Plenty of hard problems in a wide range of areas, including engineering design, telecommunications, logistics, etc. have been modeled and tackled successfully with optimization approaches. These approaches fall into two major categories: meta-heuristics (evolutionary algorithms, scatter or swarm search, simulated annealing, Tabu search, etc.) and exact methods (Branch-and-X, dynamic programming, etc.). Nowadays, optimization problems become increasingly large and complex, forcing the use of parallel and grid computing for their efficient and effective resolution. The design and implementation of parallel and/or Grid-based optimization methods raise several issues related to the characteristics of these methods and those of the hardware execution support at the same time. This special session seeks to provide an opportunity for the researchers to present their original contributions on the joint use of advanced optimization methods and parallel and Grid computing, and any related issues.

Parallel models (island model, master-worker, multi-start, etc.) for meta-heuristics.

Parallel models (multi-parametric, parallel tree exploration, etc.) for exact methods.

Parallel mechanisms for hybridization of optimization methods.

Implementation of parallel optimization algorithms on clusters and multi-core processors.

Adaptation of parallel optimization algorithms to Grids or P2P systems.

Frameworks for the design and implementation of parallel and/or Grid-based optimization techniques.

Parallel simulation-based optimization algorithms.

Computational studies reporting results for hard/interesting problems.

Issues and novel approaches and experiments in solving real-world applications in engineering design, telecommunications, logistics, transport, etc.

Theory and performance metrics for parallel and/or Grid-based optimization algorithms.

You are invited to submit original and unpublished research works on above and other topics related to parallel and/or grid-based optimization. Please submit a PDF copy of your full manuscript, not to exceed 7 double-column IEEE formatted pages, and include up to 6 keywords and an abstract of no more than 350 words. Each paper will receive a minimum of three reviews. At least one of the authors of each accepted paper will have to register and attend the HPCS'07 conference for presenting the paper at the special session. Accepted papers will be published by SCS-Europe in the conference proceedings. Papers should be submitted as attachments to: melab@lifl.fr, talbi@lifl.fr.

If you have any questions about paper submission or the special session, please contact the organizers.

Full Paper Submission Deadline:

March 20, 2007

Notification of Acceptance:

April 2, 2007

Camera-Ready Paper Due:

April 17, 2007

Special Session Organizers: