We present an efficient algorithm to find non-empty minimizers of a symmetric
submodular function over any family of sets closed under inclusion. This for
example includes families defined by a cardinality constraint, a knapsack
constraint, a matroid independence constraint, or any combination of such
constraints. Our algorithm make $O(n^3)$ oracle calls to the submodular
function where $n$ is the cardinality of the ground set.
We present a 1.91457-approximation algorithm for the prize-collecting
travelling salesman problem. This is obtained by combining a randomized variant
of a rounding algorithm of Bienstock et al. and a primal-dual algorithm of
Goemans and Williamson.
We present an algorithm for the asymmetric traveling salesman problem on
instances which satisfy the triangle inequality. Like several existing
algorithms, it achieves approximation ratio O(log n). Unlike previous
algorithms, it uses randomized rounding.