Revisiting Branch and Bound Search Strategies for Machine Scheduling Problems

In the design of exact methods for NP-hard machine scheduling problems, branch and bound algorithms have always been widely considered. In this work we revisit the classic search strategies for branch and bound schemes. We consider a systematic application of the well known dynamic programming dominance property for machine scheduling problems. Several conditions concerning the application of the proposed property with respect to best first, depth first, breadth first search strategies and problem characteristics are presented. Computational testing on single machine and flow shop problems validate in practice the efficiency of the considered approach and suggest that the traditional choice of depth first search with respect to best first and breadth first is strongly questionable.     

基于Visual C++的0-1背包问题的分枝限界算法

0-1背包问题是经典的NP问题。本文对0-1背包问题的分枝限界算法进行了分析,用Visual C++实现该算法。     

Boosting Search with Variable Elimination in Constraint Optimization and Constraint Satisfaction Problems

There are two main solving schemas for constraint satisfaction and optimization problems: i) search, whose basic step is branching over the values of a variables, and ii) dynamic programming, whose basic step is variable elimination. Variable elimination is time and space exponential in a graph parameter called induced width, which renders the approach infeasible for many problem classes. However, by restricting variable elimination so that only low arity constraints are processed and recorded, it can be effectively combined with search, because the elimination of variables may reduce drastically the search tree size.In this paper we introduce BE-BB(k), a hybrid general algorithm that combines search and variable elimination. The parameter k controls the tradeoff between the two strategies. The algorithm is space exponential in k. Regarding time, we show that its complexity is bounded by k and a structural parameter from the constraint graph. We provide experimental evidence that the hybrid algorithm can outperform state-of-the-art algorithms in constraint satisfaction, Max-CSP and Weighted CSP. Especially in optimization tasks, the advantage of our approach over plain search can be overwhelming.     

多用户OFDM系统资源分配的分支定界算法

研究了分支定界算法在多用户OFDM系统资源分配中的应用问题．基于速率最大化准则,进行速率和功率的分配．经典的遗传算法（GA-Genetic Algorithm）虽然很好的解决了非线性问题,使的计算精度得到了提高,但是运算复杂度却提高了;而分支定界算法通过分支、定界、剪支使得计算次数减少从而大大的降低了复杂度,并且仿真结果表明,分支定界算法在性能上接近遗传算法但复杂度上低于遗传算法,性能上优于Linear算法．     

基于约束传播的HFS调度研究

将约束传播技术同分枝定界法相结合求解优化目标为最小最大完工时间的混合流水车间调度问题。算法核心是根据资源松弛度确定关键阶段,通过在分枝定界算法中嵌入动态可调的开工时间窗口,用顺序传播、资源传播、上下游工序传播,动态修改每个操作的开工时间窗上下界,并在算法特点基础上给出相应的剪枝下界,以减小搜索空间,提高分枝定界法的优化能力。实验结果证明了算法的有效性。     

基于遗传分枝定界算法的Flow-shop调度问题

Flow shop调度问题属于NP难题,传统的方法很难求出精确最优解,提出了一种遗传分枝定界算法,即在遗传算法中引入分枝定界算法保持对优化解有贡献的工件部分顺序,求解3机Flow shop调度问题,该算法与常用的遗传局部算法和遗传动态规划算法类似,用随机方法测试例子,与目前著名的Taillard的禁忌搜索算法和Reeves的遗传算法两种改进算法进行比较,大量的数据实验证实了遗传分枝定界算法的有效性。     

Bound sets for biobjective combinatorial optimization problems

In this paper we introduce the concept of bound sets for multiobjective discrete optimization. We prove general results on lower and upper bound sets for combinatorial optimization problems with multiple objectives. We present general algorithms for constructing lower and upper bound sets for biobjective problems and provide numerical results on five different problem types.     

Semiring-Based CSPs and Valued CSPs: Frameworks, Properties, and Comparison

In this paper we describe and compare two frameworks for constraint solving where classical CSPs, fuzzy CSPs, weighted CSPs, partial constraint satisfaction, and others can be easily cast. One is based on a semiring, and the other one on a totally ordered commutative monoid. While comparing the two approaches, we show how to pass from one to the other one, and we discuss when this is possible. The two frameworks have been independently introduced in ijcai95,jacm and schiex-ijcai95.     

多跳无线网络中基于分支限界法的广播算法

现有的广播算法一般采用分层的方法构建近似的最多叶子最短生成树作为广播树。分析此类算法存在的不足,提出利用分支限界的思想建立最多叶子最短生成树引导广播操作的方法。分析和仿真结果表明,与基于分层的广播算法相比,基于分支限界法的广播算法具有更低的转发比且不增加广播树的深度,能更有效地节省带宽和能量资源。     

良结构下推系统的可覆盖性问题的下界

良结构下推系统是下推系统和良结构迁移系统的结合,该系统允许状态和栈字符是向量的形式,因而它们是无限的.状态迁移的同时允许栈进行入栈出栈的操作.它“非常接近不可判定的边缘”.利用重置0操作,提出了一个模型可覆盖性问题复杂度下界的一般性证明方法,并且证明了状态是3维向量的子集和一般性的良结构下推系统的可覆盖性问题分别是Tower难和Hyper-Ackermann难的.     

Assessment of a non-adaptive deterministic global optimization algorithm for problems with low-dimensional non-convex subspaces

The optimum and at least one optimizing point for convex nonlinear programs can be approximated well by the solution to a linear program (a fact long used in branch and bound algorithms). In more general problems, we can identify subspaces of ‘non-convex variables’ such that, if these variables have sufficiently small ranges, the optimum and at least one optimizing point can be approximated well by the solution of a single linear program. If these subspaces are low-dimensional, this suggests subdividing the variables in the subspace a priori, then producing and solving a fixed, known number of linear programs to obtain an approximation to the solution. The total amount of computation is much more predictable than that required to complete a branch and bound algorithm, and the scheme is ‘embarrassingly parallel’, with little need for either communication or load balancing. We compare such a non-adaptive scheme experimentally to our GlobSol branch and bound implementation, on those problems from the COCONUT project Lib1 test set with non-convex subspaces of dimension four or less, and we discuss potential alterations to both the non-adaptive scheme and our branch and bound process that might change the scope of applicability.     

原对偶积极集法求解改进的有界约束图像恢复问题

为了提高模糊加噪声图像的恢复质量,提出了一种用于图像恢复处理的改进的带约束的正则化模型。该模型首先利用Levine等人提出的变指数、线性增长函数作为正则项,并根据图像局部特征选择合适的正则参数,这样既保留了总变差正则化方法在恢复图像边缘方面的优势,又减少了梯子现象;其次,为进一步提高恢复图像的质量,在此基础上再添加有界约束条件,如将灰度值固定在某范围内,以形成约束优化问题。由于它的求解相对复杂,为此可应用原对偶积极集法求解,其实质就是用半光滑Newton法来求解由约束优化问题转化所得到的方程组。数值实验表明,此方法是可行的和有效的。     

基于边界剪枝的不确定场境下偏好查询技术

查询执行时加入场境依赖的用户偏好可以帮助人们从大量信息中发现正确答案。已经证明,不确定场境信息条件下,用户偏好的查询可能导致NP完全或者#P完全难度的推理难题。提出了一个简单通用的方法优化不确定场境信息条件下的用户偏好查询,用户查询等价于搜索建立的场境偏好空间(contextual preferencesspace,CPS)。根据具体应用需求,考虑了两种搜索方案:搜索最优的元组和返回top-k(k为用户指定)个元组。采用定量的方法对用户偏好进行建模。为了提高查询处理效率,提出两种搜索剪枝策略:边界剪枝(branch and bound searching,BBS)和偏序边界剪枝(partial value branch and bound space searching,pBBS)。最后,从I/O访问次数和CPU运行时间两个角度评价所提出的方法。     

Branch and Bound Algorithms for Single Machine Scheduling with Batching to Minimize the Number of Late Jobs

This paper considers the problem of scheduling a single machine to minimize the number of late jobs in the presence of sequence-independent family set-up times. The jobs are partitioned into families, and a set-up time is required at the start of each batch, where a batch is a maximal set of jobs in the same family that are processed consecutively. We design branch and bound algorithms that have several alternative features. Lower bounds can be derived by relaxing either the set-up times or the due dates. A first branching scheme uses a forward branching rule with a depth-first search strategy. Dominance criteria, which determine the order of the early jobs within each family and the order of the batches containing early jobs, can be fully exploited in this scheme. A second scheme uses a ternary branching rule in which the next job is fixed to be early and starting a batch, to be early and not starting a batch, or to be late. The different features are compared on a large set of test problems, where the number of jobs ranges from 30 to 50 and the number of families ranges from 4 to 10.     

A Quadratic Lower Bound for Three-Query Linear Locally Decodable Codes over Any Field

A linear (q,δ,,m(n))-locally decodable code (LDC) C : Fn → Fm(n) is a linear transformation from the vector space Fn to the space Fm(n) for which each message symbol xi can be recovered with probability at least 1/(|F|) +∈ from C(x) by a randomized algorithm that queries only q positions of C(x),even if up to δm(n) positions of C(x) are corrupted.In a recent work of Dvir,the author shows that lower bounds for linear LDCs can imply lower bounds for arithmetic circuits.He suggests that proving lower bounds for LDCs over the complex or real field is a good starting point for approaching one of his conjectures.Our main result is an m(n) = Ω (n2) lower bound for linear 3-query LDCs over any,possibly infinite,field.The constant in the Ω (·) depends only on ε and δ.This is the first lower bound better than the trivial m(n) = Ω (n) for arbitrary fields and more than two queries.     

Lower Bound Methods and Separation Results for On-Line Learning Models

We consider the complexity of concept learning in various common models for on-line learning, focusing on methods for proving lower bounds to the learning complexity of a concept class. Among others, we consider the model for learning with equivalence and membership queries. For this model we give lower bounds on the number of queries that are needed to learn a concept class in terms of the Vapnik-Chervonenkis dimension of , and in terms of the complexity of learning with arbitrary equivalence queries. Furthermore, we survey other known lower bound methods and we exhibit all known relationships between learning complexities in the models considered and some relevant combinatorial parameters. As it turns out, the picture is almost complete. This paper has been written so that it can be read without previous knowledge of Computational Learning Theory.     

Complete Bound Consistency for the Global Cardinality Constraint

We show an algorithm for bound consistency of global cardinality constraints, which runs in time O(n + n′) plus the time required to sort the assignment variables by range endpoints, where n is the number of assignment variables and n′ is the number of values in the union of their domains. It is the first efficient algorithm that achieves bound consistency for all variables, and not only the assignment variables.Partially supported by DFG grant SA 933/1-1.Partially supported by the EU IST Programme, IST-1999-14186 (ALCOM-FT).     

多状态网络可靠度下界的矩阵分解算法

为减少计算多状态网络可靠度精确值的复杂性,提出基于分解计算多状态网络不可靠度精确值的思想,在此基础上提出一个求解多状态网络不可靠度动态上界(对应于可靠度动态下界)的算法.算法先通过分解运算去除某些边引起的d-最小割集之间的相关性,将网络不可靠度转化为多个互斥事件的概率之和,再应用MESP界求取这些事件的概率,计算网络不可靠度上界,对应得到可靠度下界,并计算了得到的可靠度下界与精确值间的绝对误差界.通过定义d-最小割集矩阵,利用矩阵分解实现算法,结构清晰、便于编程计算.相关引理的证明及算例分析表明随着分解的深入,算法能够得到满足精度要求的可靠度下界.     

一种基于下界估计的动态表调度算法

调度是高层次综合的核心步骤之一。该文分析了常用的调度算法,并提出一种基于下界估计的动态表调度算法,实验数据表明该方法可以有效地实现多目标的优化。