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Unconstrained continuous large-scale global optimization (LSGO) is still a challenging task for a wide range of modern metaheuristic approaches. A cooperative coevolution approach is a good tool for increasing the performance of an evolutionary algorithm in solving high-dimensional optimization problems. However, the performance of cooperative coevolution approaches for LSGO depends significantly on the problem decomposition, namely, on the number of subcomponents and on how variables are grouped in these subcomponents. Also, the choice of the population size is still an open question for population-based algorithms. This paper discusses a method for selecting the number of subcomponents and the population size during the optimization process ("on fly") from a predefined pool of parameters. The selection of the parameters is based on their performance in the previous optimization steps. The main goal of the study is the improvement of coevolutionary decomposition-based algorithms for solving LSGO problems. In this paper, we propose a novel self-adapt evolutionary algorithm for solving continuous LSGO problems. We have tested this algorithm on 15 optimization problems from the IEEE LSGO CEC'2013 benchmark suite. The proposed approach, on average, outperforms cooperative coevolution algorithms with a static number of subcomponents and a static number of individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

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

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]

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

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

Evolutionary algorithms are suitable methods for solving complex problems. Many changes have thus been made on their original structures in order to obtain more desirable solutions. Parallelization is a suitable technique to decrease the runtime of the algorithm, and therefore, to obtain solutions with higher quality. In this paper, a new algorithm is proposed with two approaches, which is based on a parallelization technique with shared memory architecture. In the proposed algorithm, the search space is firstly decomposed into multiple equal and independent subspaces. Then, a subtask is performed on each subspace simultaneously in a parallel manner which leads to providing more qualified solutions. Splitting the search space into smaller subspaces causes the algorithm to find optimal solutions in each region in an easier way. The algorithm RAPSO is improved with applying a new acceleration coefficient which has been named IRAPSO. In the proposed algorithm, the IRAPSO is used as the subtask. For the sake of testing the proposed algorithm, fourteen well-known benchmarks of numerical optimizing problems are inspected. Then, the proposed algorithm is compared with algorithms PPBO and PSOPSO that were both based on the island model. The results of the proposed algorithm are much better than those of the other two algorithms. [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]

The problem that passengers are hard to take taxis while empty driving rate is high widely exists under the traditional taxi operation mode. The implementation of taxi carpooling mode can alleviate the problem in a certain extent. The objective of this study is to optimize the taxi carpooling path. Firstly, the taxi carpooling path optimization model with single objective and its extended model with multiple objectives are built respectively. Then, the single objective path optimization model of taxi carpooling is solved based on the improved single objective genetic algorithm, and the multiple-objective path optimization model of taxi carpooling is solved based on the improved multiple-objective genetic algorithm. Finally, a case study is carried out based on a road network with 24 nodes. The case study results show the path optimization models and algorithms of taxi carpooling proposed in the paper can quickly get the taxi carpooling path, and can increase the income of taxi driver while reduce the cost for passengers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a new formulation for the multi-objective optimal power flow (MOOPF) problem for meshed power networks considering distributed generation. An efficacious multi-objective fuzzy linear programming optimization (MFLP) algorithm is proposed to solve the aforementioned problem with and without considering the distributed generation (DG) effect. A variant combination of objectives is considered for simultaneous optimization, including power loss, voltage stability, and shunt capacitors MVAR reserve. Fuzzy membership functions for these objectives are designed with extreme targets, whereas the inequality constraints are treated as hard constraints. The multi-objective fuzzy optimal power flow (OPF) formulation was converted into a crisp OPF in a successive linear programming (SLP) framework and solved using an efficient interior point method (IPM). To test the efficacy of the proposed approach, simulations are performed on the IEEE 30-busand IEEE 118-bus test systems. The MFLP optimization is solved for several optimization cases. The obtained results are compared with those presented in the literature. A unique solution with a high satisfaction for the assigned targets is gained. Results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed MFLP technique in terms of solution optimality and rapid convergence. Moreover, the results indicate that using the optimal DG location with the MFLP algorithm provides the solution with the highest quality. [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]

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]

• A two-stage evolution strategy is proposed for solving multi-objective problem. • The convergence and diversity should be balanced in multi-objective optimization. • A local searching method can improve the diversity of solutions in the space. • Experimental results have been presented by using statistical method. The balance of convergence and diversity plays a significant role to the performance of multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs). The MOEA/D is a very popular multi-objective optimization algorithm and has been used to solve various real world problems. Like many other algorithms, the MOEA/D also has insufficient ability of convergence and diversity when tackling certain complex multi-objective optimization problems (MOPs). In this paper, a novel algorithm named MOEA/D-TS is proposed for effectively solving MOPs. The new algorithm adopts two stages evolution strategies, the first stage is focused on pushing the solutions into the area of the Pareto front and speeding up its convergence ability, after that, the second stage conducts in the operating solution's diversity and makes the solutions distributed uniformly. The performance of MOEA/D-TS is validated in the ZDT, DTLZ and IMOP problems. Compared with others popular and variants algorithms, the experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm has advantage over other algorithms with regard to the convergence and diversity in most of the tested problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In recent years, indicator-based evolutionary algorithms, allowing to implicitly incorporate user preferences into the search, have become widely used in practice to solve multiobjective optimization problems. When using this type of methods, the optimization goal changes from optimizing a set of objective functions simultaneously to the single-objective optimization goal of finding a set of points that maximizes the underlying indicator. Understanding the difference between these two optimization goals is fundamental when applying indicator-based algorithms in practice. On the one hand, a characterization of the inherent optimization goal of different indicators allows the user to choose the indicator that meets her preferences. On the other hand, knowledge about the sets of points with optimal indicator values–the so-called optimal -distributions–can be used in performance assessment whenever the indicator is used as a performance criterion. However, theoretical studies on indicator-based optimization are sparse. One of the most popular indicators is the weighted hypervolume indicator. It allows to guide the search towards user-defined objective space regions and at the same time has the property of being a refinement of the Pareto dominance relation with the result that maximizing the indicator results in Pareto-optimal solutions only. In previous work, we theoretically investigated the unweighted hypervolume indicator in terms of a characterization of optimal -distributions and the influence of the hypervolume’s reference point for general bi-objective optimization problems. In this paper, we generalize those results to the case of the weighted hypervolume indicator. In particular, we present general investigations for finite , derive a limit result for going to infinity in terms of a density of points and derive lower bounds (possibly infinite) for placing the reference point to guarantee the Pareto front’s extreme points in an optimal -distribution. Furthermore, we state conditions about the slope of the front at the extremes such that there is no finite reference point that allows to include the extremes in an optimal -distribution—contradicting previous belief that a reference point chosen just above the nadir point or the objective space boundary is sufficient for obtaining the extremes. However, for fronts where there exists a finite reference point allowing to obtain the extremes, we show that for to infinity, a reference point that is slightly worse in all objectives than the nadir point is a sufficient choice. Last, we apply the theoretical results to problems of the ZDT, DTLZ, and WFG test problem suites. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The search behavior of an evolutionary algorithm depends on the interactions between the encoding that represents candidate solutions to the target problem and the operators that act on that encoding. In this paper, we focus on analyzing some properties such as locality, heritability, population diversity and searching behavior of various decoderbased evolutionary algorithm (EA) frameworks using different encodings, decoders and genetic operators for spanning tree based optimization problems. Although debate still continues on how and why EAs work well, many researchers have observed that EAs perform well when its encoding and operators exhibit good locality, heritability and diversity properties. We analyze these properties of various EA frameworks with two types of analytical ways on different spanning tree problems; static analysis and dynamic analysis, and then visualize them. We also show through this analysis that EA using the Edge Set encoding (ES) and the Edge Window Decoder encoding (EWD) indicate very good locality and heritability as well as very good diversity property. These are put forward as a potential explanation for the recent finding that they can outperform other recent high-performance encodings on the constrained spanning tree problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decomposition-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA/D) has shown remarkable effectiveness in solving multi-objective problems (MOPs). In this paper, we integrate the quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (QPSO) algorithm with the MOEA/D framework in order to make the QPSO be able to solve MOPs effectively, with the advantage of the QPSO being fully used. We also employ a diversity controlling mechanism to avoid the premature convergence especially at the later stage of the search process, and thus further improve the performance of our proposed algorithm. In addition, we introduce a number of nondominated solutions to generate the global best for guiding other particles in the swarm. Experiments are conducted to compare the proposed algorithm, DMO-QPSO, with four multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithms and one multi-objective evolutionary algorithm on 15 test functions, including both bi-objective and tri-objective problems. The results show that the performance of the proposed DMO-QPSO is better than other five algorithms in solving most of these test problems. Moreover, we further study the impact of two different decomposition approaches, i.e., the penalty-based boundary intersection (PBI) and Tchebycheff (TCH) approaches, as well as the polynomial mutation operator on the algorithmic performance of DMO-QPSO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In practical applications, solving multimodal multiobjective optimization problems (MMOPs), which have multiple Pareto optimal sets (PSs) in the decision space mapping to the same Pareto front (PF) in the objective space, has great significance for decision makers. The issue of how to maintain diversity in both decision space and objective space remains a key problem for existing multimodal multiobjective evolutionary algorithms. To address this issue, a novel grey prediction evolution algorithm for multimodal multiobjective optimization, termed MMGPE, is proposed in this paper. This is the first time that the grey prediction evolution algorithm (GPE), which is a recently proposed competitive optimization algorithm with strong exploration capability, is improved for MMOPs. These improvements are conducted in the following four aspects: (1) an initialization operator based on particle swarm optimization, (2) an adaptive parameter setting strategy depending on the domain of decision variables of MMOPs, (3) an accelerating convergence mechanism inspired by the niche principle, and (4) an environmental selection operator based on a nondominated sorting mechanism and a special crowding distance approach. The performance of MMGPE is compared with two state-of-the-art multiobjective evolutionary algorithms and four multimodal multiobjective evolutionary algorithms on 11 multimodal multiobjective test functions. MMGPE is also applied to solve a practical problem. The results show the MMGPE's effectiveness and superiority in achieving the goal of finding multiple PSs while obtaining a well-distributed PF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]