We introduce Quafu-Qcover,an open-source cloud-based software package developed for solving combinatorial optimization problems using quantum simulators and hardware backends.Quafu-Qcover provides a standardized and c...We introduce Quafu-Qcover,an open-source cloud-based software package developed for solving combinatorial optimization problems using quantum simulators and hardware backends.Quafu-Qcover provides a standardized and comprehensive workflow that utilizes the quantum approximate optimization algorithm(QAOA).It facilitates the automatic conversion of the original problem into a quadratic unconstrained binary optimization(QUBO)model and its corresponding Ising model,which can be subsequently transformed into a weight graph.The core of Qcover relies on a graph decomposition-based classical algorithm,which efficiently derives the optimal parameters for the shallow QAOA circuit.Quafu-Qcover incorporates a dedicated compiler capable of translating QAOA circuits into physical quantum circuits that can be executed on Quafu cloud quantum computers.Compared to a general-purpose compiler,our compiler demonstrates the ability to generate shorter circuit depths,while also exhibiting superior speed performance.Additionally,the Qcover compiler has the capability to dynamically create a library of qubits coupling substructures in real-time,utilizing the most recent calibration data from the superconducting quantum devices.This ensures that computational tasks can be assigned to connected physical qubits with the highest fidelity.The Quafu-Qcover allows us to retrieve quantum computing sampling results using a task ID at any time,enabling asynchronous processing.Moreover,it incorporates modules for results preprocessing and visualization,facilitating an intuitive display of solutions for combinatorial optimization problems.We hope that Quafu-Qcover can serve as an instructive illustration for how to explore application problems on the Quafu cloud quantum computers.展开更多
This paper is basically a survey to show a number of combinatorial optimization problems arising from VLSI circuit design. Some of them including the existence problem, minimax problem, net representation, bend minimi...This paper is basically a survey to show a number of combinatorial optimization problems arising from VLSI circuit design. Some of them including the existence problem, minimax problem, net representation, bend minimization, area minimization, placement problem, routing problem, etc. are especially discussed with new results and theoretical ideas for treating them. Finally, a number of problems for further research are mentioned.展开更多
Owing to their global search capabilities and gradient-free operation,metaheuristic algorithms are widely applied to a wide range of optimization problems.However,their computational demands become prohibitive when ta...Owing to their global search capabilities and gradient-free operation,metaheuristic algorithms are widely applied to a wide range of optimization problems.However,their computational demands become prohibitive when tackling high-dimensional optimization challenges.To effectively address these challenges,this study introduces cooperative metaheuristics integrating dynamic dimension reduction(DR).Building upon particle swarm optimization(PSO)and differential evolution(DE),the proposed cooperative methods C-PSO and C-DE are developed.In the proposed methods,the modified principal components analysis(PCA)is utilized to reduce the dimension of design variables,thereby decreasing computational costs.The dynamic DR strategy implements periodic execution of modified PCA after a fixed number of iterations,resulting in the important dimensions being dynamically identified.Compared with the static one,the dynamic DR strategy can achieve precise identification of important dimensions,thereby enabling accelerated convergence toward optimal solutions.Furthermore,the influence of cumulative contribution rate thresholds on optimization problems with different dimensions is investigated.Metaheuristic algorithms(PSO,DE)and cooperative metaheuristics(C-PSO,C-DE)are examined by 15 benchmark functions and two engineering design problems(speed reducer and composite pressure vessel).Comparative results demonstrate that the cooperative methods achieve significantly superior performance compared to standard methods in both solution accuracy and computational efficiency.Compared to standard metaheuristic algorithms,cooperative metaheuristics achieve a reduction in computational cost of at least 40%.The cooperative metaheuristics can be effectively used to tackle both high-dimensional unconstrained and constrained optimization problems.展开更多
Combinatorial optimization problems and ground state problems of spin glasses are crucial in various fields of science and technology.However,they often belong to the computational class of NP-hard,presenting signific...Combinatorial optimization problems and ground state problems of spin glasses are crucial in various fields of science and technology.However,they often belong to the computational class of NP-hard,presenting significant computational challenges.Traditional algorithms inspired by statistical physics like simulated annealing have been widely adopted.Recently,advancements in Ising machines,such as quantum annealers and coherent Ising machines,offer new paradigms for solving these problems efficiently by embedding them into the analog evolution of nonlinear dynamical systems.However,existing dynamics-based algorithms often suffer from low convergence rates and local minima traps.In this work,we introduce the dual mean-field dynamics into Ising machines.The approach integrates the gradient force and the transverse force into the dynamics of Ising machines in solving combinatorial optimization problems,making it easier for the system to jump out of the local minimums and allowing the dynamics to explore wider in configuration space.We conduct extensive numerical experiments using the Sherrington–Kirkpatrick spin glass up to 10000 spins and the maximum cut problems with the standard G-set benchmarks.The numerical results demonstrate that our dual mean-field dynamics approach enhances the performance of base Ising machines,providing a more effective solution for large-scale combinatorial optimization problems.展开更多
Formalizing complex processes and phenomena of a real-world problem may require a large number of variables and constraints,resulting in what is termed a large-scale optimization problem.Nowadays,such large-scale opti...Formalizing complex processes and phenomena of a real-world problem may require a large number of variables and constraints,resulting in what is termed a large-scale optimization problem.Nowadays,such large-scale optimization problems are solved using computing machines,leading to an enormous computational time being required,which may delay deriving timely solutions.Decomposition methods,which partition a large-scale optimization problem into lower-dimensional subproblems,represent a key approach to addressing time-efficiency issues.There has been significant progress in both applied mathematics and emerging artificial intelligence approaches on this front.This work aims at providing an overview of the decomposition methods from both the mathematics and computer science points of view.We also remark on the state-of-the-art developments and recent applications of the decomposition methods,and discuss the future research and development perspectives.展开更多
Most material distribution-based topology optimization methods work on a relaxed form of the optimization problem and then push the solution toward the binary limits.However,when benchmarking these methods,researchers...Most material distribution-based topology optimization methods work on a relaxed form of the optimization problem and then push the solution toward the binary limits.However,when benchmarking these methods,researchers use known solutions to only a single form of benchmark problem.This paper proposes a comparison platform for systematic benchmarking of topology optimization methods using both binary and relaxed forms.A greyness measure is implemented to evaluate how far a solution is from the desired binary form.The well-known ZhouRozvany(ZR)problem is selected as the benchmarking problem here,making use of available global solutions for both its relaxed and binary forms.The recently developed non-penalization Smooth-edged Material Distribution for Optimizing Topology(SEMDOT),well-established Solid Isotropic Material with Penalization(SIMP),and continuation methods are studied on this platform.Interestingly,in most cases,the grayscale solutions obtained by SEMDOT demonstrate better performance in dealing with the ZR problem than SIMP.The reasons are investigated and attributed to the usage of two different regularization techniques,namely,the Heaviside smooth function in SEMDOT and the power-law penalty in SIMP.More importantly,a simple-to-use benchmarking graph is proposed for evaluating newly developed topology optimization methods.展开更多
This paper states a new metaheuristic based on Deterministic Finite Automata （DFA） for the multi - objective optimization of combinatorial problems. First, a new DFA named Multi - Objective Deterministic Finite Auto...This paper states a new metaheuristic based on Deterministic Finite Automata （DFA） for the multi - objective optimization of combinatorial problems. First, a new DFA named Multi - Objective Deterministic Finite Automata （MDFA） is defined. MDFA allows the representation of the feasible solutions space of combinatorial problems. Second, it is defined and implemented a metaheuritic based on MDFA theory. It is named Metaheuristic of Deterministic Swapping （MODS）. MODS is a local search strategy that works using a MDFA. Due to this, MODS never take into account unfeasible solutions. Hence, it is not necessary to verify the problem constraints for a new solution found. Lastly, MODS is tested using well know instances of the Bi-Objective Traveling Salesman Problem （TSP） from TSPLIB. Its results were compared with eight Ant Colony inspired algorithms and two Genetic algorithms taken from the specialized literature. The comparison was made using metrics such as Spacing, Generational Distance, Inverse Generational Distance and No-Dominated Generation Vectors. In every case, the MODS results on the metrics were always better and in some of those cases, the superiority was 100%.展开更多
The aim of this paper is to study the relationship among Minty vector variational-like inequality problem, Stampacchia vector variational-like inequality problem and vector optimization problem involving (G, α)-invex...The aim of this paper is to study the relationship among Minty vector variational-like inequality problem, Stampacchia vector variational-like inequality problem and vector optimization problem involving (G, α)-invex functions. Furthermore, we establish equivalence among the solutions of weak formulations of Minty vector variational-like inequality problem, Stampacchia vector variational-like inequality problem and weak efficient solution of vector optimization problem under the assumption of (G, α)-invex functions. Examples are provided to elucidate our results.展开更多
Addressing graph combinatorial optimization problems often poses significant challenges due to the difficulty and high cost of obtaining supervised labels.As a result,unsupervised algorithms have garnered increasing a...Addressing graph combinatorial optimization problems often poses significant challenges due to the difficulty and high cost of obtaining supervised labels.As a result,unsupervised algorithms have garnered increasing attention from researchers.In this paper,we propose a novel unsupervised framework that leverages contrastive learning to address these challenges.Drawing inspiration from traditional exact algorithms,we introduce a vertex-based degree-aware data augmentation method that enables the progressive learning of graph structure features.Furthermore,we incorporate optimal transport theory by using distance measures as the contrastive loss,thereby enhancing the model′s ability to capture local graph structures.Extensive experiments demonstrate the superior performance of our approach in terms of both solution accuracy and inference speed on most graph combinatorial optimization problems,particularly in large-scale graph problems and scenarios where training samples are scarce.展开更多
Combinatorial optimization problems are found in many application fields such as computer science, engineering and economy. In this paper, a new efficient meta-heuristic, Intersection-Based Scaling (IBS for abbreviati...Combinatorial optimization problems are found in many application fields such as computer science, engineering and economy. In this paper, a new efficient meta-heuristic, Intersection-Based Scaling (IBS for abbreviation), is proposed and it can be applied to the combinatorial optimization problems. The main idea of IBS is to scale the size of the instance based on the intersection of some local optima, and to simplify the search space by extracting the intersection from the instance, which makes the search more efficient. The combination of IBS with some local search heuristics of different combinatorial optimization problems such as Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) and Graph Partitioning Problem (GPP) is studied, and comparisons are made with some of the best heuristic algorithms and meta-heuristic algorithms. It is found that it has significantly improved the performance of existing local search heuristics and significantly outperforms the known best algorithms. Keywords combinatorial optimization - TSP (Traveling Salesman Problem) - GPP (Graph Partitioning Problem) - IBS (Intersection-Based Scaling) - meta heuristic Regular PaperThis work is supported by the National Basic Research 973 Program of China (Grant No.TG1998030401).Peng Zou was born in 1979. He received the B.S. degree in computer software from University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2000. Now he is a Ph.D. candidate in computer science of USTC. His current research interests include algorithms for NP-hard problems and parallel computing.Zhi Zhou was born in 1976. He received the B.S. degree in computer software from USTC in 1995. Now he is a Ph.D. candidate in computer science of USTC. His current research interests include combinatorial problem and parallel computing.Ying-Yu Wan was born in 1976. He received the B.S. degree in computer software from USTC in 1997, and the Ph.D. degree from USTC in 2002. His current research interests include parallel computing and combinatorial problem.Guo-Liang Chen was born in 1938. Now he is an Academician of CAS and Ph.D. supervisor in Department of Computer Science at USTC, director of the National High Performance Computing Center at Hefei. His current research interests include parallel computing, computer architecture and combinatorial optimization.Jun Gu was born in 1956. He received the B.S. degree in electronic engineering from USTC in 1982, and the Ph.D. degree in computer science from University of Utah. Now he is a professor and Ph.D. supervisor in computer science at USTC and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His main research interrests include algorithms for NP-hard problems.展开更多
Considering that the vehicle routing problem （VRP） with many extended features is widely used in actual life, such as multi-depot, heterogeneous types of vehicles, customer service priority and time windows etc., a ...Considering that the vehicle routing problem （VRP） with many extended features is widely used in actual life, such as multi-depot, heterogeneous types of vehicles, customer service priority and time windows etc., a mathematical model for multi-depot heterogeneous vehicle routing problem with soft time windows （MDHVRPSTW） is established. An improved ant colony optimization （IACO） is proposed for solving this model. First, MDHVRPSTW is transferred into different groups according to the nearest principle, and then the initial route is constructed by the scanning algorithm （SA）. Secondly, genetic operators are introduced, and crossover probability and mutation probability are adaptively adjusted in order to improve the global search ability of the algorithm. Moreover, the smooth mechanism is used to improve the performance of the ant colony optimization （ACO）. Finally, the 3-opt strategy is used to improve the local search ability. The proposed IACO was tested on three new instances that were generated randomly. The experimental results show that IACO is superior to the other three existing algorithms in terms of convergence speed and solution quality. Thus, the proposed method is effective and feasible, and the proposed model is meaningful.展开更多
A novel chaotic search method is proposed,and a hybrid algorithm combining particle swarm optimization(PSO) with this new method,called CLSPSO,is put forward to solve 14 integer and mixed integer programming problems....A novel chaotic search method is proposed,and a hybrid algorithm combining particle swarm optimization(PSO) with this new method,called CLSPSO,is put forward to solve 14 integer and mixed integer programming problems.The performances of CLSPSO are compared with those of other five hybrid algorithms combining PSO with chaotic search methods.Experimental results indicate that in terms of robustness and final convergence speed,CLSPSO is better than other five algorithms in solving many of these problems.Furthermore,CLSPSO exhibits good performance in solving two high-dimensional problems,and it finds better solutions than the known ones.A performance index(PI) is introduced to fairly compare the above six algorithms,and the obtained values of(PI) in three cases demonstrate that CLSPSO is superior to all the other five algorithms under the same conditions.展开更多
To solve large-scale optimization problems,Fragrance coefficient and variant Particle Swarm local search Butterfly Optimization Algorithm(FPSBOA)is proposed.In the position update stage of Butterfly Optimization Algor...To solve large-scale optimization problems,Fragrance coefficient and variant Particle Swarm local search Butterfly Optimization Algorithm(FPSBOA)is proposed.In the position update stage of Butterfly Optimization Algorithm(BOA),the fragrance coefficient is designed to balance the exploration and exploitation of BOA.The variant particle swarm local search strategy is proposed to improve the local search ability of the current optimal butterfly and prevent the algorithm from falling into local optimality.192000-dimensional functions and 201000-dimensional CEC 2010 large-scale functions are used to verify FPSBOA for complex large-scale optimization problems.The experimental results are statistically analyzed by Friedman test and Wilcoxon rank-sum test.All attained results demonstrated that FPSBOA can better solve more challenging scientific and industrial real-world problems with thousands of variables.Finally,four mechanical engineering problems and one ten-dimensional process synthesis and design problem are applied to FPSBOA,which shows FPSBOA has the feasibility and effectiveness in real-world application problems.展开更多
Many problems in science,engineering and real life are related to the combinatorial optimization.However,many combinatorial optimization problems belong to a class of the NP-hard problems,and their globally optimal so...Many problems in science,engineering and real life are related to the combinatorial optimization.However,many combinatorial optimization problems belong to a class of the NP-hard problems,and their globally optimal solutions are usually difficult to solve.Therefore,great attention has been attracted to the algorithms of searching the globally optimal solution or near-optimal solution for the combinatorial optimization problems.As a typical combinatorial optimization problem,the traveling salesman problem(TSP)often serves as a touchstone for novel approaches.It has been found that natural systems,particularly brain nervous systems,work at the critical region between order and disorder,namely,on the edge of chaos.In this work,an algorithm for the combinatorial optimization problems is proposed based on the neural networks on the edge of chaos(ECNN).The algorithm is then applied to TSPs of 10 cities,21 cities,48 cities and 70 cities.The results show that ECNN algorithm has strong ability to drive the networks away from local minimums.Compared with the transiently chaotic neural network(TCNN),the stochastic chaotic neural network(SCNN)algorithms and other optimization algorithms,much higher rates of globally optimal solutions and near-optimal solutions are obtained with ECNN algorithm.To conclude,our algorithm provides an effective way for solving the combinatorial optimization problems.展开更多
The extension of Minimum Spanning Tree(MST) problem is an NP hard problem which does not exit a polynomial time algorithm. In this paper, a fast optimization method on MST problem——the Gradient Gene Algorithm is int...The extension of Minimum Spanning Tree(MST) problem is an NP hard problem which does not exit a polynomial time algorithm. In this paper, a fast optimization method on MST problem——the Gradient Gene Algorithm is introduced. Compared with other evolutionary algorithms on MST problem, it is more advanced: firstly, very simple and easy to realize; then, efficient and accurate; finally general on other combination optimization problems.展开更多
Real-world engineering design problems with complex objective functions under some constraints are relatively difficult problems to solve.Such design problems are widely experienced in many engineering fields,such as ...Real-world engineering design problems with complex objective functions under some constraints are relatively difficult problems to solve.Such design problems are widely experienced in many engineering fields,such as industry,automotive,construction,machinery,and interdisciplinary research.However,there are established optimization techniques that have shown effectiveness in addressing these types of issues.This research paper gives a comparative study of the implementation of seventeen new metaheuristic methods in order to optimize twelve distinct engineering design issues.The algorithms used in the study are listed as:transient search optimization(TSO),equilibrium optimizer(EO),grey wolf optimizer(GWO),moth-flame optimization(MFO),whale optimization algorithm(WOA),slimemould algorithm(SMA),harris hawks optimization(HHO),chimp optimization algorithm(COA),coot optimization algorithm(COOT),multi-verse optimization(MVO),arithmetic optimization algorithm(AOA),aquila optimizer(AO),sine cosine algorithm(SCA),smell agent optimization(SAO),and seagull optimization algorithm(SOA),pelican optimization algorithm(POA),and coati optimization algorithm(CA).As far as we know,there is no comparative analysis of recent and popular methods against the concrete conditions of real-world engineering problems.Hence,a remarkable research guideline is presented in the study for researchersworking in the fields of engineering and artificial intelligence,especiallywhen applying the optimization methods that have emerged recently.Future research can rely on this work for a literature search on comparisons of metaheuristic optimization methods in real-world problems under similar conditions.展开更多
This research focuses on the home health care optimization problem that involves staff routing and scheduling problems.The considered problem is an extension of multiple travelling salesman problem.It consists of find...This research focuses on the home health care optimization problem that involves staff routing and scheduling problems.The considered problem is an extension of multiple travelling salesman problem.It consists of finding the shortest path for a set of caregivers visiting a set of patients at their homes in order to perform various tasks during a given horizon.Thus,a mixed-integer linear programming model is proposed to minimize the overall service time performed by all caregivers while respecting the workload balancing constraint.Nevertheless,when the time horizon become large,practical-sized instances become very difficult to solve in a reasonable computational time.Therefore,a new Learning Genetic Algorithm for mTSP(LGA-mTSP)is proposed to solve the problem.LGA-mTSP is composed of a new genetic algorithm for mTSP,combined with a learning approach,called learning curves.Learning refers to that caregivers’productivity increases as they gain more experience.Learning curves approach is considered as a way to save time and costs.Simulation results show the efficiency of the proposed approach and the impact of learning curve strategy to reduce service times.展开更多
Using Genetic Algorithms (GAs) is a powerful tool to get solution to large scale design optimization problems. This paper used GA to solve complicated design optimization problems in two different applications. The ai...Using Genetic Algorithms (GAs) is a powerful tool to get solution to large scale design optimization problems. This paper used GA to solve complicated design optimization problems in two different applications. The aims are to implement the genetic algorithm to solve these two different (nested) problems, and to get the best or optimization solutions.展开更多
Combinatorial Optimization Problems(COPs)are a class of optimization problems that are commonly encountered in industrial production and everyday life.Over the last few decades,traditional algorithms,such as exact alg...Combinatorial Optimization Problems(COPs)are a class of optimization problems that are commonly encountered in industrial production and everyday life.Over the last few decades,traditional algorithms,such as exact algorithms,approximate algorithms,and heuristic algorithms,have been proposed to solve COPs.However,as COPs in the real world become more complex,traditional algorithms struggle to generate optimal solutions in a limited amount of time.Since Deep Neural Networks(DNNs)are not heavily dependent on expert knowledge and are adequately flexible for generalization to various COPs,several DNN-based algorithms have been proposed in the last ten years for solving COPs.Herein,we categorize these algorithms into four classes and provide a brief overview of their applications in real-world problems.展开更多
Ant colony optimization （ACO） is a new heuristic algo- rithm which has been proven a successful technique and applied to a number of combinatorial optimization problems. The traveling salesman problem （TSP） is amo...Ant colony optimization （ACO） is a new heuristic algo- rithm which has been proven a successful technique and applied to a number of combinatorial optimization problems. The traveling salesman problem （TSP） is among the most important combinato- rial problems. An ACO algorithm based on scout characteristic is proposed for solving the stagnation behavior and premature con- vergence problem of the basic ACO algorithm on TSP. The main idea is to partition artificial ants into two groups： scout ants and common ants. The common ants work according to the search manner of basic ant colony algorithm, but scout ants have some differences from common ants, they calculate each route＇s muta- tion probability of the current optimal solution using path evaluation model and search around the optimal solution according to the mutation probability. Simulation on TSP shows that the improved algorithm has high efficiency and robustness.展开更多
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.92365206)the support of the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(Certificate Number:2023M740272)+1 种基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.12247168)China Postdoctoral Science Foundation(Certificate Number:2022TQ0036)。
文摘We introduce Quafu-Qcover,an open-source cloud-based software package developed for solving combinatorial optimization problems using quantum simulators and hardware backends.Quafu-Qcover provides a standardized and comprehensive workflow that utilizes the quantum approximate optimization algorithm(QAOA).It facilitates the automatic conversion of the original problem into a quadratic unconstrained binary optimization(QUBO)model and its corresponding Ising model,which can be subsequently transformed into a weight graph.The core of Qcover relies on a graph decomposition-based classical algorithm,which efficiently derives the optimal parameters for the shallow QAOA circuit.Quafu-Qcover incorporates a dedicated compiler capable of translating QAOA circuits into physical quantum circuits that can be executed on Quafu cloud quantum computers.Compared to a general-purpose compiler,our compiler demonstrates the ability to generate shorter circuit depths,while also exhibiting superior speed performance.Additionally,the Qcover compiler has the capability to dynamically create a library of qubits coupling substructures in real-time,utilizing the most recent calibration data from the superconducting quantum devices.This ensures that computational tasks can be assigned to connected physical qubits with the highest fidelity.The Quafu-Qcover allows us to retrieve quantum computing sampling results using a task ID at any time,enabling asynchronous processing.Moreover,it incorporates modules for results preprocessing and visualization,facilitating an intuitive display of solutions for combinatorial optimization problems.We hope that Quafu-Qcover can serve as an instructive illustration for how to explore application problems on the Quafu cloud quantum computers.
文摘This paper is basically a survey to show a number of combinatorial optimization problems arising from VLSI circuit design. Some of them including the existence problem, minimax problem, net representation, bend minimization, area minimization, placement problem, routing problem, etc. are especially discussed with new results and theoretical ideas for treating them. Finally, a number of problems for further research are mentioned.
基金funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.12402142,11832013 and 11572134)Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province(No.2024AFB235)+1 种基金Hubei Provincial Department of Education Science and Technology Research Project(No.Q20221714)the Opening Foundation of Hubei Key Laboratory of Digital Textile Equipment(Nos.DTL2023019 and DTL2022012).
文摘Owing to their global search capabilities and gradient-free operation,metaheuristic algorithms are widely applied to a wide range of optimization problems.However,their computational demands become prohibitive when tackling high-dimensional optimization challenges.To effectively address these challenges,this study introduces cooperative metaheuristics integrating dynamic dimension reduction(DR).Building upon particle swarm optimization(PSO)and differential evolution(DE),the proposed cooperative methods C-PSO and C-DE are developed.In the proposed methods,the modified principal components analysis(PCA)is utilized to reduce the dimension of design variables,thereby decreasing computational costs.The dynamic DR strategy implements periodic execution of modified PCA after a fixed number of iterations,resulting in the important dimensions being dynamically identified.Compared with the static one,the dynamic DR strategy can achieve precise identification of important dimensions,thereby enabling accelerated convergence toward optimal solutions.Furthermore,the influence of cumulative contribution rate thresholds on optimization problems with different dimensions is investigated.Metaheuristic algorithms(PSO,DE)and cooperative metaheuristics(C-PSO,C-DE)are examined by 15 benchmark functions and two engineering design problems(speed reducer and composite pressure vessel).Comparative results demonstrate that the cooperative methods achieve significantly superior performance compared to standard methods in both solution accuracy and computational efficiency.Compared to standard metaheuristic algorithms,cooperative metaheuristics achieve a reduction in computational cost of at least 40%.The cooperative metaheuristics can be effectively used to tackle both high-dimensional unconstrained and constrained optimization problems.
基金supported by Projects 12325501,12047503,12247104,and 12322501 of the National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaProject ZDRW-XX-2022-302 of the Chinese Academy of Sciencespartially supported by the Innovation Program for Quantum Science and Technology project 2021ZD0301900。
文摘Combinatorial optimization problems and ground state problems of spin glasses are crucial in various fields of science and technology.However,they often belong to the computational class of NP-hard,presenting significant computational challenges.Traditional algorithms inspired by statistical physics like simulated annealing have been widely adopted.Recently,advancements in Ising machines,such as quantum annealers and coherent Ising machines,offer new paradigms for solving these problems efficiently by embedding them into the analog evolution of nonlinear dynamical systems.However,existing dynamics-based algorithms often suffer from low convergence rates and local minima traps.In this work,we introduce the dual mean-field dynamics into Ising machines.The approach integrates the gradient force and the transverse force into the dynamics of Ising machines in solving combinatorial optimization problems,making it easier for the system to jump out of the local minimums and allowing the dynamics to explore wider in configuration space.We conduct extensive numerical experiments using the Sherrington–Kirkpatrick spin glass up to 10000 spins and the maximum cut problems with the standard G-set benchmarks.The numerical results demonstrate that our dual mean-field dynamics approach enhances the performance of base Ising machines,providing a more effective solution for large-scale combinatorial optimization problems.
基金The Australian Research Council(DP200101197,DP230101107).
文摘Formalizing complex processes and phenomena of a real-world problem may require a large number of variables and constraints,resulting in what is termed a large-scale optimization problem.Nowadays,such large-scale optimization problems are solved using computing machines,leading to an enormous computational time being required,which may delay deriving timely solutions.Decomposition methods,which partition a large-scale optimization problem into lower-dimensional subproblems,represent a key approach to addressing time-efficiency issues.There has been significant progress in both applied mathematics and emerging artificial intelligence approaches on this front.This work aims at providing an overview of the decomposition methods from both the mathematics and computer science points of view.We also remark on the state-of-the-art developments and recent applications of the decomposition methods,and discuss the future research and development perspectives.
文摘Most material distribution-based topology optimization methods work on a relaxed form of the optimization problem and then push the solution toward the binary limits.However,when benchmarking these methods,researchers use known solutions to only a single form of benchmark problem.This paper proposes a comparison platform for systematic benchmarking of topology optimization methods using both binary and relaxed forms.A greyness measure is implemented to evaluate how far a solution is from the desired binary form.The well-known ZhouRozvany(ZR)problem is selected as the benchmarking problem here,making use of available global solutions for both its relaxed and binary forms.The recently developed non-penalization Smooth-edged Material Distribution for Optimizing Topology(SEMDOT),well-established Solid Isotropic Material with Penalization(SIMP),and continuation methods are studied on this platform.Interestingly,in most cases,the grayscale solutions obtained by SEMDOT demonstrate better performance in dealing with the ZR problem than SIMP.The reasons are investigated and attributed to the usage of two different regularization techniques,namely,the Heaviside smooth function in SEMDOT and the power-law penalty in SIMP.More importantly,a simple-to-use benchmarking graph is proposed for evaluating newly developed topology optimization methods.
文摘This paper states a new metaheuristic based on Deterministic Finite Automata （DFA） for the multi - objective optimization of combinatorial problems. First, a new DFA named Multi - Objective Deterministic Finite Automata （MDFA） is defined. MDFA allows the representation of the feasible solutions space of combinatorial problems. Second, it is defined and implemented a metaheuritic based on MDFA theory. It is named Metaheuristic of Deterministic Swapping （MODS）. MODS is a local search strategy that works using a MDFA. Due to this, MODS never take into account unfeasible solutions. Hence, it is not necessary to verify the problem constraints for a new solution found. Lastly, MODS is tested using well know instances of the Bi-Objective Traveling Salesman Problem （TSP） from TSPLIB. Its results were compared with eight Ant Colony inspired algorithms and two Genetic algorithms taken from the specialized literature. The comparison was made using metrics such as Spacing, Generational Distance, Inverse Generational Distance and No-Dominated Generation Vectors. In every case, the MODS results on the metrics were always better and in some of those cases, the superiority was 100%.
文摘The aim of this paper is to study the relationship among Minty vector variational-like inequality problem, Stampacchia vector variational-like inequality problem and vector optimization problem involving (G, α)-invex functions. Furthermore, we establish equivalence among the solutions of weak formulations of Minty vector variational-like inequality problem, Stampacchia vector variational-like inequality problem and weak efficient solution of vector optimization problem under the assumption of (G, α)-invex functions. Examples are provided to elucidate our results.
文摘Addressing graph combinatorial optimization problems often poses significant challenges due to the difficulty and high cost of obtaining supervised labels.As a result,unsupervised algorithms have garnered increasing attention from researchers.In this paper,we propose a novel unsupervised framework that leverages contrastive learning to address these challenges.Drawing inspiration from traditional exact algorithms,we introduce a vertex-based degree-aware data augmentation method that enables the progressive learning of graph structure features.Furthermore,we incorporate optimal transport theory by using distance measures as the contrastive loss,thereby enhancing the model′s ability to capture local graph structures.Extensive experiments demonstrate the superior performance of our approach in terms of both solution accuracy and inference speed on most graph combinatorial optimization problems,particularly in large-scale graph problems and scenarios where training samples are scarce.
文摘Combinatorial optimization problems are found in many application fields such as computer science, engineering and economy. In this paper, a new efficient meta-heuristic, Intersection-Based Scaling (IBS for abbreviation), is proposed and it can be applied to the combinatorial optimization problems. The main idea of IBS is to scale the size of the instance based on the intersection of some local optima, and to simplify the search space by extracting the intersection from the instance, which makes the search more efficient. The combination of IBS with some local search heuristics of different combinatorial optimization problems such as Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP) and Graph Partitioning Problem (GPP) is studied, and comparisons are made with some of the best heuristic algorithms and meta-heuristic algorithms. It is found that it has significantly improved the performance of existing local search heuristics and significantly outperforms the known best algorithms. Keywords combinatorial optimization - TSP (Traveling Salesman Problem) - GPP (Graph Partitioning Problem) - IBS (Intersection-Based Scaling) - meta heuristic Regular PaperThis work is supported by the National Basic Research 973 Program of China (Grant No.TG1998030401).Peng Zou was born in 1979. He received the B.S. degree in computer software from University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2000. Now he is a Ph.D. candidate in computer science of USTC. His current research interests include algorithms for NP-hard problems and parallel computing.Zhi Zhou was born in 1976. He received the B.S. degree in computer software from USTC in 1995. Now he is a Ph.D. candidate in computer science of USTC. His current research interests include combinatorial problem and parallel computing.Ying-Yu Wan was born in 1976. He received the B.S. degree in computer software from USTC in 1997, and the Ph.D. degree from USTC in 2002. His current research interests include parallel computing and combinatorial problem.Guo-Liang Chen was born in 1938. Now he is an Academician of CAS and Ph.D. supervisor in Department of Computer Science at USTC, director of the National High Performance Computing Center at Hefei. His current research interests include parallel computing, computer architecture and combinatorial optimization.Jun Gu was born in 1956. He received the B.S. degree in electronic engineering from USTC in 1982, and the Ph.D. degree in computer science from University of Utah. Now he is a professor and Ph.D. supervisor in computer science at USTC and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His main research interrests include algorithms for NP-hard problems.
基金The National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.61074147)the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province(No.S2011010005059)+2 种基金the Foundation of Enterprise-University-Research Institute Cooperation from Guangdong Province and Ministry of Education of China(No.2012B091000171,2011B090400460)the Science and Technology Program of Guangdong Province(No.2012B050600028)the Science and Technology Program of Huadu District,Guangzhou(No.HD14ZD001)
文摘Considering that the vehicle routing problem （VRP） with many extended features is widely used in actual life, such as multi-depot, heterogeneous types of vehicles, customer service priority and time windows etc., a mathematical model for multi-depot heterogeneous vehicle routing problem with soft time windows （MDHVRPSTW） is established. An improved ant colony optimization （IACO） is proposed for solving this model. First, MDHVRPSTW is transferred into different groups according to the nearest principle, and then the initial route is constructed by the scanning algorithm （SA）. Secondly, genetic operators are introduced, and crossover probability and mutation probability are adaptively adjusted in order to improve the global search ability of the algorithm. Moreover, the smooth mechanism is used to improve the performance of the ant colony optimization （ACO）. Finally, the 3-opt strategy is used to improve the local search ability. The proposed IACO was tested on three new instances that were generated randomly. The experimental results show that IACO is superior to the other three existing algorithms in terms of convergence speed and solution quality. Thus, the proposed method is effective and feasible, and the proposed model is meaningful.
基金Projects(50275150,61173052) supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of ChinaProject(14FJ3112) supported by the Planned Science and Technology of Hunan Province,ChinaProject(14B033) supported by Scientific Research Fund Education Department of Hunan Province,China
文摘A novel chaotic search method is proposed,and a hybrid algorithm combining particle swarm optimization(PSO) with this new method,called CLSPSO,is put forward to solve 14 integer and mixed integer programming problems.The performances of CLSPSO are compared with those of other five hybrid algorithms combining PSO with chaotic search methods.Experimental results indicate that in terms of robustness and final convergence speed,CLSPSO is better than other five algorithms in solving many of these problems.Furthermore,CLSPSO exhibits good performance in solving two high-dimensional problems,and it finds better solutions than the known ones.A performance index(PI) is introduced to fairly compare the above six algorithms,and the obtained values of(PI) in three cases demonstrate that CLSPSO is superior to all the other five algorithms under the same conditions.
基金funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.72104069)the Science and Technology Department of Henan Province,China(No.182102310886 and 162102110109)the Postgraduate Meritocracy Scheme,hina(No.SYL19060145).
文摘To solve large-scale optimization problems,Fragrance coefficient and variant Particle Swarm local search Butterfly Optimization Algorithm(FPSBOA)is proposed.In the position update stage of Butterfly Optimization Algorithm(BOA),the fragrance coefficient is designed to balance the exploration and exploitation of BOA.The variant particle swarm local search strategy is proposed to improve the local search ability of the current optimal butterfly and prevent the algorithm from falling into local optimality.192000-dimensional functions and 201000-dimensional CEC 2010 large-scale functions are used to verify FPSBOA for complex large-scale optimization problems.The experimental results are statistically analyzed by Friedman test and Wilcoxon rank-sum test.All attained results demonstrated that FPSBOA can better solve more challenging scientific and industrial real-world problems with thousands of variables.Finally,four mechanical engineering problems and one ten-dimensional process synthesis and design problem are applied to FPSBOA,which shows FPSBOA has the feasibility and effectiveness in real-world application problems.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.12074335)the National Science and Technology Major Project of the Ministry of Science and Technology of China(Grant No.2016YFA0300402).
文摘Many problems in science,engineering and real life are related to the combinatorial optimization.However,many combinatorial optimization problems belong to a class of the NP-hard problems,and their globally optimal solutions are usually difficult to solve.Therefore,great attention has been attracted to the algorithms of searching the globally optimal solution or near-optimal solution for the combinatorial optimization problems.As a typical combinatorial optimization problem,the traveling salesman problem(TSP)often serves as a touchstone for novel approaches.It has been found that natural systems,particularly brain nervous systems,work at the critical region between order and disorder,namely,on the edge of chaos.In this work,an algorithm for the combinatorial optimization problems is proposed based on the neural networks on the edge of chaos(ECNN).The algorithm is then applied to TSPs of 10 cities,21 cities,48 cities and 70 cities.The results show that ECNN algorithm has strong ability to drive the networks away from local minimums.Compared with the transiently chaotic neural network(TCNN),the stochastic chaotic neural network(SCNN)algorithms and other optimization algorithms,much higher rates of globally optimal solutions and near-optimal solutions are obtained with ECNN algorithm.To conclude,our algorithm provides an effective way for solving the combinatorial optimization problems.
文摘The extension of Minimum Spanning Tree(MST) problem is an NP hard problem which does not exit a polynomial time algorithm. In this paper, a fast optimization method on MST problem——the Gradient Gene Algorithm is introduced. Compared with other evolutionary algorithms on MST problem, it is more advanced: firstly, very simple and easy to realize; then, efficient and accurate; finally general on other combination optimization problems.
文摘Real-world engineering design problems with complex objective functions under some constraints are relatively difficult problems to solve.Such design problems are widely experienced in many engineering fields,such as industry,automotive,construction,machinery,and interdisciplinary research.However,there are established optimization techniques that have shown effectiveness in addressing these types of issues.This research paper gives a comparative study of the implementation of seventeen new metaheuristic methods in order to optimize twelve distinct engineering design issues.The algorithms used in the study are listed as:transient search optimization(TSO),equilibrium optimizer(EO),grey wolf optimizer(GWO),moth-flame optimization(MFO),whale optimization algorithm(WOA),slimemould algorithm(SMA),harris hawks optimization(HHO),chimp optimization algorithm(COA),coot optimization algorithm(COOT),multi-verse optimization(MVO),arithmetic optimization algorithm(AOA),aquila optimizer(AO),sine cosine algorithm(SCA),smell agent optimization(SAO),and seagull optimization algorithm(SOA),pelican optimization algorithm(POA),and coati optimization algorithm(CA).As far as we know,there is no comparative analysis of recent and popular methods against the concrete conditions of real-world engineering problems.Hence,a remarkable research guideline is presented in the study for researchersworking in the fields of engineering and artificial intelligence,especiallywhen applying the optimization methods that have emerged recently.Future research can rely on this work for a literature search on comparisons of metaheuristic optimization methods in real-world problems under similar conditions.
文摘This research focuses on the home health care optimization problem that involves staff routing and scheduling problems.The considered problem is an extension of multiple travelling salesman problem.It consists of finding the shortest path for a set of caregivers visiting a set of patients at their homes in order to perform various tasks during a given horizon.Thus,a mixed-integer linear programming model is proposed to minimize the overall service time performed by all caregivers while respecting the workload balancing constraint.Nevertheless,when the time horizon become large,practical-sized instances become very difficult to solve in a reasonable computational time.Therefore,a new Learning Genetic Algorithm for mTSP(LGA-mTSP)is proposed to solve the problem.LGA-mTSP is composed of a new genetic algorithm for mTSP,combined with a learning approach,called learning curves.Learning refers to that caregivers’productivity increases as they gain more experience.Learning curves approach is considered as a way to save time and costs.Simulation results show the efficiency of the proposed approach and the impact of learning curve strategy to reduce service times.
文摘Using Genetic Algorithms (GAs) is a powerful tool to get solution to large scale design optimization problems. This paper used GA to solve complicated design optimization problems in two different applications. The aims are to implement the genetic algorithm to solve these two different (nested) problems, and to get the best or optimization solutions.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Nos.62173258 and 61773296).
文摘Combinatorial Optimization Problems(COPs)are a class of optimization problems that are commonly encountered in industrial production and everyday life.Over the last few decades,traditional algorithms,such as exact algorithms,approximate algorithms,and heuristic algorithms,have been proposed to solve COPs.However,as COPs in the real world become more complex,traditional algorithms struggle to generate optimal solutions in a limited amount of time.Since Deep Neural Networks(DNNs)are not heavily dependent on expert knowledge and are adequately flexible for generalization to various COPs,several DNN-based algorithms have been proposed in the last ten years for solving COPs.Herein,we categorize these algorithms into four classes and provide a brief overview of their applications in real-world problems.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(60573159)
文摘Ant colony optimization （ACO） is a new heuristic algo- rithm which has been proven a successful technique and applied to a number of combinatorial optimization problems. The traveling salesman problem （TSP） is among the most important combinato- rial problems. An ACO algorithm based on scout characteristic is proposed for solving the stagnation behavior and premature con- vergence problem of the basic ACO algorithm on TSP. The main idea is to partition artificial ants into two groups： scout ants and common ants. The common ants work according to the search manner of basic ant colony algorithm, but scout ants have some differences from common ants, they calculate each route＇s muta- tion probability of the current optimal solution using path evaluation model and search around the optimal solution according to the mutation probability. Simulation on TSP shows that the improved algorithm has high efficiency and robustness.
