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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]

This paper proposes and analyses a mathematical model for the problem of distribution of a finite number of irradiation sources during radiotherapy in continuous environments to maximize the minimal cumulative effects. A new algorithm based on nondifferentiable optimization techniques has been developed to solve this problem. [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]

This paper proposed two kinds of measurements based on close degree between the cloud models had the same nature concepts. Algorithms were simple, especially still maintained the accuracy in few cloud drops. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has obvious optimization accuracy and consumption, meanwhile appeares good feasibility and validity in classification problems based on cloud model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous optimization problems have been defined in different disciplines of science that must be optimized using effective techniques. Optimization algorithms are an effective and widely used method of solving optimization problems that are able to provide suitable solutions for optimization problems. In this paper, a new nature-based optimization algorithm called Snow Leopard Optimization Algorithm (SLOA) is designed that mimics the natural behaviors of snow leopards. SLOA is simulated in four phases including travel routes, hunting, reproduction, and mortality. The different phases of the proposed algorithm are described and then the mathematical modeling of the SLOA is presented in order to implement it on different optimization problems. A standard set of objective functions, including twenty-three functions, is used to evaluate the ability of the proposed algorithm to optimize and provide appropriate solutions for optimization problems. Also, the optimization results obtained from the proposed SLOA are compared with eight other well-known optimization algorithms. The optimization results show that the proposed SLOA has a high ability to solve various optimization problems. Also, the analysis and comparison of the optimization results obtained from the SLOA with the other eight algorithms shows that the SLOA is able to provide more appropriate quasi-optimal solutions and closer to the global optimal, and with better performance, it is much more competitive than similar algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Dynamic economic dispatch (DED) aims to schedule the committed generating units'' output active power economically over a certain period of time, satisfying operating constraints and load demand in each interval. Valve-point effect, the ramp rate limits, prohibited operation zones (POZs), and transmission losses make the DED a complicated, non-linear constrained problem. Hence, in this paper, imperialist competitive algorithm (ICA) is proposed to solve such complicated problem. The feasibility of the proposed method is validated on five and ten units test system for a 24 h time interval. The results obtained by the ICA are compared with other techniques of the literature. These results substantiate the applicability of the proposed method for solving the constrained DED with non-smooth cost functions. Besides, to examine the applicability of the proposed ICA on large power systems, a test case with 54 units is studied. The results confirm the suitability of the ICA for large-scale DED problem. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

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]

Abstract: This paper deals with the preliminary design problem when the product is modeled as an analytic model. The analytic models based method aims to use mathematical equations to address both multi-physic and economic characteristics of a product. The proposed approach is to convert the preliminary design problem into a global constrained optimization problem. The objective is to develop powerful optimization methods enough to handle complex analytical models. We propose to adapt an approach to solve this problem based on interval analysis, constraint propagation and model reformulation. In order to understand the optimization algorithm used for engineering design problems, some basic definitions and properties of interval analysis are introduced. Then, the basic optimization algorithms for both unconstrained and constrained problems are introduced and illustrated. The next section introduces the reformulation technique as main accelerating device. An application of the reformulation device and its global optimization algorithm on the optimal design of electrical actuators is presented. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this paper, we study the inverse sorting problem with bound constraints under the -norm and the Hamming distance. For the problem under the -norm, an -time algorithm is presented. For the problem under the Hamming distance, we first show that it has an -time lower bound in the comparison model; and then, we present an -time algorithm. Both of the presented algorithms improve the previous upper bounds from . [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In this paper, we study the quadratic model updating problems by using symmetric low-rank correcting, which incorporates the measured model data into the analytical quadratic model to produce an adjusted model that matches the experimental model data, and minimizes the distance between the analytical and updated models. We give a necessary and sufficient condition on the existence of solutions to the symmetric low-rank correcting problems under some mild conditions, and propose two algorithms for finding approximate solutions to the corresponding optimization problems. The good performance of the two algorithms is illustrated by numerical examples. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Repair-based search algorithms start with an initial solution and attempt to improve it by iteratively applying repair operators. Such algorithms can often handle large-scale problems that may be difficult for systematic search algorithms. Nevertheless, the computational cost of solving such problems is still very high. We observed that many of the repair steps applied by such algorithms are redundant in the sense that they do not eventually contribute to finding a solution. Such redundant steps are particularly harmful in repair-based search, where each step carries high cost due to the very high branching factor typically associated with it. Accurately identifying and avoiding such redundant steps would result in faster local search without harming the algorithm's problem-solving ability. In this paper we propose a speedup learning methodology for attaining this goal. It consists of the following steps: defining the concept of a redundant step; acquiring this concept during off-line learning by analyzing solution paths for training problems, tagging all the steps along the paths according to the redundancy definition and using an induction algorithm to infer a classifier based on the tagged examples; and using the acquired classifier to filter out redundant steps while solving unseen problems. Our algorithm was empirically tested on instances of real-world employee timetabling problems (ETP). The problem solver to be improved is based on one of the best methods for solving some large ETP instances. Our results show a significant improvement in speed for test problems that are similar to the given example problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]