This book is an updated effort in summarizing the trending topics and new hot research lines in solving dynamic problems using metaheuristics. An analysis of the present state in solving complex problems quickly draws a clear picture: problems that change in time, having noise and uncertainties in their definition are becoming very important. The tools to face these problems are still to be built, since existing techniques are either slow or inefficient in tracking the many global optima that those problems are presenting to the solver technique. Thus, this book is devoted to include several of the most important advances in solving dynamic problems. Metaheuristics are the more popular tools to this end, and then we can find in the book how to best use genetic algorithms, particle swarm, ant colonies, immune systems, variable neighborhood search, and many other bioinspired techniques. Also, neural network solutions are considered in this book. Both, theory and practice have been addressed in the chapters of the book. Mathematical background and methodological tools in solving this new class of problems and applications are included. From the applications point of view, not just academic benchmarks are dealt with, but also real world applications in logistics and bioinformatics are discussed here. The book then covers theory and practice, as well as discrete versus continuous dynamic optimization, in the aim of creating a fresh and comprehensive volume. This book is targeted to either beginners and experienced practitioners in dynamic optimization, since we took care of devising the chapters in a way that a wide audience could profit from its contents. We hope to offer a single source for up-to-date information in dynamic optimization, an inspiring and attractive new research domain that appeared in these last years and is here to stay.

Optimization problems are of great importance across a broad range of fields. They can be tackled, for example, by approximate algorithms such as metaheuristics. This book is intended both to provide an overview of hybrid metaheuristics to novices of the field, and to provide researchers from the field with a collection of some of the most interesting recent developments. The authors involved in this book are among the top researchers in their domain.

This textbook provides a comprehensive introduction to nature-inspired metaheuristic methods for search and optimization, including the latest trends in evolutionary algorithms and other forms of natural computing. Over 100 different types of these methods are discussed in detail. The authors emphasize non-standard optimization problems and utilize a natural approach to the topic, moving from basic notions to more complex ones. An introductory chapter covers the necessary biological and mathematical backgrounds for understanding the main material. Subsequent chapters then explore almost all of the major metaheuristics for search and optimization created based on natural phenomena, including simulated annealing, recurrent neural networks, genetic algorithms and genetic programming, differential evolution, memetic algorithms, particle swarm optimization, artificial immune systems, ant colony optimization, tabu search and scatter search, bee and bacteria foraging algorithms, harmony search, biomolecular computing, quantum computing, and many others. General topics on dynamic, multimodal, constrained, and multiobjective optimizations are also described. Each chapter includes detailed flowcharts that illustrate specific algorithms and exercises that reinforce important topics. Introduced in the appendix are some benchmarks for the evaluation of metaheuristics. Search and Optimization by Metaheuristics is intended primarily as a textbook for graduate and advanced undergraduate students specializing in engineering and computer science. It will also serve as a valuable resource for scientists and researchers working in these areas, as well as those who are interested in search and optimization methods.

This book presents novel and original metaheuristics developed to solve the cost-balanced traveling salesman problem. This problem was taken into account for the Metaheuristics Competition proposed in MESS 2018, Metaheuristics Summer School, and the top 4 methodologies ranked are included in the book, together with a brief introduction to the traveling salesman problem and all its variants. The book is aimed particularly at all researchers in metaheuristics and combinatorial optimization areas. Key uses are metaheuristics; complex problem solving; combinatorial optimization; traveling salesman problem.

This book provides a compilation on the state-of-the-art and recent advances of evolutionary computation for dynamic optimization problems. The motivation for this book arises from the fact that many real-world optimization problems and engineering systems are subject to dynamic environments, where changes occur over time. Key issues for addressing dynamic optimization problems in evolutionary computation, including fundamentals, algorithm design, theoretical analysis, and real-world applications, are presented. "Evolutionary Computation for Dynamic Optimization Problems" is a valuable reference to scientists, researchers, professionals and students in the field of engineering and science, particularly in the areas of computational intelligence, nature- and bio-inspired computing, and evolutionary computation.

This book’s aim is to provide several different kinds of information: a delineation of general metaheuristics methods, a number of state-of-the-art articles from a variety of well-known classical application areas as well as an outlook to modern computational methods in promising new areas. Therefore, this book may equally serve as a textbook in graduate courses for students, as a reference book for people interested in engineering or social sciences, and as a collection of new and promising avenues for researchers working in this field.

Combinatorial optimization is the process of finding the best, or optimal, so lution for problems with a discrete set of feasible solutions. Applications arise in numerous settings involving operations management and logistics, such as routing, scheduling, packing, inventory and production management, lo cation, logic, and assignment of resources. The economic impact of combi natorial optimization is profound, affecting sectors as diverse as transporta tion (airlines, trucking, rail, and shipping), forestry, manufacturing, logistics, aerospace, energy (electrical power, petroleum, and natural gas), telecommu nications, biotechnology, financial services, and agriculture. While much progress has been made in finding exact (provably optimal) so lutions to some combinatorial optimization problems, using techniques such as dynamic programming, cutting planes, and branch and cut methods, many hard combinatorial problems are still not solved exactly and require good heuristic methods. Moreover, reaching "optimal solutions" is in many cases meaningless, as in practice we are often dealing with models that are rough simplifications of reality. The aim of heuristic methods for combinatorial op timization is to quickly produce good-quality solutions, without necessarily providing any guarantee of solution quality. Metaheuristics are high level procedures that coordinate simple heuristics, such as local search, to find solu tions that are of better quality than those found by the simple heuristics alone: Modem metaheuristics include simulated annealing, genetic algorithms, tabu search, GRASP, scatter search, ant colony optimization, variable neighborhood search, and their hybrids.