Oktay Gunluk We study mixed integer nonlinear programs (MINLP)s that are driven by a collection of indicator variables where each indicator variable controls a subset of the decision variables. An indicator variable, when it is “turned off”, forces some of the decision variables to assume fixed values, and, when it is “turned on”, forces them to belong … Read more
Mixed-integer rounding (MIR) is a simple, yet powerful procedure for generating valid inequalities for mixed-integer programs. When used as cutting planes, MIR inequalities are very effective for problems with unbounded integer variables. For problems with bounded integer variables, however, cutting planes based on lifting techniques appear to be more effective. This is not surprising as … Read more
In the context of a variation of the standard UFL (Uncapacitated Facility Location) problem, but with an objective function that is a separable convex quadratic function of the transportation costs, we present some techniques for improving relaxations of MINLP formulations. We use a disaggregation principle and a strategy of developing model-specific valid inequalities (some nonlinear), … Read more
We study the mixed-integer rounding (MIR) closures of polyhedral sets. The MIR closure of a polyhedral set is equal to its split closure and the associated separation problem is NP-hard. We describe a mixed-integer programming (MIP) model with linear constraints and a non-linear objective for separating an arbitrary point from the MIR closure of a … Read more
We study the Master Equality Polyhedron (MEP) which generalizes the Master Cyclic Group Polyhedron and the Master Knapsack Polyhedron. We present an explicit characterization of the polar of the nontrivial facet-defining inequalities for the MEP. This result generalizes similar results for the Master Cyclic Group Polyhedron by Gomory (1969) and for the Master Knapsack Polyhedron … Read more
Two-step mixed-integer rounding inequalities are valid inequalities derived from a facet of a simple mixed-integer set with three variables and one constraint. In this paper we investigate how to effectively use these inequalities as cutting planes for general mixed-integer problems. We study the separation problem for single constraint sets and show that it can be … Read more
Gomory mixed-integer (GMI) cuts generated from optimal simplex tableaus are known to be useful in solving mixed-integer programs. Further, it is well-known that GMI cuts can be derived from facets of Gomory’s master cyclic group polyhedron and its mixed-integer extension studied by Gomory and Johnson. In this paper we examine why cutting planes derived from … Read more
We study a pricing problem where buyers with non-uniform demand purchase one of many items. Each buyer has a known benefit for each item and purchases the item that gives the largest utility, which is defined to be the difference between the benefit and the price of the item. The optimization problem is to decide … Read more
In this paper we study the network design arc set with variable upper bounds. This set appears as a common substructure of many network design problems and is a relaxation of several fundamental mixed-integer sets studied earlier independently. In particular, the splittable flow arc set, the unsplittable flow arc set, the single node fixed-charge flow … Read more
We present the optimization component of a decision support system developed for a sedan service provider. The system assists supervisors and dispatchers in scheduling driver shifts and routing the fleet throughout the day to satisfy customer demands within tight time windows. We periodically take a snapshot of the dynamic data and formulate an integer program, … Read more