The notions of directed distances, quasi-metrics and oriented multi-cuts are generalizations of the notions of distances, metrics and cuts, which are central objects in graph theory and combinatorial optimization. Define a quasi-semi-metric on X as a function d from X2 to R+, such that for all x, y, z ∈ X , d(x, y) ≥ 0, d(x, x) = 0, and d(x, y) ≤ d(x, z) + d(z, y). If the first inequality is st...