Construct, Merge, Solve & Adapt A new general algorithm for combinatorial optimization

[EN]This paper describes a general hybrid metaheuristic for combinatorial optimization labelled Construct,Merge, Solve & Adapt. The proposed algorithm is a specific instantiation of a framework known from theliterature as Generate-And-Solve, which is based on the following general idea. First, generate a reducedsub-instance of the original problem instance, in a way such that a solution to the sub-instance is also asolution to the original problem instance. Second, apply an exact solver to the reduced sub-instance inorder to obtain a (possibly) high quality solution to the original problem instance. And third, make use ofthe results of the exact solver as feedback for the next algorithm iteration. The minimum common stringpartition problem and the minimum covering arborescence problem are chosen as test cases in order todemonstrate the application of the proposed algorithm. The obtained results show that the algorithm iscompetitive with the exact solver for small to medium size problem instances, while it significantlyoutperforms the exact solver for larger problem instancesC. Blum was supported by project TIN2012-37930-02 of the Spanish Government. In addition, support is acknowledged from IKERBASQUE (Basque Foundation for Science). J.A. Lozano was partially supported by the IT609-13 program (Basque Government) and project TIN2013-41272P (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation)Peer reviewe

Development of hybrid metaheuristics based on instance reduction for combinatorial optimization problems

113 p.La tesis presentada describe el desarrollo de algoritmos metaheurísticos híbridos, basados en reducción de instancias de problema. Éstos son enfocados en la resolución de problemas de optimización combinatorial. La motivación original de la investigación radicó en lograr, a través de la reducción de instancias de problemas, el uso efectivo de modelos de programación lineal entera (ILP) sobre problemas que dado su tamaño no admiten el uso directo con esta técnica exacta. En este contexto se presenta entre otros desarrollos el framework Construct, Merge, Solve & Adapt (CMSA) para resolución de problemas de optimización combinatorial en general, el cual posteriormente fue adaptado para mejorar el desempeño de otras metaheurísticas sin el uso de modelos ILP. Los algoritmos presentados mostraron resultados que compiten o superan el estado del arte sobre los problemas Minimum Common String Partition (MCSP), Minimum Covering Arborescence (MCA) y Weighted Independent Domination (WID)

Development of hybrid metaheuristics based on instance reduction for combinatorial optimization problems

113 p.La tesis presentada describe el desarrollo de algoritmos metaheurísticos híbridos, basados en reducción de instancias de problema. Éstos son enfocados en la resolución de problemas de optimización combinatorial. La motivación original de la investigación radicó en lograr, a través de la reducción de instancias de problemas, el uso efectivo de modelos de programación lineal entera (ILP) sobre problemas que dado su tamaño no admiten el uso directo con esta técnica exacta. En este contexto se presenta entre otros desarrollos el framework Construct, Merge, Solve & Adapt (CMSA) para resolución de problemas de optimización combinatorial en general, el cual posteriormente fue adaptado para mejorar el desempeño de otras metaheurísticas sin el uso de modelos ILP. Los algoritmos presentados mostraron resultados que compiten o superan el estado del arte sobre los problemas Minimum Common String Partition (MCSP), Minimum Covering Arborescence (MCA) y Weighted Independent Domination (WID)

Synthesis of Execution Plans for the QVT Core Language

Model transformation languages (MTLs) are important for Model Driven Engineering as they allow the automation of the engineering design process of hardware and software products, in particular at the preliminary and detailed design phases. However, the theories from compiler optimization have not been reused substantively in the development of MTLs. This makes the challenges associated with the implementation of declarative MTLs harder to overcome, in particular with respect to the synthesis of the execution plan (a representation of the control component of the transformation algorithm). The QVT Core MTL is a declarative language, part of a set of standards proposed by the Object Management Group® in order to support the adoption of Model Driven Engineering (MDE). This research presents how instruction scheduling theories can be used for the synthesis of execution plans, in particular for the QVT Core language. The main contributions are a novel approach for performing data dependence analysis on the QVT Core language and its use for the synthesis of execution plans, and the application of metaheuristics to solve the scheduling problem inherent to the synthesis of execution plans. The research demonstrated the feasibility of applying compiler optimization techniques in the design of MTLs and provides a methodology that can be used to construct effi cient execution plans that result in correct transformations. The performance gains and correctness will help the widespread use of the QVT Core language and encourage the adoption of compiler optimization techniques in the implementation of other MTLs