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Vehicle routing problems (VRP) are a kind of typical combinational optimization problem, particularly in the logistics industry. This paper proposes a constrained evolutionary optimization algorithm, called CEOA, for solving many-objective VRP with simultaneous delivery, pickup, and time windows (VRPSDPTW). Specifically, we first define the weight value vectors based on the constraint satisfaction situation, which can adaptively adjust according to the feedback of population solutions during the search process. Subsequently, based on the feedback from the weight value vectors, the environmental selection strategy is employed to identify promising solutions for both infeasible and feasible situations. Furthermore, considering the data characteristics of the problem at hand, the crossover and mutation operations are tailored to better align with the VRPSDPTW, which is further explained and illustrated in detail regarding solution construction. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm for VRPSDPTW in comparison with other state-of-the-art methods. • This paper designs an adapting weight value vector to indicate infeasible solutions, which cannot compare together. • We use a constrained satisfaction strategy to select feasible solutions and select infeasible solutions, respectively. • The crossover and mutation operations are redesigned to make it more fit the real problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamic Constrained Multiobjective Optimization Problems (DCMOPs) are very difficult to solve because both of the objectives and constraints may change over time. The existing approaches for solving DCMOPs mainly develop dynamic response techniques and constraint handling techniques. But they do not focus on the search capability of the static optimizer in each environment, which ignores the intrinsic requirement of quickly locating Pareto-optimal Front (PF) in each environment when solving DCMOPs. To this end, this paper proposes a dual-population evolutionary algorithm for solving DCMOPs, called as DpEA, which maintains a population without considering constraints (called UP) for exploration and a population with considering constraints (called CP) for exploitation in each environment. In each iteration of a new environment, UP firstly adopts a stratified mutation strategy (SMS) and a dominated solution repairment strategy (DSR) to enhance the exploration ability of finding promising regions where the PF may reside. SMS uses solutions from different nondominated fronts to generate offspring, while DSR repairs the single-optimal variables of the dominated solutions by sampling from the distribution of those variables of nondominated solutions. Secondly, this paper uses an adaptive offspring ratio adjustment strategy to control the offspring number generated by UP and CP according to the normalized Hausdorff distance between nondominated solution sets from the two latest generations of UP. This strategy is helpful to balance the intensity between exploration and exploitation and thereby ensures efficient search. Experimental results on CEC 2023 DCF test suite show that DpEA has a superior performance over six state-of-the-art algorithms. • First EA that focuses on the search capability of static optimizer in solving DCMOPs. • Two offspring generation strategies to enhance the exploration ability. • An adaptive strategy to balance the intensity between exploration and exploitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this paper is on achieving a win-win situation regarding the economic, environmental, and social impacts of the cold chain logistics terminal distribution system. This paper proposes three multi-objective models to investigate the above effects by incorporating soft time windows, heterogeneous fleets, and path flexibility, with defining the objectives of examining logistics costs, fuel consumption, carbon emissions, quality damage to perishable commodities, and customer satisfaction using six evaluation functions. To solve the proposed models, an efficient optimization framework is developed by combining domain operators with versatile multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEA) to obtain Pareto solutions. Extensive experiments are conducted to test the validity of the concerned model and algorithms. The results demonstrate that: (1) the proposed algorithm is effective in solving the proposed model; (2) the proposed multi-path strategy can effectively improve the performance of cold-chain logistics systems compared to single-path strategies; (3) evaluation functions that assess customer satisfaction greatly affect the performance of cold-chain logistics systems; and (4) the trade-off relationship between the objectives should be investigated to define the model. The paper also provides valuable managerial insights for improving the efficiency and sustainability of cold-chain logistics operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many-objective optimization problems (MaOPs) are challenging tasks involving optimizing many conflicting objectives simultaneously. Decomposition-based many-objective evolutionary algorithms have effectively maintained a balance between convergence and diversity in recent years. However, these algorithms face challenges in accurately approximating the complex geometric structure of irregular Pareto fronts (PFs). In this paper, an information entropy-driven evolutionary algorithm based on reinforcement learning (RL-RVEA) for many-objective optimization with irregular Pareto fronts is proposed. The proposed algorithm leverages reinforcement learning to guide the evolution process by interacting with the environment to learn the shape and features of PF, which adaptively adjusts the distribution of reference vectors to cover the PFs structure effectively. Moreover, an information entropy-driven adaptive scalarization approach is designed in this paper to reflect the diversity of nondominated solutions, which facilitates the algorithm to balance multiple competing objectives adaptively and select solutions efficiently while maintaining individual diversity. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm, the RL-RVEA compared with seven state-of-the-art algorithms on the DTLZ, MaF, and WFG test suites and four real-world MaOPs. The results of the experiments demonstrate that the suggested algorithm provides a novel and practical method for addressing MaOPs with irregular PFs. • A novel RL-RVEA addresses many-objective optimization with irregular pareto fronts. • A reinforcement learning-based adaptive reference vector to guide the direction of convergence. • A scalarization approach preserves the diversity of solutions for next generation. • The RL-RVEA outperforms seven advanced many-objective optimization algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grey prediction evolutionary algorithm (GPE) is an emerging category of meta-heuristic algorithm based on mathematical model. It generates offspring by predicting the macroscopic evolutionary trend of population series. On the contrary, the mining of local evolutionary trend are flawed. To address this imperfection, this paper introduces a quadratic function as a surrogate model to mine the local evolutionary trend of population series for the first time. Thereby an improved grey prediction evolutionary algorithm called grey prediction evolutionary algorithm with a surrogate model based on quadratic interpolation (GPE-QI) is designed. The surrogate model based on quadratic interpolation is regarded as an external auxiliary tool to mine the local evolutionary trend of population series by using currently superior individuals. Through utilizing the mined local trend information, a donor population closer to the optimal solution is formed to improve the prediction direction of the algorithm. The performance of GPE-QI is tested on CEC2019, CEC2020 benchmark functions and six engineering design problems. The experimental results demonstrate the stronger competitiveness of GPE-QI to well-established algorithms in terms of solving accuracy and convergence rate. If this paper is accepted, MATLAB codes associated with this paper will be uploaded to https://github.com/Zhongbo-Hu/Prediction-Evolutionary-Algorithm-HOMEPAGE. • Improvement can be made by enhancing local search of grey prediction evolution. • Mine local evolutionary trend of population series by quadratic interpolation. • Construct a surrogate model by using the local evolutionary trend. • Design an improved grey prediction evolutionary algorithm with a surrogate model. • The proposed algorithm is more competitive than the well-established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automatic fault diagnosis in many systems is performed via the analysis of vibration data in the time or frequency domain. In the literature, many approaches for extracting featured from signals for fault diagnosis have been proposed. In this paper, we apply a variety of transform functions including Fourier, Wavelet, etc. to extract features from the vibration data, which includes the statistical features and some features automatically extracted via Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs). For each of these feature extraction approaches, a learning algorithm is trained to diagnose the faults and their results are aggregated in an ensemble machine learning algorithm. The weights of the base learner algorithms are optimized via an evolutionary algorithm to achieve the best-weighted voting scheme. The architecture of CNNs has a significant effect on the performance of the algorithm, thus, in this paper, an evolutionary algorithm is proposed to find the best architecture for CNNs in fault diagnosis. The CNNs are trained via gradient descent algorithms which suffer from getting stuck in local optima. To manage this, we propose an evolutionary algorithm that benefits from the speed of gradient descent and the global search of evolutionary algorithms. The proposed algorithm is tested on a number of benchmark problems and the experimental results are presented. • An ensemble algorithm is proposed for fault diagnosis. • Different feature extractors are exploited. • An evolutionary training algorithm is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Finding out a best solution of the multi-objective optimization problem (MOP) or many-objective optimization problem (MaOP) in the user's view, is a significant and practical problem. The multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) are applied to solve the MaOPs. Considering many conflicting objectives, they would generate numerous nondominated solutions. Merging the preferences from the user to objectives is an effective way to measure the nondominated solutions and find out the best one (a posterior approach). But the preference relations may be contradictory and highly sparse. In this paper, we propose a process of finding out a best solution with preference relations among attributes (BSPA). In which, we emphasize to test the contradiction and ease the high sparsity of preference relations, then an available preference degree matrix is obtained and merged into the selection of best solution. Based on the proposed process, three methods of NSGA-II-BSPA, P-NSGA-II and P-GA are proposed to solve the best solution of an MOP or MaOP. The experiments are conducted, and the metrics of contradiction probability, feasibility and availability are proposed to measure the BSPA and the vigorous results are obtained. At last, three case studies are adopted to verify the proposed methods' effectiveness and efficiency. Meanwhile, the hypothesis tests are conducted and the results indicate that the obtained best solutions of proposed methods are satisfiable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Automated test case generation based on path coverage is not only a large-scale black-box optimization problem, but also a key scientific problem in software automatic testing technology. Evolutionary algorithms and other search-based algorithms are representative methods for this problem. However, existing research mainly focuses on the multi-function case, where generating test cases for multiple functions is difficult due to the combinatorial explosion of the path number. In this paper, we propose a multi-task collaborative method based on manifold optimization by considering the topological manifold relationship between the test case space (decision space) and the program path space (target space). This method achieves the goal of collaborative optimization for different function coverage tasks by coordinating the allocation of computing resources and knowledge transfer mechanisms among them. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, we compare it with general solution methods for single-function automated test case generation based on path coverage, such as the manifold-inspired search-based algorithm. The experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms the compared single-function optimization algorithms especially on programs with strong coding similarities. This study verifies the feasibility of collaborative optimization methods for solving large-scale black-box optimization problems, such as the automated test case generation based on path coverage, and expands their application scenarios. • The ATCG-PC is modeled as a multi-task optimization problem. • An EA is designed to solve ATCG-PC based on manifold optimization. • Experimental results show the outperformance of our method on ATCG-PC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Band selection is one of the most important considerations for hyperspectral imaging (HSI) datasets that involves selecting fewer bands with higher classification accuracy. As a combinatorial optimization problem, evolutionary algorithm has been applied in the field, but the optimization ability and number of selected bands are limited with the control of exploration and exploitation. In this paper, an adaptive evolutionary-reinforcement learning algorithm (ERLA) is proposed for band selection of HSI datasets, only a suitable phase contributes to updating the corresponding agents in each iteration, and the coding length is adaptively lessened with the potential solution space. In addition, reinforcement learning is used to choose a feasible action in each iteration, and the unselected bands are removed from the candidate band combination in the previous state. A simulation study is conducted on four public HSI datasets, where the proposed framework has delivered an overall accuracy of 98% for 12% of bands in Chikusei dataset, 92% for 11% in KSC dataset, 93% against 19% for Xiongan dataset, and 97% in Longkou dataset with 10% bands retained, demonstrating that the proposed framework outperforms other approaches with several targets, and that the number of selected bands is obviously decreased with satisfactory classification accuracy. • A new ERLA is proposed for band selection that integrates the pattern of RL with EA. • A band selection framework is designed based on the characteristics of HSI datasets. • An effective reward mechanism is developed to evaluate the subsequent agents. • Less than 20% of bands is remained for each HSI dataset with a high enough OA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent multi-objective optimization problems are very complex which require an effective and robust evolutionary method for obtaining a global Pareto-optimal solutions. Most of these multi-objective evolutionary techniques are population-based methods which usually work on random search approaches and often trapped into local minima during their execution. A new fuzzy tuned mayfly algorithm (FTMA) is presented in this paper, to obtain the Pareto-optimal solutions for any complex multi-objective power system problem. It has a self-adapting global exploration capability to get the best Pareto-optimal solutions by varying two crucial parameters i.e., crossover (P c) and mutation P m probabilities. Moreover, a model of Pareto-dominance is employed to rank non-dominating solutions to maintain the diversity within the populations. The proposed evolutionary approach is examined on a standard ZDT benchmark test suite and its algorithmic performance is statistically compared with a few of the recent optimization techniques such as NSGA-II, NSGA-III, MMODE, MOAVOA and MMA algorithm. It is further applied to minimize two distinct objective functions (i.e., total transmission loss and voltage stability index) for IEEE-118 bus system and IEEE-24 bus RTS. A comprehensive statistical analysis is presented for the obtained numerical results, which proves that proposed FTMA has better convergence with better solution diversity in comparison to the other competing algorithms. A comprehensive analysis based on statistical results reveal that the proposed FTMA is superior for obtaining better non-dominating pareto-fronts as compared to other competing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adversarial sample generation problem is a hot issue in the security field of deep learning. Evolutionary algorithm has been widely used to solve this problem in recent years because of its good global search ability. However, existing methods still suffer from the "curse of dimensionality" when attacking high-resolution images. In this paper, a two-stage frequency domain generation algorithm of black-box adversarial samples based on differential evolution is proposed. In the first stage, a representative image-guided differential evolution method is proposed to quickly generate a universal adversarial perturbation with a high attack success rate in the frequency-domain. In the second stage, a space reduction strategy based on frequency-domain pixel blocks is designed to reduce the search space and alleviate the problem of "curse of dimensionality". In addition, a new space–frequency interaction sensitivity measure is introduced to evaluate the similarity between the adversarial samples and the original images. The adversarial perturbations obtained by the measure are more in line with the subjective perception of the human eye. Finally, compared with several typical black-box adversarial sample generation algorithms, experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can achieve higher attack success rate with less prediction times. • Proposing a two-stage evolutionary generation framework of adversarial samples. • Developing a space–frequency interaction sensitivity measure. • Presenting a representative image-guided differential evolutionary algorithm. • Designing an individual adversarial perturbation generation algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dynamic constrained optimization problems (DCOPs) are common and important optimization problems in real-world, which have great difficulty to solve. Dynamic constrained evolutionary algorithms (DCEAs) are widely used methods for solving DCOPs. However, existing DCEAs often struggle with convergence, particularly for DCOPs with drastic dynamic changes or intricate constraints. To address this issue, this paper proposes a novel DCEA called DCEA-DQN, which leverages the powerful perception and decision-making capabilities of Deep Q-Network (DQN). DCEA-DQN integrates two DQNs to enhance its performance. The first DQN is designed to adaptively respond to dynamic changes, enabling effective handling of DCOPs with various types and degrees of changes. It provides a high-quality re-initialized population for subsequent static optimization, resulting in faster and improved convergence. The second DQN is introduced to guide the mutation direction during offspring generation. It steers the population towards better feasible regions or directs it towards the optimal individual within the current feasible region. Moreover, a penalty mechanism is employed to handle constraints during offspring generation. To evaluate the performance of DCEA-DQN, comprehensive empirical studies are conducted using a new test suite called C-GMPB and a dynamic flexible job-shop scheduling problem. The experimental results, using two commonly used metrics E B and E O in the field of DCOPs, demonstrate that DCEA-DQN outperforms six state-of-the-art DCEAs and achieved optimal performance on 80% and 75% of all 24 test problems, respectively. The source code for DCEA-DQN is available at https://github.com/CIA-SZU/YRT. • A change response strategy based on DQN is proposed for complex DCOPs. • An offspring generation strategy based on penalty and DQN is proposed for complex DCOPs. • A new complex dynamic constrained test suite C-GMPB is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • The proposed strategy extracts associations automatically from successful records. • The proposed strategy incorporate the associations to generate new F and Cr values. • The process of adaption for F and Cr introduces no extra control parameters. • We propose a novel method to adapt F and Cr for Differential Evolution algorithms. • Experiments show that the strategy could enhance performances to some extent. Abstract It is a very challenging and important task to adaptively adjust the scale factor F and the crossover rate Cr for Differential Evolutionary (DE) algorithms. Most recent adaptive techniques were designed to generate parameters randomly based on successful trial values during the previous evolving process, lacking explicit guidelines to generate appropriate values. This paper proposes a novel parameter adaption strategy, which could incorporate promising F and Cr pairs extracted by using Association Rule Mining (ARM) into DE algorithms. First, all successful F and Cr values generated by their original methods are recorded during the whole evolution, resulting in an increasing dataset. Second, we discretize the dataset and extract the most frequent itemset of parameters by using a modified version of the widely used Apriori algorithm. Third, a greedy operator is developed to generate new parameters in the next generation by comparing the presented ARM-based and original-method-based fitness values. The presented technique provides an additional pair of F and Cr values to be evaluated, without replacing existing strategies for the control parameters. The main contribution of this paper is that we propose a novel way, which utilizes information generated during the evolutionary process, to enhance exploration capabilities by adjusting control parameters. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed ARM-based parameter adaptive strategy is able to enhance performances of some state-of-the-art DE variants. Further, this methodology might be helpful for other control parameters of Evolutionary Algorithms (EA). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Improved underwater glider path planning mission scenarios optimization with L-SHADE. • New proposed algorithm yielded stable and competitive output trajectories. • Outranked all other previous results from literature and ranked first in comparison. • Several configured algorithms are also compared to, analysed, and further improved. Abstract This paper presents an application of a recently well performing evolutionary algorithm for continuous numerical optimization, Success-History Based Adaptive Differential Evolution Algorithm (SHADE) including Linear population size reduction (L-SHADE), to an expert system for underwater glider path planning (UGPP). The proposed algorithm is compared to other similar algorithms and also to results from literature. The motivation of this work is to provide an alternative to the current glider mission control systems, that are based mostly on multidisciplinary human-expert teams from robotic and oceanographic areas. Initially configured as a decision-support expert system, the natural evolution of the tool is targeting higher autonomy levels. To assess the performance of the applied optimizers, the test functions for UGPP are utilized as defined in literature, which simulate real-life oceanic mission scenarios. Based on these test functions, in this paper, the performance of the proposed application of L-SHADE to UGPP is aggregated using statistical analyis. The depicted fitness convergence graphs, final obtained fitness plots, trajectories drawn, and per-scenario analysis show that the new proposed algorithm yields stable and competitive output trajectories. Over the set of benchmark missions, the newly obtained results with a configured L-SHADE outperforms existing literature results in UGPP and ranks best over the compared algorithms. Moreover, some additional previously applied algorithms have been reconfigured to yield improved performance. Thereby, this new application of evolutionary algorithms to UGPP contributes significantly to the capacity of the decision-makers, when they use the improved UGPP expert system yielding better trajectories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing the number of lower-level function evaluations (LFEs) is crucial to designing a bilevel evolutionary algorithm (BLEA) for bilevel optimization. Direct neighbor solution transfer (DST) is regularly used in BLEA because it can improve the lower-level search efficiency and reduce the number of LFEs. But this method still faces the challenge of misleading searches to make the algorithm converge to the wrong optimum. This paper proposes a bilevel improved multi-operator differential evolution algorithm (BL-IMODE) for bilevel optimization, which uses the knowledge transfer and adaptive coordinate systems approach. Specifically, this paper proposes a lower-level search knowledge transfer (LLS-KT) and a lower-level (LL) optimal solution distribution information transfer (LLO-DIT) mechanism to implement knowledge transfer. In LLS-KT, transferring LL solutions to the LL optimizer is similar to DST, but the LLS-KT transfers multiple solutions and thus has less possibility of misleading searches than DST. Moreover, the LLO-DIT transfers the LL optimal solution distribution information to the LL optimizer for generating promising offspring solutions. Since this method does not directly transfer LL solutions, it avoids misleading searches. Additionally, the adaptive coordinate systems (ACS) approach is used in two-level optimizers to suit different fitness landscapes and further reduce the number of LFEs. In ACS, three differential evolution mutation operators are produced in two coordinate systems. An adaptive strategy is used to select the suitable differential evolution mutation operator to generate promising offspring solutions in the Eigen coordinate or original coordinate system. Experimental studies on three test suites benchmark problems for comparison with seven state-of-the-art algorithms are conducted. The results show BL-IMODE has a significant advantage over the comparative algorithms. Finally, BL-IMODE is applied to tackle the inverse optimal control problem. • We propose a bilevel improved multi-operator differential evolution algorithm. • We propose a knowledge transfer approach to avoid misleading search. • We propose an adaptive coordinate systems approach to improve search efficiency. • We outperform all existing approaches in most test instances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes MAGE — A Malware Antigen Generating Evolutionary algorithm that is capable of generating unseen variants of a given source malware. MAGE evolves malware variants by employing code transformation functions as mutation operators and intra-population Jaccard similarity metric as fitness function. By virtue of these design choices, MAGE is capable of generating active malware variants with diverse code structure variations while retaining the maliciousness of the source malware. These malware variants (similar to biological antigens) generated throughout the run of MAGE forms a potential dataset of malware variants. The dataset can be used to train an adaptive Antivirus engine to learn the code structure variations that make up the space of malware variants. This could augment the engines ability to detect unseen malware variants, thus preventing attacks from the same. The efficacy of MAGE has been demonstrated with two malware viz. Timid , a COM infector and Intruder , an EXE infector. The simulation experiments demonstrate the potential and versatility of MAGE towards generating diverse malware variants. • This paper proposes a malware antigen generating evolutionary algorithm (MAGE). • MAGE is capable of generating variants of a given malware as Antigens for antivirus. • The evolved malware successfully evade detection by over 97 • MAGE evolves diverse non-trivial assembly code structure variations from source. • The evolved variants retain their original malicious characteristics. • The variants evolved can be fed to adaptive antivirus engines to prevent infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Feature selection is a critical task for optimizing system performance and reducing computational overhead in the context of Internet of Things (IoT) applications. This paper presents a two-stage feature selection approach specifically designed for IoT scenarios. In the first stage, a variety of feature dimensionality reduction techniques are employed to significantly reduce the dimensionality of the original feature set by more than 50%. This process results in the creation of a highly effective feature subset, which serves as a solid foundation for subsequent feature selection in the second stage. In the second stage, feature selection is performed on the feature subset by an evolutionary algorithm to obtain high accuracy. Notably, we propose an improved whale optimization algorithm (WOA-HA), which incorporates several improvement factors such as a chaotic Hénon map mechanism (HMM), adaptive coefficient vector (ACV), and a binary operator. To assess the effectiveness of our approach, we compare the performance of WOA-HA with other evolutionary algorithms in terms of feature selection outcomes. Through extensive experiments, our proposed approach achieves an average accuracy of up to 95.5% on Aalto IoT dataset and 98.8% on RT-IoT 2022 dataset, respectively. Meanwhile, the average number of selected features reduced by about 82.5% on Aalto IoT dataset and about 62.3% in the RT-IoT 2022 dataset, respectively. Our proposed approach consistently outperforms other methods and achieves the best performance on most datasets with higher accuracy and fewer features. • Two-stage feature selection approach is proposed for the high-dimensionality of IoT data. • A novel WOA-HA algorithm is proposed in the second stage. • WOA-HA has a special chaotic initial solution and adaptive strategy. • The proposed approach outperforms other algorithms on Aalto IoT dataset and RT-IoT 2022 dataset. • The first stage of experimentation with the Aalto dataset resulted in a reduction of the feature set dimensionality by over 50%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A M essage- P assing I nterface (MPI) program usually consists of several processes, and a target path of this program is composed of a target sub-path selected in each process. However, there may be coverage conflict between different target sub-paths in the target path, and there is currently no effective approach to avoid this problem. Therefore, this paper proposes an approach of basis path coverage testing of MPI programs based on multi-task evolutionary optimization, which is used to generate a test case set that meets the criteria of branch and sentence coverage. Firstly, the proposed approach samples a certain number of representative test inputs, and calculates the coverage level of each test input for each target sub-path in the target path, which is used to group the target sub-paths with coverage conflict. Then, we construct an optimization model for each group of the target sub-paths, which can guide test case generation with high effectiveness. Finally, each optimization model is solved by an evolutionary algorithm, and the efficiency of solving these optimization models is improved based on a multi-task framework. The proposed approach is applied to basis path coverage testing of seven benchmark MPI programs under test, and compared with several state-of-the-art approaches. Experimental results indicate that the proposed approach has significant advantages in test case generation, as well as performs good scalability. • Grouping target sub-paths having coverage conflict in a target path. • Construct several optimization models for guiding test case generation. • Solving each optimization model based on multi-task evolutionary optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recently proposed artificial cooperative search (ACS) algorithm is a population-based iterative evolutionary algorithm (EA) for solving real-valued numerical optimization problems. It uses a rotation-invariant line recombination-based mutation strategy and rule-based crossover operator. However, it performs poorly for problems that include closely-related variables because, in these cases, generating uncorrelated feasible trial solution vectors using stochastic crossover methods is extremely difficult, and its mutation and crossover operators are also less effective. This paper adds a new QR-decomposition-based rotation-invariant search strategy to the ACS algorithm to improve its ability to solve such problems. This new, advanced ACS algorithm, called A+, has only one control parameter, α , and experimental results have shown that its performance does not strongly depend on the initial value of α . This paper also examines A+’s performance for noisy point cloud filtering, which is a complex real-world problem. The results of numerical experiments demonstrate that A+’s performance when solving numerical and real-world problems with closely-related variables is better than those of the comparison algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Buildings are an essential part of our social life. People spend a substantial fraction of their time and spend a high amount of energy in them. There is a grand variety of systems and services related to buildings, in order to better control and monitoring. The prompt taking of decisions may prevent costs and contamination. This paper proposes a method for energy consumption forecasting in public buildings, and thus, achieve energy savings, in order to improve the energy efficiency, without affecting the comfort and wellness. The prediction of the energy consumption is indispensable for the intelligent systems operations and planning. We propose an Elman neural network for forecasting such consumption and we use a genetic algorithm to optimize the weight of the models. This paper concludes that the proposed method optimizes the energy consumption forecasting and improves results attained in previous studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multi-objective multi-task evolutionary algorithm is emerging in the field of evolutionary computating. A great deal of multi-objective multi-tasking algorithms have been proposed recently and proved to be superior in solving many problems. However, in the real world, there are numerous high-dimensional objective problems that need to be solved. With the increasing number of objectives, the slow convergence speed, high computational complexity and reduced population diversity will occur in the existing multi-objective multi-tasking algorithms. There is a growing need to study high-dimensional objective algorithms in multi-tasking environment. To fulfill this research gap, a novel many-objective multi-tasking evolutionary algorithm (MaMTO-ADE) is put forward in this paper. The reference points-based non-dominated sorting method is introduced, which guarantees the diversity of the population in high-dimensional space. And a new offspring generation strategy is proposed to accelerate the population convergence and enables the population to generate high-quality offspring. The performance of MaMTO-ADE is verified on the classical benchmark problems, and the experimental results emphasize the excellent competitiveness of MaMTO-ADE compared to other related algorithms. • A novel many-objective multitask framework is proposed to solve the high-dimension multi-objective problems. • This algorithm uses a new mixture probability model-based knowledge transfer method. • A novel offspring generation strategy is proposed. • The new individual selection method is used for inter-task crossover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Robust design in analog integrated circuits (ICs) is intricate due to process variations, culminating in notable performance uncertainties. Contemporary surrogate-based techniques depend on lengthy pre-training and are prone to prediction inaccuracies amidst process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) fluctuations. This paper introduces a framework that amalgamates a problem reformulation strategy with an evolutionary algorithm, expediting robust analog IC design in the face of PVT variations. Initially, by segmenting decision variables into subgroups and correlating them with weight variables, the decision space is adeptly reconstructed. An indicator function is subsequently utilized to minimize the objective space's dimensionality, thereby reshaping the original problem into a low-dimensional single-objective optimization problem. Given the reduced dimensionality of both objective and decision spaces, the Bayesian optimization algorithm is invoked to efficiently diminish performance disparity under variations. Consequently, a collection of quasi-optimal, robust solutions is acquired. In the final phase, a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm ensures the even distribution of these quasi-optimal solutions along the approximate Pareto optimal front. To validate the effectiveness of our framework, we conducted tests on three integrated voltage references and compared the results with four cutting-edge methods. The empirical data highlight the superior performance of our framework, which yields a 3 to 40-fold increase in the quality factor and a 30% to 60% reduction in necessary function evaluations. Additionally, the framework led to a 40% to 70% decrease in the overall execution time. • Novel framework for robust analog IC optimization under PVT variations. • Reformulating the original problem into a low-dimensional single-objective one. • Obtaining PVT-robust quasi-optimal solutions via problem reformulation. • Enhancing circuit performance with multi-objective optimization. • Reducing function evaluations and simulation costs via worst-case-driven strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developing efficient algorithms harnessing the power of current quantum processors has sparked the emergence of techniques that combine soft computing with quantum computing. This paper proposes two methods that effectively exploit quantum processors for electroencephalography-based motor imagery classification. The first method is a wrapper feature selection approach based on a quantum genetic algorithm, while the second approach employs a hybrid classical–quantum network comprising a baseline feature extraction network and a variational quantum circuit serving as the classifier. Our evaluation on the BCI Competition IV dataset 2b yielded competitive mean accuracies of 83.82%, 85.56%, and 73.73% for the subject-dependent cross-validation, subject-dependent hold-out validation, and subject-independent leaving one subject out classification approaches, respectively. Notably, our statistical analysis revealed that the hybrid models performed on par with the majority of state-of-the-art architectures, underscoring the practical viability of quantum-hybrid methodologies in real-world problem-solving scenarios. • Novel Quantum Genetic Algorithm designed for Feature Selection on NISQ devices. • Exploration of Quantum Algorithms for EEG-based Motor Imagery Classification. • Demonstration of Practical Feasibility of NISQ Algorithms for real-world problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The challenge of high-dimensional feature selection (FS) lies in the search technique, which needs to consider both minimizing the size of feature subset and maximizing the classification accuracy. Recently, multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) have shown excellent performance in solving FS tasks. However, most existing MOEAs struggle to effectively balance these two conflicting objectives when solving high-dimensional FS tasks. To cover this issue, in this paper, a decomposition-based multi-population evolutionary algorithm is proposed, called MPEA-FS. In the initialization stage, a multi-population generation strategy (MGS) based on feature weights (MGS) was adopted, with each population corresponding to a search subspace, which can improve the algorithm's search ability. During the evolutionary stage, an external population is designed to integrate the excellent feature subsets of multiple populations to achieve knowledge sharing between them. In addition, to reduce the feature dimension, a feature reduction strategy (FRS) is proposed, which can remove unimportant features while maintaining classification accuracy. Extensive experiments are performed on 13 high-dimensional datasets, and the proposed algorithm is compared with 5 state-of-the-art FS methods proposed in the last 3 years on multiple metrics. The experimental results indicate that MPEA-FS can achieve higher classification accuracy on most datasets, and the number of selected features is also competitive. • A decomposition-based multi-population feature selection algorithm is proposed. • The generation of multi-population is based on a novel feature weight method. • Multi-population knowledge sharing strategy based on elite population is proposed. • Evolution operator based on guide vector can correct the feature subset effectively. • Obtained higher classification accuracy and competitive number of features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A workflow scheduling framework is proposed based on MAPE-K control model in Fog. • An ANFIS neural network is utilized to predict future resource load. • A dynamic resource management is applied to minimize the energy consumption. • An I-ALO-GWO algorithm is designed for workflow scheduling. Fog computing paradigm provides diverse processing resources and storage close to the edge of Internet of Things (IoT) networks. Workflow scheduling is an open issue in fog computing as it addresses the deployment of IoT workflow tasks on fog cells. Deploying workflow tasks on fog cells in an inefficient manner can have negative consequences. It can lead to bandwidth waste, resource depletion, and significant operating expenses. Additionally, the majority of scheduling evolutionary algorithms suffer from premature convergence and sticking in local optima. In this paper, a predictive energy-aware scheduling framework is proposed as a MAPE-K control model consisting of the four Monitor, Analyzer, Planner and Executer components with a shared Knowledge base in fog computing. First, a prediction method applying an Adaptive Network-based Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) into an analyzer component is introduced to predict future resource load. Second, a resource management strategy based on predicted resource load is presented to reduce energy consumption. Third, the Improved Ant Lion Optimizer (ALO) and weighted Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO) are combined into a planner component called I-ALO-GWO for workflow scheduling. In the end, the decisions made in the previous steps are executed on the fog cells. The effectiveness of the I-ALO-GWO evolutionary algorithm has been tested on the IEEE CEC2019 benchmark functions. In addition, the proposed approach is evaluated practically under several famous scientific workflows using the iFogSim tool. Experimental results indicate that I-ALO-GWO improves the makespan up to 18 %, the energy consumption up to 17 %, the total execution cost up to 11 % and 26 % in terms of efficiency in comparison with the second-best results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Evolutionary Algorithms (EA) have proven successful in solving Multi- and Many-objective Optimization Problems (MOPs/MaOPs) in numerous application areas. However, the various linkages among the decision variables may have posed a challenge for traditional evolutionary algorithms for solving such problems. In this paper, a transfer learning based covariance matrix adaptation algorithm, shortened as TL-M2M-CMA, is proposed to handle MOPs/MaOPs with complex decision variable linkage. In TL-M2M-CMA, the search population is first decomposed into a set of subpopulations and each subpopulation corresponds to a specific part of the Pareto-optimal Front (PF) of the MOP/MaOP. During the search, a covariance matrix adaptation process is utilized to learn the linkage among the decision variables, and then the covariance matrix is incorporated into the crossover and mutation operators for better efficiency. To facilitate performance comparison, a set of scalable MOP test instances with various linkage complexities is constructed for experimental studies. The performance of the proposed TL-M2M-CMA on these constructed instances is verified by comparing it to the performance of five state-of-the-art EA methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the realm of quantitative investing, predicting stock prices and developing effective trading strategies are paramount. The inherent randomness of the stock market, however, limits the precision of stock price predictions, thus undermining investment performance when these predictions are the sole basis for strategy. Nonetheless, forecasting future prices can offer invaluable insights for strategic models. When predictions are paired with well-designed strategies, they can augment investment returns. This paper proposes a novel approach to enhance investment returns by integrating Long Short Term Memory (LSTM) predictions with the Evolutionary Operating-weights (EOW) algorithmic strategy. The proposed method employs a multi-layer LSTM to forecast future stock prices, incorporating the predictions with real market data, subsequently deriving an operational strategy using the EOW algorithm. The results of this research indicate that this proposed methodology outperforms existing approaches. • Using stock feature factors containing price-related information for the LSTM model. • Proposing the evolutionary operating-weights algorithmic strategy. • Proposing a method to boost profit by integrating LSTM prediction with EOW strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a novel surrogate-assisted multi-objective nutcracker optimization algorithm. This algorithm is built upon the recently proposed nutcracker optimization algorithm, drawing inspiration from the behaviours observed in Clark's nutcrackers. The algorithm is developed based on two distinct behaviours exhibited by these birds. To comprehensively evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm, a dual-pronged approach is adopted. On the one hand, a set of artificial test problems is employed to scrutinize the algorithm's capabilities, while on the other hand, a set of real-world problems is considered to assess its practical efficacy. The results of the proposed algorithm are evaluated in comparison to existing baseline algorithms and state-of-the-art algorithms, using well-recognized performance metrics, both qualitatively and quantitatively. The obtained results provide convincing evidence of the performance of the proposed algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an algorithmic approach to obtain the Nash equilibrium in a duopoly. Analytical solutions to duopolistic competition draw on principles of game theory and require simplifying assumptions such as symmetrical payoff functions, linear demand and linear cost. Such assumptions can reduce the practical use of duopolistic models. In contrast, we use an evolutionary algorithmic approach (EAA) to determine the Nash equilibrium values. This approach has the advantage that it can deal with and find optimum values for duopolistic competition modelled using non-linear functions. In the paper we gradually build up the competitive situation by considering non-linear demand functions, non-linear cost functions, production and environmental constraints, and production in discrete bands. We employ particle swarm optimization with composite particles (PSOCP), a variant of particle swarm optimization, as the evolutionary algorithm. Through the paper we explicitly demonstrate how EAA can solve games with constrained payoff functions that cannot be dealt with by traditional analytical methods. We solve several benchmark problems from the literature and compare the results obtained from EAA with those obtained analytically, demonstrating the resilience and rigor of our EAA solution approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we present a multi-objective shortest path evolutionary algorithm for comprehensive solutions to real-world manifestations of the classical vehicle routing problem. The shift from being a purely academic pursuit is highlighted by the introduction of a generic optimization framework which accommodates a variety of attributes that commonly occur in industrial applications. Specifically, the paper's main contribution are as follows: (1) consideration for the following real-world constraints: (a) time windows at customer locations, (b) simultaneous pickup and delivery demands, (c) a heterogeneous fleet of vehicles, and (d) the heterogeneity of traffic congestion levels in urban transportation networks; (2) assimilation of all the above attributes into a multi-objective program which aims to minimize environmental impact, while simultaneously addressing the overall operational costs of the routing solution and service quality concerns; a feat that has not been fully realized by known intelligent systems according to the authors’ best knowledge. In order to showcase the efficacy of the proposed algorithm, it is first tested on existing benchmark instances and then applied on a pair of real-world industrial examples from Singapore. These industrial examples serve as a source of new benchmarks which facilitate the study of different routing constraints and their effects on the economic and environmental viability of urban logistics systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The differential evolution (DE) algorithm is widely regarded as one of the most influential evolutionary algorithms for addressing complex optimization problems. However, the fixed mutation strategy limits the adaptive ability of DE, and the lack of utilization of historical information limits the optimization ability of DE. In this paper, an indicator-based self-learning differential evolution algorithm (ISDE) is proposed. A jump out mechanism based on deep reinforcement learning is adopted to control the mutation intensity of the population. The neural network in the jump out mechanism is designed as a decision maker. The mutation intensity of the population is controlled by the neural network, and the neural network are trained by a double deep Q network algorithm based on the continuous data generated during the evolution process. A population range indicator (PRI) is utilized to describe individual differences in the population. A diversity maintenance mechanism is designed to maintain individual differences according to the value of PRI. The experimental results reveal that the comprehensive performance of ISDE is superior to comparison algorithms on CEC 2017 real-parameter numerical optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces the Human Evolutionary Optimization Algorithm (HEOA), a metaheuristic algorithm inspired by human evolution. HEOA divides the global search process into two distinct phases: human exploration and human development. Logistic Chaos Mapping is employed for initialization. In the human exploration phase, an initial global search is conducted, followed by the human development phase, in which the population is categorized into leaders, explorers, followers, and losers, each utilizing distinct search strategies. The convergence speed and search accuracy of HEOA are evaluated using 23 well-established test functions. Furthermore, the algorithm's applicability in engineering optimization is assessed with four engineering problems. A comparative analysis with ten other algorithms highlights HEOA's effectiveness, as evidenced by various performance metrics and statistical measures. Consistently, the results demonstrate that HEOA surpasses most current state-of-the-art algorithms in approximating optimal solutions for complex global optimization problems. The MATLAB code for HEOA is available at https://github.com/junbolian/HEOA.git. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When the evolutionary algorithm is applied to handle high-dimensional expensive multi-objective optimization problems (MOPs), population evolution is crucial since it controls exploration and exploitation and decides if promising candidate solutions could be generated. However, little attention has been paid to this issue, evolution operators based on Genetic Algorithm (GA) and Differential Evolution (DE) are still the two most common approaches, whose convergence on high-dimensional MOPs with a limited number of fitness evaluations remains challenging. In this paper, we propose a decomposition-based local learning strategy to accelerate convergence in the high-dimensional search space of MOPs. Specifically, an individual is updated by learning from one of the best solutions of its corresponding local area based on the multi-objective decomposition approach. Accordingly, a surrogate-assisted evolutionary algorithm is proposed for better solving expensive high-dimensional MOPs. Experimental studies on MOPs with up to 100 decision variables and with 300 fitness evaluations demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Furthermore, we use the proposed method to solve a 2-objective shape design problem of the blended wing-body underwater glider (BWBUG) with 39 decision variables, and an impressive solution set is obtained. • Efficacy of evolution operators on high-dimensional EMOPs is analyzed. • Propose a novel evolution strategy based on decomposition for high-dimensional EMOPs. • A surrogate-assisted evolutionary algorithm is accordingly developed. • Comprehensive experimental studies on benchmark problems and an engineering application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a framework that integrates a mobility and traffic simulator with evolutionary algorithms to solve the location problem of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The framework presented in this research is configured with a real-life scenario that considers a maximum number of charging stations and a specific number of electric vehicles that are driven according to a movement distribution model for the urban city under consideration. The concerning scenario is formulated as a multi-objective optimization problem and is approximated by two multi-objective evolutionary algorithms based on two evolutionary approaches for multi-objective optimization, namely, NSGA-II and MOEA/D-gen. In this way, the adopted algorithms search for optimal station locations and capacities in terms of travel time and the number of charging stations. The analysis of the results obtained by the multi-objective approaches used in the proposed framework is two-fold. On the one hand, solutions confirm that both objectives considered in this study are in conflict. That is, the better the solution for one objective is, the more deteriorated it is for the other. On the other hand, it was found that NSGA-II obtained a better approximation to the optimal solutions according to two multi-objective performance indicators. These results give an idea of the type of algorithms that could best solve the formulated problem in terms of efficiency and effectiveness and understand the behavior of evolutionary algorithms in the multi-objective electric vehicle charging stations problem. Therefore, this research traces the route to study different scenarios and analyze the characteristics of the problem. Furthermore, it opens the door to exploring other meta-heuristics and their components to deal with this problem adequately. • A framework for the location of electric vehicle charging stations is introduced. • The framework includes a mobility and traffic simulator and evolutionary algorithms. • The location of charging stations is modeled as a multi-objective problem. • A real scenario located in Cuenca City, Ecuador, is considered as a study case. • Results give insights into the type of algorithms that could best solve the problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How to balance the satisfaction of constraints and the optimization of objective functions is one of the key issues to solve constrained multi-objective optimization problems (CMOPs), especially when the constraints are complex. Although many algorithms have been designed to handle this, most of them are still unable to effectively handle CMOPs with complex constraints. Based on the above issue, this paper proposes a framework for bi-directional search, which evolves two populations (P 1 and P 2). P 1 aims to search the constrained Pareto front (CPF) from the infeasible side of the objective space, and P 2 from the feasible side, aiming to achieve a more efficient and comprehensive bi-directional search for the CPF. To ensure the diversity, we adopt a preferred weight vector selection strategy to choose potential mating parents, which improves the search capability for the marginal CPF. Furthermore, to coordinate the interaction between the two populations, we propose an environmental selection strategy to select the offspring generated by P 1 and P 2 under the same weight vector with the better fitness to update the populations respectively, and the fitness is evaluated based on the different constraint relaxations of the two populations, to update them respectively. Extensive experiments indicate that our proposed algorithm has significantly better results or was at least competitive when compared to eight state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decomposition-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA/D) has been shown to effectively solve real-world multi-objective optimization problems (MOPs). The uniformly distributed weight vectors guide the population to continuously evolve towards the Pareto front (PF). However, the random matching mode between individuals and weight vectors leads to some excellent individuals being replaced in the evolution process. Meanwhile, the number of replaced individuals in the neighborhood is not controlled. This causes a waste of computing resources and fails to balance the diversity and convergence of the population effectively. Referring to the influence on body adjustment of homeostasis in the medical field, the stable-state mechanism is proposed to keep the dynamic balance between exploration and exploitation. Therefore, this paper presents the stable-state multi-objective evolutionary algorithm based on decomposition (MOEA/D-SS) that adopts a new stable-state replacement strategy to adjust the number of replaced individuals within each neighborhood. Furthermore, a stable-state neighborhoods adjustment strategy was proposed to adjust the size of each neighborhood. This mechanism can adjust the convergence and diversity of newly generated individuals at different stages. Finally, several benchmark test suites (i.e., ZDT, DTLZ, and UF) and a practical optimization problem are used to test the performance of MOEA/D-SS. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm outperforms other comparative algorithms. • Using a nonlinear control function to balance exploration and exploitation. • Applying a new matching pattern to reduce waste of computing resources. • Improving offspring quality by a stable-state neighborhoods adjustment strategy. • MOEA/D-SS achieves excellent results in multi/many-objective optimization problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Proposing a multi-objective boxing match algorithm as human-based algorithm. • Simulating the boxer's behavior to attract a good support from his coach and fans. • Validating the proposed algorithm to solve multi-objective optimization problems. • Developing an efficient search method to produce a variety of acceptable solutions. • Considering solutions to increase the probability of reaching a Pareto-optimal set. In the last two decades, due to having fast computation after inventing computers and also considering real-world optimization problems, research on developing new algorithms for problem having more than one objective have been one of the appealing and attractive topics both for academia and industrial practitioners. By this motivation, we introduce a Multi-Objective Boxing Match Algorithm (MOBMA) in this paper. The proposed algorithm studies the multi-objective version of the Boxing Match Algorithm (BMA) by incorporating a unique search strategy and new solutions-producing mechanism, enhancing the algorithm's capability for exploration and exploitation phases. Besides, its performance is analyzed with famous and capable multi-objective metaheuristics. We consider ten multi-objective benchmarks and three classical engineering problems. Statistical analyses are also conducted on the benchmark test functions from three engineering design problems. This study shows the superior performance of the proposed algorithm, considering both quantitative and qualitative analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Locating multiple roots of nonlinear equation systems (NESs) remains a challenging and meaningful task in the numerical optimization community. Although a large number of NES-solving approaches have been put forward, they can only find the roots of one NES at a time. In this paper, we develop a novel NES-solving algorithm based on evolutionary multitasking referred to as EMNES, the goal of which is to effectively find the multiple roots of multiple different NESs simultaneously in a single run through knowledge sharing and transfer. Specifically, firstly a NES-solving framework based on evolutionary multitasking is proposed. Then an efficient multi-task evolutionary algorithm based on neighborhood-based speciation differential evolution for NESs is designed. Finally, combining Gaussian distribution and uniform distribution, a novel resource release strategy is proposed to release the found roots to improve resource utilization and increase population diversity. Numerous experimental results reveal that the proposed EMNES algorithm can achieve a higher root rate and success rate when compared with several well-established algorithms on thirty NESs. Furthermore, simulation results on a more complex test set show that the proposed EMNES is able to locate more roots than most comparison algorithms. • An evolutionary multitasking NES-solving framework is proposed. • Relationship of different NESs is established by a unified search space. • An adaptive mutation strategy with knowledge transfer is presented. • A novel resource release strategy is developed to improve the utilization of computing resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most multiple unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) path planning problems are often treated as constrained single-objective optimization problems. How to consider them as constrained multi-objective optimization problems (CMOPs) have seldom been explored in this field. To fill this gap, this paper firstly constructs multiple UAV path planning problem as a CMOP with two objectives and five constraints. Then a novel multi-objective evolutionary algorithm with a two-fold constraint-handling mechanism is proposed for multiple UAV path planning. To cope with constraints effectively, a constraint-handling technique based on a progressive weight vector strategy is proposed. Besides, a constraint repair technique that considers the flying environment is designed to further guide the algorithm to find feasible promising regions. Eight multiple UAV path planning test instances with different solving difficulties are constructed. Subsequently, they are used to validate the performance of the proposed algorithm. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is superior over four compared algorithms in terms of obtaining a set of better-distributed Pareto optimal solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel evolutionary optimization algorithm, named Partial Reinforcement Optimizer (PRO), is introduced. The major idea behind the PRO comes from a psychological theory in evolutionary learning and training called the partial reinforcement effect (PRE) theory. According to the PRE theory, a learner is intermittently reinforced to learn or strengthen a specific behavior during the learning and training process. The reinforcement patterns significantly impact the response rate and strength of the learner during a reinforcement schedule, achieved by appropriately selecting a reinforcement behavior and the time of applying reinforcement process. In the PRO algorithm, the PRE theory is mathematically modeled to an evolutionary optimization algorithm for solving global optimization problems. The efficiency of the proposed PRO algorithm is compared to well-known Meta-heuristic Algorithms (MAs) using Wilcoxon and Friedman statistical tests to analyze results from 75 benchmarks of the CEC2005, CEC2014, and CEC-BC-2017 test suits, which include unimodal, multimodal, hybrid, and composition functions. Additionally, the proposed PRO algorithm is applied to optimize a Federated Deep Learning Electrocardiography (ECG) classifier, as a real case study, to investigate the robustness and applicability of the proposed PRO. The experimental results demonstrate that the PRO algorithm outperforms existing meta-heuristic optimization algorithms by providing a more accurate and robust solution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The workflow scheduling problem considered difficult in the Cloud becomes even more challenging when multiple scheduling criteria are used for optimization. It is much harder to maximize the conflicting interests of users, service providers and the environment, and to obtain "triple win" solutions. This paper presents a two-stage preference driven multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (tsp-MOEA) to address the workflow scheduling problem involving multiple roles. We formulate it as a multi-objective optimization problem with preferences for the first time by considering the special preferences of different participants in decision-making. In particular, a preference distance strategy is introduced in the first stage to speed up the arrival of solutions around the decision makers' region of interest (ROI); and a special preference region ranking strategy is also designed to focus on searching in the ROI in the second stage. Moreover, the two-stage transition is completed adaptively, which can more fully find a variety of elite solutions. In addition, an elite learning strategy is adopted to guide the global evolution of the population to further enhance the quality of the solution. Extensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed tsp-MOEA approach outperforms recent state-of-the-art algorithms, and can provide significantly better solutions for scientific workflow scheduling in the Cloud. • Model the WSP involving multiple roles in the Cloud as a MOP with preferences. • Develop a novel two-stage preference driven MOEA to maximize conflicting interests. • Design an adaptive transition strategy to get more satisfactory scheduling schemes. • Present an elite learning strategy to further enhance the quality of the solution. • Superiority of proposed algorithm is verified and compared with other algorithms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a new method of hierarchical fuzzy system modeling for high-dimensional regression problems is proposed, which is called multi-objective evolutionary hierarchical fuzzy regression system (MOEHFRS). Different from the existing hierarchical fuzzy systems with fixed topology, the proposed MOEHFRS improves the accuracy of the model, reduces the total number of rules, and eliminates unnecessary features by flexibly constructing topology. In the process of topology evolution, MOEHFRS can exchange and combine different sub-fuzzy systems to achieve the selection and reuse of important features, as well as the elimination of unnecessary features, which improves the diversity of topology and enables the model to be well applied to high-dimensional regression problems. Different combinations of sub-fuzzy systems will result in different performance and number of rules. A new multi-objective evolutionary optimization algorithm is proposed to simultaneously optimize the number of rules and the accuracy of the model, which achieves the balance between complexity and accuracy of MOEHFRS. The proposed method is validated on 13 real world regression datasets and compared with other 5 methods. The results show that MOEHFRS is effective and advanced in terms of accuracy, number of rules, retention of important features and universality in different regression problems. • Develop a multi-objective evolutionary hierarchical fuzzy regression system. • Propose a encoding method and evolutionary strategy for hierarchical fuzzy systems. • The system has good performance in complexity and precision. • Our approach is compared with other 5 methods on 13 regression datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the latest designing and interacting technology used to support organizations in the competitive electronic commerce (E-commerce) context. The studies on AI in E-commerce remain fragmentary since few papers review the evolutionary process of knowledge infrastructure. To bridge this gap, we constructed a conceptual framework from the resource orchestration perspective, and retrieved 2252 documents from the Web of Science (WoS) database dating from 1998 to 2022 to synthesize the extant research on AI in E-commerce. Specifically, we integrated main path analysis with science mapping analysis covering the strategic diagram and evolution map. Through qualitative analysis of critical nodes in main paths, this article found that knowledge disseminated around recommender systems (RSs). This article also examined the performance traits and inter-relationships of significant themes over three consecutive time zones, as well as identified four main AI-enabled outcomes (thematic areas): Optimization and decision support , Trust and personalized recommendation , Sentiment analysis, and AI theories with allied technologies. Potential research prospects and implications are proposed based on these findings. Overall, this article provides state-of-the-art information on how AI can facilitate the implementation of E-commerce operations and could serve as a stepping stone to newcomers in the scientific community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main challenge in addressing constrained multi-objective optimization problems (CMOPs) lies in achieving a balance among convergence, diversity, and feasibility. To address this issue, this paper proposes a constrained multi-objective evolutionary algorithm with Pareto estimation via neural network named CMOEA-PeNN. In order to exploit and explore the decision space, the proposed algorithm employs a dual-population mechanism, which is trained with a self-organizing map (SOM). Firstly, the population distribution structure in decision space is mapped to objective space while preserving neighborhood information, and then the neuron weight is utilized to estimate the Pareto front (PF). Secondly, a novel approach is devised to preserve the feasibility of the population and enhance the estimation of the Pareto front by SOM. The achievement scalarizing function (ASF) is employed to choose promising solutions. This strategy could guide the population toward the optimal solution while exploring the small feasible regions. Finally, the performance of CMOEA-PeNN is compared with five state-of-the-art constrained multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (CMOEAs) on three widely used benchmark problems and a real-world problem. The experimental results show that CMOEA-PeNN could archive competitive performance in solving CMOPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prediction-based dynamic multiobjective optimization evolutionary algorithms have become one of the mainstream methods for solving dynamic multiobjective optimization problems. However, the unknown nonlinear relationships in sequential environments bring great challenge to the construction of prediction model and the inevitable error between the historical obtained solutions and the real pareto-optimal solutions troubles the prediction accuracy. In this paper, a gradient boosting regression tree based dynamic multiobjective optimization evolutionary algorithm is proposed, called MOEA/D-XGB. The time series solutions formed by subspace decomposition are trained in the XGBoost-based predictor to produce a high-quality initial population when environmental change occurs. And a novel population promotion strategy based on generalized additive model is proposed to improve the quality of historical obtained solutions. The performance comparisons with five state-of-the-art algorithms have shown that MOEA/D-XGB achieves best performance in 59 out of 70 experiments on MIGD and 60 out of 70 experiments on MHV, respectively, which demonstrates that the proposed design is capable of significantly improving the performance of dynamic multiobjective optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a hybrid evolutionary algorithm, cultural-particle swarm optimization (C-PSO), which is inspired by the cultural algorithm and the particle swarm optimization algorithm. It is aimed to balance the performance of exploration and exploitation and avoid trapping in the local optima. It introduces a probabilistic approach to update the inertia weight based on the improved metropolis rule. Generating the optimal path without collisions is challenging to ensure vehicles operate safely in real-time implementation. The contributions of C-PSO are to solve the path planning problem of multiple vehicles in modern industrial warehouses, achieving task allocation, fault tolerance and collision avoidance by a dual-layer framework. It was compared with the other algorithms, including PSO, PSO-GA, CA, HS, ABC, HPSGWO, TS and MA, by CEC benchmark functions and statistical tests to demonstrate its great performance with fewer iterations and runtime and the best solutions. It is validated through computational experiments, which involve 15 AGVs and 20 tasks for demonstration. • A novel hybrid bio-inspired technique is proposed based on improving PSO. • Implementation of probabilistic to balance the local and global search abilities. • Task allocation, fault tolerance, and path planning for the multi-AGV system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fog computing is a promising computing paradigm for the processing and storage of massive data generated by Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Fog computing devices have limited resources compared to the cloud. Meanwhile, the dynamism and heterogeneity of applications requested from IoT devices require quick decisions on where to process services on the fog, the cloud, or the hybrid. This problem is known as Fog Service Placement (FSP), which is a computationally NP-hard problem. Therefore, the efficient allocation of fog resources to IoT services by non-deterministic algorithms is emphasized. In this paper, a Quality of Service (QoS)-aware deployment scheme is proposed using an evolutionary approach to address the FSP problem. Here, several new evolutionary approaches such as Teaching Learning-Based Optimization (TLBO), Honey Badger Algorithm (HBA) and Harris Hawks Optimizer (HHO) are analyzed to solve the problem. We improve the evolutionary approach used to solve the FSP problem with a shared parallel architecture and perform distributed fog resource management. In addition, we bring the processing closer to the fog network by considering the priority of service execution. Here, we formulate a multi-objective function as an optimization problem that simultaneously considers delay cost, delay violation, service cost and fog utilization. All the parameters needed to configure the objective function are collected based on the incoming traffic. The simulations show the superiority of HBA for solving the FSP problem. The evaluation results show that the proposed placement scheme improves the cost and delay compared to the best existing method by 2.6% and 2.8%, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With strong penetrability and high resolution, synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images have been widely used in remote sensing image change detection. With the essence of heuristics, metaheuristics are suitable for the needs of most real-life optimization problems according to the expected solution quality and allowable calculation time. To improve the accuracy of change detection, this paper proposes a novel efficient metaheuristic change detection procedure. More specifically, we develop a superpixel-based multiobjective change detection method based on superpixel-wise feature representation and self-adaptive neighborhood-based binary difference evolution. During the clustering for feature analysis, a multiobjective optimization problem (MOP) is modeled which take the likelihood and Bhattacharyya distance between changed and unchanged classes as two objective functions. To solve the MOP, this paper firstly applies the superpixel binary representation technique into the encoding process of multiobjective evolutionary algorithm so that the dimension of pixel coding space can be substantially reduced. Then a self-adaptive neighborhood-based binary differential evolution strategy is proposed to explore the optimal change detection strategy, where a novel mutation operator integrating neighborhood information is designed for the improvement of change detection performance. Experimental results on three real SAR datasets confirm that the proposed method can make a better performance on change detection and the metaheuristic algorithm has good convergence and stability. • Change detection of synthetic aperture radar images. • Superpixel-based difference feature representation strategy. • Difference analysis in a form of evolutionary multi-objective optimization. • A self-adaptive neighborhood-based binary difference evolution framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Max-cut is one of the most classic NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems. The symmetry nature of it leads to special difficulty in extracting meaningful configuration information for learning; none of the state-of-the-art algorithms has employed any learning operators. This paper proposes an original learning method for max-cut, namely post-flip edge-state learning (PF-ESL). Different from previous algorithms, PF-ESL regards edge-states (cut or not cut) rather than vertex-positions as the critical information of a configuration, and extracts their statistics over a population for learning. It is based on following observations. 1) Edges are the only factors considered by the objective function. 2) Edge-states keep invariant when rotating a local configuration to its symmetry position, but vertex-positions do not. These suggest that edge-states contain more meaningful information about a configuration than vertex-positions do. It is impossible to set the state of an edge without influencing some other edges' states due to their dependencies. Therefore, instead of setting edge-states directly, PF-ESL samples the flips on vertices. Flips on vertices are sampled according to their capacities in increasing the similarity on edge-states between the given solution and a population. PF-ESL is employed in an EDA (Estimation of Distribution Algorithm) perturbation operator and a path-relinking operator. Experimental results show that our algorithm is competitive, and show that edge-state learning is value-added for both the two operators. The main contributions of this paper are as follows. Firstly, previous state-of-the-art evolutionary algorithms for max-cut focus on vertex positions in their evolutionary operation, this paper proposes a new and more reasonable perspective suggesting that edge-states are the critical information of divided graphs rather than vertex positions, and introduces a novel method to measure and utilize their similarities based on it. Such a perspective is fundamental to learning based algorithms design for max-cut and other graph partitioning problems, and can shed lights on future researches. Furthermore, since max-cut is one of the most classic and fundamental NP hard problems, many real-world problems involve dividing graph data into different parts to optimize certain functions, this new perspective may inspire related or similar problems. Secondly, besides the original edge-states based perspective, and the post-flip edge-states learning (PFESL) operator based on it, our memetic algorithm also incorporates a novel evolutionary framework which alternates between EDA based Iterated Tabu search (ITS) and path relinking based genetic algorithm. Finally, the proposed algorithm provides competitive results on two mostly used benchmark sets and improves the best-known results of 6 most challenging instances. • An original edge-state perspective for design learning operators for max-cut. • A novel learning operator to learn edge states. • A new evolutionary framework for max-cut. • It provides competitive results on two mostly used benchmark sets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the application of a decision support system based on evolutionary multi-objective optimization for deploying sensors in an indoor localization system. Our methods aim to provide the human expert who works as the sensor resource manager with a full set of Pareto efficient solutions of the sensor placement problem. In our analysis, we use five scalar performance measures as objective functions derived from the covariance matrix of the estimation, namely the trace, determinant, maximum eigenvalue, ratio of maximum and minimum eigenvalues, and the uncertainty in a given direction. We run the multi-objective genetic algorithm to optimize these objectives and obtain the Pareto fronts. The paper includes a detailed explanation of every aspect of the system and an application of the proposed decision support system to an indoor infrared positioning system. Final results show the different placement alternatives according to the objectives and the trade-off between different accuracy performance measures can be clearly seen. This approach contributes to the current state-of-the art in the fact that we point out the problems of optimizing a single accuracy measure and propose using a decision support system that provides the resource manager with a full overview of the set of Pareto efficient solutions considering several accuracy metrics. Since the manager will know all the Pareto optimal solutions before deciding the final sensor placement scheme, this method provides more information than dealing with a single function of the weighted objectives. Additionally, we are able to use this system to optimize objectives obtained from fairly complex functions. On the contrary, recent works that are referenced in this paper need to simplify the localization process to obtain tractable problem formulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]