Engineering Stochastic Local Search Algorithms
---
Designing, Implementing and Analyzing Effective Heuristics
SLS 2011
15-17 September 2011, Brussels, Belgium
More details and up-to-date information at
iridia.ulb.ac.be/sls2011
The Workshop
===========
This is the third edition of the SLS Algorithms Engineering
workshop. As in previous editions, the main goal of SLS 2011 is to
provide a forum for the discussion of methodological issues that arise
in the design, implementation, tuning and experimental
evaluation of effective heuristic algorithms. SLS 2011 welcomes high
quality contributions that focus on such issues and that cover any
type of stochastic local search methods.
The 2011 edition of SLS will include 6 to 8 invited talks
by leading experts in the field on topics of special relevance to
engineering SLS algorithms. In addition to these invited talks, high
quality
contributions will be presented orally and in poster sessions;
a doctoral symposium will also be organized in conjunction with the
main workshop.
Pending final confirmation from Springer, the workshop post-
proceedings will be
published in the Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series.
Relevant Research Areas
========================
In recent years, it has become evident that the development of
effective SLS algorithms is a highly complex engineering process that
typically combines aspects of algorithm design and implementation with
empirical analysis and problem-specific background knowledge. This
development process needs to be assisted by a sound methodology that
adresses the issues arising in the phases of algorithm design,
implementation, tuning and experimental evaluation. In addition, more
research is required to understand which SLS techniques are best
suited for particular problem types and to better understand the
relationship between algorithm components, parameter settings, problem
characteristics and performance.
Hence, the aim of this workshop is to stress the importance of an
integration of relevant aspects of SLS research into a more coherent
engineering methodology and to bring together researchers that work in
various fields, including computing science, operations research,
metaheuristics, algorithmics, statistics and application areas.
SLS 2011 solicits contributions dealing with any aspect of engineering
stochastic local search algorithms. Typical, but not exclusive, topics
of interest are:
+ Methodological developments for the implementation of SLS
algorithms (engineering procedures, integration of tools in the
SLS engineering process, ...)
+ Tools for the assistance in the development process of SLS
algorithms (software libraries, automatic and semi-automatic
tuning procedures, learning techniques, ...).
+ Case studies in the principled development of well designed
SLS algorithms for practically relevant problems.
+ New algorithmic developments (usage of AI/OR techniques, large
scale neighbourhood searches, new SLS methods, data structures,
distributed algorithms, ...)
+ Aspects that become relevant when moving from "classical"
NP-hard problems to those including multiple objectives,
stochastic information or dynamically changing data.
+ In-depth experimental studies of SLS algorithms (behavior of SLS
algorithms, comparison of SLS algorithms, ...), problem
characteristics (search space analysis, ...) and their
impact on algorithm performance.
+ Theoretical analysis of SLS behaviour and their impact
on algorithm design (analysis of operators, dynamic behaviour
of SLS algorithms, ...)
Submission Details
====================
Contributions are requested in two main forms.
C1) Original research contributions for publication in the
post-conference proceedings of at most 15 pages in LNCS format.
C2) High-quality manuscripts on topics directly relevant to the
workshop that have been published or accepted for journal
publication within the last two years. High-quality conference
publications
can also be considered, in consultation with the program chairs.
Contributions in this category are for oral or poster presentation
only.
All submissions will appear in informal proceedings, to be distributed
at the conference.
Accepted papers of category C1 will be published in the post-workshop
proceedings. Some papers may be accepted for the post-proceedings
conditional to appropriate improvements of the originally submitted
manuscript.
The post-workshop proceedings will be published in Springer's Lecture
Notes in Computer Science (LNCS) series (confirmation pending).
Submissions to the doctoral symposium will be handled separately and
will be published
in the IRIDIA technical report series.
Further Information
====================
Up-to-date information will be published on the web site
iridia.ulb.ac.be/sls2011. For information about local arrangements,
registration etc., please refer to this web site or contact the local
organizers at the address below.
Workshop Address
================
SLS 2011
IRIDIA, CP 194/6 Tel +32-2-6502729
Université Libre de Bruxelles Fax +32-2-6502715
Av. F. D. Roosevelt 50 iridia.ulb.ac.be/sls2011
1050 Bruxelles, Belgium email: sls@iridia.ulb.ac.be
Workshop Location
=================
Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.
Important Dates
===============
Submission deadline 1 June 2011
Notification of acceptance 15 July 2011
Workshop 15-17 September 2011
Post-workshop proceedings 31 October 2011
SLS 2011 Workshop Committee
============================
General Chairs
Thomas Stuetzle, IRIDIA, CoDE, ULB, Brussels, Belgium
Mauro Birattari, IRIDIA, CoDE, ULB, Brussels, Belgium
Holger H. Hoos, CS Department, UBC, Vancouver, Canada
Organization Chair
Franco Mascia
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