The topics in the upcoming wintersemester 2022/23 of the seminars will be as follows:

Bachelor seminar: “Exploring metaheuristic algorithms”

Master seminar: “Advanced topics in the design and application of metaheuristic algorithms”

The topics of our bachelor and master seminar in this term are closely interrelated, which offers potential for additional interesting discussions.

Many real-world planning problems – from operations planning of robots in the disaster relief to planning of complex digital factories – require support of smart(ly programmed) computers. In practice, these computers will usually employ some metaheuristic algorithm – which are a powerful universal methodology that can be applied to a broad class of optimization problems, from engineering to operational planning.

The topics of this seminar highlight different aspects of application as well as of scientific research on metaheuristic algorithms. Depending on their interest, the students delve into one of the cutting-edge metaheuristic approaches and investigate, how to apply it to one of interesting optimization problems to get best possible results. The students may also immerse in one of the engaging and relevant yet unsolved research questions in the design of metaheuristic algorithm, subsume available knowledge and, why not, try to advance the scientific frontier with own contribution. The examples of such formal questions are “How to guarantee that a metaheuristic algorithm searches efficiently over an exponential (a huge number) of promising solutions?”, “can we anticipate, in which types of problems certain classes of metaheuristics fail produce especially good results?” etc. etc.

The course participants are invited to gain deep understanding of their research topic (see the list of topics) by preparing a seminar paper and presenting their findings in the final workshop of the course. For each topic, course participants will receive some suggested literature (such as recent journal articles or a book chapter), which will serve as a starting point for an independent scientific research. All the topics will be processed in groups of 2-3 students. Depending on the preferences of the group, it is possible to formulate individual subtopics of the common group topic.

1. Applications of meta-heuristics in optimization problems.
2. Planning and optimization problems.

Gendreau, M., Potvin, J.-Y. (Eds.) (2010). Handbook of Metaheuristics. Springer: Berlin.

Neumann, F., Witt, C. (2010): Bioinspired Computation in Combinatorial Optimization – Algorithms and Their Computational Complexity. Springer: Berlin.

Ravindra K. Ahuja, Özlem Ergun, James B. Orlin, Abraham P. Punnen (2002): A survey of very large-scale neighborhood search techniques. Discrete Applied Mathematics,123(1), 75-102.

Bachelor:

1. Interest in quantitative methods.
2. Ability to understand optimization models and to set up own optimization models as well as basic understanding of algorithms. These skills, for instance, are taught in the courses “Fundamentals of Management Science” and “Supply Chain & Operations Management”.
3. Fluent reading of texts in English, which will be the language of this seminar

Master:

1. Interest in quantitative methods.
2. Ability to understand optimization models and to set up own optimization models as well as basic understanding of algorithms. These skills, for instance, are taught in the courses “Fundamentals of Business Analytics” and “Advanced Topics in Management Science”.
3. Fluent reading of texts in English, which will be the language of this seminar

1.  Meeting:
   • Kick-off event on 29/06/2023 at 10:00 am - 11:00 am via Zoom
   • Topics and tasks (16 - 20 October 2023) and kick-off
     • Presentation of topics, round of introductions, selection of topics and groups
     • Tips for writing a good scientific paper
2.  Meeting:

   • Interim Presentation (November 13 - 17, 2023)

   • Presentations, project timelines, feedback session, tips on academic presentation.

3.  Meeting:

   • Question and answer session/presenting work progress (December 4 - 8, 2023)

   • Time for consultation

4.  Meeting:

   • Final Presentation (January 15 - 19, 2024)

   • 15 min. presentation, peer reviews

Submission of the seminar paper: 29th of January - 2nd of February 2024

Seminar topics for the upcoming 2024 summer semester are as follows:

Bachelor Seminar: "Spillover Effects in Competitive Facility Location".

Master Seminar: "Advanced Modelling and Solution Techniques for the Facility Location Problem".

The topics of our bachelor’s and master's seminar for next semester are closely linked and thus offer potential for further interesting discussions.

Facility location analysis is one of the most well-studied areas of the operations research. In the basic model, there is a predefined cost for opening a facility and connecting a customer to a facility, the goal is to minimize the total cost. The typical facility location problem assumes that the locating facility is either a price taker or a monopolist, so that the market competition is neglected among the companies. However, this simplified assumption does not fit in most real-life situation and the need arises to incorporate competition among the decisionmakers. Indeed, competitive location models additionally incorporate the fact that location decisions have been or will be made by independent decision-makers who will subsequently compete for market share, profit maximization, etc. In addition, the assignment of customers being served by these facilities and how these facilities relate to each other are interesting decisions considered within the problem.

The course participants are invited to gain deep understanding of their research topic (see the list of topics) by preparing a seminar paper and presenting their findings in the final workshop of the course. For each topic, course participants will receive some suggested literature (such as recent journal articles or a book chapter), which will serve as a starting point for independent scientific research. All the topics will be processed in groups of 2-3 students. Depending on the preferences of the group, it is possible to formulate individual subtopics of the common group topic.

Sample topics Bachelor Seminar:

1. Modelling the Cannibalization of Retail Outlets.
2. Classification and Critical Assessment of the Customers’ Patronage Decision in Competitive Facility Location Problems.
3. Evidence for the Synergetic Effects of Competing Facilities Co-Location on their Market Share.

Sample topics Master Seminar:

1. Voronoi Diagrams and Their Applications in Facility Location Problems.
2. Conditional Location Problems on Networks and in the Plane.
3. Selected Heuristics for Location Models.

Eiselt, H. A., & Marianov, V. (Eds.). (2011). Foundations of Location Analysis (Vol. 155). Springer US.

doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7572-0

Karakitsiou, A. (2015). Modeling Discrete Competitive Facility Location. Springer International Publishing.

doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21341-5

And other recent publications.

Bachelor:

1. Interest in quantitative methods.
2. Ability to understand optimization models and to set up own optimization models as well as basic understanding of algorithms. These skills, for instance, are taught in the courses “Fundamentals of Management Science” and “Supply Chain & Operations Management”.
3. Fluent reading of texts in English, which will be the language of this seminar

Master:

1. Interest in quantitative methods.
2. Ability to understand optimization models and to set up own optimization models as well as basic understanding of algorithms. These skills, for instance, are taught in the courses “Fundamentals of Business Analytics” and “Advanced Topics in Management Science”.
3. Fluent reading of texts in English, which will be the language of this seminar

The application period will start on the January 15^th 2024.
Further information regarding the application will be published here later.