An Empirical Study of Meta- and Hyper-Heuristic Search for Multi-Objective Release Planning

A variety of meta-heuristic search algorithms have been introduced for optimising software release planning. However, there has been no comprehensive empirical study of different search algorithms across multiple different real-world datasets. In this article, we present an empirical study of global, local, and hybrid meta- and hyper-heuristic search-based algorithms on 10 real-world datasets. We find that the hyper-heuristics are particularly effective. For example, the hyper-heuristic genetic algorithm significantly outperformed the other six approaches (and with high effect size) for solution quality 85% of the time, and was also faster than all others 70% of the time. Furthermore, correlation analysis reveals that it scales well as the number of requirements increases

The Value of Exact Analysis in Requirements Selection

Uncertainty is characterised by incomplete understanding. It is inevitable in the early phase of requirements engineering, and can lead to unsound requirement decisions. Inappropriate requirement choices may result in products that fail to satisfy stakeholders' needs, and might cause loss of revenue. To overcome uncertainty, requirements engineering decision support needs uncertainty management. In this research, we develop a decision support framework METRO for the Next Release Problem (NRP) to manage algorithmic uncertainty and requirements uncertainty. An exact NRP solver (NSGDP) lies at the heart of METRO. NSGDP's exactness eliminates interference caused by approximate existing NRP solvers. We apply NSGDP to three NRP instances, derived from a real world NRP instance, RALIC, and compare with NSGA-II, a widely-used approximate (inexact) technique. We find the randomness of NSGA-II results in decision makers missing up to 99.95% of the optimal solutions and obtaining up to 36:48% inexact requirement selection decisions. The chance of getting an inexact decision using existing approximate approaches is negatively correlated with the implementation cost of a requirement (Spearman ρ up to -0.72). Compared to the inexact existing approach, NSGDP saves 15.21% lost revenue, on average, for the RALIC dataset

Methodological review of multicriteria optimization techniques: aplications in water resources

Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) is an umbrella approach that has been applied to a wide range of natural resource management situations. This report has two purposes. First, it aims to provide an overview of advancedmulticriteriaapproaches, methods and tools. The review seeks to layout the nature of the models, their inherent strengths and limitations. Analysis of their applicability in supporting real-life decision-making processes is provided with relation to requirements imposed by organizationally decentralized and economically specific spatial and temporal frameworks. Models are categorized based on different classification schemes and are reviewed by describing their general characteristics, approaches, and fundamental properties. A necessity of careful structuring of decision problems is discussed regarding planning, staging and control aspects within broader agricultural context, and in water management in particular. A special emphasis is given to the importance of manipulating decision elements by means ofhierarchingand clustering. The review goes beyond traditionalMCDAtechniques; it describes new modelling approaches. The second purpose is to describe newMCDAparadigms aimed at addressing the inherent complexity of managing water ecosystems, particularly with respect to multiple criteria integrated with biophysical models,multistakeholders, and lack of information. Comments about, and critical analysis of, the limitations of traditional models are made to point out the need for, and propose a call to, a new way of thinking aboutMCDAas they are applied to water and natural resources management planning. These new perspectives do not undermine the value of traditional methods; rather they point to a shift in emphasis from methods for problem solving to methods for problem structuring. Literature review show successfully integrations of watershed management optimization models to efficiently screen a broad range of technical, economic, and policy management options within a watershed system framework and select the optimal combination of management strategies and associated water allocations for designing a sustainable watershed management plan at least cost. Papers show applications in watershed management model that integrates both natural and human elements of a watershed system including the management of ground and surface water sources, water treatment and distribution systems, human demands,wastewatertreatment and collection systems, water reuse facilities,nonpotablewater distribution infrastructure, aquifer storage and recharge facilities, storm water, and land use

Lost in optimisation of water distribution systems? A literature review of system design

This is the final version of the article. Available from MDPI via the DOI in this record.Optimisation of water distribution system design is a well-established research field, which has been extremely productive since the end of the 1980s. Its primary focus is to minimise the cost of a proposed pipe network infrastructure. This paper reviews in a systematic manner articles published over the past three decades, which are relevant to the design of new water distribution systems, and the strengthening, expansion and rehabilitation of existing water distribution systems, inclusive of design timing, parameter uncertainty, water quality, and operational considerations. It identifies trends and limits in the field, and provides future research directions. Exclusively, this review paper also contains comprehensive information from over one hundred and twenty publications in a tabular form, including optimisation model formulations, solution methodologies used, and other important details

Requirements analysis process using role-based goal modeling

Requirements analysis is the process of analyzing the requirements of various stakeholders that represent the specification of system behavior. This must be stated precisely in order to proceed to the design phase. It is noted that the current process of requirements analysis is not sufficient for identifying and representing the existence of multiple stakeholders, which could lead to various conflicts and overlapping requirements. Furthermore, the involvement of various stakeholders normally leads to inconsistencies and misinterpretation of requirements. Therefore, this study is conducted to enhance goal modeling representation, namely role-based goal modeling. Role-based goal modeling highlights each stakeholder’s role identification in discovering the intentions and requirements of various stakeholders including the integration of data elements in order to determine the dependency of data when dealing with multiple stakeholders. An Integrated Plantation System was selected as a case study for this research with participation from different stakeholders. Besides that, the Integrated Learning Management System and NIMSAD approaches were used to evaluate the proposed method. From the result, it is found that role-based goal modeling showed improvement in deriving high feasibility (five goals) and high adequacy (one goal) requirements for implementation. The integration of data elements indicates high complexity when multiple stakeholders interact with the same data element. In sum, role-based goal modeling can facilitate the process of analyzing and prioritizing requirements from multiple stakeholders in the early stages of the development process

Inferring efficient operating rules in multireservoir water resource systems: A review

[EN] Coordinated and efficient operation of water resource systems becomes essential to deal with growing demands and uncertain resources in water-stressed regions. System analysis models and tools help address the complexities of multireservoir systems when defining operating rules. This paper reviews the state of the art in developing operating rules for multireservoir water resource systems, focusing on efficient system operation. This review focuses on how optimal operating rules can be derived and represented. Advantages and drawbacks of each approach are discussed. Major approaches to derive optimal operating rules include direct optimization of reservoir operation, embedding conditional operating rules in simulation-optimization frameworks, and inferring rules from optimization results. Suggestions on which approach to use depend on context. Parametrization-simulation-optimization or rule inference using heuristics are promising approaches. Increased forecasting capabilities will further benefit the use of model predictive control algorithms to improve system operation. This article is categorized under: Engineering Water > Water, Health, and Sanitation Engineering Water > MethodsThe study has been partially funded by the ADAPTAMED project (RTI2018-101483-B-I00) from the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion Universidades (MICINN) of Spain, and by the postdoctoral program (PAID-10-18) of the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV).Macian-Sorribes, H.; Pulido-Velazquez, M. (2019). Inferring efficient operating rules in multireservoir water resource systems: A review. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews Water. 7(1):1-24. https://doi.org/10.1002/wat2.1400S12471Aboutalebi, M., Bozorg Haddad, O., & Loáiciga, H. A. (2015). Optimal Monthly Reservoir Operation Rules for Hydropower Generation Derived with SVR-NSGAII. 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Some Comments on Linear Decision Rules and Chance Constraints. Water Resources Research, 6(2), 668-671. doi:10.1029/wr006i002p00668Loucks

The role of Artificial Intelligence in Software Engineering

There has been a recent surge in interest in the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques to Software Engineering (SE) problems. The work is typified by recent advances in Search Based Software Engineering, but also by long established work in Probabilistic reasoning and machine learning for Software Engineering. This paper explores some of the relationships between these strands of closely related work, arguing that they have much in common and sets out some future challenges in the area of AI for SE. © 2012 IEEE

Bio-inspired optimization in integrated river basin management

Water resources worldwide are facing severe challenges in terms of quality and quantity. It is essential to conserve, manage, and optimize water resources and their quality through integrated water resources management (IWRM). IWRM is an interdisciplinary field that works on multiple levels to maximize the socio-economic and ecological benefits of water resources. Since this is directly influenced by the river’s ecological health, the point of interest should start at the basin-level. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the application of bio-inspired optimization techniques in integrated river basin management (IRBM). This study demonstrates the application of versatile, flexible and yet simple metaheuristic bio-inspired algorithms in IRBM. In a novel approach, bio-inspired optimization algorithms Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) are used to spatially distribute mitigation measures within a basin to reduce long-term annual mean total nitrogen (TN) concentration at the outlet of the basin. The Upper Fuhse river basin developed in the hydrological model, Hydrological Predictions for the Environment (HYPE), is used as a case study. ACO and PSO are coupled with the HYPE model to distribute a set of measures and compute the resulting TN reduction. The algorithms spatially distribute nine crop and subbasin-level mitigation measures under four categories. Both algorithms can successfully yield a discrete combination of measures to reduce long-term annual mean TN concentration. They achieved an 18.65% reduction, and their performance was on par with each other. This study has established the applicability of these bio-inspired optimization algorithms in successfully distributing the TN mitigation measures within the river basin. Stakeholder involvement is a crucial aspect of IRBM. It ensures that researchers and policymakers are aware of the ground reality through large amounts of information collected from the stakeholder. Including stakeholders in policy planning and decision-making legitimizes the decisions and eases their implementation. Therefore, a socio-hydrological framework is developed and tested in the Larqui river basin, Chile, based on a field survey to explore the conditions under which the farmers would implement or extend the width of vegetative filter strips (VFS) to prevent soil erosion. The framework consists of a behavioral, social model (extended Theory of Planned Behavior, TPB) and an agent-based model (developed in NetLogo) coupled with the results from the vegetative filter model (Vegetative Filter Strip Modeling System, VFSMOD-W). The results showed that the ABM corroborates with the survey results and the farmers are willing to extend the width of VFS as long as their utility stays positive. This framework can be used to develop tailor-made policies for river basins based on the conditions of the river basins and the stakeholders' requirements to motivate them to adopt sustainable practices. It is vital to assess whether the proposed management plans achieve the expected results for the river basin and if the stakeholders will accept and implement them. The assessment via simulation tools ensures effective implementation and realization of the target stipulated by the decision-makers. In this regard, this dissertation introduces the application of bio-inspired optimization techniques in the field of IRBM. The successful discrete combinatorial optimization in terms of the spatial distribution of mitigation measures by ACO and PSO and the novel socio-hydrological framework using ABM prove the forte and diverse applicability of bio-inspired optimization algorithms

Optimizing the selection of architecture for component-based system

Redundant components are commonly used for solving Redundancy Allocation Problems (RAP) and improving the reliability of complex systems. However, the use of such a strategy to minimize development costs while maintaining high quality attributes for building software architecture is a research challenge. The selection for an optimal architecture to meet this challenge is an inherently complex task due to the high volume of possible architectural candidates and the fundamental conflict between quality attributes. Current software evaluation methods focus on predicting the quality attributes and selecting Commercial-Off-the Shelf (COTS) components for COTS-Based applications rather than utilizing additional architectural evaluation methods that could increase the opportunity for obtaining a cost-effective solution for RAP. In this thesis, an architecture-based approach called Cost-Discount and Build-or-Buy for RAP (CD/BoB-RAP) is introduced to support the decision making for selecting the architecture with optimal components and level of redundancy that satisfies the technical and financial preferences. This approach consists of an optimization model that includes two architectural evaluation methods (CD-RAP and BoB-RAP) and applies three variants of Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithms. Statistical results showed a 74% reduction on the development cost using CD-RAP on an embedded system case study. Moreover, the application of a maximum possible improvement on the algorithms showed that Penalty Guided PSO (PG-PSO) had enhanced the quality of obtained solutions by 70% to 84% in comparison to other algorithms. The results of the CD-RAP and BoB-RAP were superior when compared to the results obtained from similar approaches. The overall results of this research have proven the potential benefits of the CD/BoB-RAP approach for software architecture evaluation, particularly, in selecting software architecture for minimizing the development cost maintaining a highly reliable system

Many-objective design of reservoir systems - Applications to the Blue Nile

This work proposes a multi-criteria optimization-based approach for supporting the negotiated design of multireservoir systems. The research addresses the multi-reservoir system design problem (selecting among alternative options, reservoir sizing), the capacity expansion problem (timing the activation of new assets and the filling of new large reservoirs) and management of multi-reservoir systems at various expansion stages. The aim is to balance multiple long and short-term performance objectives of relevance to stakeholders with differing interests. The work also investigates how problem re-formulations can be used to improve computational efficiency at the design and assessment stage and proposes a framework for post-processing of many objective optimization results to facilitate negotiation among multiple stakeholders. The proposed methods are demonstrated using the Blue Nile in a suite of proof-of-concept studies. Results take the form of Pareto-optimal trade-offs where each point on the curve or surface represents the design of water resource systems (i.e., asset choice, size, implementation dates of reservoirs, and operating policy) and coordination strategies (e.g., cost sharing and power trade) where further benefits in one measure necessarily come at the expense of another. Technical chapters aim to offer practical Nile management and/or investment recommendations deriving from the analysis which could be refined in future more detailed studies