Fractional location problems

In this paper we analyze some variants of the classical uncapacitated facility location problem with a ratio as an objective function. Using basic concepts and results of fractional programming, we identify a class of one-level fractional location problems which can be solved in polynomial time in terms of the size of the problem. We also consider the fractional two-echelon location problem, which is a special case of the general two-level fractional location problem. For this two-level fractional location problem we identify cases for which its solution involves decomposing the problem into several one-level fractional location problems

A unified race algorithm for offline parameter tuning

This paper proposes uRace, a unified race algorithm for efficient offline parameter tuning of deterministic algorithms. We build on the similarity between a stochastic simulation environment and offline tuning of deterministic algorithms, where the stochastic element in the latter is the unknown problem instance given to the algorithm. Inspired by techniques from the simulation optimization literature, uRace enforces fair comparisons among parameter configurations by evaluating their performance on the same training instances. It relies on rapid statistical elimination of inferior parameter configurations and an increasingly localized search of the parameter space to quickly identify good parameter settings. We empirically evaluate uRace by applying it to a parameterized algorithmic framework for loading problems at ORTEC, a global provider of software solutions for complex decision-making problems, and obtain competitive results on a set of practical problem instances from one of the world's largest multinationals in consumer packaged goods

A network airline revenue management framework based on decomposition by origins and destinations

We propose a framework for solving airline revenue management problems on large networks, where the main concern is to allocate the flight leg capacities to customer requests under fixed class fares. This framework is based on a mathematical programming model that decomposes the network into origin-destination pairs so that each pair can be treated as a single flight leg problem. We first discuss that the proposed framework is quite generic in the sense that not only several well-known models from the literature fit into this framework but also many single flight leg models can be easily extended to a network setting through the prescribed construction. Then, we analyze the structure of the overall mathematical programming model and establish its relationship with other models frequently used in practice. The application of the proposed framework is illustrated through two examples based on static and dynamic single-leg models, respectively. These illustrative examples are then benchmarked against several existing methods on a set of real-life network problems

An Integrated Approach to Single-Leg Airline Revenue Management: The Role of Robust Optimization

In this paper we introduce robust versions of the classical static and dynamic single leg seat allocation models as analyzed by Wollmer, and Lautenbacher and Stidham, respectively. These robust models take into account the inaccurate estimates of the underlying probability distributions. As observed by simulation experiments it turns out that for these robust versions the variability compared to their classical counter parts is considerably reduced with a negligible decrease of average revenue

Tackling a VRP challenge to redistribute scarce equipment within time windows using metaheuristic algorithms

This paper reports on the results of the VeRoLog Solver Challenge 2016–2017: the third solver challenge facilitated by VeRoLog, the EURO Working Group on Vehicle Routing and Logistics Optimization. The authors are the winners of second and third places, combined with members of the challenge organizing committee. The problem central to the challenge was a rich VRP: expensive and, therefore, scarce equipment was to be redistributed over customer locations within time windows. The difficulty was in creating combinations of pickups and deliveries that reduce the amount of equipment needed to execute the schedule, as well as the lengths of the routes and the number of vehicles used. This paper gives a description of the solution methods of the above-mentioned participants. The second place method involves sequences of 22 low level heuristics: each of these heuristics is associated with a transition probability to move to another low level heuristic. A randomly drawn sequence of these heuristics is applied to an initial solution, after which the probabilities are updated depending on whether or not this sequence improved the objective value, hence increasing the chance of selecting the sequences that generate improved solutions. The third place method decomposes the problem into two independent parts: first, it schedules the delivery days for all requests using a genetic algorithm. Each schedule in the genetic algorithm is evaluated by estimating its cost using a deterministic routing algorithm that constructs feasible routes for each day. After spending 80 percent of time in this phase, the last 20 percent of the computation time is spent on Variable Neighborhood Descent to further improve the routes found by the deterministic routing algorithm. This article finishes with an in-depth comparison of the results of the two approaches

Exact and hyper?heuristic solutions for the distribution?installation problem from the VeRoLog 2019 challenge

This work tackles a rich vehicle routing problem (VRP) problem integrating a capacitated vehicle routing problem with time windows (CVRPTW), and a service technician routing and scheduling problem (STRSP) for delivering various equipment based on customers' requests, and the subsequent installation by a number of technicians. The main objective is to reduce the overall costs of hired resources, and the total transportation costs of trucks/technicians. The problem was the topic of the fourth edition of the VeRoLog Solver Challenge in cooperation with the ORTEC company. Our contribution to research is the development of a mathematical model for this problem and a novel hyper?heuristic algorithm to solve the problem based on a population of solutions. Experimental results on two datasets of small and real?world size revealed the success of the hyper?heuristic approach in finding optimal solutions in a shorter computational time, when compared to our exact model. The results of the large size dataset were also compared to the results of the eight finalists in the competition and were found to be competitive, proving the potential of our developed hyper?heuristic framework

The VeRoLog Solver Challenge 2019

The VeRoLog Solver Challenge 2019 is the 4th solver challenge facilitated by VeRoLog, the EURO Working Group on Vehicle Routing and Logistics. The challenge is organized in cooperation with ORTEC. On behalf of the organizing committee, the authors report on the problem and organization of the challenge

Duality theory for convex/quasiconvex functions and its application to optimization

In this paper an intuitive and geometric approach is presented explaining the basic ideas of convex/quasiconvex analysis and its relation to duality theory. As such, this paper does not contain new results but serves as a hopefully easy introduction to the most important results in duality theory for convex/quasiconvex functions on locally convex real topological vector spaces. Moreover, its connection to optimization is also discussed

Quasiconvex functions: how to separate, if you must!

Since quasiconvex functions have convex lower level sets it is possible to minimize them by means of separating hyperplanes. An example of such a procedure, well-known for convex functions, is the subgradient method. However, to find the normal vector of a separating hyperplane is in general not easy for the quasiconvex case. This paper attempts to gain some insight into the computational aspects of determining such a normal vector and the geometry of lower level sets of quasiconvex functions. In order to do so, the directional differentiability of quasiconvex functions is thoroughly studied. As a consequence of that study, it is shown that an important subset of quasiconvex functions belongs to the class of quasidifferentiable functions. The main emphasis is, however, on computing actual separators. Some important examples are worked out for illustration