Hybrid Graph Heuristics within a Hyper-heuristic Approach to Exam Timetabling Problems

This paper is concerned with the hybridization of two graph coloring heuristics (Saturation Degree and Largest Degree), and their application within a hyperheuristic for exam timetabling problems. Hyper-heuristics can be seen as algorithms which intelligently select appropriate algorithms/heuristics...

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Main Authors: Burke, Edmund, Dror, Moshe, Petrovic, Sanja, Qu, Rong
Other Authors: Golden, B.L.
Format: Book Section
Published: Springer 2005
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/349/
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author Burke, Edmund
Dror, Moshe
Petrovic, Sanja
Qu, Rong
author2 Golden, B.L.
author_facet Golden, B.L.
Burke, Edmund
Dror, Moshe
Petrovic, Sanja
Qu, Rong
author_sort Burke, Edmund
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description This paper is concerned with the hybridization of two graph coloring heuristics (Saturation Degree and Largest Degree), and their application within a hyperheuristic for exam timetabling problems. Hyper-heuristics can be seen as algorithms which intelligently select appropriate algorithms/heuristics for solving a problem. We developed a Tabu Search based hyper-heuristic to search for heuristic lists (of graph heuristics) for solving problems and investigated the heuristic lists found by employing knowledge discovery techniques. Two hybrid approaches (involving Saturation Degree and Largest Degree) including one which employs Case Based Reasoning are presented and discussed. Both the Tabu Search based hyper-heuristic and the hybrid approaches are tested on random and real-world exam timetabling problems. Experimental results are comparable with the best state-of-the-art approaches (as measured against established benchmark problems). The results also demonstrate an increased level of generality in our approach.
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institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
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publishDate 2005
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spelling nottingham-3492020-05-04T20:30:44Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/349/ Hybrid Graph Heuristics within a Hyper-heuristic Approach to Exam Timetabling Problems Burke, Edmund Dror, Moshe Petrovic, Sanja Qu, Rong This paper is concerned with the hybridization of two graph coloring heuristics (Saturation Degree and Largest Degree), and their application within a hyperheuristic for exam timetabling problems. Hyper-heuristics can be seen as algorithms which intelligently select appropriate algorithms/heuristics for solving a problem. We developed a Tabu Search based hyper-heuristic to search for heuristic lists (of graph heuristics) for solving problems and investigated the heuristic lists found by employing knowledge discovery techniques. Two hybrid approaches (involving Saturation Degree and Largest Degree) including one which employs Case Based Reasoning are presented and discussed. Both the Tabu Search based hyper-heuristic and the hybrid approaches are tested on random and real-world exam timetabling problems. Experimental results are comparable with the best state-of-the-art approaches (as measured against established benchmark problems). The results also demonstrate an increased level of generality in our approach. Springer Golden, B.L. Raghavan, S. Wasil, E.A. 2005 Book Section PeerReviewed Burke, Edmund, Dror, Moshe, Petrovic, Sanja and Qu, Rong (2005) Hybrid Graph Heuristics within a Hyper-heuristic Approach to Exam Timetabling Problems. In: The Next Wave in Computing, Optimization, and Decision Technologies. Springer, pp. 79-91. case based reasoning exam timetabling problems graph heuristics hyperheuristics knowledge discovery tabu search
spellingShingle case based reasoning
exam timetabling problems
graph heuristics
hyperheuristics
knowledge discovery
tabu search
Burke, Edmund
Dror, Moshe
Petrovic, Sanja
Qu, Rong
Hybrid Graph Heuristics within a Hyper-heuristic Approach to Exam Timetabling Problems
title Hybrid Graph Heuristics within a Hyper-heuristic Approach to Exam Timetabling Problems
title_full Hybrid Graph Heuristics within a Hyper-heuristic Approach to Exam Timetabling Problems
title_fullStr Hybrid Graph Heuristics within a Hyper-heuristic Approach to Exam Timetabling Problems
title_full_unstemmed Hybrid Graph Heuristics within a Hyper-heuristic Approach to Exam Timetabling Problems
title_short Hybrid Graph Heuristics within a Hyper-heuristic Approach to Exam Timetabling Problems
title_sort hybrid graph heuristics within a hyper-heuristic approach to exam timetabling problems
topic case based reasoning
exam timetabling problems
graph heuristics
hyperheuristics
knowledge discovery
tabu search
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/349/