Related papers: Constraint optimization and landscapes
We study the performance of stochastic local search algorithms for random instances of the $K$-satisfiability ($K$-SAT) problem. We introduce a new stochastic local search algorithm, ChainSAT, which moves in the energy landscape of a…
Modern software systems are often highly configurable to tailor varied requirements from diverse stakeholders. Understanding the mapping between configurations and the desired performance attributes plays a fundamental role in advancing the…
In this work, we deal with the problem of computing a comprehensive front of efficient solutions in multi-objective portfolio optimization problems in presence of sparsity constraints. We start the discussion pointing out some weaknesses of…
We consider a class of combinatorial optimization problems that emerge in a variety of domains among which: condensed matter physics, theory of financial risks, error correcting codes in information transmissions, molecular and protein…
Exploratory landscape analysis and fitness landscape analysis in general have been pivotal in facilitating problem understanding, algorithm design and endeavors such as automated algorithm selection and configuration. These techniques have…
Large-scale non-convex sparsity-constrained problems have recently gained extensive attention. Most existing deterministic optimization methods (e.g., GraSP) are not suitable for large-scale and high-dimensional problems, and thus…
A novel artificial neural network approach to constraint satisfaction problems is presented. Based on information-theoretical considerations, it differs from a conventional mean-field approach in the form of the resulting free energy. The…
We introduce a new notion of resilience for constraint satisfaction problems, with the goal of more precisely determining the boundary between NP-hardness and the existence of efficient algorithms for resilient instances. In particular, we…
Quadratic programming (QP) is a common and important constrained optimization problem. Here, we derive a surprising duality between constrained optimization with inequality constraints -- of which QP is a special case -- and consumer…
Here I will present an introduction to the results that have been recently obtained in constraint optimization of random problems using statistical mechanics techniques. After presenting the general results, in order to simplify the…
Constrained clustering is a semi-supervised task that employs a limited amount of labelled data, formulated as constraints, to incorporate domain-specific knowledge and to significantly improve clustering accuracy. Previous work has…
Difficult, in particular NP-complete, optimization problems are traditionally solved approximately using search heuristics. These are usually slowed down by the rugged landscapes encountered, because local minima arrest the search process.…
We study the entropy landscape of solutions for the bicoloring problem in random graphs, a representative difficult constraint satisfaction problem. Our goal is to classify which type of clusters of solutions are addressed by different…
Energy systems optimization problems are complex due to strongly non-linear system behavior and multiple competing objectives, e.g. economic gain vs. environmental impact. Moreover, a large number of input variables and different variable…
Answer Set Programming (ASP) is a well-established declarative paradigm. One of the successes of ASP is the availability of efficient systems. State-of-the-art systems are based on the ground+solve approach. In some applications this…
The complexity and approximability of the constraint satisfaction problem (CSP) has been actively studied over the last 20 years. A new version of the CSP, the promise CSP (PCSP) has recently been proposed, motivated by open questions about…
The types of constraints encountered in black-box and simulation-based optimization problems differ significantly from those treated in nonlinear programming. We introduce a characterization of constraints to address this situation. We…
Combinatorial optimization problems near algorithmic phase transitions represent a fundamental challenge for both classical algorithms and machine learning approaches. Among them, graph coloring stands as a prototypical constraint…
Probabilistic graphical models (PGMs) are tools for solving complex probabilistic relationships. However, suboptimal PGM structures are primarily used in practice. This dissertation presents three contributions to the PGM literature. The…
Colouring sparse graphs under various restrictions is a theoretical problem of significant practical relevance. Here we consider the problem of maximizing the number of different colours available at the nodes and their neighbourhoods,…