scholarly journals Ddo, a Generic and Efficient Framework for MDD-Based Optimization

Author(s):  
Xavier Gillard ◽  
Pierre Schaus ◽  
Vianney Coppé

This paper presents ddo, a generic and efficient library to solve constraint optimization problems with decision diagrams. To that end, our framework implements the branch-and-bound approach which has recently been introduced by Bergman et al., (2016) to solve dynamic programs to optimality. Our library allowed us to successfully reproduce the results of Bergman et al. for MISP, MCP and MAX2SAT while using a single generic library. As an additional benefit, our ddo library is able to exploit parallel computing for its purpose without imposing any constraint on the user (apart from memory safety). Ddo is released as an open source rust library (crate) alongside with its companion example programs to solve the aforementioned problems. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first public implementation of a generic library to solve combinatorial optimization problems with branch-and-bound MDD.

Author(s):  
Tamir Tassa ◽  
Tal Grinshpoun ◽  
Avishai Yanay

In recent years, several studies proposed privacy-preserving algorithms for solving Distributed Constraint Optimization Problems (DCOPs). All of those studies assumed that agents do not collude. In this study we propose the first privacy-preserving DCOP algorithm that is immune against coalitions, under the assumption of honest majority. Our algorithm -- PC-SyncBB -- is based on the classical Branch and Bound DCOP algorithm. It offers constraint, topology and decision privacy. We evaluate its performance on different benchmarks, problem sizes, and constraint densities. We show that achieving security against coalitions is feasible. As all existing privacy-preserving DCOP algorithms base their security on assuming solitary conduct of the agents, we view this study as an essential first step towards lifting this potentially harmful assumption in all those algorithms.


2016 ◽  
Vol 57 ◽  
pp. 621-660 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tal Grinshpoun ◽  
Tamir Tassa

Distributed constraint optimization problems enable the representation of many combinatorial problems that are distributed by nature. An important motivation for such problems is to preserve the privacy of the participating agents during the solving process. The present paper introduces a novel privacy-preserving branch and bound algorithm for this purpose. The proposed algorithm, P-SyncBB, preserves constraint, topology and decision privacy. The algorithm requires secure solutions to several multi-party computation problems. Consequently, appropriate novel secure protocols are devised and analyzed. An extensive experimental evaluation on different benchmarks, problem sizes, and constraint densities shows that P-SyncBB exhibits superior performance to other privacy-preserving complete DCOP algorithms.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Chu-Min Li ◽  
Zhenxing Xu ◽  
Jordi Coll ◽  
Felip Manyà ◽  
Djamal Habet ◽  
...  

The Maximum Satisfiability Problem, or MaxSAT, offers a suitable problem solving formalism for combinatorial optimization problems. Nevertheless, MaxSAT solvers implementing the Branch-and-Bound (BnB) scheme have not succeeded in solving challenging real-world optimization problems. It is widely believed that BnB MaxSAT solvers are only superior on random and some specific crafted instances. At the same time, SAT-based MaxSAT solvers perform particularly well on real-world instances. To overcome this shortcoming of BnB MaxSAT solvers, this paper proposes a new BnB MaxSAT solver called MaxCDCL. The main feature of MaxCDCL is the combination of clause learning of soft conflicts and an efficient bounding procedure. Moreover, the paper reports on an experimental investigation showing that MaxCDCL is competitive when compared with the best performing solvers of the 2020 MaxSAT Evaluation. MaxCDCL performs very well on real-world instances, and solves a number of instances that other solvers cannot solve. Furthermore, MaxCDCL, when combined with the best performing MaxSAT solvers, solves the highest number of instances of a collection from all the MaxSAT evaluations held so far.


2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (05) ◽  
pp. 7333-7340
Author(s):  
Roie Zivan ◽  
Omer Lev ◽  
Rotem Galiki

Belief propagation, an algorithm for solving problems represented by graphical models, has long been known to converge to the optimal solution when the graph is a tree. When the graph representing the problem includes a single cycle, the algorithm either converges to the optimal solution or performs periodic oscillations. While the conditions that trigger these two behaviors have been established, the question regarding the convergence and divergence of the algorithm on graphs that include more than one cycle is still open.Focusing on Max-sum, the version of belief propagation for solving distributed constraint optimization problems (DCOPs), we extend the theory on the behavior of belief propagation in general – and Max-sum specifically – when solving problems represented by graphs with multiple cycles. This includes: 1) Generalizing the results obtained for graphs with a single cycle to graphs with multiple cycles, by using backtrack cost trees (BCT). 2) Proving that when the algorithm is applied to adjacent symmetric cycles, the use of a large enough damping factor guarantees convergence to the optimal solution.


Author(s):  
Tiep Le ◽  
Tran Cao Son ◽  
Enrico Pontelli

This paper proposes Multi-context System for Optimization Problems (MCS-OP) by introducing conditional costassignment bridge rules to Multi-context Systems (MCS). This novel feature facilitates the definition of a preorder among equilibria, based on the total incurred cost of applied bridge rules. As an application of MCS-OP, the paper describes how MCS-OP can be used in modeling Distributed Constraint Optimization Problems (DCOP), a prominent class of distributed optimization problems that is frequently employed in multi-agent system (MAS) research. The paper shows, by means of an example, that MCS-OP is more expressive than DCOP, and hence, could potentially be useful in modeling distributed optimization problems which cannot be easily dealt with using DCOPs. It also contains a complexity analysis of MCS-OP.


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