Size constrained graph partitioning polytope. Part I: Dimension and trivial facets

We consider the problem of clustering a set of items into subsets whose sizes are bounded from above and below. We formulate the problem as a graph partitioning problem and propose an integer programming model for solving it. This formulation generalizes several well-known graph partitioning problems from the literature like the clique partitioning problem, the … Read more

Size constrained graph partitioning polytope. Part II: Non-trivial facets

We consider the problem of clustering a set of items into subsets whose sizes are bounded from above and below. We formulate the problem as a graph partitioning problem and propose an integer programming model for solving it. This formulation generalizes several well-known graph partitioning problems from the literature like the clique partitioning problem, the … Read more

Solving chance-constrained combinatorial problems to optimality

The aim of this paper is to provide new efficient methods for solving general chance-constrained integer linear programs to optimality. Valid linear inequalities are given for these problems. They are proved to characterize properly the set of solutions. They are based on a specific scenario, whose definition impacts strongly on the quality of the linear … Read more

Approximating the Stability Region for Binary Mixed-Integer Programs

We consider optimization problems with some binary variables, where the objective function is linear in these variables. The stability region of a given solution of such a problem is the polyhedral set of objective coefficients for which the solution is optimal. A priori knowledge of this set provides valuable information for sensitivity analysis and re-optimization … Read more

Computational experience with general cutting planes for the Set Covering problem

In this paper we present a cutting plane algorithm for the Set Covering problem. Cutting planes are generated by a “general” (i.e. not based on the “template paradigm”) separation algorithm based on the following idea: i) identify a suitably small subproblem defined by a subset of the constraints of the formulation; ii) run an exact … Read more

Separation Algorithms for 0-1 Knapsack Polytopes

Valid inequalities for 0-1 knapsack polytopes often prove useful when tackling hard 0-1 Linear Programming problems. To use such inequalities effectively, one needs separation algorithms for them, i.e., routines for detecting when they are violated. We show that the separation problems for the so-called extended cover and weight inequalities can be solved exactly in O(nb) … Read more

Improving a Formulation of the Quadratic Knapsack Problem

The Quadratic Knapsack Problem can be formulated, using an idea of Glover, as a mixed 0-1 linear program with only 2n variables. We present a simple method for strengthening that formulation, which gives good results when the profit matrix is dense and non-negative. Citation Working Paper, Department of Management Science, Lancaster University, May 2007. Article … Read more

A Computational Study of Exact Knapsack Separation for the Generalized Assignment Problem

The Generalized Assignment Problem is a well-known NP-hard combinatorial optimization problem which consists of minimizing the assignment costs a set of jobs to a set of machines satisfying capacity constraints. Most of the existing algorithms are based on Branch-and-Price, with lower bounds computed by Dantzig-Wolfe reformulation and column generation. In this paper we propose a … Read more

A Short Note on the Probabilistic Set Covering Problem

In this paper we address the following probabilistic version (PSC) of the set covering problem: min { cx | P (Ax>= xi) >= p, x_{j} in {0,1} j in N} where A is a 0-1 matrix, xi is a random 0-1 vector and p in (0,1] is the threshold probability level. In a recent development … Read more

Solving the uncapacitated facility location problem with semi-Lagrangian relaxation

The semi-Lagrangian Relaxation (SLR) method has been introduced in Beltran et al. (2006) to solve the p-median problem. In this paper we apply the method to the Uncapacitated Facility Location (UFL) problem. We perform computational experiments on two main collections of UFL problems with unknown optimal values. On one collection, we manage to solve to … Read more