@misc{BorndoerferKarbstein2012, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Karbstein, Marika}, title = {A Note on Menger's Theorem for Hypergraphs}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-14471}, number = {12-03}, year = {2012}, abstract = {We prove the companion Theorem to Menger's Theorem for hypergraphs. This result gives rise to a new class of blocking pairs of ideal matrices, that generalize the incidence matrices of cuts and paths.}, language = {en} } @misc{KochAchterbergAndersenetal.2010, author = {Koch, Thorsten and Achterberg, Tobias and Andersen, Erling and Bastert, Oliver and Berthold, Timo and Bixby, Robert E. and Danna, Emilie and Gamrath, Gerald and Gleixner, Ambros and Heinz, Stefan and Lodi, Andrea and Mittelmann, Hans and Ralphs, Ted and Salvagnin, Domenico and Steffy, Daniel and Wolter, Kati}, title = {MIPLIB 2010}, doi = {10.1007/s12532-011-0025-9}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-12953}, number = {10-31}, year = {2010}, abstract = {This paper reports on the fifth version of the Mixed Integer Programming Library. The MIPLIB 2010 is the first MIPLIB release that has been assembled by a large group from academia and from industry, all of whom work in integer programming. There was mutual consent that the concept of the library had to be expanded in order to fulfill the needs of the community. The new version comprises 361 instances sorted into several groups. This includes the main benchmark test set of 87 instances, which are all solvable by today's codes, and also the challenge test set with 164 instances, many of which are currently unsolved. For the first time, we include scripts to run automated tests in a predefined way. Further, there is a solution checker to test the accuracy of provided solutions using exact arithmetic.}, language = {en} } @misc{BertholdHeinzSchulz2011, author = {Berthold, Timo and Heinz, Stefan and Schulz, Jens}, title = {An approximative Criterion for the Potential of Energetic Reasoning}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-12655}, number = {11-12}, year = {2011}, abstract = {Energetic reasoning is one of the most powerful propagation algorithms in cumulative scheduling. In practice, however, it is not commonly used because it has a high running time and its success highly depends on the tightness of the variable bounds. In order to speed up energetic reasoning, we provide an easy-to-check necessary condition for energetic reasoning to detect infeasibilities. We present an implementation of energetic reasoning that employs this condition and that can be parametrically adjusted to handle the trade-off between solving time and propagation overhead. Computational results on instances from the PSPLIB are provided. These results show that using this condition decreases the running time by more than a half, although more search nodes need to be explored.}, language = {en} } @misc{BorndoerferKarbstein2012, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Karbstein, Marika}, title = {A Direct Connection Approach to Integrated Line Planning and Passenger Routing}, volume = {25}, journal = {ATMOS 2012 - 12th Workshop on Algorithmic Approaches for Transportation Modeling, Optimization, and Systems}, editor = {Delling, Daniel and Liberti, Leo}, publisher = {Schloss Dagstuhl - Leibniz-Zentrum f{\"u}r Informatik}, issn = {1438-0064}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.4230/OASIcs.ATMOS.2012.47}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-15812}, pages = {47 -- 57}, year = {2012}, abstract = {The treatment of transfers is a major challenge in line planning. Existing models either route passengers and lines sequentially, and hence disregard essential degrees of freedom, or they are of extremely large scale, and seem to be computationally intractable. We propose a novel direct connection approach that allows an integrated optimization of line and passenger routing, including accurate estimates of the number of direct travelers, for large-scale real-world instances.}, language = {en} } @misc{BertholdHeinzLuebbeckeetal.2010, author = {Berthold, Timo and Heinz, Stefan and L{\"u}bbecke, Marco and M{\"o}hring, Rolf and Schulz, Jens}, title = {A Constraint Integer Programming Approach for Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-11180}, number = {10-03}, year = {2010}, abstract = {We propose a hybrid approach for solving the resource-constrained project scheduling problem which is an extremely hard to solve combinatorial optimization problem of practical relevance. Jobs have to be scheduled on (renewable) resources subject to precedence constraints such that the resource capacities are never exceeded and the latest completion time of all jobs is minimized. The problem has challenged researchers from different communities, such as integer programming (IP), constraint programming (CP), and satisfiability testing (SAT). Still, there are instances with 60 jobs which have not been solved for many years. The currently best known approach, lazyFD, is a hybrid between CP and SAT techniques. In this paper we propose an even stronger hybridization by integrating all the three areas, IP, CP, and SAT, into a single branch-and-bound scheme. We show that lower bounds from the linear relaxation of the IP formulation and conflict analysis are key ingredients for pruning the search tree. First computational experiments show very promising results. For five instances of the well-known PSPLIB we report an improvement of lower bounds. Our implementation is generic, thus it can be potentially applied to similar problems as well.}, language = {en} } @misc{BorndoerferGroetschelLoebel2010, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Gr{\"o}tschel, Martin and L{\"o}bel, Andreas}, title = {The Quickest Path to the Goal}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-11840}, number = {10-21}, year = {2010}, abstract = {We provide an introduction into the mathematics of and with paths. Not on the shortest, but hopefully on an entertaining path!}, language = {en} } @misc{SchlechteTanner2010, author = {Schlechte, Thomas and Tanner, Andreas}, title = {Railway capacity auctions with dual prices}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-11729}, number = {10-10}, year = {2010}, abstract = {Railway scheduling is based on the principle of the construction of a conflict-free timetable. This leads to a strict definition of capacity: in contrast with road transportation, it can be said in advance whether a given railway infrastructure can accommodate - at least in theory - a certain set of train requests. Consequently, auctions for railway capacity are modeled as auctions of discrete goods -- the train slots. We present estimates for the efficiency gain that may be generated by slot auctioning in comparison with list price allocation. We introduce a new class of allocation and auction problems, the feasible assignment problem, that is a proper generalization of the well-known combinatorial auction problem. The feasible assignment class was designed to cover the needs for an auction mechanism for railway slot auctions, but is of interest in its own right. As a practical instance to state and solve the railway slot allocation problem, we present an integer programming formulation, briefly the ACP, which turns out to be an instance of the feasible assignment problem and whose dual problem yields prices that can be applied to define a useful activity rule for the linearized version of the Ausubel Milgrom Proxy auction. We perform a simulation aiming to measure the impact on efficiency and convergence rate.}, language = {en} } @misc{BorndoerferDovicaNowaketal.2010, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Dovica, Ivan and Nowak, Ivo and Schickinger, Thomas}, title = {Robust Tail Assignment}, organization = {Zuse-Institut Berlin}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-11707}, number = {10-08}, year = {2010}, abstract = {We propose an efficient column generation method to minimize the probability of delay propagations along aircraft rotations. In this way, delay resistant schedules can be constructed. Computational results for large-scale real-world problems demonstrate substantial punctuality improvements. The method can be generalized to crew and integrated scheduling problems.}, language = {en} } @misc{FrankFuegenschuhHertyetal.2009, author = {Frank, Martin and F{\"u}genschuh, Armin and Herty, Michael and Schewe, Lars}, title = {The Coolest Path Problem}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-11571}, number = {09-37}, year = {2009}, abstract = {We introduce the coolest path problem, which is a mixture of two well-known problems from distinct mathematical fields. One of them is the shortest path problem from combinatorial optimization. The other is the heat conduction problem from the field of partial differential equations. Together, they make up a control problem, where some geometrical object traverses a digraph in an optimal way, with constraints on intermediate or the final state. We discuss some properties of the problem and present numerical solution techniques. We demonstrate that the problem can be formulated as a linear mixed-integer program. Numerical solutions can thus be achieved within one hour for instances with up to 70 nodes in the graph.}, language = {en} } @misc{BorndoerferNeumann2010, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Neumann, Marika}, title = {Models for Line Planning with Transfers}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-11742}, number = {10-11}, year = {2010}, abstract = {We propose a novel integer programming approach to transfer minimization for line planning problems in public transit. The idea is to incorporate penalties for transfers that are induced by "connection capacities" into the construction of the passenger paths. We show that such penalties can be dealt with by a combination of shortest and constrained shortest path algorithms such that the pricing problem for passenger paths can be solved efficiently. Connection capacity penalties (under)estimate the true transfer times. This error is, however, not a problem in practice. We show in a computational comparison with two standard models on a real-world scenario that our approach can be used to minimize passenger travel and transfer times for large-scale line planning problems with accurate results.}, language = {en} } @misc{BorndoerferSagnolSwarat2012, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Sagnol, Guillaume and Swarat, Elmar}, title = {A Case Study on Optimizing Toll Enforcements on Motorways}, issn = {1438-0064}, doi = {10.4230/OASIcs.SCOR.2012.1}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-15498}, year = {2012}, abstract = {In this paper we present the problem of computing optimal tours of toll inspectors on German motorways. This problem is a special type of vehicle routing problem and builds up an integrated model, consisting of a tour planning and a duty rostering part. The tours should guarantee a network-wide control whose intensity is proportional to given spatial and time dependent traffic distributions. We model this using a space-time network and formulate the associated optimization problem by an integer program (IP). Since sequential approaches fail, we integrated the assignment of crews to the tours in our model. In this process all duties of a crew member must fit in a feasible roster. It is modeled as a Multi-Commodity Flow Problem in a directed acyclic graph, where specific paths correspond to feasible rosters for one month. We present computational results in a case-study on a German subnetwork which documents the practicability of our approach.}, language = {en} } @misc{BorndoerferCardonha2009, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Cardonha, Carlos}, title = {A Set Partitioning Approach to Shunting}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-11326}, number = {09-18}, year = {2009}, abstract = {The Vehicle Positioning Problem (VPP) is a classical combinatorial optimization problem in public transport planning. A number of models and approaches have been suggested in the literature, which work for small problems, but not for large ones. We propose in this article a novel set partitioning model and an associated column generation solution approach for the VPP. The model provides a tight linear description of the problem. The pricing problem, and hence the LP relaxation itself, can be solved in polynomial resp. pseudo-polynomial time for some versions of the problems.}, language = {en} } @misc{BertholdHeinzPfetsch2009, author = {Berthold, Timo and Heinz, Stefan and Pfetsch, Marc}, title = {Nonlinear pseudo-Boolean optimization: relaxation or propagation?}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-11232}, number = {09-11}, year = {2009}, abstract = {Pseudo-Boolean problems lie on the border between satisfiability problems, constraint programming, and integer programming. In particular, nonlinear constraints in pseudo-Boolean optimization can be handled by methods arising in these different fields: One can either linearize them and work on a linear programming relaxation or one can treat them directly by propagation. In this paper, we investigate the individual strengths of these approaches and compare their computational performance. Furthermore, we integrate these techniques into a branch-and-cut-and-propagate framework, resulting in an efficient nonlinear pseudo-Boolean solver.}, language = {en} } @misc{HeinzStephanSchlechte2009, author = {Heinz, Stefan and Stephan, R{\"u}diger and Schlechte, Thomas}, title = {Solving Steel Mill Slab Problems with Branch and Price}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-11260}, number = {09-14}, year = {2009}, abstract = {The steel mill slab design problem from the CSPLib is a binpacking problem that is motivated by an application of the steel industry and that has been widely studied in the constraint programming community. Recently, several people proposed new models and methods to solve this problem. A steel mill slab library was created which contains 380 instances. A closely related binpacking problem called multiple knapsack problem with color constraints, originated from the same industrial problem, were discussed in the integer programming community. In particular, a simple integer programming for this problem has been given by Forrest et al. [3]. The aim of this paper is to bring these different studies together. Moreover, we adopt the model of [3] for the steel mill slab problem. Using a state of the art integer program solver, this model is capable to solve all instances of the steel mill slab library, mostly in less than one second, to optimality. We improved, thereby, the solution value of 76 instances.}, language = {en} } @misc{Borndoerfer2009, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf}, title = {Discrete Optimization in Public Transportation}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-11207}, number = {08-56}, year = {2009}, abstract = {The mathematical treatment of planning problems in public transit has made significant advances in the last decade. Among others, the classical problems of vehicle and crew scheduling can nowadays be solved on a routine basis using combinatorial optimization methods. This is not yet the case for problems that pertain to the design of public transit networks, and for the problems of operations control that address the implementation of a schedule in the presence of disturbances. The article gives a sketch of the state and important developments in these areas, and it addresses important challenges. The vision is that mathematical tools of computer aided scheduling (CAS) will soon play a similar role in the design and operation of public transport systems as CAD systems in manufacturing.}, language = {en} } @misc{BorndoerferHoang2008, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Hoang, Nam-Dung}, title = {Fair Ticket Prices in Public Transport}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-10999}, number = {08-46}, year = {2008}, abstract = {Ticket pricing in public transport usually takes a welfare or mnemonics maximization point of view. These approaches do not consider fairness in the sense that users of a shared infrastructure should pay for the costs that they generate. We propose an ansatz to determine fair ticket prices that combines concepts from cooperative game theory and integer programming. An application to pricing railway tickets for the intercity network of the Netherlands demonstrates that, in this sense, prices that are much fairer than standard ones can be computed in this way.}, language = {en} } @misc{BorndoerferDittbrennerLangenhanetal.2014, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Dittbrenner, Bastian and Langenhan, Andreas and Seidl, Stephan and Weider, Steffen}, title = {Integrierte Dienst- und Dienstreihenfolgeplanung zur Erh{\"o}hung der Fahrerzufriedenheit}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-50270}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Wir stellen einen mathematischen Optimierungsansatz zur integrierten Dienst- und Dienstreihenfolgeplanung im {\"o}ffentlichen Nahverkehr vor, mit dem sich bei konstanten Personalkosten die Fahrerzufriedenheit deutlich steigern l{\"a}sst.}, language = {de} } @misc{HeismannBorndoerfer2014, author = {Heismann, Olga and Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf}, title = {A Generalization of Odd Set Inequalities for the Set Packing Problem}, issn = {1438-0064}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-07001-8_26}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-51010}, year = {2014}, abstract = {The set packing problem, sometimes also called the stable set problem, is a well-known NP-hard problem in combinatorial optimization with a wide range of applications and an interesting polyhedral structure, that has been the subject of intensive study. We contribute to this field by showing how, employing cliques, odd set inequalities for the matching problem can be generalized to valid inequalities for the set packing polytope with a clear combinatorial meaning.}, language = {en} } @phdthesis{Heismann2014, author = {Heismann, Olga}, title = {The Hypergraph Assignment Problem}, year = {2014}, abstract = {This thesis deals with the hypergraph assignment problem (HAP), a set partitioning problem in a special type of hypergraph. The HAP generalizes the assignment problem from bipartite graphs to what we call bipartite hypergraphs, and is motivated by applications in railway vehicle rotation planning. The main contributions of this thesis concern complexity, polyhedral results, analyses of random instances, and primal methods for the HAP. We prove that the HAP is NP-hard and APX-hard even for small hyperedge sizes and hypergraphs with a special partitioned structure. We also study the complexity of the set packing and covering relaxations of the HAP, and present for certain cases polynomial exact or approximation algorithms. A complete linear description is known for the assignment problem. We therefore also study the HAP polytope. There, we have a huge number of facet-defining inequalities already for a very small problem size. We describe a method for dividing the inequalities into equivalence classes without resorting to a normal form. Within each class, facets are related by certain symmetries and it is sufficient to list one representative of each class to give a complete picture of the structural properties of the polytope. We propose the algorithm "HUHFA" for the classification that is applicable not only to the HAP but combinatorial optimization problems involving symmetries in general. In the largest possible HAP instance for which we could calculate the complete linear description, we have 14049 facets, which can be divided into 30 symmetry classes. We can combinatorially interpret 16 of these classes. This is possible by employing cliques to generalize the odd set inequalities for the matching problem. The resulting inequalities are valid for the polytope associated with the set packing problem in arbitrary hypergraphs and have a clear combinatorial meaning. An analysis of random instances provides a better insight into the structure of hyperassignments. Previous work has extensively analyzed random instances for the assignment problem theoretically and practically. As a generalization of these results for the HAP, we prove bounds on the expected value of a minimum cost hyperassignment that uses half of the maximum possible number of hyperedges that are not edges. In a certain complete partitioned hypergraph G2,2n with i. i. d. exponential random variables with mean 1 as hyperedge costs it lies between 0.3718 and 1.8310 if the vertex number tends to infinity. Finally, we develop an exact combinatorial solution algorithm for the HAP that combines three methods: A very large-scale neighborhood search, the composite columns method for the set partitioning problem, and the network simplex algorithm.}, language = {en} } @misc{GamrathBertholdHeinzetal.2015, author = {Gamrath, Gerald and Berthold, Timo and Heinz, Stefan and Winkler, Michael}, title = {Structure-based primal heuristics for mixed integer programming}, issn = {1438-0064}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-55420-2_3}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-55518}, year = {2015}, abstract = {Primal heuristics play an important role in the solving of mixed integer programs (MIPs). They help to reach optimality faster and provide good feasible solutions early in the solving process. In this paper, we present two new primal heuristics which take into account global structures available within MIP solvers to construct feasible solutions at the beginning of the solving process. These heuristics follow a large neighborhood search (LNS) approach and use global structures to define a neighborhood that is with high probability significantly easier to process while (hopefully) still containing good feasible solutions. The definition of the neighborhood is done by iteratively fixing variables and propagating these fixings. Thereby, fixings are determined based on the predicted impact they have on the subsequent domain propagation. The neighborhood is solved as a sub-MIP and solutions are transferred back to the original problem. Our computational experiments on standard MIP test sets show that the proposed heuristics find solutions for about every third instance and therewith help to improve the average solving time.}, language = {en} } @misc{BorndoerferHoppmannKarbstein2015, author = {Bornd{\"o}rfer, Ralf and Hoppmann, Heide and Karbstein, Marika}, title = {Timetabling and Passenger Routing in Public Transport}, journal = {Appeard in: Proceedings of Conference on Advanced Systems in Public Transport 2015 (CASPT2015)}, issn = {1438-0064}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-55305}, year = {2015}, abstract = {The task of timetabling is to schedule the trips in a public transport system by determining periodic arrival and departure times at every station. The goal is to provide a service that is both attractive for passengers and can be operated economically. To date, timetable optimization is generally done with respect to fixed passenger routes, i.e., it is assumed that passengers do not respond to changes in the timetable. This is unrealistic and ignores potentially valuable degrees of freedom. We investigate in this paper periodic timetabling models with integrated passenger routing. We propose several models that differ in the allowed passenger paths and the objectives. We compare these models theoretically and report on computations on real-world instances for the city of Wuppertal.}, language = {en} } @misc{GamrathBertholdHeinzetal.2017, author = {Gamrath, Gerald and Berthold, Timo and Heinz, Stefan and Winkler, Michael}, title = {Structure-driven fix-and-propagate heuristics for mixed integer programming}, issn = {1438-0064}, doi = {10.1007/s12532-019-00159-1}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0297-zib-65387}, year = {2017}, abstract = {Primal heuristics play an important role in the solving of mixed integer programs (MIPs). They often provide good feasible solutions early in the solving process and help to solve instances to optimality faster. In this paper, we present a scheme for primal start heuristics that can be executed without previous knowledge of an LP solution or a previously found integer feasible solution. It uses global structures available within MIP solvers to iteratively fix integer variables and propagate these fixings. Thereby, fixings are determined based on the predicted impact they have on the subsequent domain propagation. If sufficiently many variables can be fixed that way, the resulting problem is solved as an LP and the solution is rounded. If the rounded solution did not provide a feasible solution already, a sub-MIP is solved for the neighborhood defined by the variable fixings performed in the first phase. The global structures help to define a neighborhood that is with high probability significantly easier to process while (hopefully) still containing good feasible solutions. We present three primal heuristics that use this scheme based on different global structures. Our computational experiments on standard MIP test sets show that the proposed heuristics find solutions for about three out of five instances and therewith help to improve several performance measures for MIP solvers, including the primal integral and the average solving time.}, language = {en} }