The basic Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) algorithm has some shortcomings such as slow convergence, low precision and easily getting trapped in local optimum. To overcome these issues, an improved ABC algorithm with enhanced exploitation ability was proposed. On one hand, the obtained optimum solution was directly introduced into the search equations of employed bees in two different ways and guided the employed bees to perform neighborhood search, which enhanced the exploitation or local search ability of the algorithm. On the other hand, the search was performed by the combination of the current solution and its random neighborhood in the search equations of onlooker bees, which improved the global optimization ability of the algorithm. The simulation results on some common benchmark functions show that in convergence rate, precision, and global optimization or exploration ability, the proposed ABC algorithm is generally better than the other similar improved ABC algorithms such as global best ABC (ABC/best) algorithm, and some ABC algorithms with hybrid search strategy such as ABC algorithm with Variable Search Strategy (ABCVSS) and Multi-Search Strategy Cooperative Evolutionary (ABCMSSCE).

With the explosive growth of video streaming applications, the use of Network Coding (NC) to improve the network performance and then to provide a better quality of video streaming is becoming a hot topic. In order to efficiently exploit the benefits of NC for video delivery, the proposed transmission strategies should be adapted for the characteristics of video traffic and the network environment should also be considered. Firstly, the basic concepts and methods of NC were presented. Then, a variety of NC based techniques that have been specifically designed for video streaming were analyzed and summarized into three main categories, including unequal error protection to give priority to important video packets, reducing packet transmission delay to meet realtime video streaming requirements, enhancing network error recovery strategy to improve transmission reliability. Thirdly, the applications of video streaming with NC in the P2P networks, multi-source cooperative and content-centric network scenarios were introduced respectively. Finally, based on this study, open issues and further research topics were elaborated.