The capture time of a graph

We consider the game of Cops and Robbers played on finite and countably infinite connected graphs. The length of games is considered on cop-win graphs, leading to a new parameter, the capture time of a graph. While the capture time of a cop-win graph on n vertices is bounded above by n−3, half the number of vertices is sufficient for a large class of graphs including chordal graphs. Examples are given of cop-win graphs which have unique corners and have capture time within a small additive constant of the number of vertices. We consider the ratio of the capture time to the number of vertices, and extend this notion of capture time density to infinite graphs. For the infinite random graph, the capture time density can be any real number in [0,1]. We also consider the capture time when more than one cop is required to win. While the capture time can be calculated by a polynomial algorithm if the number k of cops is fixed, it is NP-complete to decide whether k cops can capture the robber in no more than t moves for every fixed t.     

A Variable Neighborhood Search for the Multi Depot Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows

The aim of this paper is to propose an algorithm based on the philosophy of the Variable Neighborhood Search (VNS) to solve Multi Depot Vehicle Routing Problems with Time Windows. The paper has two main contributions. First, from a technical point of view, it presents the first application of a VNS for this problem and several design issues of VNS algorithms are discussed. Second, from a problem oriented point of view the computational results show that the approach is competitive with an existing Tabu Search algorithm with respect to both solution quality and computation times.     

A Point Balance Algorithm for the Spherical Code Problem

The Spherical Code (SC) problem has many important applications in such fields as physics, molecular biology, signal transmission, chemistry, engineering and mathematics. This paper presents a bilevel optimization formulation of the SC problem. Based on this formulation, the concept of balanced spherical code is introduced and a new approach, the Point Balance Algorithm (PBA), is presented to search for a 1-balanced spherical code. Since an optimal solution of the SC problem (an extremal spherical code) must be a 1-balanced spherical code, PBA can be applied easily to search for an extremal spherical code. In addition, given a certain criterion, PBA can generate efficiently an approximate optimal spherical code on a sphere in the n-dimensional space ⁿ. Some implementation issues of PBA are discussed and putative global optimal solutions of the Fekete problem in 3, 4 and 5-dimensional space are also reported. Finally, an open question about the geometry of Fekete points on the unit sphere in the 3-dimensional space is posed.     

VRPTW的扰动恢复及其TABU SEARCH算法

本文对带时间窗的车辆路线安排扰动恢复问题进行了讨论,分析了各种可能的扰动:增加减少客户,时间窗、客户需求及路线可行性的扰动,构造了扰动模型.利用禁忌搜索算法对问题进行求解,同时通过对模型参数重新设置,得到了多个满足要求的不同的解,这样使解更具有实际可行性和有效性.     

On finding mixed orthogonal arrays of strength 2 with many 2-level factors

We describe a method for finding mixed orthogonal arrays of strength 2 with a large number of 2-level factors. The method starts with an orthogonal array of strength 2, possibly tight, that contains mostly 2-level factors. By a computer search of this starting array, we attempt to find as large a number of 2-level factors as possible that can be used in a new orthogonal array of strength 2 containing one additional factor at more than two levels. The method produces new orthogonal arrays for some parameters, and matches the best-known arrays for others. It is especially useful for finding arrays with one or two factors at more than two levels.     

Near-optimal design of Global Positioning System (GPS) networks using the Tabu Search technique

This paper describes an optimization technique based on an heuristic procedure which is applied to analyse and improve the efficiency of the design of Global Positioning System (GPS) surveying networks. GPS is a valuable survey tool because of its ability to increase the accuracy, speed and flexibility of a survey. A GPS network can be defined as a number of stations, which are co-ordinated by a series of sessions, formed by placing receivers on stations. The goal is to select the best order in which these sessions can be organised to give the best possible schedule. Generally, solving large networks to optimality requires impractical computational time. This paper proposes a Tabu Search technique which provides optimal or near-optimal solutions for large networks with an acceptable amount of computational effort. Computational results for several case studies with known and unknown optimal schedules have been presented to assess the performance of the proposed technique.     

POPMUSIC for the point feature label placement problem

Point feature label placement is the problem of placing text labels adjacent to point features on a map so as to maximize legibility. The goal is to choose positions for the labels that do not give rise to label overlaps and that minimize obscuration of features. A practical goal is to minimize the number of overlaps while considering cartographic preferences. This article proposes a new heuristic for solving the point feature label placement problem based on the application of the POPMUSIC frame. Computational experiments show that the proposed heuristic outperformed other recent metaheuristics approaches in the literature. Experiments with problem instances involving up to 10 million points show that the computational time of the proposed heuristic increases almost linearly with the problem size. New problem instances based on real data with more than 13,000 labels are proposed.     

On a decision rule using dichotomies for identifying the nonnegligible parameter in certain linear models

Consider the class of linear models (with uncorrelated observation, each having variance σ²), in which it is known that at most k (location) parameters are negligible, but it is not known which are negligible. The problem is to identify the nonnegligible parameters. In this paper, for k = 1, and under certain restrictions on the model, a technique is developed for solving this problem, which has the feature of requiring (in an information theoretic sense) the minimum amount of computation. (It can “search through” 2^m objects, using m “steps.”) The technique consists of dichotomizing the set of parameters (one known subset possibly containing the nonnegligible element, and the other not), using chi-square variables. A method for computing the probability that the correct parameter is identified, is presented, and an important application to factorial search designs is established.     

A deterministic tabu search algorithm for the fleet size and mix vehicle routing problem

The fleet size and mix vehicle routing problem consists of defining the type, the number of vehicles of each type, as well as the order in which to serve the customers with each vehicle when a company has to distribute goods to a set of customers geographically spread, with the objective of minimizing the total costs. In this paper, a heuristic algorithm based on tabu search is proposed and tested on several benchmark instances. The computational results show that the proposed algorithm produces high quality results within a reasonable computing time. Some new best solutions are reported for a set of test problems used in the literature.