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In this paper, we propose a control framework for intelligent surgical robots under the Remote Center of Motion (RCM). The goal of a surgical robot is to assist surgeons in performing complex surgeries. RCM constraint implies that the surgical tip attached to the end-effector of the surgical robot does not slide away from the point of the incision while performing surgery. Implementation of a control algorithm to comply with RCM constraints is a complicated task because of the nonlinear model of the surgical robots and stringent conditions of accuracy imposed by the patient's safety. This paper proposes an optimization-driven approach to perform the surgical maneuver under RCM constraints. We then applied a bio-inspired optimization algorithm to solve the problem efficiently. For testing the performance of ZNNBAS, we used MATLAB to simulate a surgical procedure. A 7-DOF surgical robot (KUKA LBR IIWA 7) was used as a test bench for running the simulations. The simulation results show that the ZNNBAS is comparable with BAS, PSO, and GA and efficiently and robustly performed the task commanded maneuvers while enforcing the RCM constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fitness landscape is a theory applied to the evolutionary dynamics of biological evolution to explain the behavior of evolutionary algorithms in the solution of optimization problems. With the continuous advancement of evolutionary algorithm optimization, a fitness landscape can present more abundant feature information, such as the local fitness, fitness distance correlation, and landscape roughness. These landscape features reflect the optimal solution distribution, quantity, and local unimodal topology of the optimization problem from various angles. This paper expresses the adaptability landscape features of typical optimization problems, engages in a quantitative analysis of the fitness distance correlation information, evaluates the difficulty of solving the problem within the search space, and obtains the correlation degree classification result. The search strategy adapts the mixed mutation and the fitness distance correlation for differential evolution. Empirical studies show that, the fitness distance correlation search strategy for the differential evolution algorithm can avoid falling into the local optimum, improve accuracy and convergence, and solve the single-objective optimization problem in a more comprehensive manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel robust supervised subspace learning (RSSL) method for output-relevant prediction and detection against outliers. RSSL learns the robust subspaces by optimizing a joint problem over both the prediction of output and the reconstruction of input. To this end, the learned subspaces/data representations are informative, i.e., they are encapsulated with the critic information related to both the input and output, and thus can benefit the following tasks of output-related modeling and detection. Besides, we separate sparse items from the raw measurements to suppress the effects of outliers. An efficient optimization algorithm is designed to solve the optimization problem of RSSL. We further conduct post orthogonal decomposition upon the subspaces provided by RSSL so that the trimmed subspaces are more suitable for output-related detection. The efficacy of the proposed method is extensively verified by synthesis data and benchmark data. • We learn robust latent subspaces by a joint optimization of input and output, where the negative effects of outliers are suppressed by separating sparse items from the original data. • We develop an efficient algorithm to solve the proposed formulation of RSSL. The theoretical and empirical analysis demonstrate the effectiveness of the designed optimization algorithm. • The proposed RSSL is competent to the tasks of output prediction and output-related detection, where, for the latter task, post-decomposition is performed to further trim the subspaces generated by RSSL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coal consumption and free calcium oxide (f-CaO) content are two important production indicators in the cement calcination process, and its collaborative optimization is of great significance to improve the production performance. However, due to the multiple dynamic interferences and multiple conflicts between coal consumption and f-CaO, product quality is unstable and coal consumption becomes high. To address the problems, this paper proposes a multi-objective collaborative optimization method for cement calcination process. This method takes the coal consumption and f-CaO content as the optimization objectives to establish a multi-objective optimization model. In addition, to solve the problem that static single-step optimization is difficult to track the continuous change of working conditions, we propose a time domain rolling multi-objective Jaya algorithm (TDRM-Jaya) to optimize the model. The algorithm, involving a population update strategy, a selection strategy and a time domain rolling strategy, realizes the dynamic rolling optimization for the cement calcination process. The test comparison with several common intelligent optimization algorithms demonstrates the advantages of using TDRM-Jaya. Besides, practical industrial data validates the effectiveness of the proposed optimization method. [Display omitted] • A multi-objective optimization model of cement calcination process is developed. • A TDRM-Jaya algorithm is proposed applied to solve the optimization model. • The multi-objective collaborative optimization using data-driven model is studied. • Computational results show that the expected optimization effect can be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a novel and practical vendor selection problem of a firm that cooperates with multiple geographically dispersed stores. In this problem, the firm entrusts some of its business process to external vendors, and each store can split the ordered quantity between one or more potential vendors, represented as a multi-sourcing strategies. Moreover, the Cobb–Douglas demand function is utilised to establish a relationship between the market demand and the selling price; representing price-sensitive demand. This paper seeks to choose the best vendors, to allocate the stores to them, and to find the optimal values for inventory-related decisions. The approach is based on the integration of the vendor selection problem and the inventory-related decisions in order to generate additional opportunities for system-wide operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness. The aim is to minimise total cost of the firm consisting of costs associated with the vendor selection and inventory-related decisions. A novel meta-heuristic called the binary-continuous invasive weed optimization (BCIWO) algorithm that is capable of solving both binary and continuous optimization problems is developed to solve the complicated NP-hard problem. As there is no benchmark available in the literature, an efficient genetic algorithm enhanced by a multi-parent crossover operator is designed to solve the problem in order to validate the results obtained using BCIWO. The algorithms are tuned using the response surface methodology, based on which their performances are analyzed statistically. Finally, the applicability of the proposed approach and the solution methodologies are demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the paper is to review the practice of the theory of inventive problem solving (TRIZ) in Green Supply Chain (GSC) problems and to identify new research challenges focusing on the question: “To what extent is it necessary to evolve TRIZ tools, methods and theoretical grounding for addressing GSC inventive problems?” First, a review of the past contributions of TRIZ based methods to GSC problem resolution is presented. As the result of the papers review did not provide a comprehensive understanding of the limitations and areas of potential application of TRIZ in GSC, three experiments were conducted to complete the literature review, in order to provide a more comprehensive answer to the posed question and identify research challenges. The experiments addressing GSC problems were also conducted to explore to what extent the more mature meta-methods of classical TRIZ, namely ARIZ 85 A, C and the related sub-methods, can be used as in GSM problems. The examples were chosen to explore types of GSC problems that were not yet addressed with TRIZ. The experiment results highlight limitations on the use of the TRIZ in GSC inventive problems, which were not mentioned in the GSC literature. Moreover it highlights the limitation of using the more mature meta-methods of TRIZ (ARIZ 85A and ARIZ 85C) when the conflict to overcome contains more than two evaluation parameters and one action parameter. Finally, research challenges to overcome the limitations and to improve the use of TRIZ in GSC inventive problems are stated. Among them, methods for quickly establishing the existence of classical TRIZ contradictions or for informing the problem solver when no TRIZ contradictions are present in a given inventive problem in GSC should be proposed. Such methods would permit determining whether ARIZ 85C could be used and avoid a long and fruitless search for a system of contradictions. Find alternatives to the algorithms proposed in the past to be able to establish the generalized contradictions of inventive problems. Make evolve meta-methods ARIZ 85C or substitute it with methods which can address the inventive problems that cannot be treated by ARIZ 85C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper a novel nature-inspired optimization paradigm is proposed called Moth-Flame Optimization (MFO) algorithm. The main inspiration of this optimizer is the navigation method of moths in nature called transverse orientation. Moths fly in night by maintaining a fixed angle with respect to the moon, a very effective mechanism for travelling in a straight line for long distances. However, these fancy insects are trapped in a useless/deadly spiral path around artificial lights. This paper mathematically models this behaviour to perform optimization. The MFO algorithm is compared with other well-known nature-inspired algorithms on 29 benchmark and 7 real engineering problems. The statistical results on the benchmark functions show that this algorithm is able to provide very promising and competitive results. Additionally, the results of the real problems demonstrate the merits of this algorithm in solving challenging problems with constrained and unknown search spaces. The paper also considers the application of the proposed algorithm in the field of marine propeller design to further investigate its effectiveness in practice. Note that the source codes of the MFO algorithm are publicly available at http://www.alimirjalili.com/MFO.html . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community structure is ubiquitous in real world complex networks. Finding the communities is the key to understand the functions of those networks. A lot of works have been done in designing algorithms for community detection, but it remains a challenge in the field. Traditional modularity optimization suffers from the resolution limit problem. Recent researches show that combining the density based technique with the modularity optimization can overcome the resolution limit and an efficient algorithm named DenShrink was provided. The main procedure of DenShrink is repeatedly finding and merging micro-communities (broad sense) into super nodes until they cannot merge. Analyses in this paper show that if the procedure is replaced by finding and merging only dense pairs, both of the detection accuracy and runtime can be obviously improved. Thus an improved density-based algorithm: ImDS is provided. Since the time complexity, path based similarity indexes are difficult to be applied in community detection for high performance. In this paper, the path based Katz index is simplified and used in the ImDS algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a three-term conjugate gradient algorithm is developed for solving large-scale unconstrained optimization problems. The search direction at each iteration of the algorithm is determined by rectifying the steepest descent direction with the difference between the current iterative points and that between the gradients. It is proved that such a direction satisfies the approximate secant condition as well as the conjugacy condition. The strategies of acceleration and restart are incorporated into designing the algorithm to improve its numerical performance. Global convergence of the proposed algorithm is established under two mild assumptions. By implementing the algorithm to solve 75 benchmark test problems available in the literature, the obtained results indicate that the algorithm developed in this paper outperforms the existent similar state-of-the-art algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The generators of the solution space for a system of inequalities A ⊗ x ≥ x are considered in this paper, where A is a square matrix over R ¯ = R ∪ { − ∞ } , x is a column vector and ⊗ is a max-plus composition. This paper presents some properties of solutions to the system of inequalities and proposes an algorithm to find a set of generators for the solution space of the system of inequalities with A ∈ R ¯ n × n . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nature-inspired algorithms are widely used in mathematical and engineering optimization. As one of the latest swarm intelligence-based methods, fruit fly optimization algorithm (FOA) was proposed inspired by the foraging behavior of fruit fly. In order to overcome the shortcomings of original FOA, a new improved fruit fly optimization algorithm called IAFOA is presented in this paper. Compared with original FOA, IAFOA includes four extra mechanisms: 1) adaptive selection mechanism for the search direction, 2) adaptive adjustment mechanism for the iteration step value, 3) adaptive crossover and mutation mechanism, and 4) multi-sub-swarm mechanism. The adaptive selection mechanism for the search direction allows the individuals to search for global optimum based on the experience of the previous iteration generations. According to the adaptive adjustment mechanism, the iteration step value can change automatically based on the iteration number and the best smell concentrations of different generations. Besides, the adaptive crossover and mutation mechanism introduces crossover and mutation operations into IAFOA, and advises that the individuals with different fitness values should be operated with different crossover and mutation probabilities. The multi-sub-swarm mechanism can spread optimization information among the individuals of the two sub-swarms, and quicken the convergence speed. In order to take an insight into the proposed IAFOA, computational complexity analysis and convergence analysis are given. Experiment results based on a group of 29 benchmark functions show that IAFOA has the best performance among several intelligent algorithms, which include five variants of FOA and five advanced intelligent optimization algorithms. Then, IAFOA is used to solve three engineering optimization problems for the purpose of verifying its practicability, and experiment results show that IAFOA can generate the best solutions compared with other ten algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper applies a new hybrid method by a combination of three population base algorithms such as Genetic Algorithm (GA), Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) and Symbiotic Organisms Search (SOS). The proposed method has been inspired from natural selection process and it completes this process in GA by using the PSO and SOS. It tends to minimize the execution time and in addition to reduce the complexity. Symbiotic organisms search is a robust and powerful metaheuristic algorithm which has attracted increasing attention in recent decades. There are three alternative phases in the proposed algorithm: GA, which develops and selects best population for the next phases, PSO, which gets experiences for each appropriate solution and updates them as well and SOS, which benefits from previous phases and performs symbiotic interaction update phases in the real-world population. The proposed algorithm was tested on the set of best known unimodal and multimodal benchmark functions in various dimensions. It has further been evaluated in, the experiment on the clustering of benchmark datasets. The obtained results from basic and non-parametric statistical tests confirmed that this hybrid method dominates in terms of convergence, execution time, success rate. It optimizes the high dimensional and complex functions Rosenbrock and Griewank up to 10 − 330 accuracy in less than 3 s, out-performing other known algorithms. It had also applied clustering datasets with minimum intra-cluster distance and error rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Using the semi-tensor product method, this paper investigates the algebraic formulation and strategy optimization for a class of evolutionary networked games with “myopic best response adjustment” rule, and presents a number of new results. First, the dynamics of the evolutionary networked game is converted to an algebraic form via the semi-tensor product, and an algorithm is established to construct the algebraic formulation for the game. Second, based on the algebraic form, the dynamical behavior of evolutionary networked games is discussed, and some interesting results are presented. Finally, the strategy optimization problem is considered by adding a pseudo-player to the game, and a free-type control sequence is designed to maximize the average payoff of the pseudo-player. The study of an illustrative example shows that the new results obtained in this paper work very well. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• This paper proposes a decentralized ADAM-type algorithm for solving minmax optimization problem under the condition that the objective function satisfies Minty VI which is a generalization to convex-concave case. The proposed method is unlike the recent non-adaptive gradient-based decentralized min-maxstudies that fail drastically in practice and requires large efforts for tuning. In this paper, we first obtain non-asymptotic rates of convergence of our method for finding (stochastic) first-order Nash equilibrium point and then evaluate its performance by using it for training GANs in numerous dataset. In the revised version of the paper, we have pointed out relaxation of the Minty condition in the discussion of the paper. Min-max saddle point games have recently been intensely studied, due to their wide range of applications, including training Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). However, most of the recent efforts for solving them are limited to special regimes such as convex-concave games. Further, it is customarily assumed that the underlying optimization problem is solved either by a single machine or in the case of multiple machines connected in centralized fashion, wherein each one communicates with a central node. The latter approach becomes challenging, when the underlying communications network has low bandwidth. In addition, privacy considerations may dictate that certain nodes can communicate with a subset of other nodes. Hence, it is of interest to develop methods that solve min-max games in a decentralized manner. To that end, we develop a decentralized adaptive momentum (ADAM)-type algorithm for solving min-max optimization problem under the condition that the objective function satisfies a Minty Variational Inequality condition, which is a generalization to convex-concave case. The proposed method overcomes shortcomings of recent non-adaptive gradient-based decentralized algorithms for min-max optimization problems, that do not perform well in practice and require careful tuning. In this paper, we obtain non-asymptotic rates of convergence of the proposed algorithm (coined Dadam 3) for finding a (stochastic) first-order Nash equilibrium point and subsequently evaluate its performance on training GANs. The extensive empirical evaluation shows that Dadam 3 outperforms recently developed methods, including decentralized optimistic stochastic gradient for solving such min-max problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper presents an innovative Tribe-Modified Differential Evolution (Tribe-MDE) for solving multi-objective Environmental/Economic Dispatch (EED) problems. By using this method the multi-objective problem will be changed into a mini-max problem on this first stage and then will be solved using the Tirbe-MDE algorithm. The operator, a person who is competent with respect to the problem, can initiate all the necessary actions to determine an optimal solution. Because of the fact that all of Pareto obtained solutions are of the same level of preference an operator will be able to affect his/her opinions with respect to different conflicting objectives. Using this methodology the operator can achieve the optimal solution. The DE algorithm is an advanced stochastic method that can prepare the necessary preliminaries for an operator to solve the EED problem. DE method has several advantages including its few control variables, local searching capability, fast results, easy using process and simple structure and using the control variables logically has a significant effect on the results. The subject of this paper is studying the modified DE algorithm which is founded on self-adaptive control. In this method a diversity-preserving method is used to solve the premature convergence problem and for proving the effectiveness of this method in solving EED problems the presented algorithms is applied on different systems. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents a new Electromagnetism-like Mechanism (EM) algorithm with Split, Probe and Compare feature (SPC-EM). The proposed algorithm replaces the local search segment of a standard EM with a new search scheme named Split, Probe, and Compare (SPC). A nonlinear equation is designed to systematically and dynamically adjust the length of the probes based on the outcome of the Compare segment in each iteration. Extensive computational simulations and comparisons on 10 different benchmark problems from the literature were carried out. Results show that the new modified mechanism outperformed all other algorithms involved in the benchmarking. We thus conclude that the proposed SPC-EM works well with the designed probe-length tuning equation in solving numerical optimization problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Colliding Bodies Optimization (CBO) algorithm is a metaheuristic algorithm inspired by the physics laws of collision in which each candidate solution is modeled as an agent with mass body in proportion to the fitness of the solution. In this paper a modified version of CBO, denoted by MCBO, is utilized to optimize the cost of bridge superstructures. The problem consists of 17 variables and 101 implicit constraints based on AASHTO standard specifications and construction limitations. The optimization is performed for bridges with different span lengths and deck widths, and with various unit costs of concrete. A comparison among the PSO, CBO, and MCBO algorithms is conducted which shows the efficiency and robustness of the MCBO algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study considers a constrained huge-scale optimization problem over networks where the objective is to minimize the sum of nonsmooth local loss functions. To solve this problem, many optimization algorithms have been proposed by employing (sub)gradient descent methods to handle high-dimensional data, but the computation of the entire sub(gradient) becomes a computational bottleneck. To reduce the computational burden of each agent and preserve privacy of data in time-varying networks, we propose a privacy-preserving decentralized randomized block-coordinate subgradient projection algorithm over time-varying networks, in which the coordinates of the subgradient vector is randomly chosen to update the optimized parameter and the partially homomorphic cryptography is used to protect the privacy of data. Further, we prove that our algorithm is convergent asymptotically. Moreover, the rates of convergence are also established by choosing appropriate step sizes, i.e., O (log K / K) under local strong convexity and O (log K / K) under local convexity, in which K represents the number of iterations. Meanwhile, we show that the privacy of data can be protected by the proposed algorithm. The results of experiments demonstrate the computational benefit of our algorithm on two real-world datasets. The theoretical results are also verified by different experiments. • This paper proposes a privacy-preserving decentralized randomized block-coordinate subgradient projection algorithm. • It proves that the proposed algorithm is asymptotically convergent. • It proves that the proposed algorithm can protect the privacy of data. • It proves that the rate of convergence is achieved, i.e., O (log K / K) and O (log K / K). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Since the joint optimization coding for the level and the map information of transformed coefficients has been applied to the image coding successfully, this paper addresses the problem of how to optimize the two parts of information of residual coefficients jointly in the state-of-the-art video coding standard—H.264/AVC. In order to solve this problem, this paper presents a pruning method to zero out residual coefficients, which are not valuable for encoding in rate-distortion optimization (RDO) sense. Furthermore, a joint optimization scheme is presented to combine scalar quantization with this pruning method together to further improve the compression performance of the proposed algorithm. Experiments have been conducted based on the reference encoder JM12.4 of H.264/AVC. Comparative studies show that the proposed joint coding method can achieve a PSNR gain more than 0.5dB at a certain bit rate, compared with the coding method in the H.264/AVC. Especially, the PSNR gain can reach up to 0.9dB, or equivalently, 17% bit rate saving can be achieved at some special cases. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper proposes a global optimization algorithm for solving a mixed (continuous/discrete) transportation network design problem (MNDP), which is generally expressed as a mathematical programming with equilibrium constraint (MPEC). The upper level of the MNDP aims to optimize the network performance via both expansion of existing links and addition of new candidate links, whereas the lower level is a traditional Wardrop user equilibrium (UE) problem. In this paper, we first formulate the UE condition as a variational inequality (VI) problem, which is defined from a finite number of extreme points of a link-flow feasible region. The MNDP is approximated as a piecewise-linear programming (P-LP) problem, which is then transformed into a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) problem. A global optimization algorithm based on a cutting constraint method is developed for solving the MILP problem. Numerical examples are given to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method and to compare the results with alternative algorithms reported in the literature. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, we investigate the optimal locations of surveillance cameras on straight lanes. As known, inappropriate settings of surveillance cameras will result in some dead angles and dead space, and oversetting of surveillance cameras will waste limited resources. The considered location problem aims to minimize the maximal detection failure probability of points on straight lane subject to a limited budget. The problem is an important and complex location problem in practice. The purpose of this paper is twofold. Firstly, exact closed forms of optimal locations of single-type surveillance cameras are derived. Secondly, we apply a PSO algorithm for solving the types and locations of multiple-type surveillance cameras. Numerical results are reported and compared with those by well known software LINGO. Limited numerical results show the effectiveness of PSO especially when the budget is limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper, a new fault prediction model is presented to deal with the fault prediction problems in the presence of both quantitative and qualitative data based on the dynamic evidential reasoning (DER) approach. In engineering practice, system performance is constantly changed with time. As such, there is a need to develop a supporting mechanism that can be used to conduct dynamic fusion with time, and establish a prediction model to trace and predict system performance. In this paper, a DER approach is first developed to realize dynamic fusion. The new approach takes account of time effect by introducing belief decaying factor, which reflects the nature that evidence credibility is decreasing over time. Theoretically, it is show that the new DER aggregation schemes also satisfy the synthesis theorems. Then a fault prediction model based on the DER approach is established and several optimization models are developed for locally training the DER prediction model. The main feature of these optimization models is that only partial input and output information is required, which can be either incomplete or vague, either numerical or judgmental, or mixed. The models can be used to fine tune the DER prediction model whose initial parameters are decided by expert’s knowledge or common sense. Finally, two numerical examples are provided to illustrate the detailed implementation procedures of the proposed approach and demonstrate its potential applications in fault prediction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper proposes a novel methodology for the optimal location and sizing of shunt capacitors in radial distribution systems. This method is based on a fuzzy decision making which using a new evolutionary method. The capacitor placement optimization problem includes: minimizing the cost of peak power, reducing energy loss and improving voltage profile. The installation node is selected by the fuzzy reasoning supported by the fuzzy set theory in a step by step procedure. Also an evolutionary algorithm known as bacteria foraging algorithm (BFA) is utilized in solving the objective multivariable optimization problem and the optimal node for capacitor placement is determined. The proposed approach is applied to 34-bus distribution system as a test study and the results are compared with previous method. The results show that this method provides more economic solution by reducing power losses, energy loss, total required capacitive compensation and show a good improvement in nodes voltage to be in the requested range. Comparison between the proposed method in this paper and similar methods in other research works shows the effectiveness of the proposed method for solving optimum capacitor planning problem. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Particle filter (PF) is introduced to tackle the limitations of the Kalman filter which adopts Gaussian in the state and noise of the system. PFs have the problem of sample impoverishment and one approach to solve this problem is to optimize the proposal distribution shown by particles. This paper introduces a novel evolutionary PF based on Opposition based High Dimensional optimization Algorithm (OHDA) to reposition the particles of PF in high probable regions for estimation. OHDA will preserve the diversity of particles while emphasizing the more informative ones by information sharing and angular movement operators. Opposite particles are introduced in this paper to speed up the convergence of PF. Virtual forward movement by angular movement of OHDA is employed to better guide the search process. The optimized PF can improve the performance of the estimation algorithms in problems such as localization and SLAM. In robot localization problem, particles show the location of the robot in a known environment. For SLAM (Simultaneous Localization And Mapping), particles contain the location of the robot as well as estimated map of the environment. The application of the resulting evolutionary particle filter is tested in both localization and SLAM. Comparing the results of the proposed evolutionary particle filter with other algorithms confirms the efficiency of applying OHDA to PF in terms of improving estimation accuracy in the well-known Victoria park dataset and some other generated test environments. Comparing optimization algorithms on FASTSLAM and UFASTSLAM are PSO, FA, MVO, and MGWO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with optimization problems on rotagraphs and fasciagraphs. These graphs are repetitive structures that generalize grids and toroidal grids, respectively. We develop a theoretical framework and get linear-time and constant-time generic algorithms for wide classes of combinatorial problems which are defined in a purely combinatorial way. These classes of problems include in particular many classical optimization problems that are NP-complete in general. Our results unify in a single framework many results of the literature, in particular on the topic of domination–and its variants–in grids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Software requirements selection is a problem which consists of choosing the set of new requirements which will be included in the next release of a software package. This NP-hard problem is an important issue involving several contradictory objectives which have to be tackled by software companies when developing new releases of software packages. Software projects have to stick to a budget, but they also have to satisfy the highest number of customer requirements. Furthermore, when managing real instances of the problem, the requirements tackled suffer interactions and other restrictions which make the problem even harder. In this paper, a novel multi-objective teaching learning based optimization (TLBO) algorithm has been successfully applied to several instances of the problem. For doing this, the software requirements selection problem has been formulated as a multiobjective optimization problem with two objectives: the total software development cost and the overall customer׳s satisfaction. In addition, three interaction constraints have been also managed. In this context, the original TLBO algorithm has been adapted to solve real instances of the problem generated from data provided by experts. Numerical experiments with case studies on software requirements selection have been carried out in order to prove the effectiveness of the multiobjective proposal. In fact, the obtained results show that the developed algorithm performs better than other relevant algorithms previously published in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a new regularized quasi-Newton algorithm for unconstrained optimization. In this algorithm, an adaptive quadratic term is employed to regularize the quasi-Newton model. At each iteration, the trial step is obtained by solving an unconstrained quadratic subproblem. The global convergence and superlinear convergence of the new algorithm are established under reasonable assumptions. The numerical results show that new algorithm is effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Second-order cone optimization (denoted by SOCO) is a class of convex optimization problems and it contains the linear optimization problem, convex quadratic optimization problem and quadratically constrained convex quadratic optimization problem as special cases. In this paper, we propose a new smoothing Newton method for solving the SOCO based on a non-symmetrically perturbed smoothing Fischer–Burmeister function. At each iteration, a system of linear equations is solved only approximately by using the inexact Newton method. It is shown that any accumulation point of the iteration sequence generated by the proposed algorithm is a solution of the SOCO. Furthermore, we prove that the generated sequence is bounded and hence it has at least one accumulation point. Under the assumption of nonsingularity, we establish the local quadratic convergence of the proposed algorithm without strict complementarity condition. Numerical experiments indicate that our method is effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As non-rigid 3D shape plays increasingly important roles in practical applications, this paper addresses its retrieval problem by considering three aspects: shape representation, retrieval optimization, and shape filtering. (1) For shape representation, two kinds of features are considered. We first propose a new integration kernel based local descriptor, and then an efficient voting scheme is designed for shape representation. Besides, we also study the commute times as shape distributions, which grasp the spatial shape information globally. Both of them capture shape information from different viewpoints based on the same embedding basis. (2) We then study the typical problem of retrieval optimization. Prior works show poor stability under different similarity windows. To deal with this deficiency, we propose to model the problem as a distance mapping on a graph in spectral manifold space. (3) Usually, for each retrieval input, a list is returned and there may be lots of irrelevant results. We develop an algorithm to filter them out by combining multiple kernels. Finally, three public datasets are employed for performance evaluation and the results show that the studied techniques have contributed a lot in promoting the recognition rate of non-rigid 3D shapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper a successful topology optimization of a centrifugally loaded aero-engine part is presented. For the topology optimization, which is a nonlinear problem due to several contact regions, a self-developed topology optimization algorithm in combination with a commercial FE-solver is used. The goal of the optimization was the reduction of stresses in the structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The conventional compliance minimization of load-carrying structures does not directly deal with displacements that are of practical importance. In this paper, a global displacement control is realized through topology optimization with a global constraint that sets a displacement limit on the whole structure or certain sub-domains. A volume minimization problem is solved by an extended evolutionary topology optimization approach. The local displacement sensitivities are derived following a power-law penalization material model. The global control of displacement is realized through multiple local displacement constraints on dynamically located critical nodes. Algorithms are proposed to secure the stability and convergence of the optimization process. Through numerical examples and by comparing with conventional stiffness designs, it is demonstrated that the proposed approach is capable of effectively finding optimal solutions which satisfy the global displacement control. Such solutions are of particular importance for structural designs whose deformed shapes must comply with functioning requirements such as aerodynamic performances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The component pick-and-place sequence is one of the key factors to affect the working efficiency of the surface mounting machine in the printed circuit board assembly. In this paper, an improved Shuffled Frog-leaping Algorithm was presented by improving the basic Shuffled Frog-leaping Algorithm (SFLA) with the strategy of letting all frogs taking part in memetic evolution and adding the self-variation behavior to the frog. The objective function of component pick-and-place sequence of the gantry multi-head component surface mounting machine was established. Parameters selection is critical for SFLA. In this study, Three-way ANOVA was used in parameters analyzing of the new improved SFLA. The parameters like memeplex numbers m, the frogs' number P and local evolution numbers iPart were found having notable effects on the mounting time (time spent for components picking and placing), but the interactions among these parameters were not obvious. Multiple comparison procedures were adopted to determine the best parameter settings. In order to test the performance of the new algorithm, several experiments were carried out to compare the performance of improved SFLA with the basic SFLA and the genetic algorithm (GA) in solving the component pick-and-place sequence optimization problems. The experiment results indicate that improved SFLA can solve the optimization problem efficiently and outperforms SFLA and GA in terms of convergence accuracy, although more CPU time is undeniably needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Intelligent Water Drop (IWD) algorithm is a recent stochastic swarm-based method that is useful for solving combinatorial and function optimization problems. In this paper, we investigate the effectiveness of the selection method in the solution construction phase of the IWD algorithm. Instead of the fitness proportionate selection method in the original IWD algorithm, two ranking-based selection methods, namely linear ranking and exponential ranking, are proposed. Both ranking-based selection methods aim to solve the identified limitations of the fitness proportionate selection method as well as to enable the IWD algorithm to escape from local optima and ensure its search diversity. To evaluate the usefulness of the proposed ranking-based selection methods, a series of experiments pertaining to three combinatorial optimization problems, i.e., rough set feature subset selection, multiple knapsack and travelling salesman problems, is conducted. The results demonstrate that the exponential ranking selection method is able to preserve the search diversity, therefore improving the performance of the IWD algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Very recently, tropical counterparts of fractional linear programs have been studied. Some algorithms were proposed for solving them, with techniques ranging from bisection methods to homeomorphisms to formal power series. In this paper, some algorithms are also proposed. They mainly rely in the ability of finding the greatest and smallest solutions of tropical equations, a subject that was discussed in a previous work of the authors [13] . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Invasive Weed Optimization (IWO) algorithm is a simple but powerful algorithm which is capable of solving general multi-dimensional, linear and nonlinear optimization problems with appreciable efficiency. Recently IWO algorithm is being used in several engineering design owing to its superior performance in comparison with many other existing algorithms. This paper presents a Chaotic IWO (CIWO) algorithms based on chaos, and investigates its performance for optimal settings of Optimal Power Flow (OPF) control variables of OPF problem with non-smooth and non-convex generator fuel cost curves (non-smooth and non-convex OPF). The performance of CIWO algorithms are studied and evaluated on the standard IEEE 30-bus test system with different objective functions. The experimental results suggest that IWO algorithm holds immense promise to appear as an efficient and powerful algorithm for optimization in the power system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• The relationship between apparent soil resistivity and soil parameters. • A high-efficiency and accurate PSO-DE algorithm for soil parameters estimation was proposed. • The initialization method of PSO-DE and other heuristic algorithms for improving the calculation accuracy was proposed. The grounding grid is buried in horizontal multilayer soils, so accurate parameters (resistivity , thickness, the number of soil layers) estimation of the soil is the basis for accurately calculating the grounding parameters and design of grounding grids. At present, the parameters estimation is usually solved by non-heuristic algorithms and heuristic algorithms. However, existing non-heuristic algorithms depend too much on the initial value and conventional heuristic algorithms could deviate from the correct solution too far, which would easily fall into local optimal solution, causing calculation errors. To solve the above problem, this paper first studies the relationship between the apparent soil resistivity and soil parameters based on the Wenner's method. Then, an innovative PSO-DE (Particle Swarm Optimization-Differential Evolution) optimization algorithm and its initialization method are proposed. The results of PSO-DE, conventional heuristic intelligent optimization algorithms, CDEGS, and literatures are compared, which verifies the superiority and accuracy of the PSO-DE. Therefore, the contribution of this work can lay a solid theoretical foundation for grounding parameters calculation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Students generally attempt to improve themselves with different manners in their spare time. Inspired by this fact, this paper presents a multi-objective elitist feedback teaching–learning-based optimization (MEFTO) algorithm for multi-objective optimization problems. To promote the exploration capacity and convergence of the basic teaching–learning-based optimization (TLBO), a feedback phase that simulates the spare-time learning phenomenon is introduced at the end of the learner phase. Students should compare their score with the average class score to select an appropriate means for further improvement. Poorly performing students can learn from the teacher directly for rapid improvement, whereas high-performing students prefer to motivate themselves for reinforcement learning. Non-dominated sorting is incorporated to permit this heuristic to solve problems with several objectives. Crowding distance calculation is adopted to maintain the diversity of the obtained solution set in a single run. Elitism strategy is also employed to provide a great improvement for the algorithm. The performance of the MEFTO algorithm is compared with seven other well-known algorithms by using a set of unconstrained benchmark test problems and three constrained engineering optimization problems. The qualitative and quantitative results indicate that the proposed algorithm can provide considerably competitive results and outperforms the other algorithms. • A novel multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MEFTO) is developed. • The developed algorithm is evaluated on a series of benchmark functions. • The performance of the MEFTO is demonstrated using various metrics. • The developed algorithm is applied to solve three constrained engineering problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] This paper presents TLBO and OTLBO to solve combined heat and power dispatch problem. [•] The proposed methods are implemented on three standard test systems. [•] The effectiveness of the proposed methods are compared with other reported algorithms. [•] Robustness of the proposed methods are checked through statistical analysis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The normalized least mean squares (NLMS) and recursive least squares (RLS) algorithms are widely used for adaptive filtering. Interestingly, the NLMS algorithm has been shown to be strictly optimal in the sense of filtering, whereas the forgetting factor RLS algorithm has not been clearly related to a solution to the filtering problem. This paper describes a method for further optimizing the solutions to the ordinary filtering problem over an assumed system model set and a predetermined norm weight set. The extended filtering problem offers a framework for constructing a unified view of adaptive algorithms for finite impulse response (FIR) filters. The framework enables a discussion of the relationships among the NLMS algorithm, the forgetting factor RLS algorithm, and the filter over the common parameter space, and facilitates the development of new fast adaptive algorithms that outperform the existing algorithms, such as the NLMS and the fast RLS algorithms. The validity of the discussion based on the framework is verified using numerical examples. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, a novel fruit fly optimization algorithm (nFOA) is proposed to solve the semiconductor final testing scheduling problem (SFTSP). First, a new encoding scheme is presented to represent solutions reasonably, and a new decoding scheme is presented to map solutions to feasible schedules. Second, it uses multiple fruit fly groups during the evolution process to enhance the parallel search ability of the FOA. According to the characteristics of the SFTSP, a smell-based search operator and a vision-based search operator are well designed for the groups to stress exploitation. Third, to simulate the information communication behavior among fruit flies, a cooperative search process is developed to stress exploration. The cooperative search process includes a modified improved precedence operation crossover (IPOX) and a modified multipoint preservative crossover (MPX) based on two popular structures of the flexible job shop scheduling. Moreover, the influence of the parameter setting is investigated by using Taguchi method of design-of-experiment (DOE), and suitable values are determined for key parameters. Finally, computational tests results with some benchmark instances and the comparisons to some existing algorithms are provided, which demonstrate the effectiveness and the efficiency of the nFOA in solving the SFTSP. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The LSQR algorithm developed by Paige and Saunders (1982) is considered one of the most efficient and stable methods for solving large, sparse, and ill-posed linear (or linearized) systems. In seismic tomography, the LSQR method has been widely used in solving linearized inversion problems. As the amount of seismic observations increase and tomographic techniques advance, the size of inversion problems can grow accordingly. Currently, a few parallel LSQR solvers are presented or available for solving large problems on supercomputers, but the scalabilities are generally weak because of the significant communication cost among processors. In this paper, we present the details of our optimizations on the LSQR code for, but not limited to, seismic tomographic inversions. The optimizations we have implemented to our LSQR code include: reordering the damping matrix to reduce its band-width for simplifying the communication pattern and reducing the amount of communication during calculations; adopting sparse matrix storage formats for efficiently storing and partitioning matrices; using the MPI I/O functions to parallelize the date reading and result writing processes; providing different data partition strategies for efficiently using computational resources. A large seismic tomographic inversion problem, the full-3D waveform tomography for Southern California, is used to explain the details of our optimizations and examine the performance on Yellowstone supercomputer at the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center (NWSC). The results showed that the required wall time of our code for the same inversion problem is much less than that of the LSQR solver from the PETSc library (Balay et al., 1997). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, an efficient optimization technique is proposed for constrained optimization problems with interval valued objective function. At first, the significance of interval-valued objective function and the meaning of the interval-valued solution of the proposed problem have been explained with graphical interpretation. Generally, this type of problems has infinitely many compromise solutions. The aim of this approach is to obtain one of such solutions with higher accuracy and lower computational cost. The proposed technique is mainly based on the splitting criterion of the accepted/prescribed search region, calculation of the interval inclusion functions and the selection of subregion depending on the modified interval order relations in the context of the decision makers’ point of view. Novel interval oriented constraint satisfaction rules are used for non-interval equality and inequality constraints. Clearly, the proposed technique is nothing but an imitation of well known interval analysis based branch and bound (B &B) optimization approach. The modified multi-section division criterion with some new interval oriented constraint satisfaction rules for non-interval-valued equality and inequality constraints and some novel interval order relations in the context of the decision makers’ point of view have been applied to increase the efficiency of the proposed algorithm. Finally, the technique is applied for solving some test problems and the results are compared with the same obtained from the existing methods. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The Prediction Error Method (PEM) is related to an optimization problem built on input/output data collected from the system to be identified. It is often hard to find the global solution of this optimization problem because the corresponding objective function presents local minima and/or the search space is constrained to a nonconvex set. The shape of the cost function, and hence the difficulty in solving the optimization problem, depends directly on the experimental conditions, more specifically on the spectrum of the input/output data collected from the system. Therefore, it seems plausible to improve the convergence to the global minimum by properly choosing the spectrum of the input; in this paper, we address this problem. We present a condition for convergence to the global minimum of the cost function and propose its inclusion in the input design. We present the application of the proposed approach to case studies where the algorithms tend to get trapped in nonglobal minima. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In the present paper, a comparison is made between the Coupled Local Minimizers (CLM) method and the Differential Evolution (DE) algorithm to perform FE model updating for the damage detection in a cracked beam. CLM method is a gradient-based method with multiple local optimization runs. DE algorithm is a direct search approach which uses a population of solution vectors collecting the design parameters. Two benchmark examples of damage assessment are considered, i.e., beams under flexural vibrations with one crack and two cracks, with unknown position and depth. The effectiveness of the two methods to obtain the set of unknown parameters has been verified by performing a number of optimization processes starting from initial values of parameters selected randomly. Both exact and pseudo-experimental input data are used. A statistical analysis of the optimization results is presented. Both methods give results much better than the classical gradient optimization method. Better performances in term of speed rate and precision have been obtained by CLM when the number of identified parameters is limited. On the other hand, DE shows good efficiency when the number of parameters increases or in the case of pseudo-experimental input data. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Going from unstructured cloud of points to surfaces is a challenging problem. However, as points are produced by a structure-and-motion pipeline, image-consistency is a powerful clue that comes to the rescue. In this paper we present a method for extracting planar patches from an unstructured cloud of points, based on the detection of image-consistent planar patches with J-linkage, a robust algorithm for multiple model fitting. The method integrates several constraints inside J-linkage, optimizes the position of the points with regard to image-consistency and deploys a hierarchical processing scheme that decreases the computational load. With respect to previous work this approach has the advantage of starting from sparse data. Several results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Parallel imaging and compressed sensing have been arguably the most successful and widely used techniques for fast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Recent studies have shown that the combination of these two techniques is useful for solving the inverse problem of recovering the image from highly under-sampled k-space data. In sparsity-enforced sensitivity encoding (SENSE) reconstruction, the optimization problem involves data fidelity (L2-norm) constraint and a number of L1-norm regularization terms (i.e. total variation or TV, and L1 norm). This makes the optimization problem difficult to solve due to the non-smooth nature of the regularization terms. In this paper, to effectively solve the sparsity-regularized SENSE reconstruction, we utilize a new optimization method, called fast composite splitting algorithm (FCSA), which was developed for compressed sensing MRI. By using a combination of variable splitting and operator splitting techniques, the FCSA algorithm decouples the large optimization problem into TV and L1 sub-problems, which are then, solved efficiently using existing fast methods. The operator splitting separates the smooth terms from the non-smooth terms, so that both terms are treated in an efficient manner. The final solution to the SENSE reconstruction is obtained by weighted solutions to the sub-problems through an iterative optimization procedure. The FCSA-based parallel MRI technique is tested on MR brain image reconstructions at various acceleration rates and with different sampling trajectories. The results indicate that, for sparsity-regularized SENSE reconstruction, the FCSA-based method is capable of achieving significant improvements in reconstruction accuracy when compared with the state-of-the-art reconstruction method. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Dynamic economic dispatch with valve-point effects (DED_ vpe) is a high-dimensional constrained optimization problem with non-convex and non-smooth characteristics. Hybrid methods are one of the most advanced methods to solve the problem. However, most of these methods improve the solution accuracy at the expense of algorithm robustness. This paper proposes an adaptive hybrid backtracking search optimization algorithm (AHBSA) for solving the DED_ vpe. The core idea of AHBSA lies in designing a suitable coupling structure based on the current best individual (called optimal partial coupling). The structure hybridizes an improved BSA mutation operator and the DE/best/1 operator with equal probability. The improved BSA mutation operator uses the current best individual and the historical population to update individual position, called BSA/best/old. It is also the first research work of extending BSA to the problem. In addition, an adaptive parameter control mechanism is proposed to select an appropriate 'mixrate' value for achieving better coupling. The performance of AHBSA is validated on six DED test cases of three systems. Experimental results demonstrate that, compared with some representative methods, AHBSA not only reduces the fuel cost but also ensures the robustness of the algorithm. • A hybrid method AHBSA is proposed to solve DED problem with valve-point effects. • An optimal partial coupling structure is designed in AHBSA. • BSA is the first attempt at solving DED problem. • Results on six benchmark DED test cases show AHBSA is competitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multi-area economic dispatch (MAED) is an important non-linear optimization problem in power system operation. MAED involves multiple power generation areas, and minimizes the total fuel cost by determining the power generation within areas and the power interchange between areas. This paper proposes an improved competitive swarm optimization (ImCSO) algorithm to solve the MAED problems. The ImCSO algorithm introduces two improvements into competitive swarm optimization for performance enhancement. Firstly, a ranking paired learning strategy is adopted to enhance the learning efficiency of the loser particles; secondly, a differential evolution strategy is used to update and improve the winner particles. Combining a constraint repair technique, the proposed ImCSO algorithm is applied to solve 10-unit, 40-unit and 120-unit multi-area static economic dispatch and 40-unit multi-area dynamic economic dispatch problems. The solved MAED problems integrate comprehensive constraints such as valve point effect, multiple fuels, transmission loss, tie-line constraint, prohibited operating zone and ramp rate limit. Through comparison with other well-established optimization algorithms, it is observed that the ImCSO algorithm has superiority in terms of solution accuracy and reliability in solving the MAED problems. • A novel method ImCSO is proposed for solving multi-area economic dispatch (MAED). • Ranking paired learning and differential evolution strategies are adopted in ImCSO. • Static and dynamic MAED problems integrating comprehensive constraints are studied. • Simulation results show that ImCSO has superiority in solution accuracy and reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feature selection is an important data processing method to reduce dimension of the raw datasets while preserving the information as much as possible. In this paper, an enhanced version of Black Widow Optimization Algorithm called SDABWO is proposed to solve the feature selection problem. The Black Widow Optimization Algorithm (BWO) is a new population-based meta-heuristic algorithm inspired by the evolution process of spider population. Three main improvements were included into the BWO to overcome the shortcoming of low accuracy, slow convergence speed and being easy to fall into local optima. Firstly, a novel strategy for selecting spouses by calculating the weight of female spiders and the distance between spiders is proposed. By applying the strategy to the original algorithm, it has faster convergence speed and higher accuracy. The second improvement includes the use of mutation operator of differential evolution at mutation phase of BWO which helps the algorithm escape from the local optima. And then, three key parameters are set to adjust adaptively with the increase of iteration times. To confirm and validate the performance of the improved BWO, other 10 algorithms are used to compared with the SDABWO on 25 benchmark functions. The results show that the proposed algorithm enhances the exploitation ability, improves the convergence speed and is more stable when solving optimization problems. Furthermore, the proposed SDABWO algorithm is employed for feature selection. Twelve standard datasets from UCI repository prove that SDABWO-based method has stronger search ability in the search space of feature selection than the other five popular feature selection methods. These results confirm the capability of the proposed method simultaneously improve the classification accuracy while reducing the dimensions of the original datasets. Therefore, SDABWO-based method was found to be one of the most promising for feature selection problem over other approaches that are currently used in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new compact algorithm is proposed. Two sinusoidal formulas are used to automatically adjust the crossover rate and the mutation scaling factor in the compact Differential Evolution (cDE) metaheuristic. The proposed algorithm, called Compound Sinusoidal cDE, CScDE, is compared to seven state-of-the-art compact algorithms on the well-known BBOB test-bed, the CEC-2014 test suite for continuous optimisation, as well as five real-world optimisation problems chosen from the CEC-2011 benchmarks. The CScDE algorithm outperformed its competitors for most problem categories and over most dimensions. It is also compared to some well-established population-based metaheuristics. • A compact compound sinusoidal differential evolution, CScDE, is proposed. • CScDE uses sinusoidal formulas to adjust the parameters of compact DE. • Both binomial and exponential crossover are tested. • CScDE is applied on 89 reference problems with several dimensions. • CScDE outperformed state-of-the-art compact algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]