Over the past decades, several techniques have been employed to improve the applicability of the metaheuristic optimization methods. One of the solutions for improving the capability of metaheuristic methods is the hybrid of algorithms. This study proposes a new optimization algorithm called HPBA which is based on the hybrid of two optimization algorithms; Big Bang-Big Crunch (BB-BC) inspired b...

In order to show that the parallel co-evolution of di erent heuristic methods may lead to an e cient search strategy, we have hybridized three heuristic agents of complementary behaviours: A Tabu Search is used as the main search algorithm, a Genetic Algorithm is in charge with the diversi cation and a Kick Operator is applied to intensify the search. The three agents run simultaneously, they c...

0377-2217/$ see front matter 2010 Elsevier B.V. A doi:10.1016/j.ejor.2010.01.035 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 51 2093028; fax: E-mail addresses: [email protected] (Z. Na (P. Toth), [email protected] (L. Galli). In this paper we propose a new heuristic algorithm to solve the unicost version of the well-known set covering problem. The method is based on the electromagnetism metaheuris...

Metaheuristic algorithms are used to solve NP-hard optimization problems. These algorithms have two main components, i.e. exploration and exploitation, and try to strike a balance between exploration and exploitation to achieve the best possible near-optimal solution. The bat algorithm is one of the metaheuristic algorithms with poor exploration and exploitation. In this paper, exploration and ...

Main methods, algorithms and applications of the Variable Neighborhood Search metaheuristic are surveyed, in view of a chapter of the Encyclopedia of Optimization.

---------------------------------------------------------------------***--------------------------------------------------------------------Abstract The drawback in conformational search (CS) is in locating the most stable conformation of a molecule with the minimum potential energy based on a mathematical function. The number of local minima grows exponentially with molecular size and this mak...

Large part of combinatorial optimization research has been devoted to the study of exact methods leading, most notably during the years 60s and 70s, to a number of very diversified approaches to the solution of the problems of interest. Several of these approaches have by now lost their thrust in the literature as newer, more powerful exact optimization techniques appeared and proved their effe...