@article {869, title = {A Membrane-Inspired Evolutionary Algorithm with a Population P System and its Application to Distribution System Reconfiguration}, journal = {Tenth Brainstorming Week on Membrane Computing}, volume = {II}, year = {2012}, month = {02/2012}, pages = {277-292}, publisher = {F{\'e}nix Editora}, address = {Seville, Spain}, abstract = {This paper develops a membrane-inspired evolutionary algorithm, PSMA, which is designed by using a population P system and a quantum-inspired evolutionary algorithm (QIEA). We use a population P system with three cells to organize three types of QIEAs, where communications between cells are performed at the level of genes, instead of the level of individuals reported in the existing membrane algorithms in the literature. Knapsack problems are applied to discuss the parameter setting and to test the effectiveness of PSMA. Experimental results show that PSMA is superior to four representative QIEAs and our previous work with respect to the quality of solutions and the elapsed time. We also use PSMA to solve the optimal distribution system reconfiguration problem in power systems for minimizing the power loss.}, keywords = {Membrane computing; membrane-inspired evolutionary algorithm; population P system; distribution system reconfiguration}, url = {http://www.gcn.us.es/10BWMC/10BWMCvolII/papers/psma_bwmc.pdf}, author = {Gexiang Zhang and Miguel A. Guti{\'e}rrez-Naranjo and Yanhui Qin and Marian Gheorghe} }