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Many of the currently best-known approximation algorithms for NP-hard optimization problems are based on Linear Programming (LP) and Semi-definite Programming (SDP) relaxations. Given its power, this class of algorithms seems to contain the most favourable ...
We consider the Node-weighted Steiner Forest problem on planar graphs. Demaine et al. showed that a generic primal-dual algorithm gives a 6-approximation. We present two different proofs of an approximation factor of~3. Then, we draw a connection to Goem ...
We consider the problem of building a binary decision tree, to locate an object within a set by way of the least number of membership queries. This problem is equivalent to the “20 questions game” of information theory and is closely related to lossless so ...
The School Bus Problem is an NP-hard vehicle routing problem in which the goal is to route buses that transport children to a school such that for each child, the distance travelled on the bus does not exceed the shortest distance from the child's home to ...
The most basic form of the max-sum dispersion problem (MSD) is as follows: given n points in R^q and an integer k, select a set of k points such that the sum of the pairwise distances within the set is maximal. This is a prominent diversity problem, with w ...
In this thesis, we present new approximation algorithms as well as hardness of approximation results for NP-hard vehicle routing problems related to public transportation. We consider two different problem classes that also occur frequently in areas such a ...
One of the classic results in scheduling theory is the 2-approximation algorithm by Lenstra, Shmoys, and Tardos for the problem of scheduling jobs to minimize makespan on unrelated machines; i.e., job j requires time p(ij) if processed on machine i. More t ...
Bus operations, due to their unstable nature, are inefficient when left to their own devices. Irregularities such as bus bunching lead to loss of time and decrease bus service quality. Development of bus transport system management schemes to avoid bus bun ...
The vehicle routing problem with cross-dock selection is a variant of the vehicle routing problem containing spatial and load synchronization constraints by which products are transferred and processed via at least one cross-dock. This paper presents a mat ...
Bus operations, due to their unstable nature, are inefficient when left uncontrolled with respect to retaining headways. Irregularities such as bus bunching lead to loss of time and decrease bus service quality. Development of bus transport system manageme ...
