The attempt to develop algorithms inspired by one aspect of ant behavior, the ability to find what computer scientists would call shortest paths, has become the field of ant colony optimization (ACO), the most successful and widely recognized algorithmic technique based on ant behavior. This book presents an overview of this rapidly growing field, from its theoretical inception to practical applications, including descriptions of many available ACO algorithms and their uses.The book first describes the translation of observed ant behavior into working optimization algorithms. The ant colony metaheuristic is then introduced and viewed in the general context of combinatorial optimization. This is followed by a detailed description and guide to all major ACO algorithms and a report on current theoretical findings. The book surveys ACO applications now in use, including routing, assignment, scheduling, subset, machine learning, and bioinformatics problems. AntNet, an ACO algorithm designed for the network routing problem, is described in detail. The authors conclude by summarizing the progress in the field and outlining future research directions. Each chapter ends with bibliographic material, bullet points setting out important ideas covered in the chapter, and exercises. Ant Colony Optimization will be of interest to academic and industry researchers, graduate students, and practitioners who wish to learn how to implement ACO algorithms.

    Network Algorithmics provides a complete, coherent methodology for maximizing speed while meeting your other design goals.Author George Varghese begins by laying out the implementation bottlenecks that are most often encountered at four disparate levels of implementation: protocol, OS, hardware, and architecture. He then derives 15 solid principles--ranging from the commonly recognized to the groundbreaking--that are key to breaking these bottlenecks.The rest of the book is devoted to a systematic application of these principles to bottlenecks found specifically in endnodes, interconnect devices, and specialty functions such as security and measurement that can be located anywhere along the network. This immensely practical, clearly presented information will benefit anyone involved with network implementation, as well as students who have made this work their goal.FOR INSTRUCTORS: To obtain access to the solutions manual for this title simply register on our textbook website (textbooks.elsevier.com)and request access to the Computer Science subject area. Once approved (usually within one business day) you will be able to access all of the instructor-only materials through the Instructor Manual link on this book's academic web page at textbooks.elsevier.com.