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A simulated annealing with a new neighborhood structure based algorithm for high school timetabling problems

Author

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  • Zhang, Defu
  • Liu, Yongkai
  • M'Hallah, Rym
  • Leung, Stephen C.H.

Abstract

This paper approximately solves the high school timetabling problem using a simulated annealing based algorithm with a newly-designed neighborhood structure. In search for the best neighbor, the heuristic performs a sequence of swaps between pairs of time slots, instead of swapping two assignments as in a standard simulated annealing. The computational results show that the proposed heuristic, which is tested on two sets of benchmark instances, performs better than existing approaches.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhang, Defu & Liu, Yongkai & M'Hallah, Rym & Leung, Stephen C.H., 2010. "A simulated annealing with a new neighborhood structure based algorithm for high school timetabling problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 203(3), pages 550-558, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:203:y:2010:i:3:p:550-558
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    9. Al-Yakoob, Salem M. & Sherali, Hanif D., 2007. "A mixed-integer programming approach to a class timetabling problem: A case study with gender policies and traffic considerations," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 180(3), pages 1028-1044, August.
    10. Daskalaki, S. & Birbas, T. & Housos, E., 2004. "An integer programming formulation for a case study in university timetabling," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 153(1), pages 117-135, February.
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    12. Burke, Edmund K. & McCollum, Barry & Meisels, Amnon & Petrovic, Sanja & Qu, Rong, 2007. "A graph-based hyper-heuristic for educational timetabling problems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 176(1), pages 177-192, January.
    13. E.K. Burke & J.P. Newall, 2004. "Solving Examination Timetabling Problems through Adaption of Heuristic Orderings," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 129(1), pages 107-134, July.
    14. Alvarez-Valdes, Ramon & Crespo, Enric & Tamarit, Jose M., 2002. "Design and implementation of a course scheduling system using Tabu Search," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 137(3), pages 512-523, March.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Hong, Shaohui & Zhang, Defu & Lau, Hoong Chuin & Zeng, XiangXiang & Si, Yain-Whar, 2014. "A hybrid heuristic algorithm for the 2D variable-sized bin packing problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 238(1), pages 95-103.
    3. Johnes, Jill, 2015. "Operational Research in education," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 243(3), pages 683-696.
    4. Vermuyten, Hendrik & Lemmens, Stef & Marques, Inês & Beliën, Jeroen, 2016. "Developing compact course timetables with optimized student flows," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 251(2), pages 651-661.
    5. Murray, Chase C. & Gosavi, Abhijit & Talukdar, Debabrata, 2012. "The multi-product price-setting newsvendor with resource capacity constraints," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(1), pages 148-158.
    6. De Boeck, Liesje & Beliën, Jeroen & Creemers, Stefan, 2016. "A column generation approach for solving the examination-timetabling problemAuthor-Name: Woumans, Gert," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 253(1), pages 178-194.
    7. Sana Bouajaja & Najoua Dridi, 2017. "A survey on human resource allocation problem and its applications," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 339-369, July.

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