Abstract Domains in Constraint Programming

Abstract Domains in Constraint Programming

Author: Marie Pelleau

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2015-05-20

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 0081004648

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Constraint Programming aims at solving hard combinatorial problems, with a computation time increasing in practice exponentially. The methods are today efficient enough to solve large industrial problems, in a generic framework. However, solvers are dedicated to a single variable type: integer or real. Solving mixed problems relies on ad hoc transformations. In another field, Abstract Interpretation offers tools to prove program properties, by studying an abstraction of their concrete semantics, that is, the set of possible values of the variables during an execution. Various representations for these abstractions have been proposed. They are called abstract domains. Abstract domains can mix any type of variables, and even represent relations between the variables. In this work, we define abstract domains for Constraint Programming, so as to build a generic solving method, dealing with both integer and real variables. We also study the octagons abstract domain, already defined in Abstract Interpretation. Guiding the search by the octagonal relations, we obtain good results on a continuous benchmark. We also define our solving method using Abstract Interpretation techniques, in order to include existing abstract domains. Our solver, AbSolute, is able to solve mixed problems and use relational domains. Exploits the over-approximation methods to integrate AI tools in the methods of CP Exploits the relationships captured to solve continuous problems more effectively Learn from the developers of a solver capable of handling practically all abstract domains


Book Synopsis Abstract Domains in Constraint Programming by : Marie Pelleau

Download or read book Abstract Domains in Constraint Programming written by Marie Pelleau and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2015-05-20 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Constraint Programming aims at solving hard combinatorial problems, with a computation time increasing in practice exponentially. The methods are today efficient enough to solve large industrial problems, in a generic framework. However, solvers are dedicated to a single variable type: integer or real. Solving mixed problems relies on ad hoc transformations. In another field, Abstract Interpretation offers tools to prove program properties, by studying an abstraction of their concrete semantics, that is, the set of possible values of the variables during an execution. Various representations for these abstractions have been proposed. They are called abstract domains. Abstract domains can mix any type of variables, and even represent relations between the variables. In this work, we define abstract domains for Constraint Programming, so as to build a generic solving method, dealing with both integer and real variables. We also study the octagons abstract domain, already defined in Abstract Interpretation. Guiding the search by the octagonal relations, we obtain good results on a continuous benchmark. We also define our solving method using Abstract Interpretation techniques, in order to include existing abstract domains. Our solver, AbSolute, is able to solve mixed problems and use relational domains. Exploits the over-approximation methods to integrate AI tools in the methods of CP Exploits the relationships captured to solve continuous problems more effectively Learn from the developers of a solver capable of handling practically all abstract domains


A Combination of Abstract Interpretation and Constraint Programming

A Combination of Abstract Interpretation and Constraint Programming

Author: Ghiles Ziat

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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We investigate in this thesis a tight collaboration between techniques of Abstract Interpretation and Constraint Programming within a unified method of resolution of constraint satisfaction problems. This work addresses the problem of the design in a generic and modular way of a constraint solver based on abstract domains, which capture specific properties of program or constrained variables. We exploit the assets of both fields to bypass the restriction of standard constraint solvers, such as the dedication to a certain type of constraints or variables. Our effort also consists in the design of a robust method, providing soundness properties even in thecontext of floating-point errors. Moreover, we are interested in different techniques allowing the construction of a partition of a solution space that can be easily reused, both from a quantitative and a qualitative point of view. Our work has been concretized in the form of an implementation within the AbSolute constraint solver and applied on several examples. Our experiments show that our methods improve the solver's efficiency or the quality of the results according to the metrics we have defined.


Book Synopsis A Combination of Abstract Interpretation and Constraint Programming by : Ghiles Ziat

Download or read book A Combination of Abstract Interpretation and Constraint Programming written by Ghiles Ziat and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We investigate in this thesis a tight collaboration between techniques of Abstract Interpretation and Constraint Programming within a unified method of resolution of constraint satisfaction problems. This work addresses the problem of the design in a generic and modular way of a constraint solver based on abstract domains, which capture specific properties of program or constrained variables. We exploit the assets of both fields to bypass the restriction of standard constraint solvers, such as the dedication to a certain type of constraints or variables. Our effort also consists in the design of a robust method, providing soundness properties even in thecontext of floating-point errors. Moreover, we are interested in different techniques allowing the construction of a partition of a solution space that can be easily reused, both from a quantitative and a qualitative point of view. Our work has been concretized in the form of an implementation within the AbSolute constraint solver and applied on several examples. Our experiments show that our methods improve the solver's efficiency or the quality of the results according to the metrics we have defined.


Constraint Programming: Basics and Trends

Constraint Programming: Basics and Trends

Author: Andreas Podelski

Publisher: Boom Koninklijke Uitgevers

Published: 1995-03-20

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 9783540591559

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Quality assurance and accreditation in analytical chemistry laboratories is an important issue on the national and international scale. The book presents currently used methods to assure the quality of analytical results and it describes accreditation procedures for the mutual recognition of these results. The book describes in detail the accreditation systems in 13 European countries and the present situation in the United States of America. The editor also places high value on accreditation and certification practice and on the relevant legislation in Europe. The appendix lists invaluable information on important European accreditation organizations.


Book Synopsis Constraint Programming: Basics and Trends by : Andreas Podelski

Download or read book Constraint Programming: Basics and Trends written by Andreas Podelski and published by Boom Koninklijke Uitgevers. This book was released on 1995-03-20 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Quality assurance and accreditation in analytical chemistry laboratories is an important issue on the national and international scale. The book presents currently used methods to assure the quality of analytical results and it describes accreditation procedures for the mutual recognition of these results. The book describes in detail the accreditation systems in 13 European countries and the present situation in the United States of America. The editor also places high value on accreditation and certification practice and on the relevant legislation in Europe. The appendix lists invaluable information on important European accreditation organizations.


Constraint Programming

Constraint Programming

Author: Brian Mayoh

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2013-11-21

Total Pages: 460

ISBN-13: 3642859836

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Constraint programming is like an octopus spreading its tentacles into databases, operations research, artificial intelligence, and many other areas. The concept of constraint programming was introduced in artificial intelligence and graphics in the 1960s and 1970s. Now the related techniques are used and studied in many fields of computing. Different aspects of constraint processing are investigated in theoretical computer science, logic programming, knowledge representation, operations research, and related application domains. Constraint programming has been included in the lists of related topics of many conferences. Nevertheless, only in 1993 were the first forums held, devoted as a whole to this field of knowledge. These were the First Workshop on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming (PPCP'93) which was held in Newport, Rhode Island, USA, April 28-30, the International Workshop on Constraint Processing (at CSAM'93) held in St. Petersburg, Russia, July 20-21, and the NATO Advanced Study Institute (NATO AS!) on Constraint Programming held in Parnu, Estonia, August 13-24. NATO A Sis are aimed to be schools bringing together leading researchers and practitioners from industry and academia in some area of knowledge to provide a concise picture of the work done and results obtained by different groups. This is intended for dissemination of advanced knowledge not yet taught regularly in of new topics university. However, ASis must also encourage the introduction into university curricula as well as foster international scientific contacts.


Book Synopsis Constraint Programming by : Brian Mayoh

Download or read book Constraint Programming written by Brian Mayoh and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-11-21 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Constraint programming is like an octopus spreading its tentacles into databases, operations research, artificial intelligence, and many other areas. The concept of constraint programming was introduced in artificial intelligence and graphics in the 1960s and 1970s. Now the related techniques are used and studied in many fields of computing. Different aspects of constraint processing are investigated in theoretical computer science, logic programming, knowledge representation, operations research, and related application domains. Constraint programming has been included in the lists of related topics of many conferences. Nevertheless, only in 1993 were the first forums held, devoted as a whole to this field of knowledge. These were the First Workshop on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming (PPCP'93) which was held in Newport, Rhode Island, USA, April 28-30, the International Workshop on Constraint Processing (at CSAM'93) held in St. Petersburg, Russia, July 20-21, and the NATO Advanced Study Institute (NATO AS!) on Constraint Programming held in Parnu, Estonia, August 13-24. NATO A Sis are aimed to be schools bringing together leading researchers and practitioners from industry and academia in some area of knowledge to provide a concise picture of the work done and results obtained by different groups. This is intended for dissemination of advanced knowledge not yet taught regularly in of new topics university. However, ASis must also encourage the introduction into university curricula as well as foster international scientific contacts.


Recent Advances in Constraints

Recent Advances in Constraints

Author: Barry O'Sullivan

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2003-08-03

Total Pages: 209

ISBN-13: 3540366075

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This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the Joint ERCIM/CologNet International Workshop on Constraint Solving and Constraint Logic Programming, held in Cork, Ireland in June 2002. The 14 revised full papers presented were carefully selected for inclusion in the book during two rounds of reviewing and revision. Among the topics addressed are verification and debugging of constraint logic programs, modeling and solving CSPs, explanation generation, inference and inconsistency processing, SAT and 0/1 encodings of CSPs, soft constraints and constraint relaxation, real-world applications, and distributed constraint solving.


Book Synopsis Recent Advances in Constraints by : Barry O'Sullivan

Download or read book Recent Advances in Constraints written by Barry O'Sullivan and published by Springer. This book was released on 2003-08-03 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-proceedings of the Joint ERCIM/CologNet International Workshop on Constraint Solving and Constraint Logic Programming, held in Cork, Ireland in June 2002. The 14 revised full papers presented were carefully selected for inclusion in the book during two rounds of reviewing and revision. Among the topics addressed are verification and debugging of constraint logic programs, modeling and solving CSPs, explanation generation, inference and inconsistency processing, SAT and 0/1 encodings of CSPs, soft constraints and constraint relaxation, real-world applications, and distributed constraint solving.


Constraint Processing

Constraint Processing

Author: Manfred Meyer

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 1995-06-20

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 9783540594796

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This volume contains 15 thoroughly refereed full research papers selected from the presentations given during two workshops on constraint processing; these workshops were held in conjunction with the International Congress on Computer Systems and Applied Mathematics (St. Petersburg, Russia, July 1993) and the European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, August 1994). This volume essentially contributes to integrating the different approaches to the young and very active field of constraint processing by offering papers from logic programming, knowledge representation, expert systems, theoretical computer science, operations research, and other fields. Among contributions are two surveys, by Podelski and van Roy and by Freuder.


Book Synopsis Constraint Processing by : Manfred Meyer

Download or read book Constraint Processing written by Manfred Meyer and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 1995-06-20 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume contains 15 thoroughly refereed full research papers selected from the presentations given during two workshops on constraint processing; these workshops were held in conjunction with the International Congress on Computer Systems and Applied Mathematics (St. Petersburg, Russia, July 1993) and the European Conference on Artificial Intelligence (Amsterdam, The Netherlands, August 1994). This volume essentially contributes to integrating the different approaches to the young and very active field of constraint processing by offering papers from logic programming, knowledge representation, expert systems, theoretical computer science, operations research, and other fields. Among contributions are two surveys, by Podelski and van Roy and by Freuder.


Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming - CP 2012

Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming - CP 2012

Author: Michela Milano

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2012-10-03

Total Pages: 1034

ISBN-13: 3642335586

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This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming (CP 2012), held in Québec, Canada, in October 2012. The 68 revised full papers were carefully selected from 186 submissions. Beside the technical program, the conference featured two special tracks. The former was the traditional application track, which focused on industrial and academic uses of constraint technology and its comparison and integration with other optimization techniques (MIP, local search, SAT, etc.) The second track, featured for the first time in 2012, concentrated on multidisciplinary papers: cross-cutting methodology and challenging applications collecting papers that link CP technology with other techniques like machine learning, data mining, game theory, simulation, knowledge compilation, visualization, control theory, and robotics. In addition, the track focused on challenging application fields with a high social impact such as CP for life sciences, sustainability, energy efficiency, web, social sciences, finance, and verification.


Book Synopsis Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming - CP 2012 by : Michela Milano

Download or read book Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming - CP 2012 written by Michela Milano and published by Springer. This book was released on 2012-10-03 with total page 1034 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming (CP 2012), held in Québec, Canada, in October 2012. The 68 revised full papers were carefully selected from 186 submissions. Beside the technical program, the conference featured two special tracks. The former was the traditional application track, which focused on industrial and academic uses of constraint technology and its comparison and integration with other optimization techniques (MIP, local search, SAT, etc.) The second track, featured for the first time in 2012, concentrated on multidisciplinary papers: cross-cutting methodology and challenging applications collecting papers that link CP technology with other techniques like machine learning, data mining, game theory, simulation, knowledge compilation, visualization, control theory, and robotics. In addition, the track focused on challenging application fields with a high social impact such as CP for life sciences, sustainability, energy efficiency, web, social sciences, finance, and verification.


Semirings for Soft Constraint Solving and Programming

Semirings for Soft Constraint Solving and Programming

Author: Stefano Bistarelli

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2004-07-16

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 3540259252

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Constraint satisfaction and constraint programming have shown to be very simple but powerful ideas, with applications in various areas. Still, in the last ten years, the simple notion of constraints has shown some deficiencies concerning both theory and practice, typically in the way over-constrained problems and preferences are treated. For this reason, the notion of soft constraints has been introduced with semiring-based soft constraints and valued constraints being the two main general frameworks. This book includes formal definitions and properties of semiring-based soft constraints, as well as their use within constraint logic programming and concurrent constraint programming. Moreover, the author shows how to adapt existing notions and techniques such as abstraction and interchangeability to the soft constraint framework and it is demonstrated how soft constraints can be used in some application areas, such as security. Overall, this book is a great starting point for anyone interested in understanding the basics of semiring-based soft constraints.


Book Synopsis Semirings for Soft Constraint Solving and Programming by : Stefano Bistarelli

Download or read book Semirings for Soft Constraint Solving and Programming written by Stefano Bistarelli and published by Springer. This book was released on 2004-07-16 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Constraint satisfaction and constraint programming have shown to be very simple but powerful ideas, with applications in various areas. Still, in the last ten years, the simple notion of constraints has shown some deficiencies concerning both theory and practice, typically in the way over-constrained problems and preferences are treated. For this reason, the notion of soft constraints has been introduced with semiring-based soft constraints and valued constraints being the two main general frameworks. This book includes formal definitions and properties of semiring-based soft constraints, as well as their use within constraint logic programming and concurrent constraint programming. Moreover, the author shows how to adapt existing notions and techniques such as abstraction and interchangeability to the soft constraint framework and it is demonstrated how soft constraints can be used in some application areas, such as security. Overall, this book is a great starting point for anyone interested in understanding the basics of semiring-based soft constraints.


Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming

Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming

Author: Alan H. Borning

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 1994-10-12

Total Pages: 382

ISBN-13: 9783540586012

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This volume is the proceedings of the Second International Workshop on the Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming, held at Rosario, Orcas Island, Washington, USA in May 1994 in cooperation with AAAI and ALP. The volume contains 27 full revised papers selected from 87 submissions as well as a summary of a panel session on commercial applications of constraint programming. The contributions cover a broad range of topics including constraint programming languages, algorithms for constraint satisfaction and entailment, and constraints and their relation to fields such as artificial intelligence, databases, operations research, problem solving, and user interfaces.


Book Synopsis Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming by : Alan H. Borning

Download or read book Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming written by Alan H. Borning and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 1994-10-12 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume is the proceedings of the Second International Workshop on the Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming, held at Rosario, Orcas Island, Washington, USA in May 1994 in cooperation with AAAI and ALP. The volume contains 27 full revised papers selected from 87 submissions as well as a summary of a panel session on commercial applications of constraint programming. The contributions cover a broad range of topics including constraint programming languages, algorithms for constraint satisfaction and entailment, and constraints and their relation to fields such as artificial intelligence, databases, operations research, problem solving, and user interfaces.


Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming - CP '95

Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming - CP '95

Author: Ugo Montanari

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 1995-09-06

Total Pages: 676

ISBN-13: 9783540602996

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This book constitutes the proceedings of the First International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming, CP '95, held in Cassis near Marseille, France in September 1995. The 33 refereed full papers included were selected out of 108 submissions and constitute the main part of the book; in addition there is a 60-page documentation of the four invited papers and a section presenting industrial reports. Thus besides having a very strong research component, the volume will be attractive for practitioners. The papers are organized in sections on efficient constraint handling, constraint logic programming, concurrent constraint programming, computational logic, applications, and operations research.


Book Synopsis Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming - CP '95 by : Ugo Montanari

Download or read book Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming - CP '95 written by Ugo Montanari and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 1995-09-06 with total page 676 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book constitutes the proceedings of the First International Conference on Principles and Practice of Constraint Programming, CP '95, held in Cassis near Marseille, France in September 1995. The 33 refereed full papers included were selected out of 108 submissions and constitute the main part of the book; in addition there is a 60-page documentation of the four invited papers and a section presenting industrial reports. Thus besides having a very strong research component, the volume will be attractive for practitioners. The papers are organized in sections on efficient constraint handling, constraint logic programming, concurrent constraint programming, computational logic, applications, and operations research.