This paper introduces a new family of multi-parent recombination operators for Genetic Algorithms (GAs), based on normalized Pascal (binomial) coefficients. Unlike classical two-parent crossover operators, Pascal-Weighted Recombination (PWR) forms offsprings as structured convex combination of multiple parents, using binomially shaped weights that emphasize central inheritance while suppressing disruptive variance. We develop a mathematical framework for PWR, derive variance-transfer properties, and analyze its effect on schema survival. The operator is extended to real-valued, binary/logit, and permutation representations. We evaluate the proposed method on four representative benchmarks: (i) PID controller tuning evaluated using the ITAE metric, (ii) FIR low-pass filter design under magnitude-response constraints, (iii) wireless power-modulation optimization under SINR coupling, and (iv) the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). We demonstrate how, across these benchmarks, PWR consistently yields smoother convergence, reduced variance, and achieves 9-22% performance gains over standard recombination operators. The approach is simple, algorithm-agnostic, and readily integrable into diverse GA architectures.

Analogy-Based Estimation (ABE) is a popular method for non-algorithmic estimation due to its simplicity and effectiveness. The Analogy-Based Estimation (ABE) model was proposed by researchers, however, no optimal approach for reliable estimation was developed. Achieving high accuracy in the ABE might be challenging for new software projects that differ from previous initiatives. This study (conducted in June 2024) proposes a Firefly Algorithm-guided Analogy-Based Estimation (FAABE) model that combines FA with ABE to improve estimation accuracy. The FAABE model was tested on five publicly accessible datasets: Cocomo81, Desharnais, China, Albrecht, Kemerer and Maxwell. To improve prediction efficiency, feature selection was used. The results were measured using a variety of evaluation metrics; various error measures include MMRE, MAE, MSE, and RMSE. Compared to conventional models, the experimental results show notable increases in prediction precision, demonstrating the efficacy of the Firefly-Analogy ensemble.

With the rapid advancement of intelligent education, Computerized Adaptive Testing (CAT) has attracted increasing attention by integrating educational psychology with deep learning technologies. Unlike traditional paper-and-pencil testing, CAT aims to efficiently and accurately assess examinee abilities by adaptively selecting the most suitable items during the assessment process. However, its real-time and sequential nature presents limitations in practical scenarios, particularly in large-scale assessments where interaction costs are high, or in sensitive domains such as psychological evaluations where minimizing noise and interference is essential. These challenges constrain the applicability of conventional CAT methods in time-sensitive or resourceconstrained environments. To this end, we first introduce a novel task called one-shot adaptive testing (OAT), which aims to select a fixed set of optimal items for each test-taker in a one-time selection. Meanwhile, we propose PEOAT, a Personalization-guided Evolutionary question assembly framework for One-shot Adaptive Testing from the perspective of combinatorial optimization. Specifically, we began by designing a personalization-aware initialization strategy that integrates differences between examinee ability and exercise difficulty, using multi-strategy sampling to construct a diverse and informative initial population. Building on this, we proposed a cognitive-enhanced evolutionary framework incorporating schema-preserving crossover and cognitively guided mutation to enable efficient exploration through informative signals. To maintain diversity without compromising fitness, we further introduced a diversity-aware environmental selection mechanism. The effectiveness of PEOAT is validated through extensive experiments on two datasets, complemented by case studies that uncovered valuable insights.

This paper presents a method for uncovering hidden analytic relationships among the fundamental parameters of the Standard Model (SM), a foundational theory in physics that describes the fundamental particles and their interactions, using symbolic regression and genetic programming. Using this approach, we identify the simplest analytic relationships connecting pairs of these constants and report several notable expressions obtained with relative precision better than 1%. These results may serve as valuable inputs for model builders and artificial intelligence methods aimed at uncovering hidden patterns among the SM constants, or potentially used as building blocks for a deeper underlying law that connects all parameters of the SM through a small set of fundamental constants.

Traffic Signal Control (TSC) involves a challenging trade-off: classic heuristics are efficient but oversimplified, while Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) achieves high performance yet suffers from poor generalization and opaque policies. Online Large Language Models (LLMs) provide general reasoning but incur high latency and lack environment-specific optimization. To address these issues, we propose Temporal Policy Evolution for Traffic (\textbf{\method{}}), which uses LLMs as an evolution engine to derive specialized heuristic policies. The framework introduces two key modules: (1) Structured State Abstraction (SSA), converting high-dimensional traffic data into temporal-logical facts for reasoning; and (2) Credit Assignment Feedback (CAF), tracing flawed micro-decisions to poor macro-outcomes for targeted critique. Operating entirely at the prompt level without training, \method{} yields lightweight, robust policies optimized for specific traffic environments, outperforming both heuristics and online LLM actors.

Many machine learning models perform well when making predictions within the training data range, but often struggle when required to extrapolate beyond it. Symbolic regression (SR) using genetic programming (GP) can generate flexible models but is prone to unreliable behaviour in extrapolation. This paper investigates whether adding synthetic data can help improve performance in such cases. We apply Kernel Density Estimation (KDE) to identify regions in the input space where the training data is sparse. Synthetic data is then generated in those regions using a knowledge distillation approach: a teacher model generates predictions on new input points, which are then used to train a student model. We evaluate this method across six benchmark datasets, using neural networks (NN), random forests (RF), and GP both as teacher models (to generate synthetic data) and as student models (trained on the augmented data). Results show that GP models can often improve when trained on synthetic data, especially in extrapolation areas. However, the improvement depends on the dataset and teacher model used. The most important improvements are observed when synthetic data from GPe is used to train GPp in extrapolation regions. Changes in interpolation areas show only slight changes. We also observe heterogeneous errors, where model performance varies across different regions of the input space. Overall, this approach offers a practical solution for better extrapolation. Note: An earlier version of this work appeared in the GECCO 2025 Workshop on Symbolic Regression. This arXiv version corrects several parts of the original submission.

Understanding structure-property relationships in materials is fundamental in condensed matter physics and materials science. Over the past few years, machine learning (ML) has emerged as a powerful tool for advancing this understanding and accelerating materials discovery. Early ML approaches primarily focused on constructing and screening large material spaces to identify promising candidates for various applications. More recently, research efforts have increasingly shifted toward generating crystal structures using end-to-end generative models. This review analyzes the current state of generative modeling for crystal structure prediction and \textit{de novo} generation. It examines crystal representations, outlines the generative models used to design crystal structures, and evaluates their respective strengths and limitations. Furthermore, the review highlights experimental considerations for evaluating generated structures and provides recommendations for suitable existing software tools. Emerging topics, such as modeling disorder and defects, integration in advanced characterization, and incorporating synthetic feasibility constraints, are explored. Ultimately, this work aims to inform both experimental scientists looking to adapt suitable ML models to their specific circumstances and ML specialists seeking to understand the unique challenges related to inverse materials design and discovery.

The Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) inverse folding problem, designing nucleotide sequences that fold into specific tertiary structures, is a fundamental computational biology problem with important applications in synthetic biology and bioengineering. The design of complex three-dimensional RNA architectures remains computationally demanding and mostly unresolved, as most existing approaches focus on secondary structures. In order to address tertiary RNA inverse folding, we present BeeRNA, a bio-inspired method that employs the Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) optimization algorithm. Our approach combines base-pair distance filtering with RMSD-based structural assessment using RhoFold for structure prediction, resulting in a two-stage fitness evaluation strategy. To guarantee biologically plausible sequences with balanced GC content, the algorithm takes thermodynamic constraints and adaptive mutation rates into consideration. In this work, we focus primarily on short and medium-length RNAs ($<$ 100 nucleotides), a biologically significant regime that includes microRNAs (miRNAs), aptamers, and ribozymes, where BeeRNA achieves high structural fidelity with practical CPU runtimes. The lightweight, training-free implementation will be publicly released for reproducibility, offering a promising bio-inspired approach for RNA design in therapeutics and biotechnology.

It is well known that fraudulent reviews cast doubt on the legitimacy and dependability of online purchases. The most recent development that leads customers towards darkness is the appearance of human reviews in computer-generated (CG) ones. In this work, we present an advanced machine-learning-based system that analyses these reviews produced by AI with remarkable precision. Our method integrates advanced text preprocessing, multi-modal feature extraction, Harris Hawks Optimization (HHO) for feature selection, and a stacking ensemble classifier. We implemented this methodology on a public dataset of 40,432 Original (OR) and Computer-Generated (CG) reviews. From an initial set of 13,539 features, HHO selected the most applicable 1,368 features, achieving an 89.9% dimensionality reduction. Our final stacking model achieved 95.40% accuracy, 92.81% precision, 95.01% recall, and a 93.90% F1-Score, which demonstrates that the combination of ensemble learning and bio-inspired optimisation is an effective method for machine-generated text recognition. Because large-scale review analytics commonly run on cloud platforms, privacy-preserving techniques such as differential approaches and secure outsourcing are essential to protect user data in these systems.

The increasing labor costs in agriculture have accelerated the adoption of multi-robot systems for orchard harvesting. However, efficiently coordinating these systems is challenging due to the complex interplay between makespan and energy consumption, particularly under practical constraints like load-dependent speed variations and battery limitations. This paper defines the multi-objective agricultural multi-electrical-robot task allocation (AMERTA) problem, which systematically incorporates these often-overlooked real-world constraints. To address this problem, we propose a hybrid hierarchical route reconstruction algorithm (HRRA) that integrates several innovative mechanisms, including a hierarchical encoding structure, a dual-phase initialization method, task sequence optimizers, and specialized route reconstruction operators. Extensive experiments on 45 test instances demonstrate HRRA's superior performance against seven state-of-the-art algorithms. Statistical analysis, including the Wilcoxon signed-rank and Friedman tests, empirically validates HRRA's competitiveness and its unique ability to explore previously inaccessible regions of the solution space. In general, this research contributes to the theoretical understanding of multi-robot coordination by offering a novel problem formulation and an effective algorithm, thereby also providing practical insights for agricultural automation.