The famous McCulloch–Pitts neuron model has been criticized for being overly simplistic in the long term. At the same time, the dendritic neuron model (DNM) has been shown to be effective in prediction problems, and it accounts for the nonlinear information-processing capacity of synapses and dendrites. Furthermore, since the classical error back-propagation (BP) algorithm typically experiences problems caused by the overabundance of saddle points and local minima traps, an efficient learning approach for DNMs remains desirable but difficult to implement. In addition to BP, the mainstream DNM-optimization methods include meta-heuristic algorithms (MHAs). However, over the decades, MHAs have developed a large number of different algorithms. How to screen suitable MHAs for optimizing DNMs has become a hot and challenging area of research. In this study, we classify MHAs into different clusters with different population interaction networks (PINs). The performance of DNMs optimized by different clusters of MHAs is tested in the financial time-series-forecasting task. According to the experimental results, the DNM optimized by MHAs with power-law-distributed PINs outperforms the DNM trained based on the BP algorithm.

The wind farm layout optimization problem (WFLOP) aims to maximize wind energy utilization efficiency and mitigate energy losses caused by wake effects by optimizing the spatial layout of wind turbines. Although Genetic Algorithms (GAs) and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) have been widely used in WFLOP due to their discrete optimization characteristics, they still have limitations in global exploration capability and optimization depth. Meanwhile, the Differential Evolution algorithm (DE), known for its strong global optimization ability and excellent performance in handling complex nonlinear problems, is well recognized in continuous optimization issues. However, since DE was originally designed for continuous optimization scenarios, it shows insufficient adaptability under the discrete nature of WFLOP, limiting its potential advantages. In this paper, we propose a Fractional-Order Difference-driven DE Optimization Algorithm called FODE. By introducing the memory and non-local properties of fractional-order differences, FODE effectively overcomes the adaptability issues of advanced DE variants in WFLOP’s discreteness while organically applying their global optimization capabilities for complex nonlinear problems to WFLOP to achieve more efficient overall optimization performance. Experimental results show that under 10 complex wind farm conditions, FODE significantly outperforms various current state-of-the-art WFLOP algorithms including GA, PSO, and DE variants in terms of optimization performance, robustness, and applicability. Incorporating more realistic wind speed distribution and wind condition data into modeling and experiments, further enhancing the realism of WFLOP studies presented here, provides a new technical pathway for optimizing wind farm layouts.

The wind farm layout optimization problem (WFLOP) aims to maximize wind energy utilization efficiency under different wind conditions by optimizing the spatial layout of wind turbines to fully mitigate energy losses caused by wake effects. Some high-performance continuous optimization methods, such as differential evolution (DE) variants, exhibit limited performance when directly applied due to WFLOP’s discrete nature. Therefore, metaheuristic algorithms with inherent discrete characteristics like genetic algorithms (GAs) and particle swarm optimization (PSO) have been extensively developed into current state-of-the-art WFLOP optimizers. In this paper, we propose a novel DE optimizer based on a genetic learning-guided competitive elimination mechanism called CEDE. By designing specialized genetic learning and competitive elimination mechanisms, we effectively address the issue of DE variants failing in the WFLOP due to a lack of discrete optimization characteristics. This method retains the adaptive parameter adjustment capability of advanced DE variants and actively enhances population diversity during convergence through the proposed mechanism, preventing premature convergence caused by non-adaptiveness. Experimental results show that under 10 complex wind field conditions, CEDE significantly outperforms six state-of-the-art WFLOP optimizers, improving the upper limit of power generation efficiency while demonstrating robustness and effectiveness. Additionally, our experiments introduce more realistic wind condition data to enhance WFLOP modeling.

Neuronal models have remained an important area of research in computer science. The dendritic neuron model (DNM) is a novel neuronal model in recent years. Previous studies have focused on training DNM using more appropriate algorithms. This paper proposes an improvement to DNM based on the activity of excitation and proposes three new models. Each of the three improved models are designed to mimic the excitation and inhibition activity of neurons. The improved model proposed in this paper is shown to be effective in the experimental part. All three models and original DNM have their own strengths, so it can be considered that the new model proposed in this paper well enriches the diversity of neuronal models and contributes to future research on networks models.

Recommendation systems (RSs) play a vital role in e-commerce and content platforms, yet balancing efficiency and recommendation quality remains challenging. Traditional deep models are computationally expensive, while heuristic methods like particle swarm optimization struggle with discrete optimization. To address these limitations, this paper proposes elite-evolution-based discrete particle swarm optimization (EEDPSO), a novel framework specifically designed to optimize high-dimensional combinatorial recommendation tasks. EEDPSO restructures the velocity and position update mechanisms to operate effectively in discrete spaces, integrating neighborhood search, elite evolution strategies, and roulette-wheel selection to balance exploration and exploitation. Experiments on the MovieLens and Amazon datasets show that EEDPSO outperforms five metaheuristic algorithms (GA, DE, SA, SCA, and PSO) in both recommendation quality and computational efficiency. For datasets below the million-level scale, EEDPSO also demonstrates superior performance compared to deep learning models like FairGo. The results establish EEDPSO as a robust optimization strategy for recommendation systems that effectively handles the cold-start problem.