Memetic cooperative coevolution of Elman recurrent neural networks

Cooperative coevolution decomposes an optimisation problem into subcomponents and collectively solves them using evolutionary algorithms. Memetic algorithms provides enhancement to evolutionary algorithms with local search. Recently, the incorporation of local search into a memetic cooperative coevolution method has shown to be efficient for training feedforward networks on pattern classification problems. This paper applies the memetic cooperative coevolution method for training recurrent neural networks on grammatical inference problems. The results show that the proposed method achieves better performance in terms of optimisation time and robustness.     

A hybrid CMA-ES and HDE optimisation algorithm with application to solar energy potential

This paper describes the results of initial experiments to apply computational algorithms to explore a large parameter space containing many variables in the search for an optimal solution for the sustainable design of an urban development using a potentially complicated fitness function. This initial work concentrates on varying the placement of buildings to optimise solar irradiation availability. For this we propose a hybrid of the covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy (CMA-ES) and hybrid differential evolution (HDE) algorithms coupled with an efficient backwards ray tracing technique. In this paper we concentrate on the formulation of the new hybrid algorithm and its testing using standard benchmarks as well as a solar optimisation problem. The new algorithm outperforms both the standalone CMA-ES and HDE algorithms in benchmark tests and an alternative multi-objective optimisation tool in the case of the solar optimisation problem.     

Use of biased neighborhood structures in multiobjective memetic algorithms

In this paper, we examine the use of biased neighborhood structures for local search in multiobjective memetic algorithms. Under a biased neighborhood structure, each neighbor of the current solution has a different probability to be sampled in local search. In standard local search, all neighbors of the current solution usually have the same probability because they are randomly sampled. On the other hand, we assign larger probabilities to more promising neighbors in order to improve the search ability of multiobjective memetic algorithms. In this paper, we first explain our multiobjective memetic algorithm, which is a simple hybrid algorithm of NSGA-II and local search. Then we explain its variants with biased neighborhood structures for multiobjective 0/1 knapsack and flowshop scheduling problems. Finally we examine the performance of each variant through computational experiments. Experimental results show that the use of biased neighborhood structures clearly improves the performance of our multiobjective memetic algorithm.     

Memetic algorithm using multi-surrogates for computationally expensive optimization problems

In this paper, we present a multi-surrogates assisted memetic algorithm for solving optimization problems with computationally expensive fitness functions. The essential backbone of our framework is an evolutionary algorithm coupled with a local search solver that employs multi-surrogate in the spirit of Lamarckian learning. Inspired by the notion of ‘blessing and curse of uncertainty’ in approximation models, we combine regression and exact interpolating surrogate models in the evolutionary search. Empirical results are presented for a series of commonly used benchmark problems to demonstrate that the proposed framework converges to good solution quality more efficiently than the standard genetic algorithm, memetic algorithm and surrogate-assisted memetic algorithms.     

A hybrid memetic algorithm for maximizing the weighted number of just-in-time jobs on unrelated parallel machines

This paper presents a hybrid memetic algorithm for the problem of scheduling n jobs on m unrelated parallel machines with the objective of maximizing the weighted number of jobs that are completed exactly at their due dates. For each job, due date, weight, and the processing times on different machines are given. It has been shown that when the numbers of machines are a part of input, this problem is NP-hard in the strong sense. At first, the problem is formulated as an integer linear programming model. This model is practical to solve small-size problems. Afterward, a hybrid memetic algorithm is implemented which uses two heuristic algorithms as constructive algorithms, making initial population set. A data oriented mutation operator is implemented so as to facilitate memetic algorithm search process. Performance of all algorithms including heuristics (H1 and H2), hybrid genetic algorithm and hybrid memetic algorithm are evaluated through computational experiments which showed the capabilities of the proposed hybrid algorithm.     

Finding low autocorrelation binary sequences with memetic algorithms

This paper deals with the construction of binary sequences with low autocorrelation, a very hard problem with many practical applications. The paper analyzes several metaheuristic approaches to tackle this kind of sequences. More specifically, the paper provides an analysis of different local search strategies, used as stand-alone techniques and embedded within memetic algorithms. One of our proposals, namely a memetic algorithm endowed with a Tabu Search local searcher, performs at the state-of-the-art, as it consistently finds optimal sequences in considerably less time than previous approaches reported in the literature. Moreover, this algorithm is also able to provide new best-known solutions for large instances of the problem. In addition, a variant of this algorithm that explores only a promising subset of the whole search space (known as skew-symmetric sequences) is also analyzed. Experimental results show that this new algorithm provides new best-known solutions for very large instances of the problem.     

Restart particle swarm optimization with velocity modulation: a scalability test

Large scale continuous optimization problems are more relevant in current benchmarks since they are more representative of real-world problems (bioinformatics, data mining, etc.). Unfortunately, the performance of most of the available optimization algorithms deteriorates rapidly as the dimensionality of the search space increases. In particular, particle swarm optimization is a very simple and effective method for continuous optimization. Nevertheless, this algorithm usually suffers from unsuccessful performance on large dimension problems. In this work, we incorporate two new mechanisms into the particle swarm optimization with the aim of enhancing its scalability. First, a velocity modulation method is applied in the movement of particles in order to guide them within the region of interest. Second, a restarting mechanism avoids the early convergence and redirects the particles to promising areas in the search space. Experiments are carried out within the scope of this Special Issue to test scalability. The results obtained show that our proposal is scalable in all functions of the benchmark used, as well as numerically very competitive with regards to other compared optimizers.     

An improved memetic algorithm using ring neighborhood topology for constrained optimization

This paper proposes an improved memetic algorithm relying on ring neighborhood topology for constrained optimization problems based on our previous work in Cai et al. (Soft Comput (in press), 2013). The main motivation of using ring neighborhood topology is to provide a good balance between effective exploration and efficient exploitation, which is a very important design issue for memetic algorithms. More specifically, a novel variant of invasive weed optimization (IWO) as the local refinement procedure is proposed in this paper. The proposed IWO variant adopts a neighborhood-based dispersal operator to achieve more fine-grained local search through the estimation of neighborhood fitness information relying on the ring neighborhood topology. Furthermore, a modified version of differential evolution (DE), known as “DE/current-to-best/1”, is integrated into the improved memetic algorithm with the aim of providing a more effective exploration. Performance of the improved memetic algorithm has been comprehensively tested on 13 well-known benchmark test functions and four engineering constrained optimization problems. The experimental results show that the improved memetic algorithm obtains greater competitiveness when compared with the original memetic approach Cai et al. in (Soft Comput (in press), 2013) and other state-of-the-art algorithms. The effectiveness of the modification of each component in the proposed approach is also discussed in the paper.     

A memetic algorithm with adaptive hill climbing strategy for dynamic optimization problems

Dynamic optimization problems challenge traditional evolutionary algorithms seriously since they, once converged, cannot adapt quickly to environmental changes. This paper investigates the application of memetic algorithms, a class of hybrid evolutionary algorithms, for dynamic optimization problems. An adaptive hill climbing method is proposed as the local search technique in the framework of memetic algorithms, which combines the features of greedy crossover-based hill climbing and steepest mutation-based hill climbing. In order to address the convergence problem, two diversity maintaining methods, called adaptive dual mapping and triggered random immigrants, respectively, are also introduced into the proposed memetic algorithm for dynamic optimization problems. Based on a series of dynamic problems generated from several stationary benchmark problems, experiments are carried out to investigate the performance of the proposed memetic algorithm in comparison with some peer evolutionary algorithms. The experimental results show the efficiency of the proposed memetic algorithm in dynamic environments.     

Estimating meme fitness in adaptive memetic algorithms for combinatorial problems

Among the most promising and active research areas in heuristic optimisation is the field of adaptive memetic algorithms (AMAs). These gain much of their reported robustness by adapting the probability with which each of a set of local improvement operators is applied, according to an estimate of their current value to the search process. This paper addresses the issue of how the current value should be estimated. Assuming the estimate occurs over several applications of a meme, we consider whether the extreme or mean improvements should be used, and whether this aggregation should be global, or local to some part of the solution space. To investigate these issues, we use the well-established COMA framework that coevolves the specification of a population of memes (representing different local search algorithms) alongside a population of candidate solutions to the problem at hand. Two very different memetic algorithms are considered: the first using adaptive operator pursuit to adjust the probabilities of applying a fixed set of memes, and a second which applies genetic operators to dynamically adapt and create memes and their functional definitions. For the latter, especially on combinatorial problems, credit assignment mechanisms based on historical records, or on notions of landscape locality, will have limited application, and it is necessary to estimate the value of a meme via some form of sampling. The results on a set of binary encoded combinatorial problems show that both methods are very effective, and that for some problems it is necessary to use thousands of variables in order to tease apart the differences between different reward schemes. However, for both memetic algorithms, a significant pattern emerges that reward based on mean improvement is better than that based on extreme improvement. This contradicts recent findings from adapting the parameters of operators involved in global evolutionary search. The results also show that local reward schemes outperform global reward schemes in combinatorial spaces, unlike in continuous spaces. An analysis of evolving meme behaviour is used to explain these findings.     

文化基因算法在多约束背包问题中的应用

文化基因算法是一种启发式算法,与一些经典数学方法相比,更适于求解多约束背包问题.文化基因算法是一种基于种群的全局搜索和基于个体的局部启发式搜索的结合体,针对多约束问题,提出采用贪婪策略通过违反度排序的方法处理多约束条件,全局搜索采用遗传算法,局部搜索采用模拟退火策略,解决具有多约束条件的0-1背包问题.通过对几个实例的求解,表明文化基因算法与标准遗传算法相比,具有更优的搜索性能.     

Real-coded memetic algorithms with crossover hill-climbing

This paper presents a real-coded memetic algorithm that applies a crossover hill-climbing to solutions produced by the genetic operators. On the one hand, the memetic algorithm provides global search (reliability) by means of the promotion of high levels of population diversity. On the other, the crossover hill-climbing exploits the self-adaptive capacity of real-parameter crossover operators with the aim of producing an effective local tuning on the solutions (accuracy). An important aspect of the memetic algorithm proposed is that it adaptively assigns different local search probabilities to individuals. It was observed that the algorithm adjusts the global/local search balance according to the particularities of each problem instance. Experimental results show that, for a wide range of problems, the method we propose here consistently outperforms other real-coded memetic algorithms which appeared in the literature.     

A memetic particle swarm optimisation algorithm for dynamic multi-modal optimisation problems

Many real-world optimisation problems are both dynamic and multi-modal, which require an optimisation algorithm not only to find as many optima under a specific environment as possible, but also to track their moving trajectory over dynamic environments. To address this requirement, this article investigates a memetic computing approach based on particle swarm optimisation for dynamic multi-modal optimisation problems (DMMOPs). Within the framework of the proposed algorithm, a new speciation method is employed to locate and track multiple peaks and an adaptive local search method is also hybridised to accelerate the exploitation of species generated by the speciation method. In addition, a memory-based re-initialisation scheme is introduced into the proposed algorithm in order to further enhance its performance in dynamic multi-modal environments. Based on the moving peaks benchmark problems, experiments are carried out to investigate the performance of the proposed algorithm in comparison with several state-of-the-art algorithms taken from the literature. The experimental results show the efficiency of the proposed algorithm for DMMOPs.     

A differential memetic algorithm

Memetic algorithms have been devised to rectify the absence of a local search mechanism in evolutionary algorithms. This paper proposes a differential memetic algorithm (DMA). To this end, first we propose a differential bidirectional random search as a local search algorithm. Then, a randomized blending crossover (RBleX) is proposed which aimed to scatter the new born offspring more diversely in the whole search space. We devise our proposed DMA, by using the RBleX crossover in the GA, and including the DBRS local search algorithm. A comparison of the performance of the DMA and those of seven other evolutionary/memetic or hybrid algorithms reported in two different papers on numerous bechmark functions demonstrates better performance of proposed DMA algorithm in most of the cases.     

Multiobjective memetic algorithms for time and space assembly line balancing

This paper presents three proposals of multiobjective memetic algorithms to solve a more realistic extension of a classical industrial problem: time and space assembly line balancing. These three proposals are, respectively, based on evolutionary computation, ant colony optimisation, and greedy randomised search procedure. Different variants of these memetic algorithms have been developed and compared in order to determine the most suitable intensification–diversification trade-off for the memetic search process. Once a preliminary study on nine well-known problem instances is accomplished with a very good performance, the proposed memetic algorithms are applied considering real-world data from a Nissan plant in Barcelona (Spain). Outstanding approximations to the pseudo-optimal non-dominated solution set were achieved for this industrial case study.     

Estimation-based metaheuristics for the probabilistic traveling salesman problem

The probabilistic traveling salesman problem (PTSP) is a central problem in stochastic routing. Recently, we have shown that empirical estimation is a promising approach to devise highly effective local search algorithms for the PTSP. In this paper, we customize two metaheuristics, an iterated local search algorithm and a memetic algorithm, to solve the PTSP. This customization consists in adopting the estimation approach to evaluate the solution cost, exploiting a recently developed estimation-based local search algorithm, and tuning the metaheuristics parameters. We present an experimental study of the estimation-based metaheuristic algorithms on a number of instance classes. The results show that the proposed algorithms are highly effective and that they define a new state-of-the-art for the PTSP.     

A memetic algorithm for evolutionary prototype selection: A scaling up approach

Prototype selection problem consists of reducing the size of databases by removing samples that are considered noisy or not influential on nearest neighbour classification tasks. Evolutionary algorithms have been used recently for prototype selection showing good results. However, due to the complexity of this problem when the size of the databases increases, the behaviour of evolutionary algorithms could deteriorate considerably because of a lack of convergence. This additional problem is known as the scaling up problem.

Memetic algorithms are approaches for heuristic searches in optimization problems that combine a population-based algorithm with a local search. In this paper, we propose a model of memetic algorithm that incorporates an ad hoc local search specifically designed for optimizing the properties of prototype selection problem with the aim of tackling the scaling up problem. In order to check its performance, we have carried out an empirical study including a comparison between our proposal and previous evolutionary and non-evolutionary approaches studied in the literature.

The results have been contrasted with the use of non-parametric statistical procedures and show that our approach outperforms previously studied methods, especially when the database scales up.     

Evolutionary decision-makings for the dynamic weapon-target assignment problem

The dynamic weapon-target assignment (DWTA) problem is an important issue in the field of military command and control. An asset-based DWTA optimization model was proposed with four kinds of constraints considered, including capability constraints, strategy constraints, resource constraints and engagement feasibility constraints. A general “virtual” representation of decisions was presented to facilitate the generation of feasible decisions. The representation is in essence the permutation of all assignment pairs. A construction procedure converts the permutations into real feasible decisions. In order to solve this problem, three evolutionary decision-making algorithms, including a genetic algorithm and two memetic algorithms, were developed. Experimental results show that the memetic algorithm based on greedy local search can generate obviously better DWTA decisions, especially for large-scale problems, than the genetic algorithm and the memetic algorithm based on steepest local search.     

Solving bus terminal location problems using evolutionary algorithms

Bus terminal assignment with the objective of maximizing public transportation service is known as bus terminal location problem (BTLP). We formulate the BTLP, a problem of concern in transportation industry, as a p-uncapacitated facility location problem (p-UFLP) with distance constraint. The p-UFLP being NP-hard (Krarup and Pruzan, 1990), we propose evolutionary algorithms for its solution. According to the No Free Lunch theorem and the good efficiency of the distinctive preserve recombination (DPX) operator, we design a new recombination operator for solving a BTLP by new evolutionary and memetic algorithms namely, genetic local search algorithms (GLS). We also define the potential objective function (POF) for the nodes and design a new mutation operator based on POF. To make the memetic algorithm faster, we estimate the variation of the objective function based on POF in the local search as part of an operator in memetic algorithms. Finally, we explore numerically the performance of nine proposed algorithms on over a thousand randomly generated problems and select the best two algorithms for further testing. The comparative studies show that our new hybrid algorithm composing the evolutionary algorithm with the GLS outperforms the multistart simulated annealing algorithm.     

Balancing exploration and exploitation in memetic algorithms: A learning automata approach

One of the problems with traditional genetic algorithms (GAs) is premature convergence, which makes them incapable of finding good solutions to the problem. The memetic algorithm (MA) is an extension of the GA. It uses a local search method to either accelerate the discovery of good solutions, for which evolution alone would take too long to discover, or reach solutions that would otherwise be unreachable by evolution or a local search method alone. In this paper, we introduce a new algorithm based on learning automata (LAs) and an MA, and we refer to it as LA‐MA. This algorithm is composed of 2 parts: a genetic section and a memetic section. Evolution is performed in the genetic section, and local search is performed in the memetic section. The basic idea of LA‐MA is to use LAs during the process of searching for solutions in order to create a balance between exploration performed by evolution and exploitation performed by local search. For this purpose, we present a criterion for the estimation of success of the local search at each generation. This criterion is used to calculate the probability of applying the local search to each chromosome. We show that in practice, the proposed probabilistic measure can be estimated reliably. On the basis of the relationship between the genetic section and the memetic section, 3 versions of LA‐MA are introduced. LLA‐MA behaves according to the Lamarckian learning model, BLA‐MA behaves according to the Baldwinian learning model, and HLA‐MA behaves according to both the Baldwinian and Lamarckian learning models. To evaluate the efficiency of these algorithms, they have been used to solve the graph isomorphism problem. The results of computer experimentations have shown that all the proposed algorithms outperform the existing algorithms in terms of quality of solution and rate of convergence.