dc.description.abstract | Combinatorial optimization-based methods are widely used to solve complex real life problems.
In this thesis, we use some of these methods for addressing several emerging combinatorial opti-
mization problems on graphs that can be classified in two macro areas: i) graph substructures
identification problems; ii) combinatorial optimization problems with conflict constraints.
In graph theory, graphs are defined as mathematical structures that describe entities of inter-
est (as nodes) and their relationships (as edges). Many real-world problems can be described
through the use of a graph. For example, graph theory finds application in: i) the context of
social network analysis, where graphs are used to represent the interactions (edges) between users
(nodes); and in ii) the study of biological networks, such as protein-protein interaction, where
the nodes are proteins, and the edges represent their physical interactions. In graph analysis one
common application is the identification of clusters (or communities) of nodes that are tightly
connected. In social networks, a community could represent a set of users sharing the same
interest, while in the protein-protein interaction networks it could represent a set of very similar
proteins forming a protein complex.
In this thesis, three problems related to identifying graph substructures have been tackled.
The first problem addresses the 2-Edge-Connected Minimum Branch Vertices, that finds ap-
plication in the design of optical networks. A graph is 2-Edge-Connected if by removing one
edge, the graph is still connected. The problem looks for a spanning 2-edge connected subgraph
having the minimum number of branch vertices that is vertices with degree strictly greater than
two. In these networks, branch vertices are associated with switch devices that split the light
signals and send them to the adjacent vertices. For this NP-complete problem we developed a
genetic algorithm using ad-hoc designed operators.
The second addressed problem arise in the social network analysis and aims to study how
users influence the choices of their neighbours. In particular, we addressed the Collapsed k-Core
Problem that seeks to identify a subset of critical users in the network whose choices would
alter the cohesiveness of a community. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first attempt
to formulate this problem using mathematical programming. We implemented multiple solution
approaches and compared them on a set of benchmark instances.
The last case studied is related to network clustering, where a cluster graph is a disjoint union
of cliques. The Cluster Deletion problem is defined as the identification of the minimum number
of edges to remove from a network to produce a cluster graph. This is a well-known NP-hard
problem and we faced it using integer linear programming formulation and a heuristic approach
based on edge contraction operation. Our results show the effectiveness of our methodology both
on artificial and real-world biological networks.
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Currently, the definition of many real-life problems, doesn’t always fully capture their com-
plexity. Indeed, classical optimization problems encountered over the years, although extensively
studied, do not always take into account additional limitations, such as incompatibility situa-
tions, encountered in real-world problems. In this context, two or more elements of the problem
cannot be chosen together to compose a feasible solution. Such incompatibilities are modelled
by introducing conflict constraints in classical combinatorial optimization problems, leading to
more realistic but often harder problems.
Finally, three different combinatorial optimization problems with conflicts constraints are
addressed.
The first one is a variant of the set cover problem where pairwise conflicts are added among
the subsets. In the formulation of this problem, two sets in conflict can belong to the same
solution, provided that a non-negative penalty is paid. We introduced two mathematical formu-
lations for the problem and offered a parallel Greedy Randomised Adaptive Search Procedure
for its solution. The performance of our algorithm was evaluated through an extensive set of
experiments. The results shown the effectiveness and efficiency of our methodology compared to
the mathematical model solutions.
The second problem is related to the Maximum Flow Problem with Conflict constraints on
the edges, for which we present a matheuristic method based on the combination of two different
approaches: Carousel Greedy and Kernel Search. The results shown that the Carousel Greedy
selection substantially improves the effectiveness of the Kernel Search.
The last problem is the Minimum Spanning Tree with Conflicts, that we solved by using a
Kernel Search method. Also in this case, the results on benchmark instances shown that our
methods identifies a better solution compared with existing methods. [edited by Author] | it_IT |