Stochastic Algorithms Foundations And Applications

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 4th International Symposium on Stochastic Algorithms: Foundations and Applications, SAGA 2007. The nine revised full papers and five invited papers presented were carefully selected for inclusion in the book. The contributed papers included in this volume cover both theoretical as well as applied aspects of stochastic computations with a special focus on investigating the power of randomization in algorithmics.

SAGA 2001, the ?rst Symposium on Stochastic Algorithms, Foundations and Applications, took place on December 13–14, 2001 in Berlin, Germany. The present volume comprises contributed papers and four invited talks that were included in the ?nal program of the symposium. Stochastic algorithms constitute a general approach to ?nding approximate solutions to a wide variety of problems. Although there is no formal proof that stochastic algorithms perform better than deterministic ones, there is evidence by empirical observations that stochastic algorithms produce for a broad range of applications near-optimal solutions in a reasonable run-time. The symposium aims to provide a forum for presentation of original research in the design and analysis, experimental evaluation, and real-world application of stochastic algorithms. It focuses, in particular, on new algorithmic ideas invo- ing stochastic decisions and exploiting probabilistic properties of the underlying problem domain. The program of the symposium re?ects the e?ort to promote cooperation among practitioners and theoreticians and among algorithmic and complexity researchers of the ?eld. In this context, we would like to express our special gratitude to DaimlerChrysler AG for supporting SAGA 2001. The contributed papers included in the proceedings present results in the following areas: Network and distributed algorithms; local search methods for combinatorial optimization with application to constraint satisfaction problems, manufacturing systems, motor control unit calibration, and packing ?exible - jects; and computational learning theory.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Stochastic Algorithms: Foundations and Applications, SAGA 2003, held in Hatfield, UK in September 2003. The 12 revised full papers presented together with three invited papers were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the book. Among the topics addressed are ant colony optimization, randomized algorithms for the intersection problem, local search for constraint satisfaction problems, randomized local search and combinatorial optimization, simulated annealing, probabilistic global search, network communication complexity, open shop scheduling, aircraft routing, traffic control, randomized straight-line programs, and stochastic automata and probabilistic transformations.

This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the Third International Symposium on Stochastic Algorithms: Foundations and Applications, SAGA 2005, held in Moscow, Russia in October 2005. The 14 revised full papers presented together with 5 invited papers were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in the book. The contributed papers included in this volume cover both theoretical as well as applied aspects of stochastic computations whith a special focus on new algorithmic ideas involving stochastic decisions and the design and evaluation of stochastic algorithms within realistic scenarios.

The 5th Symposium on Stochastic Algorithms, Foundations and Applications (SAGA 2009) took place during October 26–28, 2009, at Hokkaido University, Sapporo(Japan).ThesymposiumwasorganizedbytheDivisionofComputerS- ence,GraduateSchoolofComputerScienceandTechnology,HokkaidoUniversity. It o?ered the opportunity to present original research on the design and analysis of randomized algorithms, random combinatorialstructures, implem- tation, experimental evaluation and real-world application of stochastic al- rithms/heuristics. In particular, the focus of the SAGA symposia series is on investigating the power of randomization in algorithms, and on the theory of stochastic processes especially within realistic scenarios and applications. Thus, the scope ofthe symposiumrangesfromthe study oftheoreticalfundamentals of randomizedcomputationtoexperimentalinvestigationsonalgorithms/heuristics and related stochastic processes. The SAGA symposium series is a biennial meeting. Previous SAGA s- posiatookplaceinBerlin,Germany(2001,LNCSvol.2264),Hat?eld,UK(2003, LNCS vol. 2827), Moscow, Russia (2005, LNCS vol. 3777), and Zur ¨ ich, Switz- land (2007, LNCS vol. 4665). This year 22 submissions were received, and the Program Committee selected 15 submissions for presentation. All papers were evaluated by at least three members of the ProgramCommittee, partly with the assistance of subreferees. The present volume contains the texts of the 15 papers presented at SAGA 2009, divided into groups of papers on learning, graphs, testing, optimization, and caching as well as on stochastic algorithms in bioinformatics.

Stochastic local search (SLS) algorithms are among the most prominent and successful techniques for solving computationally difficult problems. Offering a systematic treatment of SLS algorithms, this book examines the general concepts and specific instances of SLS algorithms and considers their development, analysis and application.