Existence theory for spatially competitive network facility location models

Models for locating a firm's production facilities while simultaneously determining production levels at these facilities and shipping patterns so as to maximize the firm's profits are presented. In these models, existing firms, are assumed to act in accordance with an appropriate model of spatial equilibrium. A proof of existence of a solution to the combined location-equilibrium problem is provided.     

Heuristic algorithms for delivered price spatially competitive network facility location problems

We review previous formulations of models for locating a firm's production facilities while simultaneously determining production levels at those facilities so as to maximize the firm's profit. We enhance these formulations by adding explicit variables to represent the firm's shipping activities and discuss the implications of this revised approach. In these formulations, existing firms, as well as new entrants, are assumed to act in accordance with an appropriate model of spatial equilibrium. The firm locating new production facilities is assumed to be a large manufacturer entering an industry composed of a large number of small firms. Our previously reported proof of existence of a solution to the combined location-equilibrium problem is briefly reviewed. A heuristic algorithm based on sensitivity analysis methods which presume the existence of a solution and which locally approximate price changes as linear functions of production perturbations resulting from newly established facilities is presented. We provide several numerical tests to illustrate the contrasting locational solutions which this paper's revised delivered price formulation generates relative to those of previous formulations. An exact, although computationally burdensome, method is also presented and employed to check the reliability of the heuristic algorithm.     

Incomplete financial markets model with nominal assets: Variational approach

We deal with the analysis of the general equilibrium model with incomplete financial markets and nominal assets. We assume that there are 2 periods of time, say today and tomorrow. We define a consumption, portfolio holding, commodity and asset price vector as an equilibrium vector associated with a given economy if at those prices and economies households maximize utility under a budget constraints and markets clear. While the path breaking proofs of existence by Cass [6] and Werner [25] use a fixed point argument, we provide an independent existence proof in terms of variational inequalities (about the variational approach for the analysis of general equilibrium models see for example [9] and [10]). The analysis presented in this paper indicates that the variational inequality approach promises to be applicable in many specifications of the incomplete market model.     

A class of Dantzig–Wolfe type decomposition methods for variational inequality problems

We consider a class of decomposition methods for variational inequalities, which is related to the classical Dantzig–Wolfe decomposition of linear programs. Our approach is rather general, in that it can be used with certain types of set-valued or nonmonotone operators, as well as with various kinds of approximations in the subproblems of the functions and derivatives in the single-valued case. Also, subproblems may be solved approximately. Convergence is established under reasonable assumptions. We also report numerical experiments for computing variational equilibria of the game-theoretic models of electricity markets. Our numerical results illustrate that the decomposition approach allows to solve large-scale problem instances otherwise intractable if the widely used PATH solver is applied directly, without decomposition.     

Recursive functions on the plane and FPTASs for production planning and scheduling problems with two facilities

We consider a production model with two facilities sharing a resource during a time horizon consisting of a number of time periods. Cumulative production levels at the ends of consecutive periods are linked with constraints of a general form. This allows us to give different interpretations related to scheduling and input–output analysis. The model may arise either separately or in the structure of more general production models. In both cases it is reasonable to find an optimal or near-optimal distribution of resources between these two facilities. This helps either to develop a new production plan or to improve an existing one. The problem in question is NP-hard. We show that our approach leads to fully polynomial time approximation schemes (FPTASs).     

Time-dependent Variational Inequalities and Applications to Equilibrium Problems

We present two different applications of time-dependent variational inequalities. First we propose a new model of time-dependent distributed markets networks which includes delay effects. Afterwards, we deal with time-dependent and elastic models of transportation networks.     

Generalized variational calculus in terms of multi-parameters fractional derivatives

In this paper, we briefly introduce two generalizations of work presented a few years ago on fractional variational formulations. In the first generalization, we consider the Hilfer’s generalized fractional derivative that in some sense interpolates between Riemann–Liouville and Caputo fractional derivatives. In the second generalization, we develop a fractional variational formulation in terms of a three parameter fractional derivative. We develop integration by parts formulas for the generalized fractional derivatives which are key to developing fractional variational calculus. It is shown that many derivatives used recently and their variational formulations can be obtained by setting different parameters to different values. We also define fractional generalized momenta and provide fractional Hamiltonian formulations in terms of the new generalized derivatives. An example is presented to show applications of the formulations presented here. Some possible extensions of this research are also discussed.     

A class of gap functions for variational inequalities

Recently Auchmuty (1989) has introduced a new class of merit functions, or optimization formulations, for variational inequalities in finite-dimensional space. We develop and generalize Auchmuty's results, and relate his class of merit functions to other works done in this field. Especially, we investigate differentiability and convexity properties, and present characterizations of the set of solutions to variational inequalities. We then present new descent algorithms for variational inequalities within this framework, including approximate solutions of the direction finding and line search problems. The new class of merit functions include the primal and dual gap functions, introduced by Zuhovickii et al. (1969a, 1969b), and the differentiable merit function recently presented by Fukushima (1992); also, the descent algorithm proposed by Fukushima is a special case from the class of descent methods developed in this paper. Through a generalization of Auchmuty's class of merit functions we extend those inherent in the works of Dafermos (1983), Cohen (1988) and Wu et al. (1991); new algorithmic equivalence results, relating these algorithm classes to each other and to Auchmuty's framework, are also given.Corresponding author.     

Generalized Vector Variational and Quasi-Variational Inequalities with Operator Solutions

In a recent paper, Domokos and Kolumbán introduced variational inequalities with operator solutions to provide a suitable unified approach to several kinds of variational inequality and vector variational inequality in Banach spaces. Inspired by their work, in this paper, we further develop the new scheme of vector variational inequalities with operator solutions from the single-valued case into the multi-valued one. We prove the existence of solutions of generalized vector variational inequalities with operator solutions and generalized quasi-vector variational inequalities with operator solutions. Some applications to generalized vector variational inequalities and generalized quasi-vector variational inequalities in a normed space are also provided.     

Sensitivity analysis for variational inequalities

Sensitivity analysis results for variational inequalities are presented which give conditions for existence and equations for calculating the derivatives of solution variables with respect to perturbation parameters. The perturbations are of both the variational inequality function and the feasible region. Results for the special case of nonlinear complementarity are also presented. A numerical example demonstrates the results for variational inequalities.The author is indebted to A. V. Fiacco for many valuable suggestions and comments. This work was supported in part by funding from the Economic Regulatory Administration, US Department of Energy, under Contract No. W31109ENG38.