Evolutionary Optimization Approach Research Articles

Selective multiple kernel fuzzy clustering with locality preserved ensemble

Multiple kernel fuzzy clustering (MKFC) has demonstrated promising performance in capturing the non-linear relationships within data. However, its effectiveness relies heavily on the appropriate selection of the fuzzification coefficient and kernel functions. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a novel clustering ensemble approach for improving the robustness and accuracy of the MKFC algorithm. The proposed method employs a multi-objective evolutionary optimization approach to heuristically select the optimal fuzzification and kernel coefficients. By employing the selected coefficients, the MKFC algorithm generates a diverse set of accurate candidate clustering results. Subsequently, a locality preserved ensemble mechanism is introduced to derive the final partition matrix, ensuring that all candidate clusterings within the Pareto non-dominated set contribute to the final consensus matrix. Moreover, this mechanism incorporates the knowledge about the locality of the dataset via a graph regularization term, thereby further enhancing the clustering performance. Comprehensive experiments conducted on widely adopted benchmark datasets demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method over the state-of-the-art approaches.

An integrative approach to protein sequence design through multiobjective optimization.

With recent methodological advances in the field of computational protein design, in particular those based on deep learning, there is an increasing need for frameworks that allow for coherent, direct integration of different models and objective functions into the generative design process. Here we demonstrate how evolutionary multiobjective optimization techniques can be adapted to provide such an approach. With the established Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II (NSGA-II) as the optimization framework, we use AlphaFold2 and ProteinMPNN confidence metrics to define the objective space, and a mutation operator composed of ESM-1v and ProteinMPNN to rank and then redesign the least favorable positions. Using the two-state design problem of the foldswitching protein RfaH as an in-depth case study, and PapD and calmodulin as examples of higher-dimensional design problems, we show that the evolutionary multiobjective optimization approach leads to significant reduction in the bias and variance in RfaH native sequence recovery, compared to a direct application of ProteinMPNN. We suggest that this improvement is due to three factors: (i) the use of an informative mutation operator that accelerates the sequence space exploration, (ii) the parallel, iterative design process inherent to the genetic algorithm that improves upon the ProteinMPNN autoregressive sequence decoding scheme, and (iii) the explicit approximation of the Pareto front that leads to optimal design candidates representing diverse tradeoff conditions. We anticipate this approach to be readily adaptable to different models and broadly relevant for protein design tasks with complex specifications.

A federated GAN network-based evolutionary constrained optimization approach to integrated coal mine energy system

The integrated coal mine energy system (ICMES) is a kind of system with multiple scenarios, variables and parameters, which belongs to dynamic constrained multi-objective optimization problem (DCMOP). One of the challenges in solving ICMES lies in searching for feasible solutions when the frequency of changes is quick. To solve the above mentioned issues, this paper proposes a federated GAN network-based evolutionary constrained optimization for ICMES (FGECO). Firstly, multiple GAN networks are utilized in the framework of federated learning (FL) to estimate the distribution of feasible regions that satisfy each constraint. Following that, they are fused to realize the intersection of all feasible regions, and generate one feasible region that can meet all constrained requirements. Subsequently, an initial population with guidance of evolution is generated based on the proposed shared GAN network model. Finally, FGECO is compared with four popular dynamic constrained multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (DCMOEAs) on ICMES. Experimental results indicate its superiority.

A federated GAN network-based evolutionary constrained optimization approach to integrated coal mine energy system

The integrated coal mine energy system (ICMES) is a kind of system with multiple scenarios, variables and parameters, which belongs to dynamic constrained multi-objective optimization problem (DCMOP). One of the challenges in solving ICMES lies in searching for feasible solutions when the frequency of changes is quick. To solve the above mentioned issues, this paper proposes a federated GAN network-based evolutionary constrained optimization for ICMES (FGECO). Firstly, multiple GAN networks are utilized in the framework of federated learning (FL) to estimate the distribution of feasible regions that satisfy each constraint. Following that, they are fused to realize the intersection of all feasible regions, and generate one feasible region that can meet all constrained requirements. Subsequently, an initial population with guidance of evolution is generated based on the proposed shared GAN network model. Finally, FGECO is compared with four popular dynamic constrained multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (DCMOEAs) on ICMES. Experimental results indicate its superiority.

Machine learning and evolutionary optimization approach for solving the flexible job-shop scheduling problem

This paper proposes a method of using machine learning and an evolutionary algorithm to solve the flexible job shop problem (FJSP). Specifically, a back propagation (BP) neural network is used as the machine learning method, the most widely used genetic algorithm (GA) is employed as the optimized object to address the machine-selection sub-problem of the FJSP, and particle swarm optimization (PSO) is utilized to solve the operation-order sub-problem of the FJSP. At present, evolutionary algorithms such as the GA, PSO, ant colony algorithm, simulated annealing algorithm, and their optimization algorithms are widely used to solve the FJSP; however, none of them optimizes the initial solutions. Because each of these algorithms only focuses on solving a single FJSP, they can only use randomly generated initial solutions and cannot determine whether the initial solutions are good or bad. Based on these standard evolutionary algorithms and their optimized versions, the JSON object was introduced in this study to cluster and reconstruct FJSPs such that the machine learning strategies can be used to optimize the initial solutions. Specifically, the BP neural networks are trained so that the generalization of BP neural networks can be used to judge whether the initial solutions of the FJSPs are good or bad. This approach enables the bad solutions to be filtered out and the good solutions to be maintained as the initial solutions. Extensive experiments were performed to test the proposed algorithm. They demonstrated that it was feasible and effective. The contribution of this approach consists of reconstructing the mathematical model of the FJSP so that machine learning strategies can be introduced to optimize the algorithms for the FJSP. This approach seems to be a new direction for introducing more interesting machine learning methodologies to solve the FJSP.

Evolutionary optimization approach based on heuristic information with pseudo-utility for the quadratic assignment problem

Existing data mining-based meta-heuristic approaches have endeavored to efficiently solve the Quadratic Assignment Problem (QAP). However, their captured heuristic information lacks com prehensiveness and usefulness, as they fail to consider various combinations of frequent items and ignore objective information. This deficiency makes it challenging to generate new solutions that balance global and local search. To address these issues, we propose an approach called EOHIPU. EOHIPU efficiently mines and represents more itemsets composed of frequent items, and simultaneously introduces pseudo-utility to quantitatively characterize each item's contribution to the objective, thereby capturing more comprehensive and useful heuristic information. With this heuristic information, EOHIPU designs a mechanism for generating new solutions, balancing global and local search. We conduct experiments on 21 hard benchmark instances from QAPLIB, comparing EOHIPU with five state-of-the-art approaches. Our EOHIPU achieves the best results, with average percentage deviations (APDs) of 0.064 and 0.046 under short and long running times, respectively. Additionally, EOHIPU demonstrates faster convergence compared to other state-of-the-art approaches across all instances. These results highlight EOHIPU's superior solution quality and convergence rate. Moreover, the effectiveness of the captured heuristic information and the new solution generation mechanism is validated.

A hybrid and adaptive evolutionary approach for multitask optimization of post-disaster traveling salesman and repairman problems

Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) and Traveling Repairman Problem (TRP) have been studied due to their real-world applications. While the TSP minimizes the total time to travel to all customers, the TRP minimizes the total waiting time between a main depot and customers. Solving two problems simultaneously is shown to obtain promising results due to their high similarity in solution representation and overlap in search space. However, these two problems in the context of post-disaster have not yet been considered in line with the three following restrictions. First, the salesman cannot travel on several destroyed roads. Second, the salesman needs additional time to remove debris, which means the debris removal time is added to the travel cost. Finally, we do not consider each vertex equally because they have different characteristics depending on their population or vulnerability. Therefore, reaching a vertex with higher priority takes more benefit overall. To tackle these problems, we first formalize TSP and TRP in post-disaster scenarios as TSPPD and TRPPD, respectively, and then propose the effective metaheuristic, MFEA-TS, combining a Multifactorial Evolutionary Algorithm (MFEA) and Tabu Search (TS) to solve them simultaneously and efficiently. In the proposed MFEA-TS, the MFEA can explore the search space well by transferring knowledge between two problems, while the TS can exploit good solutions in the search space. The proposed algorithm overcomes the drawbacks of the existing MFEA algorithms due to good exploitation capacity and prevention of revisiting previous solution spaces. We further conduct extensive experiments to verify the performance of our MFEA-TS with TRPPD and TSPPD. The empirical results show that the proposed algorithm can give high-quality solutions on a range of benchmarks, thus confirming the impressive efficiency of the proposed formulations and algorithm MFEA-TS.

Homotopic quantum fuzzy adaptive simulated annealing [HQF ASA

The work proposes a new approach for evolutionary global optimization which, in simple terms, may be described as a fusion of quantum and simulated annealing. This becomes possible by using basic concepts from Homotopy Theory, conjugated to the already existing Fuzzy Adaptive Simulated Annealing paradigm and other components. In this fashion, it occurs a temporal and nonlinear superposition of the two types of annealing, provoking interesting effects in runtime, including the so-called quantum tunneling, when there is a sudden transition between attraction basins of different minima without “climbing” potential barriers. In addition, the proposal includes a generalization of the “deformation” of Hamiltonians used in quantum annealing by suggesting the use of general homotopies between the surface corresponding to the cost function under processing and another specific landscape, being this possible because of the ability of Fuzzy ASA of handling time-varying objective functions. The proposed paradigm shows that it is possible and beneficial to superpose the two types of annealing, displaying amazing numerical results and suggesting a kind of interlacing or synergic behavior - perhaps we could call it an “annealing entanglement”. Finally, given the fast advances in commercial quantum annealing processors, it seems sensible to expect that an implementation of the proposed approach using such devices may occur very soon. In order to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed algorithm, some significant and detailed examples are included in the text, so as to illustrate and clarify the presented ideas.

Non-radiative configurations of a few quantum emitters ensembles: Evolutionary optimization approach

Suppressing the spontaneous emission in quantum emitters ensembles (atoms) is one of the topical problems in quantum optics and quantum technology. While many approaches are based on utilizing the subradiance effect in ordered quantum emitters arrays, the ensemble configurations providing the minimal spontaneous emission rate are yet unknown. In this work, we employ the differential evolution algorithm to identify the optimal configurations of a few atomic ensembles that support quantum states with maximal radiative lifetime. We demonstrate that atoms tend to assemble mostly in quasi-regular structures with specific geometry, which strongly depends on the minimally allowed interatomic distance rmin. While the discovered specific non-radiative realizations of small ensembles cannot be immediately predicted, there is particular correspondence to the non-radiative states in the atomic lattices. In particular, we have found that states inheriting their properties either from the bound states in the continuum or band edge states of infinite lattices dominate across a wide range of rmin values. Additionally, we show that for small interatomic distances, the linear arrays with modulated spacing have the smallest radiative losses exponentially decreasing as the size of the ensemble increases.

Evolutionary topology optimization approach to design multiphase soundproof systems with poroelastic media

SummaryWith the constant development of cities, noise sources have become increasingly present inside and outside living environments. Consequently, soundproof systems comprised of porous materials have been widely adopted as filling fabric of closed‐space structures, such as in the components of buildings, airplanes or automobiles. However, in many situations, simply filling spaces may not be the most effective approach. In that scenario, this work introduces a multiphase acoustic topology optimization methodology to design closed‐space structures for sound attenuation. Based on the Bi‐directional Evolutionary Structural Optimization (BESO) algorithm, the proposed approach combines Biot's poroelasticity equations, expressed in the mixed /p form, and the Unified Multiphase (UMP) technique to fully describe the multiphysics involved in the acoustic, poroelastic and elastic model relations. An objective function contemplating different combinations of structural, viscous and thermal dissipated powers is maximized over multiple frequencies. Volume constraints in each material phase and a novel material interpolation scheme are also considered. The resultant topologies present enhanced dissipated power levels and manufacturability, even when compared with various baseline configurations of similar volume fractions.

A novel approach for optimizing the natural gas liquefaction process

The conversion of natural gas into liquefied natural gas (LNG) requires substantial energy consumption. This study proposes a deterministic mathematical model to find the optimal operation conditions for an LNG plant to minimize the energy consumption for turbomachinery and the total thermal conductance of the heat exchangers. General Algebraic Modeling System (GAMS) linked to a Dynamic Link Library was used to calculate the thermodynamic properties of the working fluids. A derivative-based optimization algorithm is used. Results indicate that the novel optimization approach allows the satisfactory management of the model nonlinearities associated, for example, with the bilinear terms involved in the energy balances and the mathematical functions used to calculate the thermodynamic properties. A preprocessing phase for initializing process variables is developed to facilitate model convergence. In comparison to an optimal design reported in the literature, which was obtained by integrating a well-established evolutionary optimization approach with the Aspen HYSYS simulator, the results indicated that the net electrical power could be reduced by up to 10% when the derivative-based optimization algorithm is used. The proposed deterministic approach, consisting of a mathematical model, an initialization phase, and an optimization algorithm, can help process engineers overcome the challenges associated with LNG process optimization.

A Heuristic-Based Evolutionary Approach for Joint Optimization of Job Shop Scheduling and Facility Layout

A Heuristic-Based Evolutionary Approach for Joint Optimization of Job Shop Scheduling and Facility Layout

Evolutionary transfer optimization-based approach for automated ictal pattern recognition using brain signals.

The visual scrutinization process for detecting epileptic seizures (ictal patterns) is time-consuming and prone to manual errors, which can have serious consequences, including drug abuse and life-threatening situations. To address these challenges, expert systems for automated detection of ictal patterns have been developed, yet feature engineering remains problematic due to variability within and between subjects. Single-objective optimization approaches yield less reliable results. This study proposes a novel expert system using the non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA)-II to detect ictal patterns in brain signals. Employing an evolutionary multi-objective optimization (EMO) approach, the classifier minimizes both the number of features and the error rate simultaneously. Input features include statistical features derived from phase space transformations, singular values, and energy values of time-frequency domain wavelet packet transform coefficients. Through evolutionary transfer optimization (ETO), the optimal feature set is determined from training datasets and passed through a generalized regression neural network (GRNN) model for pattern detection of testing datasets. The results demonstrate high accuracy with minimal computation time (<0.5 s), and EMO reduces the feature set matrix by more than half, suggesting reliability for clinical applications. In conclusion, the proposed model offers promising advancements in automating ictal pattern recognition in EEG data, with potential implications for improving epilepsy diagnosis and treatment. Further research is warranted to validate its performance across diverse datasets and investigate potential limitations.

Experimental investigation and multi-objective optimization of savonius wind turbine based on modified non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II

A numerical data set will be developed to assist in the design of Savonius wind turbines. The main objective of study is to improve Savonius turbine blade designs to increase torque coefficients, rotational speeds, and pressure coefficients. Simulating 3D models and validating them with wind tunnel data were part of the experimental design methodology. Multi-objective optimization is used to optimize turbine performance. Twist angle, aspect ratio, and overlap ratio are all important factors in determining the optimal torque and power coefficients. Data-driven objective functions were modeled using the group method of data handling (GMDH). Using an evolutionary Pareto-based optimization approach, polynomial models were used to plot Pareto fronts and TOPSIS to calculate optimal commercial points. The torque coefficient, rotational speed, and power coefficient are all improved by 13.74%, 0.071%, and 5.32%, respectively. As a result of the multi-objective optimization of the turbine, some significant characteristics of objective functions were discovered.

A novel hybrid search strategy for evolutionary fuzzy optimization approach

A novel hybrid search strategy for evolutionary fuzzy optimization approach

A reduced complexity ECG imaging model for regularized inversion optimization

The resolution of the inverse problem of electrocardiography represents a major interest in the diagnosis and catheter-based therapy of cardiac arrhythmia. In this context, the ability to simulate several cardiac electrical behaviors was crucial for evaluating and comparing the performance of inversion methods. For this application, existing models are either too complex or do not produce realistic cardiac patterns. In this work, a low-resolution heart-torso model generating realistic whole heart cardiac mappings and electrocardiograms in healthy and pathological cases is designed. This model was built upon a simplified heart-torso geometry and implements the monodomain formalism by using the finite element method. In addition, a model reduction step through a sensitivity analysis was proposed where parameters were identified using an evolutionary optimization approach. Finally, the study illustrates the usefulness of the proposed model by comparing the performance of different variants of Tikhonov-based inversion methods for the determination of the regularization parameter in healthy, ischemic and ventricular tachycardia scenarios. First, results of the sensitivity analysis show that among 58 parameters only 25 are influent. Note also that the level of influence of the parameters depends on the heart region. Besides, the synthesized electrocardiograms globally present the same characteristic shape compared to the reference once with a correlation value that reaches 88%. Regarding inverse problem, results highlight that only Robust Generalized Cross Validation and Discrepancy Principle provide best performance, with a quasi-perfect success rate for both, and a respective relative error, between the generated electrocardiograms to the reference one, of 0.75 and 0.62.

Surrogate-assisted evolutionary optimization for perishable inventory management in multi-echelon distribution systems

Simulation is widely used for analyzing supply chains with complex structures and stochastic nature. However, optimizing supply chain simulation models is usually computationally expensive. This study proposes a surrogate-assisted evolutionary optimization approach to optimize the inventory policies in multi-echelon distribution systems for perishable items under a limited number of evaluations. The random forest algorithm is used to build the surrogate model for a faster estimation of the performance of the inventory policies. A co-evolutionary differential evolution algorithm is proposed to simultaneously evolve the population through multiple searching strategies. The generated solutions are estimated by the low-cost surrogate model to select the promising solutions, which will be evaluated by the inventory model. Moreover, this study also integrates the surrogate model into two classic metaheuristic algorithms, particle swarm optimization and differential evolution. Also, a new performance indicator is proposed to examine the efficiency of the surrogate model in evolutionary computation. Two case studies are used to investigate the performance of the proposed algorithms. The experimental results show that both particle swarm optimization and differential evolution exhibit performance improvements exceeding 55% by using surrogate models under the limited number of function evaluations. Furthermore, the surrogate model reduces computational time for both algorithms by over 34% to achieve equivalent objective values. Finally, the proposed co-evolutionary differential evolution algorithm is compared with 12 algorithms, and the results show that the proposed algorithm consistently outperforms them. These findings confirm the usefulness of the surrogate model in evolutionary algorithms and the effectiveness of the proposed co-evolutionary strategy for solving perishable inventory problems.

Classification model-based assisted preselection and environment selection approach for evolutionary expensive bilevel optimization

Classification model-based assisted preselection and environment selection approach for evolutionary expensive bilevel optimization

A Correlation-Guided Layered Prediction Approach for Evolutionary Dynamic Multiobjective Optimization

When solving dynamic multiobjective optimization problems by evolutionary algorithms, the historical moving directions of some special points along the Pareto front, such as the center and knee points, are widely employed to predict the Pareto-optimal solutions (POS). However, special points may be impacted by certain individuals with a large direction deviation, and thus mislead the tracking of dynamic POS. To solve this issue, a correlation-guided layered prediction approach for solving dynamic multiobjective optimization problems is proposed in this paper, where multiple prediction models are integrated by considering the correlation of individuals&#x2019; moving directions. To be specific, the population is clustered into three subpopulations (i.e., high, mid, and low correlation) by correlation analysis to perform different prediction behaviors. The high correlation subpopulation aims to predict the moving direction via a linear prediction model. The mid correlation subpopulation is devoted to predicting the manifold change of POS by self-adaptively using the direction and length correction models. The diversity preservation is considered by the low correlation subpopulation. While the three subpopulations focus on different optimization tasks, they also cooperate to track the dynamic POS. The comprehensive experimental results on a variety of benchmark test problems demonstrate the superiority of the proposed approach, as compared with some state-of-the-art prediction-based dynamic multiobjective algorithms.

A probabilistic modeling and evolutionary optimization approach for serverless workflow configuration

AbstractServerless computing has nowadays become a mainstream paradigm to develop cloud‐native applications owing to its high scalability, ease of usage and cost‐effectiveness. Nevertheless, because of its poor infrastructure transparency, two main challenges emerge when users migrate their applications to a serverless platform: the lack of an effective analytical model for performance and billing, and the trade‐off problem between them. In this paper, we formally define a serverless workflow and introduce the concept of execution instances. Based on them, a probabilistic performance and cost evaluation model is built to obtain their expected values for an input serverless workflow. Then, we design a tailored evolutionary optimization algorithm called EASW to tackle budget‐constrained performance optimization and performance‐constrained cost optimization problems. Extensive experiments were carried out to test the proposed model and optimization algorithm on AWS Lambda. Results reveal that our model can achieve an accuracy over 98% and EASW can yield a better memory configuration solution than existing methods for constrained optimization.