Using a simple, annealed model, some of the key features of the recently introduced extremal optimization heuristic are demonstrated. In particular, it is shown that the dynamics of local search possesses a generic critical point under the variation of its sole parameter, separating phases of...

In 1997 two papers_new applying the metaheuristics Tabu Search (TS) and Heuristic Concentration (HC) tothe p-median problem were published in consecutive volumes of the European Journal of OperationalResearch. Here we apply the method of HC some of the data sets which were used for...

The relentless pursuit of increased product quality via continuous improvement is an important long-term strategy for achieving competitive advantage. However, manufacturers must still achieve high product quality in the short run. Hence, short-run quality improvement strategies are necessary,...

This paper describes a tabu search approach for a multiprocessor scheduling problem, where a list of jobs has to be scheduled on identical parallel processors. Each job in the list has a release date, a due date, a processing time and a set of predecessors. The objective is to minimize the...

The Maximum Balanced Subgraph Problem (MBSP) is the problem of finding a subgraph of a signed graph that is balanced and maximizes the cardinality of its vertex set. This paper is the first one to discuss applications of the MBSP arising in three different research areas: the detection of...