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 Journal of Global Optimization   [SJR: 0.992]   [H-I: 60]   [4 followers]  Follow         Hybrid journal (It can contain Open Access articles)    ISSN (Print) 1573-2916 - ISSN (Online) 0925-5001    Published by Springer-Verlag  [2335 journals]
• Solution of the Kirchhoff–Plateau Problem
• Abstract: The Kirchhoff–Plateau problem concerns the equilibrium shapes of a system in which a flexible filament in the form of a closed loop is spanned by a liquid film, with the filament being modeled as a Kirchhoff rod and the action of the spanning surface being solely due to surface tension. We establish the existence of an equilibrium shape that minimizes the total energy of the system under the physical constraint of noninterpenetration of matter, but allowing for points on the surface of the bounding loop to come into contact. In our treatment, the bounding loop retains a finite cross-sectional thickness and a nonvanishing volume, while the liquid film is represented by a set with finite two-dimensional Hausdorff measure. Moreover, the region where the liquid film touches the surface of the bounding loop is not prescribed a priori. Our mathematical results substantiate the physical relevance of the chosen model. Indeed, no matter how strong is the competition between surface tension and the elastic response of the filament, the system is always able to adjust to achieve a configuration that complies with the physical constraints encountered in experiments.
PubDate: 2017-01-13

• Continuous Data Assimilation for a 2D Bénard Convection System Through
Horizontal Velocity Measurements Alone
• Abstract: In this paper we propose a continuous data assimilation (downscaling) algorithm for a two-dimensional Bénard convection problem. Specifically we consider the two-dimensional Boussinesq system of a layer of incompressible fluid between two solid horizontal walls, with no-normal flow and stress-free boundary conditions on the walls, and the fluid is heated from the bottom and cooled from the top. In this algorithm, we incorporate the observables as a feedback (nudging) term in the evolution equation of the horizontal velocity. We show that under an appropriate choice of the nudging parameter and the size of the spatial coarse mesh observables, and under the assumption that the observed data are error free, the solution of the proposed algorithm converges at an exponential rate, asymptotically in time, to the unique exact unknown reference solution of the original system, associated with the observed data on the horizontal component of the velocity.
PubDate: 2017-01-13

• Numerical Estimation of Balanced and Falling States for Constrained Legged
Systems
• Abstract: Instability and risk of fall during standing and walking are common challenges for biped robots. While existing criteria from state-space dynamical systems approach or ground reference points are useful in some applications, complete system models and constraints have not been taken into account for prediction and indication of fall for general legged robots. In this study, a general numerical framework that estimates the balanced and falling states of legged systems is introduced. The overall approach is based on the integration of joint-space and Cartesian-space dynamics of a legged system model. The full-body constrained joint-space dynamics includes the contact forces and moments term due to current foot (or feet) support and another term due to altered contact configuration. According to the refined notions of balanced, falling, and fallen, the system parameters, physical constraints, and initial/final/boundary conditions for balancing are incorporated into constrained nonlinear optimization problems to solve for the velocity extrema (representing the maximum perturbation allowed to maintain balance without changing contacts) in the Cartesian space at each center-of-mass (COM) position within its workspace. The iterative algorithm constructs the stability boundary as a COM state-space partition between balanced and falling states. Inclusion in the resulting six-dimensional manifold is a necessary condition for a state of the given system to be balanced under the given contact configuration, while exclusion is a sufficient condition for falling. The framework is used to analyze the balance stability of example systems with various degrees of complexities. The manifold for a 1-degree-of-freedom (DOF) legged system is consistent with the experimental and simulation results in the existing studies for specific controller designs. The results for a 2-DOF system demonstrate the dependency of the COM state-space partition upon joint-space configuration (elbow-up vs. elbow-down). For both 1- and 2-DOF systems, the results are validated in simulation environments. Finally, the manifold for a biped walking robot is constructed and illustrated against its single-support walking trajectories. The manifold identified by the proposed framework for any given legged system can be evaluated beforehand as a system property and serves as a map for either a specified state or a specific controller’s performance.
PubDate: 2017-01-04

• Analysis of Underactuated Dynamic Locomotion Systems Using Perturbation
Expansion: The Twistcar Toy Example
• Abstract: Underactuated robotic locomotion systems are commonly represented by nonholonomic constraints where in mixed systems, these constraints are also combined with momentum evolution equations. Such systems have been analyzed in the literature by exploiting symmetries and utilizing advanced geometric methods. These works typically assume that the shape variables are directly controlled, and obtain the system’s solutions only via numerical integration. In this work, we demonstrate utilization of the perturbation expansion method for analyzing a model example of mixed locomotion system—the twistcar toy vehicle, which is a variant of the well-studied roller-racer model. The system is investigated by assuming small-amplitude oscillatory inputs of either steering angle (kinematic) or steering torque (mechanical), and explicit expansions for the system’s solutions under both types of actuation are obtained. These expressions enable analyzing the dependence of the system’s dynamic behavior on the vehicle’s structural parameters and actuation type. In particular, we study the reversal in direction of motion under steering angle oscillations about the unfolded configuration, as well as influence of the choice of actuation type on convergence properties of the motion. Some of the findings are demonstrated qualitatively by reporting preliminary motion experiments with a modular robotic prototype of the vehicle.
PubDate: 2017-01-03

• Metastability of the Nonlinear Wave Equation: Insights from Transition
State Theory
• Abstract: This paper is concerned with the longtime dynamics of the nonlinear wave equation in one-space dimension, \begin{aligned} u_{tt} - \kappa ^2 u_{xx} +V'(u) =0 \quad x\in [0,1] \end{aligned} where $$\kappa >0$$ is a parameter and V(u) is a potential bounded from below and growing at least like $$u^2$$ as $$u \rightarrow \infty$$ . Infinite energy solutions of this equation preserve a natural Gibbsian invariant measure, and when the potential is double-welled, for example when $$V(u) = \tfrac{1}{4}(1-u^2)^2$$ , there is a regime such that two small disjoint sets in the system’s phase-space concentrate most of the mass of this measure. This suggests that the solutions to the nonlinear wave equation can be metastable over these sets, in the sense that they spend long periods of time in these sets and only rarely transition between them. Here, we quantify this phenomenon by calculating exactly via transition state theory (TST) the mean frequency at which the solutions of the nonlinear wave equation with initial conditions drawn from its invariant measure cross a dividing surface lying in between the metastable sets. We also investigate numerically how the mean TST frequency compares to the rate at which a typical solution crosses this dividing surface. These numerical results suggest that the dynamics of the nonlinear wave equation is ergodic and rapidly mixing with respect to the Gibbs invariant measure when the parameter $$\kappa$$ in small enough. In this case, successive transitions between the two regions are roughly uncorrelated and their dynamics can be coarse-grained to jumps in a two-state Markov chain whose rate can be deduced from the mean TST frequency. This is a regime in which the dynamics of the nonlinear wave equation displays a metastable behavior that is not fundamentally different from that observed in its stochastic counterpart in which random noise and damping terms are added to the equation. For larger $$\kappa$$ , however, the dynamics either stops being ergodic, or its mixing time becomes larger than the inverse of the TST frequency, indicating that successive transitions between the metastable sets are correlated and the coarse-graining to a Markov chain fails.
PubDate: 2017-01-03

• Global optimization of non-convex generalized disjunctive programs: a
review on reformulations and relaxation techniques
• Abstract: In this paper we present a review on the latest advances in logic-based solution methods for the global optimization of non-convex generalized disjunctive programs. Considering that the performance of these methods relies on the quality of the relaxations that can be generated, our focus is on the discussion of a general framework to find strong relaxations. We identify two main sources of non-convexities that any methodology to find relaxations should account for. Namely, the one arising from the non-convex functions and the one arising from the disjunctive set. We review the work that has been done on these two fronts with special emphasis on the latter. We then describe different logic-based optimization techniques that make use of the relaxation framework and its impact through a set of numerical examples typically encountered in Process Systems Engineering. Finally, we outline challenges and future lines of work in this area.
PubDate: 2017-01-01

• Application of Reduced-set Pareto-Lipschitzian Optimization to truss
optimization
• Abstract: In this paper, a recently proposed global Lipschitz optimization algorithm Pareto-Lipschitzian Optimization with Reduced-set (PLOR) is further developed, investigated and applied to truss optimization problems. Partition patterns of the PLOR algorithm are similar to those of DIviding RECTangles (DIRECT), which was widely applied to different real-life problems. However here a set of all Lipschitz constants is reduced to just two: the maximal and the minimal ones. In such a way the PLOR approach is independent of any user-defined parameters and balances equally local and global search during the optimization process. An expanded list of other well-known DIRECT-type algorithms is used in investigation and experimental comparison using the standard test problems and truss optimization problems. The experimental investigation shows that the PLOR algorithm gives very competitive results to other DIRECT-type algorithms using standard test problems and performs pretty well on real truss optimization problems.
PubDate: 2017-01-01

• Global optimization of general constrained grey-box models: new method and
its application to constrained PDEs for pressure swing adsorption
• Abstract: This paper introduces a novel methodology for the global optimization of general constrained grey-box problems. A grey-box problem may contain a combination of black-box constraints and constraints with a known functional form. The novel features of this work include (i) the selection of initial samples through a subset selection optimization problem from a large number of faster low-fidelity model samples (when a low-fidelity model is available), (ii) the exploration of a diverse set of interpolating and non-interpolating functional forms for representing the objective function and each of the constraints, (iii) the global optimization of the parameter estimation of surrogate functions and the global optimization of the constrained grey-box formulation, and (iv) the updating of variable bounds based on a clustering technique. The performance of the algorithm is presented for a set of case studies representing an expensive non-linear algebraic partial differential equation simulation of a pressure swing adsorption system for $$\hbox {CO}_{2}$$ . We address three significant sources of variability and their effects on the consistency and reliability of the algorithm: (i) the initial sampling variability, (ii) the type of surrogate function, and (iii) global versus local optimization of the surrogate function parameter estimation and overall surrogate constrained grey-box problem. It is shown that globally optimizing the parameters in the parameter estimation model, and globally optimizing the constrained grey-box formulation has a significant impact on the performance. The effect of sampling variability is mitigated by a two-stage sampling approach which exploits information from reduced-order models. Finally, the proposed global optimization approach is compared to existing constrained derivative-free optimization algorithms.
PubDate: 2017-01-01

• ParEGO extensions for multi-objective optimization of expensive evaluation
functions
• Abstract: This paper deals with multi-objective optimization in the case of expensive objective functions. Such a problem arises frequently in engineering applications where the main purpose is to find a set of optimal solutions in a limited global processing time. Several algorithms use linearly combined criteria to use directly mono-objective algorithms. Nevertheless, other algorithms, such as multi-objective evolutionary algorithm (MOEA) and model-based algorithms, propose a strategy based on Pareto dominance to optimize efficiently all criteria. A widely used model-based algorithm for multi-objective optimization is Pareto efficient global optimization (ParEGO). It combines linearly the objective functions with several random weights and maximizes the expected improvement (EI) criterion. However, this algorithm tends to favor parameter values suitable for the reduction of the surrogate model error, rather than finding non-dominated solutions. The contribution of this article is to propose an extension of the ParEGO algorithm for finding the Pareto Front by introducing a double Kriging strategy. Such an innovation allows to calculate a modified EI criterion that jointly accounts for the objective function approximation error and the probability to find Pareto Set solutions. The main feature of the resulting algorithm is to enhance the convergence speed and thus to reduce the total number of function evaluations. This new algorithm is compared against ParEGO and several MOEA algorithms on a standard benchmark problems. Finally, an automotive engineering problem allowing to illustrate the applicability of the proposed approach is given as an example of a real application: the parameter setting of an indirect tire pressure monitoring system.
PubDate: 2017-01-01

• A modified active set algorithm for transportation discrete network design
bi-level problem
• Abstract: Transportation discrete network design problem (DNDP) is about how to modify an existing network of roads and highways in order to improve its total system travel time, and the candidate road building or expansion plan can only be added as a whole. DNDP can be formulated into a bi-level problem with binary variables. An active set algorithm has been proposed to solve the bi-level discrete network design problem, while it made an assumption that the capacity increase and construction cost of each road are based on the number of lanes. This paper considers a more general case when the capacity increase and construction cost are specified for each candidate plan. This paper also uses numerical methods instead of solvers to solve each step, so it provides a more direct understanding and control of the algorithm and running procedure. By analyzing the differences and getting corresponding solving methods, a modified active set algorithm is proposed in the paper. In the implementation of the algorithm and the validation, we use binary numeral system and ternary numeral system to avoid too many layers of loop and save storage space. Numerical experiments show the correctness and efficiency of the proposed modified active set algorithm.
PubDate: 2017-01-01

• Serial-batching scheduling with time-dependent setup time and effects of
deterioration and learning on a single-machine
• Abstract: This paper deals with serial-batching scheduling problems with the effects of deterioration and learning, where time-dependent setup time is also considered. In the proposed scheduling models, all jobs are first partitioned into serial batches, and then all batches are processed on a single serial-batching machine. The actual job processing time is a function of its starting time and position. In addition, a setup time is required when a new batch is processed, and the setup time of the batches is time-dependent, i.e., it is a linear function of its starting time. Structural properties are derived for the problems of minimizing the makespan, the number of tardy jobs, and the maximum earliness. Then, three optimization algorithms are developed to solve them, respectively.
PubDate: 2017-01-01

• Interactive model-based search with reactive resource allocation
• Abstract: We revisit the interactive model-based approach to global optimization proposed in Wang and Garcia (J Glob Optim 61(3):479–495, 2015) in which parallel threads independently execute a model-based search method and periodically interact through a simple acceptance-rejection rule aimed at preventing duplication of search efforts. In that paper it was assumed that each thread successfully identifies a locally optimal solution every time the acceptance-rejection rule is implemented. Under this stylized model of computational time, the rate of convergence to a globally optimal solution was shown to increase exponentially in the number of threads. In practice however, the computational time required to identify a locally optimal solution varies greatly. Therefore, when the acceptance-rejection rule is implemented, several threads may fail to identify a locally optimal solution. This situation calls for reallocation of computational resources in order to speed up the identification of local optima when one or more threads repeatedly fail to do so. In this paper we consider an implementation of the interactive model-based approach that accounts for real time, that is, it takes into account the possibility that several threads may fail to identify a locally optimal solution whenever the acceptance-rejection rule is implemented. We propose a modified acceptance-rejection rule that alternates between enforcing diverse search (in order to prevent duplication) and reallocation of computational effort (in order to speed up the identification of local optima). We show that the rate of convergence in real-time increases with the number of threads. This result formalizes the idea that in parallel computing, exploitation and exploration can be complementary provided relatively simple rules for interaction are implemented. We report the results from extensive numerical experiments which are illustrate the theoretical analysis of performance.
PubDate: 2017-01-01

• Optimal transport and a bilevel location-allocation problem
• Abstract: In this paper a two-stage optimization model is studied to find the optimal location of new facilities and the optimal partition of the consumers (location-allocation problem). The social planner minimizes the social costs, i.e. the fixed costs plus the waiting time costs, taking into account that the citizens are partitioned in the region according to minimizing the capacity costs plus the distribution costs in the service regions. By using optimal transport tools, existence results of solutions to the location-allocation problem are presented together with some examples.
PubDate: 2017-01-01

• An efficient multi-objective PSO algorithm assisted by Kriging metamodel
for expensive black-box problems
• Abstract: The huge computational overhead is the main challenge in the application of community based optimization methods, such as multi-objective particle swarm optimization and multi-objective genetic algorithm, to deal with the multi-objective optimization involving costly simulations. This paper proposes a Kriging metamodel assisted multi-objective particle swarm optimization method to solve this kind of expensively black-box multi-objective optimization problems. On the basis of crowding distance based multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm, the new proposed method constructs Kriging metamodel for each expensive objective function adaptively, and then the non-dominated solutions of the metamodels are utilized to guide the update of particle population. To reduce the computational cost, the generalized expected improvements of each particle predicted by metamodels are presented to determine which particles need to perform actual function evaluations. The suggested method is tested on 12 benchmark functions and compared with the original crowding distance based multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm and non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm-II algorithm. The test results show that the application of Kriging metamodel improves the search ability and reduces the number of evaluations. Additionally, the new proposed method is applied to the optimal design of a cycloid gear pump and achieves desirable results.
PubDate: 2017-01-01

• A diverse human learning optimization algorithm
• Abstract: Human Learning Optimization is a simple but efficient meta-heuristic algorithm in which three learning operators, i.e. the random learning operator, the individual learning operator, and the social learning operator, are developed to efficiently search the optimal solution by imitating the learning mechanisms of human beings. However, HLO assumes that all the individuals possess the same learning ability, which is not true in a real human population as the IQ scores of humans, one of the most important indices of the learning ability of humans, follow Gaussian distribution and increase with the development of society and technology. Inspired by this fact, this paper proposes a Diverse Human Learning Optimization algorithm (DHLO), into which the Gaussian distribution and dynamic adjusting strategy are introduced. By adopting a set of Gaussian distributed parameter values instead of a constant to diversify the learning abilities of DHLO, the robustness of the algorithm is strengthened. In addition, by cooperating with the dynamic updating operation, DHLO can adjust to better parameter values and consequently enhances the global search ability of the algorithm. Finally, DHLO is applied to tackle the CEC05 benchmark functions as well as knapsack problems, and its performance is compared with the standard HLO as well as the other eight meta-heuristics, i.e. the Binary Differential Evolution, Simplified Binary Artificial Fish Swarm Algorithm, Adaptive Binary Harmony Search, Binary Gravitational Search Algorithms, Binary Bat Algorithms, Binary Artificial Bee Colony, Bi-Velocity Discrete Particle Swarm Optimization, and Modified Binary Particle Swarm Optimization. The experimental results show that the presented DHLO outperforms the other algorithms in terms of search accuracy and scalability.
PubDate: 2017-01-01

• On Laplacian spectra of parametric families of closely connected networks
with application to cooperative control
• Abstract: In this paper, we introduce mathematical models for studying a supernetwork that is comprised of closely connected groups of subnetworks. For several related classes of such supernetworks, we explicitly derive an analytical representation of their Laplacian spectra. This work is motivated by an application of spectral graph theory in cooperative control of multi-agent networked systems. Specifically, we apply our graph-theoretic results to establish bounds on the speed of convergence and the communication time-delay for solving the average-consensus problem by a supernetwork of clusters of integrator agents.
PubDate: 2017-01-01

• Local search algorithm for universal facility location problem with linear
penalties
• Abstract: The universal facility location problem generalizes several classical facility location problems, such as the uncapacitated facility location problem and the capacitated location problem (both hard and soft capacities). In the universal facility location problem, we are given a set of demand points and a set of facilities. We wish to assign the demands to facilities such that the total service as well as facility cost is minimized. The service cost is proportional to the distance that each unit of the demand has to travel to its assigned facility. The open cost of facility i depends on the amount z of demand assigned to i and is given by a cost function $$f_i(z)$$ . In this work, we extend the universal facility location problem to include linear penalties, where we pay certain penalty cost whenever we refuse serving some demand points. As our main contribution, we present a ( $$7.88+\epsilon$$ )-approximation local search algorithm for this problem.
PubDate: 2017-01-01

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