Ανακοινώσεις μαθήματος Optimization Techniques

Grades - Full Course and Half Course

Fri, 17 Jul 2026 12:02:33 +0300

Dear all,

I have uploaded to the e-class documents your scores for the exercises, project, as well as your final grade, for both mini and full courses. Anyone who wishes to review their exam paper and/or exercises, please inform me until tomorrow via email.

Best regards,

Final Exam instructions and Project submission

Mon, 29 Jun 2026 15:26:36 +0300

Dear all,

The final exam material includes Lecture slides 1-9 from the E-Class for the Full Course, and the sets 1-6 for the Half Course.

Note that in 9 you should mainly focus on the simple Benders Decomposition approach (not Logic Based Benders) and the Constraint programming c(see up to slide 81 in Lecture 9).

Note also that you will need be examined in the RL part (Lecture slides 10) - as this will be done through the assigned project.

For more details and examples for the material within the Lecture slides you can study the following:

a) Simplex algorithm, Chapters 4-5 of Hillier & Lieberman, “Introduction to Operations Research”,

b) LP Duality Theory, Chapter 6 of Hillier & Lieberman, “Introduction to Operations Research”,

c) Convex sets and functions, Chapters 2-3 of Boyd & Vandenberghe “Convex Optimization”,

d) Descent methods, Chapter 9 of Boyd & Vandenberghe “Convex Optimization”

e) Lagrange duality, Chapter 5 Boyd & Vandenberghe “Convex Optimization”.

f) Interior point methods: Sections 11.1-11.3, Boyd & Vandenberghe, and Lecture notes from the course on Machine Learning by Ryan Tibshirani: https://www.stat.cmu.edu/~ryantibs/convexopt/lectures/barr-method.pdf

g) Integer programming Chapter 11, Hillier & Lieberman, “Introduction to Operations Research”,

h) Branch and Bound, Section 11.6, Hillier & Lieberman, “Introduction to Operations Research”.

i) Benders’ decomposition, in Hooker, J.N. (2019). Logic-Based Benders Decomposition for Large-Scale Optimization. In: Velásquez-Bermúdez, J., Khakifirooz, M., Fathi, M. (eds) Large Scale Optimization in Supply Chains and Smart Manufacturing. Springer Optimization and Its Applications, vol 149. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22788-3_1 (access with VPN from AUEB)

j) Contstraint programming, Rossi, F., Van Beek, P. and Walsh, T. eds., 2006. “Handbook of constraint programming, Elsevier”

On Monday 16/06, after presenting an application of RL to job shop scheduling, we are going to discuss the solutions of your homework assignment and will answer any questions you may have about the exam material.

Concerning the examination process:

- Please be there at 18:10 so we can start as soon as possible.

- You may bring with you one A4 sheet on which you can write anything you want, on both sides. The sheet can be handwritten. There are no restrictions on what you can write on it. For example, you can write down an algorithm that you find hard to remember. However, don't overdo it—don't spend too much time preparing the A4 sheet.

Concerning your project submission you can submit it until Friday, July 10.

Best Regards,

Change in the time of Next Lecture (Friday 26/06)

Thu, 25 Jun 2026 12:22:50 +0300

Hi everyone,

As discussed, our next Lecture, on Friday 26/06, is going to be made between 15:00-18:00, at class 606 (Lefkados 33 Building), instead of 18:00-21:00.

Best Regards,

George

Synthetic data for PPO training

Wed, 24 Jun 2026 15:43:46 +0300

Hi everyone,

Here is a link to a set of synthetic data for the Job Shop Scheduling problem that can be used for training the PPO:

https://github.com/AndreasKtenidis/JSSP_exercise_with_RL/tree/main/saved

Best Regards,

George

Project on Job Shop Scheduling using Reinforcement Learning

Tue, 16 Jun 2026 14:33:42 +0300

Hi Everyone,

I have uploaded you Project, please see in the Folder "Assignment 2026" for the description.

The deadline is on Tuesday 07/07.

Your answers should be send via email (georzois@aueb.gr)

You will receive more detailed explanations during the following Lecture (19/06).

Best Regards,

George

Make up Lecture

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 15:52:57 +0300

Dear all,

We are going to do a make up Lecture on Wednesday 24/06, 15:00-18:00, Room: 606 (Evelpeidon 47)

Best Regards

George

Cancellation of next Lecture (29/05)

Mon, 25 May 2026 19:57:22 +0300

Dear all,

Please note that our scheduled lecture on Friday, 29 May is cancelled, as I will be away attending a conference. I will update you as soon as possible regarding the rescheduled date.

Best regards,

1st Assignment

Mon, 18 May 2026 10:45:41 +0300

Dear all,

I have uploaded your individual homework assignment in the eclass folder "Έγγραφα". The submission deadline is on Monday the 8th of June, 23:59EEST.

Note that Problem 9 is reffered only to the students that will attend the Full Course.

Best Regards,

--GZ