Solving online dynamic time-linkage problems under unreliable prediction

Dynamic time-linkage optimization problems (DTPs) are a special class of dynamic optimization problems (DOPs) with the feature of time-linkage. Time-linkage means that the decisions taken now could influence the problem states in future. Although DTPs are common in practice, attention from the field of evolutionary optimization is little. To date, the prediction method is the major approach to solve DTPs in the field of evolutionary optimization. However, in existing studies, the method of how to deal with the situation where the prediction is unreliable has not been studied yet for the complete Black-Box Optimization (BBO) case. In this paper, the prediction approach EA + predictor, proposed by Bosman, is improved to handle such situation. A stochastic-ranking selection scheme based on the prediction accuracy is designed to improve EA + predictor under unreliable prediction, where the prediction accuracy is based on the rank of the individuals but not the fitness. Experimental results show that, compared with the original prediction approach, the performance of the improved algorithm is competitive.     

Multiprocessor Task Assignment with Fuzzy Hopfield Neural Network Clustering Technique

Most scheduling applications have been demonstrated as NP-complete problems. A variety of schemes are introduced in solving those scheduling applications, such as linear programming, neural networks, and fuzzy logic. In this paper, a new approach of first analogising a scheduling problem to a clustering problem and then using a fuzzy Hopfield neural network clustering technique to solve the scheduling problem is proposed. This fuzzy Hopfield neural network algorithm integrates fuzzy c-means clustering strategies into a Hopfield neural network. This investigation utilises this new approach to demonstrate the feasibility of resolving a multiprocessor scheduling problem with no process migration and constrained times (execution time and deadline). Each process is regarded as a data sample, and every processor is taken as a cluster. Simulation results illustrate that imposing the fuzzy Hopfield neural network onto the proposed energy function provides an appropriate approach to solving this class of scheduling problem.       

Quantum inspired evolutionary algorithm for ordering problems

This paper proposes a new quantum-inspired evolutionary algorithm for solving ordering problems. Quantum-inspired evolutionary algorithms based on binary and real representations have been previously developed to solve combinatorial and numerical optimization problems, providing better results than classical genetic algorithms with less computational effort. However, for ordering problems, order-based genetic algorithms are more suitable than those with binary and real representations. This is because specialized crossover and mutation processes are employed to always generate feasible solutions. Therefore, this work proposes a new quantum-inspired evolutionary algorithm especially devised for ordering problems (QIEA-O). Two versions of the algorithm have been proposed. The so-called pure version generates solutions by using the proposed procedure alone. The hybrid approach, on the other hand, combines the pure version with a traditional order-based genetic algorithm. The proposed quantum-inspired order-based evolutionary algorithms have been evaluated for two well-known benchmark applications – the traveling salesman problem (TSP) and the vehicle routing problem (VRP) – as well as in a real problem of line scheduling. Numerical results were obtained for ten cases (7 VRP and 3 TSP) with sizes ranging from 33 to 101 stops and 1 to 10 vehicles, where the proposed quantum-inspired order-based genetic algorithm has outperformed a traditional order-based genetic algorithm in most experiments.     

用演化算法求解抛物型方程扩散系数的识别问题

基于演化算法给出了一类求解参数识别反问题的一般方法,该方法表明只要找到好的、求解相应的正问题的数值方法,演化算法就可以用于求解此类反问题。设计有效的求解反问题的演化算法的关键是寻找一种适合反问题的解空间的编码表示形式、适当的适应值函数形式以及有效的计算正问题的数值方法。该文结合算法、传统的求解反问题的工方法和正则化技术,设计了一类求解参数识别反问题的方法。为验证此类方法,将其用于求解一维扩散方程的     

A combinatorial particle swarm optimisation for solving permutation flowshop problems

The m-machine permutation flowshop problem PFSP with the objectives of minimizing the makespan and the total flowtime is a common scheduling problem, which is known to be NP-complete in the strong sense, when m ? 3. This work proposes a new algorithm for solving the permutation FSP, namely combinatorial Particle Swarm Optimization. Furthermore, we incorporate in this heuristic an improvement procedure based on the simulated annealing approach. The proposed algorithm was applied to well-known benchmark problems and compared with several competing metaheuristics.     

A new approach to estimating the expected first hitting time of evolutionary algorithms

Evolutionary algorithms (EA) have been shown to be very effective in solving practical problems, yet many important theoretical issues of them are not clear. The expected first hitting time is one of the most important theoretical issues of evolutionary algorithms, since it implies the average computational time complexity. In this paper, we establish a bridge between the expected first hitting time and another important theoretical issue, i.e., convergence rate. Through this bridge, we propose a new general approach to estimating the expected first hitting time. Using this approach, we analyze EAs with different configurations, including three mutation operators, with/without population, a recombination operator and a time variant mutation operator, on a hard problem. The results show that the proposed approach is helpful for analyzing a broad range of evolutionary algorithms. Moreover, we give an explanation of what makes a problem hard to EAs, and based on the recognition, we prove the hardness of a general problem.     

Enhanced opposition-based differential evolution for solving high-dimensional continuous optimization problems

This paper presents a novel algorithm based on generalized opposition-based learning (GOBL) to improve the performance of differential evolution (DE) to solve high-dimensional optimization problems efficiently. The proposed approach, namely GODE, employs similar schemes of opposition-based DE (ODE) for opposition-based population initialization and generation jumping with GOBL. Experiments are conducted to verify the performance of GODE on 19 high-dimensional problems with D = 50, 100, 200, 500, 1,000. The results confirm that GODE outperforms classical DE, real-coded CHC (crossgenerational elitist selection, heterogeneous recombination, and cataclysmic mutation) and G-CMA-ES (restart covariant matrix evolutionary strategy) on the majority of test problems.     

求解约束优化的带偏好双目标优化方法

文章提出了一种求解约束优化问题的新方法。它把约束优化问题转化为双目标优化问题,一个目标是原问题的目标,另一目标是由约束条件转化得到。转化得到的双目标优化与一般的双目标优化问题不同在于它偏好那些使约束条件满足的最优解。我们利用动态权值将这一带有偏好的双目标优化转化为无约束的单目标优化,并使其满足偏好特性。我们对四个标准测试函数进行了数据仿真实验,实验结果表明该算法是有效的。     

Comparing evolutionary algorithms to the (1+1) -EA

In this paper, we study the conditions in which the random hill-climbing algorithm (1 + 1)-EA compares favorably to other evolutionary algorithms (EAs) in terms of fitness function distribution at a given iteration and with respect to the average optimization time. Our approach is applicable when the reproduction operator of an evolutionary algorithm is dominated by the mutation operator of the (1 + 1)-EA. In this case one can extend the lower bounds obtained for the expected optimization time of the (1 + 1)-EA to other EAs based on the dominated reproduction operator. This method is demonstrated on the sorting problem with HAM landscape and the exchange mutation operator. We consider several simple examples where the (1 + 1)-EA is the best possible search strategy in the class of the EAs.     

EvoGeneSys,a new evolutionary approach to graph generation

Graphs are widely used to represent complex and structured information of interest in various fields of science and engineering. When using graph representations, problems of special interest often imply searching. For example, searching for the prototypes representing a dataset of graphs or for the graph that optimizes a set of parameters. In any case, it is necessary that the problem solution be expressed in terms of graphs. Therefore, defining effective methods for automatically generating single graphs, or sets of graphs, representing problem solutions, is a key issue. A new evolutionary computation-based approach specifically devised for generating graphs is presented. The method is based on a special data structure, called multilist, which allows the encoding of any type of graph, directed or undirected, with or without attributes. Graph encoding by multilists makes it possible to define effective crossover and mutation operators, overcoming the problems normally encountered when implementing genetic operators on graphs. Further advantages of the proposed approach are that it does not require any problem specific knowledge and it is able to search for graphs whose number of nodes is not known a priori. Three sets of experiments were performed to test the proposed approach and the solutions found were compared with those obtained by other approaches proposed in the literature.