Metaheuristic design of feedforward neural networks: a review of two decades of research

Over the past two decades, the feedforward neural network (FNN) optimization has been a key interest among the researchers and practitioners of multiple disciplines. The FNN optimization is often viewed from the various perspectives: the optimization of weights, network architecture, activation nodes, learning parameters, learning environment, etc. Researchers adopted such different viewpoints mainly to improve the FNN's generalization ability. The gradient-descent algorithm such as backpropagation has been widely applied to optimize the FNNs. Its success is evident from the FNN's application to numerous real-world problems. However, due to the limitations of the gradient-based optimization methods, the metaheuristic algorithms including the evolutionary algorithms, swarm intelligence, etc., are still being widely explored by the researchers aiming to obtain generalized FNN for a given problem. This article attempts to summarize a broad spectrum of FNN optimization methodologies including conventional and metaheuristic approaches. This article also tries to connect various research directions emerged out of the FNN optimization practices, such as evolving neural network (NN), cooperative coevolution NN, complex-valued NN, deep learning, extreme learning machine, quantum NN, etc. Additionally, it provides interesting research challenges for future research to cope-up with the present information processing era

Review of Metaheuristics and Generalized Evolutionary Walk Algorithm

Metaheuristic algorithms are often nature-inspired, and they are becoming very powerful in solving global optimization problems. More than a dozen of major metaheuristic algorithms have been developed over the last three decades, and there exist even more variants and hybrid of metaheuristics. This paper intends to provide an overview of nature-inspired metaheuristic algorithms, from a brief history to their applications. We try to analyze the main components of these algorithms and how and why they works. Then, we intend to provide a unified view of metaheuristics by proposing a generalized evolutionary walk algorithm (GEWA). Finally, we discuss some of the important open questions.Comment: 14 page

A Review on Energy Consumption Optimization Techniques in IoT Based Smart Building Environments

In recent years, due to the unnecessary wastage of electrical energy in residential buildings, the requirement of energy optimization and user comfort has gained vital importance. In the literature, various techniques have been proposed addressing the energy optimization problem. The goal of each technique was to maintain a balance between user comfort and energy requirements such that the user can achieve the desired comfort level with the minimum amount of energy consumption. Researchers have addressed the issue with the help of different optimization algorithms and variations in the parameters to reduce energy consumption. To the best of our knowledge, this problem is not solved yet due to its challenging nature. The gap in the literature is due to the advancements in the technology and drawbacks of the optimization algorithms and the introduction of different new optimization algorithms. Further, many newly proposed optimization algorithms which have produced better accuracy on the benchmark instances but have not been applied yet for the optimization of energy consumption in smart homes. In this paper, we have carried out a detailed literature review of the techniques used for the optimization of energy consumption and scheduling in smart homes. The detailed discussion has been carried out on different factors contributing towards thermal comfort, visual comfort, and air quality comfort. We have also reviewed the fog and edge computing techniques used in smart homes

Enhancing Harmony Search Parameters Based On Step And Linear Function For Bus Driver Scheduling And Rostering Problems

Optimization is a major challenge in numerous practical world problems.According to the “No Free Lunch (NFL)” theorem,there is no existing single optimizer algorithm that is able to resolve all issues in an effective and efficient manner.It is varied and need to be solved according to the specific capabilities inherent to certain algorithms making it hard to foresee the algorithm that is best suited for each problem.As a result,the heuristic technique is adopted for this research as it has been identified as a potentially suitable algorithm.Alternative heuristic algorithms are also suggested to obtain optimal solutions with reasonable computational effort.However,the heuristic approach failed to produce a solution that nears optimum when the complexity of a problem increases;therefore a type of nature-inspired algorithm known as meta-euristics which utilises an intelligent searching mechanism over a population is considered and consequently used.The meta-heuristic approach is widely used to substitute heuristic terms and is broadly applied to address problems with regards to driver scheduling.However,this meta-heuristic technique is still unable to address the fairness issue in the scheduling and rostering problems.Hence,this research proposes a strategy to adopt an amendment of the harmony search algorithm in order to address the fairness issue which in turn will escalate the level of fairness in driver scheduling and rostering.The harmony search algorithm is classified as a meta-heuristics algorithm that is capable of solving hard and combinatorial or discrete optimisation problems.In this respect,the three main operators in harmony search,namely the Harmony Memory Consideration Rate (HMCR),Pitch Adjustment Rate (PAR) and Bandwidth (BW) play a vital role in balancing local exploitation and global exploration.These parameters influence the overall performance of the HS algorithm,and therefore it is crucial to fine-tune them. Therefore,it is of great interest that we find adjustments for these parameters in this research.There are two contributions to this research.The first one is having HMCR parameter using step function and the linear increase function while the second is applying the fret spacing concept on guitars that is associated with mathematical formulae is also applied in the BW parameter.There are three proposed models on the alteration of HMCR parameters based on the use of the fundamental step function;namely,the constant interval of step function, and its dynamic increase and decrease interval functions.The experimental results revealed that our proposed approach is superior to other state of the art harmony searches either in specific or generic cases. This is achieved by using a first type of association between the linear increase function with a second model of the dynamic increase of step function being remarkable in other combinations and also other models.In conclusion,this proposed approach managed to generate a fairer roster and was thus capable of maximising the balancing distribution of shifts and routes among drivers,which contributed to the lowering of illness, incidents,absenteeism and accidents