Machine-learning-enhanced strategies to generate subtour elimination constraints for the symmetric traveling salesman problem

We present a machine learning (ML) component designed to enhance the well-known branch-and-cut (B&C) framework for the symmetric traveling salesman problem (TSP) in which only the subtour elimination constraints (SECs) violated by previously found integer solutions are considered. The objective of the ML component is to identify which SECs, from a pool of candidates, will … Read more

On vehicle routing problems with stochastic demands — Scenario-optimal recourse policies

Two-Stage Vehicle Routing Problems with Stochastic Demands (VRPSDs) form a class of stochastic combinatorial optimization problems where routes are planned in advance, demands are revealed upon vehicle arrival, and recourse actions are triggered whenever capacity is exceeded. Following recent works, we consider VRPSDs where demands are given by an empirical probability distribution of scenarios. Existing … Read more

A Geometric Perspective on Polynomially Solvable Convex Maximization

Convex maximization encompasses a broad class of optimization problems and is generally $\mathsf{NP}$-hard, even for low-rank objectives. While polynomial solvability has been established for several important special cases, a broader structural understanding for mixed-integer settings remains limited. In this paper, we study this question from a geometric perspective and identify a structural property of the … Read more

Modeling Bloons Tower Defense as a temporal two-dimensional knapsack problem with irregular shapes and side constraints: integer programming-based approaches

In Tower Defense (TD) games, the objective is to defend a specific point on the game map from mobile units by constructing towers with offensive capabilities. In this work, we focus on Bloons Tower Defense (Bloons TD), one of the earliest and most prominent TD games. We show that the problem of finding tower configurations … Read more

Stochastic Mixed-Integer Programming: A Survey

The goal of this survey is to provide a road-map for exploring the growing area of stochastic mixed-integer programming (SMIP) models and algorithms. We provide a comprehensive overview of existing decomposition algorithms for two-stage SMIPs, including Dantzig-Wolfe decomposition, dual decomposition, Lagrangian cuts, and decomposition approaches using parametric cutting planes and scaled cuts. Moreover, we explicitly … Read more

Political districting to maximize whole counties

We consider a fundamental question in political districting: How many counties can be kept whole (i.e., not split across multiple districts), while satisfying basic criteria like contiguity and population balance? To answer this question, we propose integer programming techniques based on combinatorial Benders decomposition. The main problem decides which counties to keep whole, and the … Read more

On vehicle routing problems with stochastic demands — Generic disaggregated integer L-shaped formulations

We study the vehicle routing problem with stochastic demands (VRPSD), an important variant of the classical capacitated vehicle routing problem in which customer demands are modeled as random variables. We develop the first algorithm for the VRPSD in the case where the demands are given by an empirical probability distribution of scenarios — a data-driven … Read more

On Integer Programming for the Binarized Neural Network Verification Problem

Binarized neural networks (BNNs) are feedforward neural networks with binary weights and activation functions. In the context of using a BNN for classification, the verification problem seeks to determine whether a small perturbation of a given input can lead it to be misclassified by the BNN, and the robustness of the BNN can be measured … Read more

Approximating value functions via corner Benders’ cuts

We introduce a novel technique to generate Benders’ cuts from a conic relaxation (“corner”) derived from a basis of a higher-dimensional polyhedron that we aim to outer approximate in a lower-dimensional space. To generate facet-defining inequalities for the epigraph associated to this corner, we develop a computationally-efficient algorithm based on a compact reverse polar formulation … Read more

The 1-persistency of the clique relaxation of the stable set polytope: a focus on some forbidden structures

A polytope $P\subseteq [0,1]^n$ is said to have the \emph{persistency} property if for every vector $c\in \R^{n}$ and every $c$-optimal point $x\in P$, there exists a $c$-optimal integer point $y\in P\cap \{0,1\}^n$ such that $x_i = y_i$ for each $i \in \{1,\dots,n\}$ with $x_i \in \{0,1\}$. In this paper, we consider a relaxation of the … Read more