Reactive Search and Intelligent Optimization is an excellent introduction to the main principles of reactive search, as well as an attempt to develop some fresh intuition for the approaches. The book looks at different optimization possibilities with an emphasis on opportunities for learning and self-tuning strategies. While focusing more on methods than on problems, problems are introduced wherever they help make the discussion more concrete, or when a specific problem has been widely studied by reactive search and intelligent optimization heuristics. Individual chapters cover reacting on the neighborhood; reacting on the annealing schedule; reactive prohibitions; model-based search; reacting on the objective function; relationships between reactive search and reinforcement learning; and much more. Each chapter is structured to show basic issues and algorithms; the parameters critical for the success of the different methods discussed; and opportunities for the automated tuning of these parameters.

This book provides energy efficiency quantitative analysis and optimal methods for discrete manufacturing systems from the perspective of global optimization. In order to analyze and optimize energy efficiency for discrete manufacturing systems, it uses real-time access to energy consumption information and models of the energy consumption, and constructs an energy efficiency quantitative index system. Based on the rough set and analytic hierarchy process, it also proposes a principal component quantitative analysis and a combined energy efficiency quantitative analysis. In turn, the book addresses the design and development of quantitative analysis systems. To save energy consumption on the basis of energy efficiency analysis, it presents several optimal control strategies, including one for single-machine equipment, an integrated approach based on RWA-MOPSO, and one for production energy efficiency based on a teaching and learning optimal algorithm. Given its scope, the book offers a valuable guide for students, teachers, engineers and researchers in the field of discrete manufacturing systems.

Written by an international group of active researchers in the field, this volume presents innovative formulations and applied procedures for sensitivity analysis and structural design optimization. Eight chapters discuss subjects ranging from recent developments in the determination and application of topological gradients, to the use of evolutionary algorithms and meta-models to solve practical engineering problems. With such a comprehensive set of contributions, the book is a valuable source of information for graduate students and researchers entering or working in the matter.

This book presents the latest insights and developments in the field of socio-cultural inspired algorithms. Akin to evolutionary and swarm-based optimization algorithms, socio-cultural algorithms belong to the category of metaheuristics (problem-independent computational methods) and are inspired by natural and social tendencies observed in humans by which they learn from one another through social interactions. This book is an interesting read for engineers, scientists, and students studying/working in the optimization, evolutionary computation, artificial intelligence (AI) and computational intelligence fields.

This book discusses one of the major applications of artificial intelligence: the use of machine learning to extract useful information from multimodal data. It discusses the optimization methods that help minimize the error in developing patterns and classifications, which further helps improve prediction and decision-making. The book also presents formulations of real-world machine learning problems, and discusses AI solution methodologies as standalone or hybrid approaches. Lastly, it proposes novel metaheuristic methods to solve complex machine learning problems. Featuring valuable insights, the book helps readers explore new avenues leading toward multidisciplinary research discussions.

The results presented here (including the assessment of a new tool - inhibitory trees) offer valuable tools for researchers in the areas of data mining, knowledge discovery, and machine learning, especially those whose work involves decision tables with many-valued decisions. The authors consider various examples of problems and corresponding decision tables with many-valued decisions, discuss the difference between decision and inhibitory trees and rules, and develop tools for their analysis and design. Applications include the study of totally optimal (optimal in relation to a number of criteria simultaneously) decision and inhibitory trees and rules; the comparison of greedy heuristics for tree and rule construction as single-criterion and bi-criteria optimization algorithms; and the development of a restricted multi-pruning approach used in classification and knowledge representation.

""This is an engaging and informative book on the modern practice of experimental design. The authors' writing style is entertaining, the consulting dialogs are extremely enjoyable, and the technical material is presented brilliantly but not overwhelmingly. The book is a joy to read. Everyone who practices or teaches DOE should read this book." -" Douglas C. Montgomery, Regents Professor, Department of Industrial Engineering, Arizona State University

""It's been said: 'Design for the experiment, don't experiment for the design.' This book ably demonstrates this notion by showing how tailor-made, optimal designs can be effectively employed to meet a client's actual needs. It should be required reading for anyone interested in using the design of experiments in industrial settings."
"--Christopher J. Nachtsheim, Frank A Donaldson Chair in Operations Management, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota

This book demonstrates the utility of the computer-aided optimal design approach using real industrial examples. These examples address questions such as the following: How can I do screening inexpensively if I have dozens of factors to investigate?What can I do if I have day-to-day variability and I can only perform 3 runs a day?How can I do RSM cost effectively if I have categorical factors?How can I design and analyze experiments when there is a factor that can only be changed a few times over the study?How can I include both ingredients in a mixture and processing factors in the same study?How can I design an experiment if there are many factor combinations that are impossible to run?How can I make sure that a time trend due to warming up of equipment does not affect the conclusions from a study?How can I take into account batch information in when designing experiments involving multiple batches?How can I add runs to a botched experiment to resolve ambiguities?

While answering these questions the book also shows how to evaluate and compare designs. This allows researchers to make sensible trade-offs between the cost of experimentation and the amount of information they obtain.

This book presents the results of a European-Chinese collaborative research project, Manipulation of Reynolds Stress for Separation Control and Drag Reduction (MARS), including an analysis and discussion of the effects of a number of active flow control devices on the discrete dynamic components of the turbulent shear layers and Reynolds stress. From an application point of view, it provides a positive and necessary step to control individual structures that are larger in scale and lower in frequency compared to the richness of the temporal and spatial scales in turbulent separated flows.

This book discusses the stability of axially moving materials, which are encountered in process industry applications such as papermaking. A special emphasis is given to analytical and semianalytical approaches. As preliminaries, we consider a variety of problems across mechanics involving bifurcations, allowing to introduce the techniques in a simplified setting. In the main part of the book, the fundamentals of the theory of axially moving materials are presented in a systematic manner, including both elastic and viscoelastic material models, and the connection between the beam and panel models. The issues that arise in formulating boundary conditions specifically for axially moving materials are discussed. Some problems involving axially moving isotropic and orthotropic elastic plates are analyzed. Analytical free-vibration solutions for axially moving strings with and without damping are derived. A simple model for fluid--structure interaction of an axially moving panel is presented in detail. This book is addressed to researchers, industrial specialists and students in the fields of theoretical and applied mechanics, and of applied and computational mathematics.

This book provides an essential introduction to Stochastic Programming, especially intended for graduate students. The book begins by exploring a linear programming problem with random parameters, representing a decision problem under uncertainty. Several models for this problem are presented, including the main ones used in Stochastic Programming: recourse models and chance constraint models. The book not only discusses the theoretical properties of these models and algorithms for solving them, but also explains the intrinsic differences between the models. In the book's closing section, several case studies are presented, helping students apply the theory covered to practical problems. The book is based on lecture notes developed for an Econometrics and Operations Research course for master students at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands - the longest-standing Stochastic Programming course worldwide.

This book presents the state of the art in designing high-performance algorithms that combine simulation and optimization in order to solve complex optimization problems in science and industry, problems that involve time-consuming simulations and expensive multi-objective function evaluations. As traditional optimization approaches are not applicable per se, combinations of computational intelligence, machine learning, and high-performance computing methods are popular solutions. But finding a suitable method is a challenging task, because numerous approaches have been proposed in this highly dynamic field of research. That's where this book comes in: It covers both theory and practice, drawing on the real-world insights gained by the contributing authors, all of whom are leading researchers. Given its scope, if offers a comprehensive reference guide for researchers, practitioners, and advanced-level students interested in using computational intelligence and machine learning to solve expensive optimization problems.

This book gathers a selection of peer-reviewed papers presented at the International Conference on Operations Research (OR 2019), which was held at Technische Universitat Dresden, Germany, on September 4-6, 2019, and was jointly organized by the German Operations Research Society (GOR) the Austrian Operations Research Society (OEGOR), and the Swiss Operational Research Society (SOR/ASRO). More than 600 scientists, practitioners and students from mathematics, computer science, business/economics and related fields attended the conference and presented more than 400 papers in plenary presentations, parallel topic streams, as well as special award sessions. The respective papers discuss classical mathematical optimization, statistics and simulation techniques. These are complemented by computer science methods, and by tools for processing data, designing and implementing information systems. The book also examines recent advances in information technology, which allow big data volumes to be processed and enable real-time predictive and prescriptive business analytics to drive decisions and actions. Lastly, it includes problems modeled and treated while taking into account uncertainty, risk management, behavioral issues, etc.

This handbook gathers state-of-the-art research on optimization problems in power distribution systems, covering classical problems as well as the challenges introduced by distributed power generation and smart grid resources. It also presents recent models, solution techniques and computational tools to solve planning problems for power distribution systems and explains how to apply them in distributed and variable energy generation resources. As such, the book therefore is a valuable tool to leverage the expansion and operation planning of electricity distribution networks.

This book describes optimization models of clustering problems and clustering algorithms based on optimization techniques, including their implementation, evaluation, and applications. The book gives a comprehensive and detailed description of optimization approaches for solving clustering problems; the authors' emphasis on clustering algorithms is based on deterministic methods of optimization. The book also includes results on real-time clustering algorithms based on optimization techniques, addresses implementation issues of these clustering algorithms, and discusses new challenges arising from big data. The book is ideal for anyone teaching or learning clustering algorithms. It provides an accessible introduction to the field and it is well suited for practitioners already familiar with the basics of optimization.

The book discusses advantages of the firefly algorithm over other well-known metaheuristic algorithms in various engineering studies. The book provides a brief outline of various application-oriented problem solving methods, like economic emission load dispatch problem, designing a fully digital controlled reconfigurable switched beam nonconcentric ring array antenna, image segmentation, span minimization in permutation flow shop scheduling, multi-objective load dispatch problems, image compression, etc., using FA and its variants. It also covers the use of the firefly algorithm to select features, as research has shown that the firefly algorithm generates precise and optimal results in terms of time and optimality. In addition, the book also explores the potential of the firefly algorithm to provide a solution to traveling salesman problem, graph coloring problem, etc

Analysis, assessment, and data management are core tools required for operation research analysts. The April 2011 conference held at the Helenic Military Academy addressed these issues with efforts to collect valuable recommendations for improving analysts' capabilities to assess and communicate the necessary qualitative data to military leaders. This unique volume is an outgrowth of the April conference and comprises of contributions from the fields of science, mathematics, and the military, bringing Greek research findings to the world. Topics cover a wide variety of mathematical methods used with application to defense and security. Each contribution considers directions and pursuits of scientists that pertain to the military as well as the theoretical background required for methods, algorithms, and techniques used in military applications. The direction of theoretical results in these applications is conveyed and open problems and future areas of focus are highlighted. A foreword will be composed by a member of N.A.T.O. or a ranking member of the armed forces. Topics covered include: applied OR and military applications, signal processing, scattering, scientific computing and applications, combat simulation and statistical modeling, satellite remote sensing, and applied informatics - cryptography and coding. The contents of this volume will be of interest to a diverse audience including military operations research analysts, the military community at large, and practitioners working with mathematical methods and applications to informatics and military science.

This book covers the conventional and most recent theories and applications in the area of evolutionary algorithms, swarm intelligence, and meta-heuristics. Each chapter offers a comprehensive description of a specific algorithm, from the mathematical model to its practical application. Different kind of optimization problems are solved in this book, including those related to path planning, image processing, hand gesture detection, among others. All in all, the book offers a tutorial on how to design, adapt, and evaluate evolutionary algorithms. Source codes for most of the proposed techniques have been included as supplementary materials on a dedicated webpage.

This book introduces readers to the use of R codes for optimization problems. First, it provides the necessary background to understand data envelopment analysis (DEA), with a special emphasis on fuzzy DEA. It then describes DEA models, including fuzzy DEA models, and shows how to use them to solve optimization problems with R. Further, it discusses the main advantages of R in optimization problems, and provides R codes based on real-world data sets throughout. Offering a comprehensive review of DEA and fuzzy DEA models and the corresponding R codes, this practice-oriented reference guide is intended for masters and Ph.D. students in various disciplines, as well as practitioners and researchers.

This well-thought-out book covers the fundamentals of nonlinear analysis, with a particular focus on variational methods and their applications. Starting from preliminaries in functional analysis, it expands in several directions such as Banach spaces, fixed point theory, nonsmooth analysis, minimax theory, variational calculus and inequalities, critical point theory, monotone, maximal monotone and pseudomonotone operators, and evolution problems.

Monte Carlo methods are among the most used and useful computational tools available today, providing efficient and practical algorithims to solve a wide range of scientific and engineering problems. Applications covered in this book include optimization, finance, statistical mechanics, birth and death processes, and gambling systems.

Explorations in Monte Carlo Methods provides a hands-on approach to learning this subject. Each new idea is carefully motivated by a realistic problem, thus leading from questions to theory via examples and numerical simulations. Programming exercises are integrated throughout the text as the primary vehicle for learning the material. Each chapter ends with a large collection of problems illustrating and directing the material. This book is suitable as a textbook for students of engineering and the sciences, as well as mathematics.

This authored monograph presents a study on fundamental limits and robustness of stability and stabilization of time-delay systems, with an emphasis on time-varying delay, robust stabilization, and newly emerged areas such as networked control and multi-agent systems. The authors systematically develop an operator-theoretic approach that departs from both the traditional algebraic approach and the currently pervasive LMI solution methods. This approach is built on the classical small-gain theorem, which enables the author to draw upon powerful tools and techniques from robust control theory. The book contains motivating examples and presents mathematical key facts that are required in the subsequent sections. The target audience primarily comprises researchers and professionals in the field of control theory, but the book may also be beneficial for graduate students alike.

This book develops a new approach called parameter advising for finding a parameter setting for a sequence aligner that yields a quality alignment of a given set of input sequences. In this framework, a parameter advisor is a procedure that automatically chooses a parameter setting for the input, and has two main ingredients: (a) the set of parameter choices considered by the advisor, and (b) an estimator of alignment accuracy used to rank alignments produced by the aligner. On coupling a parameter advisor with an aligner, once the advisor is trained in a learning phase, the user simply inputs sequences to align, and receives an output alignment from the aligner, where the advisor has automatically selected the parameter setting. The chapters first lay out the foundations of parameter advising, and then cover applications and extensions of advising. The content * examines formulations of parameter advising and their computational complexity, * develops methods for learning good accuracy estimators, * presents approximation algorithms for finding good sets of parameter choices, and * assesses software implementations of advising that perform well on real biological data. Also explored are applications of parameter advising to * adaptive local realignment, where advising is performed on local regions of the sequences to automatically adapt to varying mutation rates, and * ensemble alignment, where advising is applied to an ensemble of aligners to effectively yield a new aligner of higher quality than the individual aligners in the ensemble. The book concludes by offering future directions in advising research.

A unified view of metaheuristics

This book provides a complete background on metaheuristics and shows readers how to design and implement efficient algorithms to solve complex optimization problems across a diverse range of applications, from networking and bioinformatics to engineering design, routing, and scheduling. It presents the main design questions for all families of metaheuristics and clearly illustrates how to implement the algorithms under a software framework to reuse both the design and code.

Throughout the book, the key search components of metaheuristics are considered as a toolbox for:

Designing efficient metaheuristics (e.g. local search, tabu search, simulated annealing, evolutionary algorithms, particle swarm optimization, scatter search, ant colonies, bee colonies, artificial immune systems) for optimization problems

Designing efficient metaheuristics for multi-objective optimization problems

Designing hybrid, parallel, and distributed metaheuristics

Implementing metaheuristics on sequential and parallel machines

Using many case studies and treating design and implementation independently, this book gives readers the skills necessary to solve large-scale optimization problems quickly and efficiently. It is a valuable reference for practicing engineers and researchers from diverse areas dealing with optimization or machine learning; and graduate students in computer science, operations research, control, engineering, business and management, and applied mathematics.

This basic book has been used at the middle schools in Shanghai, China for more than 10 years. The book presents carefully-selected contents in order to achieve the roles of enlightenment and popularization. It mainly includes: Chapter 1: Human Brains, Computers and Fuzzy Mathematics; Chapter 2: Matrix, Fuzzy Relations and Fuzzy Matrix; Chapter 3: Fuzzy Control; Chapter 4: Fuzzy Statistics and Fuzzy Probability and Chapter 5: Fuzzy Linear Programming. It includes at the end of each chapter concise, interesting and profound reading and thinking materials, and a certain amount of exercises so as to make it an informative and interesting textbook. This book can be used not only as a textbook in senior middle schools, and in vocational colleges, but also as a primer for individually learning fuzzy mathematics.

This book offers the first comprehensive taxonomy for multimodal optimization algorithms, work with its root in topics such as niching, parallel evolutionary algorithms, and global optimization. The author explains niching in evolutionary algorithms and its benefits; he examines their suitability for use as diagnostic tools for experimental analysis, especially for detecting problem (type) properties; and he measures and compares the performances of niching and canonical EAs using different benchmark test problem sets. His work consolidates the recent successes in this domain, presenting and explaining use cases, algorithms, and performance measures, with a focus throughout on the goals of the optimization processes and a deep understanding of the algorithms used. The book will be useful for researchers and practitioners in the area of computational intelligence, particularly those engaged with heuristic search, multimodal optimization, evolutionary computing, and experimental analysis.