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In this study, we introduce the pied kingfisher optimizer (PKO), a novel swarm-based meta-heuristic algorithm that draws inspiration from the distinctive hunting behavior and symbiotic relationships observed in pied kingfishers in the natural world. The PKO algorithm is structured around three distinct phases: perching/hovering for prey (exploration/diversification), diving for prey (exploitation/intensification), and fostering symbiotic relations. These behavioral aspects are translated into mathematical models capable of effectively addressing a wide array of optimization challenges across diverse search spaces. The algorithm's performance is rigorously evaluated across thirty-nine test functions, which encompass various unimodal, multimodal, composite, and hybrid ones. Additionally, eight real-world engineering optimization problems, including both constrained and unconstrained scenarios, are considered in the assessment. To gauge PKO's efficacy, it is subjected to a comparative analysis against 3 categories of rival optimizers. The 1st category comprises well-established and widely-cited optimizers such as particle swarm optimization and genetic algorithm. The 2nd category encompasses recently published algorithms, including Harris Hawks optimization, Whale optimization algorithm, sine cosine algorithm, Grey Wolf optimizer, gravitational search algorithm, and moth-flame optimization. The 3rd category includes advanced algorithms, such as covariance matrix adaptation evolution strategy and Ensemble Sinusoidal Differential Covariance Matrix Adaptation with Euclidean Neighborhood (LSHADE-cnEpSin). The comparative analysis employs various performance metrics, including the Friedman mean rank and the Wilcoxon rank-sum test, to reveal PKO's effectiveness and efficiency. The overall results highlight PKO's exceptional ability to tackle intricate optimization problems characterized by challenging search spaces. PKO demonstrates superior exploration and exploitation tendencies while effectively avoiding local optima. The source code for the PKO algorithm is publicly accessible at https://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/160043-pied-kingfisher-optimizer-pko. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The minimum vertex cover problem (MVCP) is one of the well-known NP-complete problems that can be used to formulate numerous real-life applications. The MVCP has been solved using different approaches, exact, heuristic, and metaheuristic. Chemical reaction optimization (CRO) is a population-based metaheuristic algorithm that simulates what happens in chemical reactions to solve many problems. In this paper, the MVCP is solved using hybridization of a modified version of the CRO algorithm and the best-first search (BFS) algorithm. This hybridization is symbolized by MCROA-BFS. The BFS algorithm is exploited to generate initial populations with high-quality initial solutions in comparison with the random bit-vector (RBV) approach as a traditional approach for generating initial populations for several population-based metaheuristic algorithms. At first, the MCROA is evaluated analytically in terms of run time complexity. Then the performance of the MCROA is evaluated experimentally to show the effectiveness of exploiting the BFS in terms of quality of gained solutions and run time. The most valuable player algorithm (MVPA), genetic algorithm (GA), and hybrid CRO algorithm (HCROA) are metaheuristic algorithms that used the RBV approach to generate the initial population. MCROA-BFS is compared, under the selected performance metrics, with these metaheuristic algorithms in addition to MCROA with the RBV approach (MCROA-RBV). The conducted experiments were carried out using 18 instances of DIMACS and BHOSLIB benchmarks. The experimental results revealed the superiority of MCROA-BFS over MVPA, GA, and MCROA-RBV in terms of both performance metrics. Although HCROA has the smallest run time, it failed to obtain high-quality solutions in comparison with MCROA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Power system stabilizers (PSSs) are extensively used in generator units to enhance the transient stability of the power system. Hence, optimal tuning and placement of the parameters of PSS are crucial for the efficiency of the stabilizer. Researchers have been proposed many methods for optimizing such parameters. In this paper, the Crow search algorithm (CSA), which is based on the intelligence of crows, was employed in a single-machine infinite-bus (SMIB) system to determine the optimum parameters of the PSS. Modeling and simulation of the SMIB and designing of PSS were made by MATLAB/Simulink. PSSs are designed to minimize low-frequency oscillations such as power angle, rotor speed, and field current deviation following a large disturbance. Our objective in this study is the minimization of the rotor speed deviation. The results of the simulations proved the effectiveness and robustness of the optimization process compared to other metaheuristic algorithms such as particle swarm optimization (PSO) and genetic algorithm (GA). When compared to the performance attained by the GA-based and PSO-based PSS controller designs, the simulations show that the CSA-based PSS delivers a far better dynamic response when the system is disrupted. The CSA-based PSS settles 48.1% faster than the PSO-based PSS and 55.7% faster than the GA-based PSS. CSA has just 2 parameters to adjust, making it much easier to implement than other methods. These parameters for PSO and GA are 4 and 6. When CSA-based PSS is used in the SMIB system, overshoot and low-frequency oscillations are also significantly reduced compared to other methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The backpropagation (BP) algorithm is a gradient-based algorithm used for training a feedforward neural network (FNN). Despite the fact that BP is still used today when FNNs are trained, it has some disadvantages, including the following: (i) it fails when non-differentiable functions are addressed, (ii) it can become trapped in local minima, and (iii) it has slow convergence. In order to solve some of these problems, metaheuristic algorithms have been used to train FNN. Although they have good exploration skills, they are not as good as gradient-based algorithms at exploitation tasks. The main contribution of this article lies in its application of novel memetic approaches based on the Gravitational Search Algorithm (GSA) and Chaotic Gravitational Search Algorithm (CGSA) algorithms, called respectively Memetic Gravitational Search Algorithm (MGSA) and Memetic Chaotic Gravitational Search Algorithm (MCGSA), to train FNNs in three classical benchmark problems: the XOR problem, the approximation of a continuous function, and classification tasks. The results show that both approaches constitute suitable alternatives for training FNNs, even improving on the performance of other state-of-the-art metaheuristic algorithms such as ParticleSwarm Optimization (PSO), the Genetic Algorithm (GA), the Adaptive Differential Evolution algorithm with Repaired crossover rate (Rcr-JADE), and the Covariance matrix learning and Bimodal distribution parameter setting Differential Evolution (COBIDE) algorithm. Swarm optimization, the genetic algorithm, the adaptive differential evolution algorithm with repaired crossover rate, and the covariance matrix learning and bimodal distribution parameter setting differential evolution algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nature-inspired algorithms take inspiration from living things and imitate their behaviours to accomplish robust systems in engineering and computer science discipline. Symbiotic organisms search (SOS) algorithm is a recent metaheuristic algorithm inspired by symbiotic interaction between organisms in an ecosystem. Organisms develop symbiotic relationships such as mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism for their survival in ecosystem. SOS was introduced to solve continuous benchmark and engineering problems. The SOS has been shown to be robust and has faster convergence speed when compared with genetic algorithm, particle swarm optimization, differential evolution, and artificial bee colony which are the traditional metaheuristic algorithms. The interests of researchers in using SOS for handling optimization problems are increasing day by day, due to its successful application in solving optimization problems in science and engineering fields. Therefore, this paper presents a comprehensive survey of SOS advances and its applications, and this will be of benefit to the researchers engaged in the study of SOS algorithm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel nature-inspired algorithm called Multi-Verse Optimizer (MVO). The main inspirations of this algorithm are based on three concepts in cosmology: white hole, black hole, and wormhole. The mathematical models of these three concepts are developed to perform exploration, exploitation, and local search, respectively. The MVO algorithm is first benchmarked on 19 challenging test problems. It is then applied to five real engineering problems to further confirm its performance. To validate the results, MVO is compared with four well-known algorithms: Grey Wolf Optimizer, Particle Swarm Optimization, Genetic Algorithm, and Gravitational Search Algorithm. The results prove that the proposed algorithm is able to provide very competitive results and outperforms the best algorithms in the literature on the majority of the test beds. The results of the real case studies also demonstrate the potential of MVO in solving real problems with unknown search spaces. Note that the source codes of the proposed MVO algorithm are publicly available at . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Test data generation is always a key task in the field of software testing. In recent years, meta-heuristic search techniques have been considered as an effective way to assist test data generation in software structural testing. In this way, some representative test cases with high-coverage capability can be picked out from program input space. Harmony search (HS) is a recently developed algorithm and has been vigorously applied to various optimization problems. In the paper, we attempt to apply harmony search algorithm to generate test data satisfying branch coverage. At the preprocessing stage, the probes used for gathering coverage information are inserted into all branches via program static analysis. At the same time, the encoding and decoding styles between a test case and a harmony are also determined in advance. At the stage of test data searching, the subset of test data that has much stronger covering ability is stored in harmony memory. During the evolution process, one part of test suite is selected and adjusted from the harmony memory, and the other part is randomly generated from input space. Once a test suite is yielded after one-round search, its coverage can be measured by fitness function in our search algorithm. In our work, a new fitness function for branch coverage is constructed by comprehensively considering branch distance and branch weight. Here, the branch weight is determined by branch information in program, that is, the nesting level of a specific branch and the predicate types in it. Subsequently, the computed coverage metric is used for updating the test suite in the next round of searching. In order to validate the effectiveness of our proposed method, eight well-known programs are used for experimental evaluation. Experimental results show that the coverage of HS-based method is usually higher than those of other search algorithms, such as simulated annealing (SA) and genetic algorithm (GA). Meanwhile, HS demonstrates greater stability than SA and GA when varying the population size or performing repeated trials. That is to say, music-inspired HS algorithm is more suitable to generate test data for branch coverage in software structural testing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]