arXiv subjects

Joao Marques-Silva

Publications and source records attributed to Joao Marques-Silva.

77 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2009

Algorithms for Weighted Boolean Optimization

The Pseudo-Boolean Optimization (PBO) and Maximum Satisfiability (MaxSAT) problems are natural optimization extensions of Boolean Satisfiability (SAT). In the recent past, different algorithms have been proposed for PBO and for MaxSAT, despite the existence of straightforward mappings from PBO to MaxSAT and vice-versa. This papers proposes Weighted Boolean Optimization (WBO), a new unified framework that aggregates and extends PBO and MaxSAT. In addition, the paper proposes a new unsatisfiability-based algorithm for WBO, based on recent unsatisfiability-based algorithms for MaxSAT. Besides standard MaxSAT, the new algorithm can also be used to solve weighted MaxSAT and PBO, handling pseudo-Boolean constraints either natively or by translation to clausal form. Experimental results illustrate that unsatisfiability-based algorithms for MaxSAT can be orders of magnitude more efficient than existing dedicated algorithms. Finally, the paper illustrates how other algorithms for either PBO or MaxSAT can be extended to WBO.

cs.AI↗

arXiv2008

Model Checking Event-B by Encoding into Alloy

As systems become ever more complex, verification becomes more main stream. Event-B and Alloy are two formal specification languages based on fairly different methodologies. While Event-B uses theorem provers to prove that invariants hold for a given specification, Alloy uses a SAT-based model finder. In some settings, Event-B invariants may not be proved automatically, and so the often difficult step of interactive proof is required. One solution for this problem is to validate invariants with model checking. This work studies the encoding of Event-B machines and contexts to Alloy in order to perform temporal model checking with Alloy's SAT-based engine.

cs.LO↗

arXiv2008

A Pseudo-Boolean Solution to the Maximum Quartet Consistency Problem

Determining the evolutionary history of a given biological data is an important task in biological sciences. Given a set of quartet topologies over a set of taxa, the Maximum Quartet Consistency (MQC) problem consists of computing a global phylogeny that satisfies the maximum number of quartets. A number of solutions have been proposed for the MQC problem, including Dynamic Programming, Constraint Programming, and more recently Answer Set Programming (ASP). ASP is currently the most efficient approach for optimally solving the MQC problem. This paper proposes encoding the MQC problem with pseudo-Boolean (PB) constraints. The use of PB allows solving the MQC problem with efficient PB solvers, and also allows considering different modeling approaches for the MQC problem. Initial results are promising, and suggest that PB can be an effective alternative for solving the MQC problem.

cs.AI↗

arXiv2008

Symmetry Breaking for Maximum Satisfiability

Symmetries are intrinsic to many combinatorial problems including Boolean Satisfiability (SAT) and Constraint Programming (CP). In SAT, the identification of symmetry breaking predicates (SBPs) is a well-known, often effective, technique for solving hard problems. The identification of SBPs in SAT has been the subject of significant improvements in recent years, resulting in more compact SBPs and more effective algorithms. The identification of SBPs has also been applied to pseudo-Boolean (PB) constraints, showing that symmetry breaking can also be an effective technique for PB constraints. This paper extends further the application of SBPs, and shows that SBPs can be identified and used in Maximum Satisfiability (MaxSAT), as well as in its most well-known variants, including partial MaxSAT, weighted MaxSAT and weighted partial MaxSAT. As with SAT and PB, symmetry breaking predicates for MaxSAT and variants are shown to be effective for a representative number of problem domains, allowing solving problem instances that current state of the art MaxSAT solvers could not otherwise solve.

cs.AI↗

arXiv2007

On Using Unsatisfiability for Solving Maximum Satisfiability

Maximum Satisfiability (MaxSAT) is a well-known optimization pro- blem, with several practical applications. The most widely known MAXS AT algorithms are ineffective at solving hard problems instances from practical application domains. Recent work proposed using efficient Boolean Satisfiability (SAT) solvers for solving the MaxSAT problem, based on identifying and eliminating unsatisfiable subformulas. However, these algorithms do not scale in practice. This paper analyzes existing MaxSAT algorithms based on unsatisfiable subformula identification. Moreover, the paper proposes a number of key optimizations to these MaxSAT algorithms and a new alternative algorithm. The proposed optimizations and the new algorithm provide significant performance improvements on MaxSAT instances from practical applications. Moreover, the efficiency of the new generation of unsatisfiability-based MaxSAT solvers becomes effectively indexed to the ability of modern SAT solvers to proving unsatisfiability and identifying unsatisfiable subformulas.

cs.AI↗