Fast combinatorial optimization with parallel digital computers

This paper presents an algorithm which realizes fast search for the solutions of combinatorial optimization problems with parallel digital computers. With the standard weight matrices designed for combinatorial optimization, many iterations are required before convergence to a quasioptimal solution even when many digital processors can be used in parallel, By removing the components of the eingenvectors with eminent negative eigenvalues of the weight matrix, the proposed algorithm avoids oscillation and realizes energy reduction under synchronous discrete dynamics, which enables parallel digital computers to obtain quasi-optimal solutions with much less time than the conventional algorithm

Recent Advances in Graph Partitioning

We survey recent trends in practical algorithms for balanced graph partitioning together with applications and future research directions

On the Benefits of Inoculation, an Example in Train Scheduling

The local reconstruction of a railway schedule following a small perturbation of the traffic, seeking minimization of the total accumulated delay, is a very difficult and tightly constrained combinatorial problem. Notoriously enough, the railway company's public image degrades proportionally to the amount of daily delays, and the same goes for its profit! This paper describes an inoculation procedure which greatly enhances an evolutionary algorithm for train re-scheduling. The procedure consists in building the initial population around a pre-computed solution based on problem-related information available beforehand. The optimization is performed by adapting times of departure and arrival, as well as allocation of tracks, for each train at each station. This is achieved by a permutation-based evolutionary algorithm that relies on a semi-greedy heuristic scheduler to gradually reconstruct the schedule by inserting trains one after another. Experimental results are presented on various instances of a large real-world case involving around 500 trains and more than 1 million constraints. In terms of competition with commercial math ematical programming tool ILOG CPLEX, it appears that within a large class of instances, excluding trivial instances as well as too difficult ones, and with very few exceptions, a clever initialization turns an encouraging failure into a clear-cut success auguring of substantial financial savings