority and effectiveness of the algorithm are verified. The grey wolf optimizer(GWO) is an effective meta-heuristic algorithm. However, since the update of the search agent's position often depends on the alpha wolf, it is easy to fall into a local optimal solution. Therefore, this paper proposes an improved GWO algorithm to solve the global optimization. The improved algorithm is inspired by the Aquila Optimizer(AO), which enables some wolves to have the ability to fly, expand their search range to improve the global search ability and reduce the possibility of falling into the local optimum. At the same time, a new reduction strategy is proposed, which mainly emphasizes the exploitation ability of grey wolf and the exploration ability of Aquila, which is used to balance the two stages of exploration and exploitation. In order to verify the effectiveness of the algorithm, the algorithm was benchmarked on 23 well-known test functions and compared with other popular meta-heuristic algorithms. The results show that our proposed algorithm has good performance. Finally, it is applied to four practical engineering problems, and the results show that the algorithm is suitable for challenging problems with unknown search space. Matlab codes of AO are available at https://ww2.mathworks.cn/matlabcentral/fileexchange/110410-grey-wolf-optimizer-based-on-aquila-exploration-method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the novelty of the Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO), there is no study in the literature to design a multi-objective version of this algorithm. This paper proposes a Multi-Objective Grey Wolf Optimizer (MOGWO) in order to optimize problems with multiple objectives for the first time. A fixed-sized external archive is integrated to the GWO for saving and retrieving the Pareto optimal solutions. This archive is then employed to define the social hierarchy and simulate the hunting behavior of grey wolves in multi-objective search spaces. The proposed method is tested on 10 multi-objective benchmark problems and compared with two well-known meta-heuristics: Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithm Based on Decomposition (MOEA/D) and Multi-Objective Particle Swarm Optimization (MOPSO). The qualitative and quantitative results show that the proposed algorithm is able to provide very competitive results and outperforms other algorithms. Note that the source codes of MOGWO are publicly available at http://www.alimirjalili.com/GWO.html . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Harmony Search (HS) algorithm is a new population-based meta-heuristic which imitates the music improvisation process and has been successfully applied to a variety of combination optimization problems. In this paper, a self-adaptive harmony particle swarm optimization search algorithm, named SHPSOS, is proposed to solve global continuous optimization problems. Firstly, an efficient initialization scheme based on the PSO algorithm is presented for improving the solution quality of the initial harmony memory (HM). Secondly, a new self-adaptive adjusting scheme for pitch adjusting rate (PAR) and distance bandwidth (BW), which can balance fast convergence and large diversity during the improvisation step, are designed. PAR is dynamically adapted by symmetrical sigmoid curve, and BW is dynamically adjusted by the median of the harmony vector at each generation. Meanwhile, a new effective improvisation scheme based on differential evolution and the best harmony (best individual) is developed to accelerate convergence performance and to improve solution accuracy. Besides, Gaussian mutation strategy is presented and embedded in the SHPSOS algorithm to reinforce the robustness and avoid premature convergence in the evolution process of candidates. Finally, the global convergence performance of the SHPSOS is analyzed with the Markov model to testify the stability of algorithm. Experimental results on thirty-two standard benchmark functions demonstrate that SHPSOS outperforms original HS and the other related algorithms in terms of the solution quality and the stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses a problem of the two-stage reentrant flexible flow shop (RFFS) with blocking constraint ( FFS|2-stage,rcrc,block|C max ). The objective is to find the optimal sequences in order to minimize the makespan. In this study, the hybridization of GA (HGA: hybrid genetic algorithm) with adaptive auto-tuning based on fuzzy logic controller and the hybridization of PSO (HPSO: hybrid particle swarm optimization) with Cauchy distribution were developed to solve the problem. The encoding and decoding routines that appropriate for blocking constraint and Relax-Blocking algorithm for improving chromosome and particle were suggested. Experimental results reveal that the HPSO and HGA algorithms give better solutions than the classical metaheuristics, GA and PSO, for all test problems respectively. Additionally, the relative improvement ( RI ) of the makespan solutions obtained by the proposed algorithms with respect to those of the current practice is performed in order to measure the quality of the makespan solutions generated by the proposed algorithms. The RI results show that the HGA and HPSO algorithms can improve the makespan solution by averages of 15.51% and 15.60%, respectively. We found that the performance of the HGA is not significantly competitive as compared to the HPSO but its computational times are significantly higher than those of the HPSO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sine cosine algorithm (SCA) is a recently developed and widely used metaheuristic to perform global optimization tasks. Due to its simplicity in structure and reasonable performance, it has been utilized to solve several real-world applications. This paper proposes an alternate version of the SCA by adopting the greedy approach of search, crossover and exponentially decreased transition control parameter to overcome the issues of low exploitation, insufficient diversity and premature convergence. The proposed algorithm, called ECr-SCA, is validated and compared with the original SCA using computational time, diversity, performance index, statistical and convergence analysis on a set of 23 standard benchmark problems. Later, the proposed ECr-SCA is compared with seventeen other algorithms including improved versions of the SCA and state-of-the-art algorithms. Furthermore, the ECr-SCA is used to train multi-layer perceptron and the results are compared with variants of SCA and other metaheuristics. Overall comparison based on several different metrics illustrates the significant improvement in the search strategy of the SCA by the proposal of the ECr-SCA. • The enhanced sine cosine algorithm (ECr-SCA) is proposed for global optimization. • A greedy search and modified transition parameter are used to increase exploitation. • The multi-parent crossover is embedded to enhance diversity and global search. • The excellent performance of the ECr-SCA is validated on benchmark problems. • The ECr-SCA is also used to train multilayer perceptron. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A novel optimizer called Chimp Optimization Algorithm (ChOA) is proposed. • ChOA is inspired by individual intelligence and sexual motivation of chimps. • ChOA alleviates the problems of slow convergence rate and trapping in local optima. • The four main steps of Chimp hunting are implemented. This paper proposes a novel metaheuristic algorithm called Chimp Optimization Algorithm (ChOA) inspired by the individual intelligence and sexual motivation of chimps in their group hunting, which is different from the other social predators. ChOA is designed to further alleviate the two problems of slow convergence speed and trapping in local optima in solving high-dimensional problems. In this paper, a mathematical model of diverse intelligence and sexual motivation of chimps is proposed. In this regard, four types of chimps entitled attacker, barrier, chaser, and driver are employed for simulating the diverse intelligence. Moreover, four main steps of hunting, i.e. driving, chasing, blocking, and attacking, are implemented. The proposed ChOA algorithm is evaluated in 3 main phases. First, a set of 30 mathematical benchmark functions is utilized to investigate various characteristics of ChOA. Secondly, ChOA was tested by 13 high-dimensional test problems. Finally, 10 real-world optimization problems were used to evaluate the performance of ChOA. The results are compared to several newly proposed meta-heuristic algorithms in terms of convergence speed, the probability of getting stuck in local minimums, and exploration, exploitation. Also, statistical tests were employed to investigate the significance of the results. The results indicate that the ChOA outperforms the other benchmark optimization algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: System reliability analysis and optimization are important to efficiently utilize available resources and to develop an optimal system design architecture. System reliability optimization has been solved by using optimization techniques including meta-heuristics. Meanwhile, the development of meta-heuristics has been an active research field of the reliability optimization wherein the redundancy, the component reliability, or both are to be determined. In recent years, a broad class of stochastic meta-heuristics, such as simulated annealing, genetic algorithm, tabu search, ant colony, and particle swarm optimization paradigms, has been developed for reliability-redundancy optimization of systems. Recently, a new kind of evolutionary algorithm called Imperialist Competitive Algorithm (ICA) was proposed. The ICA is based on imperialistic competition where the populations are represented by countries, which are classified as imperialists or colonies. However, the trade-off between the exploration (i.e. the global search) and the exploitation (i.e. the local search) of the search space is critical to the success of the classical ICA approach. An improvement in the ICA by implementing an attraction and repulsion concept during the search for better solutions, the AR-ICA approach, is proposed in this paper. Simulations results demonstrates the AR-ICA is an efficient optimization technique, since it obtained promising solutions for the reliability redundancy allocation problem when compared with the previously best-known results of four different benchmarks for the reliability-redundancy allocation problem presented in the literature. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to develop design scheme based on an easy-to-use meta-heuristic approach with superior reliability and validity for fixed-structure robust controllers, satisfying both multiple control specifications and system stability conditions. For this purpose, a particle swarm optimizer is first developed, which reduces the probability of premature convergence to local optima in the PSO (particle swarm optimization) by exploiting the particle’s local social learning based on the idea of cyclic-network topology. Next, it is shown how to obtain a fixed-structure robust controller with constraints on multiple H ∞ specifications and system stability based on the developed PSO technique incorporated with a simple constraint handling method. Finally, typical numerical examples are studied to show the applicability of the proposed methodology to the synthesis of fixed-structure robust controllers. These examples clearly verify that the developed design scheme gives a novel and powerful impetus with remarkable reliability to fixed-structure robust controller syntheses. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• We integrate a PSO with a NN and ERNN to form PSO-NN and PSO-ERNN metaheuristic models. • The PSO trains the NN and ERNN to achieve faster convergence and avoid local minima. • The PSO-NN and PSO-ERNN models are evaluated using ten benchmark classification datasets. • The accuracy and computational efficiency of the models are improved. • The PSO-ERNN model outperforms the PSO-NN model for most of the tested datasets. There are several types of neural networks (NNs) that are widely used for data classification tasks. The supervised learning NN is an advanced network with a training algorithm for setting the weights and biases of the network in its training phase. However, traditional training algorithms such as backpropagation have some drawbacks, such as slow convergence speed and falling into local minima, which reduces the performance of the classifier. Therefore, different nature-inspired metaheuristic algorithms are integrated with the NN training algorithms to provide derivative-free solutions for complex classification problems. Consequently, this paper proposes the integration of a particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm with an improved Elman recurrent neural network (ERNN) to form a PSO-ERNN metaheuristic model. The key contribution of this study is the development of a new dimensional equation for ERNN architecture and the integration of PSO in ERNN learning to produce the PSO-ERNN model. The PSO is constructed to train the NN and ERNN models to achieve a fast convergence rate and avoid local minima problems. The PSO-ERNN model is validated by comparing it against the standard PSO-NN metaheuristic model and similar models from the literature. The PSO-NN and PSO-ERNN models are tested and evaluated using ten benchmark classification problems of breast cancer, heart, hepatitis, liver, wine, iris, lung cancer, yeast, Pima Indians diabetes, and ionosphere datasets. In the training phase, the results show that the PSO-ERNN model performs better than the PSO-NN model when the training set has a bigger size of samples. In the testing phase, the PSO-ERNN model outperforms the PSO-NN model for all the tested datasets except the lung cancer and yeast datasets, in which the accuracy percentage slightly decreases. In the validation phase, the PSO-ERNN model shows better performance quality in terms of accuracy percentage in six of the tested datasets. The average percentage of the training, testing, and validation accumulation show that the PSO-NN performs better than the PSO-ERNN in the lung cancer (87.27, 83.32), and heart (73.56, 70.64) datasets. On the other hand, the PSO-ERNN performs better than the PSO-NN in the iris (88.18, 86.74), hepatitis (88.60, 87.93), wine (89.16, 86.08), liver (73.56, 70.64), ionosphere (83.98, 78.94), and breast cancer (94.84, 91.17). PSO-NN and PSO-ERNN produce the same average results in the Pima Indians diabetes (84.00, 84.00) and yeast (91.31, 91.30) dataset. These results show clearly that the PSO-ERNN generally outperforms the PSO-NN when considering the overall results of the ten datasets. Nevertheless, the combinations of the PSO-NN and PSO-ERNN are proven to represent consistent and robust classification methods. The computational efficiencies of the training processes in both the PSO-NN and PSO-ERNN models are highly improved when coupled with the PSO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new method to solve global optimization and engineering problems called m-EO. • Opposition based learning is devised to enhance the population diversity. • Novel update rules have been designed to improve exploitation and exploration. • Evaluation of proposed m-EO on 35 benchmark functions and 3 engineering problems. • Comparisons demonstrate that the superiority of the proposed m-EO. Equilibrium Optimizer (EO) is a newly developed physics-based metaheuristic algorithm that is based on control volume mass balance models, and has shown competitive performance with other state-of-the-art algorithms. However, the original EO has the disadvantages of a low exploitation ability, ease of falling into local optima, and an immature balance between exploration and exploitation. To address these shortcomings, this paper proposes a modified EO (m-EO) using opposition-based learning (OBL) and novel update rules that incorporates four main modifications: the definition of the concentrations of some particles based on OBL, a new nonlinear time control strategy, novel population update rules and a chaos-based strategy. Based on these modifications, the optimization precision and convergence speed of the original EO are greatly improved. The validity of m-EO is tested on 35 classical benchmark functions, 25 of which have variants belonging to multiple difficulty categories (Dim = 30, 100, 300, 500 and 1000). In addition, m-EO is used to solve three real-world engineering design problems. The experimental results and two different statistical tests demonstrate that the proposed m-EO shows higher performance than original EO and other state-of-the-art algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Optimization algorithms are widely employed for finding optimal solutions in many applications. Stochastic optimization algorithms including nature-inspired optimization algorithms are simple and easy to implement, and this is the reason why there is a growing interest in this research area. Recently, many nature-inspired optimization algorithms have been proposed for solving many optimization problems. Moreover, with the aim of improving the performance of optimization algorithms, some modifications were applied such as combining different algorithms and employing some sampling techniques for replacing critical parameters in the optimization algorithms. This paper compares five different widely used PSO-style optimization algorithms to investigate if there is a significant difference between them or not. Theoretically, we explain different PSO-style algorithms and discuss the similarities and differences between them. Practically, a number of experiments were conducted to compare these algorithms. Theoretical analysis and practical results prove that there is not any significant difference between the PSO-style algorithms regarding their performance. • Nature-inspired optimization algorithms are used to solve optimization problems. • Many comparisons are presented to compare PSO-style optimization algorithms. • Under the same metaheuristic framework, the algorithms perform similarly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advances in metaheuristics have shown the advantages of using the Lévy distribution, which models a kind of random walk (named "Lévy flight") with occasional "big" steps. This characteristic makes Lévy flight especially useful for performing large "jumps" that allow the search to escape from a local optimum and restart in a different region of the search space. In this paper, we investigate this idea by applying Lévy flight to Jaya, a simple yet effective Swarm Intelligence optimization algorithm recently proposed in the literature. We perform experiments on the CEC 2014 benchmark as well as five industrial optimization problems taken from the CEC 2011 benchmark, and compare the performance of the proposed Lévy flight Jaya Algorithm (LJA) against several state-of-the-art algorithms for continuous optimization. Our numerical results show that, although both Jaya and LJA are in general less efficient than the most advanced algorithms on the CEC 2014 benchmark, LJA largely outperforms the original Jaya algorithm in most cases, and is also highly competitive on the tested industrial problems. • We present the Lévy flight Jaya Algorithm (LJA) for continuous optimization. • We evaluate the effect of the β parameter on LJA. • LJA consistently outperforms the original Jaya on most optimization problems. • We compare LJA with state-of-the-art algorithms on benchmark/industrial problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We propose a novel metaheuristic based on vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) process. • We present a new binary programming model for the PBAP modeled via the COP technique. • We perform a large composition between VLE and different already reported methods. Bio-inspired computing is an emerging paradigm which is based on the basics and inspiration of natural phenomena to design new and robust competing techniques. Various nature science areas have motivated the inspiration for the design of new intelligent systems. Chemical engineering is one of them. In Chemistry, the vapor-liquid equilibrium process describes the distribution of chemical species combining two essential phases: vapor phase and liquid phase. Using a binary system of compounds is possible to simulate a search process based on the equilibrium between both phases. In this paper, we propose a new algorithm inspired by this chemical phenomenon for solving a new patient bed assignment problem. This problem consists of assigning patients to beds by considering relevant medical requirements trying to maximize the most covered soft constraints. For that, we take a traditional model, and we transform it by using the constraint optimization paradigm. We test our algorithm on 30 benchmarks taken of Chilean health services. To verify results, we perform statistical comparatives with artificial bee algorithm, ant colony optimization, the bat method, cuckoo search, genetic algorithm, particle swarm optimization, and a random strategy. Computational experiments illustrate that the VLE algorithm properly solved 30 instances, finding all global optimal. In nineteen instances, VLE converged towards the best solution in its median value. In ten instances, the median, the average and the best value, all of them achieved the global optimal. Now, when comparing VLE against other techniques, we can note that VLE is surpassed by the artificial bee colony in two instances only. The rest of the results show VLE as a robust algorithm able to suppress classical, such as genetic algorithm and particle swarm optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new method has been proposed, known as MSCA, for global optimization. • The MSCA improves the SCA using a novel transition parameter and mutation operator. • A set of 33 benchmark problems is used to examine the MSCA. • The MSCA is also used to solve real-engineering problems and to train multilayer perceptron. • Comparisons illustrate the improvement in the performance of the MSCA. Inspired by the mathematical characteristics of sine and cosine trigonometric functions, the Sine Cosine Algorithm (SCA) has shown competitive performance among other meta-heuristic algorithms. However, despite its sufficient global search ability, its low exploitation ability and immature balance between exploitation and exploration remain weaknesses. In order to improve Sine Cosine Algorithm (SCA), this paper presents a modified version of the SCA called MSCA. Firstly, a non-linear transition rule is introduced instead of a linear transition to provide comparatively better transition from the exploration to exploitation. Secondly, the classical search equation of the SCA is modified by introducing the leading guidance based on the elite candidate solution. When the above proposed modified search mechanism fails to provide a better solution, in addition, a mutation operator is used to generate a new position to avoid the situation of getting trapped in locally optimal solutions during the search. Thus, the MSCA effectively maximizes the advantages of proposed strategies in maintaining a comparatively better balance of exploration and exploitation as compared to the classical SCA. The validity of the MSCA is tested on a set of 33 benchmark optimization problems and employed for training multilayer perceptrons. The numerical results and comparisons among several algorithms show the enhanced search efficiency of the MSCA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The 0–1 multidimensional knapsack problem is a very popular combinatorial optimization problem. • We design a quantum particle swarm algorithm with diversity preserving and effective local optimization. • We show the competitiveness of the proposed algorithm compared to the state-of-the-art. Quantum particle swarm optimization is a population-based metaheuristic that becomes popular in recent years in the field of binary optimization. In this paper, we investigate a novel quantum particle swarm optimization algorithm, which integrates a distanced-based diversity-preserving strategy for population management and a local optimization method based on variable neighborhood descent for solution improvement. We evaluate the proposed method on the classic NP-hard 0–1 multidimensional knapsack problem. We present extensive computational results on the 270 benchmark instances commonly used in the literature to show the competitiveness of the proposed algorithm compared to several state-of-the-art algorithms. The ideas of using the diversity-preserving strategy and the probabilistic application of a local optimization procedure are of general interest and can be used to reinforce other quantum particle swarm algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Lévy flight and greedy selection scheme has been incorporated into JAYA algorithm. • The index of Lévy distribution is made adaptive over the course of iteration. • Tested on the benchmark functions and three non-linear communication channels. • Lévy flight improves the exploration capability of JAYA eliminating diversity loss • Statistical validity of obtained results is tested using Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Neural network (NN) based equalizers are known to outperform the linear equalizers based on finite impulse response (FIR) adaptive filter for highly dispersive and non-linear channels. To overcome the limitations of the back - propagation (BP) algorithm, metaheuristic algorithms are emerging as promising alternatives for training the NN based equalizers. JAYA is a simple and efficient metaheuristic algorithm. Hence, its application to channel equalization problem is worth investigating. Despite its simplicity and efficiency, the JAYA algorithm has problems such as being trapped in local minima due to insufficient diversity of population and weak exploration capability. To alleviate these issues, in this paper the concept of Lévy flight (LF) and greedy selection scheme has been incorporated into the basic JAYA algorithm. The LF concept enhances the population diversity and thus avoids the state of stagnation. The greedy selection scheme is employed to improve the exploitation ability without loss of population diversity. Furthermore, in order to maintain the balance between the exploration and exploitation capabilities of the algorithm, an adaptive Lévy index is proposed based on a linear control parameter strategy. An extensive simulation-based sensitivity analysis of proposed method called JAYA algorithm with Lévy flight (JAYALF) with respect to key parameters is carried out to select the optimized values for these parameters. In order to validate the local optima avoidance ability, exploitation and convergence rate of the proposed JAYALF algorithm, it is tested on seventeen well-known unimodal and multimodal benchmark functions and to verify the effectiveness of the JAYALF for non-linear channel equalization problem, three wireless communication channels with two different nonlinearities have been considered for simulation. In addition, the non-parametric pairwise Wilcoxon rank-sum test has been employed to test the statistical validity of the results obtained from JAYALF. The results of experiments and statistical test demonstrate that the proposed algorithm significantly outperforms JAYA, variants of JAYA, state-of-the-art algorithms and BP algorithm in terms of solution quality, convergence speed, and robustness. Furthermore, the results of experimental analyses conducted indicate that proposed JAYALF algorithm has a better exploration ability and rapidly converges without getting stuck in local optima. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]