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General information about Brussels and Accomodations in Brussels is available here.
The behavior of social insects in general, and of ants living in
colonies in particular, has since long time fascinated researchers in
ethology and animal behavior, who have proposed many models to explain
their capabilities.
Recently, ant
algorithms have been proposed as a novel computational
approach that replaces the traditional emphasis on control,
preprogramming, and centralization with designs featuring autonomy,
emergence, and distributed functioning. These designs are
proving flexible and robust, able to adapt quickly to changing
environments and to continue functioning even when individual elements
fail.
A particularly successful research direction in ant algorithms, known as "Ant Colony Optimization",
is dedicated to
their application to discrete optimization problems. Ant Colony Optimization has been applied successfully to a large
number of difficult combinatorial problems like the quadratic
assignment and the traveling salesman problems, to routing in
telecommunications networks, scheduling, and other problems.
ANTS'2000 is the second
edition of the only event entirely devoted to ant algorithms and to Ant Colony Optimization.
Of great interest to the workshop are also
models of real ant colonies organization and functioning which could
stimulate new algorithmic approaches.
The aims are to give
researchers in both real ants behavior and in ant algorithms an
opportunity to meet, to present their latest research, and to discuss
current developments and applications.
The two-day event will be
held in Brussels, Belgium, from 8 to 9 September, 2000. In the
evening of September 7 there will be a tutorial on ant algorithms.
The number of participants will be limited. If you intend to
participate please fill in and send the intention
form, or drop a line to ants@iridia.ulb.ac.be.
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