A population-based variable neighborhood search for the single machine total weighted tardiness problem

This paper investigates the single machine total weighted tardiness problem, in which a set of independent jobs with distinct processing times, weights, and due dates are to be scheduled on a single machine to minimize the sum of weighted tardiness of all jobs. This problem is known to be strongly NP-hard, and thus provides a challenging area for metaheuristics. A population-based variable neighborhood search (PVNS) algorithm is developed to solve it. This algorithm differs from the basic variable neighborhood search (VNS). First, the PVNS consists of a number of iterations of the basic VNS, and in each iteration a population of solutions is used to simultaneously generate multiple trial solutions in a neighborhood so as to improve the search diversification. Second, the PVNS adopts a combination of path-relinking, variable depth search and tabu search to act as the local search procedure so as to improve the search intensification. Computational experiments show that the proposed PVNS algorithm can obtain the optimal or best known solutions within a reasonable computation time for all standard benchmark problem instances from the literature.     

用改进的散射搜索法求解带平衡约束的圆形Packing问题

以卫星布局为背景的带平衡约束的圆形Packing问题属NP难问题.该文用给出的改进的散射搜索方法求解.一是给出基于极坐标变换的散射搜索多样性生成策略,二是采取基于极角和极径差异度的参考集更新策略,三是用梯度下降法和Nelder-Mead直接搜索法分别作为散射搜索法中不同阶段所产生新解的改进方法,从而构成改进的散射搜索法,提高了散射搜索法的探索和搜索能力.数值实验结果表明了该改进散射搜索法的可行性和有效性.     

A variable neighborhood search for minimizing total weighted tardiness with sequence dependent setup times on a single machine

This paper deals with the single machine scheduling problem to minimize the total weighted tardiness in the presence of sequence dependent setup. Firstly, a mathematical model is given to describe the problem formally. Since the problem is NP-hard, a general variable neighborhood search (GVNS) heuristic is proposed to solve it. Initial solution for the GVNS algorithm is obtained by using a constructive heuristic that is widely used in the literature for the problem. The proposed algorithm is tested on 120 benchmark instances. The results show that 37 out of 120 best known solutions in the literature are improved while 64 instances are solved equally. Next, the GVNS algorithm is applied to single machine scheduling problem with sequence dependent setup times to minimize the total tardiness problem without changing any implementation issues and the parameters of the GVNS algorithm. For this problem, 64 test instances are solved varying from small to large sizes. Among these 64 instances, 35 instances are solved to the optimality, 16 instances' best-known results are improved, and 6 instances are solved equally compared to the best-known results. Hence, it can be concluded that the GVNS algorithm is an effective, efficient and a robust algorithm for minimizing tardiness on a single machine in the presence of setup times.     

Self Controlling Tabu Search algorithm for the Quadratic Assignment Problem

This paper addresses the application of the principles of feedback and self-controlling software to the tabu search algorithm. We introduce two new reaction strategies for the tabu search algorithm. The first strategy treats the tabu search algorithm as a target system to be controlled and uses a control-theoretic approach to adjust the algorithm parameters that affect search intensification. The second strategy is a flexible diversification strategy which can adjust the algorithm’s parameters based on the search history. These two strategies, combined with tabu search, form the Self Controlling Tabu Search (SC-Tabu) algorithm. The algorithm is implemented and tested on the Quadratic Assignment Problem (QAP). The results show that the self-controlling features of the algorithm make it possible to achieve good performance on different types of QAP instances.     

An improved master-apprentice evolutionary algorithm for minimum independent dominating set problem

The minimum independent dominance set (MIDS) problem is an important version of the dominating set with some other applications. In this work, we present an improved master-apprentice evolutionary algorithm for solving the MIDS problem based on a path-breaking strategy called MAE-PB. The proposed MAE-PB algorithm combines a construction function for the initial solution generation and candidate solution restarting. It is a multiple neighborhood-based local search algorithm that improves the quality of the solution using a path-breaking strategy for solution recombination based on master and apprentice solutions and a perturbation strategy for disturbing the solution when the algorithm cannot improve the solution quality within a certain number of steps. We show the competitiveness of the MAE-PB algorithm by presenting the computational results on classical benchmarks from the literature and a suite of massive graphs from real-world applications. The results show that the MAE-PB algorithm achieves high performance. In particular, for the classical benchmarks, the MAE-PB algorithm obtains the best-known results for seven instances, whereas for several massive graphs, it improves the best-known results for 62 instances. We investigate the proposed key ingredients to determine their impact on the performance of the proposed algorithm.     

一种基于禁忌搜索的作业车间调度算法

文章描述了一种解决作业车间调度最短完工时间问题的有效的启发式算法。该算法基于禁忌搜索技术和前瞻思想,为了得到更好的结果,还将倒转技术引入到算法中。从对一组问题基准实例的实验计算结果看,该算法在合理的计算时间内,对多个实例得到比2004年提出的ISSB算法和另一种基于禁忌搜索的TSAB算法更好的结果。     

最小赋权支配集的迭代禁忌搜索算法

最小赋权支配集是一个NP困难的组合优化问题,有着广泛的应用背景。提出了一个高效的求解最小赋权支配集的迭代禁忌搜索算法。该算法采用随机贪心构造算法构造初始解,并利用快速的局部禁忌搜索算法寻找局部最优解,通过随机扰动和修复策略来搜索新的区域,以期跳出当前的局部最优解。用顶点数为800到1 000的大规模标准测试例子测试提出的算法。数值实验结果和与现存的启发式算法比较结果表明了算法是有效的。     

求解置换Flow shop调度问题的一种启发式算法

提出了一种新的求解置换flowshop调度问题的启发式算法。问题的目标是:在满足约束条件的前提下使得调度的makespan尽可能地小。定义了一种新的邻域结构。给出了跳坑策略以跳出局部最优解并且将搜索引向有希望的方向。计算了一组著名的问题实例。计算结果表明,算法的优度高于一种改进的遗传算法。     

一种多目标置换流水车间调度问题的优化算法

针对最大完工时间最小和总流经时间最小的多目标置换流水车间调度问题(permutation flow shopscheduling problem, PFSP), 提出一种粒子群优化算法与变邻域搜索算法结合的混合粒子群优化(hybrid particleswarm optimization algorithm, HPSO)算法, 并使算法在集中搜索和分散搜索之间达到合理的平衡. 在该混合算法中,采用NEH 启发式算法进行种群初始化, 以提高初始解质量;运用随机键表示法设计基于升序排列规则(ranked-order-value, ROV), 将连续PSO 算法应用于置换流水车间调度问题;引入外部档案集存贮Pareto 解, 并采用强支配关系和聚集距离相结合的混合策略保证解集的分布性;采用Sigma 法和基于聚集距离的轮盘赌法进行全局最优解的选择;提出变邻域搜索算法, 对外部集中的Pareto 解作进一步地局部搜索. 最后, 运用提出的混合算法求解Taillard 基准测试集, 并将测试结果与SPEA2 算法进行比较, 验证该调度算法的有效性.     

逐维改进的布谷鸟搜索算法

布谷鸟搜索(cuckoo search,简称CS)算法是一种新兴的仿生智能算法,对解采用整体更新评价策略.在求解多维函数优化问题时,由于各维之间相互干扰,采用整体更新评价策略将恶化算法的收敛速度和解的质量.为了弥补此缺陷,提出了基于逐维改进的布谷鸟搜索算法.在改进算法的迭代过程中,针对解采用逐维更新评价策略.该策略将各维的更新值与其他维的值组合成新的解,并采用贪婪方式接受能够改善解质量的更新值.实验结果说明,改进策略能够有效地提高CS 算法的收敛速度并改善解的质量.与相关的改进布谷鸟搜索算法以及其他演化算法的比较结果表明,改进算法在求解连续函数优化问题上是具有竞争力的.     

Hybrid evolutionary computation methods for quay crane scheduling problems

Quay crane scheduling is one of the most important operations in seaport terminals. The effectiveness of this operation can directly influence the overall performance as well as the competitive advantages of the terminal. This paper develops a new priority-based schedule construction procedure to generate quay crane schedules. From this procedure, two new hybrid evolutionary computation methods based on genetic algorithm (GA) and genetic programming (GP) are developed. The key difference between the two methods is their representations which decide how priorities of tasks are determined. While GA employs a permutation representation to decide the priorities of tasks, GP represents its individuals as a priority function which is used to calculate the priorities of tasks. A local search heuristic is also proposed to improve the quality of solutions obtained by GA and GP. The proposed hybrid evolutionary computation methods are tested on a large set of benchmark instances and the computational results show that they are competitive and efficient as compared to the existing methods. Many new best known solutions for the benchmark instances are discovered by using these methods. In addition, the proposed methods also show their flexibility when applied to generate robust solutions for quay crane scheduling problems under uncertainty. The results show that the obtained robust solutions are better than those obtained from the deterministic inputs.     

一种求解TSP问题的ACO&SS算法设计

提出一种求解旅行商(TSP)问题的新型分散搜索算法.将蚁群算法(ACO)的构解方法引入分散搜索(SS)算法,在搜索过程中既考虑解的质量,又考虑解的分散性.采用一种将蚁群算法的信息素更新技术与分散搜索的组合机制相结合的新型子集组合成新解的构解机制,同时采用动态更新参考集与临界准则策略来加快收敛速度.实验结果表明,该算法优于其他现有的方法,获得了较好的结果.     

Improved bounds for hybrid flow shop scheduling with multiprocessor tasks

In this paper, we investigate the problem of minimizing makespan in a multistage hybrid flow-shop scheduling with multiprocessor tasks. To generate high-quality approximate solutions to this challenging NP-hard problem, we propose a discrepancy search heuristic that is based on the new concept of adjacent discrepancies. Moreover, we describe a new lower bound based on the concept of dual feasible functions. The proposed lower and upper bounds are assessed through computational experiments conducted on 300 benchmark instances with up to 100 jobs and 8 stages. For these instances, we provide evidence that the proposed bounds consistently outperform the best existing ones. In particular, the proposed heuristic successfully improved the best known solution of 75 benchmark instances.     

Path relinking for the vertex separator problem

This paper presents the first population-based path relinking algorithm for solving the NP-hard vertex separator problem in graphs. The proposed algorithm employs a dedicated relinking procedure to generate intermediate solutions between an initiating solution and a guiding solution taken from a reference set of elite solutions (population) and uses a fast tabu search procedure to improve some selected intermediate solutions. Special care is taken to ensure the diversity of the reference set. Dedicated data structures based on bucket sorting are employed to ensure a high computational efficiency. The proposed algorithm is assessed on four sets of 365 benchmark instances with up to 20,000 vertices, and shows highly comparative results compared to the state-of-the-art methods in the literature. Specifically, we report improved best solutions (new upper bounds) for 67 instances which can serve as reference values for assessment of other algorithms for the problem.     

带固定半径近邻搜索3-opt的离散烟花算法求解旅行商问题

传统烟花算法求解大规模离散问题存在收敛速度慢、求解精度不高等问题.针对旅行商问题的特点,提出一种带固定半径近邻搜索3-opt的离散烟花算法.该算法基于基本烟花算法进行离散化改进,采用整数编码的路径表示方法来表示旅行商问题的解,对爆炸算子、高斯变异算子进行离散化操作策略设计.为了使算法具有较好的局部搜索能力,提出固定半径近邻搜索3-opt策略来提高算法精度和收敛速度,同时采用不检测标志策略提高算法效率.实验结果表明:该算法能有效地求解旅行商问题,其离散烟花算子在全局收敛能力、收敛精度、求解时间和稳定性等方面均优于传统烟花算子;基准测试算例的最优解平均误差率仅为0.002％,优于对比算法.     

A novel local search algorithm with configuration checking and scoring mechanism for the set k‐covering problem

The set k‐covering problem, an extension of the classical set covering problem, is an important NP‐hard combinatorial optimization problem with extensive applications, including computational biology and wireless network. The aim of this paper is to design a new local search algorithm to solve this problem. First, to overcome the cycling problem in local search, the set k‐covering configuration checking (SKCC) strategy is proposed. Second, we use the cost scheme of elements to define the scoring mechanism so that our algorithm can find different possible good‐quality solutions. Having combined the SKCC strategy with the scoring mechanism, a subset selection strategy is designed to decide which subset should be selected as a candidate solution component. After that, a novel local search framework, as we call DLL_ccsm (diversion local search based on configuration checking and scoring mechanism), is proposed. DLL_ccsm is evaluated against two state‐of‐the‐art algorithms. The experimental results show that DLL_ccsm performs better than its competitors in terms of solution quality in most classical instances.     

An effective hybrid harmony search-based algorithm for solving multidimensional knapsack problems

This study presents an effective hybrid algorithm based on harmony search (HHS) for solving multidimensional knapsack problems (MKPs). In the proposed HHS algorithm, a novel harmony improvisation mechanism is developed with the modified memory consideration rule and the global-best pitch adjustment scheme to enhance the global exploration. A parallel updating strategy is employed to enrich the harmony memory diversity. To well balance the exploration and the exploitation, the fruit fly optimization (FFO) scheme is integrated as a local search strategy. For solving MKPs, binary strings are used to represent solutions and two repair operators are applied to guarantee the feasibility of the solutions. The HHS is calibrated based on the Taguchi method of design-of-experiment. Extensive numerical investigations based on well-known benchmark instances are conducted. The comparative evaluations indicate the HHS is much more effective than the existing HS and FFO variants in solving MKPs.     

A Hybrid Estimation of Distribution Algorithm for Unrelated Parallel Machine Scheduling with Sequence-Dependent Setup Times

A hybrid estimation of distribution algorithm (EDA) with iterated greedy (IG) search (EDA-IG) is proposed for solving the unrelated parallel machine scheduling problem with sequence-dependent setup times (UPMSP-SDST). For makespan criterion, some properties about neighborhood search operators to avoid invalid search are derived. A probability model based on neighbor relations of jobs is built in the EDA-based exploration phase to generate new solutions by sampling the promising search region. Two types of deconstruction and reconstruction as well as an IG search are designed in the IG-based exploitation phase. Computational complexity of the algorithm is analyzed, and the effect of parameters is investigated by using the Taguchi method of design-of-experiment. Numerical tests on 1640 benchmark instances are carried out. The results and comparisons demonstrate the effectiveness of the EDA-IG. Especially, the bestknown solutions of 531 instances are updated. In addition, the effectiveness of the properties is also demonstrated by numerical comparisons.      

求解工件车间调度问题的一种新的邻域搜索算法

该文提出了一种新的求解工件车间调度(job shop scheduling)问题的邻域搜索算法．问题的目标是：在满足约束条件的前提下使得调度的makespan尽可能地小．定义了一种新的优先分配规则以生成初始解;定义了一种新的邻域结构;将邻域搜索跟单机调度结合在一起;提出了跳坑策略以跳出局部最优解并且将搜索引向有希望的方向．计算了当前国际文献中的一组共58个benchmark问题实例,算法的优度高于当前国外学者提出的两种著名的先进算法．其中对18个10工件10机器的实例,包括最著名的难解实例ft10,在可接受的时间内都找到了最优解．这些实例是当前文献中报导的所有规模为10工件10机器的实例．     

Flow shop scheduling with blocking using modified harmony search algorithm with neighboring heuristics methods

The flow shop scheduling with blocking is considered an important scheduling problem which has many real-world applications. This paper proposes a new algorithm which applies heuristic techniques in harmony search algorithm (HSA) to minimize the total flow time. The proposed method is called modified harmony search algorithm with neighboring heuristics methods (MHSNH). To improve the initial harmony memory, we apply two heuristic techniques: nearest neighbor (NN) and constructive modified NEH (MNEH). A modified version of harmony search algorithm evolves to explore and generates a new solution. The newly generated solution is then enhanced by using neighboring heuristics. Lastly, another neighboring heuristic is applied to improve the obtained solution. The proposed algorithm is evaluated using 12 real-world problem instances each with 10 samples. The experimental evaluation is accomplished using two factors: CPU computational time and the number of iterations. For the first factor, comparative evaluation against six well-established methods shows that the proposed method achieves almost the best overall results in six problem instances out of the twelve and yields fruitful results for others. For the second factor, comparative evaluation against twelve well-regarded methods shows that the proposed method achieves the best overall results in three problem instances and obtains very good results in other instances. In a nutshell, the proposed MHSNH is an effective strategy for solving the job shop scheduling problem.