Le 12/01/2021 par lmoalic :

Dear colleagues,

we are pleased to invite you to submit an abstract for presentation in the special session on the "Set Covering Problem and its applications" that will be part of the "Evolutionary and Swarm Optimization" Stream, in the "Discrete Optimization Algorithms" Area, during the 31st European Conference on Operational Research (EURO 2021, Athens, Greece, 11-14 July 2021).

AIMS AND SCOPE:

The set covering problem (SCP) is one of Karp's well-known NP-hard problems. This classical combinatorial optimization problem is related to a wide range of real-world applications, including crew scheduling, facility location, city logistic problems, and optimal camera placement.

The SCP can be stated as follows: given a set of elements I to be covered, and a collection of sets J such that the union of all sets in J is I, find the smallest subset C of J such that C covers I. This formulation is referred to as the unicost set covering problem (USCP). If costs are assigned to the sets of J, then it becomes the weighted set covering problem (WSCP).

Previous studies have presented a series of techniques to solve SCP problems such as exact methods, mathematical programming, bi-level programming, heuristic, and metaheuristic methods. Among them, the continuous development of metaheuristics has derived a number of impressive algorithms that can solve huge SCP instances in a reasonable time. Very recently, their hybridizations with other techniques are shown to give even better results on both benchmark and real-world applications.

This special session is devoted to new approaches that use evolutionary or swarm optimization methods to tackle the USCP, the WSCP, or any SCP variant inspired from a real-world application.

TOPICS OF INTERESTS:

The methods and tools applied to solve the SCP include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Genetic algorithms,
- Ant colony optimization,
- Artificial bee colony algorithm,
- Particle swarm optimization,
- Differential evolution,
- Memetic algorithms,
- Hybridization of evolutionary and/or swarm optimization techniques,
- Hybridization with exact and/or heuristic methods.

The potential applications include, but are not limited to, the following:
- Crew scheduling,
- Facility location,
- City logistic problems,
- Optimal camera placement,
- Nature reserve design,
- Software test suite reduction,
- Wavelength assignment problem in optical networks.

SUBMISSION PROCESS:

EURO 2021 important dates: https://euro2021athens.com/key-dates-deadlines/
Abstract submission guidelines: https://euro2021athens.com/abstract-submission/

SPECIAL SESSION WEBSITE:

http://www.mage.fst.uha.fr/brevilliers/euro-2021-scp-special-session/

Please feel free to forward this announcement to any colleagues who may be interested in this special session.

We are looking forward to your contributions and welcome questions and comments.

The organizing committee:

Mathieu Brévilliers, Université de Haute-Alsace, France
Mokhtar Essaid, Université de Haute-Alsace, France
Lhassane Idoumghar, Université de Haute-Alsace, France
Julien Lepagnot, Université de Haute-Alsace, France
Laurent Moalic, Université de Haute-Alsace, France
Hojjat Rakhshani, Université de Haute-Alsace, France