The 4th International Workshop on the Synergy between Parallel Computing, Optimization and Simulation (PaCOS 2020)

CALL FOR PAPERS

As part of  The 18th International Conference on High Performance Computing & Simulation (HPCS 2020)
http://hpcs2020.cisedu.info   or   http://conf.cisedu.us/rp/hpcs20

December 10 – December 14, 2020
Barcelona, Spain (Online Event)

Submission Deadline: October 03, 2020 --- EXTENDED

Submissions could be for full papers, short papers, poster papers, or posters

SCOPE AND OBJECTIVES 
Plenty of hard optimization problems in a wide range of areas such as health, manufacturing and production, logistics and supply chain management, energy, engineering, etc. are increasingly large and complex in terms of number of input parameters, decision variables, objective functions and landscape complexity. These problems are often tackled using optimization approaches including greedy algorithms, exact methods (dynamic programming, Branch-and-X, constraint programming, A∗, etc.) and metaheuristics (evolutionary algorithms, particle swarm, ant or bee colonies, simulated annealing, Tabu search, etc.). Solving efficiently and effectively large and complex problems requires the joint use of these approaches and massively parallel heterogeneous computing.
In addition, for many real-world problems (e.g. in engineering design) the evaluation of the objective function(s) often consist(s) of the execution of an expensive simulation as a black-box complex system. This is for instance typically the case in aerodynamics where a CFD-based simulation may require several hours. Optimization algorithms, even if combined with parallel computing, fail to solve these simulation-based optimization problems. A typical approach to deal with the computational burden is to use (instead of exact values) cheaper data-driven approximations of the objective function(s) so-called surrogates or meta-models. A wide range of surrogates was applied during the last decade including: classical regression models such as polynomial regression or response surface methodology, support vector machines, artificial neural networks (ANN), radial basis functions, and kriging or Gaussian process. ANN is probably the most prevalent of them with the recent “explosion” of the deep learning popularized thanks to GPGPUs.

The PaCOS Workshop topics include the following:
The PaCOS workshop seeks to provide an opportunity for researchers to present their original contributions on the joint use of advanced single- or multi-objective optimization methods, simulation and/or its data-driven approximation, and distributed and/or parallel multi/many-core computing, and any related issues. The PaCOS topics include (but are not limited to) the following:
• Simulation-based optimization.
• Parallel exact optimization/metaheuristics for solving complex problems on multi-core processors, accelerators/co-processors (e.g. GPU), clusters, grids/clouds, etc.
• (Parallel) hybrid algorithms combining optimization and simulation.
• (Parallel) surrogate-assisted optimization.
• Implementation issues of methods combining optimization, simulation and/or parallel computing.
• Software frameworks for the design and implementation of parallel and/or distributed simulation and/or surrogate-assisted techniques.
• Simulation-based optimization applications including healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, biological applications, advanced big data analytics, engineering design, etc.
• Computational/theoretical studies reporting results on solving complex problems using the joint use of parallel computing, optimization and simulation.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PAPER SUBMISSIONS 
You are invited to submit original and unpublished research works on above and other topics related to synergy between parallel computing, optimization and simulation.  Submitted papers must not have been published or simultaneously submitted elsewhere. For Regular papers, please submit a PDF copy of your full manuscript, not to exceed 8 double-column formatted pages per template, and include up to 6 keywords and an abstract of no more than 400 words. Additional pages will be charged additional fee. Submission should include a cover page with authors' names, affiliation addresses, fax numbers, phone numbers, and all authors email addresses. Please, indicate clearly the corresponding author(s) although all authors are equally responsible for the manuscript. Short papers (up to 4 pages), poster papers and posters (please refer to http://hpcs2020.cisedu.info/1-call-for-papers-and-participation/call-for-posters  for posters submission details) will also be considered. Please specify the type of submission you have.  Please include page numbers on all preliminary submissions to make it easier for reviewers to provide helpful comments. 
Submit a PDF copy of your full manuscript to the workshop EasyChair paper submission site at https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=pacos2020.  
Only PDF files will be accepted, uploaded to the submission link above.  Each paper will receive a minimum of three reviews.  Papers will be selected based on their originality, relevance, significance, technical clarity and presentation, language, and references.  Submission implies the willingness of at least one of the authors to register and present the paper, if accepted.  At least one of the authors of each accepted paper will have to register and attend the HPCS 2020 conference to present the paper at the workshop.

PROCEEDINGS
Accepted papers will be published in the Conference proceedings. Instructions for final manuscript format and requirements will be posted on the HPCS 2020 Conference web site. It is our intent to have the proceedings formally published in hard and soft copies and be available at the time of the conference. The proceedings is projected to be included in the IEEE or ACM Digital Library and indexed in all major indexing services accordingly. 
SPECIAL ISSUE
Plans are underway to have the best papers, in extended version, selected for possible publication in a journal as special issue. Detailed information will soon be announced and will be made available on the conference website.

If you have any questions about paper submission or the workshop, please contact the workshop organizers.

IMPORTANT DATES
Paper Submissions: --------------------------------------- October 3, 2020 -- extended
Acceptance Notification: ----------------------------------October 9, 2020
Camera Ready Papers and Registration Due by: ------------- October 16, 2020
Conference Dates: -----------------------------------------December 10-14, 2020


WORKSHOP ORGANIZERS

Dr. Gregoire DANOY
Université du Luxembourg, Luxembourg
Phone: (+352) 46 66 44 53 06
Email: gregoire.danoy@uni.lu

Dr. Jan GMYS
INRIA Lille – Nord Europe, France
Phone: (+33) 3 59 35 86 49
Email: jan.gmys@inria.fr

Ali Hebbal
ONERA – The French Aerospace Lab, France
Phone: (+33) 1 80 38 66 06
Email: ali.hebbal@onera.fr


International Program Committee*:
All submitted papers will be rigorously reviewed by the symposium technical program committee members following similar criteria used in HPCS 2020 and will be published as part of the HPCS 2020 Proceedings.

- Tiago Carneiro Pessoa, Huawei Technologies, Minsk, Belarus
- Francisco Heron de Carvalho-Junior, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Brazil
- Alexandre Borges de Jesus, Universidade de Coimbra, Portugal
- Gabriel Duflo, University of Luxembourg, Luxemburg
- Juan J. Durillo, Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ), Munich, Germany
- Lakhdar Loukil, University of Oran, Algeria
- Renzo Massobrio, Universidad de la República, Uruguay
- Nouredine Melab, Université de Lille/INRIA Lille - Nord Europe, France
- Mohand Said Mezmaz, University of Mons, Belgium
- Daniel H. Stolfi, University of Luxembourg, Luxemburg
- El-Ghazali Talbi, Université de Lille/INRIA Lille - Nord Europe, France
- Daniel Tuyttens, University of Mons, Belgium
- Joao Marcelo Uchoa De Alencar, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Brazil


For information or questions about Conference's paper submission, tutorials, posters, workshops, special sessions, exhibits, demos, panels and forums organization, doctoral colloquium, and any other information about the conference location, registration, paper formatting, etc., please consult the Conference’s web site at URL: http://hpcs2020.cisedu.info  or  http://conf.cisedu.us/rp/hpcs20 or contact one of the Conference's organizers.