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In the real world, many optimization problems are dynamic. This requires an optimization algorithm to not only find the global optimal solution under a specific environment but also to track the trajectory of the changing optima over dynamic environments. To address this requirement, this paper investigates a clustering particle swarm optimizer (PSO) for dynamic optimization problems. This algorithm employs a hierarchical clustering method to locate and track multiple peaks. A fast local search method is also introduced to search optimal solutions in a promising subregion found by the clustering method. Experimental study is conducted based on the moving peaks benchmark to test the performance of the clustering PSO in comparison with several state-of-the-art algorithms from the literature. The experimental results show the efficiency of the clustering PSO for locating and tracking multiple optima in dynamic environments in comparison with other particle swarm optimization models based on the multiswarm method.

Any evolutionary technique for multimodal optimization must answer two crucial questions in order to guarantee some success on a given task: How to most unboundedly distinguish between the different attraction basins and how to most accurately safeguard the consequently discovered solutions. This paper thus aims to present a novel technique that integrates the conservation of the best successive local individuals (as in the species conserving genetic algorithm) with a topological subpopulations separation (as in the multinational genetic algorithm) instead of the common but problematic radius-triggered manner. A special treatment for offspring integration, a more rigorous control on the allowed number and uniqueness of the resulting seeds, and a more efficient fitness evaluations budget management further augment a previously suggested naïve combination of the two algorithms. Experiments have been performed on a series of benchmark test functions, including a problem from engineering design. Comparison is primarily conducted to show the significant performance difference to the naïve combination; also the related radius-dependent conserving algorithm is subsequently addressed. Additionally, three more multimodal evolutionary methods, being either conceptually close, competitive as radius-based strategies, or recent state-of-the-art are also taken into account. We detect a clear advantage of three of the six algorithms that, in the case of our method, probably comes from the proper topological separation into subpopulations according to the existing attraction basins, independent of their locations in the function landscape. Additionally, an investigation of the parameter independence of the method as compared to the radius-compelled algorithms is systematically accomplished.

A variety of previous works exist on maintaining population diversity of genetic algorithms (GAs). Dual-population GA (DPGA) is a type of multipopulation GA (MPGA) that uses an additional population as a reservoir of diversity. The main population is similar to that of an ordinary GA and evolves to find good solutions. The reserve population evolves to maintain and provide diversity to the main population. While most MPGAs use migration as a means of information exchange between different populations, DPGA uses crossbreeding because the two populations have entirely different fitness functions. The reserve population cannot provide useful diversity to the main population unless the two maintain an appropriate distance. Therefore, DPGA adjusts the distance dynamically to achieve an appropriate balance between exploration and exploitation. The experimental results on various classes of problems using binary, real-valued, and order-based representations show that DPGA quite often outperforms not only the standard GAs but also other GAs having additional mechanisms of diversity preservation.

Active perception refers to a theoretical approach to the study of perception grounded on the idea that perceiving is a way of acting, rather than a process whereby the brain constructs an internal representation of the world. The operational principles of active perception can be effectively tested by building robot-based models in which the relationship between perceptual categories and the body-environment interactions can be experimentally manipulated. In this paper, we study the mechanisms of tactile perception in a task in which a neuro-controlled anthropomorphic robotic arm, equipped with coarse-grained tactile sensors, is required to perceptually categorize spherical and ellipsoid objects. We show that best individuals, synthesized by artificial evolution techniques, develop a close to optimal ability to discriminate the shape of the objects as well as an ability to generalize their skill in new circumstances. The results show that the agents solve the categorization task in an effective and robust way by self-selecting the required information through action and by integrating experienced sensory-motor states over time.

This paper presents a search method that combines elements from evolutionary and local search paradigms by the systematic use of crossover operations, generally used as structured exchange of genes between a series of solutions in genetic algorithms. Crossover operations here are particularly utilized as a systematic means to generate several possible solutions from two superior solutions. To test the effectiveness of the method, it has been applied to the resource-constrained project scheduling problem. The computational experiments show that the application of the method to this problem is promising.

This paper sets forth a new approach to robust evolutionary computing. In particular, the proposed approach allows users to specify the probability of success in meeting design specifications in the presence of uncertainties. Three benchmark problems have been considered to demonstrate the proposed approach. In addition, a robust electromagnet design example is also considered. The results illustrate quantitative correspondence between the prescribed and the computed robustness.

Lists the reviewers who contributed to IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation in 2010.

The classification problem can be addressed by numerous techniques and algorithms which belong to different paradigms of machine learning. In this paper, we are interested in evolutionary algorithms, the so-called genetics-based machine learning algorithms. In particular, we will focus on evolutionary approaches that evolve a set of rules, i.e., evolutionary rule-based systems, applied to classification tasks, in order to provide a state of the art in this field. This paper has a double aim: to present a taxonomy of the genetics-based machine learning approaches for rule induction, and to develop an empirical analysis both for standard classification and for classification with imbalanced data sets. We also include a comparative study of the genetics-based machine learning (GBML) methods with some classical non-evolutionary algorithms, in order to observe the suitability and high potential of the search performed by evolutionary algorithms and the behavior of the GBML algorithms in contrast to the classical approaches, in terms of classification accuracy.