CFP: EvoHybridNP-2003 (GECCO-2003 Workshop)

[Jorge Tavares]

                         SECOND CALL FOR PAPERS
                   (We apologize for cross postings)

                         EvoHybridNP-2003
                         http://evohybridnp03.dei.uc.pt

         Application of Hybrid Evolutionary Algorithms to NP-complete 
Problems

                 Bird-of-a-feather GECCO-2003 Workshop
                         as part of the
         Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO-2003)
                 Chicago, July 12-16, 2003
                 (www.isgec.org/GECCO-2003)

Aims and Scope
This workshop will focus on the application of hybrid Evolutionary 
Computation (EC) techniques

to NP-complete problems. There are many examples of problems belonging 
to this class, such as

the boolean satisfiability (SAT), clique, decision trees, graph 
partitioning or Hamiltonian

circuits. Moreover, optimization problems belonging to the NP-hard 
complexity class, such as

the traveling salesperson or bin packing can easily be restated in terms 
of a decision

version.
When applied to this class of problems, evolutionary techniques can 
benefit from hybridizing

with problem-specific algorithms. In the past few years, results 
obtained by several

investigations give a clear indication that the joint application of 
stochastic optimization

algorithms and classical methods might improve the efficiency of search. 
Adopting several

current approaches as a starting point, this workshop aims to promote a 
widespread discussion

about this topic and, most important, to analyze if it is possible to 
develop new hybrid

architectures that perform better than today’s methods.

Topics:
The workshop considers hybridization in a general sense. Topics of 
interest include, but are

not restricted to:
· Hybridization with exact techniques, such as the branch and bound, 
dynamic programming or

linear programming.
· Hybridization with approximation algorithms, i.e., methods that 
provide a guarantee on the

quality of the solutions obtained.
· Using EC algorithms inside exact techniques.
· Analysis of the strengths (and weaknesses) of today’s EC-based 
approaches. Studies of how

they compare to other techniques that are also applied in these problems.
· Studies for which kind of NP-complete problems, hybrid EC algorithms 
are particularly well

suited.

Important Dates
February 24, 2003: Submission deadline
March 12, 2003: Notification of acceptance
April 4, 2003: Camera-ready copy
July 12, 2003: Workshop in Chicago

Submission procedure
We invite submissions reporting work in the area of the workshop. Send 
your manuscript

(postscript or PFD) via e-mail to xico at dei.uc.pt, no later than February 
24, 2003. Submissions

should follow the layout guidelines given for the main GECCO-2003 
conference (formatting

instructions can be found here:

http://www-illigal.ge.uiuc.edu:8080/GECCO-2003/submissions.html) and 
must not exceed 8 pages.
All the submissions will be fully refereed. Authors will be notified via 
e-mail on the results

of the review by March 12, 2003. Accepted papers will be orally 
presented during the workshop

and will be included in the GECCO-2003 Workshop Proceedings.
Authors of accepted papers will have to improve their paper on the basis 
of the reviewers'

comments and will be asked to send a camera-ready version of their 
manuscripts by April 4,

2003.

Workshop Organizers
Francisco B. Pereira
xico at dei.uc.pt
Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Coimbra
Quinta da Nora, 3030-199 Coimbra, Portugal

Ernesto Costa
ernesto at dei.uc.pt
Centro de Informática e Sistemas da Universidade de Coimbra
Polo II da Universidade de Coimbra, 3030 Coimbra, Portugal

Günther Raidl
raidl at ads.tuwien.ac.at
Institute of Computer Graphics and Algorithms, Vienna University of 
Technology
1040 Vienna, Austria

Program Committee
David Corne, University of Reading, UK.
Carlos Cotta, University of Málaga, Spain.
Jens Gottlieb, SAP, AG, Germany.
Bryant Julstrom, St. Cloud State University, USA.
Kay Chen Tan, National University of Singapore, Singapore.
Elena Marchiori, Free University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Thomas Stützle, Technical University, Darmstadt, Germany.

Contacts
If you have any question, contact Francisco Pereira (xico at dei.uc.pt).