Integrated metaheuristic algorithms with extreme learning machine models for river streamflow prediction.

Accurate river streamflow prediction is pivotal for effective resource planning and flood risk management. Traditional river streamflow forecasting models encounter challenges such as nonlinearity, stochastic behavior, and convergence reliability. To overcome these, we introduce novel hybrid models that combine extreme learning machines (ELM) with cutting-edge mathematical inspired metaheuristic optimization algorithms, including Pareto-like sequential sampling (PSS), weighted mean of vectors (INFO), and the Runge-Kutta optimizer (RUN). Our comparative assessment includes 20 hybrid models across eight metaheuristic categories, using streamflow data from the Aswan High Dam on the Nile River. Our findings highlight the superior performance of mathematically based models, which demonstrate enhanced predictive accuracy, robust convergence, and sustained stability. Specifically, the PSS-ELM model achieves superior performance with a root mean square error of 2.0667, a Pearson's correlation index (R) of 0.9374, and a Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE) of 0.8642. Additionally, INFO-ELM and RUN-ELM models exhibit robust convergence with mean absolute percentage errors of 15.21% and 15.28% respectively, a mean absolute errors of 1.2145 and 1.2105, and high Kling-Gupta efficiencies values of 0.9113 and 0.9124, respectively. These findings suggest that the adoption of our proposed models significantly enhances water management strategies and reduces any risks.

A Nature-Inspired Approach to Energy-Efficient Relay Selection in Low-Power Wide-Area Networks (LPWAN).

Despite the ability of Low-Power Wide-Area Networks to offer extended range, they encounter challenges with coverage blind spots in the network. This article proposes an innovative energy-efficient and nature-inspired relay selection algorithm for LoRa-based LPWAN networks, serving as a solution for challenges related to poor signal range in areas with limited coverage. A swarm behavior-inspired approach is utilized to select the relays' localization in the network, providing network energy efficiency and radio signal extension. These relays help to bridge communication gaps, significantly reducing the impact of coverage blind spots by forwarding signals from devices with poor direct connectivity with the gateway. The proposed algorithm considers critical factors for the LoRa standard, such as the Spreading Factor and device energy budget analysis. Simulation experiments validate the proposed scheme's effectiveness in terms of energy efficiency under diverse multi-gateway (up to six gateways) network topology scenarios involving thousands of devices (1000-1500). Specifically, it is verified that the proposed approach outperforms a reference method in preventing battery depletion of the relays, which is vital for battery-powered IoT devices. Furthermore, the proposed heuristic method achieves over twice the speed of the exact method for some large-scale problems, with a negligible accuracy loss of less than 2%.

Fast EM-driven nature-inspired optimization of antenna input characteristics using response features and variable-resolution simulation models.

Utilization of optimization technique is a must in the design of contemporary antenna systems. Often, global search methods are necessary, which are associated with high computational costs when conducted at the level of full-wave electromagnetic (EM) models. In this study, we introduce an innovative method for globally optimizing reflection responses of multi-band antennas. Our approach uses surrogates constructed based on response features, smoothing the objective function landscape processed by the algorithm. We begin with initial parameter space screening and surrogate model construction using coarse-discretization EM analysis. Subsequently, the surrogate evolves iteratively into a co-kriging model, refining itself using accumulated high-fidelity EM simulation results, with the infill criterion focusing on minimizing the predicted objective function. Employing a particle swarm optimizer (PSO) as the underlying search routine, extensive verification case studies showcase the efficiency and superiority of our procedure over benchmarks. The average optimization cost translates to just around ninety high-fidelity EM antenna analyses, showcasing excellent solution repeatability. Leveraging variable-resolution simulations achieves up to a seventy percent speedup compared to the single-fidelity algorithm.

A Sustainable Multi-Objective Model for Capacitated-Electric-Vehicle-Routing-Problem Considering Hard and Soft Time Windows as Well as Partial Recharging.

Due to the high pollution of the transportation sector, nowadays the role of electric vehicles has been noticed more and more by governments, organizations, and environmentally friendly people. On the other hand, the problem of electric vehicle routing (EVRP) has been widely studied in recent years. This paper deals with an extended version of EVRP, in which electric vehicles (EVs) deliver goods to customers. The limited battery capacity of EVs causes their operational domains to be less than those of gasoline vehicles. For this purpose, several charging stations are considered in this study for EVs. In addition, depending on the operational domain, a full charge may not be needed, which reduces the operation time. Therefore, partial recharging is also taken into account in the present research. This problem is formulated as a multi-objective integer linear programming model, whose objective functions include economic, environmental, and social aspects. Then, the preemptive fuzzy goal programming method (PFGP) is exploited as an exact method to solve small-sized problems. Also, two hybrid meta-heuristic algorithms inspired by nature, including MOSA, MOGWO, MOPSO, and NSGAII_TLBO, are utilized to solve large-sized problems. The results obtained from solving the numerous test problems demonstrate that the hybrid meta-heuristic algorithm can provide efficient solutions in terms of quality and non-dominated solutions in all test problems. In addition, the performance of the algorithms was compared in terms of four indexes: time, MID, MOCV, and HV. Moreover, statistical analysis is performed to investigate whether there is a significant difference between the performance of the algorithms. The results indicate that the MOSA algorithm performs better in terms of the time index. On the other hand, the NSGA-II-TLBO algorithm outperforms in terms of the MID, MOCV, and HV indexes.

Machine-learning-based global optimization of microwave passives with variable-fidelity EM models and response features.

Maximizing microwave passive component performance demands precise parameter tuning, particularly as modern circuits grow increasingly intricate. Yet, achieving this often requires a comprehensive approach due to their complex geometries and miniaturized structures. However, the computational burden of optimizing these components via full-wave electromagnetic (EM) simulations is substantial. EM analysis remains crucial for circuit reliability, but the expense of conducting rudimentary EM-driven global optimization by means of popular bio-inspired algorithms is impractical. Similarly, nonlinear system characteristics pose challenges for surrogate-assisted methods. This paper introduces an innovative technique leveraging variable-fidelity EM simulations and response feature technology within a kriging-based machine-learning framework for cost-effective global parameter tuning of microwave passives. The efficiency of this approach stems from performing most operations at the low-fidelity simulation level and regularizing the objective function landscape through the response feature method. The primary prediction tool is a co-kriging surrogate, while a particle swarm optimizer, guided by predicted objective function improvements, handles the search process. Rigorous validation demonstrates the proposed framework's competitive efficacy in design quality and computational cost, typically requiring only sixty high-fidelity EM analyses, juxtaposed with various state-of-the-art benchmark methods. These benchmarks encompass nature-inspired algorithms, gradient search, and machine learning techniques directly interacting with the circuit's frequency characteristics.

Does the Field of Nature-Inspired Computing Contribute to Achieving Lifelike Features?

The main idea behind artificial intelligence was simple: what if we study living systems to develop new, practical computing systems that possess "lifelike" properties? And that's exactly how evolutionary computing emerged. Researchers came up with ideas inspired by the principles of evolution to develop intelligent methods to tackle hard problems. The efficacy of these methods made researchers seek inspiration in living organisms and systems and extend the evolutionary concept to other nature-inspired ideas. In recent years, nature-inspired computing has exhibited an exponential increase in the number of algorithms that are presented each year. Authors claim that they are inspired by a behavior found in nature to come up with a lifelike algorithm. However, the mathematical background does not match the behavior in the majority of these cases. Thus the question is, do all nature-inspired algorithms remain lifelike? Also, are there any ideas included that contribute to computing? This study aims to (a) present some nature-inspired methods that contribute to achieving lifelike features of computing systems and (b) discuss if there is any need for new lifelike features.

Multilevel Colonoscopy Histopathology Image Segmentation Using Particle Swarm Optimization Techniques.

Histopathology image segmentation is a challenging task in medical image processing. This work aims to segment lesion regions from colonoscopy histopathology images. Initially, the images are preprocessed and then segmented using the multilevel image thresholding technique. Multilevel thresholding is considered an optimization problem. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) and its variants, darwinian particle swarm optimization (DPSO), and fractional order darwinian particle swarm optimization (FODPSO) are used to solve the optimization problem and they generate the threshold values. The threshold values obtained are used to segment the lesion regions from the images of the colonoscopy tissue data set. Segmented images containing the lesion regions are then postprocessed to remove unnecessary regions. Experimental results reveal that the FODPSO algorithm with Otsu's discriminant criterion as the objective function achieves the best accuracy, Dice and Jaccard values of 0.89, 0.68 and 0.52, respectively, for the colonoscopy data set. The FODPSO algorithm also outperforms other optimization methods such as artificial bee colony and the firefly algorithms in terms of the accuracy, Dice and Jaccard values.

A Hybridized Machine Learning Approach for Predicting COVID-19 Using Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System and Reptile Search Algorithm.

This research is aimed to escalate Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference System (ANFIS) functioning in order to ensure the veracity of existing time-series modeling. The COVID-19 pandemic has been a global threat for the past three years. Therefore, advanced forecasting of confirmed infection cases is extremely essential to alleviate the crisis brought out by COVID-19. An adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system-reptile search algorithm (ANFIS-RSA) is developed to effectively anticipate COVID-19 cases. The proposed model integrates a machine-learning model (ANFIS) with a nature-inspired Reptile Search Algorithm (RSA). The RSA technique is used to modulate the parameters in order to improve the ANFIS modeling. Since the performance of the ANFIS model is dependent on optimizing parameters, the statistics of infected cases in China and India were employed through data obtained from WHO reports. To ensure the accuracy of our estimations, corresponding error indicators such as RMSE, RMSRE, MAE, and MAPE were evaluated using the coefficient of determination (R2). The recommended approach employed on the China dataset was compared with other upgraded ANFIS methods to identify the best error metrics, resulting in an R2 value of 0.9775. ANFIS-CEBAS and Flower Pollination Algorithm and Salp Swarm Algorithm (FPASSA-ANFIS) attained values of 0.9645 and 0.9763, respectively. Furthermore, the ANFIS-RSA technique was used on the India dataset to examine its efficiency and acquired the best R2 value (0.98). Consequently, the suggested technique was found to be more beneficial for high-precision forecasting of COVID-19 on time-series data.

Multilevel Multiobjective Particle Swarm Optimization Guided Superpixel Algorithm for Histopathology Image Detection and Segmentation.

Histopathology image analysis is considered as a gold standard for the early diagnosis of serious diseases such as cancer. The advancements in the field of computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) have led to the development of several algorithms for accurately segmenting histopathology images. However, the application of swarm intelligence for segmenting histopathology images is less explored. In this study, we introduce a Multilevel Multiobjective Particle Swarm Optimization guided Superpixel algorithm (MMPSO-S) for the effective detection and segmentation of various regions of interest (ROIs) from Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E)-stained histopathology images. Several experiments are conducted on four different datasets such as TNBC, MoNuSeg, MoNuSAC, and LD to ascertain the performance of the proposed algorithm. For the TNBC dataset, the algorithm achieves a Jaccard coefficient of 0.49, a Dice coefficient of 0.65, and an F-measure of 0.65. For the MoNuSeg dataset, the algorithm achieves a Jaccard coefficient of 0.56, a Dice coefficient of 0.72, and an F-measure of 0.72. Finally, for the LD dataset, the algorithm achieves a precision of 0.96, a recall of 0.99, and an F-measure of 0.98. The comparative results demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method over the simple Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm, its variants (Darwinian particle swarm optimization (DPSO), fractional order Darwinian particle swarm optimization (FODPSO)), Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithm based on Decomposition (MOEA/D), non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm 2 (NSGA2), and other state-of-the-art traditional image processing methods.

Improved Dwarf Mongoose Optimization for Constrained Engineering Design Problems.

This paper proposes a modified version of the Dwarf Mongoose Optimization Algorithm (IDMO) for constrained engineering design problems. This optimization technique modifies the base algorithm (DMO) in three simple but effective ways. First, the alpha selection in IDMO differs from the DMO, where evaluating the probability value of each fitness is just a computational overhead and contributes nothing to the quality of the alpha or other group members. The fittest dwarf mongoose is selected as the alpha, and a new operator ω is introduced, which controls the alpha movement, thereby enhancing the exploration ability and exploitability of the IDMO. Second, the scout group movements are modified by randomization to introduce diversity in the search process and explore unvisited areas. Finally, the babysitter's exchange criterium is modified such that once the criterium is met, the babysitters that are exchanged interact with the dwarf mongoose exchanging them to gain information about food sources and sleeping mounds, which could result in better-fitted mongooses instead of initializing them afresh as done in DMO, then the counter is reset to zero. The proposed IDMO was used to solve the classical and CEC 2020 benchmark functions and 12 continuous/discrete engineering optimization problems. The performance of the IDMO, using different performance metrics and statistical analysis, is compared with the DMO and eight other existing algorithms. In most cases, the results show that solutions achieved by the IDMO are better than those obtained by the existing algorithms.

Review of chaotic mapping enabled nature-inspired algorithms.

Chaotic maps were frequently introduced to generate random numbers and used to replace the pseudo-random numbers distributed in Gauss distribution in computer engineering. These improvements in optimization were called the chaotic improved optimization algorithm, most of them were reported better in literature. In this paper, we collected 19 classical maps which could all generate pseudo-random numbers in an interval between 0 and 1. Four types of chaotic improvement to original optimization algorithms were summarized and simulation experiments were carried out. The classical grey wolf optimization (GWO) and sine cosine (SC) algorithms were involved in these experiments. The final simulation results confirmed an uncertainty about the performance of improvements applied in different algorithms, different types of improvements, or benchmark functions. However, Results confirmed that Bernoulli map might be a better choice for most time. The code related to this paper is shared with https://gitee.com/lvqing323/chaotic-mapping.

Test Case Prioritization, Selection, and Reduction Using Improved Quantum-Behaved Particle Swarm Optimization.

The emerging areas of IoT and sensor networks bring lots of software applications on a daily basis. To keep up with the ever-changing expectations of clients and the competitive market, the software must be updated. The changes may cause unintended consequences, necessitating retesting, i.e., regression testing, before being released. The efficiency and efficacy of regression testing techniques can be improved with the use of optimization approaches. This paper proposes an improved quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization approach for regression testing. The algorithm is improved by employing a fix-up mechanism to perform perturbation for the combinatorial TCP problem. Second, the dynamic contraction-expansion coefficient is used to accelerate the convergence. It is followed by an adaptive test case selection strategy to choose the modification-revealing test cases. Finally, the superfluous test cases are removed. Furthermore, the algorithm's robustness is analyzed for fault as well as statement coverage. The empirical results reveal that the proposed algorithm performs better than the Genetic Algorithm, Bat Algorithm, Grey Wolf Optimization, Particle Swarm Optimization and its variants for prioritizing test cases. The findings show that inclusivity, test selection percentage and cost reduction percentages are higher in the case of fault coverage compared to statement coverage but at the cost of high fault detection loss (approx. 7%) at the test case reduction stage.

Protein-Protein Docking: Past, Present, and Future.

The biological significance of proteins attracted the scientific community in exploring their characteristics. The studies shed light on the interaction patterns and functions of proteins in a living body. Due to their practical difficulties, reliable experimental techniques pave the way for introducing computational methods in the interaction prediction. Automated methods reduced the difficulties but could not yet replace experimental studies as the field is still evolving. Interaction prediction problem being critical needs highly accurate results, but none of the existing methods could offer reliable performance that can parallel with experimental results yet. This article aims to assess the existing computational docking algorithms, their challenges, and future scope. Blind docking techniques are quite helpful when no information other than the individual structures are available. As more and more complex structures are being added to different databases, information-driven approaches can be a good alternative. Artificial intelligence, ruling over the major fields, is expected to take over this domain very shortly.

Monte Carlo Physarum Machine: Characteristics of Pattern Formation in Continuous Stochastic Transport Networks.

We present Monte Carlo Physarum Machine (MCPM): a computational model suitable for reconstructing continuous transport networks from sparse 2D and 3D data. MCPM is a probabilistic generalization of Jones's (2010) agent-based model for simulating the growth of Physarum polycephalum (slime mold). We compare MCPM to Jones's work on theoretical grounds, and describe a task-specific variant designed for reconstructing the large-scale distribution of gas and dark matter in the Universe known as the cosmic web. To analyze the new model, we first explore MCPM's self-patterning behavior, showing a wide range of continuous network-like morphologies-called polyphorms-that the model produces from geometrically intuitive parameters. Applying MCPM to both simulated and observational cosmological data sets, we then evaluate its ability to produce consistent 3D density maps of the cosmic web. Finally, we examine other possible tasks where MCPM could be useful, along with several examples of fitting to domain-specific data as proofs of concept.

FPDock: Protein-protein docking using flower pollination algorithm.

Proteins play their vital role in biological systems through interaction and complex formation with other biological molecules. Indeed, abnormalities in the interaction patterns affect the proteins' structure and have detrimental effects on living organisms. Research in structure prediction gains its gravity as the functions of proteins depend on their structures. Protein-protein docking is one of the computational methods devised to understand the interaction between proteins. Metaheuristic algorithms are promising to use owing to the hardness of the structure prediction problem. In this paper, a variant of the Flower Pollination Algorithm (FPA) is applied to get an accurate protein-protein complex structure. The algorithm begins execution from a randomly generated initial population, which gets flourished in different isolated islands, trying to find their local optimum. The abiotic and biotic pollination applied in different generations brings diversity and intensity to the solutions. Each round of pollination applies an energy-based scoring function whose value influences the choice to accept a new solution. Analysis of final predictions based on CAPRI quality criteria shows that the proposed method has a success rate of 58% in top10 ranks, which in comparison with other methods like SwarmDock, pyDock, ZDOCK is better. Source code of the work is available at: https://github.com/Sharon1989Sunny/_FPDock_.

Monthly evapotranspiration estimation using optimal climatic parameters: efficacy of hybrid support vector regression integrated with whale optimization algorithm.

For effective planning of irrigation scheduling, water budgeting, crop simulation, and water resources management, the accurate estimation of reference evapotranspiration (ETo) is essential. In the current study, the hybrid support vector regression (SVR) coupled with Whale Optimization Algorithm (SVR-WOA) was employed to estimate the monthly ETo at Algiers and Tlemcen meteorological stations positioned in the north of Algeria under three different optimal input scenarios. Monthly climatic parameters, i.e., solar radiation (Rs), wind speed (Us), relative humidity (RH), and maximum and minimum air temperatures (Tmax and Tmin) of 14 years (2000-2013), were obtained from both stations. The accuracy of the hybrid SVR-WOA model was appraised against hybrid SVR-MVO (Multi-Verse Optimizer), and SVR-ALO (Ant Lion Optimizer) models through performance measures, i.e., mean absolute error (MAE), root-mean-square error (RMSE), index of scattering (IOS), index of agreement (IOA), Pearson correlation coefficient (PCC), Nash-Sutcliffe efficiency (NSE), and graphical interpretation (time-variation and scatter plots, radar chart, and Taylor diagram). The results showed that the SVR-WOA model performed superior to the SVR-MVO and SVR-ALO models at both stations in all scenarios. The SVR-WOA-1 model with five inputs (i.e., Tmin, Tmax, RH, Us, Rs: scenario-1) had the lowest value of MAE = 0.0658/0.0489 mm/month, RMSE = 0.0808/0.0617 mm/month, IOS = 0.0259/0.0165, and the highest value of NSE = 0.9949/0.9989, PCC = 0.9975/0.9995, and IOA = 0.9987/0.9997 for testing period at both stations, respectively. The proposed hybrid SVR-WOA model was found to be more appropriate and efficient in comparison to SVR-MVO and SVR-ALO models for estimating monthly ETo in the study region.

A comprehensive database of Nature-Inspired Algorithms.

These data contain a comprehensive collection of all Nature-Inspired Algorithms. This collection is a result of two corresponding surveys, where all Nature-Inspired Algorithms that have been published to-date were gathered and preliminary data acquired. The rapidly increasing number of nature-inspired approaches makes it hard for interested researchers to keep up. Moreover, a proper taxonomy is necessary, based on specific features of the algorithms. Different taxonomies and useful insight into the application areas that the algorithms have coped with is given through these data. This article provides a detailed description of the above mentioned collection.

A Comprehensive Review on Nature Inspired Neural Network based Adaptive Filter for Eliminating Noise in Medical Images.

BACKGROUND: Various kind of medical imaging modalities are available for providing noninvasive view and for analyzing any pathological symptoms of human beings. Different noise may appear in those modalities at the time of acquisition, transmission, scanning, or at the time of storing. The removal of noises from the digital medical images without losing any inherent features is always considered a challenging task because a successful diagnosis relies on them. Numerous techniques have been proposed to fulfill this objective, and each having their own benefits and limitations. DISCUSSION: In this comprehensive review article, more than 65 research articles are investigated to illustrate the applications of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) in the field of biomedical image denoising. In particular, the zest of this article is to highlight the hybridized filtering model using nature-inspired algorithms and artificial neural networks for suppression of noise. Various other techniques, such as fixed filter, linear adaptive filters and gradient descent learning based neural network filter are also included. CONCLUSION: This article envisages how to train ANN using derivative free nature-inspired algorithms, and its performance in various medical images modalities and noise conditions.

A novel variant of social spider optimization using single centroid representation and enhanced mating for data clustering.

Nature-inspired algorithms are based on the concepts of self-organization and complex biological systems. They have been designed by researchers and scientists to solve complex problems in various environmental situations by observing how naturally occurring phenomena behave. The introduction of nature-inspired algorithms has led to new branches of study such as neural networks, swarm intelligence, evolutionary computation, and artificial immune systems. Particle swarm optimization (PSO), social spider optimization (SSO), and other nature-inspired algorithms have found some success in solving clustering problems but they may converge to local optima due to the lack of balance between exploration and exploitation. In this paper, we propose a novel implementation of SSO, namely social spider optimization for data clustering using single centroid representation and enhanced mating operation (SSODCSC) in order to improve the balance between exploration and exploitation. In SSODCSC, we implemented each spider as a collection of a centroid and the data instances close to it. We allowed non-dominant male spiders to mate with female spiders by converting them into dominant males. We found that SSODCSC produces better values for the sum of intra-cluster distances, the average CPU time per iteration (in seconds), accuracy, the F-measure, and the average silhouette coefficient as compared with the K-means and other nature-inspired techniques. When the proposed algorithm is compared with other nature-inspired algorithms with respect to Patent corpus datasets, the overall percentage increase in the accuracy is approximately 13%. When it is compared with other nature-inspired algorithms with respect to UCI datasets, the overall percentage increase in the F-measure value is approximately 10%. For completeness, the best K cluster centroids (the best K spiders) returned by SSODCSC were specified. To show the significance of the proposed algorithm, we conducted a one-way ANOVA test on the accuracy values and the F-measure values returned by the clustering algorithms.

Elephant Herding Optimization for Energy-Based Localization.

This work addresses the energy-based source localization problem in wireless sensors networks. Instead of circumventing the maximum likelihood (ML) problem by applying convex relaxations and approximations, we approach it directly by the use of metaheuristics. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that metaheuristics are applied to this type of problem. More specifically, an elephant herding optimization (EHO) algorithm is applied. Through extensive simulations, the key parameters of the EHO algorithm are optimized such that they match the energy decay model between two sensor nodes. A detailed analysis of the computational complexity is presented, as well as a performance comparison between the proposed algorithm and existing non-metaheuristic ones. Simulation results show that the new approach significantly outperforms existing solutions in noisy environments, encouraging further improvement and testing of metaheuristic methods.