A semi-automated design of instance-based fuzzy parameter tuning for metaheuristics based on decision tree induction

Two main concepts are established in the literature for the Parameter Setting Problem (PSP) of metaheuristics: Parameter Tuning Strategies (PTS) and Parameter Control Strategies (PCS). While PTS result in a fixed parameter setting for a set of problem instances, PCS are incorporated into the metaheuristic and adapt parameter values according to instance-specific performance feedback. The idea of Instance-specific Parameter Tuning Strategies (IPTS) is aiming to combine advantages of both tuning and control strategies by enabling the adoption of parameter values tailored to instance-specific characteristics a priori to running the metaheuristic. This requires, however, a significant knowledge about the impact ofinstance-characteristics on heuristic performance. This paper presents an approach that semi-automatically designs the fuzzy logic rule base to obtain instance-specific parameter values by means of decision trees. This enables the user to automate the process of converting insights about instance-specific information and its impact on heuristic performance into a fuzzy rule base IPTS system. The system incorporates the decision maker's preference about the trade-off between computational time and solution qualit

The buttressed walls problem: An application of a hybrid clustering particle swarm optimization algorithm

[EN] The design of reinforced earth retaining walls is a combinatorial optimization problem of interest due to practical applications regarding the cost savings involved in the design and the optimization in the amount of CO2 emissions generated in its construction. On the other hand, this problem presents important challenges in computational complexity since it involves 32 design variables; therefore we have in the order of 10^20 possible combinations. In this article, we propose a hybrid algorithm in which the particle swarm optimization method is integrated that solves optimization problems in continuous spaces with the db-scan clustering technique, with the aim of addressing the combinatorial problem of the design of reinforced earth retaining walls. This algorithm optimizes two objective functions: the carbon emissions embedded and the economic cost of reinforced concrete walls. To assess the contribution of the db-scan operator in the optimization process, a random operator was designed. The best solutions, the averages, and the interquartile ranges of the obtained distributions are compared. The db-scan algorithm was then compared with a hybrid version that uses k-means as the discretization method and with a discrete implementation of the harmony search algorithm. The results indicate that the db-scan operator significantly improves the quality of the solutions and that the proposed metaheuristic shows competitive results with respect to the harmony search algorithm.The first author was supported by the Grant CONICYT/FONDECYT/INICIACION/11180056, the other two authors were supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, along with FEDER funding (Project: BIA2017-85098-R).Garcia, J.; Martí Albiñana, JV.; Yepes, V. (2020). The buttressed walls problem: An application of a hybrid clustering particle swarm optimization algorithm. Mathematics. 8(6):862-01-862-22. https://doi.org/10.3390/math8060862S862-01862-228

Hybrid tabu search – strawberry algorithm for multidimensional knapsack problem

Multidimensional Knapsack Problem (MKP) has been widely used to model real-life combinatorial problems. It is also used extensively in experiments to test the performances of metaheuristic algorithms and their hybrids. For example, Tabu Search (TS) has been successfully hybridized with other techniques, including particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm and the two-stage TS algorithm to solve MKP. In 2011, a new metaheuristic known as Strawberry algorithm (SBA) was initiated. Since then, it has been vastly applied to solve engineering problems. However, SBA has never been deployed to solve MKP. Therefore, a new hybrid of TS-SBA is proposed in this study to solve MKP with the objective of maximizing the total profit. The Greedy heuristics by ratio was employed to construct an initial solution. Next, the solution was enhanced by using the hybrid TS-SBA. The parameters setting to run the hybrid TS-SBA was determined by using a combination of Factorial Design of Experiments and Decision Tree Data Mining methods. Finally, the hybrid TS-SBA was evaluated using an MKP benchmark problem. It consisted of 270 test problems with different sizes of constraints and decision variables. The findings revealed that on average the hybrid TS-SBA was able to increase 1.97% profit of the initial solution. However, the best-known solution from past studies seemed to outperform the hybrid TS-SBA with an average difference of 3.69%. Notably, the novel hybrid TS-SBA proposed in this study may facilitate decisionmakers to solve real applications of MKP. It may also be applied to solve other variants of knapsack problems (KPs) with minor modifications

A Hybrid k-Means Cuckoo Search Algorithm Applied to the Counterfort Retaining Walls Problem

[EN] The counterfort retaining wall is one of the most frequent structures used in civil engineering. In this structure, optimization of cost and CO2 emissions are important. The first is relevant in the competitiveness and efficiency of the company, the second in environmental impact. From the point of view of computational complexity, the problem is challenging due to the large number of possible combinations in the solution space. In this article, a k-means cuckoo search hybrid algorithm is proposed where the cuckoo search metaheuristic is used as an optimization mechanism in continuous spaces and the unsupervised k-means learning technique to discretize the solutions. A random operator is designed to determine the contribution of the k-means operator in the optimization process. The best values, the averages, and the interquartile ranges of the obtained distributions are compared. The hybrid algorithm was later compared to a version of harmony search that also solved the problem. The results show that the k-mean operator contributes significantly to the quality of the solutions and that our algorithm is highly competitive, surpassing the results obtained by harmony search.The first author was supported by the Grant CONICYT/FONDECYT/INICIACION/11180056, the other two authors were supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, along with FEDER funding (Project: BIA2017-85098-R).García, J.; Yepes, V.; Martí Albiñana, JV. (2020). A Hybrid k-Means Cuckoo Search Algorithm Applied to the Counterfort Retaining Walls Problem. Mathematics. 8(4):1-22. https://doi.org/10.3390/math8040555S12284García, J., Altimiras, F., Peña, A., Astorga, G., & Peredo, O. (2018). A Binary Cuckoo Search Big Data Algorithm Applied to Large-Scale Crew Scheduling Problems. Complexity, 2018, 1-15. doi:10.1155/2018/8395193García, J., Moraga, P., Valenzuela, M., Crawford, B., Soto, R., Pinto, H., … Astorga, G. (2019). 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Optimization for Decision Making II

In the current context of the electronic governance of society, both administrations and citizens are demanding the greater participation of all the actors involved in the decision-making process relative to the governance of society. This book presents collective works published in the recent Special Issue (SI) entitled “Optimization for Decision Making II”. These works give an appropriate response to the new challenges raised, the decision-making process can be done by applying different methods and tools, as well as using different objectives. In real-life problems, the formulation of decision-making problems and the application of optimization techniques to support decisions are particularly complex and a wide range of optimization techniques and methodologies are used to minimize risks, improve quality in making decisions or, in general, to solve problems. In addition, a sensitivity or robustness analysis should be done to validate/analyze the influence of uncertainty regarding decision-making. This book brings together a collection of inter-/multi-disciplinary works applied to the optimization of decision making in a coherent manner