On the coerciveness of some merit functions for complementarity problems over symmetric cones

One of the popular solution methods for the complementarity problem over symmetric cones is to reformulate it as the global minimization of a certain merit function. An important question to be answered for this class of methods is under what conditions the level sets of the merit function are bounded (the coerciveness of the merit function). In this paper, we introduce the generalized weak-coerciveness of a continuous transformation. Under this condition, we prove the coerciveness of some merit functions, such as the natural residual function, the normal map, and the Fukushima-Yamashita function for complementarity problems over symmetric cones. We note that this is a much milder condition than strong monotonicity, used in the current literature.     

The penalized Fischer-Burmeister SOC complementarity function

In this paper, we study the properties of the penalized Fischer-Burmeister (FB) second-order cone (SOC) complementarity function. We show that the function possesses similar desirable properties of the FB SOC complementarity function for local convergence; for example, with the function the second-order cone complementarity problem (SOCCP) can be reformulated as a (strongly) semismooth system of equations, and the corresponding nonsmooth Newton method has local quadratic convergence without strict complementarity of solutions. In addition, the penalized FB merit function has bounded level sets under a rather weak condition which can be satisfied by strictly feasible monotone SOCCPs or SOCCPs with the Cartesian R ₀₁-property, although it is not continuously differentiable. Numerical results are included to illustrate the theoretical considerations.     

Merit functions and error bounds for constrained mixed set-valued variational inequalities via generalized f-projection operators

In this paper, we introduce and investigate a constrained mixed set-valued variational inequality (MSVI) in Hilbert spaces. We prove the solution set of the constrained MSVI is a singleton under strict monotonicity. We also propose four merit functions for the constrained MSVI, that is, the natural residual, gap function, regularized gap function and D-gap function. We further use these functions to obtain error bounds, i.e. upper estimates for the distance to solutions of the constrained MSVI under strong monotonicity and Lipschitz continuity. The approach exploited in this paper is based on the generalized f-projection operator due to Wu and Huang, but not the well-known proximal mapping.     

Global s-type error bound for the extended linear complementarity problem and applications

For the extended linear complementarity problem over an affine subspace, we first study some characterizations of (strong) column/row monotonicity and (strong) R ₀-property. We then establish global s-type error bound for this problem with the column monotonicity or R ₀-property, especially for the one with the nondegeneracy and column monotonicity, and give several equivalent formulations of such error bound without the square root term for monotone affine variational inequality. Finally, we use this error bound to derive some properties of the iterative sequence produced by smoothing methods for solving such a problem under suitable assumptions. Received: May 2, 1999 / Accepted: February 21, 2000?Published online July 20, 2000     

A semismooth Newton method for SOCCPs based on a one-parametric class of SOC complementarity functions

In this paper, we present a detailed investigation for the properties of a one-parametric class of SOC complementarity functions, which include the globally Lipschitz continuity, strong semismoothness, and the characterization of their B-subdifferential. Moreover, for the merit functions induced by them for the second-order cone complementarity problem (SOCCP), we provide a condition for each stationary point to be a solution of the SOCCP and establish the boundedness of their level sets, by exploiting Cartesian P-properties. We also propose a semismooth Newton type method based on the reformulation of the nonsmooth system of equations involving the class of SOC complementarity functions. The global and superlinear convergence results are obtained, and among others, the superlinear convergence is established under strict complementarity. Preliminary numerical results are reported for DIMACS second-order cone programs, which confirm the favorable theoretical properties of the method.     

A one-parametric class of merit functions for the symmetric cone complementarity problem

In this paper, we extend the one-parametric class of merit functions proposed by Kanzow and Kleinmichel [C. Kanzow, H. Kleinmichel, A new class of semismooth Newton-type methods for nonlinear complementarity problems, Comput. Optim. Appl. 11 (1998) 227-251] for the nonnegative orthant complementarity problem to the general symmetric cone complementarity problem (SCCP). We show that the class of merit functions is continuously differentiable everywhere and has a globally Lipschitz continuous gradient mapping. From this, we particularly obtain the smoothness of the Fischer-Burmeister merit function associated with symmetric cones and the Lipschitz continuity of its gradient. In addition, we also consider a regularized formulation for the class of merit functions which is actually an extension of one of the NCP function classes studied by [C. Kanzow, Y. Yamashita, M. Fukushima, New NCP functions and their properties, J. Optim. Theory Appl. 97 (1997) 115-135] to the SCCP. By exploiting the Cartesian P-properties for a nonlinear transformation, we show that the class of regularized merit functions provides a global error bound for the solution of the SCCP, and moreover, has bounded level sets under a rather weak condition which can be satisfied by the monotone SCCP with a strictly feasible point or the SCCP with the joint Cartesian R₀₂-property. All of these results generalize some recent important works in [J.-S. Chen, P. Tseng, An unconstrained smooth minimization reformulation of the second-order cone complementarity problem, Math. Program. 104 (2005) 293-327; C.-K. Sim, J. Sun, D. Ralph, A note on the Lipschitz continuity of the gradient of the squared norm of the matrix-valued Fischer-Burmeister function, Math. Program. 107 (2006) 547-553; P. Tseng, Merit function for semidefinite complementarity problems, Math. Program. 83 (1998) 159-185] under a unified framework.     

An application of <Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis>-differentiability to nonnegative and unrestricted generalized complementarity problems

This paper deals with nonnegative nonsmooth generalized complementarity problem, denoted by GCP(f,g). Starting with H-differentiable functions f and g, we describe H-differentials of some GCP functions and their merit functions. We show how, under appropriate conditions on H-differentials of f and g, minimizing a merit function corresponding to f and g leads to a solution of the generalized complementarity problem. Moreover, we generalize the concepts of monotonicity, P ₀-property and their variants for functions and use them to establish some conditions to get a solution for generalized complementarity problem. Our results are generalizations of such results for nonlinear complementarity problem when the underlying functions are C ¹, semismooth, and locally Lipschitzian.     

Global dynamics of a delayed SIRS epidemic model with a wide class of nonlinear incidence rates

In this paper, by constructing Lyapunov functionals, we consider the global dynamics of an SIRS epidemic model with a wide class of nonlinear incidence rates and distributed delays $\int^{h}_{0} p(\tau)f(S(t),I(t-\tau)) \mathrm{d}\tau$ under the condition that the total population converges to 1. By using a technical lemma which is derived from strong condition of strict monotonicity of functions f(S,I) and f(S,I)/I with respect to S??0 and I>0, we extend the global stability result for an SIR epidemic model if R ₀>1, where R ₀ is the basic reproduction number. By using a limit system of the model, we also show that the disease-free equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable if R ₀=1.     

Spectral convergence for vibrating systems containing a part with negligible mass

We consider a set of Neumann (mixed, respectively) eigenvalue problems for the Laplace operator. Each problem is posed in a bounded domain Ω_R of ?ⁿ, with n=2,3, which contains a fixed bounded domain B where the density takes the value 1 and 0 outside. Ω_R has a diameter depending on a parameter R, with R?1, diam(Ω_R) →∞ as R→∞ and the union of these sets is the whole space ?ⁿ (the half space {x∈?ⁿ/x_n<0}, respectively). Depending on the dimension of the space n, and on the boundary conditions, we describe the asymptotic behaviour of the eigenelements as R→∞. We apply these asymptotics in order to derive important spectral properties for vibrating systems with concentrated masses. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On Minimizing and Stationary Sequences of a New Class of Merit Functions for Nonlinear Complementarity Problems

Motivated by the work of Fukushima and Pang (Ref. 1), we study the equivalent relationship between minimizing and stationary sequences of a new class of merit functions for nonlinear complementarity problems (NCP). These merit functions generalize that obtained via the squared Fischer–Burmeister NCP function, which was used in Ref. 1. We show that a stationary sequence {x^k} /Reⁿ is a minimizing sequence under the condition that the function value sequence {F(x ^k)} is bounded above or the Jacobian matrix sequence {F(x ^k)} is bounded, where F is the function involved in NCP. The latter condition is also assumed by Fukushima and Pang. The converse is true under the assumption of {F(x ^k)} bounded. As an example shows, even for a bounded function F, the boundedness of the sequence {F(x ^k)} is necessary for a minimizing sequence to be a stationary sequence.