629 research outputs found
Genetic Transfer or Population Diversification? Deciphering the Secret Ingredients of Evolutionary Multitask Optimization
Evolutionary multitasking has recently emerged as a novel paradigm that
enables the similarities and/or latent complementarities (if present) between
distinct optimization tasks to be exploited in an autonomous manner simply by
solving them together with a unified solution representation scheme. An
important matter underpinning future algorithmic advancements is to develop a
better understanding of the driving force behind successful multitask
problem-solving. In this regard, two (seemingly disparate) ideas have been put
forward, namely, (a) implicit genetic transfer as the key ingredient
facilitating the exchange of high-quality genetic material across tasks, and
(b) population diversification resulting in effective global search of the
unified search space encompassing all tasks. In this paper, we present some
empirical results that provide a clearer picture of the relationship between
the two aforementioned propositions. For the numerical experiments we make use
of Sudoku puzzles as case studies, mainly because of their feature that
outwardly unlike puzzle statements can often have nearly identical final
solutions. The experiments reveal that while on many occasions genetic transfer
and population diversity may be viewed as two sides of the same coin, the wider
implication of genetic transfer, as shall be shown herein, captures the true
essence of evolutionary multitasking to the fullest.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
An Efficient Local Search for Partial Latin Square Extension Problem
A partial Latin square (PLS) is a partial assignment of n symbols to an nxn
grid such that, in each row and in each column, each symbol appears at most
once. The partial Latin square extension problem is an NP-hard problem that
asks for a largest extension of a given PLS. In this paper we propose an
efficient local search for this problem. We focus on the local search such that
the neighborhood is defined by (p,q)-swap, i.e., removing exactly p symbols and
then assigning symbols to at most q empty cells. For p in {1,2,3}, our
neighborhood search algorithm finds an improved solution or concludes that no
such solution exists in O(n^{p+1}) time. We also propose a novel swap
operation, Trellis-swap, which is a generalization of (1,q)-swap and
(2,q)-swap. Our Trellis-neighborhood search algorithm takes O(n^{3.5}) time to
do the same thing. Using these neighborhood search algorithms, we design a
prototype iterated local search algorithm and show its effectiveness in
comparison with state-of-the-art optimization solvers such as IBM ILOG CPLEX
and LocalSolver.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figure
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