This book contains papers presented at the Workshop on Parallel Processing of Discrete Optimization Problems held at DIMACS in April 1994. The contents cover a wide spectrum of the most recent algorithms and applications in parallel processing of discrete optimization and related problems. Topics include parallel branch and bound algorithms, scalability, load balancing, parallelism and irregular data structures and scheduling task graphs on parallel machines. Applications include parallel algorithms for solving satisfiability problems, location problems, linear programming, quadratic and linear assignment problems. This book would be suitable as a textbook in advanced courses on parallel algorithms and combinatorial optimization.

In the past two decades, breakthroughs in computer technology have made a tremendous impact on optimization. In particular, availability of parallel computers has created substantial interest in exploring the use of parallel processing for solving discrete and global optimization problems. The chapters in this volume cover a broad spectrum of recent research in parallel processing of discrete and related problems. The topics discussed include distributed branch-and-bound algorithms, parallel genetic algorithms for large scale discrete problems, simulated annealing, parallel branch-and-bound search under limited-memory constraints, parallelization of greedy randomized adaptive search procedures, parallel optical models of computing, randomized parallel algorithms, general techniques for the design of parallel discrete algorithms, parallel algorithms for the solution of quadratic assignment and satisfiability problems. The book will be a valuable source of information to faculty, students and researchers in combinatorial optimization and related areas.

Efficient parallel solutions have been found to many problems. Some of them can be obtained automatically from sequential programs, using compilers. However, there is a large class of problems - irregular problems - that lack efficient solutions. IRREGULAR 94 - a workshop and summer school organized in Geneva - addressed the problems associated with the derivation of efficient solutions to irregular problems. This book, which is based on the workshop, draws on the contributions of outstanding scientists to present the state of the art in irregular problems, covering aspects ranging from scientific computing, discrete optimization, and automatic extraction of parallelism. Audience: This first book on parallel algorithms for irregular problems is of interest to advanced graduate students and researchers in parallel computer science.

During the last three decades, breakthroughs in computer technology have made a tremendous impact on optimization. In particular, parallel computing has made it possible to solve larger and computationally more difficult problems. The book covers recent developments in novel programming and algorithmic aspects of parallel computing as well as technical advances in parallel optimization. Each contribution is essentially expository in nature, but of scholarly treatment. In addition, each chapter includes a collection of carefully selected problems. The first two chapters discuss theoretical models for parallel algorithm design and their complexity. The next chapter gives the perspective of the programmer practicing parallel algorithm development on real world platforms. Solving systems of linear equations efficiently is of great importance not only because they arise in many scientific and engineering applications but also because algorithms for solving many optimization problems need to call system solvers and subroutines (chapters four and five). Chapters six through thirteen are dedicated to optimization problems and methods. They include parallel algorithms for network problems, parallel branch and bound techniques, parallel heuristics for discrete and continuous problems, decomposition methods, parallel algorithms for variational inequality problems, parallel algorithms for stochastic programming, and neural networks. Audience: Parallel Computing in Optimization is addressed not only to researchers of mathematical programming, but to all scientists in various disciplines who use optimization methods in parallel and multiprocessing environments to model and solve problems.

Included in this book are the keynote lectures presented at The First Euro-Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing for Computational Mechanics, 26 April-1 May 1997, Lochinver, Scotland.

Includes the keynote lectures presented at The Second Euro-Conference on Parallel and Distributed Computing for Computational Mechanics, held in Sintra, Portugal on 4-9 April 1998.