Self-adjusting the intensity of assortative mating in genetic algorithms

Mate selection plays a crucial role in both natural and artificial systems. While traditional Evolutionary Algorithms (EA) usually engage in random mating strategies, that is, mating chance is independent of genotypic or phenotypic distance between individuals, in natural systems non-random mating is common, which means that somehow this mechanism has been favored during the evolutionary process. In non-random mating, the individuals mate according to their parenthood or likeness. Previous studies indicate that negative assortative mating (AM)—also known as dissortative mating—, which is a specific type of non-random mating, may improve EAs performance by maintaining the genetic diversity of the population at a higher level during the search process. In this paper we present the Variable Dissortative Mating Genetic Algorithm (VDMGA). The algorithm holds a mechanism that varies the GA’s mating restrictions during the run by means of simple rule based on the number of chromosomes created in each generation and indirectly influenced by the genetic diversity of the population. We compare VDMGA not only with traditional Genetic Algorithms (GA) but also with two preceding non-random mating EAs: the CHC algorithm and the negative Assortative Mating Genetic Algorithm (nAMGA). We intend to study the effects of the different methods in the performance of GAs and verify the reliability of the proposed algorithm when facing an heterogeneous set of landscapes. In addition, we include the positive Assortative Mating Genetic Algorithm (pAMGA) in the experiments in order test both negative and positive AM mechanisms, and try to understand if and when negative AM (or DM) speeds up the search process or enables the GAs to escape local optima traps. For these purposes, an extensive set of optimization test problems was chosen to cover a variety of search landscapes with different characteristics. Our results confirm that negative AM is effective in leading EAs out of local optima traps, and show that the proposed VDMGA is at least as efficient as nAMGA when applied to the range of our problems, being more efficient in very hard functions were traditional GAs usually fail to escape local optima. Also, scalability tests have been made that show VDMGA ability to decrease optimal population size, thus reducing the amount of evaluations needed to attain global optima. We like to stress that only two parameters need to be hand-tuned in VDMGA, thus reducing the tuning effort present in traditional GAs and nAMGA.     

Uncertainty,belief, and probability1

We introduce a new probabilistic approach to dealing with uncertainty, based on the observation that probability theory does not require that every event be assigned a probability. For a nonmeasurable event (one to which we do not assign a probability), we can talk about only the inner measure and outer measure of the event. In addition to removing the requirement that every event be assigned a probability, our approach circumvents other criticisms of probability-based approaches to uncertainty. For example, the measure of belief in an event turns out to be represented by an interval (defined by the inner and outer measures), rather than by a single number. Further, this approach allows us to assign a belief (inner measure) to an event E without committing to a belief about its negation -E (since the inner measure of an event plus the inner measure of its negation is not necessarily one). Interestingly enough, inner measures induced by probability measures turn out to correspond in a precise sense to Dempster-Shafer belief functions. Hence, in addition to providing promising new conceptual tools for dealing with uncertainty, our approach shows that a key part of the important Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence is firmly rooted in classical probability theory. Cet article présente une nouvelle approche probabiliste en ce qui concerne le traitement de l'incertitude; celle-ci est basée sur l'observation que la théorie des probabilityés n'exige pas qu'une probabilityé soit assignée à chaque événement. Dans le cas d'un événement non mesurable (un événement pour lequel on n'assigne aucune probabilityé), nous ne pouvons discuter que de la mesure intérieure et de la mesure extérieure de l'évenément. En plus d'éliminer la nécessité d'assigner une probabilityéà l'événement, cette nouvelle approche apporte une réponse aux autres critiques des approches à l'incertitude basées sur des probabilityés. Par exemple, la mesure de croyance dans un événement est représentée par un intervalle (défini par la mesure intérieure et extérieure) plutǒt que par un nombre unique. De plus, cette approche nous permet d'assigner une croyance (mesure intérieure) à un événement E sans se compromettre vers une croyance à propos de sa négation -E (puisque la mesure intérieure d'un événement et la mesure intérieure de sa négation ne sont pas nécessairement une seule et unique mesure). II est intéressant de noter que les mesures intérieures qui résultent des mesures de probabilityé correspondent d'une manière précise aux fonctions de croyance de Dempster-Shafer. En plus de constituer un nouvel outil conceptuel prometteur dans le traitement de l'incertitude, cette approche démontre qu'une partie importante de la théorie de l'évidence de Dempster-Shafer est fermement ancrée dans la theorie classique des probabilityés.     

评定飞航导弹单发命中概率的方法研究

通过对抽样检验方法的研究,确立了区间估计的下限公式,用来在已知样本值的情况下确定导弹单发命中概率出现在该区间内的置信水平和精确度。     

Impact of dams on point bar habitat: a case for the extirpation of the Sacramento Valley Tiger Beetle,C. hirticollis abrupta

Quantitative analyses of flow and stage data, remote sensing and geographic information systems analysis, and field studies were used to assess the impact of dams and diversions on the point bar habitat of the Sacramento Valley Tiger Beetle (Cicindela hirticollis abrupta). The reaches of interest include sites of known historic populations of C. h. abrupta along the Sacramento River from approximately 8 km north of Colusa southward to the confluence with the Feather River and along the Feather River between Yuba City and its confluence with the Sacramento River. The results from this study show that construction of two major dams has altered flows such that prolonged and increased flows during summer, fall, and early winter have most likely disrupted life cycles, flooded larvae, drowned overwintering adults and led to high mortality. Additionally, habitat availability has decreased over time because point bars have decreased in number and area causing increased distances between populations and isolation of populations. Moreover, point bar armouring, channel scouring, altered flows, redirected flows through weirs, and lithologic controls have produced a bimodal distribution of mean grain sizes in the Sacramento River in which the more northern bars contain gravel deposits and more southern bars possess fine sands. These conditions negatively alter moisture retention and sediment compaction and, consequently, burrowing conditions needed by this tiger beetle. Additionally, more stabilized flows (reduced variability) and increased fine‐grained deposition have enabled development and encroachment of vegetation onto the sand bars. Finally, human stresses, such as foot traffic and vehicular traffic may have interfered with burrowing, ovipositing, and foraging. The combination of these stress factors has most likely led to a reduction in source populations and, ultimately, the apparent extirpation of the entire metapopulation. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Pure perceptual-based sequence learning.

Learning a sequence of target locations when the sequence is uncorrelated with a sequence of responses and target location is not the response dimension (pure perceptual-based sequence learning) was examined. Using probabilistic sequences of target locations, the author shows that such learning can be implicit, is unaffected by distance between target locations, and is mostly limited to first-order transition probabilities. Moreover, the mechanism underlying learning affords processing of information at anticipated target locations and appears to be attention based. Implications for hypotheses of implicit sequence learning are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

开关电源的噪声及其抑制

介绍开关电源的常态噪声和共态噪声产生的原因，以及几种抑制噪声的方法。     

Analysis and optimisation of the HIPERLAN Channel Access Contention Scheme

This paper analyses the HIPERLAN channel access mechanism. Both a purely mathematical and a simulation model are built in order to evaluate the two successive phases of the contention scheme. Several optimisations, based on the choice of parametric values, are proposed, evaluated and compared.     

Reliability‐based estimation of the survival of Listeria monocytogenes in chorizos

Reliability analysis is especially important when critical decisions are to be made involving potentially severe adverse consequences such as foodborne illness. Owing to uncertainty associated with the parameters controlling survival of Listeria monocytogenes in chorizo (a Mexican‐style sausage), the time needed to reduce the count by a certain number (n) of logs (t_nD) is probabilistic. In this paper the first‐order second‐moment (FOSM) method based on Taylor series expansion is used to derive the expected value and standard deviation of t_nD as function of the operating conditions (random variables) affecting survival, namely initial water activity (a_w0) of the sausage batter, storage temperature (T) and airflow velocity (F), along with their uncertainties characterised by their means and coefficients of variation. For any given n the derived t_nD probability distribution enables one to determine an estimate of t_nD for any desired level of reliability or confidence level, such as 50% (median value), 95%, 99%, etc. Among the conclusions drawn were: (i) the variability associated with T and F has a minor effect on estimating uncertainty in t_nD, whereas the reliability of t_nD estimation is greatly influenced by the uncertainty in a_w0; and (ii) the uncertainty in a_w0 has the greatest impact when a_w0 of the sausage formulation exceeds 0.90. The approach used and discussed in this paper can be applied to any survival/inactivation study to incorporate the effect of uncertainty in the various extrinsic and intrinsic parameters on the survival kinetics of the pathogen in a food system under evaluation. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry     

Analytical general results for handoff dwell time distribution in wireless networks

1 Introduction The calling dwell time characteristic is critical for the user network planning and deployment, e.g., global system for mobile communications (GSM), as well as the next generation wireless multimedia networks, such as, the currently standar…