Please accept our apologies if you receive multiple copies of this announcement. ----------!!!! DEADLINE EXTENDED!!!! ---------- Due to a number of requests from colleagues, we are pleased to inform that the submission deadline has been extended till SUNDAY 05 September 2004. ============================================================================= Call For Papers - Fourth EU/ME Workshop DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF ADVANCED HYBRID META-HEURISTICS 4,5 November 2004, Nottingham, UK ============================================================================= DESCRIPTION Hybrid meta-heuristic approaches have been successfully applied to a variety of continuous and combinatorial optimisation problems. There is a great interest on this topic, as reflected by the fact that, a considerable number of heuristic methods reported in the literature include some form of hybridisation. However, despite the great number of hybrid methods proposed by researchers and practitioners, more attention is required on the development of frameworks for designing and evaluating advanced hybrid meta-heuristics. Among the few examples of such frameworks are memetic algorithms. The existence of such frameworks is useful for the design and evaluation of advanced hybrid systems in a more methodical fashion as in the case of memetic algorithms. Therefore, in order to motivate more research in this area, the theme of the fourth EU/ME workshop will be on the design and evaluation of advanced hybrid meta-heuristics. As in the previous EU/ME workshops, the 2004 workshop will bring together researchers and practitioners from the meta-heuristics community but this time those with a particular interest in hybridisation. The overall aim of the workshop is to serve as a forum for the exchange of ideas and experiences between the workshop participants. The fundamental issues are: How can we effectively design advanced hybrid meta-heuristics in a methodical way? How should we evaluate the contribution of each component in the resulting hybrid system? This is the fourth in a series of free of charge workshops organised by EU/ME, the European Chapter on Metaheuristics. EU/ME is a working group of EURO, the Association of European Operational Research Societies. This worskhop is being organised in co-operation with ASAP, the Automated Scheduling, Optimisation and PLanning Research Group at the University of Nottingham, UK. Workshop website http://webhost.ua.ac.be/eume/workshops/hybrid TOPICS Topics of interest include (but are not limited to) the following: - Hybridisation of meta-heuristics with exact methods, manual (or interactive) systems, etc. - Hybrid evolutionary methods (e.g. memetic algorithms). - A-teams of heuristics, also called A-architectures. - Analysis of components in the hybridised system. - Metric and methods to evaluate the performance of hybrid systems. - Classification schemes, surveys, annotated bibliographies, etc. - Innovative inter-disciplinary applications of hybrid meta-heuristics. CONTRIBUTIONS Authors are invited to submit a 3-5 pages extended abstract on the theme of the workshop. Each extended abstract will be peer-reviewed by two members of the programme committee. Please send contributions by email to: Nysret Musliu at [log in to unmask] PLENARY SPEAKERS There will be a plenary talk on each day of the workshop. First Plenary speaker: We are pleased to announce that Dr Natalio Krasnogor will give a presentation on the topic of Memetic Algorithms. Dr Natalio Krasnogor has been actively involved in research on MA's and is well known in the MA community. He is co-founder of the International series of Workshops On Memetic Algorithms WOMA. 2nd Plenary speaker: To be announced POST-WORKSHOP VOLUME There will be two special issues devoted to the workshop's best papers only: - Journal of the Operational Research Society (JORS) - Journal of Mathematical Modelling and Algorithms (JMMA) Potential contributors are therefore encouraged to submit their abstracts to the workshop in order to get a chance to submit an extended version of their work to the post-workshop volume. The programme committee will select only high-quality papers describing excellent scientific work for publication in the above journals. It is expected that both journal special issues will be published in late 2005. REGISTRATION AND PARTICIPATION Following the spirit of the EU/ME workshops, registration to the meeting is free of charge (including tea, coffee and biscuits) for those contributing a paper. Registration can be made at the workshop's website http://webhost.ua.ac.be/eume/workshops/hybrid Please note that, due to a limited number of places, colleagues are invited to pre-register at the earliest opportunity. It is also possible to register for the workshop as a non-contributor but this will be subject to a small admin fee (check web site for further details). Participants (contributors and non-contributors) will need to cover their travel, accommodation and meal expenses. The workshop will take place at the Comfort Hotel in Nottingham, UK. For those participants who want to stay in that Hotel (which is of course very convenient), we have negotiated a very good package of accommodation/meals for workshop participants. A summary of this is as follows: Full package at 220 GBP (approx. 330 EUROS) includes: - 2 nights accommodation - 2 Breakfast meals - 2 Lunch meals - Reception dinner (3rd November) - Workshop banquet (4th November) The 1 day accommodation rate is 110 GBP (approx. 165 EUROS) and includes accommodation and meals. Those attending the workshop but not staying at the hotel can get the meals (including evening) package at 30 GBP (approx. 45 EUROS) per day. IMPORTANT DATES - Extended Deadline for submission of contributions: SUNDAY 05 SEPTEMBER 2004. - Notification of accepted contributions: 24 September 2004. - Deadline for early Registration: 01 October 2004. - Workshop dates: 4 and 5 November 2004. PROGRAMME COMMITTEE - Edmund Burke (UK) - Luca Di Caspero (Italy) - Carlos Cotta (Spain) - Kath Dowsland (UK) - Michel Gendreau (Canada) - Jens Gotlieb (Germany) - Jin-Kao Hao (France) - Graham Kendall (UK) - Natalio Krasnogor (UK) - Dario Landa Silva (UK) - Peter Merz (Germany) - Nysret Musliu (Austria) - Ibrahim Osman (Lebanon) - Gunther Raidl (Austria) - Thomas Stutzle (Germany) - Andrea Schaerf (Italy) - Marc Sevaux (France) - Wolfgang Slany (Austria) - Kenneth Sorensen (Belgium) - Eric Soubeiga (UK) - El-ghazali Talbi (France) - Greet Vanden Berghe (Belgium) ORGANISING COMMITTEE For more information please contact any member of the organising committee: Jens Gottlieb ([log in to unmask]), SAP AG, Germany. Dario Landa Silva ([log in to unmask]), University of Nottingham, UK. Nysret Musliu ([log in to unmask]), Vienna University of Technology, Austria. Eric Soubeiga ([log in to unmask]), University of Nottingham, UK. -- Dr E Soubeiga Research Fellow, Hall Warden, Industrial Consultant School of Computer Science & IT The University of Nottingham Jubilee Campus, Wollaton Road Nottingham NG8 1BB Tel: +44 (0)115 846 6531 Fax: +44 (0)115 951 4254 Email: [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask] This message has been scanned but we cannot guarantee that it and any attachments are free from viruses or other damaging content: you are advised to perform your own checks. Email communications with the University of Nottingham may be monitored as permitted by UK legislation.