We propose a two-phase Path-Relinking (PR) heuristic for the NP-hard Generalized Assignment Problem. The first phase of the algorithm combines LP-solving, cuts and local search for obtaining a population of solutions with guided diversity. The second phase applies the PR template to the population built at phase one. Both feasible and infeasible solutions are inserted in the reference set durin...

Finding a feasible solution to a generic Mixed-Integer Program (MIP) is often a very difficult task. Recently, two heuristic approaches called Feasibility Pump and Local Branching have been proposed to address the problem of finding a feasible solution and improving it, respectively. In this paper we introduce and analyze computationally a hybrid algorithm that uses the feasibility pump method ...

ion-Based Heuristics Fan Yang, Joseph Culberson, and Robert Holte Computing Science Department, University of Alberta Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E8 Canada {fyang,joe,holte}@cs.ualberta.ca The contribution of our research is to show that the accuracy of the heuristics generated by abstraction can be improved by checking for infeasibility. What do we mean by infeasible heuristics? For a state t, the ...

A self-adaptive fitness formulation is presented for solving constrained optimization problems. In this method, the dimensionality of the problem is reduced by representing the constraint violations by a single infeasibility measure. The infeasibility measure is used to form a two-stage penalty that is applied to the infeasible solutions. The performance of the method has been examined by its a...

One typically proves infeasibility in satisfiability/constraint satisfaction (or optimality in integer programming) by constructing a tree certificate. However, deciding how to branch in the search tree is hard, and impacts search time drastically. We explore the power of a simple paradigm, that of throwing random darts into the assignment space and then using information gathered by that dart ...

Nowadays, to meet the enormous computational requests, energy consumption, the largest part which is related to idle resources, is strictly increased as a great part of a data center's budget. So, minimizing energy consumption is one of the most important issues in the field of green computing. In this paper, we present a mathematical model formed as integer-linear programming which minimizes e...

Two difficulties arise when solving the set covering problem (SCP) with metaheuristic approaches: solution infeasibility and set redundancy. In this paper, we first present a review and analysis of the heuristic approaches that have been used in the literature to address these difficulties. We then present a new formulation that can be used to solve the SCP as an unconstrained optimization prob...

The Internet is constantly growing but the available resources, i.e. bandwidth, are limited. Using bandwidth efficiently to provide high quality of service to users is referred to as traffic engineering. This is of utmost importance. Traffic in IP networks is commonly routed along shortest paths with respect to auxiliary link weights, e.g. using the OSPF or IS-IS protocol. Here, shortest path r...

Explaining the causes of infeasibility of Boolean formulas has many practical applications in various fields. A small unsatisfiable subformula provides a succinct explanation of infeasibility and is valuable for applications. In recent years finding unsatisfiable subformulas has been addressed frequently by research works, mostly based on the SAT solvers with DPLL backtrack-search algorithm. Ho...