Strict Efficiency in Vector Optimization

The notion of strict minimum of order m for real optimization problems is extended to vector optimization. Its properties and characterization are studied in the case of finite-dimensional spaces (multiobjective problems). Also the notion of super-strict efficiency is introduced for multiobjective problems, and it is proved that, in the scalar case, all of them coincide. Necessary conditions for strict minimality and for super-strict minimality of order m are provided for multiobjective problems with an arbitrary feasible set. When the objective function is Fréchet differentiable, necessary and sufficient conditions are established for the case m = 1, resulting in the situation that the strict efficiency and super-strict efficiency notions coincide.     

First and second order sufficient conditions for strict minimality in nonsmooth vector optimization

In this paper we present first and second order sufficient conditions for strict local minima of orders 1 and 2 to vector optimization problems with an arbitrary feasible set and a twice directionally differentiable objective function. With this aim, the notion of support function to a vector problem is introduced, in such a way that the scalar case and the multiobjective case, in particular, are contained. The obtained results extend the multiobjective ones to this case. Moreover, specializing to a feasible set defined by equality, inequality, and set constraints, first and second order sufficient conditions by means of Lagrange multiplier rules are established.     

Global search perspectives for multiobjective optimization

Extending the notion of global search to multiobjective optimization is far than straightforward, mainly for the reason that one almost always has to deal with infinite Pareto optima and correspondingly infinite optimal values. Adopting Stephen Smale’s global analysis framework, we highlight the geometrical features of the set of Pareto optima and we are led to consistent notions of global convergence. We formulate then a multiobjective version of a celebrated result by Stephens and Baritompa, about the necessity of generating everywhere dense sample sequences, and describe a globally convergent algorithm in case the Lipschitz constant of the determinant of the Jacobian is known.     

Optimality and mixed saddle point criteria in multiobjective optimization

In this paper, higher order strong convexity for Lipschitz functions is introduced and is utilized to derive the optimality conditions for the new concept of strict minimizer of higher order for a multiobjective optimization problem. Variational inequality problem is introduced and its solutions are related to the strict minimizers of higher order for a multiobjective optimization problem. The notion of vector valued partial Lagrangian is also introduced and equivalence of the mixed saddle points of higher order and higher order minima are provided.     

多目标优化正则条件的一个注记

给出带不等式约束的非光滑多目标优化问题正则条件的一个例子.通过该例,指出最近由Burachik和Rizvi利用线性化锥提出的可微多目标优化问题的正则条件不能利用Clarke导数推广到非光滑情形.     

Pareto optimality and Walrasian equilibria

The paper concerns the study of a class of convex, constrained multiobjective optimization problems from the viewpoint of the existence issues. The main feature of the presented approach is that the classical qualification condition requiring the existence of interior points in the effective domains of functions under consideration does not hold. A variant of duality theory for multiobjective optimization problems based on the Fenchel theorem is formulated. Next, by using very recent results on the Walrasian general equilibrium model of economy obtained in Naniewicz [Z. Naniewicz, Pseudo-monotonicity and economic equilibrium problem in reflexive Banach space, Math. Oper. Res. 32 (2007) 436-466] the conditions ensuring the existence of Pareto optimal solutions for the class of multiobjective optimization problems are established. The concept of the proper efficiency is used as the solution notion. Finally, a new version of the second fundamental theorem of welfare economics is presented.     

A subgradient method for multiobjective optimization

A method for solving quasiconvex nondifferentiable unconstrained multiobjective optimization problems is proposed in this paper. This method extends to the multiobjective case of the classical subgradient method for real-valued minimization. Assuming the basically componentwise quasiconvexity of the objective components, full convergence (to Pareto optimal points) of all the sequences produced by the method is established.     

An Efficient Sampling Approach to Multiobjective Optimization

This paper presents a new approach to multiobjective optimization based on the principles of probabilistic uncertainty analysis. At the core of this approach is an efficient nonlinear multiobjective optimization algorithm, Minimizing Number of Single Objective Optimization Problems (MINSOOP), to generate a true representation of the whole Pareto surface. Results show that the computational savings of this new algorithm versus the traditional constraint method increase dramatically when the number of objectives increases. A real world case study of multiobjective optimal design of a best available control technology for Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) and Sulfur Oxides (SOx) reduction illustrates the usefulness of this approach.     

Saddle Point Optimality Conditions in Fuzzy Optimization Problems

The fuzzy-valued Lagrangian function of fuzzy optimization problem via the concept of fuzzy scalar (inner) product is proposed. A solution concept of fuzzy optimization problem, which is essentially similar to the notion of Pareto solution in multiobjective optimization problems, is introduced by imposing a partial ordering on the set of all fuzzy numbers. Under these settings, the saddle point optimality conditions along with necessary and sufficient conditions for the absence of a duality gap are elicited.     

Duality for multiobjective optimization problems with convex objective functions and D.C. constraints

In this paper we provide a duality theory for multiobjective optimization problems with convex objective functions and finitely many D.C. constraints. In order to do this, we study first the duality for a scalar convex optimization problem with inequality constraints defined by extended real-valued convex functions. For a family of multiobjective problems associated to the initial one we determine then, by means of the scalar duality results, their multiobjective dual problems. Finally, we consider as a special case the duality for the convex multiobjective optimization problem with convex constraints.     

A novel elitist multiobjective optimization algorithm: Multiobjective extremal optimization

Recently, a general-purpose local-search heuristic method called extremal optimization (EO) has been successfully applied to some NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems. This paper presents an investigation on EO with its application in numerical multiobjective optimization and proposes a new novel elitist (1 + λ) multiobjective algorithm, called multiobjective extremal optimization (MOEO). In order to extend EO to solve the multiobjective optimization problems, the Pareto dominance strategy is introduced to the fitness assignment of the proposed approach. We also present a new hybrid mutation operator that enhances the exploratory capabilities of our algorithm. The proposed approach is validated using five popular benchmark functions. The simulation results indicate that the proposed approach is highly competitive with the state-of-the-art multiobjective evolutionary algorithms. Thus MOEO can be considered a good alternative to solve numerical multiobjective optimization problems.     

Vector Ordinal Optimization

Ordinal optimization is a tool to reduce the computational burden in simulation-based optimization problems. So far, the major effort in this field focuses on single-objective optimization. In this paper, we extend this to multiobjective optimization and develop vector ordinal optimization, which is different from the one introduced in Ref. 1. Alignment probability and ordered performance curve (OPC) are redefined for multiobjective optimization. Our results lead to quantifiable subset selection sizes in the multiobjective case, which supplies guidance in solving practical problems, as demonstrated by the examples in this paper.This paper was supported in part by Army Contract DAAD19-01-1-0610, AFOSR Contract F49620-01-1-0288, and a contract with United Technology Research Center (UTRC). The first author received additional funding from NSF of China Grants 60074012 and 60274011, Ministry of Education (China), and a Tsinghua University (Beijing, China) Fundamental Research Funding Grant, and the NCET program of China.The authors are grateful to and benefited from two rounds of reviews from three anonymous referees.     

Constraint Qualifications in Nonsmooth Multiobjective Optimization

For an inequality constrained nonsmooth multiobjective optimization problem involving locally Lipschitz functions, stronger KT-type necessary conditions and KT necessary conditions (which in the continuously differentiable case reduce respectively to the stronger KT conditions studied recently by Maeda and the usual KT conditions) are derived for efficiency and weak efficiency under several constraint qualifications. Stimulated by the stronger KT-type conditions, the notion of core of the convex hull of the union of finitely many convex sets is introduced. As main tool in the derivation of the necessary conditions, a theorem of the alternatives and a core separation theorem are also developed which are respectively extensions of the Motzkin transposition theorem and the Tucker theorem.     

Multiobjective bilevel optimization

In this work nonlinear non-convex multiobjective bilevel optimization problems are discussed using an optimistic approach. It is shown that the set of feasible points of the upper level function, the so-called induced set, can be expressed as the set of minimal solutions of a multiobjective optimization problem. This artificial problem is solved by using a scalarization approach by Pascoletti and Serafini combined with an adaptive parameter control based on sensitivity results for this problem. The bilevel optimization problem is then solved by an iterative process using again sensitivity theorems for exploring the induced set and the whole efficient set is approximated. For the case of bicriteria optimization problems on both levels and for a one dimensional upper level variable, an algorithm is presented for the first time and applied to two problems: a theoretical example and a problem arising in applications.     

Generalized convexity and efficiency for non-regular multiobjective programming problems with inequality-type constraints

For multiobjective problems with inequality-type constraints the necessary conditions for efficient solutions are presented. These conditions are applied when the constraints do not necessarily satisfy any regularity assumptions, and they are based on the concept of 2-regularity introduced by Izmailov. In general, the necessary optimality conditions are not sufficient and the efficient solution set is not the same as the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker points set. So it is necessary to introduce generalized convexity notions. In the multiobjective non-regular case we give the notion of 2-KKT-pseudoinvex-II problems. This new concept of generalized convexity is both necessary and sufficient to guarantee the characterization of all efficient solutions based on the optimality conditions.     

A remark on multiobjective stochastic optimization via strongly convex functions

Many economic and financial applications lead (from the mathematical point of view) to deterministic optimization problems depending on a probability measure. These problems can be static (one stage), dynamic with finite (multistage) or infinite horizon, single objective or multiobjective. We focus on one-stage case in multiobjective setting. Evidently, well known results from the deterministic optimization theory can be employed in the case when the “underlying” probability measure is completely known. The assumption of a complete knowledge of the probability measure is fulfilled very seldom. Consequently, we have mostly to analyze the mathematical models on the data base to obtain a stochastic estimate of the corresponding “theoretical” characteristics. However, the investigation of these estimates has been done mostly in one-objective case. In this paper we focus on the investigation of the relationship between “characteristics” obtained on the base of complete knowledge of the probability measure and estimates obtained on the (above mentioned) data base, mostly in the multiobjective case. Consequently we obtain also the relationship between analysis (based on the data) of the economic process characteristics and “real” economic process. To this end the results of the deterministic multiobjective optimization theory and the results obtained for stochastic one objective problems will be employed.     

A system model for the utilization of mineral resources

A multiobjective dynamic optimization model is described for the optimal utilization of mineral resources. The special forms of the objective functions, state-transition relations, and additional constraints satisfy the conditions for using a special dynamic multiobjective programming method. A case study is also outlined.     

Multicriteria optimization with a multiobjective golden section line search

This work presents an algorithm for multiobjective optimization that is structured as: (i) a descent direction is calculated, within the cone of descent and feasible directions, and (ii) a multiobjective line search is conducted over such direction, with a new multiobjective golden section segment partitioning scheme that directly finds line-constrained efficient points that dominate the current one. This multiobjective line search procedure exploits the structure of the line-constrained efficient set, presenting a faster compression rate of the search segment than single-objective golden section line search. The proposed multiobjective optimization algorithm converges to points that satisfy the Kuhn-Tucker first-order necessary conditions for efficiency (the Pareto-critical points). Numerical results on two antenna design problems support the conclusion that the proposed method can solve robustly difficult nonlinear multiobjective problems defined in terms of computationally expensive black-box objective functions.     

Multiobjective improved spatial fuzzy c-means clustering for image segmentation combining Pareto-optimal clusters

In this paper, we propose a grayscale image segmentation method based on a multiobjective optimization approach that optimizes two complementary criteria (region and edge based). The region-based fitness used is the improved spatial fuzzy c-means clustering measure that is shown performing better than the standard fuzzy c-means (FCM) measure. The edge-based fitness used is based on the contour statistics and the number of connected components in the image segmentation result. The optimization algorithm used is the multiobjective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO), which is well suited to handle continuous variables problems, the case of FCM clustering. In our case, each particle of the swarm codes the centers of clusters. The result of the multiobjective optimization technique is a set of Pareto-optimal solutions, where each solution represents a segmentation result. Instead of selecting one solution from the Pareto front, we propose a method that combines all solutions to get a better segmentation. The combination method takes place in two steps. The first step is the detection of high-confidence points by exploiting the similarity between the results and the membership degrees. The second step is the classification of the remaining points by using the high-confidence extracted points. The proposed method was evaluated on three types of images: synthetic images, simulated MRI brain images and real-world MRI brain images. This method was compared to the most widely used FCM-based algorithms of the literature. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed technique.     

Generalized (<Emphasis Type="Italic">F</Emphasis>,<Emphasis Type="Italic">ρ</Emphasis>)-Convexity and Duality in Nonsmooth Problems of Multiobjective Optimization

A mixed-type dual for a nonsmooth multiobjective optimization problem with inequality and equality constraints is formulated. We obtain weak and strong duality theorems for a mixed-type dual without requiring the regularity assumptions and the nonnegativeness of the Lagrange multipliers associated to the equality constraints. We apply also a nonsmooth constraint qualification for multiobjective programming to establish strong duality results. In this case, our constraint qualification assures the existence of positive Lagrange multipliers associated with the vector-valued objective function. This work was supported by Center of Excellence for Mathematics, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran.