Sensitivity analysis in posynomial geometric programming

Sensitivity analysis results for general parametric posynomial geometric programs are obtained by utilizing recent results from nonlinear programming. Duality theory of geometric programming is exploited to relate the sensitivity results derived for primal and dual geometric programs. The computational aspects of sensitivity calculations are also considered.This work was part of the doctoral dissertation completed in the Department of Operations Research, George Washington University, Washington, DC. The author would like to express his gratitude to the thesis advisor, Prof. A. V. Fiacco, for overall guidance and stimulating discussions which inspired the development of this research work.     

The exact penalty map for nonsmooth and nonconvex optimization

Augmented Lagrangian duality provides zero duality gap and saddle point properties for nonconvex optimization. On the basis of this duality, subgradient-like methods can be applied to the (convex) dual of the original problem. These methods usually recover the optimal value of the problem, but may fail to provide a primal solution. We prove that the recovery of a primal solution by such methods can be characterized in terms of (i) the differentiability properties of the dual function and (ii) the exact penalty properties of the primal-dual pair. We also connect the property of finite termination with exact penalty properties of the dual pair. In order to establish these facts, we associate the primal-dual pair to a penalty map. This map, which we introduce here, is a convex and globally Lipschitz function and its epigraph encapsulates information on both primal and dual solution sets.     

Subadditive approaches in integer programming

Linear programming duality is well understood and the reduced cost of a column is frequently used in various algorithms. On the other hand, for integer programs it is not clear how to define a dual function even though the subadditive dual theory has been developed a long time ago. In this work we propose a family of computationally tractable subadditive dual functions for integer programs. We develop a solution methodology that computes an optimal primal solution and an optimal subadditive dual function. We present computational experiments, which show that the new algorithm is tractable.     

A comparison of computational strategies for geometric programs

Numerous algorithms for the solution of geometric programs have been reported in the literature. Nearly all are based on the use of conventional programming techniques specialized to exploit the characteristic structure of either the primal or the dual or a transformed primal problem. This paper attempts to elucidate, via computational comparisons, whether a primal, a dual, or a transformed primal solution approach is to be preferred.The authors wish to thank Captain P. A. Beck and Dr. R. S. Dembo for making available their codes. This research was supported in part under ONR Contract No. N00014-76-C-0551 with Purdue University.     

线性规划的对偶基线算法

In this paper,we studied the dual form of the basic line algorthm for linear programs.It can be easily implemented in tableau that similar to the primal/dual simplex method.Different from primal simplex method or dual simplex method,the dual basic line algorithm can keep primal feasibility and dual feasibility at the same time in a tableau,which makes it more efficient than the former ones.Principles and convergence of dual basic line algorthm were discussed.Some examplex and computational experience were given to illustrate the efficiency of our method.     

Posynomial geometric programming as a special case of semi-infinite linear programming

This paper develops a wholly linear formulation of the posynomial geometric programming problem. It is shown that the primal geometric programming problem is equivalent to a semi-infinite linear program, and the dual problem is equivalent to a generalized linear program. Furthermore, the duality results that are available for the traditionally defined primal-dual pair are readily obtained from the duality theory for semi-infinite linear programs. It is also shown that two efficient algorithms (one primal based and the other dual based) for geometric programming actually operate on the semi-infinite linear program and its dual.     

A comparison between a primal and a dual cutting plane algorithm for posynomial geometric programming problems

In this paper, primal and dual cutting plane algorithms for the solution of posynomial geometric programming problems are presented. It is shown that these cuts are deepest, in the sense that they cut off as much of the infeasible set as possible. Problems of nondifferentiability in the dual cutting plane are circumvented by the use of a subgradient. Although the resulting dual problem seems easier to solve, the computational experience seems to show that the primal cutting plane outperforms the dual.     

Duality of Nonscalarized Multiobjective Linear Programs: Dual Balance,Level Sets,and Dual Clusters of Optimal Vectors

A new concept of duality is proposed for multiobjective linear programs. It is based on a set expansion process for the computation of optimal solutions without scalarization. The duality gap qualifications are investigated; the primal–dual balance set and level set equations are derived. It is demonstrated that the nonscalarized dual problem presents a cluster of optimal dual vectors that corresponds to a unique optimal primal vector. Comparisons are made with linear utility, minmax and minmin scalarizations. Connections to Pareto optimality are studied and relations to sensitivity and parametric programming are discussed. The ideas are illustrated by examples.     

Lagrangian relaxation and its application to the unit-commitment-economic-dispatch problem

This study is concerned with the optimal scheduling of an electricitypower system consisting of both hydro and thermal units. UsingLagrangian relaxation, the original (primal) problem may bewritten in a dual formulation; the problem then admits decompositioninto more tractable sub-problems. Furthermore, the primal solutioncan be approximated closely by the dual solution, by using theduality gap as a termination criterion. A heuristic has beenused to construct nearly optimal solutions to the primal problembased on the information provided by the dual problem. Thispaper highlights three main points: improved computational times,the economic significance of the Lagrange multipliers, and theimplicit parallelism of this algorithm.     

Convergent Lagrangian heuristics for nonlinear minimum cost network flows

We consider the separable nonlinear and strictly convex single-commodity network flow problem (SSCNFP). We develop a computational scheme for generating a primal feasible solution from any Lagrangian dual vector; this is referred to as “early primal recovery”. It is motivated by the desire to obtain a primal feasible vector before convergence of a Lagrangian scheme; such a vector is not available from a Lagrangian dual vector unless it is optimal. The scheme is constructed such that if we apply it from a sequence of Lagrangian dual vectors that converge to an optimal one, then the resulting primal (feasible) vectors converge to the unique optimal primal flow vector. It is therefore also a convergent Lagrangian heuristic, akin to those primarily devised within the field of combinatorial optimization but with the contrasting and striking advantage that it is guaranteed to yield a primal optimal solution in the limit. Thereby we also gain access to a new stopping criterion for any Lagrangian dual algorithm for the problem, which is of interest in particular if the SSCNFP arises as a subproblem in a more complex model. We construct instances of convergent Lagrangian heuristics that are based on graph searches within the residual graph, and therefore are efficiently implementable; in particular we consider two shortest path based heuristics that are based on the optimality conditions of the original problem. Numerical experiments report on the relative efficiency and accuracy of the various schemes.     

Logarithmic SUMT limits in convex programming

The limits of a class of primal and dual solution trajectories associated with the Sequential Unconstrained Minimization Technique (SUMT) are investigated for convex programming problems with non-unique optima. Logarithmic barrier terms are assumed. For linear programming problems, such limits – of both primal and dual trajectories – are strongly optimal, strictly complementary, and can be characterized as analytic centers of, loosely speaking, optimality regions. Examples are given, which show that those results do not hold in general for convex programming problems. If the latter are weakly analytic (Bank et al. [3]), primal trajectory limits can be characterized in analogy to the linear programming case and without assuming differentiability. That class of programming problems contains faithfully convex, linear, and convex quadratic programming problems as strict subsets. In the differential case, dual trajectory limits can be characterized similarly, albeit under different conditions, one of which suffices for strict complementarity. Received: November 13, 1997 / Accepted: February 17, 1999?Published online February 22, 2001     

Differential sensitivity of solutions of convex constrained optimal control problems for discrete systems

A family of optimal control problems for discrete systems that depend on a real parameter is considered. The problems are strongly convex and subject to state and control constraints. Some regularity conditions are imposed on the constraints.The control problems are reformulated as mathematical programming problems. It is shown that both the primal and dual optimal variables for these problems are right-differentiable functions of a parameter. The right-derivatives are characterized as solutions to auxiliary quadratic control problems. Conditions of continuous differentiability are discussed, and some estimates of the rate of convergence of the difference quotients to the respective derivatives are given.     

A class of convergent primal-dual subgradient algorithms for decomposable convex programs

In this paper we develop a primal-dual subgradient algorithm for preferably decomposable, generally nondifferentiable, convex programming problems, under usual regularity conditions. The algorithm employs a Lagrangian dual function along with a suitable penalty function which satisfies a specified set of properties, in order to generate a sequence of primal and dual iterates for which some subsequence converges to a pair of primal-dual optimal solutions. Several classical types of penalty functions are shown to satisfy these specified properties. A geometric convergence rate is established for the algorithm under some additional assumptions. This approach has three principal advantages. Firstly, both primal and dual solutions are available which prove to be useful in several contexts. Secondly, the choice of step sizes, which plays an important role in subgradient optimization, is guided more determinably in this method via primal and dual information. Thirdly, typical subgradient algorithms suffer from the lack of an appropriate stopping criterion, and so the quality of the solution obtained after a finite number of steps is usually unknown. In contrast, by using the primal-dual gap, the proposed algorithm possesses a natural stopping criterion.     

A new algorithm for generalized fractional programs

A new dual problem for convex generalized fractional programs with no duality gap is presented and it is shown how this dual problem can be efficiently solved using a parametric approach. The resulting algorithm can be seen as “dual” to the Dinkelbach-type algorithm for generalized fractional programs since it approximates the optimal objective value of the dual (primal) problem from below. Convergence results for this algorithm are derived and an easy condition to achieve superlinear convergence is also established. Moreover, under some additional assumptions the algorithm also recovers at the same time an optimal solution of the primal problem. We also consider a variant of this new algorithm, based on scaling the “dual” parametric function. The numerical results, in case of quadratic-linear ratios and linear constraints, show that the performance of the new algorithm and its scaled version is superior to that of the Dinkelbach-type algorithms. From the computational results it also appears that contrary to the primal approach, the “dual” approach is less influenced by scaling. This research was carried out at the Econometric Institute, Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands and was supported by J.N.I.C.T. (Portugal) under contract BD/707/90-RM.     

The value function of a mixed integer program: II

We prove that the gap in optimal value, between a mixed-integer program in rationals and its corresponding linear programming relaxation, is bounded as the right-hand-side is varied. In addition, a variant of value iteration is shown to construct subadditive functions which resolve a pure-integer program when no dual degeneracy occurs. These subadditive functions provide solutions to subadditive dual programs for integer programs which are given here, and for which the values of primal and dual problems are equal.     

Augmented Lagrangian algorithms for linear programming

We introduce new augmented Lagrangian algorithms for linear programming which provide faster global convergence rates than the augmented algorithm of Polyak and Treti'akov. Our algorithm shares the same properties as the Polyak-Treti'akov algorithm in that it terminates in finitely many iterations and obtains both primal and dual optimal solutions. We present an implementable version of the algorithm which requires only approximate minimization at each iteration. We provide a global convergence rate for this version of the algorithm and show that the primal and dual points generated by the algorithm converge to the primal and dual optimal set, respectively.     

Parametric Disjunctive Programming: One-Sided Differentiability of the Value Function

We consider a countable family of one-parameter convex programs and give sufficient conditions for the one-sided differentiability of its optimal value function. The analysis is based on the Borwein dual problem for a family of convex programs (a convex disjunctive program). We give conditions that assure stability of the situation of perfect duality in the Borwein theory.For the reader's convenience, we start with a review of duality results for families of convex programs. A parametric family of dual problems is introduced that contains the dual problems of Balas and Borwein as special cases. In addition, a vector optimization problem is defined as a dual problem. This generalizes a result by Helbig about families of linear programs.     

Models and algorithms for the 2-dimensional cell suppression problem in statistical disclosure control

Lagrangean dualization and subgradient optimization techniques are frequently used within the field of computational optimization for finding approximate solutions to large, structured optimization problems. The dual subgradient scheme does not automatically produce primal feasible solutions; there is an abundance of techniques for computing such solutions (via penalty functions, tangential approximation schemes, or the solution of auxiliary primal programs), all of which require a fair amount of computational effort. We consider a subgradient optimization scheme applied to a Lagrangean dual formulation of a convex program, and construct, at minor cost, an ergodic sequence of subproblem solutions which converges to the primal solution set. Numerical experiments performed on a traffic equilibrium assignment problem under road pricing show that the computation of the ergodic sequence results in a considerable improvement in the quality of the primal solutions obtained, compared to those generated in the basic subgradient scheme. Received February 11, 1997 / Revised version received June 19, 1998?Published online June 28, 1999     

Boundedness relations in linear semi-infinite programming

This paper gives theorems on the boundedness of the feasible and the optimal solutions sets of a dual pair of linear semi-infinite programs (in Haar's duality). It also provides conditions for the boundedness of the primal slack variables and dual structural variables.     

Partially finite convex programming,Part II: Explicit lattice models

In Part I of this work we derived a duality theorem for partially finite convex programs, problems for which the standard Slater condition fails almost invariably. Our result depended on a constraint qualification involving the notion ofquasi relative interior. The derivation of the primal solution from a dual solution depended on the differentiability of the dual objective function: the differentiability of various convex functions in lattices was considered at the end of Part I. In Part II we shall apply our results to a number of more concrete problems, including variants of semi-infinite linear programming,L ¹ approximation, constrained approximation and interpolation, spectral estimation, semi-infinite transportation problems and the generalized market area problem of Lowe and Hurter (1976). As in Part I, we shall use lattice notation extensively, but, as we illustrated there, in concrete examples lattice-theoretic ideas can be avoided, if preferred, by direct calculation.