Using machine learning techniques for early cost prediction of structural systems of buildings

Thesis (Doctoral)--İzmir Institute of Technology, Architecture, İzmir, 2005Includes bibliographical references (leaves:111)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishx, 111 leavesIt is desirable to predict construction costs in the early design stages in order tomake sure that target costs are met and competitive prices are realized. This study investigates the possibility of predicting the cost of construction early in the design phase by using machine learning (ML) techniques. To achieve this objective, artificialneural network (ANN) and case based reasoning (CBR) prediction models were developed in a spreadsheet-based format. An investigation of the impacts of weight generation methods on the ANN and CBR models was conducted. The performance of the ANN model was enhanced by experimenting with the weight generation methods of simplex optimization, back propagation training, and genetic algorithms while the CBR model was augmented by feature counting, gradient descent, genetic algorithms (GA), decision tree methods of binary-dtree, info-top and info-dtree.Cost data belonging to the superstructure of low-rise residential buildings were used to test these models. It was found that both approaches were capable of providing high prediction accuracy, 96% for ANN using simplex optimization for weight determination, and 84% for CBR using GA for attribute weight selection. A comparison of the Excel-based ANN and CBR models was made in terms of prediction accuracy, preprocessing effort, explanatory value, improvement potentials and ease of use. The study demonstrated the practicality of using spreadsheets in developing ANN and CBR models for use in construction management as well as the potential benefits of enhancing ANN and CBR models by using different weight generation methods

A comparative study of adaptive mutation operators for metaheuristics

Genetic algorithms (GAs) are a class of stochastic optimization methods inspired by the principles of natural evolution. Adaptation of strategy parameters and genetic operators has become an important and promising research area in GAs. Many researchers are applying adaptive techniques to guide the search of GAs toward optimum solutions. Mutation is a key component of GAs. It is a variation operator to create diversity for GAs. This paper investigates several adaptive mutation operators, including population level adaptive mutation operators and gene level adaptive mutation operators, for GAs and compares their performance based on a set of uni-modal and multi-modal benchmark problems. The experimental results show that the gene level adaptive mutation operators are usually more efficient than the population level adaptive mutation operators for GAs

Evolutionary model type selection for global surrogate modeling

Due to the scale and computational complexity of currently used simulation codes, global surrogate (metamodels) models have become indispensable tools for exploring and understanding the design space. Due to their compact formulation they are cheap to evaluate and thus readily facilitate visualization, design space exploration, rapid prototyping, and sensitivity analysis. They can also be used as accurate building blocks in design packages or larger simulation environments. Consequently, there is great interest in techniques that facilitate the construction of such approximation models while minimizing the computational cost and maximizing model accuracy. Many surrogate model types exist ( Support Vector Machines, Kriging, Neural Networks, etc.) but no type is optimal in all circumstances. Nor is there any hard theory available that can help make this choice. In this paper we present an automatic approach to the model type selection problem. We describe an adaptive global surrogate modeling environment with adaptive sampling, driven by speciated evolution. Different model types are evolved cooperatively using a Genetic Algorithm ( heterogeneous evolution) and compete to approximate the iteratively selected data. In this way the optimal model type and complexity for a given data set or simulation code can be dynamically determined. Its utility and performance is demonstrated on a number of problems where it outperforms traditional sequential execution of each model type

A quantum genetic algorithm with quantum crossover and mutation operations

In the context of evolutionary quantum computing in the literal meaning, a quantum crossover operation has not been introduced so far. Here, we introduce a novel quantum genetic algorithm which has a quantum crossover procedure performing crossovers among all chromosomes in parallel for each generation. A complexity analysis shows that a quadratic speedup is achieved over its classical counterpart in the dominant factor of the run time to handle each generation.Comment: 21 pages, 1 table, v2: typos corrected, minor modifications in sections 3.5 and 4, v3: minor revision, title changed (original title: Semiclassical genetic algorithm with quantum crossover and mutation operations), v4: minor revision, v5: minor grammatical corrections, to appear in QI

Strategies for multiobjective genetic algorithm development: Application to optimal batch plant design in process systems engineering

This work deals with multiobjective optimization problems using Genetic Algorithms (GA). A MultiObjective GA (MOGA) is proposed to solve multiobjective problems combining both continuous and discrete variables. This kind of problem is commonly found in chemical engineering since process design and operability involve structural and decisional choices as well as the determination of operating conditions. In this paper, a design of a basic MOGA which copes successfully with a range of typical chemical engineering optimization problems is considered and the key points of its architecture described in detail. Several performance tests are presented, based on the influence of bit ranging encoding in a chromosome. Four mathematical functions were used as a test bench. The MOGA was able to find the optimal solution for each objective function, as well as an important number of Pareto optimal solutions. Then, the results of two multiobjective case studies in batch plant design and retrofit were presented, showing the flexibility and adaptability of the MOGA to deal with various engineering problems

CIXL2: A Crossover Operator for Evolutionary Algorithms Based on Population Features

In this paper we propose a crossover operator for evolutionary algorithms with real values that is based on the statistical theory of population distributions. The operator is based on the theoretical distribution of the values of the genes of the best individuals in the population. The proposed operator takes into account the localization and dispersion features of the best individuals of the population with the objective that these features would be inherited by the offspring. Our aim is the optimization of the balance between exploration and exploitation in the search process. In order to test the efficiency and robustness of this crossover, we have used a set of functions to be optimized with regard to different criteria, such as, multimodality, separability, regularity and epistasis. With this set of functions we can extract conclusions in function of the problem at hand. We analyze the results using ANOVA and multiple comparison statistical tests. As an example of how our crossover can be used to solve artificial intelligence problems, we have applied the proposed model to the problem of obtaining the weight of each network in a ensemble of neural networks. The results obtained are above the performance of standard methods

A self-organizing random immigrants genetic algorithm for dynamic optimization problems

This is the post-print version of the article. The official published version can be obtained from the link below - Copyright @ 2007 SpringerIn this paper a genetic algorithm is proposed where the worst individual and individuals with indices close to its index are replaced in every generation by randomly generated individuals for dynamic optimization problems. In the proposed genetic algorithm, the replacement of an individual can affect other individuals in a chain reaction. The new individuals are preserved in a subpopulation which is defined by the number of individuals created in the current chain reaction. If the values of fitness are similar, as is the case with small diversity, one single replacement can affect a large number of individuals in the population. This simple approach can take the system to a self-organizing behavior, which can be useful to control the diversity level of the population and hence allows the genetic algorithm to escape from local optima once the problem changes due to the dynamics.This work was supported by FAPESP (Proc. 04/04289-6)

Multi-agent evolutionary systems for the generation of complex virtual worlds

Modern films, games and virtual reality applications are dependent on convincing computer graphics. Highly complex models are a requirement for the successful delivery of many scenes and environments. While workflows such as rendering, compositing and animation have been streamlined to accommodate increasing demands, modelling complex models is still a laborious task. This paper introduces the computational benefits of an Interactive Genetic Algorithm (IGA) to computer graphics modelling while compensating the effects of user fatigue, a common issue with Interactive Evolutionary Computation. An intelligent agent is used in conjunction with an IGA that offers the potential to reduce the effects of user fatigue by learning from the choices made by the human designer and directing the search accordingly. This workflow accelerates the layout and distribution of basic elements to form complex models. It captures the designer's intent through interaction, and encourages playful discovery