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When solving constrained optimization problems (COPs) by evolutionary algorithms, the search algorithm plays a crucial role. In general, we expect that the search algorithm has the capability to balance not only diversity and convergence but also constraints and objective function during the evolution. For this purpose, this paper proposes a composite differential evolution (DE) for constrained optimization, which includes three different trial vector generation strategies with distinct advantages. In order to strike a balance between diversity and convergence, one of these three trial vector generation strategies is able to increase diversity, and the other two exhibit the property of convergence. In addition, to accomplish the tradeoff between constraints and objective function, one of the two trial vector generation strategies for convergence is guided by the individual with the least degree of constraint violation in the population, and the other is guided by the individual with the best objective function value in the population. After producing offspring by the proposed composite DE, the feasibility rule and the $\boldsymbol {\varepsilon }$ constrained method are combined elaborately for selection in this paper. Moreover, a restart scheme is proposed to help the population jump out of a local optimum in the infeasible region for some extremely complicated COPs. By assembling the above techniques together, a constrained composite DE is proposed. The experiments on two sets of benchmark test functions with various features, i.e., 24 test functions from IEEE CEC2006 and 18 test functions with 10 dimensions and 30 dimensions from IEEE CEC2010, have demonstrated that the proposed method shows better or at least competitive performance against other state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The populations of industrialized countries will decline over the coming decades. To ensure that we have efficient access networks in the coming age of depopulation, it is important to consider the reorganization of central offices over time. The cost for operating and maintaining central offices can be reduced by efficiently closing central offices. However, dynamic facility location models that have been developed largely focused on the problem of optimally expanding a network over time to meet increasing demand. The practical relevance of the dynamic models is limited because the complexity and the required amount of data are much greater than with static models. This paper proposes a dynamic access network reorganization model for the depopulation age. Although the proposed model is a dynamic model, it is simple because it assumes that the only option will be to close central offices. The model first searches for a set of optimal solutions for each planning period as a capacitated facility location problem. Then, it selects the optimal combination of optimal solutions that can minimize the total number of open offices with the limitation of network reorganization. The validity of the proposed model was evaluated with computer simulations. It was confirmed that although the proposed model is a dynamic model it is simple and practical. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper aims to design new strategies to extend traditional multiobjective optimization algorithms to efficiently obtain Pareto-optimal solutions in presence of noise on the objective surfaces. The first strategy, referred to as adaptive selection of sample size, is employed to balance the tradeoff between quality measure of fitness and run-time complexity. The second strategy is concerned with determining statistical expectation, instead of conventional averaging, of fitness samples as the measure of fitness of the trial solutions. The third strategy attempts to extend Goldberg's method to compare slightly worse trial solutions with its competitor by a more statistically viable comparator to examine possible placement of the former solution in the Pareto optimal front. The traditional differential evolution for multiobjective optimization algorithm has been modified by extending its selection step with the proposed strategies. Experiments undertaken to study the performance of the extended algorithm reveal that the extended algorithm outperforms its competitors with respect to three performance metrics, when examined on a test suite of 23 standard benchmarks with additive noise of three statistical distributions. The extended algorithm has been applied on the well known box-pushing problem, where the forces and torques required to shift the box by two robots are evaluated to jointly satisfy the conflicting objectives on task-execution time and energy consumption in presence of noise on range estimates from the sidewalls of the workspace. The application justifies the importance of the proposed noise-handling strategies in practical systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]