Automated Design of Metaheuristic Algorithms: A Survey

Metaheuristics have gained great success in academia and practice because their search logic can be applied to any problem with available solution representation, solution quality evaluation, and certain notions of locality. Manually designing metaheuristic algorithms for solving a target problem is criticized for being laborious, error-prone, and requiring intensive specialized knowledge. This gives rise to increasing interest in automated design of metaheuristic algorithms. With computing power to fully explore potential design choices, the automated design could reach and even surpass human-level design and could make high-performance algorithms accessible to a much wider range of researchers and practitioners. This paper presents a broad picture of automated design of metaheuristic algorithms, by conducting a survey on the common grounds and representative techniques in terms of design space, design strategies, performance evaluation strategies, and target problems in this field

A General Theorem Relating the Bulk Topological Number to Edge States in Two-dimensional Insulators

We prove a general theorem on the relation between the bulk topological quantum number and the edge states in two dimensional insulators. It is shown that whenever there is a topological order in bulk, characterized by a non-vanishing Chern number, even if it is defined for a non-conserved quantity such as spin in the case of the spin Hall effect, one can always infer the existence of gapless edge states under certain twisted boundary conditions that allow tunneling between edges. This relation is robust against disorder and interactions, and it provides a unified topological classification of both the quantum (charge) Hall effect and the quantum spin Hall effect. In addition, it reconciles the apparent conflict between the stability of bulk topological order and the instability of gapless edge states in systems with open boundaries (as known happening in the spin Hall case). The consequences of time reversal invariance for bulk topological order and edge state dynamics are further studied in the present framework.Comment: A mistake corrected in reference

Night Eating Syndrome and Its Association with Sleep Quality and Body Mass Index Among University Students During the Covid-19

Night eating syndrome (NES) is a disordered eating behaviour characterized by hyperphagia at night and is often accompanied by a sleep disturbance. This study aims to determine the prevalence of NES and its association between sleep quality and body mass index (BMI) among the private university students during the Covid-19. A total of 166 students from a private university participated in this cross-sectional study. Online self-administered questionnaires were used to collect and determine socio-demographic data, BMI, NES, and sleep quality. NES was assessed using Night Eating Diagnostic Questionnaire (NEDQ) while sleep quality was assessed using Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Questionnaire (PSQI). The results showed that 38.6% of the participants were engaging with NES, 45.2% were having poor sleep quality and 25.9% were overweight or obese during the Covid-19. There were significant associations between NES with sleep quality and BMI, which students with NES were found to have poorer sleep quality (r=0.306, p<0.001) and higher BMI (r=0.024, p=0.763). In addition, poor sleep quality was found to be positively associated with BMI (r=0.161, p=0.038). Males (AOR=2.198, 95% CI=1.005-4.808) and poor sleepers (AOR=1.176, 95% CI=1.028-1.346) were the risk factors of NES. In conclusion, the prevalence of NES, poor sleep quality, and overweight and obesity were at an alarming rate. NES was found to be related to both poorer sleep quality and higher BMI among the students. Therefore, interventions such as behavioural and cognitive therapy should be implemented to promote healthy eating behaviour among university students

Three-Dimensional Microscopic Image Reconstruction Based on Structured Light Illumination

In this paper, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a three-dimensional (3D) microscopic system that reconstructs a 3D image based on structured light illumination. The spatial pattern of the structured light changes according to the profile of the object, and by measuring the change, a 3D image of the object is reconstructed. The structured light is generated with a digital micro-mirror device (DMD), which controls the structured light pattern to change in a kHz rate and enables the system to record the 3D information in real time. The working distance of the imaging system is 9 cm at a resolution of 20 μm. The resolution, working distance, and real-time 3D imaging enable the system to be applied in bridge and road crack examinations, and structure fault detection of transportation infrastructures