Search

A multi-modal search space can be defined as having multiple attraction basins – each basin has a single local optimum which is reached from all points in that basin when greedy local search is used. Optimization in multi-modal search spaces can then be viewed as a two-phase process. The first phase is exploration in which the most promising attraction basin is identified. The second phase is exploitation in which the best solution (i.e. the local optimum) within the previously identified attraction basin is attained. The goal of thresheld convergence is to improve the performance of search techniques during the first phase of exploration. The effectiveness of thresheld convergence has been demonstrated through applications to existing metaheuristics such as particle swarm optimization and differential evolution, and through the development of novel metaheuristics such as minimum population search and leaders and followers.

This study examines a two-stage two-dimensional cutting stock problem encountered by a paper mill company. The problem includes various machine-related and operational constraints based on real-world situations. Paper products are manufactured using two major cutting processes. Each cutting machine has a specific minimum and maximum width for input and output rolls and is limited by the maximum number of rolls it can cut at the same time. A mathematical model is presented to formally address the problem and an efficient multiple-choice knapsack-based heuristic algorithm is proposed to solve the problem. To demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed heuristic algorithm, computational experiments are conducted on test data-set generated from real-world data provided by a large paper mill company in the Republic of Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A multi-modal search space can be defined as having multiple attraction basins – each basin has a single local optimum which is reached from all points in that basin when greedy local search is used. Optimization in multi-modal search spaces can then be viewed as a two-phase process. The first phase is exploration in which the most promising attraction basin is identified. The second phase is exploitation in which the best solution (i.e. the local optimum) within the previously identified attraction basin is attained. The goal of thresheld convergence is to improve the performance of search techniques during the first phase of exploration. The effectiveness of thresheld convergence has been demonstrated through applications to existing metaheuristics such as particle swarm optimization and differential evolution, and through the development of novel metaheuristics such as minimum population search and leaders and followers.

Intelligent generating test paper can be thought of as a typical fuzzy mathematical logic problem. First, the paper analyzes the quantitative evaluation criteria of the traditional test paper generation questions and shows the existing problems in practical application of it. Then the paper introduces two different fuzzy constraints principal disjunctive normal form concept and proposes an evaluation system combining quantitative with qualitative. Viewing at the particularity of constraint satisfaction problems of intelligent generating test paper, the paper uses heuristic knowledge and applies constraint satisfaction method combining generation test with membership correction constraint satisfaction methods to realize intelligent generating test paper. The experiment shows that this method obtains good results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In social network applications, competitive influence propagation often exhibits a certain degree of time lag. In the scenario of positive and negative competitive propagation studied in this paper, under the premise that negative nodes are activated first, how to find a set of positive seed nodes to participate in competitive propagation is studied, aiming to minimize the spread of negative influence. In the current study, the time complexity of the improved algorithms based on greedy strategies is high, which limits their scope of application in practical scenarios; some heuristic algorithms achieve better scalability, but there is still much room for improvement. Therefore, this paper proposes a new method to solve the influence propagation problem of delayed competition, also known as a heuristic propagation factor evaluation algorithm (HeuPFE). The main process is as follows: (1) We build a shortest path snapshot for the nearest propagation region of negative nodes and reduce the search space of competing nodes. (2) Then, we construct a node propagation factor evaluation method based on this shortest negative-oriented node path snapshot to reduce computational complexity. Comparing results with those of traditional heuristic algorithms, we carry out experiments on real datasets and verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a digital watermarking algorithm using an informed watermark retrieval architecture. The developed method uses the fractional Fourier transform to embed the watermark in the space-frequency domain and extracts the watermark using blind source separation techniques. The watermark embedding is further enhanced using a heuristic algorithm to increase the strength of the watermarking system. We use genetic algorithm to find the optimal fractional domain by minimizing the coefficient of RMSE between the input image and the watermarked image. The algorithm's performance against various common attacks, e.g., JPEG compression and Gaussian noise, is presented to estimate the algorithm's robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The one-dimensional cutting stock problem (1D-CSP) is one of the representative combinatorial optimization problems which arises in many industrial applications. Although the primary objective of 1D-CSP is to minimize the total length of used stock rolls, the efficiency of cutting processes has become more important in recent years. The crucial bottleneck of the cutting process often occurs at handling operations in semiautomated manufacturers such as those in the paper tube industry. To reduce interruptions and errors at handling operations in the paper tube industry, we consider a variant of 1D-CSP that minimizes the total length of used stock rolls while constraining (C1) the number of setups of each stock roll type, (C2) the combination of piece lengths occurring in open stacks simultaneously, and (C3) the number of open stacks. For this problem, we propose a generalization of the cutting pattern called the 'cutting group,' which is a sequence of cutting patterns that satisfies the given upper bounds of setups of each stock roll type and open stacks. To generate good cutting groups, we decompose the 1D-CSP into a number of auxiliary bin packing problems. We develop a tabu search algorithm based on a shift neighborhood that solves the auxiliary bin packing problems by the first-fit decreasing heuristic algorithm. Experimental results show that our algorithm improves the quality of solutions compared to the existing algorithm used in a paper tube factory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum computing has already demonstrated great computational potential across multiple domains and has received more and more attention. However, due to the connectivity limitations of Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum (NISQ) devices, most of the quantum algorithms cannot be directly executed without the help of inserting SWAP gates. Nevertheless, more SWAP gates lead to a longer execution time and, inevitably, lower fidelity of the algorithm. To this end, this paper proposes an optimized qubit mapping algorithm based on a dynamic look-ahead strategy to minimize the number of SWAP gates inserted. Firstly, a heuristic algorithm is proposed based on maximizing physical qubit connectivity to generate the optimal initial qubit mapping, which reduces the need for logical qubit shifts during subsequent SWAP gate insertion. Secondly, in the form of directed acyclic graphs, we identify quantum gates that violate the constraints of physical coupling and insert SWAP gates to remap qubits, thereby overcoming the limitations of qubit interactions. Finally, the optimal SWAP gate insertion strategy is built by comparing the cost of different SWAP gate insertion strategies through a multi-window look-ahead strategy to reduce the number of SWAP gates inserted. The experimental results show that the strategy in this paper decreases the number of SWAP gate insertions and significantly reduces the depth of quantum circuits when performing qubit mapping compared with state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes some details of artificial intelligence algorithms to paper-reviewer assignment problem. In particular, the study on most common algorithms like genetic algorithm (GA), ant colony optimization (ACO) and tabu-search (TS) is made and the performance of these algorithms in paper-reviewer assignment problem is tested. Moreover, two hybrid methods that efficiently combine the above-mentioned algorithms are proposed: the ACO-GA and GA-TS algorithms. To measure the performance of these algorithms, extensive computational experiments are conducted. Evaluation using different data sets shows that the proposed algorithms are effective and achieve good results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The engine room is the core area of a ship, critical to its operation, safety, and efficiency. Currently, many researchers merely address the ship engine room layout design (SERLD) problem using optimization algorithms and independent layout strategies. However, the engine room environment is complex, involving two significantly different challenges: equipment layout and pipe layout. Traditional methods fail to achieve optimal collaborative layout objectives. To address this research gap, this paper proposes a collaborative layout method that combines improved reinforcement learning and heuristic algorithms. For equipment layout, the engine room space is first discretized into a grid, and a Markov decision process (MDP) framework suitable for equipment layout is proposed, including state space, action space, and reward mechanisms suitable for equipment layout. An improved adaptive guided multi-agent Q-learning (AGMAQL) algorithm is employed to train the layout model in a centralized manner, with enhancements made to the agent's exploration state, exploration action, and learning strategy. For pipe layout, this paper proposes an improved adaptive trajectory artificial fish swarm algorithm (ATAFSA). This algorithm incorporates a hybrid encoding method, adaptive strategy, scouting strategy, and parallel optimization strategy, resulting in enhanced stability, accuracy, and problem adaptability. Subsequently, by comprehensively considering layout objectives and engine room attributes, a collaborative layout method incorporating hierarchical and adaptive weight strategies is proposed. This method optimizes in phases according to the layout objectives and priorities of different stages, achieving multi-level optimal layouts and providing designers with various reference schemes with different focuses. Finally, based on a typical real-world engine room engineering case, various leading algorithms and strategies are tested and compared. The results show that the proposed AGMAQL-ATAFSA (AGMAQL-ATA) exhibits robustness, efficiency, and engineering practicality. Compared to previous research methods and algorithms, the final layout quality improved overall: equipment layout effectiveness increased by over 4.0%, pipe optimization efficiency improved by over 40.4%, and collaborative layout effectiveness enhanced by over 2.2%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The split delivery vehicle routing problem (SDVRP) is a classic combinatorial optimization problem, which is usually solved using a heuristic algorithm. The ant colony optimization algorithm is an excellent heuristic algorithm that has been successfully applied to solve various practical problems, and it has achieved good results. However, in the existing ant colony optimization algorithms, there are issues with weak targeting of different customer selection strategies, difficulty in balancing convergence speed and global search ability, and a predisposition to become trapped in local optima. To solve these problems, this paper proposes an improved ant colony algorithm (IACA). First, in terms of customer point selection, the initial customer and noninitial customer selection strategies are proposed for different customers, and the adaptive selection threshold is designed. Second, in terms of pheromone processing, an initial pheromone distribution method based on a greedy strategy, a pheromone backtracking mechanism, and an adaptive pheromone volatile factor are proposed. Finally, based on the 2-opt local search method, vehicle path self-search and intervehicle path search are proposed to further improve the quality of the solution. This paper tests the performance of the IACA on datasets of different scales. The experimental results show that compared with the clustering algorithm, artificial bee colony algorithm, particle swarm optimization algorithm, traditional ant colony algorithm, and other algorithms, the IACA can achieve more competitive results. Specifically, compared to the path length calculated by other algorithms, the path length calculated by IACA decreased by an average of 1.58%, 4.28%, and 3.64% in small, medium, and large-scale tests, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multi-modal search space can be defined as having multiple attraction basins - each basin has a single local optimum which is reached from all points in that basin when greedy local search is used. Optimization in multi-modal search spaces can then be viewed as a two-phase process. The first phase is exploration in which the most promising attraction basin is identified. The second phase is exploitation in which the best solution (i.e. the local optimum) within the previously identified attraction basin is attained. The goal of thresheld convergence is to improve the performance of search techniques during the first phase of exploration. The effectiveness of thresheld convergence has been demonstrated through applications to existing metaheuristics such as particle swarm optimization and differential evolution, and through the development of novel metaheuristics such as minimum population search and leaders and followers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flexible job shop scheduling problem (FJSP) is the core decision-making problem of intelligent manufacturing production management. The Harris hawk optimization (HHO) algorithm, as a typical metaheuristic algorithm, has been widely employed to solve scheduling problems. However, HHO suffers from premature convergence when solving NP-hard problems. Therefore, this paper proposes an improved HHO algorithm (GNHHO) to solve the FJSP. GNHHO introduces an elitism strategy, a chaotic mechanism, a nonlinear escaping energy update strategy, and a Gaussian random walk strategy to prevent premature convergence. A flexible job shop scheduling model is constructed, and the static and dynamic FJSP is investigated to minimize the makespan. This paper chooses a twosegment encoding mode based on the job and the machine of the FJSP. To verify the effectiveness of GNHHO, this study tests it in 23 benchmark functions, 10 standard job shop scheduling problems (JSPs), and 5 standard FJSPs. Besides, this study collects data from an agricultural company and uses the GNHHO algorithm to optimize the company's FJSP. The optimized scheduling scheme demonstrates significant improvements in makespan, with an advancement of 28.16% for static scheduling and 35.63% for dynamic scheduling. Moreover, it achieves an average increase of 21.50% in the on-time order delivery rate. The results demonstrate that the performance of theGNHHO algorithm in solving FJSP is superior to some existing algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trauma-informed design and technology have been an important topic of discussion in the last 5 years in user experience. However, little exists to offer practical direction for practitioners applying trauma-informed approaches to websites, apps, and other digital tools. This paper shares an example of applying trauma-informed (TI) principles to a social service agency website in the United States using wellknown usability heuristics, which are principles used in interaction design to ensure usability. There appears to be a significant overlap between usability heuristics and TI principles; practitioners can use usability heuristics as a familiar foundation to make any design more traumainformed. This paper describes specific ways TI principles can be operationalized using usability heuristics to develop more user-friendly and trauma-informed websites. A case study in design shows how user experience professionals can be more trauma-informed in their work to better serve the general public or users who have experienced trauma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to develop a rapid and practical procedure that can locate the slip surface for a slope with the minimum reliability index for limit equilibrium analysis at the minimum expense of time. The comparative study on the reliability indices from different sample numbers using the Monte Carlo Simulation Method has demonstrated that the results from large enough sample number are related with those from small sample number with high correlation indices. This observation has been tested for many homogeneous and heterogeneous slopes with various conditions under parametric studies. Based on this observation, the reliability index for a potential slip surface can be calcu lated with a small sample number, and the search for the minimum reliability index and the slip surface can be determined by heuristic optimization algorithm. Based on the comparisons between the critical deterministic and probabilistic slip surfaces for many different cases, the use of the proposed fast method in locating the critical probabilistic slip surface is found to perform well, which is suitable for normal routine analysis and design works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the influence maximization problem in social networks, which aims to find some influence nodes that maximize the spread of information. Most existing achievements usually adopt a uniform propagation probability, without considering the topic information. Moreover, the classic Independent Cascade Model and its approximations have suffered from much running time. To overcome this limitation, this paper proposed a Topic based Shortest Path Set algorithm (TSPS). Additionally, a comprehensive set of experiments are conducted on large real-world networks, showing that our proposal provides more impressive results in the aspects of influence spread and running time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the problem of mass screening of heterogeneous populations under limited testing budget. Mass screening is an essential tool that arises in various settings, e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective of mass screening is to classify the entire population as positive or negative for a disease as efficiently and accurately as possible. Under limited budget, testing facilities need to allocate a portion of the budget to target sub-populations (i.e., proactive screening) while reserving the remaining budget to screen for symptomatic cases (i.e., reactive screening). This paper addresses this decision problem by taking advantage of accessible population-level risk information to identify the optimal set of sub-populations for proactive/reactive screening. The framework also incorporates two widely used testing schemes: Individual and Dorfman group testing. By leveraging the special structure of the resulting bilinear optimization problem, we identify key structural properties, which in turn enable us to develop efficient solution schemes. Furthermore, we extend the model to accommodate customized testing schemes across different sub-populations and introduce a highly efficient heuristic solution algorithm for the generalized model. We conduct a comprehensive case study on COVID-19 in the US, utilizing geographically-based data. Numerical results demonstrate a significant improvement of up to 52% in total misclassifications compared to conventional screening strategies. In addition, our case study offers valuable managerial insights regarding the allocation of proactive/reactive measures and budget across diverse geographic regions. Author summary: The problem of mass screening of heterogeneous populations is challenging, especially when we do not have enough tests to check everyone all at once. Therefore, under limited testing budget, testing facilities need to allocate a portion of the testing budget to target sub-populations (i.e., proactive screening) while reserving the remaining budget to screen for symptomatic cases (i.e., reactive screening). Our study provides a strategy to make those decision efficiently by taking advantage of risk information and utilizing optimization models. We conduct a comprehensive case study on COVID-19 in the US and numerical results demonstrate a significant improvement compared to conventional screening strategies. The results of this paper will benefit health administrators and policy-makers by providing managerial insights regarding optimal allocation of testing kits and testing designs across diverse geographic regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robotic Mobile Fulfillment Systems (RMFSs) face challenges in handling large-scale orders and navigating complex environments, frequently encountering a series of intricate decision-making problems, such as order allocation, shelf selection, and robot scheduling. To address these challenges, this paper integrates Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) technology into an RMFS, to meet the needs of efficient order processing and system stability. This study focuses on three key stages of RMFSs: order allocation and sorting, shelf selection, and coordinated robot scheduling. For each stage, mathematical models are established and the corresponding solutions are proposed. Unlike traditional methods, DRL technology is introduced to solve these problems, utilizing a Genetic Algorithm and Ant Colony Optimization to handle decision making related to large-scale orders. Through simulation experiments, performance indicators—such as shelf access frequency and the total processing time of the RMFS—are evaluated. The experimental results demonstrate that, compared to traditional methods, our algorithms excel in handling large-scale orders, showcasing exceptional superiority, capable of completing approximately 110 tasks within an hour. Future research should focus on integrated decision-making modeling for each stage of RMFSs and designing efficient heuristic algorithms for large-scale problems, to further enhance system performance and efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobile robots play an important role in the industrial Internet of Things (IIoT); they need effective mutual communication between the cloud and themselves when they move in a factory. By using the sensor nodes existing in the IIoT environment as relays, mobile robots and the cloud can communicate through multiple hops. However, the mobility and delay sensitivity of mobile robots bring new challenges. In this paper, we propose a dynamic cooperative transmission algorithm with mutual information accumulation to cope with these two challenges. By using rateless coding, nodes can reduce the delay caused by retransmission under poor channel conditions. With the help of mutual information accumulation, nodes can accumulate information faster and reduce delay. We propose a two-step dynamic algorithm, which can obtain the current routing path with low time complexity. The simulation results show that our algorithm is better than the existing heuristic algorithm in terms of delay. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new model predictive control termed as intelligent model predictive control (IMPC) combined with an improved new competitive swarm optimizer (CSO) is designed. The analytical predictive model is not necessarily established a priori in the proposed IMPC algorithm, and the control plant can be used directly as the predictive model to reduce the complexity of the algorithm. In addition, two new techniques, dynamic initialization and back steps methods, are proposed and utilized to improve the traditional CSO to realize constraints management during the optimization process. An application to aeroengine transient-state control is studied to verify the effectiveness of the presented IMPC algorithm. It is shown that, benefitting from the IMPC algorithm, the control task is well completed and all the constraints are satisfied. Practical Applications: This paper proposes a new optimization algorithm to solve some complex optimization problems with constraints. The designed new optimization algorithm is simple and easy to implement and it is more suitable for applications with black-box models or complex optimization objective functions compared with some existing optimization algorithms. This paper may provide some help to researchers who are interested in model predictive control or metaheuristic algorithms and to people whose work contains some complex optimization problems. This paper also provides a design method of aeroengine transient-state control plans. The simulation results showed that compared with some existing control methods or optimization algorithms, the aeroengine could accelerate to the desired steady-state point with shorter transient time and all constraints are satisfied when utilizing the proposed new optimization algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate a scenario in which protected and unprotected services coexist in an elastic optical network under dynamic traffic. In the investigated scenario, unprotected services can reuse the reserved idle bandwidth to provide protection to the protected services. Under this scenario, we propose a new heuristic algorithm that enables such reuse as well as define and introduce a new assignment problem in elastic optical networks, named a Transmission Spectrum Assignment (T-SA) problem. In this paper, we consider a scenario in which services may be routed using the multipath routing approach. Additionally, protection using bandwidth squeezing is also considered. We assess our proposal through simulations on three different network topologies and compare our proposal against the classical protection approach, in which bandwidth reuse is not allowed. For the simulated range of network loads, the maximum (minimum) blocking probability reduction obtained by our proposal is approximately 48% (10%) in the European topology, 46% (7%) in the NSFNET topology, and 32% (6%) in the German topology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Internet of Things (IoT) systems generate a vast volume of data to process, and the volume of data generated by the IoT will continue to expand exponentially in the future. Due to the large-scale nature of such systems and their geographically distributed nature, how to optimally place operators and brokers for data processing across cloud, fog, and edge is the main concern of this paper. Furthermore, in the past, IoT systems relied on cloud-based brokers. If the communication between operators in an IoT application has to be regulated by a broker located in the cloud, the advantages brought by the processing of nodes located at the edge and the fog may be neglected. We consider various factors, such as the impact of different network topologies on operators and brokers, the needs of IoT application users, the performance of sensor layers, and the location characteristics of IoT sensors. In diverse placement strategies, the characteristics of the broker have been given special attention. This paper considers the combined architecture of the operator and broker on the edge, fog, and cloud as an optimization problem of minimizing computational processing and data transmission cost. We propose jointly placing the IoT application's operator and broker on the edge, fog, and cloud nodes. Then we proposed two algorithms: the low-complexity heuristic algorithm named GREEDY and the genetic algorithm called GA. Simulation results show that, in most situations, the GA placement method outperforms others and provides a near-optimal solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mission scheduling is an essential function of the management control of remote-sensing satellite application systems. With the continuous development of remote-sensing satellite applications, mission scheduling faces significant challenges. Existing work has many inherent shortcomings in dealing with dynamic task scheduling for remote-sensing satellites. In high-load and complex remote sensing task scenarios, there is low scheduling efficiency and a waste of resources. The paper proposes a scheduling method for remote-sensing satellite applications based on dynamic task prioritization. This paper combines the and Bound methodologies with an onboard task queue scheduling band in an active task prioritization context. A purpose-built emotional task priority-based scheduling blueprint is implemented to mitigate the flux and unpredictability characteristics inherent in the traditional satellite scheduling paradigm, improve scheduling efficiency, and fine-tune satellite resource allocation. Therefore, the Branch and Bound method in remote-sensing satellite task scheduling will significantly save space and improve efficiency. The experimental results show that comparing the technique to the three heuristic algorithms (GA, PSO, DE), the BnB method usually performs better in terms of the maximum value of the objective function, always finds a better solution, and reduces about 80% in terms of running time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve cargo loading efficiency and achieve diverse needs of companies for the loading process, this paper innovatively establishes a multiple objective mixed integer programming model for the three-dimensional multiple bin-size bin packing problem (3D-MBSBPP). The model is designed to maximize container space utilization rate and cargo load balance, minimize container usage costs, and incorporates some practical constraints. On this basis, we propose a novel dynamic feedback algorithm based on spatial corner fitness (SCF_DFA) to solve this model, which consists of three stages. Specifically, Stage 1 employs a heuristic algorithm based on spatial corner fitness to optimize the search of the remaining spaces. Stage 2 employs a container type selection algorithm to dynamically adjust and optimize container types. Stage 3 uses an improved genetic algorithm to improve the quality of the solutions of the first two stages. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm through comparative experiments on benchmark instances, and apply it to solve the real-life instances for the 3D-MBSBPP. The results show that the proposed algorithm can make the average container space utilization rate reach 85.38%, which is 1.48% higher than that of baseline method, while the loading results obtained are more balanced, indicating the advantages of the SCF_DFA in solving 3D-MBSBPP. Furthermore, we conduct ablation experiments to confirm the effectiveness of each component within the algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a method to find a tree with the maximum number of terminals that can be connected by a given length when numerous terminals distributed in a cluster form are given to the Euclidean plane R2 with several constraints. First constraint is that a given terminal is distributed in a cluster form, second is that a given length cannot connect all terminals in the tree, and third is that there is no curved connection between each terminal. This paper proposes a method to establish more efficient interconnections within terminals distributed in a cluster form by improving a randomly distributed memetic genetic algorithm. The construction of interconnections has been extensively used in design-related fields, from networking to architecture. Additionally, in real life, the construction of interconnections is mostly distributed in the form of clusters. Therefore, the heuristic algorithm proposed in this paper can be effectively utilized in real life and is expected to provide various cost savings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air Traffic Flow Management (ATFM) delay can quantitatively reflect the congestion caused by the imbalance between capacity and demand in an airspace network. Furthermore, it is an important parameter for the ex-post analysis of airspace congestion and the effectiveness of ATFM strategy implementation. If ATFM delays can be predicted in advance, the predictability and effectiveness of ATFM strategies can be improved. In this paper, a short-term ATFM delay regression prediction method is proposed for the characteristics of the multiple sources, high dimension, and complexity of ATFM delay prediction data. The method firstly constructs an ATFM delay prediction network model, specifies the prediction object, and proposes an ATFM delay prediction index system by integrating common flow control information. Secondly, an ATFM delay prediction method based on feature extraction modules (including CNN, TCN, and attention modules), a heuristic optimization algorithm (sparrow search algorithm (SSA)), and a prediction model (LSTM) are proposed. The method constructs a CNN-LSTM-ATT model based on SSA optimization and a TCN-LSTM-ATT model based on SSA optimization. Finally, four busy airports and their major waypoints in East China are selected as the ATFM delay prediction network nodes for example validation. The experimental results show that the MAEs of the two models proposed in this paper for ATFM delay regression prediction are 4.25 min and 4.38 min, respectively. Compared with the CNN-LSTM model, the errors are reduced by 2.71 min and 2.59 min, respectively. Compared with the TCN-LSTM model, the times are 3.68 min and 3.55 min, respectively. In this paper, two improved LSTM models are constructed to improve the prediction accuracy of ATFM delay duration so as to provide support for the establishment of an ATFM delay early warning mechanism, further improve ATFM delay management, and enhance resource allocation efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distribution generation (DG) technology based on a variety of renewable energy technologies has developed rapidly. A large number of multi-type DG are connected to the distribution network (DN), resulting in a decline in the stability of DN operation. It is urgent to find a method that can effectively connect multi-energy DG to DN. photovoltaic (PV), wind power generation (WPG), fuel cell (FC), and micro gas turbine (MGT) are considered in this paper. A multi-objective optimization model was established based on the life cycle cost (LCC) of DG, voltage quality, voltage fluctuation, system network loss, power deviation of the tie-line, DG pollution emission index, and meteorological index weight of DN. Multi-objective artificial bee colony algorithm (MOABC) was used to determine the optimal location and capacity of the four kinds of DG access DN, and compared with the other three heuristic algorithms. Simulation tests based on IEEE 33 test node and IEEE 69 test node show that in IEEE 33 test node, the total voltage deviation, voltage fluctuation, and system network loss of DN decreased by 49.67%, 7.47% and 48.12%, respectively, compared with that without DG configuration. In the IEEE 69 test node, the total voltage deviation, voltage fluctuation and system network loss of DN in the MOABC configuration scheme decreased by 54.98%, 35.93% and 75.17%, respectively, compared with that without DG configuration, indicating that MOABC can reasonably plan the capacity and location of DG. Achieve the maximum trade-off between DG economy and DN operation stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel eight-step iterative algorithm for optimizing the layout of a neighborhood, focusing on the efficient allocation of houses to strategically placed facilities, herein referred to as 'points of interest'. The methodology integrates a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) approach with a heuristic algorithm to address a variant of the facility location problem combined with network design considerations. The algorithm begins by defining a set of geographic coordinates to represent houses within a predefined area. It then identifies key points of interest, forming the basis for subsequent connectivity and allocation analyses. The methodology's core involves applying the Greedy algorithm to assign houses to the nearest points of interest, subject to capacity constraints. The method is followed by computing a Minimum Spanning Tree (MST) among these points to ensure efficient overall connectivity. The proposed algorithm's iterative design is a key attribute. The most promising result of this approach is its ability to minimize the distance between houses and points of interest while optimizing the network's total length. This dual optimization ensures a balanced distribution of houses and an efficient layout, making it particularly suitable for urban planning and infrastructure development. The paper's findings demonstrate the algorithm's effectiveness in creating a practical and efficient neighborhood layout, highlighting its potential application in large-scale urban planning and development projects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The real-time path planning of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in dynamic environments with moving threats is a difficult problem. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a time-based rapidly exploring random tree (time-based RRT*) algorithm, called the hierarchical rapidly exploring random tree algorithm based on potential function lazy planning and low-cost optimization (HPO-RRT*). The HPO-RRT* algorithm can guarantee path homotopy optimality and high planning efficiency. This algorithm uses a hierarchical architecture comprising a UAV perception system, path planner, and path optimizer. After the UAV perception system predicts moving threats and updates world information, the path planner obtains the heuristic path. First, the path planner uses the bias sampling method based on the artificial potential field function proposed in this paper to guide sampling to improve the efficiency and quality of sampling. Then, the tree is efficiently extended by the improved time-based lazy collision checking RRT* algorithm to obtain the heuristic path. Finally, a low-cost path optimizer quickly optimizes the heuristic path directly to optimize the path while avoiding additional calculations. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the three existing advanced algorithms in terms of addressing the real-time path-planning problem of UAVs in a dynamic environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Minimum Score Separation Problem (MSSP) is a combinatorial problem that was introduced in JORS 55 as an open problem in the paper industry arising in conjunction with the cutting stock problem. During the process of producing boxes, flat papers are prepared for folding by being scored with knives. The problem is to determine whether and how a given production pattern of boxes can be arranged such that a certain minimum distance between the knives can be kept. Introducing the concept of matching-based alternating Hamiltonian paths, this paper models the MSSP as the problem of finding an alternating Hamiltonian path on a graph that is the union of a matching and a type of graph known as a 'threshold graph'. On this basis, we find a heuristic that can quickly recognize a large percentage of feasible and infeasible instances of the MSSP. Detailed computational experiments demonstrate the efficiency of our approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers optimisation of pump and valve schedules in complex large-scale water distribution networks (WDN), taking into account pressure aspects such as minimum service pressure and pressure-dependent leakage. An optimisation model is au- tomatically generated in GAMS language from a hydraulic model in EPANET format and from additional files describing operational constraints, electricity tariffs and pump station configurations. The paper describes in details how each hydraulic component is modelled. To reduce the size of the optimisation problem the full hydraulic model is simplified using module reduction algorithm, while retaining the nonlinear character istics of the model. Subsequently, a nonlinear programming solver CONOPT is used to solve the optimisation model, which is in the form of Nonlinear Programming with Discontinuous Derivatives (DNLP). The results produced by CONOPT are processed further by heuristic algorithms to generate integer solution. The proposed approached was tested on a large-scale WDN model provided in EPANET format. The considered WDN included complex structures and interactions between pump stations. Solving of several scenarios considering different horizons, time steps, operational constraints, demand levels and topological changes demonstrated ability of the approach to automatically generate and solve optimisation problems for variety of requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Time-of-use (TOU) is an effective price-based demand response strategy. A reasonable design of TOU strategy can effectively reduce the peak-valley difference, and then produce a lot of benefits (such as delaying power grid investment, reducing interruption cost, and improving reliability). However, changing peak-valley period has a great influence on the peak-valley difference and power supply reliability of power system. Therefore, this paper aims to investigate the optimal modification of peak-valley period considering reliability loss under multiple TOU schemes. Firstly, this paper presents a clustering model and algorithm of optimal load curve based on a minimum error iteration method. Secondly, an optimal modification of peak-valley period based on a dynamic load point method is proposed, and the traditional peak-valley difference is replaced by the global peak-valley difference to calculate the objective function. Thirdly, this paper establishes a load–reliability relation fitting model based on the back propagation neural network. Finally, the effectiveness and correctness of the proposed method are investigated by the Roy Billinton test system and reliability test system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Answer Set Programming (ASP) is a popular logic programming paradigm that has been applied for solving a variety of complex problems. Among the most challenging real-world applications of ASP are two industrial problems defined by Siemens: the Partner Units Problem (PUP) and the Combined Configuration Problem (CCP). The hardest instances of PUP and CCP are out of reach for state-of-the-art ASP solvers. Experiments show that the performance of ASP solvers could be significantly improved by embedding domain-specific heuristics, but a proper effective integration of such criteria in off-the-shelf ASP implementations is not obvious. In this paper the combination of ASP and domain-specific heuristics is studied with the goal of effectively solving real-world problem instances of PUP and CCP. As a byproduct of this activity, the ASP solver wasp was extended with an interface that eases embedding new external heuristics in the solver. The evaluation shows that our domain-heuristic-driven ASP solver finds solutions for all the real-world instances of PUP and CCP ever provided by Siemens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The breadth and velocity of innovation has resulted in explosion of research documents day by day. Academic conferences are being arranged worldwide, most of them in regular intervals, thereby generating a huge volume of research documents. Extracting undiscovered knowledge from the conference papers and thereby finding the inter-relationship of conference research topics is a challenging task. This paper attempts towards knowledge discovery for the conference with the help of keywords mentioned in the papers presented therein. The scheme proposed here tries to include the entire set of conference research papers using a small subset of all available keywords. The correctness and complexity of the scheme are analyzed. Proof of concept is established through some flagship conference held annually round the globe. The performance is favourable when compared with available text mining methods, as far as practicable. Results indicate that the scheme could be useful in characterizing topical themes of academic conferences, which may benefit both participants and organizers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key of development for OLED devices is compatibility between organic materials. Therefore, the construction of the materials' properties DB should be followed in order to advance characterization and prediction of the OLED device. In particular, it is necessary to build a number of organic materials DB unlike the conventional Si‐based homo‐junction and alloy changing only heterojunction. So, it should be built based on the organic material parameters, SIMDB (Simulation DB), it is possible to predict and optimize driving voltage and efficiency characteristics for OLED devices. However, the skilled Engineer gets to decide on the simple repeat operation and time consumption for calibrating the material parameter/structure (4~5 layer device based on 20,000 times or more). In order to solve such problems, this paper presents an automatic optimization for electro‐optical characteristics of OLED device. The proposed method and tool are based on a unique heuristic algorithm, which is obtained from accumulated manual calibration experience. In other words, the convergence know‐how is applied random search algorithm and heuristic algorithm were constructed in‐house optimizer enables automated extraction of OLED properties. Finally, by utilizing the built SIMDB is expected to various factors affecting the OLED elements is optimized to be analyzed and prior prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important researches in wireless sensor networks is energy saving. The clustering algorithm can efficiently save energy. However, most of the existing clustering algorithms use a fixed cluster head election algorithm and perform each round of clustering, so that unsuitable nodes are continuously elected as cluster heads, leading to rapid exhaustion of node energy and short network life. In order to solve these problems, this paper proposes an Energy-saving Fuzzy Clustering Routing algorithm (EFCR) for wireless sensor networks,which designs two types of clustering, Clustering Type1 and Clustering Type2, and alternately executes them in different rounds according to the threshold. Clustering Type1 considers the parameters that affect the energy consumption of the node: the distance from the node to the base station, the number of neighbor nodes of the node, and the remaining energy of the node as fuzzy inputs, and calculates the fitness of the node as a cluster head through fuzzy inference to avoid the occurrence of unsuitable nodes being successively elected as cluster heads. Clustering Type2 performs data transmission by trusting the last round of cluster heads, which reduces the number of control data packets in each round of clustering and reduces the overall energy consumption of the network. This paper conducted simulations in four different scenarios, compared other clustering algorithms of the same type, and analyzed the remaining energy of the network, the number of surviving nodes, and the life of the network. The results show that EFCR algorithm is better than others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

INTRODCTION: By analyzing the problem of self-monitoring in English online learning and constructing a strategyintegrated evaluation method, we can not only enrich the theoretical research results of self-monitoring in online learning, but also improve the independent learning ability and self-monitoring ability of students in English online learning. OBJECTIVES: To address the problem of poor optimization performance of current fusion optimization methods.METHODS:This paper proposes an online learning self-monitoring strategy fusion method based on improved nuclear reaction heuristic intelligent algorithm. First, the problems and enhancement strategies of online learning selfmonitoring are analyzed; then, the online learning self-monitoring strategy fusion model is constructed by improving the nuclear reaction heuristic intelligent algorithm; finally, the proposed method is verified to be effective and feasible through the analysis of simulation experiments. RESLUTS: The results show that the fusion method of learning self-monitoring strategies on the line at the 20th iteration number starts to converge to optimization with less than 0.1s optimization time, and the error of the statistical score value before and after weight optimization is controlled within 0.05. CONCLUSION:Addressing the Optimization of Convergence of Self-Monitoring Strategies for English Online Learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an improved swarming algorithm that enhances low-illumination images. The algorithm combines a hybrid Harris Eagle algorithm with double gamma (IHHO-BIGA) and incomplete beta (IHHO-NBeta) functions. This paper integrates the concept of symmetry into the improvement steps of the image adaptive enhancement algorithm. The enhanced algorithm integrates chaotic mapping for population initialization, a nonlinear formula for prey energy calculation, spiral motion from the black widow algorithm for global search enhancement, a nonlinear inertia weight factor inspired by particle swarm optimization, and a modified Levy flight strategy to prevent premature convergence to local optima. This paper compares the algorithm's performance with other swarm intelligence algorithms using commonly used test functions. The algorithm's performance is compared against several emerging swarm intelligence algorithms using commonly used test functions, with results demonstrating its superior performance. The improved Harris Eagle algorithm is then applied for image adaptive enhancement, and its effectiveness is evaluated on five low-illumination images from the LOL dataset. The proposed method is compared to three common image enhancement techniques and the IHHO-BIGA and IHHO-NBeta methods. The experimental results reveal that the proposed approach achieves optimal visual perception and enhanced image evaluation metrics, outperforming the existing techniques. Notably, the standard deviation data of the first image show that the IHHO-NBeta method enhances the image by 8.26%, 120.91%, 126.85%, and 164.02% compared with IHHO-BIGA, the single-scale Retinex enhancement method, the homomorphic filtering method, and the limited contrast adaptive histogram equalization method, respectively. The processing time of the improved method is also better than the previous heuristic algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing demand for electrical services, wind farm layout optimization has been one of the biggest challenges that we have to deal with. Despite the promising performance of the heuristic algorithm on the route network design problem, the expressive capability and search performance of the algorithm on multi-objective problems remain unexplored. In this paper, the wind farm layout optimization problem is defined. Then, a multiobjective algorithm based on Graph Neural Network (GNN) and Variable Neighborhood Search (VNS) algorithm is proposed. GNN provides the basis representations for the following search algorithm so that the expressiveness and search accuracy of the algorithm can be improved. The multi-objective VNS algorithm is put forward by combining it with the multi-objective optimization algorithm to solve the problem with multiple objectives. The proposed algorithm is applied to the 18-node simulation example to evaluate the feasibility and practicality of the developed optimization strategy. The experiment on the simulation example shows that the proposed algorithm yields a reduction of 6.1% in Point of Common Coupling (PCC) over the current state-of-the-art algorithm, which means that the proposed algorithm designs a layout that improves the quality of the power supply by 6.1% at the same cost. The ablation experiments show that the proposed algorithm improves the power quality by more than 8.6% and 7.8% compared to both the original VNS algorithm and the multi-objective VNS algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The container relocation problem (CRP) is an important factor affecting the operation efficiency of container terminal yards, and it has attracted much attention for decades. The CRP during the pickup operations of import containers is still an intractable problem for two reasons: the first is that the solution efficiency of the algorithms developed in the existing literature cannot meet the real-time operation requirements; the second is that the pre-optimized operation plan cannot cope with the changes in the real-time operation scenarios caused by the uncertainty of the arrival time of external trucks. This paper proposes an optimization method for the real-time operation scenario which aims to solve the most reasonable operation plan quickly according to the arrivals of external trucks, in which a dynamic upper bound of the optimal solution is derived based on the dynamic programming model of the import containers' CRP, and an approximate optimal solution can be obtained by minimizing this dynamic upper bound. A heuristic algorithm based on three relocation rules is developed to implement this method, considering the adjustment of the pickup sequence of the target containers. Numerical experiments show that (1) when the number of a batch of target containers is less than 10 (excluding target containers that can be directly picked up), the method proposed in this paper can solve the problem quickly to meet the demand of optimizing real-time pickup operations; (2) compared with other outstanding algorithms, the quality of the solutions obtained by this method is also improved; and (3) this method can be applied to the most container terminals for optimizing real-time pickup operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem studied in this paper occurs in the steel plate yard in shipbuilding, where the stack number is approximately 40–50. The daily outbound job of the yard is to retrieve target plates distributed in different stacks. Relocation that moves the plate from one stack to another is required if target plates are blocked by blocking plates. The objective of the steel plate yard retrieval problem is to decide the retrieval order and relocation strategy, and thus, minimize the unproductive relocation number. In this paper, we introduce a stack-based retrieval method. This method is used to retrieve target plates according to a specific retrieval stack sequence, and blocking plates are preferentially relocated to stacks with no target plates. The relocation number and optimal condition of this method are analyzed. An integer programming model and heuristic algorithm are proposed to find the optimal parameters and to obtain the minimum relocation number for this method. The numerical experiments show that the proposed method can optimally solve most real-sized instances in a short amount of time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As more and more intelligent devices are put into the field of power system, the number of connected nodes in the power network is increasing exponentially. Under the background of smart grid cooperation across power areas and voltage levels, how to effectively process the massive data generated by smart grid has become a difficult problem to ensure the stable operation of power system. In the complex calculation process of power system, the operation time of complex calculation can not be shortened to the greatest extent, and the execution efficiency can not be improved. Therefore, this paper proposes a two-phase heuristic algorithm based on edge computing. In solving the virtual machine sequence problem, for the main partition and the coordination partition, the critical path algorithm is used to sort the virtual machines to minimize the computing time. For other sub-partitions, the minimum cut algorithm is used to reduce the traffic interaction of each sub-partition. In the second stage of the virtual machine placement process, an improved best fit algorithm is used to avoid poor placement of virtual machines across physical machine configurations, resulting in increased computing time. Through the experiment on the test system, it is proved that the calculation efficiency is improved when the coordinated partition calculation belongs to the target partition. Because the edge computing is closer to the data source, it can save more data transmission time than cloud computing. This paper provides an effective algorithm for power system distributed computing in virtual machine configuration in edge computing, which can effectively reduce the computing time of power system and improve the efficiency of system resource utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]