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The main objective of this paper is to present an improved neural network algorithm (INNA) for solving the reliability-redundancy allocation problem (RRAP) with nonlinear resource constraints. In this RRAP, both the component reliability and the redundancy allocation are to be considered simultaneously. Neural network algorithm (NNA) is one of the newest and efficient swarm optimization algorithms having a strong global search ability that is very adequate in solving different kinds of complex optimization problems. Despite its efficiency, NNA experiences poor exploitation, which causes slow convergence and also restricts its practical application of solving optimization problems. Considering this deficiency and to obtain a better balance between exploration and exploitation, searching procedure for NNA is reconstructed by implementing a new logarithmic spiral search operator and the searching strategy of the learner phase of teaching–learning-based optimization (TLBO) and an improved NNA has been developed in this paper. To demonstrate the performance of INNA, it is evaluated against seven well-known reliability optimization problems and finally compared with other existing meta-heuristics algorithms. Additionally, the INNA results are statistically investigated with the Wilcoxon sign-rank test and Multiple comparison test to show the significance of the results. Experimental results reveal that the proposed algorithm is highly competitive and performs better than previously developed algorithms in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evolutionary multi-objective optimization (EMO) refers to the domain in which an evolutionary algorithm is applied to tackle an optimization problem with multiple objective functions. The literature is rich with many approaches proposed to solve multi-objective problems including the NSGA-II, MOEA/D, and MOPSO algorithms. The proposed approaches include stand-alone as well as hybrid techniques. One critical aspect of any evolutionary algorithm (EA) is the stopping criterion. The selection of a specific stopping criterion can have a considerable effect on the performance and the final solution provided by the EA. A number of different stopping criteria, specifically designed for EMO, have been proposed in the literature. In this paper, the performance of six different EMO algorithms is tested and compared using four stopping criteria. The experiments are performed using the ZDT, DTLZ, CEC2009, Tanaka and Srivana test functions. Experimental results are analyzed to highlight the proper stopping criteria for different algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new stochastic optimization algorithm is introduced, called Driving Training-Based Optimization (DTBO), which mimics the human activity of driving training. The fundamental inspiration behind the DTBO design is the learning process to drive in the driving school and the training of the driving instructor. DTBO is mathematically modeled in three phases: (1) training by the driving instructor, (2) patterning of students from instructor skills, and (3) practice. The performance of DTBO in optimization is evaluated on a set of 53 standard objective functions of unimodal, high-dimensional multimodal, fixed-dimensional multimodal, and IEEE CEC2017 test functions types. The optimization results show that DTBO has been able to provide appropriate solutions to optimization problems by maintaining a proper balance between exploration and exploitation. The performance quality of DTBO is compared with the results of 11 well-known algorithms. The simulation results show that DTBO performs better compared to 11 competitor algorithms and is more efficient in optimization applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid growing number of web services has posed new challenges for service composition computing. How to combine services that meet the needs of users in the least amount of time from a huge number of candidate services is a hot topic of research today. As a meta-heuristic algorithm for solving optimization problems, salp swarm algorithm (SSA) has been widely applied to case scenarios in different fields due to its simple structure and high performance. However, QoS-aware service composition is a discrete problem and existing methods are not suitable for it. Therefore, in this paper, we propose an improved SSA integrating chaotic mapping method for QoS service composition selection, named CSSA. Through the randomness and ergodicity of chaos, reducing the possibility of falling into local optimum and strengthening the exploitation capability of the algorithm. In addition, a fuzzy continuous neighborhood search method is used to enhance the local search capability of the algorithm which makes the discrete space of service composition in a way similar to continuous space. Finally, two well-known datasets are used to verify the effectiveness of CSSA compared to three advanced algorithms and original SSA. The test results demonstrate that CSSA has significant advantages and it also has satisfactory performance in large scale scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new stochastic optimization algorithm is introduced, called Driving Training-Based Optimization (DTBO), which mimics the human activity of driving training. The fundamental inspiration behind the DTBO design is the learning process to drive in the driving school and the training of the driving instructor. DTBO is mathematically modeled in three phases: (1) training by the driving instructor, (2) patterning of students from instructor skills, and (3) practice. The performance of DTBO in optimization is evaluated on a set of 53 standard objective functions of unimodal, high-dimensional multimodal, fixed-dimensional multimodal, and IEEE CEC2017 test functions types. The optimization results show that DTBO has been able to provide appropriate solutions to optimization problems by maintaining a proper balance between exploration and exploitation. The performance quality of DTBO is compared with the results of 11 well-known algorithms. The simulation results show that DTBO performs better compared to 11 competitor algorithms and is more efficient in optimization applications. [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]

The introduction of cloud computing has brought about significant developments in information technology. Users can benefit from the multitude of cloud technology services only by connecting to the internet. In cloud computing, load balancing is the fundamental issue that has challenged experts in this research area. Load balancing helps increase user satisfaction and enhance systems' productivity through efficient and fair work assignments between computing resources. Besides, maintaining a load balancing among resources would be difficult because the resources are usually distributed in a heterogeneous way. Many load-balancing methods try to solve this problem by the metaheuristics algorithm, and each of them attempted to enhance the operation and efficiency of systems. In this paper, Grey wolf optimization (GWO) algorithm has been used based on the resource reliability capability to maintain proper load balancing. In this method, first, the GWO algorithm tries to find the unemployed or busy nodes and, after discovering this node, try to calculate each node's threshold and fitness function. The results of simulation in CloudSim showed that the costs and response time in the proposed method are less than the other methods, and the obtained solutions are ideal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To solve engineering problems with evolutionary algorithms, many expensive function evaluations (FEs) are required. To alleviate this difficulty, surrogate-assisted evolutionary algorithms (SAEAs) have attracted increasingly more attention in both academia and industry. Most existing SAEAs either waste computational resources due to the lack of accuracy of the surrogate model or easily fall into the local optimum as the dimension increases. To address these problems, this paper proposes an adaptive surrogate-assisted particle swarm optimization algorithm. In the proposed algorithm, a surrogate model is adaptively selected from a single model and an ensemble model by comparing the best existing solution and the latest obtained solution. Additionally, a model output criterion based on the standard deviation is suggested to improve the stability and generalization ability of the ensemble model. To verify the performance of the proposed algorithm, 10 benchmark functions with different modalities from 10 to 50 dimensions are tested, and the results are compared with those of five state-of-the-art SAEAs. The experimental results indicate that the proposed algorithm performs well for most benchmark functions within a limited number of FEs. Moreover, the performance of the proposed algorithm in solving engineering problems is verified by applying the algorithm to the PX oxidation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Balancing the convergence and the diversity is one of the crucial researches in solving multi-objective problems (MOPs). However, the optimization algorithms are inefficient and require massive iterations. The convergence accuracy and the distribution of the obtained non-dominated solutions are defective in solving complex MOPs. To solve these problems, a novel adaptive multi-objective particle swarm optimization using a three-stage strategy (tssAMOPSO) is proposed in this paper. Firstly, an adaptive flight parameter adjustment is proposed to manage the states of the algorithm, switching between the global exploration and the local exploitation. Then, the three-stage strategy, including adaptive optimization, decomposition, and Gaussian attenuation mutation, is conducted by population in each iteration. The three-stage strategy remarkably promotes the diversity and efficiency of the optimization process. Furthermore, the convergence analysis of three-stage strategy is provided in detail. Finally, particles are equipped with memory interval to improve the reliability of personal best selection. In the maintenance of external archive, the proposed fusion index can enhance the quality of non-dominated solutions directly. A series of benchmark instances, ZDT and DTLZ test suits, are used to verify the performance of tssAMOPSO. Several classical and state-of-the-art algorithms are employed for experimental comparisons. Experimental results show that tssAMOPSO outperforms the other algorithms and achieves admirable comprehensive performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the slime mould algorithm (SMA) has become popular in function optimization, because it effectively uses exploration and exploitation to reach an optimal solution or near-optimal solution. However, the SMA uses two random search agents from the whole population to decide the future displacement and direction from the best search agents, which limits its exploitation and exploration. To solve this problem, we investigate an adaptive approach to decide whether opposition-based learning (OBL) will be used or not. Sometimes, the OBL is used to further increase the exploration. In addition, it maximizes the exploitation by replacing one random search agent with the best one in the position updating. The suggested technique is called an adaptive opposition slime mould algorithm (AOSMA). The qualitative and quantitative analysis of AOSMA is reported using 29 test functions that consisting of 23 classical test functions and 6 recently used composition functions from the IEEE CEC 2014 test suite. The results are compared with state-of-the-art optimization methods. Results presented in this paper show that AOSMA's performance is better than other optimization algorithms. The AOSMA is evaluated using Wilcoxon's rank-sum test. It also ranked one in Friedman's mean rank test. The proposed AOSMA algorithm would be useful for function optimization to solve real-world engineering problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of computer hardware in the past three decades, various classic algorithms such as neural computing and bionic optimization computing have been widely used in practical problems. This paper extended the new bionic algorithm-flock algorithm proposed in 2014 and obtained a multi-objective flock algorithm to solve the multi-objective problem. This study used aggregate functions to define social ranks, and simulated the foraging behavior of chickens in the process of searching for food in the objective space and found the balance between diversity and convergence when looking for the best Pareto solution. The algorithm took five types of bi-objective functions and four types of three-objective functions as objects and compared it with four more widely used algorithms in multi-objective problems. The results demonstrate that the MOCSO (multi-objective chicken swarm optimization) algorithm shows better results in the optimization of multi-objective problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a relatively new model, the artificial bee colony algorithm (ABC) has shown impressive success in solving optimization problems. Nevertheless, its efficiency is still not satisfactory for some complex optimization problems. This paper has modified ABC and its other recent variants to improve its performance by modifying the scout phase. This modification enhances its exploitation ability by intensifying the regions in the search space, which probably includes reasonable solutions. The experiments were performed on CEC2014, and CEC2015 benchmark suites, real-life problems. And the proposed modification was applied to basic ABC, Gbest-Guided ABC, Depth First Search ABC, and Teaching–Learning Based ABC, and they were compared with their modified counterparts. The results have shown that our modification can successfully increase the performance of the original versions. Moreover, the proposed modified algorithm was compared with the state-of-the-art optimization algorithms, and it produced competitive results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simultaneous optimization of several competing objectives requires increasing the capability of optimization algorithms. This paper proposes the multi-objective moth swarm algorithm, for the first time, to solve various multi-objective problems. In the proposed algorithm, a new definition for pathfinder moths and moonlight was proposed to enhance the synchronization capability as well as to maintain a good spread of non-dominated solutions. In addition, the crowding-distance mechanism was employed to select the most efficient solutions within the population. This mechanism indicates the distribution of non-dominated solutions around a particular non-dominated solution. Accordingly, a set of non-dominated solutions obtained by the proposed multi-objective algorithm is kept in an archive to be used later for improving its exploratory capability. The capability of the proposed MOMSA was investigated by a set of multi-objective benchmark problems having 7 to 30 dimensions. The results were compared with three well-known meta-heuristics of multi-objective evolutionary algorithm based on decomposition (MOEA/D), Pareto envelope-based selection algorithm II (PESA-II), and multi-objective ant lion optimizer (MOALO). Four metrics of generational distance (GD), spacing (S), spread (Δ), and maximum spread (MS) were employed for comparison purposes. The qualitative and quantitative results indicated the superior performance and the higher capability of the proposed MOMSA algorithm over the other algorithms. The MOMSA algorithm with the average values of CPU time = 2771 s, GD = 0.138, S = 0.063, Δ = 1.053, and MS = 0.878 proved to be a robust and reliable model for multi-objective optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, an evolutionary optimization procedure is presented to generate band-pass metasurface-based filters in terahertz regime. As a measure of novelty, pass-band, transition, and out-band characteristics are investigated separately, all of which result in different metasurfaces for filtering applications. The presented approach is defined based on random hill climbing algorithm, regarding the established link between Matlab and HFSS software. A metasurface-based filter with specific properties is considered as the main problem to be solved by the optimization method. Moreover, the fuzzy theory, mean square method, and weighting coefficient procedure are considered to define an efficient fitness function evaluation approach. Also, a step-by-step procedure is used to generate desired structures with a great note of efficiency. The final generated structure has magnificent characteristics including sharp transitions together with transmittance around 0.68 and less than 0.04 at pass-band and out-band regions, respectively. Also, the generated metasurface benefits from wide bandwidth (65%) and great compactness compared to other previous works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, numerous meta-heuristic-based approaches are deliberated to reduce the computational complexities of several existing approaches that include tricky derivations, very large memory space requirement, initial value sensitivity, etc. However, several optimization algorithms namely firefly algorithm, sine–cosine algorithm, and particle swarm optimization algorithm have few drawbacks such as computational complexity and convergence speed. So to overcome such shortcomings, this paper aims in developing a novel chaotic sine–cosine firefly (CSCF) algorithm with numerous variants to solve optimization problems. Here, the chaotic form of two algorithms namely the sine–cosine algorithm and the firefly algorithms is integrated to improve the convergence speed and efficiency thus minimizing several complexity issues. Moreover, the proposed CSCF approach is operated under various chaotic phases and the optimal chaotic variants containing the best chaotic mapping are selected. Then numerous chaotic benchmark functions are utilized to examine the system performance of the CSCF algorithm. Finally, the simulation results for the problems based on engineering design are demonstrated to prove the efficiency, robustness and effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decentralized algorithms solve multi-agent problems over a connected network, where the information can only be exchanged with the accessible neighbors. Though there exist several decentralized optimization algorithms, there are still gaps in convergence conditions and rates between decentralized and centralized algorithms. In this paper, we fill some gaps by considering two decentralized algorithms: EXTRA and NIDS. They both converge linearly with strongly convex objective functions. We will answer two questions regarding them. What are the optimal upper bounds for their stepsizes? Do decentralized algorithms require more properties on the functions for linear convergence than centralized ones? More specifically, we relax the required conditions for linear convergence of both algorithms. For EXTRA, we show that the stepsize is comparable to that of centralized algorithms. For NIDS, the upper bound of the stepsize is shown to be exactly the same as the centralized ones. In addition, we relax the requirement for the objective functions and the mixing matrices. We provide the linear convergence results for both algorithms under the weakest conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to introduce and consider a new hybrid shrinking projection algorithm for finding a common element of the set of solutions of a system of equilibrium problems, the set of solutions of a system of variational inequality problems, the set of solutions of a system of optimization problems, the common fixed point set of a uniformly closed family of countable quasi-Bregman strictly pseudocontractive mappings in reflexive Banach spaces. Strong convergence theorems have been proved under the appropriate conditions. The main innovative points in this paper are as follows: (1) the notion of the uniformly closed family of countable quasi-Bregman strictly pseudocontractive mappings is presented and the useful conclusions are given; (2) the relative examples of the uniformly closed family of countable quasi-Bregman strictly pseudocontractive mappings are given in classical Banach spaces $l^{2}$ and $L^{2}$; (3) the hybrid shrinking projection method presented in this paper modified some mistakes in the recent result of Ugwunnadi et al. (Fixed Point Theory Appl. 2014:231, 2014). These new results improve and extend the previously known ones in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of finding a vector with the fewest nonzero elements that satisfies an underdetermined system of linear equations is an NP-complete problem that is typically solved numerically via convex heuristics or nicely behaved nonconvex relaxations. In this paper we consider the elementary method of alternating projections (MAP) for solving the sparsity optimization problem without employing convex heuristics. In a parallel paper we recently introduced the restricted normal cone which generalizes the classical Mordukhovich normal cone and reconciles some fundamental gaps in the theory of sufficient conditions for local linear convergence of the MAP algorithm. We use the restricted normal cone together with the notion of superregularity, which is inherently satisfied for the affine sparse optimization problem, to obtain local linear convergence results with estimates for the radius of convergence of the MAP algorithm applied to sparsity optimization with an affine constraint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper a new graph-based evolutionary algorithm, gM-PAES, is proposed in order to solve the complex problem of truss layout multi-objective optimization. In this algorithm a graph-based genotype is employed as a modified version of Memetic Pareto Archive Evolution Strategy (M-PAES), a well-known hybrid multi-objective optimization algorithm, and consequently, new graph-based crossover and mutation operators perform as the solution generation tools in this algorithm. The genetic operators are designed in a way that helps the multi-objective optimizer to cover all parts of the true Pareto front in this specific problem. In the optimization process of the proposed algorithm, the local search part of gM-PAES is controlled adaptively in order to reduce the required computational effort and enhance its performance. In the last part of the paper, four numeric examples are presented to demonstrate the performance of the proposed algorithm. Results show that the proposed algorithm has great ability in producing a set of solutions which cover all parts of the true Pareto front. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, denoising of smooth ( H10-regular) images is considered. The purpose of the paper is basically twofold. First, to compare the denoising methods based on L1- and L2-fitting. Second, to analyze and realize an active-set method for solving the non-smooth optimization problem arising from the former approach. More precisely, we formulate the algorithm, proof its convergence, and give an efficient numerical realization. Several numerical experiments are presented, where the convergence of the proposed active-set algorithm is studied and the denoising properties of the methods based on L1- and L2-fitting are compared. Also a heuristic method for determining the regularization parameter is presented and tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coordinate descent algorithms solve optimization problems by successively performing approximate minimization along coordinate directions or coordinate hyperplanes. They have been used in applications for many years, and their popularity continues to grow because of their usefulness in data analysis, machine learning, and other areas of current interest. This paper describes the fundamentals of the coordinate descent approach, together with variants and extensions and their convergence properties, mostly with reference to convex objectives. We pay particular attention to a certain problem structure that arises frequently in machine learning applications, showing that efficient implementations of accelerated coordinate descent algorithms are possible for problems of this type. We also present some parallel variants and discuss their convergence properties under several models of parallel execution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the conic optimization problems, it is well-known that a positive duality gap may occur, and that solving such a problem is numerically difficult or unstable. For such a case, we propose a facial reduction algorithm to find a primal-dual pair of conic optimization problems having the zero duality gap and the optimal value equal to one of the original primal or dual problems. The conic expansion approach is also known as a method to find such a primal-dual pair, and in this paper we clarify the relationship between our facial reduction algorithm and the conic expansion approach. Our analysis shows that, although they can be regarded as dual to each other, our facial reduction algorithm has ability to produce a finer sequence of faces of the cone including the feasible region. A simple proof of the convergence of our facial reduction algorithm for the conic optimization is presented. We also observe that our facial reduction algorithm has a practical impact by showing numerical experiments for graph partition problems; our facial reduction algorithm in fact enhances the numerical stability in those problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the berth allocation problem with stochastic vessel handling times is formulated as a bi-objective problem. To solve the resulting problem, an evolutionary algorithm-based heuristic and a simulation-based Pareto front pruning algorithm is proposed. Computational examples show that the proposed approach provides solutions superior to the ones where the expected value of the vessel handling times is used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The harmony search (HS) method is a popular meta-heuristic optimization algorithm, which has been extensively employed to handle various engineering problems. However, it sometimes fails to offer a satisfactory convergence performance under certain circumstances. In this paper, we propose and study a hybrid HS approach, HS-PBIL, by merging the HS together with the population-based incremental learning (PBIL). Numerical simulations demonstrate that our HS-PBIL is well capable of outperforming the regular HS method in dealing with nonlinear function optimization and a practical wind generator optimization problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main point of this paper is to provide a simple and efficient threshold value for the threshold accepting (TA) algorithm to attempt an optimal solution for the regular grid travelling salesman problems (TSPs) in a reliable way. This new algorithm is named the single value threshold accepting algorithm (SVTA). The number of the threshold value is one and its value is: [(2-√2)g*10,0001/10,000 where g is the grid size and [x] is the smallest integer not less than a real number x. For the regular-grid TSPs, g can be set as 1/√n where n is the problem size. It is shown empirically, with 100 independent simulations performed with 441 cities, in 16 different cases, that the SVTA is far superior to (at least five times faster on average than) the previous double threshold accepting (DTA) with respect to the speed of finding a global optimal reliably. Particularly in the case of the 441 cities, the proposed algorithm is at least 21 times faster and rises up to 96 times on average and optimistically 284 times faster than the previous one. Important insight is provided that reveals how the formula works and why it works successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]