Reinforcement learning based local search for grouping problems: A case study on graph coloring

Grouping problems aim to partition a set of items into multiple mutually disjoint subsets according to some specific criterion and constraints. Grouping problems cover a large class of important combinatorial optimization problems that are generally computationally difficult. In this paper, we propose a general solution approach for grouping problems, i.e., reinforcement learning based local search (RLS), which combines reinforcement learning techniques with descent-based local search. The viability of the proposed approach is verified on a well-known representative grouping problem (graph coloring) where a very simple descent-based coloring algorithm is applied. Experimental studies on popular DIMACS and COLOR02 benchmark graphs indicate that RLS achieves competitive performances compared to a number of well-known coloring algorithms

Variations on Memetic Algorithms for Graph Coloring Problems

11 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, 2 algorithmsInternational audienceGraph vertex coloring with a given number of colors is a well-known and much-studied NP-complete problem.The most effective methods to solve this problem are proved to be hybrid algorithms such as memetic algorithms or quantum annealing. Those hybrid algorithms use a powerful local search inside a population-based algorithm.This paper presents a new memetic algorithm based on one of the most effective algorithms: the Hybrid Evolutionary Algorithm HEA from Galinier and Hao (1999).The proposed algorithm, denoted HEAD - for HEA in Duet - works with a population of only two individuals.Moreover, a new way of managing diversity is brought by HEAD.These two main differences greatly improve the results, both in terms of solution quality and computational time.HEAD has produced several good results for the popular DIMACS benchmark graphs, such as 222-colorings for , 81-colorings for and even 47-colorings for and 82-colorings for

Performance Analyses of Graph Heuristics and Selected Trajectory Metaheuristics on Examination Timetable Problem

Examination timetabling problem is hard to solve due to its NP-hard nature, with a large number of constraints having to be accommodated. To deal with the problem effectually, frequently heuristics are used for constructing feasible examination timetable while meta-heuristics are applied for improving the solution quality. This paper presents the performances of graph heuristics and major trajectory metaheuristics or S-metaheuristics for addressing both capacitated and un-capacitated examination timetabling problem. For constructing the feasible solution, six graph heuristics are used. They are largest degree (LD), largest weighted degree (LWD), largest enrolment degree (LE), and three hybrid heuristic with saturation degree (SD) such as SD-LD, SD-LE, and SD-LWD. Five trajectory algorithms comprising of tabu search (TS), simulated annealing (SA), late acceptance hill climbing (LAHC), great deluge algorithm (GDA), and variable neighborhood search (VNS) are employed for improving the solution quality. Experiments have been tested on several instances of un-capacitated and capacitated benchmark datasets, which are Toronto and ITC2007 dataset respectively. Experimental results indicate that, in terms of construction of solution of datasets, hybridizing of SD produces the best initial solutions. The study also reveals that, during improvement, GDA, SA, and LAHC can produce better quality solutions compared to TS and VNS for solving both benchmark examination timetabling datasets