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

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The Next Wave in Computing, Optimization, and Decision Technologies

Part of the book series: Operations Research/Computer Science Interfaces Series ((ORCS,volume 29))

Abstract

This paper is concerned with the hybridization of two graph coloring heuristics (Saturation Degree and Largest Degree), and their application within a hyper-heuristic 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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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Automated Scheduling Optimization & Planning Group, School of CSiT, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG8 IBB, UK

    Edmund Burke, Sanja Petrovic & Rong Qu

  2. Department of Management Information Systems Eller College of Business and Public Administration, University of Arizona, Arizona, 85721

    Moshe Dror

Authors
  1. Edmund Burke
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  2. Moshe Dror
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  3. Sanja Petrovic
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  4. Rong Qu
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Maryland, USA

    Bruce Golden  & S. Raghavan  & 

  2. American University, USA

    Edward Wasil

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© 2005 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.

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Burke, E., Dror, M., Petrovic, S., Qu, R. (2005). Hybrid Graph Heuristics within a Hyper-Heuristic Approach to Exam Timetabling Problems. In: Golden, B., Raghavan, S., Wasil, E. (eds) The Next Wave in Computing, Optimization, and Decision Technologies. Operations Research/Computer Science Interfaces Series, vol 29. Springer, Boston, MA . https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-23529-9_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-23529-9_6

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-387-23528-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-387-23529-5

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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