A new hybrid approach for dynamic continuous optimization problems

A new hybrid approach for dynamic optimization problems with continuous search spaces is presented. The proposed approach hybridizes efficient features of the particle swarm optimization in tracking dynamic changes with a new evolutionary procedure. In the proposed dynamic hybrid PSO (DHPSO) algorithm, the swarm size is varied in a self-regulatory manner. Inspired from the microbial life, the particles can reproduce infants and the old ones die. The infants are especially reproduced by high potential particles and located near the local optimum points, using the quadratic interpolation method. The algorithm is adapted to perform in continuous search spaces, utilizing continuous movement of the particles and using Euclidian norm to define the neighborhood in the reproduction procedure. The performance of the new proposed approach is tested against various benchmark problems and compared with those of some other heuristic optimization algorithms. In this regard, different types of dynamic environments including periodic, linear and random changes are taken with different performance metrics such as real-time error, offline performance and offline error. The results indicate a desirable better efficiency of the new algorithm over the existing ones.     

A robust critical path in an environment with hybrid uncertainty

In this article, we consider the project critical path problem in an environment with hybrid uncertainty. In this environment, the duration of activities are considered as random fuzzy variables that have probability and fuzzy natures, simultaneously. To obtain a robust critical path with this kind of uncertainty a chance constraints programming model is used. This model is converted to a deterministic model in two stages. In the first stage, the uncertain model is converted to a model with interval parameters by alpha-cut method and distribution function concepts. In the second stage, the interval model is converted to a deterministic model by robust optimization and min-max regret criterion and ultimately a genetic algorithm with a proposed exact algorithm are applied to solve the final model. Finally, some numerical examples are given to show the efficiency of the solution procedure.     

Nodal ant colony optimization for solving profit based unit commitment problem for GENCOs

This paper proposes a nodal ant colony optimization (NACO) technique to solve profit based unit commitment problem (PBUCP). Generation companies (GENCOs) in a competitive restructured power market, schedule their generators with an objective to maximize their own profit without any regard for system social benefit. Power and reserve prices become important factors in decision process. Ant colony optimization that mimics the behavior of ants foraging activities is suitably implemented to search the UCP search space. Here a search space consisting of optimal combination of binary nodes for unit ON/OFF status is represented for the movement of the ants to maintain good exploration and exploitation search capabilities. The proposed model help GENCOs to make decisions on the quantity of power and reserve that must be put up for sale in the markets and also to schedule generators in order to receive the maximum profit. The effectiveness of the proposed technique for PBUCP is validated on 10 and 36 generating unit systems available in the literature. NACO yields an increase of profit, greater than 1.5%, in comparison with the basic ACO, Muller method and hybrid LR-GA.     

A hybrid stock selection model using genetic algorithms and support vector regression

In the areas of investment research and applications, feasible quantitative models include methodologies stemming from soft computing for prediction of financial time series, multi-objective optimization of investment return and risk reduction, as well as selection of investment instruments for portfolio management based on asset ranking using a variety of input variables and historical data, etc. Among all these, stock selection has long been identified as a challenging and important task. This line of research is highly contingent upon reliable stock ranking for successful portfolio construction. Recent advances in machine learning and data mining are leading to significant opportunities to solve these problems more effectively. In this study, we aim at developing a methodology for effective stock selection using support vector regression (SVR) as well as genetic algorithms (GAs). We first employ the SVR method to generate surrogates for actual stock returns that in turn serve to provide reliable rankings of stocks. Top-ranked stocks can thus be selected to form a portfolio. On top of this model, the GA is employed for the optimization of model parameters, and feature selection to acquire optimal subsets of input variables to the SVR model. We will show that the investment returns provided by our proposed methodology significantly outperform the benchmark. Based upon these promising results, we expect this hybrid GA-SVR methodology to advance the research in soft computing for finance and provide an effective solution to stock selection in practice.     

多目标多约束的集成电路统计优化策略

对于集成电路设计、生产过程中的多目标、多约束统计优化问题,本文提出了“合格率足够高”的优化宗旨,并从概率论的基本原理出发,结合集成电路的特点,导出了一种合格率的近似表述方法,提出的变权重Monte Carlo法编程简便,效率高。采用这些优化策略设计的集成电路合格率优化系统取得了比较好的结果。     

选择性集成算法分类与比较

选择性集成是当前机器学习领域的研究热点之一。由于选择性集成属于NP"难"问题,人们多利用启发式方法将选择性集成转化为其他问题来求得近似最优解,因为各种算法的出发点和描述角度各不相同,现有的大量选择性集成算法显得繁杂而没有规律。为便于研究人员迅速了解和应用本领域的最新进展,本文根据选择过程中核心策略的特征将选择性集成算法分为四类,即迭代优化法、排名法、分簇法、模式挖掘法;然后利用UCI数据库的20个常用数据集,从预测性能、选择时间、结果集成分类器大小三个方面对这些典型算法进行了实验比较;最后总结了各类方法的优缺点,并展望了选择性集成的未来研究重点。     

GCC编译器中间代码层控制流扩充研究

本文首先对CFCSS(控制流检错算法)进行了介绍,对GCC编译器的运行流程进行了简要分析,再次给出了在GCC编译器中扩充CFCSS算法的具体方法,最后通过故障注入实验对扩充后的GCC进行了有效性验证。实验表明,扩充了CFCSS算法的GCC编译器所编译的程序在运行过程中具有控制流检错能力。这为我们下一步的故障定位和故障恢复提供了有力的支持,为解决星载计算机的运行故障奠定了基础。     

基于种群多样性的自适应PSO算法求解VRPSPD问题

为有效求解逆向物流车辆路径(VRPSPD)模型,本文提出一种基于种群多样性的自适应PSO算法(SDAPSO)。在SDAPSO运行时,根据种群多样性,自适应地对种群中运行较差的粒子进行扰动操作,提升这些粒子向最优解收敛的能力;同时,对全局最优粒子进行概率扰动,以增加种群的多样性。标准检测函数的仿真结果表明SDAPSO算法是对基本PSO算法的有效改进。在对VRPSPD模型求解中,通过与其它粒子群算法相比,表明SDAPSO是求解该类问题的一种有效方法。     

火车车轮成形新工艺的开发研究

在比较分析技术先进国家的火车车轮成形工艺流程后，采用试验研究和数值模拟相结合方法，研究开发出优化的新工艺。钢坯先在一台水压机上预成形制坯，再在另一台压机上模锻，经轧制扩径后冲孔压弯。这样的生产线效益最好     

A Web Server for Designing Molecular Switches Composed of Two Interacting RNAs

The programmability of RNA–RNA interactions through intermolecular base-pairing has been successfully exploited to design a variety of RNA devices that artificially regulate gene expression. An in silico design for interacting structured RNA sequences that satisfies multiple design criteria becomes a complex multi-objective problem. Although multi-objective optimization is a powerful technique that explores a vast solution space without empirical weights between design objectives, to date, no web service for multi-objective design of RNA switches that utilizes RNA–RNA interaction has been proposed. We developed a web server, which is based on a multi-objective design algorithm called MODENA, to design two interacting RNAs that form a complex in silico. By predicting the secondary structures with RactIP during the design process, we can design RNAs that form a joint secondary structure with an external pseudoknot. The energy barrier upon the complex formation is modeled by an interaction seed that is optimized in the design algorithm. We benchmarked the RNA switch design approaches (MODENA+RactIP and MODENA+RNAcofold) for the target structures based on natural RNA-RNA interactions. As a result, MODENA+RactIP showed high design performance for the benchmark datasets.