一类非光滑广义分式规划的Kuhn-Tucker型最优性必要条件

考虑一类非线性不等式约束的非光滑minimax分式规划问题;目标函数中的分子是可微函数与凸函数之和形式而分母是可微函数与凸函数之差形式,且约束函数是可微的.在Arrow- Hurwicz-Uzawa约束品性下,给出了这类规划的最优解的Kuhn-Tucker型必要条件.所得结果改进和推广了已有文献中的相应结果.     

Convex dual for quadratic concave fractional programs

For a fractional program with a quadratic numerator and an arbitrary concave denominator, a new convex dual program is derived. Concepts of conjugate duality are used to obtain an explicit representation of the dual.The authors are grateful to two anonymous referees and the Associate Editor for their comments.     

Some Farkas-type results for fractional programming problems with DC functions

For a kind of fractional programming problem that the objective functions are the ratio of two DC (difference of convex) functions with finitely many convex constraints, in this paper, its dual problems are constructed, weak and strong duality assertions are given, and some sufficient and necessary optimality conditions which characterize their optimal solutions are obtained. Some recently obtained Farkas-type results for fractional programming problems that the objective functions are the ratio of a convex function to a concave function with finitely many convex constraints are the special cases of the general results of this paper.     

Strong duality for robust minimax fractional programming problems

We develop a duality theory for minimax fractional programming problems in the face of data uncertainty both in the objective and constraints. Following the framework of robust optimization, we establish strong duality between the robust counterpart of an uncertain minimax convex–concave fractional program, termed as robust minimax fractional program, and the optimistic counterpart of its uncertain conventional dual program, called optimistic dual. In the case of a robust minimax linear fractional program with scenario uncertainty in the numerator of the objective function, we show that the optimistic dual is a simple linear program when the constraint uncertainty is expressed as bounded intervals. We also show that the dual can be reformulated as a second-order cone programming problem when the constraint uncertainty is given by ellipsoids. In these cases, the optimistic dual problems are computationally tractable and their solutions can be validated in polynomial time. We further show that, for robust minimax linear fractional programs with interval uncertainty, the conventional dual of its robust counterpart and the optimistic dual are equivalent.     

一类不可微广义分式规划的K-T型必要条件

本文对一类在Rn的开子集X上的非线性不等式约束的广义分式规划问题: 目标函数中的分子是可微函数与凸函数之和而分母是可微函数与凸函数之差,且约束函数是可微的,在Abadie约束品性或Calmness约束品性下,给出了最优解的Kuhn-Tucker 型必要条件,所得结果改进和推广了已有文献中的相应结果．     

Solving Sum of Ratios Fractional Programs via Concave Minimization

This article presents an algorithm for globally solving a sum of ratios fractional programming problem. To solve this problem, the algorithm globally solves an equivalent concave minimization problem via a branch-and-bound search. The main work of the algorithm involves solving a sequence of convex programming problems that differ only in their objective function coefficients. Therefore, to solve efficiently these convex programming problems, an optimal solution to one problem can potentially be used to good advantage as a starting solution to the next problem.     

A Chance Constrained Approach to Fractional Programming with Random Numerator

This paper presents a chance constrained programming approach to the problem of maximizing the ratio of two linear functions of decision variables which are subject to linear inequality constraints. The coefficient parameters of the numerator of the objective function are assumed to be random variables with a known multivariate normal probability distribution. A deterministic equivalent of the stochastic linear fractional programming formulation has been obtained and a subsidiary convex program is given to solve the deterministic problem.     

Exact Worst-Case Convergence Rates of the Proximal Gradient Method for Composite Convex Minimization

We study the worst-case convergence rates of the proximal gradient method for minimizing the sum of a smooth strongly convex function and a non-smooth convex function, whose proximal operator is available. We establish the exact worst-case convergence rates of the proximal gradient method in this setting for any step size and for different standard performance measures: objective function accuracy, distance to optimality and residual gradient norm. The proof methodology relies on recent developments in performance estimation of first-order methods, based on semidefinite programming. In the case of the proximal gradient method, this methodology allows obtaining exact and non-asymptotic worst-case guarantees that are conceptually very simple, although apparently new. On the way, we discuss how strong convexity can be replaced by weaker assumptions, while preserving the corresponding convergence rates. We also establish that the same fixed step size policy is optimal for all three performance measures. Finally, we extend recent results on the worst-case behavior of gradient descent with exact line search to the proximal case.     

Fenchel duality theorem in multiobjective programming problems with set functions

In this paper, we characterize a vector-valued convex set function by its epigraph. The concepts of a vector-valued set function and a vector-valued concave set function are given respectively. The definitions of the conjugate functions for a vector-valued convex set function and a vector-valued concave set function are introduced. Then a Fenchel duality theorem in multiobjective programming problem with set functions is derived.     

Minimizing loss probability bounds for portfolio selection

In this paper, we derive a portfolio optimization model by minimizing upper and lower bounds of loss probability. These bounds are obtained under a nonparametric assumption of underlying return distribution by modifying the so-called generalization error bounds for the support vector machine, which has been developed in the field of statistical learning. Based on the bounds, two fractional programs are derived for constructing portfolios, where the numerator of the ratio in the objective includes the value-at-risk (VaR) or conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) while the denominator is any norm of portfolio vector. Depending on the parameter values in the model, the derived formulations can result in a nonconvex constrained optimization, and an algorithm for dealing with such a case is proposed. Some computational experiments are conducted on real stock market data, demonstrating that the CVaR-based fractional programming model outperforms the empirical probability minimization.     

Optimality conditions in the problem of maximization of the difference of two convex functions

We consider a quadratic d. c. optimization problem on a convex set. The objective function is represented as the difference of two convex functions. By reducing the problem to the equivalent concave programming problem we prove a sufficient optimality condition in the form of an inequality for the directional derivative of the objective function at admissible points of the corresponding level surface.     

A simple randomised algorithm for convex optimisation

We consider maximising a concave function over a convex set by a simple randomised algorithm. The strength of the algorithm is that it requires only approximate function evaluations for the concave function and a weak membership oracle for the convex set. Under smoothness conditions on the function and the feasible set, we show that our algorithm computes a near-optimal point in a number of operations which is bounded by a polynomial function of all relevant input parameters and the reciprocal of the desired precision, with high probability. As an application to which the features of our algorithm are particularly useful we study two-stage stochastic programming problems. These problems have the property that evaluation of the objective function is #P-hard under appropriate assumptions on the models. Therefore, as a tool within our randomised algorithm, we devise a fully polynomial randomised approximation scheme for these function evaluations, under appropriate assumptions on the models. Moreover, we deal with smoothing the feasible set, which in two-stage stochastic programming is a polyhedron.     

Unboundedness in reverse convex and concave integer programming

In this paper we are concerned with the problem of unboundedness and existence of an optimal solution in reverse convex and concave integer optimization problems. In particular, we present necessary and sufficient conditions for existence of an upper bound for a convex objective function defined over the feasible region contained in ${\mathbb{Z}^n}$ . The conditions for boundedness are provided in a form of an implementable algorithm, showing that for the considered class of functions, the integer programming problem is unbounded if and only if the associated continuous problem is unbounded. We also address the problem of boundedness in the global optimization problem of maximizing a convex function over a set of integers contained in a convex and unbounded region. It is shown in the paper that in both types of integer programming problems, the objective function is either unbounded from above, or it attains its maximum at a feasible integer point.     

On Well Definedness of the Central Path

We study the well definedness of the central path for a linearly constrained convex programming problem with smooth objective function. We prove that, under standard assumptions, existence of the central path is equivalent to the nonemptiness and boundedness of the optimal set. Other equivalent conditions are given. We show that, under an additional assumption on the objective function, the central path converges to the analytic center of the optimal set.     

Multiobjective duality for convex ratios

In this paper we present a duality approach for a multiobjective fractional programming problem. The components of the vector objective function are particular ratios involving the square of a convex function and a positive concave function. Applying the Fenchel-Rockafellar duality theory for a scalar optimization problem associated to the multiobjective primal, a dual problem is derived. This scalar dual problem is formulated in terms of conjugate functions and its structure gives an idea about how to construct a multiobjective dual problem in a natural way. Weak and strong duality assertions are presented.     

When are static and adjustable robust optimization problems with constraint-wise uncertainty equivalent?

Adjustable robust optimization (ARO) generally produces better worst-case solutions than static robust optimization (RO). However, ARO is computationally more difficult than RO. In this paper, we provide conditions under which the worst-case objective values of ARO and RO problems are equal. We prove that when the uncertainty is constraint-wise, the problem is convex with respect to the adjustable variables and concave with respect to the uncertain parameters, the adjustable variables lie in a convex and compact set and the uncertainty set is convex and compact, then robust solutions are also optimal for the corresponding ARO problem. Furthermore, we prove that if some of the uncertain parameters are constraint-wise and the rest are not, then under a similar set of assumptions there is an optimal decision rule for the ARO problem that does not depend on the constraint-wise uncertain parameters. Also, we show for a class of problems that using affine decision rules that depend on all of the uncertain parameters yields the same optimal objective value as when the rules depend solely on the non-constraint-wise uncertain parameters. Finally, we illustrate the usefulness of these results by applying them to convex quadratic and conic quadratic problems.     

On the global optimality of generalized trust region subproblems

Quadratically constrained quadratic programming is an important class of optimization problems. We consider the case with one quadratic constraint. Since both the objective function and its constraint can be neither convex nor concave, it is also known as the ‘generalized trust region subproblem.’ The theory and algorithms for this problem have been well studied under the Slater condition. In this article, we analyse the duality property between the primal problem and its Lagrangian dual problem, and discuss the attainability of the optimal primal solution without the Slater condition. The relations between the Lagrangian dual and semidefinite programming dual is also given.     

Solution of the unconditional extremum problem for a linear-fractional integral functional on a set of probability measures

A new, generalized and strengthened, form of an assertion about an extremum of a linear-fractional integral functional given on a set of probability measures is presented. It is shown that the solution of the extremal problem for such a functional is completely determined by the extremal properties of the so-called test function, which is the ratio of the integrands of the numerator and the denominator. On the basis of this assertion, a theorem on an optimal strategy for controlling a semi-Markov process with a finite set of states is proved. In particular, it is established that if the test function of the objective functional of a control problem attains a global extremum, then an optimal control strategy exists, is deterministic, and is determined by the point of global extremum. The corresponding assertions are also obtained for the case where the test function does not attain the global extremum.     

A duality theorem for a homogeneous fractional programming problem

The usual theory of duality for linear fractional programs is extended by replacing the linear functions in the numerator and denominator by arbitrary positively homogeneous convex functions. In the constraints, the positive orthant inR ⁿ is replaced by an arbitrary cone. The resultant duality theorem contains a recent result of Chandra and Gulati as a special case.The authors wish to thank the referee for a number of valuable suggestions, particularly improvements in Theorem 3.4 and Corollary 3.1.     

On fractional programming containing support functions

Optimality conditions are derived for a nonlinear fractional program in which a support function appears in the numerator and denominator of the objective function as well as in each constraint function. As an application of these optimality conditions, a dual to this program is formulated and various duality results are established under generalized convexity. Several known results are deduced as special cases.