The dragonfly algorithm developed in 2016. It is one of the algorithms used by the researchers to optimize an extensive series of uses and applications in various areas. At times, it offers superior performance compared to the most well-known optimization techniques. However, this algorithm faces several difficulties when it is utilized to enhance complex optimization problems. This work addressed the robustness of the method to solve real-world optimization issues, and its deficiency to improve complex optimization problems. This review paper shows a comprehensive investigation of the dragonfly algorithm in the engineering area. First, an overview of the algorithm is discussed. Besides, we also examined the modifications of the algorithm. The merged forms of this algorithm with different techniques and the modifications that have been done to make the algorithm perform better are addressed. Additionally, a survey on applications in the engineering area that used the dragonfly algorithm is offered. The utilized engineering applications are the applications in the field of mechanical engineering problems, electrical engineering problems, optimal parameters, economic load dispatch, and loss reduction. The algorithm is tested and evaluated against particle swarm optimization algorithm and firefly algorithm. To evaluate the ability of the dragonfly algorithm and other participated algorithms a set of traditional benchmarks (TF1-TF23) were utilized. Moreover, to examine the ability of the algorithm to optimize large scale optimization problems CEC-C2019 benchmarks were utilized. A comparison is made between the algorithm and other metaheuristic techniques to show its ability to enhance various problems. The outcomes of the algorithm from the works that utilized the dragonfly algorithm previously and the outcomes of the benchmark test functions proved that in comparison with participated algorithms (GWO, PSO, and GA), the dragonfly algorithm owns an excellent performance, especially for small to intermediate applications. Moreover, the congestion facts of the technique and some future works are presented. The authors conducted this research to help other researchers who want to study the algorithm and utilize it to optimize engineering problems.

This paper works on one of the most recent pedestrian crowd evacuation models, i.e., “a simulation model for pedestrian crowd evacuation based on various AI techniques”, developed in late 2019. This study adds a new feature to the developed model by proposing a new method and integrating it with the model. This method enables the developed model to find a more appropriate evacuation area design, among others regarding safety due to selecting the best exit door location among many suggested locations. This method is completely dependent on the selected model’s output, i.e., the evacuation time for each individual within the evacuation process. The new method finds an average of the evacuees’ evacuation times of each exit door location; then, based on the average evacuation time, it decides which exit door location would be the best exit door to be used for evacuation by the evacuees. To validate the method, various designs for the evacuation area with various written scenarios were used. The results showed that the model with this new method could predict a proper exit door location among many suggested locations. Lastly, from the results of this research using the integration of this newly proposed method, a new capability for the selected model in terms of safety allowed the right decision in selecting the finest design for the evacuation area among other designs.

Next word prediction is an input technology that simplifies the process of typing by suggesting the next word to a user to select, as typing in a conversation consumes time. A few previous studies have focused on the Kurdish language, including the use of next word prediction. However, the lack of a Kurdish text corpus presents a challenge. Moreover, the lack of a sufficient number of N-grams for the Kurdish language, for instance, five grams, is the reason for the rare use of next Kurdish word prediction. Furthermore, the improper display of several Kurdish letters in the Rstudio software is another problem. This paper provides a Kurdish corpus, creates five, and presents a unique research work on next word prediction for Kurdish Sorani and Kurmanji. The N-gram model has been used for next word prediction to reduce the amount of time while typing in the Kurdish language. In addition, little work has been conducted on next Kurdish word prediction; thus, the N-gram model is utilized to suggest text accurately. To do so, R programming and RStudio are used to build the application. The model is 96.3% accurate.

A novel evolutionary algorithm called learner performance based behavior algorithm (LPB) is proposed in this article. The basic inspiration of LPB originates from the process of accepting graduated learners from high school in different departments at university. In addition, the changes those learners should do in their studying behaviors to improve their study level at university. The most important stages of optimization; exploitation and exploration are outlined by designing the process of accepting graduated learners from high school to university and the procedure of improving the learner’s studying behavior at university to improve the level of their study. To show the accuracy of the proposed algorithm, it is evaluated against a number of test functions, such as traditional benchmark functions, CEC-C06 2019 test functions, and a real-world case study problem. The results of the proposed algorithm are then compared to the DA, GA, and PSO. The proposed algorithm produced superior results in most of the cases and comparative in some others. It is proved that the algorithm has a great ability to deal with the large optimization problems comparing to the DA, GA, and PSO. The overall results proved the ability of LPB in improving the initial population and converging towards the global optima. Moreover, the results of the proposed work are proved statistically.

Low-power wide area (LPWA) technologies are strongly recommended as the underlying networks for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. They offer attractive features, including wide-range coverage, long battery life, and low data rates. This paper reviews the current trends in this technology, with an emphasis on the services it provides and the challenges it faces. The industrial paradigms for LPWA implementation are presented. Compared with other work in the field, this paper focuses on the need for integration among different LPWA technologies and recommends the appropriate LPWA solutions for a wide range of IoT application and service use cases. Opportunities created by these technologies in the market are also analyzed. The latest research efforts to investigate and improve the operation of LPWA networks are also compared and classified to enable researchers to quickly get up to speed on the current status of this technology. Finally, challenges facing LPWA are identified and directions for future research are recommended.

By increasing mobile devices in technology and human life, using a runtime and mobile services has gotten more complex along with the composition of a large number of atomic services. Different services are provided by mobile cloud components to represent the non-functional properties as Quality of Service (QoS), which is applied by a set of standards. On the other hand, the growth of the energy-source heterogeneity in mobile clouds is an emerging challenge according to the energy-saving problem in mobile nodes. To mobile cloud service composition as an NP-Hard problem, an efficient selection method should be taken by problem using optimal energy-aware methods that can extend the deployment and interoperability of mobile cloud components. Also, an energy-aware service composition mechanism is required to preserve high energy saving scenarios for mobile cloud components. In this paper, an energy-aware mechanism is applied to optimize mobile cloud service composition using a hybrid Shuffled Frog Leaping Algorithm and Genetic Algorithm (SFGA). Experimental results capture that the proposed mechanism improves the feasibility of the service composition with minimum energy consumption, response time, and cost for mobile cloud components against some current algorithms.

Note: This paper has been accepted by the journal of neural computing and applications. A recent metaheuristic algorithm, such as Whale Optimization Algorithm (WOA), was proposed. The idea of proposing this algorithm belongs to the hunting behavior of the humpback whale. However, WOA suffers from poor performance in the exploitation phase and stagnates in the local best solution. Grey Wolf Optimization (GWO) is a very competitive algorithm comparing to other common metaheuristic algorithms as it has a super performance in the exploitation phase while it is tested on unimodal benchmark functions. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to hybridize GWO with WOA to overcome the problems. GWO can perform well in exploiting optimal solutions. In this paper, a hybridized WOA with GWO which is called WOAGWO is presented. The proposed hybridized model consists of two steps. Firstly, the hunting mechanism of GWO is embedded into the WOA exploitation phase with a new condition which is related to GWO. Secondly, a new technique is added to the exploration phase to improve the solution after each iteration. Experimentations are tested on three different standard test functions which are called benchmark functions: 23 common functions, 25 CEC2005 functions and 10 CEC2019 functions. The proposed WOAGWO is also evaluated against original WOA, GWO and three other commonly used algorithms. Results show that WOAGWO outperforms other algorithms depending on the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Finally, WOAGWO is likewise applied to solve an engineering problem such as pressure vessel design. Then the results prove that WOAGWO achieves optimum solution which is better than WOA and Fitness Dependent Optimizer (FDO).

This paper presents an in-depth survey and performance evaluation of the Cat Swarm Optimization (CSO) Algorithm. CSO is a robust and powerful metaheuristic swarm-based optimization approach that has received very positive feedback since its emergence. It has been tackling many optimization problems and many variants of it have been introduced. However, the literature lacks a detailed survey or a performance evaluation in this regard. Therefore, this paper is an attempt to review all these works, including its developments and applications, and group them accordingly. In addition, CSO is tested on 23 classical benchmark functions and 10 modern benchmark functions (CEC 2019). The results are then compared against three novel and powerful optimization algorithms, namely Dragonfly algorithm (DA), Butterfly optimization algorithm (BOA) and Fitness Dependent Optimizer (FDO). These algorithms are then ranked according to Friedman test and the results show that CSO ranks first on the whole. Finally, statistical approaches are employed to further confirm the outperformance of CSO algorithm.

The fitness-dependent optimizer (FDO) algorithm was recently introduced in 2019. An improved FDO (IFDO) algorithm is presented in this work, and this algorithm contributes considerably to refining the ability of the original FDO to address complicated optimization problems. To improve the FDO, the IFDO calculates the alignment and cohesion and then uses these behaviors with the pace at which the FDO updates its position. Moreover, in determining the weights, the FDO uses the weight factor ( ), which is zero in most cases and one in only a few cases. Conversely, the IFDO performs randomization in the [0-1] range and then minimizes the range when a better fitness weight value is achieved. In this work, the IFDO algorithm and its method of converging on the optimal solution are demonstrated. Additionally, 19 classical standard test function groups are utilized to test the IFDO, and then the FDO and three other well-known algorithms, namely, the particle swarm algorithm (PSO), dragonfly algorithm (DA), and genetic algorithm (GA), are selected to evaluate the IFDO results. Furthermore, the CECC06 2019 Competition, which is the set of IEEE Congress of Evolutionary Computation benchmark test functions, is utilized to test the IFDO, and then, the FDO and three recent algorithms, namely, the salp swarm algorithm (SSA), DA and whale optimization algorithm (WOA), are chosen to gauge the IFDO results. The results show that IFDO is practical in some cases, and its results are improved in most cases. Finally, to prove the practicability of the IFDO, it is used in real-world applications.

This study proposes the GOOSE algorithm as a novel metaheuristic algorithm based on the goose’s behavior during rest and foraging. The goose stands on one leg and keeps his balance to guard and protect other individuals in the flock. The GOOSE algorithm is benchmarked on 19 well-known benchmark test functions, and the results are verified by a comparative study with genetic algorithm (GA), particle swarm optimization (PSO), dragonfly algorithm (DA), and fitness dependent optimizer (FDO). In addition, the proposed algorithm is tested on 10 modern benchmark functions, and the gained results are compared with three recent algorithms, such as the dragonfly algorithm, whale optimization algorithm (WOA), and salp swarm algorithm (SSA). Moreover, the GOOSE algorithm is tested on 5 classical benchmark functions, and the obtained results are evaluated with six algorithms, such as fitness dependent optimizer (FDO), FOX optimizer, butterfly optimization algorithm (BOA), whale optimization algorithm, dragonfly algorithm, and chimp optimization algorithm (ChOA). The achieved findings attest to the proposed algorithm’s superior performance compared to the other algorithms that were utilized in the current study. The technique is then used to optimize Welded beam design and Economic Load Dispatch Problem, three renowned real-world engineering challenges, and the Pathological IgG Fraction in the Nervous System. The outcomes of the engineering case studies illustrate how well the suggested approach can optimize issues that arise in the real-world.