Centric selection: a way to tune the exploration/exploitation trade-off
  In this paper, we study the exploration / exploitation trade-off in cellular
genetic algorithms. We define a new selection scheme, the centric selection,
which is tunable and allows controlling the selective pressure with a single
parameter. The equilibrium model is used to study the influence of the centric
selection on the selective pressure and a new model which takes into account
problem dependent statistics and selective pressure in order to deal with the
exploration / exploitation trade-off is proposed: the punctuated equilibria
model. Performances on the quadratic assignment problem and NK-Landscapes put
in evidence an optimal exploration / exploitation trade-off on both of the
classes of problems. The punctuated equilibria model is used to explain these
results.
