Global Optimization And Constraint Satisfaction

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the First International Workshop on Global Constraints Optimization and Costraint Satisfaction, COCOS 2002, held in Valbonne-Sophia Antipolis, France in October 2002. The 15 revised full papers presented together with 2 invited papers were carefully selected during two rounds of reviewing and improvement. The papers address current issues in global optimization, mathematical programming, and constraint programming; they are grouped in topical sections on optimization, constraint satisfaction, and benchmarking.

This book constitutes the throughly refereed post-proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Global Optimization and Constraint Satisfaction, COCOS 2003, held in Lausanne, Switzerland in Nowember 2003. The 13 revised full papers presented were carefully selected and went through two rounds of reviewing and improvement. The papers are devoted to theoretical, algorithmic, and application-oriented issues in global constrained optimization and constraint satisfaction; they are organized in topical sections on constraint satisfaction problems, global optimization, and applications.

Theformulationofmanypracticalproblemsnaturallyinvolvesconstraintsonthe variables entering the mathematical model of a real-life situation to be analyzed. It is of great interest to ?nd the possible scenarios satisfying all constraints, and, iftherearemanyofthem,eitherto?ndthebestsolution,ortoobtainacompact, explicit representation of the whole feasible set. The 2nd Workshop on Global Constrained Optimization and Constraint S- isfaction, COCOS 2003, which took place during November 18–21, 2003 in L- sanne, Switzerland, was dedicated to theoretical, algorithmic, and application oriented advances in answering these questions. Here global optimization refers to ?nding the absolutely best feasible point, while constraint satisfaction refers to?ndingallpossiblefeasiblepoints.AsinCOCOS2002,the?rstsuchworkshop (see the proceeedings [1]), the emphasis was on complete solving techniques for problems involving continuous variables that provide all solutions with full rigor, and on applications which, however, were allowed to have relaxed standards of rigor. The participants used the opportunity to meet experts from global optimi- tion, mathematical programming, constraint programming, and applications, and to present and discuss ongoing work and new directions in the ?eld. Four invited lectures and 20 contributed talks were presented at the workshop. The invited lectures were given by John Hooker (Logic-Based Methods for Global Optimization), Jean-Pierre Merlet (Usual and Unusual Applications of Interval Analysis), Hermann Schichl (The COCONUT Optimization Environment), and Jorge Mor ́ e (Global Optimization Computational Servers). This volume contains the text of Hooker’s invited lecture and of 12 c- tributed talks. Copies of the slides for most presentations can be found at [2]. Constraintsatisfactionproblems.Threepapersfocusonalgorithmicaspects of constraint satisfaction problems.

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the First International Workshop on Global Constraints Optimization and Costraint Satisfaction, COCOS 2002, held in Valbonne-Sophia Antipolis, France in October 2002. The 15 revised full papers presented together with 2 invited papers were carefully selected during two rounds of reviewing and improvement. The papers address current issues in global optimization, mathematical programming, and constraint programming; they are grouped in topical sections on optimization, constraint satisfaction, and benchmarking.

Theformulationofmanypracticalproblemsnaturallyinvolvesconstraintsonthe variables entering the mathematical model of a real-life situation to be analyzed. It is of great interest to ?nd the possible scenarios satisfying all constraints, and, iftherearemanyofthem,eitherto?ndthebestsolution,ortoobtainacompact, explicit representation of the whole feasible set. The 2nd Workshop on Global Constrained Optimization and Constraint S- isfaction, COCOS 2003, which took place during November 18–21, 2003 in L- sanne, Switzerland, was dedicated to theoretical, algorithmic, and application oriented advances in answering these questions. Here global optimization refers to ?nding the absolutely best feasible point, while constraint satisfaction refers to?ndingallpossiblefeasiblepoints.AsinCOCOS2002,the?rstsuchworkshop (see the proceeedings [1]), the emphasis was on complete solving techniques for problems involving continuous variables that provide all solutions with full rigor, and on applications which, however, were allowed to have relaxed standards of rigor. The participants used the opportunity to meet experts from global optimi- tion, mathematical programming, constraint programming, and applications, and to present and discuss ongoing work and new directions in the ?eld. Four invited lectures and 20 contributed talks were presented at the workshop. The invited lectures were given by John Hooker (Logic-Based Methods for Global Optimization), Jean-Pierre Merlet (Usual and Unusual Applications of Interval Analysis), Hermann Schichl (The COCONUT Optimization Environment), and Jorge Mor ́ e (Global Optimization Computational Servers). This volume contains the text of Hooker’s invited lecture and of 12 c- tributed talks. Copies of the slides for most presentations can be found at [2]. Constraintsatisfactionproblems.Threepapersfocusonalgorithmicaspects of constraint satisfaction problems.

A pioneering look at the fundamental role of logic in optimizationand constraint satisfaction While recent efforts to combine optimization and constraintsatisfaction have received considerable attention, little has beensaid about using logic in optimization as the key to unifying thetwo fields. Logic-Based Methods for Optimization develops for thefirst time a comprehensive conceptual framework for integratingoptimization and constraint satisfaction, then goes a step furtherand shows how extending logical inference to optimization allowsfor more powerful as well as flexible modeling and solutiontechniques. Designed to be easily accessible to industryprofessionals and academics in both operations research andartificial intelligence, the book provides a wealth of examples aswell as elegant techniques and modeling frameworks ready forimplementation. Timely, original, and thought-provoking,Logic-Based Methods for Optimization: * Demonstrates the advantages of combining the techniques inproblem solving * Offers tutorials in constraint satisfaction/constraintprogramming and logical inference * Clearly explains such concepts as relaxation, cutting planes,nonserial dynamic programming, and Bender's decomposition * Reviews the necessary technologies for software developersseeking to combine the two techniques * Features extensive references to important computationalstudies * And much more