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This article considers a box-constrained global optimization problem for Lipschitz continuous functions with an unknown Lipschitz constant. The well-known derivative-free global search algorithm DIRECT (DIvide RECTangle) is a promising approach for such problems. Several studies have shown that recent two-step (global and local) Pareto selection-based algorithms are very efficient among all DIRECT-type approaches. However, despite its encouraging performance, it was also observed that the candidate selection procedure has two possible shortcomings. First, there is no limit on how small the size of selected candidates can be. Secondly, a balancing strategy between global and local candidate selection is missing. Therefore, it may waste function evaluations by over-exploring the current local minimum and delaying finding the global one. This paper reviews and employs different strategies in a two-step Pareto selection framework (1-DTC-GL) to overcome these limitations. A detailed experimental study has revealed that existing strategies do not always improve and sometimes even worsen results. Since 1-DTC-GL is a DIRECT-type algorithm, the results of this paper provide general guidance for all DIRECT-type algorithms on how to deal with excessive local refinement more efficiently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a new method of optimization by the Layered Algorithm (LA). The proposed algorithm reduces the initial area to the sub-area containing the optimum. The proposed technique is based on the classification of the optimized function values (data sampled by sensors). The classification method uses a two-dimensional three-state Cellular Automata (CA). The CA classifies all area points ascribed to the CA cells based on their values. Specification of the categorization layers to the data gives a possibility to identify the different levels areas. Consequently, after analysis, a sub-area containing the optimum can be designated. In this paper, the proposed algorithm is applied to find the location of the airborne contaminant source by analyzing the concentration of released substances reported by mobile sensors distributed over the domain of interest. The Gaussian dispersion model simulation of the contaminant dispersion in the urbanized area is applied to generate the data used to verify the efficiency of the proposed Layered Algorithm. The LA successfully estimates the sub-area of the considered domain where the contamination source is located, taking to account data from sensors solely. • Optimization method reducing the initial area to the sub-area containing the optimum. • Verification of the Layered Algorithm (LA) with Selected Benchmark Functions. • Analysis of the LA efficiency to localize the airborne contaminant source. • LA results assessment by the measures: classification and accuracy error, relevance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper solves the shortcomings of sparrow search algorithm in poor utilization to the current individual and lack of effective search, improves its search performance, achieves good results on 23 basic benchmark functions and CEC 2017, and effectively improves the problem that the algorithm falls into local optimal solution and has low search accuracy. This paper proposes an improved sparrow search algorithm based on iterative local search (ISSA). In the global search phase of the followers, the variable helix factor is introduced, which makes full use of the individual's opposite solution about the origin, reduces the number of individuals beyond the boundary, and ensures the algorithm has a detailed and flexible search ability. In the local search phase of the followers, an improved iterative local search strategy is adopted to increase the search accuracy and prevent the omission of the optimal solution. By adding the dimension by dimension lens learning strategy to scouters, the search range is more flexible and helps jump out of the local optimal solution by changing the focusing ability of the lens and the dynamic boundary of each dimension. Finally, the boundary control is improved to effectively utilize the individuals beyond the boundary while retaining the randomness of the individuals. The ISSA is compared with PSO, SCA, GWO, WOA, MWOA, SSA, BSSA, CSSA, and LSSA on 23 basic functions to verify the optimization performance of the algorithm. In addition, in order to further verify the optimization performance of the algorithm when the optimal solution is not 0, the above algorithms are compared in CEC 2017 test function. The simulation results show that the ISSA has good universality. Finally, this paper applies ISSA to PID parameter tuning and robot path planning, and the results show that the algorithm has good practicability and effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Imaging through the wavy water–air interface is challenging since the random fluctuations of water will cause complex geometric distortion and motion blur in the images, seriously affecting the effective identification of the monitored object. Considering the problems of image recovery accuracy and computational efficiency, an efficient reconstruction scheme that combines lucky-patch search and image registration technologies was proposed in this paper. Firstly, a high-quality reference frame is rebuilt using a lucky-patch search strategy. Then an iterative registration algorithm is employed to remove severe geometric distortions by registering warped frames to the reference frame. During the registration process, we integrate JADE and LBFGS algorithms as an optimization strategy to expedite the control parameter optimization process. Finally, the registered frames are refined using PCA and the lucky-patch search algorithm to remove residual distortions and random noise. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method significantly outperforms the state-of-the-art methods in terms of sharpness and contrast. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The combination of non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) and intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) is an efficient solution to significantly enhance the energy efficiency of the wireless communication system. In this paper, a downlink multi-cluster NOMA network is considered, where each cluster is supported by one IRS. This paper aims to minimize the transmit power by jointly optimizing the beamforming, the power allocation and the phase shift of each IRS. The formulated problem is non-convex and challenging to be solved due to the coupled variables, i.e., the beamforming vector, the power allocation coefficient and the phase shift matrix. To address this non-convex problem, an alternating optimization based algorithm is proposed. Specifically, the primal problem is divided into two subproblems for beamforming optimization and phase shifting feasiblity, where the two subproblems are solved iteratively. Moreover, to guarantee the feasibility of the beamforming optimization problem, an iterative algorithm is proposed to search the feasible initial points. To reduce the complexity, a simplified algorithm based on partial exhaustive search for this system model is also proposed. Simulation results demonstrate that the proposed alternating algorithm can yield a better performance gain than the partial exhaustive search algorithm, NOMA with random IRS phase shift scheme and OMA-IRS scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feature selection provides the optimal subset of features for data mining models. However, current feature selection methods for high-dimensional data also require a better balance between feature subset quality and computational cost. In this paper, an efficient hybrid feature selection method (HFIA) based on artificial immune algorithm optimization is proposed to solve the feature selection problem of high-dimensional data. The algorithm combines filter algorithms and improves clone selection algorithms to explore the feature space of high-dimensional data. According to the target requirements of feature selection, combined with biological research results, this method introduces the lethal mutation mechanism and the Cauchy operator to improve the search performance of the algorithm. Moreover, the adaptive adjustment factor is introduced in the mutation and update phases of the algorithm. The effective combination of these mechanisms enables the algorithm to obtain a better search ability and lower computational costs. Experimental comparisons with 19 state-of-the-art feature selection methods are conducted on 25 high-dimensional benchmark datasets. The results show that the feature reduction rate for all datasets is above 99%, and the performance improvement for the classifier is between 5% and 48.33%. Compared with the five classical filtering feature selection methods, the computational cost of HFIA is lower than the two of them, and it is far better than these five algorithms in terms of the feature reduction rate and classification accuracy improvement. Compared with the 14 hybrid feature selection methods reported in the latest literature, the average winning rates in terms of classification accuracy, feature reduction rate, and computational cost are 85.83%, 88.33%, and 96.67%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate and effective wind power prediction plays an important role in wind power generation, distribution, and management. Inthis paper, a hybrid algorithm based on gradient descent and meta-heuristic optimization is designed to improve the accuracy of prediction and reduce the computational burden. The hybrid algorithm includes three steps: in the first step, we use the gradient descent algorithm to get the initial parameters. Secondly, we input the initial parameters into the meta-heuristic optimization algorithm to search for the "best parameters" (high-quality inferior solutions). Finally, we input optimized parameters into the RMSProp optimization algorithm and conduct gradient descent again to find a better solution. We used 2021 wind power data from Guangxi, China for the experiment. The results show that the hybrid prediction algorithm has better performance than the traditional Back Propagation (BP) in accuracy, stability, and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel metaheuristic optimization algorithm inspired by the geometrical features of circles, called the circle search algorithm (CSA). The circle is the most well-known geometric object, with various features including diameter, center, perimeter, and tangent lines. The ratio between the radius and the tangent line segment is the orthogonal function of the angle opposite to the orthogonal radius. This angle plays an important role in the exploration and exploitation behavior of the CSA. To evaluate the robustness of the CSA in comparison to other algorithms, many independent experiments employing 23 famous functions and 3 real engineering problems were carried out. The statistical results revealed that the CSA succeeded in achieving the minimum fitness values for 21 out of the tested 23 functions, and the p-value was less than 0.05. The results evidence that the CSA converged to the minimum results faster than the comparative algorithms. Furthermore, high-dimensional functions were used to assess the CSA's robustness, with statistical results revealing that the CSA is robust to high-dimensional problems. As a result, the proposed CSA is a promising algorithm that can be used to easily handle a wide range of optimization problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many optimization algorithms have been applied to solve high-dimensional instances of the 0-1 knapsack problem. However, these algorithms often fall into a local optimization trap and thus fail to obtain the global optimal solutions. To circumvent this shortcoming, a hybrid harmony search algorithm with distribution estimation is proposed in this paper. A few important features of the proposed algorithm are as follows: (i) the idea of probability distribution estimation is employed to design the adaptive search strategy, (ii) a fixed improvisation process is presented to improve the algorithm searching ability, (iii) a new method of initialization is used to ensure that the initialization is feasible harmony and (iv) an improved remediation approach is proposed to effectively repair the infeasible solutions. To assess the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, some experiments are carried out. The experimental results reveal that the proposed algorithm is a reliable and promising alternative for solving the 0-1 knapsack problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In fault detection and the diagnosis of large industrial systems, whose chemical processes usually exhibit complex, high-dimensional, time-varying and non-Gaussian characteristics, the classification accuracy of traditional methods is low. In this paper, a kernel limit learning machine (KELM) based on an adaptive variation sparrow search algorithm (AVSSA) is proposed. Firstly, the dataset is optimized by removing redundant features using the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBOOST) model. Secondly, a new optimization algorithm, AVSSA, is proposed to automatically adjust the network hyperparameters of KELM to improve the performance of the fault classifier. Finally, the optimized feature sequences are fed into the proposed classifier to obtain the final diagnosis results. The Tennessee Eastman (TE) chemical process is used to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method through multidimensional diagnostic metrics. The results show that our proposed diagnosis method can significantly improve the accuracy of TE process fault diagnosis compared with traditional optimization algorithms. The average diagnosis rate for 21 faults was 91.00%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Threshold segmentation has been widely used in recent years due to its simplicity and efficiency. The method of segmenting images by the two-dimensional maximum entropy is a species of the useful technique of threshold segmentation. However, the efficiency and stability of this technique are still not ideal and the traditional search algorithm cannot meet the needs of engineering problems. To mitigate the above problem, swarm intelligent optimization algorithms have been employed in this field for searching the optimal threshold vector. An effective technique of lightning attachment procedure optimization (LAPO) algorithm based on a two-dimensional maximum entropy criterion is offered in this paper, and besides, a chaotic strategy is embedded into LAPO to develop a new algorithm named CLAPO. In order to confirm the benefits of the method proposed in this paper, the other seven kinds of competitive algorithms, such as Ant–lion Optimizer (ALO) and Grasshopper Optimization Algorithm (GOA), are compared. Experiments are conducted on four different kinds of images and the simulation results are presented in several indexes (such as computational time, maximum fitness, average fitness, variance of fitness and other indexes) at different threshold levels for each test image. By scrutinizing the results of the experiment, the superiority of the introduced method is demonstrated, which can meet the needs of image segmentation excellently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the traditional tourism route planning algorithms only consider single-factor planning, that is, the influence of scenic spots on route planning. Particle swarm optimization algorithm is favored by many people because of its simple concept, easy implementation, and good robustness. Aiming at this problem, this paper takes the actual geographic data as the research object of the tourism route problem and describes the model of the discrete particle swarm algorithm based on geographic coordinates to solve the tourism route problem, which is used to solve practical problems. In order to further improve the global search ability of the algorithm, a self-balancing mechanism is proposed, which makes the algorithm process simple and the algorithm performance improved. At the same time, multithread parallelism is adopted to improve the solution speed of the algorithm, which makes up for the deficiency of the parallelization research of the algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Data clustering is a complex data mining problem that clusters a massive amount of data objects into a predefined number of clusters; in other words, it finds symmetric and asymmetric objects. Various optimization methods have been used to solve different machine learning problems. They usually suffer from local optimal problems and unbalance between the search mechanisms. This paper proposes a novel hybrid optimization method for solving various optimization problems. The proposed method is called HRSA, which combines the original Reptile Search Algorithm (RSA) and Remora Optimization Algorithm (ROA) and handles these mechanisms' search processes by a novel transition method. The proposed HRSA method aims to avoid the main weaknesses raised by the original methods and find better solutions. The proposed HRSA is tested on solving various complicated optimization problems—twenty-three benchmark test functions and eight data clustering problems. The obtained results illustrate that the proposed HRSA method performs significantly better than the original and comparative state-of-the-art methods. The proposed method overwhelmed all the comparative methods according to the mathematical problems. It obtained promising results in solving the clustering problems. Thus, HRSA has a remarkable efficacy when employed for various clustering problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The metaheuristic optimization algorithms are relatively new optimization algorithms introduced to solve optimization problems in recent years. For example, the firefly algorithm (FA) is one of the metaheuristic algorithms inspired by the fireflies' flashing behavior. However, its weakness in terms of exploration and early convergence has been pointed out. In this paper, two approaches were proposed to improve the FA. In the first proposed approach, a new improved opposition-based learning FA (IOFA) method was presented to accelerate the convergence and improve the FA's exploration capability. In the second proposed approach, a symbiotic organisms search (SOS) algorithm improved the exploration and exploitation of the first approach; two new parameters set these two goals, and the second approach was named IOFASOS. The purpose of the second method is that in the process of the SOS algorithm, the whole population is effective in the IOFA method to find solutions in the early stages of implementation, and with each iteration, fewer solutions are affected in the population. The experiments on 24 standard benchmark functions were conducted, and the first proposed approach showed a better performance in the small and medium dimensions and exhibited a relatively moderate performance in the higher dimensions. In contrast, the second proposed approach was better in increasing dimensions. In general, the empirical results showed that the two new approaches outperform other algorithms in most mathematical benchmarking functions. Thus, The IOFASOS model has more efficient solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel hybrid algorithm which is mathematically modelled by amalgamating the superior features of recently developed Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO), Sine Cosine Algorithm (SCA), and Crow Search Algorithm (CSA). Researchers have already implemented the aforementioned three algorithms and obtained superior quality results for solving diverse optimization problems. The novel hybrid Variegated GWO Algorithm (VGWO) developed in this proposed research work is initially realized and validated for solving IEEE CEC-C06 2019 benchmark functions. Thereafter, the proposed VGWO is utilized as an optimization tool to solve three emerging and complex power system optimization problems which includes energy management of microgrid systems operated in both islanded and grid-connected mode, dynamic economic emission dispatch and reactive power planning (RPP) problem. A comparative analysis of the proposed VGWO approach with other established metaheuristics is undertaken for each optimization problem. Numerical results show that the novel hybrid VGWO algorithm outperformed an ample number of optimization techniques in providing better quality solutions. The proposed hybrid algorithm yielded a 36.93% reduction in active power loss and 36.80% reduction in operating cost with respect to base case condition for RPP problem. Likewise while solving microgrid energy management problems 9–30% savings was realized in the generation cost compared to the ones mentioned in literature. The capability of handling many complex constraints within a minimum amount of computational time to provide consistently best solutions prioritize the proposed hybrid algorithm among its kinds. Statistical analysis validates the authenticity and viability of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to find the optimal path for emergency evacuation, this paper proposes a dynamic path optimization algorithm based on real-time information to search the optimal path and it takes fire accident as an example to introduce the algorithm principle. Before the accidents, it uses the Dijkstra algorithm to get the prior evacuation network which includes evacuation paths from each node to the exit port. When the accidents occur, the evacuees are unable to pass through the passage where the accident point and the blocking point are located, then the proposed method uses the breadth-first search strategy to solve the path optimization problem based on the prior evacuation network, and it dynamically updates the evacuation path according to the real-time information. Because the prior evacuation network includes global optimal evacuation paths from each node to the exit port, the breadth-first search algorithm only searches local optimal paths to avoid the blockage node or dangerous area. Because the online optimization solves a local pathfinding problem and the entire topology optimization is an offline calculation, the proposed method can find the optimal path in a short time when the accident situation changes. The simulation tests the performances of the proposed algorithm with different situations based on the topology of a building, and the results show that the proposed algorithm is effective to get the optimal path in a short time when it faces changes caused by the factors such as evacuee size, people distribution, blockage location, and accident points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Van Genuchten (VG) equation is the most commonly used equation of soil moisture characteristic curve, and the accuracy of its parameters directly affects the calculation accuracy of soil moisture motion equation. In order to obtain the parameters of the equation more accurately, this paper establishes an optimization model of the VG equation parameters. This optimization model uses the advantages of the cuckoo search algorithm and the differential evolution algorithm to combine the two into a new hybrid cuckoo search algorithm, namely DECS algorithm, and uses this algorithm to solve the parameter optimization problem of VG equation of soil moisture characteristic curve. By collecting and analyzing the relevant experimental data of various soil qualities, the dehumidification and moisture absorption curves of three different soil qualities were selected for simulation calculation. The results show that in the experiment of solving the parameter estimation problem of the VG equation, the DECS hybrid algorithm has better exploration and development capabilities than the cuckoo search algorithm. The hybrid algorithm has relatively significant performance in terms of calculation accuracy and convergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel hybrid Taguchi-vortex search algorithm (HTVS) is proposed for solving global optimization problems. Taguchi orthogonal approximation and vortex search algorithm (VS) are hybridized in presenting method. In HTVS, orthogonal arrays in the Taguchi method are trained and obtained better solutions are used to find global optima in VS. Thus, HTVS has better relation between exploration and exploitation, and it exhibits more powerful approximation to find global optimum value. Proposed HTVS algorithm is applied to sixteen well-known benchmark optimization test functions with different dimensions. The results are compared with the Taguchi orthogonal array approximation (TOAA), vortex search algorithm, grey wolf optimizer (GWO), sine cosine algorithm (SCA), moth-flame optimization algorithm (MFO), whale optimization algorithm (WOA) and salp swarm algorithm (SSA). In order to compare the effectiveness of HTVS statistically, Wilcoxon signed-rank test (WSRT) is used in this study. Furthermore, HTVS is applied to two different real engineering problems having some constraints (tension/compression spring design and pressure vessel design). All obtained results suggested that HTVS can find optimal or very close to optimal results. Moreover, it has good computational ability and fast convergence behavior as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feature selection is an essential step in the preprocessing of data in pattern recognition and data mining. Nowadays, the feature selection problem as an optimization problem can be solved with nature-inspired algorithm. In this paper, we propose an efficient feature selection method based on the cuckoo search algorithm called CBCSEM. The proposed method avoids the premature convergence of traditional methods and the tendency to fall into local optima, and this efficient method is attributed to three aspects. Firstly, the chaotic map increases the diversity of the initialization of the algorithm and lays the foundation for its convergence. Then, the proposed two-population elite preservation strategy can find the attractive one of each generation and preserve it. Finally, Lévy flight is developed to update the position of a cuckoo, and the proposed uniform mutation strategy avoids the trouble that the search space is too large for the convergence of the algorithm due to Lévy flight and improves the algorithm exploitation ability. The experimental results on several real UCI datasets show that the proposed method is competitive in comparison with other feature selection algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past few decades, there has been a surge of interest of using swarm intelligence (SI) in computer-aided optimization. SI algorithms have demonstrated their efficacy in solving various types of real-world optimization problems. However, it is impossible to find an optimization algorithm that can obtain the global optimum for every optimization problem. Therefore, researchers extensively try to improve methods of solving complex optimization problems. Many SI search algorithms are widely applied to solve such problems. ABC is one of the most popular algorithms in solving different kinds of optimization problems. However, it has a weak local search performance where the equation of solution search in ABC performs good exploration, but poor exploitation. Besides, it has a fast convergence and can therefore be trapped in the local optima for some complex multimodal problems. In order to address such issues, this paper proposes a novel hybrid ABC with outstanding local search algorithm called β-hill climbing (βHC) and denoted by ABC–βHC. The aim is to improve the exploitation mechanism of the standard ABC. The proposed algorithm was experimentally tested with parameters tuning process and validated using selected benchmark functions with different characteristics, and it was also evaluated and compared with well-known state-of-the-art algorithms. The evaluation process was investigated using different common measurement metrics. The result showed that the proposed ABC–βHC had faster convergence in most benchmark functions and outperformed eight algorithms including the original ABC in terms of all the selected measurement metrics. For more validation, Wilcoxon's rank sum statistical test was conducted, and the p values were found to be mostly less than 0.05, which demonstrates that the superiority of the proposed ABC–βHC is statistically significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In planning and operation processes of power systems, the most critical and outstanding problem is the optimal scheduling of reactive power resources. The current research study considered real power loss as well as the deviation of voltage magnitude as objective functions since these two play important roles in a power system's operations and control. Due to the above-mentioned considerations, bi-objective optimization takes a form here. In the recent times, lot of meta-heuristic optimization techniques was implemented to elucidate ORPD problem. One such recently advanced algorithm named Interior Search Algorithm is utilized to find a solution for challenges in power system. It is observed that it is not producing accurate solution and convergence characteristic curve is also not smooth. In order to enhance the searching ability of ISA a new method called Levy Interior Search Algorithm (LISA) was proposed in this paper. In this two different strategies of LISA were proposed. In order to validate the proposed algorithm, LISA is implemented on five various standard test systems comprising IEEE 30-bus, IEEE 57-bus, IEEE 118-bus, IEEE 300-bus and IEEE 354-bus test systems. To conclude, application results of LISA are compared with the results of other optimization techniques reported in literature. The comparison reveals that the LISA Strategy-II outperformed all other optimization techniques in terms of robustness, accuracy and convergence speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Estimation of a highly accurate model for photovoltaic (PV) modules and solar cells from experimental data is an important task for researchers for the simulation, evaluation and design of Photovoltaic systems. In this paper, we propose three optimization techniques for the portrayal of the comparable electrical model of photovoltaic cell. The models with three, four and parameters, separately are considered. The Bat Algorithm (BA), Cuckoo search optimization (CSO) and Firefly Algorithm (FA) are utilized as an optimization tool for the extraction of the model parameters by arriving at the worldwide least arrangement in a brief span with an excellent exactness dependent on the minimization of the quadratic error among exploratory and hypothetical attributes. The reproduction results show that the proposed methodology is compelling for displaying the single model RTC cell just as the module. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The optimisation of the corridor allocation problem (CAP) belongs to the optimisation of the efficiency of the automated production line. The goal is to reduce the material handling cost (MHC) in the production process through a reasonable layout of the facilities, so as to save expenses for the enterprise. In recent years, with the acceleration of market changes, product design and production process adjustments have become more frequent, and more attention has been paid to the research on the layout of facilities under the condition of changes in the flow of materials between production facilities over time. On the basis of the CAP model, this paper considers the optimisation problem of row layout when the flow of materials between facilities fluctuates in a certain range. The new model can be utilised to obtain the overall optimisation solution under the condition of the floating material flow matrix, so as to achieve the goal of optimising the total MHC in the entire production process. As the new model introduces more variables and intermediate parameters, a two-stage solution method is previously required, which greatly increases the time to solve the problem. This paper proposes a targeted meta-heuristic algorithm optimisation method combining the advantages of tabu search algorithm and harmony search algorithm, which simplifies the solution phase of calling the precise solver in the two-stage algorithm of row facility layout problem, improves the problem solving efficiency, and makes the solution of large-scale problems become possible. The proposed model is verified through Lingo software, and then the model and the hybrid algorithm in the MATLAB environment are verified with each other. Finally, the proposed simplified algorithm is utilised to solve the large-scale problems that could not be solved by the two-stage algorithm before. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the problem of makespan minimization on unrelated parallel machines with sequence dependent setup times. The symbiotic organisms search (SOS) algorithm is a new and popular global optimization technique that has received wide acceptance in recent years from researchers in continuous and discrete optimization domains. An improved SOS algorithm is developed to solve the parallel machine scheduling problem. Since the standard SOS algorithm was originally developed to solve continuous optimization problems, a new solution representation and decoding procedure is designed to make the SOS algorithm suitable for the unrelated parallel machine scheduling problem (UPMSP). Similarly, to enhance the solution quality of the SOS algorithm, an iterated local search strategy based on combining variable numbers of insertion and swap moves is incorporated into the SOS algorithm. More so, to further improve the SOS optimization speed and performance, the longest processing time first (LPT) rule is used to design a machine assignment heuristic that assigns processing machines to jobs based on the machine dynamic load-balancing mechanism. Subsequently, the machine assignment scheme is incorporated into SOS algorithms and used to solve the UPMSP. The performances of the proposed methods are evaluated by comparing their solutions with other existing techniques from the literature. A number of statistical tests were also conducted to determine the variations in performance for each of the techniques. The experimental results showed that the SOS with LPT (SOS-LPT) heuristic has the best performance compared to other tested method, which is closely followed by SOS algorithm, indicating that the two proposed algorithms’ solution approaches are reasonable and effective for solving large-scale UPMSPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce a multidimensional multiblock clustering (MDMBC) algorithm in this paper. MDMBC can generate overlapping clusters with similar values along clusters of dimensions. The parsimonious binary vector representation of multidimensional clusters lends itself to the application of efficient meta-heuristic optimization algorithms. In this paper, a hill-climbing (HC) greedy search algorithm has been presented that can be extended by several stochastic and population-based meta-heuristic frameworks. The benefits of the algorithm are demonstrated in a bi-clustering benchmark problem and in the analysis of the Leiden higher education ranking system, which measures the scientific performance of 903 institutions along four dimensions of 20 indicators representing publication output and collaboration in different scientific fields and time periods. • Multiblock clustering algorithm generates overlapping clusters along clusters of dimensions. • Generalized parsimonious binary vector-based representation for higher-dimensions. • The proposed algorithms are demonstrated via an open multidimensional dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chimp Optimization Algorithm (ChOA), a novel meta-heuristic algorithm, has been proposed in recent years. It divides the population into four different levels for the purpose of hunting. However, there are still some defects that lead to the algorithm falling into the local optimum. To overcome these defects, an Enhanced Chimp Optimization Algorithm (EChOA) is developed in this paper. Highly Disruptive Polynomial Mutation (HDPM) is introduced to further explore the population space and increase the population diversity. Then, the Spearman's rank correlation coefficient between the chimps with the highest fitness and the lowest fitness is calculated. In order to avoid the local optimization, the chimps with low fitness values are introduced with Beetle Antenna Search Algorithm (BAS) to obtain visual ability. Through the introduction of the above three strategies, the ability of population exploration and exploitation is enhanced. On this basis, this paper proposes an EChOA-SVM model, which can optimize parameters while selecting the features. Thus, the maximum classification accuracy can be achieved with as few features as possible. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, the proposed method is compared with seven common methods, including the original algorithm. Seventeen benchmark datasets from the UCI machine learning library are used to evaluate the accuracy, number of features, and fitness of these methods. Experimental results show that the classification accuracy of the proposed method is better than the other methods on most data sets, and the number of features required by the proposed method is also less than the other algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rank similarity measures provide a method for quantifying differences between search engine results without the need for relevance judgments. For example, the providers of a search service might use such measures to estimate the impact of a proposed algorithmic change across a large number of queries—perhaps millions—identifying those queries where the impact is greatest. In this paper, we propose and validate a family of rank similarity measures, each derived from an associated effectiveness measure. Each member of the family is based on the maximization of effectiveness difference under this associated measure. Computing this maximized effectiveness difference (MED) requires the solution of an optimization problem that varies in difficulty, depending on the associated measure. We present solutions for several standard effectiveness measures, including nDCG, AP, and ERR. Through an experimental validation, we show that MED reveals meaningful differences between retrieval runs. Mathematically, MED is a metric, regardless of the associated measure. Prior work has established a number of other desiderata for rank similarity in the context of search, and we demonstrate that MED satisfies these requirements. Unlike previous proposals, MED allows us to directly translate assumptions about user behavior from any established effectiveness measure to create a corresponding rank similarity measure. In addition, MED cleanly accommodates partial relevance judgments, and if complete relevance information is available, it reduces to a simple difference between effectiveness values. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The property of nonlinearity has high importance for the design of strong substitution boxes. Therefore, the development of new techniques to produce substitution boxes with high values of nonlinearity is essential. Many research papers have shown that optimization algorithms are an efficient technique to obtain good solutions. However, there is no reference in the public literature showing that a heuristic method obtains optimal nonlinearity unless seeded with optimal initial solutions. Moreover, the majority of papers with the best nonlinearity reported for pseudo-random seeding of the algorithm(s) often achieve their results with the help of some cost function(s) over the Walsh–Hadamard spectrum of the substitution. In the sense, we proposed to present, in this paper, a novel external parameter independent cost function for evolving bijective s-boxes of high nonlinearity, which is highly correlated to this property. Several heuristic approaches including GaT (genetic and tree), LSA (local search algorithm), and the Hill Climbing algorithm have been investigated to assess the performance of evolved s-boxes. A performance comparison has been done to show the advantages of our new cost function, with respect to cost functions for s-boxes like Clark's and Picek's cost functions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wind energy is one of the most promising solutions to energy crisis and environmental pollution, so it is being developed rapidly. Wind turbine power curves (WTPCs) play an important role in wind energy assessment, turbine condition monitoring, and power grid dispatching. However, there are two challenges in WTPC modeling: model selection and parameter optimization. Many parametric and non-parametric models have been developed to characterize WTPCs, but none can always perform the best due to the complex wind regimes. In this paper, considering the simple structure and interpretability of model parameters, a set of parametric WTPC models is constructed to adapt to the variability of wind regimes, and the optimal candidate will be selected from the set according to their performances. As to the process of parameter optimization, a novel loss function, which considers the asymmetric error characteristic of WTPC modeling, is proposed, and a hybrid intelligent optimization method named GWO-BSA, which makes full use of the advantages of grey wolf optimizer and backtracking search algorithm, is designed. Finally, a novel WTPC modeling strategy, which combines the candidate model set, error characteristic-based loss function, and GWO-BSA, is proposed to obtain better power curves. Experimental results show that (1) GWO-BSA shows faster convergence speed and higher optimization accuracy than single optimization algorithms; (2) the proposed error characteristic-based loss function has better performance than the commonly used symmetric loss functions; and (3) compared with some popular artificial intelligence-based models, the designed WTPC modeling strategy produces better WTPCs under different wind regimes. • An error characteristic-based loss function is used to deal with asymmetric errors. • The mechanism of the proposed loss function in solving those errors is explained. • Grey wolf optimizer and backtracking search algorithm are combined to tune models. • The effectiveness of the proposed strategy is tested under different wind regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Moth–Flame Optimization (MFO) algorithm is widely used to solve real parameter global optimization problems. However, the original MFO algorithm has some problems. First, the global search ability of the algorithm is insufficient due to the lack of high-quality flames or the lack of diversity of the population. Moreover, due to the reduction of the number of flames mechanism and the simple transverse orientation flight mode of moths, the algorithm is easy to fall into local optimum. To overcome these difficulties, a new MFO called ODSFMFO is proposed in this paper, which consists of an improved flame generation mechanism based on Opposition-Based Learning (OBL) and Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm, and an enhanced local search mechanism based on Shuffled Frog Leaping Algorithm (SFLA) and death mechanism. The ODSFMFO firstly obtains a high-quality population through opposition-based learning, then enhances the diversity of the population through differential evolution algorithm, to improve the global search ability of the algorithm, and then, employs an improved shuffled frog leaping algorithm as a local search algorithm, and uses the death mechanism to eliminate the individuals with low fitness value, which not only make the algorithm easy to jump out of the local optimum, but also further improve the convergence speed. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, the ODSFMFO and other fourteen well-known optimization algorithms are tested and compared on 28 benchmark tasks of CEC 2013 and 30 benchmark tasks of CEC 2017. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm obtains better results compared with other competitive algorithms. • An improved flame generation mechanism of MFO is proposed. • A new updating mechanism of SFLA is proposed to improve the local search ability. • The SFLA and death mechanism are applied in combination to MFO. • ODSFMFO is better than 14 compared algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a modification of the repetitive random search algorithm. In our proposal, we change the fixed parameters which values are set by the user, by deterministic values following a chaotic map. The proposed algorithm is used to optimize four well known test functions for 10, 20 and 30 dimensions. For all cases, our proposal converges to better points that the optimal points obtained using the traditional version with fixed values in the parameters. The obtained results encourage us to continue the development and testing of the proposal algorithm with a major suite of test functions, and to compare it with other well established heuristic algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, a new kind of socio-politically motivated global search metaheuristic called imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA) was proposed. ICA is based on a form of imperialistic competition in which the populations are represented by countries divided among imperialists and colonies. In this paper, a modified ICA (MICA) approach based on concepts of attraction and repulsion between the colony and its imperialist is introduced during the search for better solutions. A brushless direct current wheel motor benchmark problem is used to investigate the performance of the classical ICA and the proposed MICA and results are shown to be competitive with those of other well-established optimization methods. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Vehicle routing problem with time windows (VRPTW) is a well-known combinatorial problem. Many researches have presented meta-heuristics are effective approaches for VRPTW. This paper proposes a hybrid approach, which consists of ant colony optimization (ACO) and Tabu search, to solve the problem. To improve the performance of ACO, a neighborhood search is introduced. Furthermore, when ACO is close to the convergence Tabu search is used to maintain the diversity of ACO and explore new solutions. Computational experiments are reported for a set of the Solomon’s 56 VRPTW and the approach is compared with some meta-heuristic published in literature. Results show that considering the tradeoff of quality and computation time, the hybrid algorithm is a competitive approach for VRPTW. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Distribution center operation planning problem to determine the facility locations and the distribution plans is studied in this paper under the single sourcing constraint, in which each customer can be served by a single supplier. Distribution centers can be installed or changed easily using the outsourcing with a reasonable setup cost, to meet the dynamically changing demand of customers, compared with the plants which are usually run for the long time period with a heavy setup cost. The objective is to minimize the sum of transportation, the facility setup and the product handling cost. A mixed integer programming model for the distribution center operation planning is suggested. For the purpose of practical implementation, the hybrid heuristic based on the tabu search and the decomposed optimization is proposed with the priority rule designed by using the so-called Unit Cost Ratio (UCR). The performances of the heuristic algorithms are evaluated by the comparison with the optimal solution or the best solutions found within the computational time limit by CPLEX. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Simulated annealing method has been successfully applied to various combinatorial optimization problems. In the conventional simulated annealing, temperature and local search repetition are determined by simple algorithms with a higher transition probability in the beginning of the search and lower probability toward the end of the search. But these simple methods can cause inefficient search process. In order to overcome this defect, this paper provides an adaptive simulated annealing algorithm using fuzzy logic controller (FLC). FLC can control the temperature and the local search repetition of simulated annealing, thereby making the search process of simulated annealing more efficient. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated and favorably compared with the conventional simulated annealing through traveling salesman problem and equal piles problem. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The application of valid inequalities to provide relaxations which can produce tight bounds, is now common practice in Combinatorial Optimisation. This paper attempts to complement current theoretical investigations in this regard. We experimentally search for "valid" equalities which have the potential of strengthening the problem's formulation. Recently, Martello and Toth [13] included cardinality constraints to derive tight upper bounds for the 0-1 Knapsack Problem. Encouraged by their results, we partition the search space by using equality cardinality constraints. Instead of solving the original problem, an equivalent problem, which consists of one or more 0-1 Knapsack Problem with an exact cardinality bound, is solved. By explicitly including a bound on the cardinality, one is able to reduce the size of each subproblem and compute tight upper bounds. Good feasible solutions found along the way are employed to reduce the computational effort by reducing the number of trees searched and the size of the subsequent search trees. We give a brief description of two Lagrangian-based Branch-and-Bound algorithms proposed in Kruger [9] for solving the exact cardinality bounded subproblems and report on results of numerical experiments with a sequential implementation. Implications for and strategies towards parallel implementation are also given. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes and implements a lightweight, "real-time" localization system (SORLA) with artificial landmarks (reflectors), which only uses LiDAR data for the laser odometer compensation in the case of high-speed or sharp-turning. Theoretically, due to the feature-matching mechanism of the LiDAR, locations of multiple reflectors and the reflector layout are not limited by geometrical relation. A series of algorithms is implemented to find and track the features of the environment, such as the reflector localization method, the motion compensation technique, and the reflector matching optimization algorithm. The reflector extraction algorithm is used to identify the reflector candidates and estimates the precise center locations of the reflectors from 2D LiDAR data. The motion compensation algorithm predicts the potential velocity, location, and angle of the robot without odometer errors. Finally, the matching optimization algorithm searches the reflector combinations for the best matching score, which ensures that the correct reflector combination could be found during the high-speed movement and fast turning. All those mechanisms guarantee the algorithm's precision and robustness in the high speed and noisy background. Our experimental results show that the SORLA algorithm has an average localization error of 6.45 mm at a speed of 0.4 m/s, and 9.87 mm at 4.2 m/s, and still works well with the angular velocity of 1.4 rad/s at a sharp turn. The recovery mechanism in the algorithm could handle the failure cases of reflector occlusion, and the long-term stability test of 72 h firmly proves the algorithm's robustness. This work shows that the strategy used in the SORLA algorithm is feasible for industry-level navigation with high precision and a promising alternative solution for SLAM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To meet the future power demand, distribution systems (DSs) need to be optimally planned. In this paper, an optimal expansion planning approach of DS is suggested. The capability of the existing DS is evaluated and load forecasting for next ten years is performed. Further, the load flow analysis by using backward-forward sweep algorithm is performed. Results show that existing networks would not be able to meet the future demand and due to this, voltage drop (VD) and power losses might be increased. Therefore, DS expansion planning is carried out considering future demand growth and distributed generation (DG) placement using grid dependent multi-objective harmony search algorithm (GrMHSA). The implementation of GrMHSA optimization technique reduces the total losses as well as VD for the targeted year. A practical Debre Markos (D/M) distribution network of Ethiopia is used for illustrating the superiority of the proposed technique and verifies its effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant growth in PV (photovoltaic) system installations have been observed during the last decade. The PV array has a nonlinear output characteristic because of weather intermittency. Partial shading is an environmental phenomenon that causes multiple peaks in the power curve and has a negative effect on the efficiency of the conventional maximum power point tracking (MPPT) methods. This tends to have a substantial effect on the overall performance of the PV system. Therefore, to enhance the performance of the PV system under shading conditions, the global MPPT technique is mandatory to force the PV system to operate close to the global maximum. In this paper, for the first time, a stochastic fractal search (SFS) optimization algorithm is applied to solve the dilemma of tracking the global power of PV system based triple-junction solar cells under shading conditions. SFS has been nominated because it can converge to the best solution at a fast rate. Moreover, balance between exploration and exploitation phases is one of its main advantages. Therefore, the SFS algorithm has been selected to extract the global maximum power point (MPP) under partial shading conditions. To prove the superiority of the proposed global MPPT–SFS based tracker, several shading scenarios have been considered. The idea of changing the shading scenario is to change the position of the global MPP. The obtained results are compared with common optimizers: Antlion Optimizer (ALO), Cuckoo Search (CS), Flower Pollination Algorithm (FPA), Firefly-Algorithm (FA), Invasive-Weed-Optimization (IWO), JAYA and Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA). The results of comparison confirmed the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed global MPPT–SFS based tracker over ALO, CS, FPA, FA, IWO, JAYA, and GSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• AGSO algorithm is proposed and implemented on economic cooling-load dispatch of multi-chiller plants. • Energy-saving capability of AGSO based OCL strategy is proved. • Numerical results of AGSO approach are compared with best solutions of recently published algorithms. • AGSO with fast convergence finds better solutions in lower calculation times. Improper operation of a multi-chiller plant would significantly increase associated electric consumption. This paper introduces a new model to determine the optimal loading point of the chillers. To do so, optimal dispatching of multi-chiller plant is expressed as an optimization problem and associated constraints are all together accommodated in the process of optimization. The problem is tackled by a new version of a metaheuristics approach. The proposed approach is entitled as augmented group search optimization (AGSO) algorithm, which is devised to avoid drawbacks of conventional group search optimization algorithm such as trapping in the local minima. The effectiveness and robustness of the proposed approach in comparison with available methods are studied through three well-known test cases. Numerical results demonstrate that AGSO with its strong exploration capability achieves a lower energy consumption than that of recently published methods with higher convergence speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self-adaptive variants of evolutionary algorithms (EAs) tune their parameters on the go by learning from the search history. Adaptive differential evolution with optional external archive (JADE) and self-adaptive differential evolution (SaDE) are two well-known self-adaptive versions of differential evolution (DE). They are both unconstrained search and optimization algorithms. However, if some constraint handling techniques (CHTs) are incorporated in their frameworks, then they can be used to solve constrained optimization problems (COPs). In an early work, an ensemble of constraint handling techniques (ECHT) is probabilistically hybridized with the basic version of DE. The ECHT consists of four different CHTs: superiority of feasible solutions, self-adaptive penalty, ε -constraint handling technique and stochastic ranking. This paper employs ECHT in the selection schemes, where offspring competes with their parents for survival to the next generation, of JADE and SaDE. As a result, JADE-ECHT and SaDE-ECHT are developed, which are the constrained variants of JADE and SaDE. Both algorithms are tested on 24 COPs and the experimental results are collected and compared according to algorithms' evaluation criteria of CEC'06. Their comparison, in terms of feasibility rate (FR) and success rate (SR), shows that SaDE-ECHT surpasses JADE-ECHT in terms of FR, while JADE-ECHT outperforms SaDE-ECHT in terms of SR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]