In a recent work, Schmitt and Singh propose a new quadratic facility location model to address ecological challenges faced by policymakers in Bavaria, Germany. Building on this previous work, we significantly extend our understanding of this new problem. We develop connections to traditional combinatorial optimization models and show the problem is NP-hard. We then develop … Read more
This paper presents a novel decomposition method for two-stage stochastic mixed-integer optimization problems. The algorithm builds upon the idea of similarity between finite sample sets to measure how similar the first-stage decisions are among the uncertainty realization scenarios. Using such a Similarity Index, the non-anticipative constraints are removed from the problem formulation so that the … Read more
This paper investigates the bounds on the expectation of combinatorial optimization given moment information for each individual random variable. A popular approach to solving this problem, known as the marginal moment model (MMM), is to reformulate it as a semidefinite program (SDP). In this paper, we investigate the structure of MMM with up to fourth-order … Read more
We consider the problem of distributed task assignment in a swarm of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), where heterogeneous agents that can have different capabilities need to work in teams to execute tasks. We consider the case where communication between UAVs is costly or dangerous and should be limited or avoided, while individual UAVs have uncertain … Read more
The worldwide citrus market has been impacted by various factors in recent years, including population growth, phytosanitary diseases, high costs of agricultural inputs, and diminishing planting areas. As a consequence, producers in this sector have attempted to find tools to support strategic planting decisions, and thus meet international contract demands. This paper proposes an optimization … Read more
We consider the complex cut polytope: the convex hull of Hermitian rank 1 matrices \(xx^{\mathrm{H}}\), where the elements of \(x \in \mathbb{C}^n\) are \(m\)th unit roots. These polytopes have applications in \({\text{MAX-3-CUT}}\), digital communication technology, angular synchronization and more generally, complex quadratic programming. For \({m=2}\), the complex cut polytope corresponds to the well-known cut polytope. … Read more
Omnichannel services, such as buy-online-pickup-in-store, curbside pickup, and ship-from-store, have shifted the order-picking tasks previously completed by in-store customers doing their own shopping to the retailer’s responsibility. To fulfill these orders, many retailers have deployed a store fulfillment strategy, where online orders are picked from brick-and-mortar retail store shelves. We focus on the design of … Read more
The length-constrained cycle partition problem (LCCP) is a graph optimization problem in which a set of nodes must be partitioned into a minimum number of cycles. Every node is associated with a critical time and the length of every cycle must not exceed the critical time of any node in the cycle. We formulate LCCP … Read more
We study the reliable (uncapacitated) facility location (RFL) problem in a data-driven environment where historical observations of random demands and disruptions are available. Owing to the combinatorial optimization nature of the RFL problem and the mixed-binary randomness of parameters therein, the state-of-the-art RFL models applied to the data-driven setting either suggest overly conservative solutions, or … Read more
We tackle the problems of workforce sizing and shift scheduling of a logistic operator delivering parcels in the last-mile segment of the supply chain. Our working hypothesis is that the relevant decisions are affected by two main trade-offs: workforce size and shift stability. A large workforce is able to deal with demand fluctuations but incurs … Read more