Hybrid heuristics based on column generation with path-relinking for clustering problems

Abstract

This paper examines hybrid heuristics for solving clustering problems. the clustering problem can be defined as the process of separating a set of objects into groups such that members of a group are similar to each other. the methods are based on the application of a column generation technique for solving p-medians problems. Five heuristics are derived directly from the column generation algorithm: a solution made feasible from the master problem, the column generation solution, a heuristic with path-relinking considering the initial columns of the column generation procedure, a solution of the master problem with path-relinking and the column generation process with path-relinking. Solutions are tested with the external measure CRand and the computational results compared to recent methods in literature. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.FAPESConselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Natl Inst Space Res INPE, BR-12227010 Sao Jose Dos Campos, SP, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, UNIFESP, BR-12231280 Sao Jose Dos Campos, SP, BrazilFed Univ Espirito Santo UFES, BR-29500000 Alegre, ES, BrazilUniversidade Federal de São Paulo, UNIFESP, BR-12231280 Sao Jose Dos Campos, SP, BrazilFAPES: 59830042/2012CNPq: 476862/2012-4CNPq: 471837/2008-3CNPq: 300692/2009-9CNPq: 300747/2010-1CNPq: 477148/2011-5Web of Scienc