An immune algorithm based fuzzy predictive modeling mechanism using variable length coding and multi-objective optimization allied to engineering materials processing

In this paper, a systematic multi-objective fuzzy modeling approach is proposed, which can be regarded as a three-stage modeling procedure. In the first stage, an evolutionary based clustering algorithm is developed to extract an initial fuzzy rule base from the data. Based on this model, a back-propagation algorithm with momentum terms is used to refine the initial fuzzy model. The refined model is then used to seed the initial population of an immune inspired multi-objective optimization algorithm in the third stage to obtain a set of fuzzy models with improved transparency. To tackle the problem of simultaneously optimizing the structure and parameters, a variable length coding scheme is adopted to improve the efficiency of the search. The proposed modeling approach is applied to a real data set from the steel industry. Results show that the proposed approach is capable of eliciting not only accurate but also transparent fuzzy models

Differential evolution with an evolution path: a DEEP evolutionary algorithm

Utilizing cumulative correlation information already existing in an evolutionary process, this paper proposes a predictive approach to the reproduction mechanism of new individuals for differential evolution (DE) algorithms. DE uses a distributed model (DM) to generate new individuals, which is relatively explorative, whilst evolution strategy (ES) uses a centralized model (CM) to generate offspring, which through adaptation retains a convergence momentum. This paper adopts a key feature in the CM of a covariance matrix adaptation ES, the cumulatively learned evolution path (EP), to formulate a new evolutionary algorithm (EA) framework, termed DEEP, standing for DE with an EP. Without mechanistically combining two CM and DM based algorithms together, the DEEP framework offers advantages of both a DM and a CM and hence substantially enhances performance. Under this architecture, a self-adaptation mechanism can be built inherently in a DEEP algorithm, easing the task of predetermining algorithm control parameters. Two DEEP variants are developed and illustrated in the paper. Experiments on the CEC'13 test suites and two practical problems demonstrate that the DEEP algorithms offer promising results, compared with the original DEs and other relevant state-of-the-art EAs

Finding Optimal Strategies in a Multi-Period Multi-Leader-Follower Stackelberg Game Using an Evolutionary Algorithm

Stackelberg games are a classic example of bilevel optimization problems, which are often encountered in game theory and economics. These are complex problems with a hierarchical structure, where one optimization task is nested within the other. Despite a number of studies on handling bilevel optimization problems, these problems still remain a challenging territory, and existing methodologies are able to handle only simple problems with few variables under assumptions of continuity and differentiability. In this paper, we consider a special case of a multi-period multi-leader-follower Stackelberg competition model with non-linear cost and demand functions and discrete production variables. The model has potential applications, for instance in aircraft manufacturing industry, which is an oligopoly where a few giant firms enjoy a tremendous commitment power over the other smaller players. We solve cases with different number of leaders and followers, and show how the entrance or exit of a player affects the profits of the other players. In the presence of various model complexities, we use a computationally intensive nested evolutionary strategy to find an optimal solution for the model. The strategy is evaluated on a test-suite of bilevel problems, and it has been shown that the method is successful in handling difficult bilevel problems.Comment: To be published in Computers and Operations Researc

Impact analysis of crossovers in a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm

Multi-objective optimization has become mainstream because several real-world problems are naturally posed as a Multi-objective optimization problems (MOPs) in all fields of engineering and science. Usually MOPs consist of more than two conflicting objective functions and that demand trade-off solutions. Multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) are extremely useful and well-suited for solving MOPs due to population based nature. MOEAs evolve its population of solutions in a natural way and searched for compromise solutions in single simulation run unlike traditional methods. These algorithms make use of various intrinsic search operators in efficient manners. In this paper, we experimentally study the impact of different multiple crossovers in multi-objective evolutionary algorithm based on decomposition (MOEA/D) framework and evaluate its performance over test instances of 2009 IEEE congress on evolutionary computation (CEC?09) developed for MOEAs competition. Based on our carried out experiment, we observe that used variation operators are considered to main source to improve the algorithmic performance of MOEA/D for dealing with CEC?09 complicated test problems

Multimodal estimation of distribution algorithms

Taking the advantage of estimation of distribution algorithms (EDAs) in preserving high diversity, this paper proposes a multimodal EDA. Integrated with clustering strategies for crowding and speciation, two versions of this algorithm are developed, which operate at the niche level. Then these two algorithms are equipped with three distinctive techniques: 1) a dynamic cluster sizing strategy; 2) an alternative utilization of Gaussian and Cauchy distributions to generate offspring; and 3) an adaptive local search. The dynamic cluster sizing affords a potential balance between exploration and exploitation and reduces the sensitivity to the cluster size in the niching methods. Taking advantages of Gaussian and Cauchy distributions, we generate the offspring at the niche level through alternatively using these two distributions. Such utilization can also potentially offer a balance between exploration and exploitation. Further, solution accuracy is enhanced through a new local search scheme probabilistically conducted around seeds of niches with probabilities determined self-adaptively according to fitness values of these seeds. Extensive experiments conducted on 20 benchmark multimodal problems confirm that both algorithms can achieve competitive performance compared with several state-of-the-art multimodal algorithms, which is supported by nonparametric tests. Especially, the proposed algorithms are very promising for complex problems with many local optima