Dilema da diversidade-acurácia: um estudo empírico no contexto de multiclassificadores

Multi-classifier systems, also known as ensembles, have been widely used to solve several problems, because they, often, present better performance than the individual classifiers that form these systems. But, in order to do so, it s necessary that the base classifiers to be as accurate as diverse among themselves this is also known as diversity/accuracy dilemma. Given its importance, some works have investigate the ensembles behavior in context of this dilemma. However, the majority of them address homogenous ensemble, i.e., ensembles composed only of the same type of classifiers. Thus, motivated by this limitation, this thesis, using genetic algorithms, performs a detailed study on the dilemma diversity/accuracy for heterogeneous ensembles

Distribuição de derivados de petróleo por redes de polidutos: uma abordagem através de algoritmos evolucionários híbridos para um problema triobjetivo

An important problem faced by the oil industry is to distribute multiple oil products through pipelines. Distribution is done in a network composed of refineries (source nodes), storage parks (intermediate nodes), and terminals (demand nodes) interconnected by a set of pipelines transporting oil and derivatives between adjacent areas. Constraints related to storage limits, delivery time, sources availability, sending and receiving limits, among others, must be satisfied. Some researchers deal with this problem under a discrete viewpoint in which the flow in the network is seen as batches sending. Usually, there is no separation device between batches of different products and the losses due to interfaces may be significant. Minimizing delivery time is a typical objective adopted by engineers when scheduling products sending in pipeline networks. However, costs incurred due to losses in interfaces cannot be disregarded. The cost also depends on pumping expenses, which are mostly due to the electricity cost. Since industrial electricity tariff varies over the day, pumping at different time periods have different cost. This work presents an experimental investigation of computational methods designed to deal with the problem of distributing oil derivatives in networks considering three minimization objectives simultaneously: delivery time, losses due to interfaces and electricity cost. The problem is NP-hard and is addressed with hybrid evolutionary algorithms. Hybridizations are mainly focused on Transgenetic Algorithms and classical multi-objective evolutionary algorithm architectures such as MOEA/D, NSGA2 and SPEA2. Three architectures named MOTA/D, NSTA and SPETA are applied to the problem. An experimental study compares the algorithms on thirty test cases. To analyse the results obtained with the algorithms Pareto-compliant quality indicators are used and the significance of the results evaluated with non-parametric statistical tests.

Estudo avaliativo de um algoritmo genético auto-organizável e multiobjetivo utilizando aprendizado de máquina para aplicações de telecomunicações

This paper presents an evaluative study about the effects of using a machine learning technique on the main features of a self-organizing and multiobjective genetic algorithm (GA). A typical GA can be seen as a search technique which is usually applied in problems involving no polynomial complexity. Originally, these algorithms were designed to create methods that seek acceptable solutions to problems where the global optimum is inaccessible or difficult to obtain. At first, the GAs considered only one evaluation function and a single objective optimization. Today, however, implementations that consider several optimization objectives simultaneously (multiobjective algorithms) are common, besides allowing the change of many components of the algorithm dynamically (self-organizing algorithms). At the same time, they are also common combinations of GAs with machine learning techniques to improve some of its characteristics of performance and use. In this work, a GA with a machine learning technique was analyzed and applied in a antenna design. We used a variant of bicubic interpolation technique, called 2D Spline, as machine learning technique to estimate the behavior of a dynamic fitness function, based on the knowledge obtained from a set of laboratory experiments. This fitness function is also called evaluation function and, it is responsible for determining the fitness degree of a candidate solution (individual), in relation to others in the same population. The algorithm can be applied in many areas, including in the field of telecommunications, as projects of antennas and frequency selective surfaces. In this particular work, the presented algorithm was developed to optimize the design of a microstrip antenna, usually used in wireless communication systems for application in Ultra-Wideband (UWB). The algorithm allowed the optimization of two variables of geometry antenna - the length (Ls) and width (Ws) a slit in the ground plane with respect to three objectives: radiated signal bandwidth, return loss and central frequency deviation. These two dimensions (Ws and Ls) are used as variables in three different interpolation functions, one Spline for each optimization objective, to compose a multiobjective and aggregate fitness function. The final result proposed by the algorithm was compared with the simulation program result and the measured result of a physical prototype of the antenna built in the laboratory. In the present study, the algorithm was analyzed with respect to their success degree in relation to four important characteristics of a self-organizing multiobjective GA: performance, flexibility, scalability and accuracy. At the end of the study, it was observed a time increase in algorithm execution in comparison to a common GA, due to the time required for the machine learning process. On the plus side, we notice a sensitive gain with respect to flexibility and accuracy of results, and a prosperous path that indicates directions to the algorithm to allow the optimization problems with "η" variables

Seleção de atributos em comitês de classificadores utilizando algoritmos genéticos

Classifier ensembles are systems composed of a set of individual classifiers and a combination module, which is responsible for providing the final output of the system. In the design of these systems, diversity is considered as one of the main aspects to be taken into account since there is no gain in combining identical classification methods. The ideal situation is a set of individual classifiers with uncorrelated errors. In other words, the individual classifiers should be diverse among themselves. One way of increasing diversity is to provide different datasets (patterns and/or attributes) for the individual classifiers. The diversity is increased because the individual classifiers will perform the same task (classification of the same input patterns) but they will be built using different subsets of patterns and/or attributes. The majority of the papers using feature selection for ensembles address the homogenous structures of ensemble, i.e., ensembles composed only of the same type of classifiers. In this investigation, two approaches of genetic algorithms (single and multi-objective) will be used to guide the distribution of the features among the classifiers in the context of homogenous and heterogeneous ensembles. The experiments will be divided into two phases that use a filter approach of feature selection guided by genetic algorithm

Análise comparativa do desempenho de um Controlador Fuzzy acoplado a um PID Neural sintonizado por um Algoritmo Genético com Controladores Inteligentes Convencionais

On this paper, it is made a comparative analysis among a controller fuzzy coupled to a PID neural adjusted by an AGwith several traditional control techniques, all of them applied in a system of tanks (I model of 2nd order non lineal). With the objective of making possible the techniques involved in the comparative analysis and to validate the control to be compared, simulations were accomplished of some control techniques (conventional PID adjusted by GA, Neural PID (PIDN) adjusted by GA, Fuzzy PI, two Fuzzy attached to a PID Neural adjusted by GA and Fuzzy MISO (3 inputs) attached to a PIDN adjusted by GA) to have some comparative effects with the considered controller. After doing, all the tests, some control structures were elected from all the tested techniques on the simulating stage (conventional PID adjusted by GA, Fuzzy PI, two Fuzzy attached to a PIDN adjusted by GA and Fuzzy MISO (3 inputs) attached to a PIDN adjusted by GA), to be implemented at the real system of tanks. These two kinds of operation, both the simulated and the real, were very important to achieve a solid basement in order to establish the comparisons and the possible validations show by the results

Análise e síntese de antenas e superfícies seletivas de frequência utilizando computação evolucionária e inteligência de enxames

The frequency selective surfaces, or FSS (Frequency Selective Surfaces), are structures consisting of periodic arrays of conductive elements, called patches, which are usually very thin and they are printed on dielectric layers, or by openings perforated on very thin metallic surfaces, for applications in bands of microwave and millimeter waves. These structures are often used in aircraft, missiles, satellites, radomes, antennae reflector, high gain antennas and microwave ovens, for example. The use of these structures has as main objective filter frequency bands that can be broadcast or rejection, depending on the specificity of the required application. In turn, the modern communication systems such as GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and WiMAX, whose services are highly demanded by society, have required the development of antennas having, as its main features, and low cost profile, and reduced dimensions and weight. In this context, the microstrip antenna is presented as an excellent choice for communications systems today, because (in addition to meeting the requirements mentioned intrinsically) planar structures are easy to manufacture and integration with other components in microwave circuits. Consequently, the analysis and synthesis of these devices mainly, due to the high possibility of shapes, size and frequency of its elements has been carried out by full-wave models, such as the finite element method, the method of moments and finite difference time domain. However, these methods require an accurate despite great computational effort. In this context, computational intelligence (CI) has been used successfully in the design and optimization of microwave planar structures, as an auxiliary tool and very appropriate, given the complexity of the geometry of the antennas and the FSS considered. The computational intelligence is inspired by natural phenomena such as learning, perception and decision, using techniques such as artificial neural networks, fuzzy logic, fractal geometry and evolutionary computation. This work makes a study of application of computational intelligence using meta-heuristics such as genetic algorithms and swarm intelligence optimization of antennas and frequency selective surfaces. Genetic algorithms are computational search methods based on the theory of natural selection proposed by Darwin and genetics used to solve complex problems, eg, problems where the search space grows with the size of the problem. The particle swarm optimization characteristics including the use of intelligence collectively being applied to optimization problems in many areas of research. The main objective of this work is the use of computational intelligence, the analysis and synthesis of antennas and FSS. We considered the structures of a microstrip planar monopole, ring type, and a cross-dipole FSS. We developed algorithms and optimization results obtained for optimized geometries of antennas and FSS considered. To validate results were designed, constructed and measured several prototypes. The measured results showed excellent agreement with the simulated. Moreover, the results obtained in this study were compared to those simulated using a commercial software has been also observed an excellent agreement. Specifically, the efficiency of techniques used were CI evidenced by simulated and measured, aiming at optimizing the bandwidth of an antenna for wideband operation or UWB (Ultra Wideband), using a genetic algorithm and optimizing the bandwidth, by specifying the length of the air gap between two frequency selective surfaces, using an optimization algorithm particle swarm

Estudo de Superfícies Seletivas de Frequência com o Uso de Inteligência Computacional

The main objective of this work is to optimize the performance of frequency selective surfaces (FSS) composed of crossed dipole conducting patches. The optimization process is performed by determining proper values for the width of the crossed dipoles and for the FSS array periodicity, while the length of the crossed dipoles is kept constant. Particularly, the objective is to determine values that provide wide bandwidth using a search algorithm with representation in bioinspired real numbers. Typically FSS structures composed of patch elements are used for band rejection filtering applications. The FSS structures primarily act like filters depending on the type of element chosen. The region of the electromagnetic spectrum chosen for this study is the one that goes from 7 GHz to 12 GHz, which includes mostly the X-band. This frequency band was chosen to allow the use of two X-band horn antennas, in the FSS measurement setup. The design of the FSS using the developed genetic algorithm allowed increasing the structure bandwidth

Um estudo algorítmico para otimização do plano de tratamento da radioterapia conformal

This work performs an algorithmic study of optimization of a conformal radiotherapy plan treatment. Initially we show: an overview about cancer, radiotherapy and the physics of interaction of ionizing radiation with matery. A proposal for optimization of a plan of treatment in radiotherapy is developed in a systematic way. We show the paradigm of multicriteria problem, the concept of Pareto optimum and Pareto dominance. A generic optimization model for radioterapic treatment is proposed. We construct the input of the model, estimate the dose given by the radiation using the dose matrix, and show the objective function for the model. The complexity of optimization models in radiotherapy treatment is typically NP which justifyis the use of heuristic methods. We propose three distinct methods: MOGA, MOSA e MOTS. The project of these three metaheuristic procedures is shown. For each procedures follows: a brief motivation, the algorithm itself and the method for tuning its parameters. The three method are applied to a concrete case and we confront their performances. Finally it is analyzed for each method: the quality of the Pareto sets, some solutions and the respective Pareto curves

Análise das medidas de boa e má diversidade na construção de comitês de classificadores através de metaheurísticas de otimização multiobjetivo

Committees of classifiers may be used to improve the accuracy of classification systems, in other words, different classifiers used to solve the same problem can be combined for creating a system of greater accuracy, called committees of classifiers. To that this to succeed is necessary that the classifiers make mistakes on different objects of the problem so that the errors of a classifier are ignored by the others correct classifiers when applying the method of combination of the committee. The characteristic of classifiers of err on different objects is called diversity. However, most measures of diversity could not describe this importance. Recently, were proposed two measures of the diversity (good and bad diversity) with the aim of helping to generate more accurate committees. This paper performs an experimental analysis of these measures applied directly on the building of the committees of classifiers. The method of construction adopted is modeled as a search problem by the set of characteristics of the databases of the problem and the best set of committee members in order to find the committee of classifiers to produce the most accurate classification. This problem is solved by metaheuristic optimization techniques, in their mono and multi-objective versions. Analyzes are performed to verify if use or add the measures of good diversity and bad diversity in the optimization objectives creates more accurate committees. Thus, the contribution of this study is to determine whether the measures of good diversity and bad diversity can be used in mono-objective and multi-objective optimization techniques as optimization objectives for building committees of classifiers more accurate than those built by the same process, but using only the accuracy classification as objective of optimization

Uma colônia de formigas para o caminho mais curto multiobjetivo

Multi-objective combinatorial optimization problems have peculiar characteristics that require optimization methods to adapt for this context. Since many of these problems are NP-Hard, the use of metaheuristics has grown over the last years. Particularly, many different approaches using Ant Colony Optimization (ACO) have been proposed. In this work, an ACO is proposed for the Multi-objective Shortest Path Problem, and is compared to two other optimizers found in the literature. A set of 18 instances from two distinct types of graphs are used, as well as a specific multiobjective performance assessment methodology. Initial experiments showed that the proposed algorithm is able to generate better approximation sets than the other optimizers for all instances. In the second part of this work, an experimental analysis is conducted, using several different multiobjective ACO proposals recently published and the same instances used in the first part. Results show each type of instance benefits a particular type of instance benefits a particular algorithmic approach. A new metaphor for the development of multiobjective ACOs is, then, proposed. Usually, ants share the same characteristics and only few works address multi-species approaches. This works proposes an approach where multi-species ants compete for food resources. Each specie has its own search strategy and different species do not access pheromone information of each other. As in nature, the successful ant populations are allowed to grow, whereas unsuccessful ones shrink. The approach introduced here shows to be able to inherit the behavior of strategies that are successful for different types of problems. Results of computational experiments are reported and show that the proposed approach is able to produce significantly better approximation sets than other methods

Novas abordagens para configurações automáticas dos parâmetros de controle em comitês de classificadores

Significant advances have emerged in research related to the topic of Classifier Committees. The models that receive the most attention in the literature are those of the static nature, also known as ensembles. The algorithms that are part of this class, we highlight the methods that using techniques of resampling of the training data: Bagging, Boosting and Multiboosting. The choice of the architecture and base components to be recruited is not a trivial task and has motivated new proposals in an attempt to build such models automatically, and many of them are based on optimization methods. Many of these contributions have not shown satisfactory results when applied to more complex problems with different nature. In contrast, the thesis presented here, proposes three new hybrid approaches for automatic construction for ensembles: Increment of Diversity, Adaptive-fitness Function and Meta-learning for the development of systems for automatic configuration of parameters for models of ensemble. In the first one approach, we propose a solution that combines different diversity techniques in a single conceptual framework, in attempt to achieve higher levels of diversity in ensembles, and with it, the better the performance of such systems. In the second one approach, using a genetic algorithm for automatic design of ensembles. The contribution is to combine the techniques of filter and wrapper adaptively to evolve a better distribution of the feature space to be presented for the components of ensemble. Finally, the last one approach, which proposes new techniques for recommendation of architecture and based components on ensemble, by techniques of traditional meta-learning and multi-label meta-learning. In general, the results are encouraging and corroborate with the thesis that hybrid tools are a powerful solution in building effective ensembles for pattern classification problems.

Algoritmos experimentais para o problema biobjetivo da árvore geradora quadrática em adjacência de arestas

The Quadratic Minimum Spanning Tree (QMST) problem is a generalization of the Minimum Spanning Tree problem in which, beyond linear costs associated to each edge, quadratic costs associated to each pair of edges must be considered. The quadratic costs are due to interaction costs between the edges. When interactions occur between adjacent edges only, the problem is named Adjacent Only Quadratic Minimum Spanning Tree (AQMST). Both QMST and AQMST are NP-hard and model a number of real world applications involving infrastructure networks design. Linear and quadratic costs are summed in the mono-objective versions of the problems. However, real world applications often deal with conflicting objectives. In those cases, considering linear and quadratic costs separately is more appropriate and multi-objective optimization provides a more realistic modelling. Exact and heuristic algorithms are investigated in this work for the Bi-objective Adjacent Only Quadratic Spanning Tree Problem. The following techniques are proposed: backtracking, branch-and-bound, Pareto Local Search, Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure, Simulated Annealing, NSGA-II, Transgenetic Algorithm, Particle Swarm Optimization and a hybridization of the Transgenetic Algorithm with the MOEA-D technique. Pareto compliant quality indicators are used to compare the algorithms on a set of benchmark instances proposed in literature.

Algoritmos experimentais para o problema biobjetivo da árvore geradora quadrática em adjacência de arestas

The Quadratic Minimum Spanning Tree (QMST) problem is a generalization of the Minimum Spanning Tree problem in which, beyond linear costs associated to each edge, quadratic costs associated to each pair of edges must be considered. The quadratic costs are due to interaction costs between the edges. When interactions occur between adjacent edges only, the problem is named Adjacent Only Quadratic Minimum Spanning Tree (AQMST). Both QMST and AQMST are NP-hard and model a number of real world applications involving infrastructure networks design. Linear and quadratic costs are summed in the mono-objective versions of the problems. However, real world applications often deal with conflicting objectives. In those cases, considering linear and quadratic costs separately is more appropriate and multi-objective optimization provides a more realistic modelling. Exact and heuristic algorithms are investigated in this work for the Bi-objective Adjacent Only Quadratic Spanning Tree Problem. The following techniques are proposed: backtracking, branch-and-bound, Pareto Local Search, Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure, Simulated Annealing, NSGA-II, Transgenetic Algorithm, Particle Swarm Optimization and a hybridization of the Transgenetic Algorithm with the MOEA-D technique. Pareto compliant quality indicators are used to compare the algorithms on a set of benchmark instances proposed in literature.

Busca heurística através de algoritmo genético e memético com construção de vocábulos para o problema de atribuição de localidades a anéis Sonet

Telecommunications play a key role in contemporary society. However, as new technologies are put into the market, it also grows the demanding for new products and services that depend on the offered infrastructure, making the problems of planning telecommunications networks, despite the advances in technology, increasingly larger and complex. However, many of these problems can be formulated as models of combinatorial optimization, and the use of heuristic algorithms can help solving these issues in the planning phase. In this project it was developed two pure metaheuristic implementations Genetic algorithm (GA) and Memetic Algorithm (MA) plus a third hybrid implementation Memetic Algorithm with Vocabulary Building (MA+VB) for a problem in telecommunications that is known in the literature as Problem SONET Ring Assignment Problem or SRAP. The SRAP arises during the planning stage of the physical network and it consists in the selection of connections between a number of locations (customers) in order to meet a series of restrictions on the lowest possible cost. This problem is NP-hard, so efficient exact algorithms (in polynomial complexity ) are not known and may, indeed, even exist

Algoritmo Q-learning como estratégia de exploração e/ou explotação para metaheurísticas GRASP e algoritmo genético

Techniques of optimization known as metaheuristics have achieved success in the resolution of many problems classified as NP-Hard. These methods use non deterministic approaches that reach very good solutions which, however, don t guarantee the determination of the global optimum. Beyond the inherent difficulties related to the complexity that characterizes the optimization problems, the metaheuristics still face the dilemma of xploration/exploitation, which consists of choosing between a greedy search and a wider exploration of the solution space. A way to guide such algorithms during the searching of better solutions is supplying them with more knowledge of the problem through the use of a intelligent agent, able to recognize promising regions and also identify when they should diversify the direction of the search. This way, this work proposes the use of Reinforcement Learning technique - Q-learning Algorithm - as exploration/exploitation strategy for the metaheuristics GRASP (Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure) and Genetic Algorithm. The GRASP metaheuristic uses Q-learning instead of the traditional greedy-random algorithm in the construction phase. This replacement has the purpose of improving the quality of the initial solutions that are used in the local search phase of the GRASP, and also provides for the metaheuristic an adaptive memory mechanism that allows the reuse of good previous decisions and also avoids the repetition of bad decisions. In the Genetic Algorithm, the Q-learning algorithm was used to generate an initial population of high fitness, and after a determined number of generations, where the rate of diversity of the population is less than a certain limit L, it also was applied to supply one of the parents to be used in the genetic crossover operator. Another significant change in the hybrid genetic algorithm is the proposal of a mutually interactive cooperation process between the genetic operators and the Q-learning algorithm. In this interactive/cooperative process, the Q-learning algorithm receives an additional update in the matrix of Q-values based on the current best solution of the Genetic Algorithm. The computational experiments presented in this thesis compares the results obtained with the implementation of traditional versions of GRASP metaheuristic and Genetic Algorithm, with those obtained using the proposed hybrid methods. Both algorithms had been applied successfully to the symmetrical Traveling Salesman Problem, which was modeled as a Markov decision process