Sample average approximation of stochastic dominance constrained programs

In this paper we study optimization problems with second-order stochastic dominance constraints. This class of problems allows for the modeling of optimization problems where a risk-averse decision maker wants to ensure that the solution produced by the model dominates certain benchmarks. Here we deal with the case of multi-variate stochastic dominance under general distributions and nonlinear functions. We introduce the concept of ${\mathcal{C}}$ -dominance, which generalizes some notions of multi-variate dominance found in the literature. We apply the Sample Average Approximation (SAA) method to this problem, which results in a semi-infinite program, and study asymptotic convergence of optimal values and optimal solutions, as well as the rate of convergence of the feasibility set of the resulting semi-infinite program as the sample size goes to infinity. We develop a finitely convergent method to find an ${\epsilon}$ -optimal solution of the SAA problem. An important aspect of our contribution is the construction of practical statistical lower and upper bounds for the true optimal objective value. We also show that the bounds are asymptotically tight as the sample size goes to infinity.     

On the Convergence of Coderivative of SAA Solution Mapping for a Parametric Stochastic Generalized Equation

The aim of this paper is to investigate the convergence properties for Mordukhovich’s coderivative of the solution map of the sample average approximation (SAA) problem for a parametric stochastic generalized equation. It is demonstrated that, under suitable conditions, both the cosmic deviation and the ρ-deviation between the coderivative of the solution mapping to SAA problem and that of the solution mapping to the parametric stochastic generalized equation converge almost surely to zero as the sample size tends to infinity. Moreover, the exponential convergence rate of coderivatives of the solution maps to the SAA parametric generalized equations is established. The results are used to develop sufficient conditions for the consistency of the Lipschitz-like property of the solution map of SAA problem and the consistency of stationary points of the SAA estimator for a stochastic mathematical program with complementarity constraints.     

Stochastic Multiobjective Optimization: Sample Average Approximation and Applications

We investigate one stage stochastic multiobjective optimization problems where the objectives are the expected values of random functions. Assuming that the closed form of the expected values is difficult to obtain, we apply the well known Sample Average Approximation (SAA) method to solve it. We propose a smoothing infinity norm scalarization approach to solve the SAA problem and analyse the convergence of efficient solution of the SAA problem to the original problem as sample sizes increase. Under some moderate conditions, we show that, with probability approaching one exponentially fast with the increase of sample size, an ϵ-optimal solution to the SAA problem becomes an ϵ-optimal solution to its true counterpart. Moreover, under second order growth conditions, we show that an efficient point of the smoothed problem approximates an efficient solution of the true problem at a linear rate. Finally, we describe some numerical experiments on some stochastic multiobjective optimization problems and report preliminary results.     

Uniform exponential convergence of sample average random functions under general sampling with applications in stochastic programming

Sample average approximation (SAA) is one of the most popular methods for solving stochastic optimization and equilibrium problems. Research on SAA has been mostly focused on the case when sampling is independent and identically distributed (iid) with exceptions (Dai et al. (2000) [9], Homem-de-Mello (2008) [16]). In this paper we study SAA with general sampling (including iid sampling and non-iid sampling) for solving nonsmooth stochastic optimization problems, stochastic Nash equilibrium problems and stochastic generalized equations. To this end, we first derive the uniform exponential convergence of the sample average of a class of lower semicontinuous random functions and then apply it to a nonsmooth stochastic minimization problem. Exponential convergence of estimators of both optimal solutions and M-stationary points (characterized by Mordukhovich limiting subgradients (Mordukhovich (2006) [23], Rockafellar and Wets (1998) [32])) are established under mild conditions. We also use the unform convergence result to establish the exponential rate of convergence of statistical estimators of a stochastic Nash equilibrium problem and estimators of the solutions to a stochastic generalized equation problem.     

Convergence analysis of stationary points in sample average approximation of stochastic programs with second order stochastic dominance constraints

Sample average approximation (SAA) method has recently been applied to solve stochastic programs with second order stochastic dominance (SSD) constraints. In particular, Hu et al. (Math Program 133:171–201, 2012) presented a detailed convergence analysis of $\epsilon $ -optimal values and $\epsilon $ -optimal solutions of sample average approximated stochastic programs with polyhedral SSD constraints. In this paper, we complement the existing research by presenting convergence analysis of stationary points when SAA is applied to a class of stochastic minimization problems with SSD constraints. Specifically, under some moderate conditions we prove that optimal solutions and stationary points obtained from solving sample average approximated problems converge with probability one to their true counterparts. Moreover, by exploiting some recent results on large deviation of random functions and sensitivity analysis of generalized equations, we derive exponential rate of convergence of stationary points.     

A class of smoothing SAA methods for a stochastic mathematical program with complementarity constraints

A class of smoothing sample average approximation (SAA) methods is proposed for solving the stochastic mathematical program with complementarity constraints (SMPCC) considered by Birbil et al. [S.I. Birbil, G. Gürkan, O. Listes, Solving stochastic mathematical programs with complementarity constraints using simulation, Math. Oper. Res. 31 (2006) 739–760]. The almost sure convergence of optimal solutions of the smoothed SAA problem to that of the true problem is established by the notion of epi-convergence in variational analysis. It is demonstrated that, under suitable conditions, any accumulation point of Karash–Kuhn–Tucker points of the smoothed SAA problem is almost surely a kind of stationary point of SMPCC as the sample size tends to infinity. Moreover, under a strong second-order sufficient condition for SMPCC, the exponential convergence rate of the sequence of Karash–Kuhn–Tucker points of the smoothed SAA problem is investigated through an application of Robinson?s stability theory. Some preliminary numerical results are reported to show the efficiency of proposed method.     

Regularizations for Stochastic Linear Variational Inequalities

This paper applies the Moreau–Yosida regularization to a convex expected residual minimization (ERM) formulation for a class of stochastic linear variational inequalities. To have the convexity of the corresponding sample average approximation (SAA) problem, we adopt the Tikhonov regularization. We show that any cluster point of minimizers of the Tikhonov regularization for the SAA problem is a minimizer of the ERM formulation with probability one as the sample size goes to infinity and the Tikhonov regularization parameter goes to zero. Moreover, we prove that the minimizer is the least \(l_2\) -norm solution of the ERM formulation. We also prove the semismoothness of the gradient of the Moreau–Yosida and Tikhonov regularizations for the SAA problem.     

Monte Carlo methods for mean-risk optimization and portfolio selection

Stochastic programming is a well-known instrument to model many risk management problems in finance. In this paper we consider a stochastic programming model where the objective function is the variance of a random function and the constraint function is the expected value of the random function. Instead of using popular scenario tree methods, we apply the well-known sample average approximation (SAA) method to solve it. An advantage of SAA is that it can be implemented without knowing the distribution of the random data. We investigate the asymptotic properties of statistical estimators obtained from the SAA problem including examining the rate of convergence of optimal solutions of the SAA problem as sample size increases. By using the classical penalty function technique and recent results on uniform exponential convergence of sample average random functions, we show that under some mild conditions the statistical estimator of the optimal solution converges to its true counterpart at an exponential rate. We apply the proposed model and the numerical method to a portfolio management problem and present some numerical results.     

A Neural Network-Based Policy Iteration Algorithm with Global $$H^2$$ -Superlinear Convergence for Stochastic Games on Domains

In this work, we propose a class of numerical schemes for solving semilinear Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman–Isaacs (HJBI) boundary value problems which arise naturally from exit time problems of diffusion processes with controlled drift. We exploit policy iteration to reduce the semilinear problem into a sequence of linear Dirichlet problems, which are subsequently approximated by a multilayer feedforward neural network ansatz. We establish that the numerical solutions converge globally in the \(H^2\)-norm and further demonstrate that this convergence is superlinear, by interpreting the algorithm as an inexact Newton iteration for the HJBI equation. Moreover, we construct the optimal feedback controls from the numerical value functions and deduce convergence. The numerical schemes and convergence results are then extended to oblique derivative boundary conditions. Numerical experiments on the stochastic Zermelo navigation problem are presented to illustrate the theoretical results and to demonstrate the effectiveness of the method.

     

On the Convergence of Coderivative of SAA Solution Mapping for a Parametric Stochastic Variational Inequality

The aim of this paper is to investigate the convergence properties for Mordukhovich’s coderivative of the solution map of the sample average approximation (SAA) problem for a parametric stochastic variational inequality with equality and inequality constraints. The notion of integrated deviation is introduced to characterize the outer limit of a sequence of sets. It is demonstrated that, under suitable conditions, both the cosmic deviation and the integrated deviation between the coderivative of the solution mapping to SAA problem and that of the solution mapping to the parametric stochastic variational inequality converge almost surely to zero as the sample size tends to infinity. Moreover, the exponential convergence rate of coderivatives of the solution maps to the SAA parametric stochastic variational inequality is established. The results are used to develop sufficient conditions for the consistency of the Lipschitz-like property of the solution map of SAA problem and the consistency of stationary points of the SAA estimator for a stochastic bilevel program.     

A note on the sample average approximation method for stochastic mathematical programs with complementarity constraints

Meng and Xu (2006) [3] proposed a sample average approximation (SAA) method for solving a class of stochastic mathematical programs with complementarity constraints (SMPCCs). After showing that under some moderate conditions, a sequence of weak stationary points of SAA problems converge to a weak stationary point of the original SMPCC with probability approaching one at exponential rate as the sample size tends to infinity, the authors proposed an open question, that is, whether similar results can be obtained under some relatively weaker conditions. In this paper, we try to answer the open question. Based on the reformulation of stationary condition of MPCCs and new stability results on generalized equations, we present a similar convergence theory without any information of second order derivative and strict complementarity conditions. Moreover, we carry out convergence analysis of the regularized SAA method proposed by Meng and Xu (2006) [3] where the convergence results have not been considered.     

Stochastic mathematical programs with equilibrium constraints,modelling and sample average approximation

In this article, we discuss the sample average approximation (SAA) method applied to a class of stochastic mathematical programs with variational (equilibrium) constraints. To this end, we briefly investigate the structure of both–the lower level equilibrium solution and objective integrand. We show almost sure convergence of optimal values, optimal solutions (both local and global) and generalized Karush–Kuhn–Tucker points of the SAA program to their true counterparts. We also study uniform exponential convergence of the sample average approximations, and as a consequence derive estimates of the sample size required to solve the true problem with a given accuracy. Finally, we present some preliminary numerical test results.     

Sample Average Approximation Method for Chance Constrained Programming: Theory and Applications

We study sample approximations of chance constrained problems. In particular, we consider the sample average approximation (SAA) approach and discuss the convergence properties of the resulting problem. We discuss how one can use the SAA method to obtain good candidate solutions for chance constrained problems. Numerical experiments are performed to correctly tune the parameters involved in the SAA. In addition, we present a method for constructing statistical lower bounds for the optimal value of the considered problem and discuss how one should tune the underlying parameters. We apply the SAA to two chance constrained problems. The first is a linear portfolio selection problem with returns following a multivariate lognormal distribution. The second is a joint chance constrained version of a simple blending problem. B.K. Pagnoncelli’s research was supported by CAPES and FUNENSEG. S. Ahmed’s research was partly supported by the NSF Award DMI-0133943. A. Shapiro’s research was partly supported by the NSF Award DMI-0619977.     

A smoothing SAA method for a stochastic mathematical program with complementarity constraints

A smoothing sample average approximation (SAA) method based on the log-exponential function is proposed for solving a stochastic mathematical program with complementarity constraints (SMPCC) considered by Birbil et al. (S. I. Birbil, G. Gürkan, O. Listes: Solving stochastic mathematical programs with complementarity constraints using simulation, Math. Oper. Res. 31 (2006), 739–760). It is demonstrated that, under suitable conditions, the optimal solution of the smoothed SAA problem converges almost surely to that of the true problem as the sample size tends to infinity. Moreover, under a strong second-order sufficient condition for SMPCC, the almost sure convergence of Karash-Kuhn-Tucker points of the smoothed SAA problem is established by Robinson’s stability theory. Some preliminary numerical results are reported to show the efficiency of our method.     

Convergence theory for nonconvex stochastic programming with an application to mixed logit

Monte Carlo methods have extensively been used and studied in the area of stochastic programming. Their convergence properties typically consider global minimizers or first-order critical points of the sample average approximation (SAA) problems and minimizers of the true problem, and show that the former converge to the latter for increasing sample size. However, the assumption of global minimization essentially restricts the scope of these results to convex problems. We review and extend these results in two directions: we allow for local SAA minimizers of possibly nonconvex problems and prove, under suitable conditions, almost sure convergence of local second-order solutions of the SAA problem to second-order critical points of the true problem. We also apply this new theory to the estimation of mixed logit models for discrete choice analysis. New useful convergence properties are derived in this context, both for the constrained and unconstrained cases, and associated estimates of the simulation bias and variance are proposed. Research Fellow of the Belgian National Fund for Scientific Research     

Analysis of stochastic dual dynamic programming method

In this paper we discuss statistical properties and convergence of the Stochastic Dual Dynamic Programming (SDDP) method applied to multistage linear stochastic programming problems. We assume that the underline data process is stagewise independent and consider the framework where at first a random sample from the original (true) distribution is generated and consequently the SDDP algorithm is applied to the constructed Sample Average Approximation (SAA) problem. Then we proceed to analysis of the SDDP solutions of the SAA problem and their relations to solutions of the “true” problem. Finally we discuss an extension of the SDDP method to a risk averse formulation of multistage stochastic programs. We argue that the computational complexity of the corresponding SDDP algorithm is almost the same as in the risk neutral case.     

Differential variational inequality approach to dynamic games with shared constraints

The dynamic Nash equilibrium problem with shared constraints (NEPSC) involves a dynamic decision process with multiple players, where not only the players’ cost functionals but also their admissible control sets depend on the rivals’ decision variables through shared constraints. For a class of the dynamic NEPSC, we propose a differential variational inequality formulation. Using this formulation, we show the existence of solutions of the dynamic NEPSC, and develop a regularized smoothing method to find a solution of it. We prove that the regularized smoothing method converges to the least norm solution of the differential variational inequality, which is a solution of the dynamic NEPSC as the regularization parameter \(\lambda \) and smoothing parameter \(\mu \) go to zero with the order \(\mu =o(\lambda )\) . Numerical examples are given to illustrate the existence and convergence results.     

Asymptotic Analysis of Sample Average Approximation for Stochastic Optimization Problems with Joint Chance Constraints via Conditional Value at Risk and Difference of Convex Functions

Conditional Value at Risk (CVaR) has been recently used to approximate a chance constraint. In this paper, we study the convergence of stationary points, when sample average approximation (SAA) method is applied to a CVaR approximated joint chance constrained stochastic minimization problem. Specifically, we prove under some moderate conditions that optimal solutions and stationary points, obtained from solving sample average approximated problems, converge with probability one to their true counterparts. Moreover, by exploiting the recent results on large deviation of random functions and sensitivity results for generalized equations, we derive exponential rate of convergence of stationary points. The discussion is also extended to the case, when CVaR approximation is replaced by a difference of two convex functions (DC-approximation). Some preliminary numerical test results are reported.     

Convergence analysis of a minimax method for finding multiple solutions of hemivariational inequality in Hilbert space

In 2013, a minimax method for finding saddle points of locally Lipschitz continuous functional was designed (Yao Math. Comp. 82 2087–2136 2013). The method can be applied to numerically solve hemivariational inequality for multiple solutions. Its subsequence and sequence convergence results in functional analysis were established in the same paper. But, since these convergence results do not consider discretization, they are not convergence results in numerical analysis. In this paper, we point out what approximation problem is, when this minimax method is used to solve hemivariational inequality and the finite element method is used in discretization. Computation of the approximation problem is discussed, numerical experiment is carried out and its global convergence is verified. Finally, as element size goes to zero, convergence of solutions of the approximation problem to solutions of hemivariational inequality is proved.