We present several techniques that use distances between candidate solutions to achieve intensification in Local Search (LS) algorithms. An important drawback of classical LS is that after visiting a very high-quality solution the search process can “forget about it” and continue towards very different areas. We propose a method that works on top of a given LS to equip it with a form of memory so as

When resolving many-objective problems, multi-objective optimization algorithms encounter several difficulties degrading their performances. These difficulties may concern the exponential execution time, the effectiveness of the mutation and recombination operators or finding the tradeoff between diversity and convergence. In this paper, the issue of 3D redeploying in indoor the connected objects (or

The minimum sitting arrangement (MinSA) problem is a linear layout problem consisting in minimizing the number of errors produced when a signed graph is embedded into a line. This problem has been previously tackled by theoretical and heuristic approaches in the literature. In this paper we present a basic variable neighborhood search (BVNS) algorithm for solving the problem. First, we introduce a

The Hunter Valley coal export supply chain in New South Wales, Australia, is of great importance to the Australian economy. Effectively managing its logistics, however, is challenging, because it is a complex system, covering a large geographic area and comprising a rail network, three coal terminals, and a port, and has many stakeholders, e.g., mining companies, port authorities, coal terminal operators

A large number of application problems involve two levels of optimization, where one optimization task is nested inside the other. These problems are known as bilevel optimization problems and have been studied by both classical optimization community and evolutionary optimization community. Most of the solution procedures proposed until now are either computationally very expensive or applicable to

This study proposes a strategic linkage method with mathematical model, simulation model and heuristic approaches to an adaptive workforce scheduling problem reflecting the work site situation of the air cargo terminal. For the application of the proposed method, we first generate an initial workforce schedule using the optimization model for minimizing labor costs. The simulation model is then used

We consider a wireless network where a given set of stations is continuously generating information. A single vehicle, located at a base station, is available to collect the information via wireless transfer. The wireless transfer vehicle routing problem (WTVRP) is to decide which stations should be visited in the vehicle route, how long shall the vehicle stay in each station, and how much information

This paper addresses the traveling salesman problem with drone (TSP-D), in which a truck and drone are used to deliver parcels to customers. The objective of this problem is to either minimize the total operational cost (min-cost TSP-D) or minimize the completion time for the truck and drone (min-time TSP-D). This problem has gained a lot of attention in the last few years reflecting the recent trends

This paper addresses a special bin packing problem in which each item can only be assigned to a subset of the bins. We name this problem as the restricted bin packing problem (RBPP). This paper is designed to explore the relationships of RBPP with classic NP-complete problems, and to resolve the restrictions of assignment through heuristic and meta-heuristic algorithms. A new heuristic algorithm named

This work considers the one-dimensional cutting stock problem in which the non-used material in the cutting patterns may be used in the future, if large enough. We show that a multiobjective criteria to classify the solutions could be more accurate than previous classifications attempts, also we give a heuristic algorithm and two meta-heuristic approaches to the problem and we use them to solve practical

Pareto-based evolutionary multiobjective approaches are methods that use the Pareto dominance concept to guide the search of evolutionary algorithms towards the Pareto frontier of a problem. To address the challenge of providing an entire set of optimal solutions they use specially designed mechanisms for preserving search diversity and maintaining the non-dominated solutions set. The limitation of

This paper deals with robust optimization applied to network flows. We consider two robust variants of the minimum-cost integer flow problem. Thereby, uncertainty in problem formulation is limited to arc costs and expressed by a finite set of explicitly given scenarios. It turns out that both problem variants are NP-hard. To solve the considered variants, we propose several heuristics based on local

The shift minimization personnel task scheduling problem is an NP-complete optimization problem that concerns the assignment of tasks to multi-skilled employees with a view to minimize the total number of assigned employees. Recent literature indicates that hybrid methods which combine exact and heuristic techniques such as matheuristics are efficient as regards to generating high quality solutions

The problem of finding a shortest curvature-constrained closed path through a set of targets in the plane is known as Dubins traveling salesman problem (DTSP). Applications of the DTSP include motion planning for kinematically constrained mobile robots and unmanned fixed-wing aerial vehicles. The difficulty of the DTSP is to simultaneously find an order of the targets and suitable headings (orientation

Service network design problems are used to address a variety of services in transportation and logistics planning. In the present paper, we consider the service network design problem with design-balanced requirements. This problem is particularly relevant to operations for consolidation transportation systems and determines the transportation network configuration and the characteristics of the corresponding

At a high level, data centres are large IT facilities hosting physical machines (servers) that often run a large number of virtual machines (VMs)—but at a lower level, data centres are an intricate collection of interconnected and virtualised computers, connected services, complex service-level agreements. While data centre managers know that reassigning VMs to the servers that would best serve them

In this paper, a coordinated production scheduling and vehicle routing problem aiming at minimizing the sum of order delivery times is considered, where there are a single machine for production and limited number of homogenous capacitated vehicles for transportation. Given the complexity of the studied problem, a variable neighborhood search (VNS) algorithm is proposed to address this problem. To

The objective scaling ensemble approach is a novel two-phase heuristic for integer linear programming problems shown to be effective on a wide variety of integer linear programming problems. The technique identifies and aggregates multiple partial solutions to modify the problem formulation and significantly reduce the search space. An empirical analysis on publicly available benchmark problems demonstrate

The problem of reconfiguration in electrical power distribution systems deals with changes in the network topology using maneuvers switches. This is an optimization problem where one of the goals is to minimize losses following constraints such as faults isolation, load feeders balancing and voltage profile improvement. The present paper solves such problem by introducing a mixed-integer quadratic

The mixed fleet heterogeneous dial-a-ride problem (MF-HDARP) consists of designing vehicle routes for a set of users by using a mixed fleet including both heterogeneous conventional and alternative fuel vehicles. In addition, a vehicle is allowed to refuel from a fuel station to eliminate the risk of running out of fuel during its service. We propose an efficient hybrid adaptive large neighborhood

OFDMA is a popular coding scheme for mobile wireless communications. In OFDMA, one must allocate the available resources (bandwidth and power) dynamically, as user requests arrive and depart in a stochastic manner. Several exact and heuristic methods exist to do this, but they all perform poorly in the “over-loaded” case, in which the user demand is close to or exceeds the system capacity. To address

Variable ordering heuristics play a central role in solving constraint satisfaction problems. Combining two variable ordering heuristics may generate a more efficient heuristic, such as dom/deg. In this paper, we propose a novel method for combining two variable ordering heuristics, namely Pearson-Correlation-Coefficient-based Combination (PCCC). While the existing combination strategies always combine

This paper introduces the selective traveling salesman problem with draft limits, an extension of the traveling salesman problem with draft limits, wherein the goal is to design a maximum profit tour respecting draft limit constraints at the visited nodes. We propose a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) formulation for this problem. This MILP model is used to solve—to optimality—small size instances

Urban freight transport is becoming increasingly complex due to a boost in the volume of products distributed and the associated number of delivery services. In addition, stakeholders’ preferences and city logistics dynamics affect the freight flow and the efficiency of the delivery process in downtown areas. In general, transport activities have a significant and negative impact on the environment

With limited financial resources, decision-makers in firms and governments face the task of selecting the best portfolio of projects to invest in. As the pool of project proposals increases and more realistic constraints are considered, the problem becomes NP-hard. Thus, metaheuristics have been employed for solving large instances of the project portfolio selection problem (PPSP). However, most of

In this paper, we propose a parking allocation model that takes into account the basic constraints and objectives of a problem where parking lots are assigned to vehicles. We assume vehicles are connected and can exchange information with a central intelligence. Vehicle arrival times can be provided by a GPS device, and the estimated number of available parking slots, at each future time moment and

The multi-objective open vehicle routing problem (MO-OVRP) is a variant of the classic vehicle routing problem in which routes are not required to return to the depot after completing their service and where more than one objective is optimized. This work is intended to solve a more realistic and general version of the problem by considering three different objective functions. MO-OVRP seeks solutions